The Kremlin's treasury runneth-over with oil revenues, Moscow's military is being treated to a lesson in the latest US warfare in real time, and the world's eyes are averted from Ukraine.

Trump's war with Iran has been a boon for President Putin. And yet rumours of paranoia, deserting elites, and strange defections abound.

To decipher what exactly is going on in Moscow, Patrick and Tom are joined by Russia-watcher extraordinaire, Mark Galeotti.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Mark Galeotti

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Listen here to Mark's podcast, In Moscow's Shadows

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World-renowned historian Peter Frankopan joins Tom and Patrick to dissect the escalating conflict in Iran through the lens of ancient history and shifting civilisations. The Silk Roads author argues the war is less a standalone event and more the continuation of a century-long struggle for control over the "spine of the world" and its vital resources, namely oil.

Upending international law, decades-long alliances, and the norms of democracy, Frankopan posits that the war has buried multilateralism for good, and is as consequential for geopolitics as either the fall of the Berlin Wall or 9/11.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Peter Frankopan

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are in the second week of a war that was supposed to be over by now. Yet the world is facing soaring oil prices, rising inflation and a regime which doesn't seem ready to capitulate.

While President Trump continues to threaten Iran, he faces the limits of what air power, alone, can achieve and increasing pressure at home.

Recording on Day 12 of the conflict, Patrick and Tom are joined by Sir Simon Gass, former Ambassador to Tehran and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, to dissect the rise of a new Iranian dynasty and the high-stakes search for an off-ramp that no one seems able to find.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Sir Simon Gass

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Clips: War.gov

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.