Switzerland with Tom Switzer

A new program about politics, modern history and international relations with host Tom Switzer.

Switzerland with Tom Switzer is a news podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 41 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Switzerland with Tom Switzer, a news show with 41 episodes published.

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  Episode #42

  Iran, Syria, Shia update: Joshua Landis

  Aug 16, 202649 min

  The U.S. naval blockade is costing Iran’s regime dearly in terms of lost economic activity, sky-high inflation, unemployment and a collapsing Iranian currency. President Trump says that the regime “is in very bad shape” economically and unable to pay its troops. Could the Islamic Republic of Iran still collapse? To what extent does the new Sunni-run, pro-US Syria complicate Tehran’s effort to assert a Pax Iranica in the region? Has Iran’s Shia crescent -- the vast region stretching from southern Lebanon to southern Iraq and the Houthi parts of Yemen -- come unstuck? Bashar al-Assad was not just an ally of Tehran’s but also Moscow’s. Russia long maintained a military presence in Syria, dating to the Soviet era. What kind of deal has Syria and Russia now reached? And what to make of the recent trials of Assad and his family? Is Syria on the path to becoming a viable democratic state? Joshua Landis is the head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

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  Episode #41

  Tom Switzer: Why WW3 is closer than you think

  Aug 14, 20267 min

  For decades, the prevailing assumption was that nuclear weapons had made a Third World War almost unthinkable. Yet an increasing number of serious strategists, historians and commentators are now asking whether that confidence is still justified. While Donald Trump’s temperament has undoubtedly heightened concerns about miscalculation, it is too simplistic to blame one man for the world’s growing instability. The deeper story is the steady erosion of the post-Cold War international order, the return of great-power rivalry, and the convergence of multiple geopolitical flashpoints stretching from Ukraine and the Middle East to the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula. Nuclear deterrence continues to impose powerful constraints on the major powers, just as it has for much of the past eight decades. The real risk is not that world leaders deliberately seek global conflict, but that separate crises begin to reinforce one another in ways that even experienced statesmen struggle to contain. For more, read Tom Switzer’s essay “The Guns of August: Are We on the Brink of World War III?” in The Spectator magazine: https://spectator.com/article/brink-world-war-three-guns-august/ Join Tom's Exclusive Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/cff5e11f69a3/switzerland-with-tom-switzer Read Tom's Substack: https://substack.com/@tomswitzer Tom Switzer is a journalist and broadcaster who has been a prolific commentator on politics and international affairs. His writing and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times (international), The Australian, and across ABC and News24 (formerly Sky News), where he has been a regular presenter and panellist. For 30 years, since 1995, he has worked at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, the London-based Spectator magazine, and the Sydney-based Centre for Independent Studies, which he headed from 2017 to 2025. He is the host of Switzerland, a long-form interview series exploring global politics, modern history, and the ideas shaping the world.

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  Episode #40

  Stephen Walt: Why the US keeps losing wars

  Aug 13, 202646 min

  It’s become increasingly clear that the Iran war has been a spectacular failure. There is just no plausible military outcome that produces the political result Washington says it wants. Which raises an important question: If the United States has overwhelming military superiority, why has it become so difficult for Washington to turn military power into political victory? The sad reality is that time and again the U.S. chooses objectives that are either unattainable, poorly defined, or disconnected from the political realities of the country it is fighting. For Washington has a long record of fighting the wrong war for the wrong objective. Why does this keep happening? Stephen Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and professor of international relations at Harvard University. Read his latest column here: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/05/iran-trump-lost-wars-us-military-history-strategy-geopolitics/

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  Episode #39

  Mearsheimer, Nasr: What Comes Next in Iran?

  Aug 9, 202651 min

  Hardly a day goes by without another indication that the international order is in flux. But as the war in Iran enters a new phase, some questions are becoming increasingly urgent. What do we know about the emerging Iranian-Omani discussions over the Strait of Hormuz? What might they mean for the future control and security of the strait? And what more can Donald Trump do to secure an outcome that could plausibly be called an American victory? Then there is the internal struggle within Iran. How deep is the divide between hardliners, who oppose negotiations with Washington and favour pursuing complete victory, and supporters of President Masoud Pezeshkian and the powerful parliamentary speaker who is also serving as Iran’s chief negotiator? Who currently has the upper hand? And is the regime in danger of overplaying its hand? Finally, what should we make of the new joint defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan? Three of the world’s most powerful Sunni Muslim nations -- one of them a NATO member -- have agreed that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. What lies behind the pact, and what does it tell us about the emerging balance of power in the Middle East? And what to make of Israel’s rejection of a US-backed plan aimed at a phased disarmament of Hamas in Gaza? John Mearsheimer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author, most recently, of How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy. Vali Nasr is Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, and author of Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History.

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  Episode #38

  Trump's latest Iran 'deal' | John Mearsheimer & Paul Kelly

  Aug 2, 202648 min

  Over the past week, the world appeared to be edging towards another dangerous military escalation in the Persian Gulf, with both Washington and Tehran issuing fresh threats. But this weekend Donald Trump abruptly called off the planned attack on Iran. The President says diplomacy has made further military action unnecessary. But are Washington and Tehran genuinely prepared to reach a meaningful peace agreement? Or is this merely a temporary pause before the next crisis? And what has the conflict done to American credibility, prestige and influence around the world? John Mearsheimer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author, most recently, of How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy. Paul Kelly is Editor-at-Large of The Australian and author, most recently, of The Twilight of Exceptionalism: The Liberal and Conservative Era. John Mearsheimer is professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001).

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