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frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
frontlinebackroom.bsky.social
@frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
Frontlines & Backrooms is a long-form geopolitical publication and podcast focused on war, diplomacy, power, and international affairs.
No slogans. No outrage.
https://frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
Vučić has the party machine. The students have a generation demanding change. Can they turn packed streets into votes and end fourteen years of his rule?

Serbia at a Crossroads: our new analysis for Frontlines & Backrooms.
Serbia at a Crossroads: Vučić’s Machine Against the Student Wave
The students have shaken the government. Can they turn that revolt into votes and end fourteen years of Vučić’s rule?
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
October 6, 2026 at 5:52 PM
The walkout made headlines. The words spoken from the UN podium deserve more attention.
But Trump and Netanyahu have a bigger problem: the world can see what is happening in Gaza, regardless of what they say from the UN podium. They have lost the battle for the narrative.

Read, share and subscribe.
When Civilization Speaks the Language of Barbarism
Kennedy offered cooperation with an enemy. Trump threatened annihilation. Netanyahu called departing diplomats moral cowards.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
September 27, 2026 at 1:24 PM
Europe needs to rearm. But a signed contract cannot intercept a missile. Bigger defence budgets must deliver real protection, with governments held accountable for the results.

If this kind of analysis matters to you, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms.
Europe’s Defence Bill Is Rising. Is Its Security?
Rearming Europe is necessary. Governments must show what the money will deliver, when it will be ready and who answers for delays.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
September 22, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Nuclear war is called unthinkable, yet nuclear states plan for it every day. Ankit Panda @nktpnd.bsky.social joins Frontlines & Backrooms to explain why Washington believes it can be managed and won, why the old order is collapsing, and why North Korea may be the most immediate danger.
Listen to:
Ankit Panda | Managed Armageddon
Ankit Panda on why American planners still prepare to prevail, why the nuclear taboo may be a myth, and how AI could trigger the crisis no one intended.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
September 11, 2026 at 2:21 PM
AfD won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt, yet Germany’s political and media establishment acts surprised. It shouldn’t. Voters have been talking about rent, jobs, immigration, and insecurity. The mainstream stopped listening.

Read our new Brief and subscribe to our Substack.
The AfD Shatters the Firewall in Saxony-Anhalt: Why the Mainstream Media Still Doesn’t Get It
From Lisbon to Magdeburg, Europe’s political establishment is shocked by the rise of populism. They shouldn't be.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
September 7, 2026 at 6:42 PM
From Dayton to Mecca: why diplomacy needs closed doors, and why Trump’s Washington can no longer provide them.

If this kind of analysis matters to you, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms. Before events reach the frontlines, decisions are made elsewhere - in the backrooms.
The End of the Backroom
How Diplomacy Became a Public Performance
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
September 2, 2026 at 3:19 PM
In 2012, while covering the Obama-Romney campaign in New Mexico, I saw portraits of eight elderly residents of Claunch. I looked at Faris.

“When are we going?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Fourteen years later, I returned to the story of a town, its people and an America that now feels much farther away.
The Road to Claunch
A journey into a forgotten New Mexico town and an America that now feels much farther away.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
August 16, 2026 at 8:53 PM
What happens when a superpower fires weapons faster than it can replace them?

The answer is not confined to Iran.

The Shell Game: How Iran Drained America’s Arsenals

Read the full analysis:

If this kind of analysis matters to you, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms.
The Shell Game: How Iran Drained America’s Arsenals
The war in the Middle East is consuming the weapons Ukraine needs, Taiwan counts on, and Europe assumed America would always have.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
August 14, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Benjamin Netanyahu needed ten days to wreck Donald Trump’s “historic” Gaza deal.

The bigger question is why Washington still cannot impose the terms of its own plan on Israel.

"Netanyahu’s No That Crashed Trump’s Historic Deal"

Now on Frontlines & Backrooms. Subscribe.
Netanyahu’s No That Crashed Trump’s Historic Deal
How Benjamin Netanyahu Undermined a UN Resolution, a 27-Nation Board and Donald Trump’s Middle East Exit Strategy in Just Ten Days
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
August 11, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Park Geun-hye received the first report on the Sewol disaster in the morning. She appeared publicly seven hours later.

Those missing hours helped shatter public trust and exposed a presidency cut off from reality.

The Decision - Seven Hours of Silence That Sealed Park Geun-hye’s Downfall
The Decision: Seven Hours of Silence That Sealed Park Geun-hye’s Downfall
How a president’s absence during the Sewol disaster exposed a broken system - and helped destroy her presidency.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
August 9, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Everything you need to know ahead of Zelenskyy’s historic visit to Belgrade tomorrow.

What Kyiv wants from Serbia. What Vučić wants in return. And why Moscow will be watching closely.

Zelensky’s Visit - Vučić’s Masterful Gambit

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Zelensky’s Visit - Vučić’s Masterful Gambit
What Zelenskyy Wants From Serbia - and What Vučić Wants in Return
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
August 7, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Europe outsourced part of its border security to Morocco. Rabat says it pays most of the bill. Spain pays the political price.

The EU meeting after Ceuta exposed a system built on money, leverage and denial.

Rabat’s Bill for Europe - now live on Frontlines & Backrooms.
RABAT’S BILL FOR EUROPE
How Europe Outsourced Its Border, Underpaid Morocco and Left Spain to Pay the Political Price
open.substack.com
August 4, 2026 at 5:34 PM
More than 50,000 people entered Ceuta. Almost all returned to Morocco. Not one reached mainland Spain.

Still, Europe declared a crisis.

Our new Brief looks at how media panic replaced facts - and why Spain was the wrong target.

Feel free to subscribe to our Substack.
THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD IN CEUTA
How Media and Political Panic Overrode the Facts
open.substack.com
August 1, 2026 at 7:41 PM
78 days. 1,400+ cluster bombs. 15 tons of depleted uranium. No UN Security Council mandate.

In 1999, NATO called it “illegal, but legitimate.” Twenty-seven years later, that logic still shapes war.

New article on Frontlines & Backrooms.

Feel free to subscribe to our Substack.
Illegal, But Legitimate: When NATO Redefined the Rules
Twenty-seven years before Trump threatened bridges and power plants, NATO spent 78 days destroying them across Yugoslavia - and called it legitimate.
open.substack.com
July 30, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Saudi Arabia wants nuclear power. The real dispute is who controls uranium enrichment.

Riyadh links it to normalization with Israel and US security guarantees, while keeping China as an alternative.

The Price of Normalization: Saudi Nuclear Poker with Washington.
The Price of Normalization: Saudi Nuclear Poker with Washington
How Saudi Arabia turned uranium enrichment into the price of normalization with Israel - and a test of whether Washington can still keep Riyadh in its orbit.
open.substack.com
July 27, 2026 at 5:11 PM
When Ebola reached Liberia’s capital, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf faced an impossible choice:

Could protecting the country justify sealing off an entire part of Monrovia?

What followed became one of the most controversial decisions of her presidency.

THE DECISION: THE SIEGE OF WEST POINT
THE DECISION: THE SIEGE OF WEST POINT
How a ten-day quarantine turned a public health emergency into a crisis of trust, violence and state power.
frontlinesbackrooms.substack.com
July 25, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Europe is aging. Its workforce is shrinking. Politicians still promise fewer migrants, protected pensions and lower taxes.

The numbers say something has to give.

Who exactly is supposed to keep Europe running?

The Aging Continent: The Quiet Destruction of Europe’s Social State
The Aging Continent: The Quiet Destruction of Europe’s Social State
Europe is aging, its workforce is shrinking, and politicians still promise fewer migrants, protected pensions and lower taxes. The numbers say something has to give.
open.substack.com
July 24, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Za Bluesky skraćena verzija:

The final episode of Season 2.

Dina Matar, @soasuni.bsky.social, on how Palestinian history was erased, victims reduced to numbers, and Western media turned “balance” into another form of complicity.

Dina Matar | Western Media as a Propaganda Tool for Israel
Dina Matar | Western Media as a Propaganda Tool for Israel
How history was erased, Palestinian lives reduced to statistics, and “balance” became another form of complicity.
open.substack.com
July 22, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Five months into the US-Iran war, there is still no clear objective, no timeline and no exit strategy.

The ceasefire is over. The conflict is spreading across the region.

Our latest Monday Brief:

Middle East – A Region on the Brink of Total War
Middle East – A Region on the Brink of Total War
The War Without an Exit: Why the US-Iran Conflict Is Entering Its Most Dangerous Phase
open.substack.com
July 20, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Bosnia and Herzegovina has exposed something bigger than its own dysfunction: the growing inconsistency of the EU's enlargement policy.

New analysis now available on our Substack.

If this kind of analysis matters to you, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms.
Fitting the Straitjacket: How Bosnia and Herzegovina Negotiates with the EU
The story of Bosnia and Herzegovina's path to the EU is not about enlargement. It is about what happens when political reality collides with constitutional design.
open.substack.com
July 17, 2026 at 12:44 PM
"The two-state solution is a fig leaf. It's smoke and mirrors."

Historian Zachary Foster takes us from the origins of Zionism and the Nakba to Gaza today, arguing that expulsion was never a single event but an ongoing process.

The episode is now available.
Zachary Foster | Gaza Was Created as a Warehouse for Superfluous People
The expulsion of Palestinians has occupied the energy, resources, money and weapons of the Israeli state every minute of every day for the past 78 years.
open.substack.com
July 15, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Some stories stay with you long after you leave the place where they began.
Today, I'm sharing one of mine.

"8,372 and the Weight of Coffin No. 403."

If this kind of stories matters to you, subscribe to our Substack.
8,372 and the Weight of Coffin No. 403
She had no name. I never saw her face. Yet she became the reason why 8,372 could never again be just a number.
open.substack.com
July 13, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Back in Dec 2025, we made a choice to air this conversation with Zachary Foster as part of a two-part documentary on Gaza.

This Wednesday, we are releasing it standalone and unedited for the first time.

Until then, listen to Benny Morris for the full context.

open.substack.com/pub/frontlin...
July 12, 2026 at 12:40 PM
In January 2009, Europe was freezing. Yulia Tymoshenko flew to Moscow, signed the gas deal, and saved the winter. In 2011, she was sent to prison.

Patriot or flawed politician?

If this kind of analysis matters to you, subscribe to Frontlines & Backrooms.
THE DECISION: THE NIGHT YULIA TYMOSHENKO SIGNED AWAY HER FREEDOM
In the midst of a freezing winter, Ukraine’s "Gas Princess" walked into the Kremlin to end a geopolitical standoff. She made a deal with Putin that would ultimately put her to prison.
open.substack.com
July 11, 2026 at 6:02 PM
From Serbia's engineered benchmarks to North Macedonia altering its name only to face identity blackmail, Brussels is losing the Balkans. The promise of EU membership is no longer a path to integration. It is a leash.

Part I is live now on Frontlines & Backrooms.
The Dream of European Integration That Became a Balkan Nightmare
The problem is no longer whether the Balkans are ready for the European Union. The question is whether the European Union still deserves their trust.
open.substack.com
July 10, 2026 at 9:49 AM