The Voices of War

Disinformation, peace negotiation, information warfare, conflict resolution, fog of war, back channel diplomacy — conflict mediator and peace negotiator Michael Vatikiotis joins The Voices of War host Vedran 'Maz' Maslic to expose how deliberate deception has made peacemaking structurally impossible. With more cameras, data, and AI-generated content flooding the information space than ever before,...

China is sitting on 120 days of strategic oil reserves. That's not unlimited patience — that's a countdown. As the Iran blockade tightens and the Strait of Hormuz becomes the most contested waterway on earth, Beijing faces a question it cannot ignore: how long can strategic restraint hold? In this episode of The Voices of War, Vedran 'Maz' Maslic sits down with journalist and geopolitical commenta...

The US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz started today. Iran has promised retaliation. China has issued direct warnings to Washington — and Trump's Iran war strategy may be heading toward catastrophe. In this episode of The Voices of War, I sit down with Dr. Robert 'Bob' Bowker — 37 years as an Australian diplomat in the Arab world, Ambassador to Jordan and Egypt, intelligence analyst with the Offi...

The Iran war is over. Or is it just a pause? In this episode of The Voices of War, host Vedran 'Maz' Maslic sits down with Matthew Williams — Willy OAM — former Australian Army crew commander, Afghanistan veteran, and one of YouTube's sharpest daily conflict analysts, with over 225,000 subscribers and 63 million views. Together they break down the US-Iran ceasefire, Iran's growing global leverage,...

A US-Iran ceasefire is now in effect. Trump has declared Iran's ten-point peace plan workable. But is this peace — or just a pause? In this episode of The Voices of War, military strategist and counterinsurgency expert Dr. David Kilcullen breaks down the Iran ceasefire, the Iran war's real strategic logic, and whether the Iran peace plan can survive contact with reality. With 90% of Iran's navy re...

Is the US Iran war the end of American global dominance — or the birth of a new world order? Former Turkish diplomat and senior NATO advisor Hasan Aygun joins Maz to break down the Iran Israel war, US foreign policy collapse, and the accelerating global power shift reshaping international relations in 2026. Iran news cycles miss the bigger picture. This isn't just Trump Iran posturing or iran nucl...

All 18 US intelligence agencies have confirmed on the record: Iran does not possess nuclear weapons and is not currently building one. Yet the Iran war machine is in motion. The US-Iran war is being justified on contested — and deliberately ignored — intelligence. In this episode of The Voices of War, Maz breaks down the Iran war explained from the ground up. Not through headlines. Through pattern...

Benjamin Netanyahu recently admitted he'd spent 40 years waiting for an American president willing to attack Iran. In Donald Trump, he finally found one. But was this a strategy — or a panic? Professor Zlatko Hadžidedić, one of the Balkans' most incisive geopolitical minds, argues it's neither chess nor grand design. It's a desperate gamble by a declining empire that didn't fully understand what i...

The Iran war is no longer contained. As tensions escalate across the Middle East, Iraq is emerging as a critical battleground — caught between Iran, the United States, Israel, and armed groups operating within its own borders. This episode breaks down the Iran war, Iraq conflict, Middle East war dynamics, PMF Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, US forces in Iraq, and the growing risk of regional escalation. I...

Trump, Iran, global order, rules-based order, Mark Carney, US decline, world order, China, Russia, BRICS, international law, and Western decline. This episode examines whether Trump’s Iran confrontation reflects strategic calculation or the breakdown of the US-led order. I look at American hegemony, global power shifts, spheres of influence, and what a post-Western order could mean for internation...

As the fallout from the US and Israel's ongoing Iran war spreads, we examine the broader regional impact, particularly for Lebanon. Lebanese economist and political analyst Nadim Shehadi joins me to discuss the implications of the Iran US war for the country, deeply exposed to the middle east war's shifting power dynamics. This episode explores the complex geopolitics news surrounding the conflict...

Trump's Iran War: Strategic Confusion With No Way Out | Dr. Samir Puri What happens when the world's most powerful military goes to war with no clear objective and no exit strategy? Dr. Samir Puri — former UK diplomat, Chatham House director, and bestselling author of Westlessness — joins Maz fresh from the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, where he sat in the room with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister...

*** As this episode contains clips from other sources, I recommend watching it on YouTube on this link: https://youtu.be/uenKNmiHP10 Australia has just passed sweeping new "hate-speech" laws. Former Army officer and Bosnia war refugee Vedran ‘Maz’ Maslic warns they could be used to silence criticism of Israel even from Jewish scholars and peace activists. In this solo monologue, Vedran breaks his...

Is 2026 the year of global conflict escalation? In this in-depth conversation, Richard Atwood, Executive VP of International Crisis Group and host of Hold Your Fire! podcast, discusses the top 10 conflicts to watch in 2026 and how Trump's foreign policy is reshaping global order. Richard Atwood, one of the world's leading conflict analysis and prevention experts, draws on 20+ years of field resear...

In this episode of The Voices of War, Maz speaks with Brigadier (Ret.) Dan Fortune, DSC and Bar, a retired SASR commander and one of Australia’s most decorated special operations officers, reflecting on leadership, accountability, and the human cost of Australia’s war in Afghanistan. Dan served extensively within SASR Sabre Squadrons as both an enlisted operator and later a commissioned officer. H...

In this episode of ‘The Voices of War’, Maz sits down with two former Australian special operations officers whose careers unfolded at the sharp end of Australia’s longest war in Afghanistan. Vando served 24 years in the Australian Army, including 16 in special operations with the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). Across 10 deployments to Iraq, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, North Africa and...

Is Israel beginning to collapse from within? In this in depth conversation, renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappé explains why he believes Zionism has entered its final phase, how Israeli society is disintegrating internally, and what a just future for Palestinians and Israelis could look like. Pappé, director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Pales...

Is the UK really on the brink of collapse - or are we victims of our own narratives? In this revealing conversation, Dr. Mike Martin, former British Army officer, author of Why We Fight, and now Member of Parliament, breaks down what’s really driving Britain’s political, social, and moral crisis. From the rise of authoritarian narratives to the weaponization of social media, Mike reveals why our b...

What if the real story of Gaza isn’t about sides but about people? In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian writer and policy analyst from Gaza, breaks through decades of noise, propaganda, and polarization to share what life in Gaza really means. From surviving war to speaking truth in the West, Ahmed reveals the human reality behind the headlines, th...

Why does nationalism look less like a mistake and more like a structural feature of modern capitalism? In this provocative and deeply researched episode, Professor Zlatko Hadžidedić explains why nationalism often functions as the social glue that stabilizes capitalism’s contradictions and why the current phase of hyper-capitalism risks producing more authoritarian nationalisms over the next decade...

In this landmark episode, Professor William Schabas — one of the world’s foremost experts on international criminal law and the legal architect behind much of our modern understanding of genocide — joins The Voices of War to unpack the explosive legal and political debates surrounding Israel’s war in Gaza. 🔥 With over 20 books and 400 articles to his name, Schabas walks us through: What legally c...

As the world fractures into competing blocs and narratives, the so-called "rules-based international order" is under growing strain. From Gaza to Ukraine, accusations of hypocrisy, selective enforcement, and double standards are eroding trust in the West’s claim to moral and legal authority. In this episode of The Voices of War, I’m joined by Dr. Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy...

In this episode of The Voices of War, I speak with Dr Samir Puri—former British diplomat, Senior Fellow at King’s College London, and author of Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing—to explore the seismic global shift away from Western dominance. We unpack the concept of “Westlessness”, which Dr Puri defines as the psychological and strategic unravelling of the West’s central role in global a...

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has left hospitals in ruins, humanitarian corridors blocked, and millions of civilians struggling to survive. In this episode of The Voices of War, Maz speaks with Ashley Killeen, Director of Engagement at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Australia & New Zealand, about what it means to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza while upholding neutrality in the face of accu...

In this episode of The Voices of War, I’m joined once again by Carl Miller, investigative researcher and author of The Death of the Gods. This is Carl’s third time on the show, and arguably his most urgent. We explore: Why AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a battlefield How governments and companies manipulate LLMs Emotional bonds with AI and their strategic risks Digital addiction, dopamine loops, and pe...