Fires in the sky and the ground. Tensions in the Middle East while Australia burns.

In our first episode of 2020, we examine two of the big events that are impacting the world currently; the US killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and the terrible bushfires currently ravaging Australia. Peter Jennings, ASPI’s Executive Director discusses the tense situation in the middle-east with US Army War College Fellow, Lt COL Ned Holt. On the bushfires, we’ve spoken to three experts in the fields of Disaster and Risk preparedness. Dr Robert Glasser is the former head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mark Crosweller is the former head of the National Resilience Taskforce and former Director-General of Emergency Management Australia and Dr Paul Barnes, head of the Risk and Resilience program here at ASPI. In this episode; Report: Preparing for the Era of Disasters. https://www.aspi.org.au/report/preparing-era-disasters - Peter Jennings: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/peter-jennings - LTCOL Ned Holt: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/ned-c-holt - Dr Robert Glasser: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/robert-glasser - Mark Crosweller: https://ethicalintelligence.com.au/ - Dr Paul Barnes: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/paul-barnes Music: 'Pale Rider Blues' by Mini Vandals via the YouTube Audio Library.