DR. BILJANA VANKOVSKA | THE BALKANS — EU HOSTAGES WITH STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

DR. BILJANA VANKOVSKA | THE BALKANS — EU HOSTAGES WITH STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

For decades, the Balkans were promised a future inside the European Union. Instead, much of the region remains trapped between endless conditions, political dependency, and constantly shifting rules. In this episode, Professor Biljana Vankovska discusses NATO dependency, the erosion of international law, the war in Ukraine, Gaza, the European Union’s growing identity crisis, and why many people across the Balkans increasingly feel like permanent hostages of the EU accession process. From North Macedonia’s name change to the collapse of the Open Balkan project, this is a conversation about power, dependency, political frustration — and a region still waiting for answers.

Dr. Roger Higginson | The West’s Fatal Miscalculation

For decades, the West has viewed Iran through the lens of extremism, nuclear fears, sanctions, and permanent crisis. But beneath the revolutionary rhetoric lies something much older: a civilization shaped by invasion, survival, isolation, and a deep fear of collapse. In this episode of Frontlines & Backrooms, Dr. Roger Higginson joins us for a long-form conversation on how Tehran actually sees the world — from its historical memory and strategic paranoia to regime survival, proxy wars, geography, nationalism, and the growing Russia–China–Iran axis. We discuss why so many Western assumptions about Iran continue to fail, how negotiations collapsed under military pressure, why Tehran sees itself as a besieged state rather than an expansionist one, and why regime change logic may be one of the greatest strategic miscalculations of the modern Middle East. This is Iran explained from the Iranian perspective.

OMER BARTOV | Israel, Zionism, and the Battle for Historical Memory

In this episode of Frontlines & Backrooms, historian Omer Bartov joins us for a deeply personal and historically charged conversation about Israel, Zionism, Gaza, historical trauma, collective denial, and the dangerous collapse of moral certainty after October 7th. Born in Israel and raised on a left-wing socialist kibbutz, Bartov reflects not only as one of the world’s leading historians of genocide and mass violence, but also as someone whose own life is deeply tied to the history he studies. Together, we explore the transformation of Israeli society over decades, the legacy of the Nakba, the political evolution of Zionism, the radicalization of the IDF, Holocaust memory, occupation, and the psychological consequences of building national identity around fear, trauma, and denial. The conversation also moves beyond Israel itself and confronts a broader question facing many societies today: what happens when nations refuse to confront the darkest parts of their own history? This is not a debate built around slogans, headlines, or ideological performance. It is a long-form historical conversation about memory, power, violence, identity, and the stories nations tell themselves in order to survive. Frontlines & Backrooms - Subscribe to our Substack Frontlines & Backrooms | Substack [https://frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com/]Independent geopolitical analysis, political history, and long-form conversations beyond the noise.

James D. Boys | The Madman Theory: Nixon’s Secret, Trump’s Playbook, and Why the World Is Hooked

What if unpredictability itself has become a weapon of power? From Richard Nixon’s “Madman Theory” to today’s politics of strategic unpredictability, uncertainty itself is once again becoming a weapon of power. At a moment when wars are expanding and the post-Cold War order appears increasingly unstable, one question is moving back to the center of global politics: Is unpredictability becoming the new language of power? And what happens when the world begins to believe the threats may actually be real? This week on Frontlines & Backrooms, we speak with Dr. James D. Boys, Senior Research Fellow at University College London’s Centre on US Politics and author of US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory, published by Manchester University Press. Together, we examine: * the origins of the Madman Theory inside American grand strategy, * how Nixon and Kissinger attempted to weaponize unpredictability during Vietnam, * whether Donald Trump revived elements of the strategy in the digital age, * NATO, Europe, China, Russia, Greenland, and the emerging geopolitical struggle over power and strategic influence, * and whether the world is now entering a far more unstable era of international politics. Dr. Boys also argues that many observers misunderstand the Trump presidency by focusing only on daily statements and controversies, rather than examining the broader strategic direction emerging underneath the noise. This conversation is not an endorsement of any administration or ideology. It is an attempt to understand how power is exercised in an increasingly unstable international system — and why the politics of uncertainty may shape the decades ahead. For further reading:– James D. Boys website: https://www.jamesdboys.com/ [https://www.jamesdboys.com/] – US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/US-Grand-Strategy-Madman-Theory/dp/1526197457 – Manchester University Press page for the book: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526197450/ [https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526197450/] – U.S. National Security Strategy Review document: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Biden-Harris-Administrations-National-Security-Strategy-10.2022.pdf [https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Biden-Harris-Administrations-National-Security-Strategy-10.2022.pdf]

Samira Mohyeddin | Israel, Iran, and the Collapse of Western Credibility

Journalist, broadcaster, and founder of On The Line Media, Samira Mohyeddin joins Frontlines & Backrooms for a conversation on the war with Iran, the collapse of Western credibility, Israel’s media strategy, and the growing crisis inside legacy journalism. We discuss Trump and Netanyahu, regime change, social media warfare, Gaza, propaganda, the Iranian diaspora, and why Mohyeddin believes journalism should confront power — not protect it. Subscribe on Substack for full conversations, analysis, transcripts, and upcoming episodes. https://frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com