Chaos Theory
- Episodios
- 3
- Último episodio
- 13 Oct 2026
Sobre el podcast
Chaos Theory unpicks the complexity of a fragmenting world. It is hosted by Hassan Damluji and Mike Martin.
Reaching behind the events that shape the news, the duo discuss the real calculus for political leaders as they navigate the shifting plates of our international order.
Hassan, a former executive at the Gates Foundation, now advises governments and international organizations on global challenges like pandemics and climate change; Mike, a former British Army officer and writer on conflict, was elected in 2024 as a British Member of Parliament and sits on the Defence Select Committee.
Whether it be war or peace, crisis or development, Hassan and Mike expose the true currents shaping global events.
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Mike Martin MP has authored several major books on conflict, most recently ‘How to Fight A War’ (Hurst, 2023). As a Pashto-speaking British officer in Afghanistan, he reinvented the role of political officer for the modern age and has since advised militaries all over the world on this approach. In 2024 he was elected Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, a seat that had been held by the Conservative Party for 114 years. As an MP and a member of the UK Defence Select Committee, Mike sits at the interface of international geopolitical challenges, government, and the day-to-day concerns of voters.
Hassan Damluji is the founder and Executive Director of Global Nation, a think tank focused on strengthening international cooperation. He is also Senior Fellow in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Hassan is a senior advisor to many of the largest global philanthropies, UN agencies and governments, helping them to build concrete initiatives to tackle global challenges. His book, The Responsible Globalist (Allan Lane, 2019) set out a bold theory for how to strengthen international cooperation, which he now works to implement through his think tank, Global Nation.
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Episodios 3
Will Russia and America Break Europe Apart?
Hassan draws on his expertise in pandemic preparedness and prevention to assess the headlines about the plague in Russia. Mike, back from Parliamentary recess, considers the latest phase of Russia’s war on …
Notas del episodio
Hassan draws on his expertise in pandemic preparedness and prevention to assess the headlines about the plague in Russia. Mike, back from Parliamentary recess, considers the latest phase of Russia’s war on Ukraine and how Europe is being squeezed between the pincers of Putin and Trump.
They discuss why we should not expect Russia to be open about what really happened, but why there is no need to panic just yet. They also examine the impact of Trump’s new deal to buy diesel from Russia, the tenacious differences between political cultures and why deeper European integration appears unlikely.
00:00 Intro
01:47 Pandemic Risk: Ebola
04:49 Plague Outbreak in Siberia
10:29 The Challenges of Data Sharing
13:58 Russia’s Political Culture of Secrecy
20:48 Is War in Europe Escalating?
24:42 Putin’s Tactics Explained
29:58 Will Europe Rally Together?
34:02 Building A European Political Culture
37:54 Europe’s Security Integration
42:23 How Nations Are Made
45:25 Who Can Lead Europe?
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Can Democracy Survive AI Imperialism?
Welcome back to Chaos Theory! Hassan has just returned from the UN General Assembly, where winning the AI race was top of the agenda. Mike's party has just won a council by-election against a Reform campaign …
Notas del episodio
Welcome back to Chaos Theory!
Hassan has just returned from the UN General Assembly, where winning the AI race was top of the agenda. Mike's party has just won a council by-election against a Reform campaign that was heavily backed by crypto billionaire money. AI is new, but we’ve seen this movie before. The last time a few countries pulled ahead in a technological race, the result was colonialism, deep inequality and exploitation.
Most countries, Europe included, are not doing enough to prevent history repeating itself. And this time they'll be the losers. The worst impacts are still to come, but Hassan and Mike talk about the disruption that is already visible, including billionaires using the AI era to serve their own interests and politics, and weakening democracy as a result.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:58 Are We Racing to AI Imperialism?
09:45 Replicating China's Strategy
16:06 AI as Offensive Weapon
19:21 Can Middle Powers Achieve 'Non-Dependence'
24:47 Return To The Law of The Jungle
27:55 Will The US Invade its Allies?
32:45 Whoever Wins AI, Wins?
34:57 Mike's Council By-Election vs. Reform
38:30 Campaigning Against Reform's Crypto Millions
43:54 Farage Says You Can't Change Electoral Law
49:10 Is US-Led Tech Imperialism Dividing the UK?
54:01 Can Democracy Survive?
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How Iran and Ukraine Became One War
Why has Iran's regime survived a war with Israel and the US - two of the world's most advanced militaries? Why can't Russia, with one of the most powerful armed forces, defeat Ukraine? And what do these two …
Notas del episodio
Why has Iran's regime survived a war with Israel and the US - two of the world's most advanced militaries? Why can't Russia, with one of the most powerful armed forces, defeat Ukraine? And what do these two conflicts, thousands of miles apart, have to do with each other?
In the first episode of Chaos Theory, Hassan Damluji and Mike Martin MP argue that Ukraine and Iran are merging into a single war, fought on two fronts, and together they reveal the fault lines of our fracturing world order.
Hassan and Mike unpack why raw military power keeps failing to deliver victory, what the war in Ukraine and the conflict with Iran reveal about the limits of US and Russian strength, and why the outcomes of both will shape the global balance of power for a generation.
Join Hassan and Mike for the first episode of Chaos Theory, a new podcast about the geopolitics of war, power, and our fracturing international order.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
03:52 The Iran War is Expanding
09:06 Never Fight Mountain Folk
12:58 Why Are Arab Armed Forces So Ineffective?
16:05 Has American Security Collapsed In The Gulf?
18:28 Ukraine’s Alliance with The Gulf
21:27 Developments in Drone Warfare
25:03 Can Ukraine Survive?
27:38 How Ukraine and Iran Became One Conflict
30:18 Cold War 2
33:54 The Pathway to World War Escalation
37:39 An Optimistic Case
40:53 25th Anniversary of 9/11
44:20 Trump’s Diesel Price Nonsense
46:47 Are China Long-Term Winners
50:01 Did US Allow Saudi To Fail?
52:15 Will China Ever Expand Into The Gulf?
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