History Uncensored

The news is out… Tim Marshall joins Bianca Nobilo as co-host of History Uncensored!

In this brand-new episode, Tim and Bianca explore the strange, dramatic and often terrifying history of aircraft hijackings.

Following the attack aboard a Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30, they look back at the origins of hijackings, the political motives behind them and their evolution into a defining feature of modern terrorism.

From the Cold War and Russia to 9/11, Tim and Bianca revisit some of the most notorious hijackings in history.

(00:00:00) Hijackings 'as old as air travel'

(00:00:40) BIG NEWS - welcoming Tim Marshall

(00:01:19) Flydubai to 9/11 - History of hijacking

(00:02:19) Hijacking's origins

(00:04:40) Before hijacking there was piracy

(00:08:39) Baron Franz Nopcsa

(00:10:44) First recorded aircraft hijacking??

(00:12:47) Terrorism was not always the reason

(00:14:27) D.B. Cooper mystery, 1971

(00:16:24) Hijackings reflect geopolitical tension

(00:22:44) The changing face of hijacking

(00:24:57) Flydubai incident 2026

(00:27:34) Terrorism as theatre and propaganda of the deed

(00:34:14) Dawson's Field hijackings

(00:37:58) How will historians view the Flydubai attack?

(00:42:13) History Uncensored's goal
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How does Vladimir Putin use history to justify Russia’s war in Ukraine?

In this episode, Bianca Nobilo speaks to Bill Browder about the Kremlin’s use of historical narratives and how Putin’s version of Russia’s past has helped frame the war as a fight against fascism, Nazism and threats to the Russian people.

They explore why Putin needs these myths to sustain support for the war, and whether the West should pay closer attention to the history leaders invoke before they act.

(00:00:00) How history is wielded as a weapon

(00:02:37) History, manipulation, propaganda

(00:04:50) Putin understands history is emotive - Bill Browder

(00:07:41) Do Putin’s historic narratives contradict?

(00:10:24) 'We need to start paying a lot more attention'

(00:14:05) Would Putin stop at Ukraine?

(00:15:55) Bill Browder on being expelled from Russia

(00:19:47) Do Russians believe Putin's version of history?

(00:23:23) A warning to world leaders

(00:25:23) Could Russia use nukes? What does history suggest?

(00:28:17) Bianca's goal
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On September 24, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the leaders of two global rivals will meet at the White House. But to understand why this meeting matters, we have to go back to 1985, when Ronald Reagan welcomed China’s leader Li Xiannian to Washington.

Back then, the balance of power looked completely different. 41 years later, Trump and Xi meet in a world of trade wars, Taiwan tensions, AI competition and global conflict.

Bianca Nobilo is joined by American political scientist Ian Arthur Bremmer to take a look at the history of the world’s biggest superpowers.

(00:00:14) Trump and Xi - leaders and legacy

(00:00:51) How China became a U.S. rival

(00:03:34) How the past shapes these leaders - with Ian Bremmer

(00:05:54) How leaders use and control history

(00:11:05) Term limits v decades

(00:15:38) Taiwan - how important is this moment?

(00:19:04) The Thucydides Trap

(00:23:16) AI, Cuban Missile Crisis, and mutually assured destruction

(00:27:30) This moment in the broad sweep of history

(00:29:34) Bianca's goal
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Artificial intelligence could change humanity forever. But the history of AI began thousands of years before computers, machine learning and ChatGPT existed.

In just a few decades, humans have gone from mechanical computers and early ideas about machine intelligence to powerful AI systems capable of generating text and images, writing code, solving complex problems and performing tasks once thought to require human intelligence.

But how did we get here?

Bianca Nobilo explores the fascinating 2,000 year history of artificial intelligence, alongside AI engineer George Zarkadakis.

(00:00:05) AI - millennia in the making

(00:00:29) From Talos to Turing... to total extinction?

(00:04:23) Theory of Mind - with George Zarkadakis

(00:05:55) Gods and demons - When does fear creep in?

(00:08:14) Scientific foundations

(00:11:51) Sex, war and robots

(00:15:12) Is AI conscious?

(00:16:56) Consciousness v intelligence

(00:22:17) "We don't know what's happening inside those machines"

(00:26:39) Human extinction in the coming decades - is it likely?

(00:32:40) Does AI have a survival instinct?

(00:36:15) 'Mutually assured destruction' and Cold War parallels

(00:37:41) Is there an off switch?

(00:40:37) Will humanity view this as our greatest mistake?

(00:42:30) Why it’s so hard to stop research
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Attorney and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton joins Bianca Nobilo to reflect on the decisions that followed September 11 and how they reshaped American foreign policy and the world.

From NATO’s historic invocation of Article 5 and relations with Russia, to the rise of China and the conflict with Iran, Bolton examines the choices that brought America to this moment.

Is Donald Trump an aberration, or is America’s post Cold War foreign policy tradition disappearing?

And if Bolton could return to September 10, 2001, what would surprise him most about the 25 years that followed?

(00:00:00) 9/11 - 25 years on
(00:02:46) America under attack - with John Bolton
(00:04:16) Cold War rivals briefly align
(00:07:18) The only time NATO invoked Article 5
(00:11:05) 'I don't stand by all the actions taken' after 9/11 - Bolton
(00:13:47) Did fear drive decisions on Iraq?
(00:20:41) Was America distracted as China rose?
(00:22:46) Differences with Trump
(00:26:50) 'Trump is an aberration'
(00:29:00) 'The end of history'
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