Frontlines & Backrooms is a documentary-style podcast about the world’s most complex conflicts — told with context, precision, and humanity.
Hosted by journalist Vladimir Bobetić, the series blends lived experience, deep research, and unfiltered conversations with historians, activists, diplomats, and eyewitnesses.
From conflict zones to corridors of power around the world — this is a space for nuance in a world drowning in noise.
No shouting. No spin. No propaganda.
Just conversations that matter.
Roger Higginson | Europe’s Gamble: A War of Misconceptions
Europe keeps promising to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”. Roger Higginson says it is time to tell Kyiv something else.
The former British diplomat calls for direct engagement with Moscow and an end to support for Ukrainian strikes inside Russia. But what would his alternative demand of Ukraine, and what would Russia have to concede?
From Britain’s hostility towards Russia to the risk of an Israeli clash with Türkiye, a conversation about the choices governments make when diplomacy gives way to war.
If you're tired of noise, outrage and five-minute opinions, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms. Every week, we sit down with the people who have spent decades researching, negotiating and shaping the world we live in.
20 Oct 2026
Kobi Michael | Occupy Gaza. Then What?
What comes after full military occupation of Gaza?
Professor Kobi Michael makes the case for Israeli control of the entire territory to dismantle Hamas, while acknowledging that military force cannot defeat an ideology.
We discuss civilian deaths, the UN commission’s finding of genocide, the future Israel offers Palestinians and the erosion of international support. What would constitute victory, and who would govern Gaza afterwards?
Kobi Michael is a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, INSS, and a visiting professor at the International Centre for Policing and Security at the University of South Wales.
You deserve to be informed, not played for clicks.
If you're tired of noise, outrage and five-minute opinions, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms. Every week, we sit down with the people who have spent decades researching, negotiating and shaping the world we live in.
8 Oct 2026
Professor Arshin Adib-Moghaddam | Selling the AI Nightmare
The people building AI warn that it could destroy us. Why does that warning make us listen to them more closely?
Professor Arshin Adib-Moghaddam joins Vladimir Bobetic to discuss fear as a sales pitch, the promise of “good AI”, and the human responsibility behind machines built for war.
This episode is produced in cooperation with Manchester University Press.
Further reading:
The Myth of Good AI: A Manifesto for Critical Artificial Intelligence
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526189509/ (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526189509/)
AI Futures book series
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/ai-futures/ (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/ai-futures/)
Is Artificial Intelligence Racist?
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/is-artificial-intelligence-racist-9781350374423/ (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/is-artificial-intelligence-racist-9781350374423/)
For more on AI, geopolitics and history, visit Manchester University Press:
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/ (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/)
If you're tired of noise, outrage and five-minute opinions, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms. Every week, we sit down with the people who have spent decades researching, negotiating and shaping the world we live in.
https://frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com (https://frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com/)
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