A post-Soviet basketcase in the 1990s, Poland is now arguably Russia’s greatest adversary in Nato.

Beginning with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but accelerated by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has super-charged its military to become the largest in Europe, with over 200,000 men under arms - more than twice as many as the UK.

As a proportion of national wealth, it now spends more on defence than even America. So how did this happen, what are the implications, and are there lessons to be learned for the UK?

Host:Tom Newton Dunn

Guests: Oliver Moody and Bartosz Kielak

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Photo: Getty Images

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the UK is to present a credible deterrence to any adversary, its armed forces need to be sufficiently large. They are not. And the fastest, most economical, way of plugging the gap is by growing the reserves. The Chief of the defence staff recently called for an 'all in mentality', urging civilians to step up to the very real threat posed by Russia. Not 'weekend warriors', but people from high-tech industries and professions, skills the regular army lacks. He meant all of us. So, who could join the reserves, how quickly, and what would they get out of it?

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guests: Elisabeth Braw and Peter Apps

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Photo: Getty Images

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the space race and the arms race, only a human could determine an outcome. But what happens in war when AI, and not a human, takes the decision to pull the trigger? If AI can equal human capabilities, Artificial 'superintelligence' is smarter, potentially putting ASI beyond human control.

Jon Wolfsthal worked in the Obama White House on nuclear non-proliferation. He, like scores of others in defence, diplomacy and AI, has signed a petition calling for a ban on superintelligence, unless and until it can be controlled. He joined Patrick and Tom from New York to spell out exactly why we must stop our nuclear and biological weapons being run by machines.

But, don't worry, it gets lighter. Jon is a massive fan of sci-fi. Turns out, so are Patrick and Tom. The three of them swap film and book faves, from Prometheus to Frankenstein, Alien to Terminator, and talk about how they all foreshadowed this artificial intelligence moment.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Jon Wolfsthal

Producer: Sophie McNulty

Clip: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Photo: Getty Images

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