x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Mallen Baker: Faultlines

"Dangerously reasonable" analysis on politics, science, and particularly the bit where they bump into each other. I aim to give an independent, fact-focused, non-ideological take on the issues that matter.

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

00:11:11

Trump Blindsides Allies, Stops Ukraine Weapons — Then...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/07/03

It came out of the blue, with all the NATO allies of Ukraine having thought they'd done a great job of keeping Trump on side at last week's NATO summit. Suddenly, they were learning that Trump had paused weapons already agreed to be sent to Ukraine. Not only that, but Trump was suddenly taking a direct call with Vladimir Putin to discuss all the possibilities of how they could work together. This in contrast with how he is ratcheting up the pressure on China, and increasingly demanding of the same

en-gb

00:12:14

Why Trump’s Mega-Bill Could Blow Up on MAGA

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/07/02

The controversial Trump Budget Mega-Bill squeaked its way through the Senate, thanks to the casting vote of JD Vance. And now it has come back to the House somewhat changed from how it was when it left. Specifically, with more debt loaded into it. And more severe cuts to Medicaid. Democrats are convinced this bill is going to come back to haunt the Republicans, and by all accounts Republicans fear that will be the case as well. How far might that go? And could it be the act of self-sabotage that

en-gb

00:15:42

Why Global Population Collapse Is Coming Sooner Than...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/07/01

We know that big changes are happening in the world. Some of them are well known as cycles in history, and affect the current geopolitical order. But there are also four aspects where what we face is unique to our time - things the human race has never dealt with before. And the most important of those four is the one the effects of which are coming whether we like it or not - and sooner than the UN is projecting. Global population decline, and then collapse. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:16:25

How Elon Musk Sabotaged His Own Legacy

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/30

Musk has largely gone back to focusing on his own businesses - but he couldn't help making a last public stab at President Trump's big budget bill which will eviscerate support for EVs and clean technology, while boosting it instead for fossil fuels. He must be reflecting how badly served his original missions for Tesla and SpaceX have been by his biggest single mistake surely in his life - getting involved in MAGA politics and helping bring into being an administration that has really been the end

en-gb

00:14:16

What Are The REAL Lessons From Zohran Mamdani's New...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/29

Lots of people have gotten excited about an upset win for an old-fashioned socialist candidate in the New York Mayoral race. Notwithstanding the implications or otherwise of the politics of it, the real lesson that Democrats and everyone else involved in politics should be paying attention to is the fact that someone finally showed up the dismal level of what passes for political campaigning right now. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:12:57

Trump’s Massive Canada Tantrum – The Trade War Is...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/28

Suddenly, Trump had a moment and called off the ongoing trade talks with Canada. The reason - or, at least, the excuse - was the incoming Digital Services Tax about to be implemented (and running as a forerunner to the same device in the EU). Now the trade war is back on. Trump will be announcing the new tariff rate for Canada in the coming week, and it's unlikely to be a minor affair - because it looks very much like whatever it will be will simply be calculated to force Ottawa to back down on

en-gb

00:10:19

Quackery at the Top: How RFK Jr. Is Rewriting Vaccine...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/27

We heard all the promises during the confirmation hearing for Robert F Kennedy Jr. He was not anti-vax. He was not promoting conspiracy theories. He was not going to be messing around with immunisations schedules for children. Well, that didn't last long. Right now, fundamental changes are being made that remove actual vaccine expertise and replace it with pseudoscience and quackery. It's early days, but the first steps could not be less clear about the direction of travel. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:11:58

How China Is Exploiting Trump’s Global Blunders

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/26

Trump's use of military force in Iran has made his enemies and rivals sit up and take notice - especially those in China who have been evaluating the likelihood of the US intervening should they finally decide to make a move on Taiwan. How much has really changed because of what just happened over Iran's nuclear programme? And what are the huge mistakes President Trump is making that is giving Xi Jinping the opportunity to step more quickly into the role of rising, pre-eminent world superpower

en-gb

00:12:52

Why THIS Is The Dumbest Thing Trump Does

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/25

The NATO Summit came to a relatively successful conclusion, given the rather limited ambition it had set for itself. But throughout the event, Trump insisted on a version of reality of the recent US military strike against Iran's nuclear sites, that is not supported by evidence, and demanded that everyone else should actively agree. And this in spite of the fact that a preliminary assessment by his own defence department contradicted him. However the facts of the case eventually unfold, this habit

en-gb

00:14:41

Trump Floats Regime Change As Iran Strikes Back

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/23

All of Trump's team were on message - the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites was a one-off strike, not a declaration of war, and certainly not directed towards regime change in Iran. Then Trump floated exactly that, and it seemed that he was piling pressure onto Iran to capitulate. Did this mean he didn't think he'd completely destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities? Did it mean that he was trying to prevent the US from being dragged further into a war? And, with the latest news that Iran has made a

en-gb

00:12:25

Trump Bombs Iran – Desperately Hopes That’s the End...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/22

So the President Trump's United States just dropped a bunch of its 'bunker buster' bombs on the nuclear enrichment sites in Iran. Technically, that means it has joined the war between Iran and Israel. But it all depends on what happens next - because neither Trump nor Iran has an interest in taking each other on in a long drawn-out conflict. That said, even if it ends quickly (no guarantee), Trump has crossed a line that has a bunch of consequences built in. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:11:57

Trump Enrages Key Ally Japan – Just As China Unveils...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/21

The Trump Administration's trademark abrupt bullying has just led to key regional ally Japan cancelling an annual security summit. Between America's sudden unreliable ally status, and its assault on Japan's economy via tariffs, it is now quickly re-evaluating its options. Just as all that is happening, the US has woken up with a start to not one, but two ways they might be directly threatened by China that they hadn't seen coming. Not exactly the best time to be losing allies left, right and centre

en-gb

00:11:46

Trump ‘Not Ruling Out’ Dropping A Nuke On Iran

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/20

You read that right - The Fordow nuclear enrichment site in Iran, located as it is beneath a mountain, is considered by some in the Pentagon to be so hard to reach, that even America's famed 'bunker-buster' might not get the job done. In which case, the only conceivable alternative - well, it would cross a red line that the world has been observing without fail for eighty years. And yet we know that President Trump loves nothing more than ignoring other people's red lines. But would he seriously

en-gb

00:20:26

It’s Official - The World Hates Trump’s America

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/19

New research by the Pew Research Centre has looked at worldwide attitudes to President Trump, and as a consequence Trump's America. Some of it won't be hugely surprising - yes, with the exception of five countries in the sample, Trump is viewed negatively. But some of the results are less intuitive, some are downright bizarre. And many of them tell a story about how we see the world, and what we're looking for in a time of conflict. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:16:16

Trump Broke The World Order - So Is War With Iran Next?

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/18

The G7 Summit of 2025 may come to represent the last gasp of the old rules-based world order, condemned to impotence and irrelevance as President Trump pondered whether to enter the war with Iran, and showed the shift symbolically be leaving the summit half way through. But there's a lot at stake in just how Trump's new 'might-makes-right' world order gets shaped - and an early taste of the glory of military victory might be extremely bad for what comes next. Let's discuss.

en-gb

00:12:39

How Trump Is Breaking the Last Barrier to Dictatorship

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/17

The most frequent setbacks to the Trump Administration have been in the courts, up to and including the Supreme Court with its Trump-appointed judges - as things it seeks to do are found to be illegal. Of course, this has been met with Trump bluster - lots of name calling and probably empty threats to do with impeachment. But the authoritarian playbook has plenty of history for how such issues get dealt with - and now Trump is making a move that firmly follows exactly that guide. And if this line

en-gb

00:11:12

Why Ukraine Made The Iran War Inevitable

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/16

The G7 summit is under way in Canada, and the biggest agenda item by far is the war between Israel and Iran. Almost certainly, nothing said or done there will make the slightest difference. Since Russia's war on Ukraine showed up the brutal logic of nuclear-armed power, the entire world has shifted in ways that weren't first apparent. And that means that Israel will stop at nothing to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons - and this conflict likely will just be the first of its kind. Let's

en-gb

00:15:41

The Alarming Rise of Political Violence in America

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/15

This weekend, we saw the tragic eruption once again of political violence in America. Unfortunately, this is just the extreme end of a growing wave of threats, intimidation and occasionally worse that is hitting public officials at all levels. While America has gone through waves of more and less violent periods in its recent past, this wave is distinctive, and it is very much coming as part and parcel of a new authoritarian moment. Such times call for clear heads and careful analysis, so let's make

en-gb

00:20:11

Trump’s Quiet Immigration U-Turn Just Exposed His...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/14

Something happened almost, but not quite, unnoticed. Trump admitted that his administration's approach to its mass deportation project was having a major consequence - and the policy on illegal immigration has been quietly changed as a result. That in itself is quite interesting - but it actually reflects a solid reason why Trump's authoritarian experiment can only ever go so far before it hits similar roadblocks. And while his populist playbook is highly effective, it gives hints as to how it can

en-gb

00:14:45

Israel’s Iran Attack Just Exposed Trump’s Biggest...

Mallen Baker: Faultlines ·

2025/06/13

Israel has transformed the world geopolitical stage again by launching a direct and sustained assault on Iran. It wrongfooted President Trump by doing so in open defiance of his wishes, and it has presented him with a massive dilemma. Because the president who is both Israel's staunch ally AND the president who promised not to get involved in foreign wars, is now caught on the edge of events he can't control. The day before he's due to strut in front of the largest and most powerful army in the

en-gb

541 results

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger