Political Violence on the Rise and Israel's Plot to Install Ahmadinejad | Espresso Martini

Political Violence on the Rise and Israel's Plot to Install Ahmadinejad | Espresso Martini

For years, according to a New York Times report, Mossad quietly cultivated former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denier who once called for Israel's destruction, as the man it hoped to install in Tehran. The plan collapsed on the opening day of the war, when he lost his nerve in a Mossad safe house. Chris and Matt trace how a run of tactical brilliance curdled into strategic fantasy, then turn to Pickaxe Mountain — the buried nuclear site Trump keeps threatening to strike, but that even America's largest bunker-buster may not reach — and ask whether hitting it ends anything. They also examine how Japan has become a haven for Russian procurement networks supporting its war machine in Ukraine, and the forces driving political violence across the West after the killing of Ann Widdecombe, before closing on the life of the late James Woolsey, Bill Clinton's first CIA director.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Take our audience survey: https://forms.gle/eFx59XntNtiKzNQa8

Support Secrets and Spies
Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies
Buy merchandise from our Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996
Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies
Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg
For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Articles discussed in today’s episode

"‘It becomes inevitable’: the toxic mix fuelling deadly political violence around world" by John Henley | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/inevitable-toxic-mix-fuelling-deadly-political-violence-world

"Inside Israel’s Secret Operation to Cultivate Ahmadinejad" by Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes, Farnaz Fassihi & Ronen Bergman | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/us/politics/israel-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-iran.html

"Israel Thought It Could Spur Rebellion Inside Iran. That Hasn’t Happened." by Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes, Edward Wong & Ronen Bergman | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/us/politics/iran-israel-trump-netanyahu-mossad.html

"Trump’s Threat To Strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain Bunker’s 'Front Door' Underscores Targeting Challenges" by Joseph Trevithick | The War Zone: https://www.twz.com/news-features/trumps-threat-to-strike-irans-pickaxe-mountain-bunkers-front-door-underscores-targeting-challenges

"How Putin Turned Japan Into a Den of Spies" by Jane Bradley, Michael Schwirtz & Adam Goldman | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/world/asia/russia-spies-japan-war-drones-electronics.html

"A Russian Spy, Suddenly Cast Into the Spotlight, Flees Japan" by Michael Schwirtz, Adam Goldman & Jane Bradley | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/world/asia/russian-spy-flees-japan.html (published after recording)

"James Woolsey, CIA director under Bill Clinton, dies at 84" by Bob Drogin | The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2026/07/21/james-woolsey-cia-director-under-bill-clinton-dies-84/

Connect with us on social media
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social
X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies
Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies
Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies
Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/
Music by Andrew R. Bird
Photos by Fatemah Bahrami/Anadolu, Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(351)

RAF Fairford, Flydubai, and the FBI | Espresso Martini

RAF Fairford, Flydubai, and the FBI | Espresso Martini

Chris and Matt start at RAF Fairford, where the arrest of five men outside the US bomber base, their swift release on bail, and a widening inquiry into possible Iranian involvement were followed by th...

10 Loka 1h 3min

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

Sam Lichtenstein, director of analysis at the global risk intelligence firm RANE, returns to walk Chris through RANE's 2025–2035 decade forecast: a multipolar world in which no great power has the wil...

3 Loka 59min

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Every week, the Security Council of the Russian Federation publishes a digest of world events as Moscow sees them. Investigative journalist Dave Troy has been reading them closely, and he argues they ...

26 Syys 1h 7min

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

Beginning in 1949, officially non-aligned Sweden did something it kept secret for half a century: in close cooperation with the CIA and MI6, it built a clandestine civilian resistance network meant to...

19 Syys 1h 9min

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

Journalist Gil Durán spent years in political consulting before returning to reporting, and eventually, to the beat that became the subject of his book, The Nerd Reich. He joins Chris to lay out his c...

12 Syys 59min

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Chris and Matt open season eleven, and Secrets & Spies’ tenth anniversary, with three stories from a busy August. First, CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow, a rare visit by an agency chief s...

5 Syys 1h 16min

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

Before Bletchley Park, there was Reginald "Blinker" Hall, the Admiralty’s mercurial intelligence chief whose codebreakers read Germany’s wireless traffic during World War I, giving Britain a front-row...

29 Elo 42min

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Peter J. Ortiz was the most battle-decorated member of the OSS, America’s wartime forerunner to the CIA, and one of the most decorated Marines of the Second World War. In 1944, the former French Forei...

22 Elo 48min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
vallattomat
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-viihde-media
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-voi-venaja
the-ulkopolitist
tervo-halme
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-toisten-taskuilla
rss-vihrea-tuuma
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rss-podme-livebox