BFBS Sitrep

This week, Sitrep finds out how three Generals are preparing for the future and Army 2020?   Could Syria have biological weapons and what impact could that have on the Geneva talks?   The State of the Union – what are President Obama’s plans for 2014?   Plus: a security warning to Britain’s Olympic athletes as they prepare for Sochi   PRESENTER: Kate Gerbeau STUDIO GUEST: BFBS’s Defence Analyst Christopher Lee    OTHER INTERVIEWS:   BFBS Reporter, James Hirst, discussing the interviews with: General Officer Commanding 1 Div, Major General James Chiswell GOC Germany – John Henderson Major General Nick Pope   weapons consultant and former commanding officer of the UK's joint chemical Biological radiological nuclear regiment Hamish De Bretton Gordon, on Syria   The BBC’s Diplomatic Correspondent Bridget Kendall, who has been following the Syrian talks in Geneva   Gena Turgel speaking to BFBS reporter Laura Hawkins about her time in various concentration camps, in the week the world remembers the Holocaust./

The final round of armed forces redundancies have been announced…so what shape does this leave our Army in? The long road to peace in Syria – has the journey begun? Why the EU wants to send troops to the Central African Republic And ‘Row to Recovery’ -  how four British soldiers completed the gruelling three thousand mile row across the Atlantic. PRESENTER: Kate GerbeauSTUDIO GUEST: BFBS’s Defence Analyst Christopher Lee   OTHER INTERVIEWS:   BFBS Reporter James Hirst on redundanciesProfessor Rosemary Hollis, Professor of Middle East Policy Studies and Director of the Olive Tree Scholarship Programme at City University. BFBS  reporter Cath Brazier

Is Robert Gates right to criticize Britain’s defence capabilities?   What’s going on behind the scenes in Syria and will the West have to talk to Assad?   And….who’s odds on favourite to take over the Chair of the Commons Defence Committee?   Plus,  deathbed remorse from the inventor of the AK – 47  - but who else lived to regret their invention?     PRESENTER: Kate Gerbeau STUDIO GUEST: BFBS’s Defence Analyst Christopher Lee    OTHER INTERVIEWS:     The Times’  Correspondent Michael Evans – talking about Robert Gates’ comments on Britain’s defence capabilities     Sir Andrew Green, former ambassador to Syria   BBC’s political correspondent, Rob Watson on the Defence Committee   Dr Paul Rogers, from the Department for Peace Studies at Bradford University discussing the AK47  

Find out about the book that's causing a stir in The White House & why President Obama's coming under fire over Afghanistan - from one of his own statesmen.   What’s behind the escalation of violence in Iraq?    Does the Armed Forces Covenant actually work?     And why Putin's mobilizing his troops ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.     PRESENTER: Kate Gerbeau STUDIO GUEST: BFBS’s Defence Analyst Christopher Lee     OTHER INTERVIEWS:     Simon Marks, chief correspondent of Feature Story News discussing Robert Gates’ memoirs & increasing violence in Iraq   Chair  of the House of Commons Defence Committee James Arbuthnot discussing the Armed Forces Covenant   BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, Bridget Kendall talking about the forthcoming winter Olympics in Russia ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….   You can listen on BFBS Radio 2 at 1630 (UK time) and at 1830 (UK time) on BFBS (via webb, App & DAB in the UK and on FM in Scotland, Colchester, Salisbury Plain, Aldershot, Catterick & Blandford Forum)    Sky Channel 0211 Alternatively listen again on the website