Jack Watling: The Next Great War Is Already Taking Shape. What Happens Next Decides Everything

Jack Watling: The Next Great War Is Already Taking Shape. What Happens Next Decides Everything

From Decoding Geopolitics Podcast with Dominik Presl by Decoding Geopolitics

April 20, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

Jack Watling discusses the evolving geopolitical landscape and the implications for global powers.

➡️ Watch the full interview ad-free, join a community of geopolitics enthusiasts and gain access to exclusive content on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingGeopolitics ➡️ Buy your own Geopolitics of the Western Pacific Map Print: https://decoding-geopolitics-shop.fourthwall.com/ ➡️ Sign up to my free geopolitics newsletter: https://stationzero.substack.com/ This is a conversation with Jack Watling, a Senior Research Fellow at RUSI and one of the most brilliant defence analysts in Europe. He is the author of Statecraft — a book about how the rules of global powers have radically changed over the last decade and what the West needs to do to survive what’s coming next. We get into why a beaten-down and much weaker Iran may end up coming out of its current war with the much more powerful United States in a stronger position than before, and what that says about American power. We talk about Taiwan, and why Jack's assessment of what's coming there is much darker than what you usually hear. We talk into Russia and Ukraine — why the West has consistently misunderstood about Moscow’s behavior and what are the costs of that, and why 2026 is the inflection point of the war and where…

People in this episode

Host: Dominik Presl

Guest: Jack Watling

Topics covered

  • geopolitics
  • defense analysis
  • Iran
  • Taiwan
  • Russia-Ukraine conflict
  • American power
  • future warfare

Keywords

  • geopolitics
  • defense
  • Iran
  • Taiwan
  • Russia
  • Ukraine
  • American power
  • Statecraft

Sponsors

PATREON

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: RUSI

Books & works: Statecraft

Places: Iran, United States, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine

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