Global Security Briefing

Dr Daniela Portella Sampaio joins Dr Andrew Gee to discuss the security implications of Brazil's 2026 election and Lula's fourth term.
On 25 October 2026, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated far-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro to win a fourth term as Brazil's president. Dr Andrew Gee, Director of the International Security Research Group at RUSI, is joined by Dr. Daniela Portella Sampaio, Senior Research Fellow for Latin American Security. They discuss what the result means for international security, for competition between the US and China, and for the fight against organised crime across South America.
In this episode:
Flávio Bolsonaro's flight to the US while under investigation, and what it means for US–Brazil relations.
How Lula's win reshapes US–China competition in Brazil, including the BRICS group of emerging economies and the US dollar.
Why Brazil's dominance of critical minerals such as niobium matters for global defence supply chains.
Tackling organised crime and drug trafficking across South America.
How an opposition-dominated Congress and right-wing state governors could constrain Lula.
Strains in Mercosur, South America's main trading bloc.
Opportunities for UK–Brazil defence and security cooperation.

Lt Gen Scott Winter joins Philip Shetler-Jones to discuss the history and role of the UN Command in Korea, and the security challenges it faces today.

In this episode of Global Security Briefing, Philip Shetler-Jones is joined by Lieutenant General Scott Winter, Deputy Commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) in the Republic of Korea since January 2026. Lt Gen Winter has held senior command and operational roles, including Joint Task Force Commander for the 2019 North Queensland floods and deployments to Timor-Leste, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served in liaison roles with the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Netherlands' Department of Defence. 

This episode explores:
•    North Korea's growing ties with Russia, including its troops fighting in Ukraine.
•    How UNC is adapting to drones and autonomous systems.
•    The impact of a divided UN Security Council, including disputes over sanctions.
•    Why UNC was created and how its role has changed.
•    How UNC works alongside South Korean, US and wider UN actors.
•    How UNC supports the Korean War Armistice Agreement.
•    Common misconceptions about UN Command.
•    Lt Gen Winter's reflections since taking up his post.

Vitaly Shevchenko of BBC Monitoring joins Natia Seskuria to explore the implications of a radiation warning found on a downed Russian drone.
In April 2026, Ukrainian air defences shot down a modified Russian Geran-2 strike drone near Chernihiv, and investigators found a radiation warning label on the warhead, recording gamma readings far above natural background levels. Within hours the story spread internationally, often described as Russia deploying radioactive weapons or a dirty bomb. Ukrainian investigators say the drone was carrying an R-60 air-to-air missile fitted with a depleted uranium fragmentation element, a modification Russia appears to be using to threaten Ukrainian aircraft intercepting the drones. The SBU has since documented further cases and opened a war crimes investigation.
This episode looks at the weapon itself, how claims like this are verified, and what the incident reveals about information warfare and media monitoring in a fast-moving conflict.
It also explores:
What Ukrainian investigators found in the drone wreckage, and what the modification reveals about Russian production and stockpiles.
How BBC Monitoring verifies claims of this kind, and what separates an established finding from an allegation.
How radiation has featured in Russia-Ukraine information warfare since the 2022 'dirty bomb' claims.
The social and cultural resonance of radiation stories in Ukraine and Russia.
What responsible media monitoring looks like in an environment of overload and disinformation.
Vitaly Shevchenko is Russia Editor at BBC Monitoring, where he has spent more than a decade analysing Russian and Ukrainian media.
BBC Monitoring is a specialist service within the BBC World Service, delivering trusted analysis of open-source media around the world

Philip Shetler-Jones is joined by Sanghun Seok and Dr Edward Howell to ask whether 'unification' and 'denuclearisation' are still the lenses through which we should view security on the Korean Peninsula.
For decades, Korean Peninsula security discussions have been framed by North-South relations and nuclear proliferation considerations. But North Korea has dropped the goal of unification and refuses to discuss denuclearisation, while both Koreas have become more prominent players in security dynamics far beyond North-East Asia. This prominence ranges from North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine to South Korea's growing role as an arms supplier to Europe. This episode asks what should replace the old framing.
The episode explores:
North Korea's current foreign and security policy priorities.
Why North Korea is fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine, and the consequences.
How South Korea is responding to the North's more expansive activity.
The North-South relationship now that unification is off the table.
The impact on the military balance in North-East Asia and the US alliance system.
·       What framework should replace unification and denuclearisation.
Sanghun Seok is a former South Korean career diplomat, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, and a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI.
Dr Edward Howell is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and the Pharos Foundation, specialising in North and South Korea. His new book, A New Axis of Upheaval: North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, is released in December 2026.

General David Petraeus discusses autonomous warfare, drone technology and the military transformation driven by Ukraine.
Ukraine offers the clearest evidence that warfare is changing in revolutionary ways. Unmanned systems now account for nearly 90% of Russia's killed and wounded on the front line, with around eight million drones produced by Ukraine every year. Software is updated weekly and hardware every few weeks, a pace no Western procurement system matches.
Traditional armoured manoeuvre has effectively stopped, replaced by a dense zone of surveillance and strike drones along the front. For Gen. Petraeus, Senior Vice President of RUSI, this demands a complete institutional overhaul, covering doctrine, force structure, training, procurement and personnel, on a scale far beyond the changes he oversaw during the Iraq surge.
He argues the UK is unusually well placed to lead this shift, given its visibility into the Ukrainian battlefield, political continuity across governments, and a parliamentary system that can move fast, though entrenched interests in legacy platforms will resist the change required.
Key themes discussed:
The rise of drones and unmanned systems in Ukraine.
Ukraine as a laboratory for the future of warfare.
Why militaries need to rethink force structures and procurement.
The shift from remotely piloted to autonomous systems.
How artificial intelligence could transform military decision-making.
Changes needed to training, education and personnel.
Institutional and political resistance to replacing legacy systems.
Why the UK is particularly well placed to lead military transformation.
Gen. David Petraeus is Senior Vice President of RUSI, former Commander of US Central Command, former Commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, and former Director of the CIA.