CONFLICTED

The war is widening, diplomacy has stalled, and the Middle East is once again sliding towards escalation as the relationship between Israel and the Gulf states grows closer while pressure on Iran is mounting at sea, in the air, and across its network of regional allies.

For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Aimen and Thomas discuss:

The failure of the latest US-Iran diplomacy at the UN and the growing risk of renewed escalation.

Israeli claims of renewed Iranian nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain and the wider nuclear question.

The secret Abu Dhabi meeting and the emerging Saudi-UAE-Israeli security alignment.

The war in Yemen, the Houthi advance, and Saudi plans for a major counter-offensive.

Pakistan’s growing military role in Saudi Arabia and the significance of the Mecca Pact.

The widening regional front: Somaliland, al-Shabaab, Eritrea, Europe, and security around the Bab al-Mandab.

Iraq after the US troop withdrawal and the future of Iran-backed militias across the region.

The Strait of Hormuz, pressure on Iran’s economy and aviation, and the attempted FlyDubai terrorist attack.

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
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In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joby Warrick tells Thomas all about his latest book The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-Terrorist.

For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠⁠

Joby explains:

Carlos the Jackal: From Venezuelan Marxist to Global Terror Icon

Wadi Haddad, the KGB and the Birth of International Terrorism

Dawson’s Field and the Rise of Made-for-TV Terror

How the Media Created the Myth of “Carlos the Jackal”

OPEC 1975: Gaddafi, Ransom Millions and Carlos’s Biggest Coup

Carlos Inc: How Dictators Turned Terrorism Into a Hired Service

From Carlos to Bin Laden: The Shift From Marxism to Jihadism

Joby Warrick Meets Carlos: Unrepentant After 30 Years in Prison

Find Joby on X: https://x.com/JobyWarrick

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aimen's away this week. But not to worry! Sitting in his seat is Mohammed al-Basha: a Yemeni-American analyst with over twenty years of experience. Basha is the perfect person to help us understand better the larger forces at work in the Yemen Civil War — with consequences for the entire world.

For world-class Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Basha and Thomas discuss:

How the Houthis Smashed Yemen’s Western Front in Just Seven Days

Inside the Houthi Machine: From Mountain Rebels to a Revolutionary State

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi: The Hidden Leader His Followers Treat Like a Sacred Authority

How Gaza Supercharged Houthi Recruitment, Weapons and Global Ambition

Why Yemen’s Anti-Houthi Forces Keep Falling Apart

Tareq Saleh: The Warlord Who Embodies Yemen’s “Game of Thrones”

Saleh Co-Opted the Tribes — the Houthis Are Trying to Crush Them

Could the Houthis Take All of Yemen — and Would Yemen Survive It?

Find Basha on X: https://x.com/BashaReport

And on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bashareport

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
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In this latest Conflicted Conversation, historian Anthony Kaldellis of the University of Chicago discusses his new book 1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople.

For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠

Anthony explains:

Why the ‘Byzantines’ were really Romans

The Roman state’s extraordinary longevity

Constantinople’s strategic importance

The rise of the Ottoman state

Ottoman slavery, the devşirme, and the janissaries

Romans, Italians and Turks living side by side

Venice and Genoa’s role in the East

Ottoman cannon and the myth of Orban

Why the siege was not inevitable

The enslavement and dispersal of the Romans

How ‘Byzantium’ was reinvented after its fall

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s Conflicted Conversation, UCL associate professor Philip Cunliffe makes a provocative case: far from being polar opposites, global Islamism and American unipolarity were born of the same globalised order. But what happens when that order starts to fall apart? And is today’s rising New Left inadvertently fighting to save the liberal-imperial system it says it wants to destroy?

For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm

Philip and Thomas discuss:

How U.S. unipolarity and globalisation reshaped the world after the Cold War

Why Cunliffe thinks ‘global Islam’ is a distinctly modern political phenomenon

How early state-seeking Islamism gave way to transnational Islamism and jihadism

Why neoliberal globalisation weakened state sovereignty and boosted Islamist networks

The strange overlap between liberal humanitarianism and jihadist causes

How the CIA, Afghanistan and Syria blurred the line between ally and enemy

Why the new American Left could revive the logic of liberal interventionism over Israel

What comes after the decline of American empire: sovereign nation-states or rival new blocs?

Find Philip on X: https://x.com/thephilippics

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices