Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell

What does the climate crisis mean for sovereignty in a world where certain countries face existential risk? I spoke to Taukiei Kitara, a native of Tuvalu, about the case of low-lying Pacific Islands, including his native Tuvalu.

Read RUSI piece The Rise of Ransomware as a National Security Threat: https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/organised-cybercrime-rise-ransomware-national-security-threat  Read RUSI piece Beyond the Bottom Line: The Societal Impact of Ransomware: https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/beyond-bottom-line-societal-impact-ransomware  

The Transatlantic Alliance is coming to an end. I discuss this with academic and journalist Jonathan Terra.

Every year, tens of thousands of labourers in the wealth countries of the Gulf, most of them migrants from South Asia, die in unsafe working conditions on construction sites. As the GCC states pour enormous resources into developing their infrastructure, little attention is paid to the plight of the people doing the actual building work. I spoke to James Lynch of FairSquare, a UK-based non-profit that researches and advocates for the rights of labourers in the Gulf.https://fairsq.org/Assistant Producer: Japji Oberoi

For the past 4 years, Myanmar has experienced an ever more serious civil war, which now threatens the ruling military junta in Naypyitaw. I spoke to Ronan Lee about this little-reported conflict.You can find Ronan's work here: https://ronanlee.com/And my writing here: arthursnell.substack.com

Samir Puri of Chatham House is the author of Westlessness, a book about the post-Western world. The book came out last year but the geopolitical setting that he examines is one that is rapidly emerging in front of our eyes, as the chaotic actions of the Trump presidency bring an end to the Western Liberal Order.

The role of disinformation in our current world, whether feeding the false allegations put out by Trump, the lies spread online by Elon Musk, or the over-reliance on social media for news coverage, is feeding the rise of extremism and dysfunction in democratic systems, to the detriment of liberal and progressive political movements. To help us understand this better, I was delighted to be joined by Amil Khan, CEO of Valent Technologies and a disinformation expert.Many thanks to Assistant Producer Japji Oberoi

I spoke to the man in the lucky orange hat, everyone's favourite war correspondent John Sweeney about the latest developments from Kyiv in this week of extraordinary events relating to Ukraine. Find John's work at x.com/johnsweeneyroar