In this week's episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton examines how the 2026 Munich Security Conference (MSC) was reported and interpreted across the world. While Western media framed Munich as a test of the transatlantic alliance and Europe’s defence commitments, coverage from the Global South focused on systemic strain, shifting power balances, and the limits of Western-led security governance.

Drawing on multilingual reporting from Europe, the United States, East Asia, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East, this episode compares narratives around NATO, Ukraine, multilateralism and the so-called rules-based international order. What emerges is not just a debate about alliance politics, but a deeper divide over the future of global security, multipolarity, and the potential impact that non-Western voices may have in shaping the international system.

In this episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton examines the United States’ parallel attempts to shape outcomes in two very different conflicts: negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Although Washington positions itself as an antagonist in one case and a mediator in the other, both processes are marked by deep mistrust, widening gaps between the parties and growing pressure for results. By unpacking the goals, constraints and domestic contexts facing Iran, Ukraine, Russia and the United States, the episode explores what these talks reveal about the limits of diplomacy, the timing of conflict resolution and whether negotiations can succeed before the costs of war and confrontation truly outweigh their perceived benefits.

In this week's episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton explores two seemingly separate AI stories that reveal a shared and unsettling pattern. On one side is the intensifying geopolitical battle over advanced semiconductors, as the United States, China and Europe struggle to balance national security, business interests and technological dominance. On the other is the rise of AI agents interacting with each other on a new social media platform, fuelling sensational claims about artificial intelligence replacing humans. Together, these stories expose the growing gap between hype and reality in AI development, the limits of today’s “narrow” AI and the deeper political and economic tensions shaping its future. Rather than heralding an imminent technological revolution, the episode asks what these developments really tell us about power, governance and who controls the systems increasingly shaping our world.