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.

In this episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton explores how the liberal order is unraveling both internationally and within the United States. He begins with Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum, highlighting the erosion of the liberal international system and the pragmatic, transactional approach middle powers are now adopting. He then connects this to domestic US politics, examining the expansion of ICE enforcement and rising political polarisation, showing how similar dynamics of power, authority, and declining norms are playing out domestically. By linking these two stories, the episode explores how familiar norms and expectations are changing on the global stage and in American society.

In this episode of Ten Minutes On, podcast creator and host Guy Burton examines the International Monetary Fund’s latest global growth forecast and asks how much confidence we should place in it. While the headline figures suggest steady expansion, the episode looks beneath the surface at where growth is actually coming from, the risks posed by trade tensions, and the growing reliance on productivity gains from artificial intelligence. It also explores deeper structural shifts in global trade, the geopolitical struggle over supply chains, and longstanding concerns about optimism in IMF forecasting. Taken together, the episode questions whether reassuring projections may be underestimating the economic and political uncertainties shaping the global economy.

This week on Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton uses the Grok controversy on X as a lens to examine football’s online choices. He asks why Premier League clubs remain active on a platform whose design amplifies abuse and misogyny, despite the FA running safeguarding and anti-racism campaigns and when more than 70% of Premier League players are non-British—the very groups targeted by online hostility. He also highlights Elon Musk’s support for far-right figures like Tommy Robinson, who organises anti-migrant marches, and challenges fans to question whether their club’s social media presence aligns with the values it claims to uphold.

In this episode of Ten Minutes On, Guy Burton examines the US operation against Venezuela and what it reveals about a world in which rules increasingly no longer hold. Using the removal of Nicolás Maduro as a starting point, the episode explores historical precedents, global reactions, and the limits of international law when exercised against powerful states. It argues that rather than moving towards a new Cold War or a coherent replacement for the liberal international order, the global system may be settling into a condition of permanent fracture. The episode suggests that under Trump the international order is being dismantled from within—leaving disorder, rather than transition, as the defining feature of contemporary world politics.

Can frozen Russian assets really be used to rebuild Ukraine — or is this more leverage than solution? In this episode of Ten Minutes On…, Guy Burton unpacks the European Union’s decision to indefinitely freeze around €210 billion in Russian central bank reserves held in Europe, and why this move matters far beyond the Ukraine war.

We explain what these assets actually are, how they ended up in European financial institutions like Euroclear, and why the EU has shifted from temporary renewals to an indefinite freeze. The episode explores what Europe hopes to achieve, why outright confiscation remains legally contested, and how interest from the frozen funds is already being used to support Ukraine.

The discussion also breaks down the U.S. position under President Trump in 2025, divisions within Congress, Russia’s response, and claims of reputational damage to Western financial systems. Drawing on historical comparisons — from Iraq and Libya to Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia — the episode examines when frozen state assets have helped reconstruction, when they have failed, and why success is so rare.

This episode offers clear context behind the headlines, showing how sanctions, sovereign assets, and post-war reconstruction intersect — and what the Russia–Ukraine case reveals about the future of financial statecraft, international law, and global security.