The Red Line

Half way down the old Silk Road lies the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, the republic that connects all of the Central Asian states. With the passing of their long-term dictator Uzbekistan is now making big steps forward but the weights left over from their past will be hard to shake, one of those being an entire rotting island that once housed the Soviet biological warfare program now radiating out into the desert.  On the panel this week - Joanna Lillis (The Economist) - Nikita Makarenko (Uzbek Journalist) - Kristaps Andrejsons (The Eastern Border) - Bruce Pannier (Radio Free Liberty) Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael in @MikeHilliardAus For more info visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the unpreparedness of governments for cyber attacks, the integration of cyber warfare into traditional military operations, the vulnerability of systems, the dangers of cyber warfare and zero-day exploits, the challenges of attribution in cyber attacks, the profitability of hacking and the role of AI in cyber warfare, and the spread and democratization of cyber weapons.

On the Northwestern edge of the Sahara desert lies the former Spanish colonial possession of Western Sahara. The region has been in various states of conflict for over 50 years, with Morocco's Royal Armed Forces and the Algerian-supported Arab Sahrawi Democratic Republic battling it out for control. We look at the origins of this conflict, the difficulties in resolving it, and the consequences for failing to do so for the stability of Western Africa.   On the panel this week  Stephen Zunes (Cornell University) Riccardo Rabiani (Crisis Group) Jalel Harchaoui (Global Initiative) Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliard For more in please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1823 US President James Monroe declared "The Monroe Doctrine", that the Western hemisphere would be the backyard of the United States. That doctrine is now almost 200 years old and the world is a very different place, European powers such as the Netherlands, UK and France all hold colonies in the Sea; and other players such as Venezuela and Cuba are putting forward competition as well.  The real threat for the US though may come from outside powers shopping around for strategic footholds in an area the US regularly overlooks.  On the panel this week.  Ivelaw Griffiths (CSIS) Vicki Assevero (Atlantic Council) Victor Bulmer-Thomas (Chatham House) For more info please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Follow the show on - @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on - @MikeHilliardAus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgia has been at the heart of regional geopolitics for decades now, smashed between three expanding areas of influence from Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, with Georgia desperately trying to act as the neutral ground.  But war is already there in the Georgian homeland, with the two breakaway Moscow facing republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, adding more complications to an already tumultuous region.  On the panel this week.  Gerard Toal (Geopolitical Author) Natia Seskuria (RUSI) Neil Hauer (Conflict Journalist) Thomas De Waal (Carnegie Europe) Follow the show in @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus For more info please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Obama left the White House he stated that the thing that kept him up at night more than anything else was the potential for Pakistan and India to stumble into an unplanned nuclear exchange.  What was once a regional conflict has now drawn in a number of great powers such as China, and the US, but no side yet has a real plan to try to avert the risk of this simmering conflict going nuclear. The estimate is that in the event of an Indian invasion toward Islamabad the Pakistani command may only have around 6 hours to either "use or lose" their nuclear weapons, so we ask our panel what the likely outcome will be for this nightmare scenario.  On the panel this week.  Ayesha Jalal (Tufts University) Adam Weinstein (Foreign Policy) Andrew Small (George Marshall Fund) For more information please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a number of years Iraq has been spiraling, with worsening insurgencies, sectarian violence and numerous regional players all treating Iraq like a political battleground. How did we get here though? What was the decision made to bring Iraq to the point we stand at now, and will decisions coming up better or worsen the situation? On the panel this week.  JAMES LEBOVIC  (George Washington University) DIYAR AMEEN (Kurdistan Mission to the EU) JOSEPH VOTEL (Rtr 4-Star US General) For more info please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dont think much about it but Rare Earth elements are a huge part of our everyday life, powering our phones, laptops, satellites and cars. The thing we all overlook though is where those Rare Earths are coming from, and right now China controls 98%+ of the market, meaning that every single high technology item we use at some point relies on China.  That issue compounds as well when you realise that this problem extends to the defence industry, with state of the art US fighters such as the F-35 being unbuildable if the Chinese refuse to do their part of the process. The situation is far more complicated than many people realise, and we may be a decade from any real solution.  This weeks guests - Guillaume Pitron (Le Monde Diplomatique) - Julie Klinger (University of Delaware) - Teague Egan (EnergyX) - Sophia Kalantzakos (New York University) For more information please visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Follow the show on - @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on - @MikeHilliardAus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lake Chad has shrunk by almost 90% since 1960, and the situation on the ground is becoming a breeding ground for regional terrorism. Outfits like Boko Haram, and ISIS in Africa are now capturing big patches of land in Lake Chad Region.  France, the US, and their regional partners are trying desperately to avoid the situation spinning out of control, but with a shrinking lake how successful can they be? This weeks panel Tomasz Rolbiecki (Uni of Gdansk) Vincent Foucher (CNRS + Crisis Group) John Campbell (CFR + Fmr US Ambassador) For more info visit - www.theredlinepodcast.com Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russias entire defense strategy relies on a friendly or neutral Ukraine, so when Ukraine almost turned to the west in a revolution in 2014 panic swept the Kremlin; and Russia invaded and occupied the Crimean peninsula and the Donbas region in the East.  Will this war slow down to frozen conflict like in Transnistria, or will it roar back to life like in Karabakh, we ask our expert panel.  This week  Steven Pifer (Brookings Institute) Gustav Gressel (European Council of Foreign Relations) Thomas Graham (Yale University) Follow the show on @TheRedLinePod Follow Michael on @MikeHilliardAus More info at - www.theredlinepodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices