Mallen Baker: Faultlines

Mar 09 2025 234 ep. 28 mins 147

Mallen Baker: Faultlines Podcast artwork

'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 Education

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Is Mallen 'off the fence' on President Trump?

Mar 09 2025 15 mins

I've had a couple of YouTube comments recently asking if the slightly different tone of videos in the last few weeks means that the non-partisan position of the channel has been put aside. In other words, am I now 'off the fence' - at least when it comes to Donald Trump? This doesn't quite catch the whole point of non-partisanship as practiced on this channel, so I thought it was w

Yes, Trump really DOES mean to annex Canada

Mar 08 2025 9 mins

When he first said it, everyone thought he was joking. It was a joke that Canadians found insulting, but even so. But then in subsequent discussions, Canadian prime minister Trudeau and his officials found that Trump was getting very specifically detailed in the treaties and historical agreements that defined Canada's border - documents he feels can be disregarded. Quickly they cam

Trump just killed NATO - but they won't admit it

Mar 07 2025 11 mins

The current European leaders, along with the NATO Secretary General, are all agreed that NATO remains solid, the United States partnership likewise, the mutual defence promise at the heart of the Treaty has the full commitment of President Trump. And we all know that they don't believe that at all. They say it because they hope that they can buy time to backfill the NATO joint effe

Trump's secret moves to bring down Zelensky

Mar 06 2025 13 mins

Today it was revealed that senior members of the Trump administration have been talking to the political opposition in Ukraine, seeking to find who would be the alternative leader to Zelensky who would be more palatable to Vladimir Putin, and who would embrace America's help to get them elected? This is all in line with the plan we know the US and Russia discussed - to bring in a c

Ukraine's Zelensky is walking into a trap

Mar 05 2025 16 mins

Zelensky has sent the letter to president Trump that was demanded - agreeing to sign the one-sided minerals deal, to put himself 'under Trump's strong leadership' and to agree to an early ceasefire. This is what Ukraine's European allies, such as Keir Starmer from Britain, and Emmanuel Macron from France, have urged him to do. But it's a trap. He knows it's a trap. They may or may

European peace plan in tatters as Trump cancels Ukraine support

Mar 04 2025 13 mins

In spite of Europe's hopes that somehow there would be a path to keeping Trump onside with supporting Ukraine, the inevitability of the dashing of those hopes is now plain to see. Trump has pulled military support for Ukraine - including weapons that were agreed before he came to office that were literally in the process of being delivered. The intent is clearly to put maximum pres

Trump's pro-Putin anti-Zelensky stance hardens

Mar 03 2025 15 mins

Europe and Ukraine's desperate plan is to win back Trump to the cause of supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. But while they work on the details of that, the US is relaxing more of its measures against Russia and signalling a ramping up of the normalisation of relations. The Kremlin is delighted - and a Putin Trump summit is now being fast-tracked. And MAGA voices,

The Starmer plan to win Trump for Ukraine back - and why it will fail

Mar 02 2025 16 mins

Europe has been regrouping with president Zelensky and trying to come to terms with the fallout from the massive meltdown in the Oval Office on Friday. And British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is primed to act as a key facilitator to bring Ukraine and the US together - putting together an alternative peace plan that Trump can support, which will have concrete security guarantees. Th

What nobody's saying about the Oval Office meltdown

Mar 01 2025 14 mins

Macron and Starmer had had visits to the White House that had been described as triumphs, simply because they avoided humiliation. In other words, they avoided exactly what then happened with President Zelensky at the end of the week. But he had a much harder job than they did - they had been able to fail on Ukraine gracefully, but he did not have that option. Most of the commentar

Starmer's visit to Trump - not quite a triumph

Feb 28 2025 8 mins

We are being told that UK prime minister Keir Starmer's visit to Trump in the White House was a 'triumph'. On one level - that of managing a potential unpredictable encounter that could have spiralled off into embarrassment at any point - I suppose it was. But in terms of the real meat of the discussion - the clash between the new Trump 'might-makes-right' world order, and the old