Podcasts about middle east studies

The Mercantilist Restoration - https://anthonyfatseas.substack.com/p/the-mercantilist-restoration-howInterview recorded - 22nd of May, 2026On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming back Professor Vali Nasr. Vali Nasr is a Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and one of the most authoritative voices on Iran, having advised American policymakers and diplomats on the country for decades. He is also the author of Iran's Grand Strategy: A political history.During our conversation we spoke about the current situation in the Middle East, what has led up to this conflict, Iran's surprising resilience, their grand strategy, potential escalation, reshaping the Middle East and more. I hope you enjoy!0:00 - Introduction3:05 - Lead up to war5:48 - Surprised about escalation8:38 - Iran resilience10:48 - Iran's Grand Strategy13:18 - October 6th impact16:23 - Conflict resolution20:09 - Military escalation24:11 - How have views changed?28:17 - Iranian proxies over?29:47 - US withdrawing from Middle East?34:11 - Guerrilla warfare35:25 - One message to takeaway? Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Non-Resident Senior Advisor in the Middle East Program at CSIS. He served as the eighth Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS between 2012 and 2019 and served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011.Professor Nasr is the author of Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History, The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Middle Class and How it Will Change Our World; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty; Islamic Leviathan, Islam and the Making of State Power; Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism; Vanguard of Islamic Revolution: Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan, and co-author of How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare; as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals and commentary in Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. He has advised senior American policymakers, world leaders, and businesses, including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of the Congress, and presidential campaigns. He has written for New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others.Vali Nasr - X - https://x.com/vali_nasrBook - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Irans-Grand-Strategy-Political-History/dp/0691268924/WTFinance -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/67rpmjG92PNBW0doLyPvfniTunes -https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtfinance/id1554934665?uo=4LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-fatseas-761066103/Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnthonyFatseas

On this week's episode of the podcast, Jason Brownlee of University of Austin-Texas joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Force Without Authority: America's Wars in the Middle East and South Asia. The book explores why the United States' costliest military operations since Vietnam came up short and pushed Republican and Democratic leaders toward withdrawal and retrenchment. The book delivers a bracing audit of America's unipolar moment and a compelling case for statecraft over bluster. Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Shana Marshall joins This Is Hell! to talk about her new piece for Security In Context titled “A Violent Convergence: How Silicon Valley and Private Finance Are Reshaping War”. Shana Marshall is Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and Assistant Research Faculty member at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Her work has been published by The Middle East Report, The International Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle East Policy, Jadaliyya, the Carnegie Middle East Center, and various edited volumes. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell https://www.securityincontext.org/team/shana-marshall

Shana Marshall joins This Is Hell! to talk about her new piece for Security In Context titled “A Violent Convergence: How Silicon Valley and Private Finance Are Reshaping War”. Shana Marshall is Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and Assistant Research Faculty member at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Her work has been published by The Middle East Report, The International Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle East Policy, Jadaliyya, the Carnegie Middle East Center, and various edited volumes. We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell https://www.securityincontext.org/team/shana-marshall

For decades, Arab American activists and allies have used film, video, and multimedia to mobilize support for the Palestinian cause in the United States. In Mainstreaming Palestine: Cinematic Activism and Solidarity Politics in the United States, a detailed history of cinema's role within the broader solidarity movement, Umayyah Cable analyzes the various strands of cinematic activism that have helped move Palestinian liberation politics from the periphery and into the mainstream. Cable is joined here in conversation with Evelyn Alsultany, Keith Feldman, and Melani McAlister.Umayyah Cable is assistant professor of American culture and film, television, and media at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and author of Mainstreaming Palestine: Cinematic Activism and Solidarity Politics in the United States.Evelyn Alsultany is professor in the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California's Dornsife College and author of Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion and Arabs and Muslims in the Media.Keith Feldman is associate professor in the department of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley and author of A Shadow over Palestine.Melani McAlister is professor of American Studies and international affairs and director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. McAlister is author of Promises, Then the Storm, The Kingdom of God Has No Borders, and Epic Encounters.REFERENCES:-AAUG: Association of Arab American University Graduates-Telegram/Yasser Arafat-Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival-Erella Shadmi, “Women, Palestinians, Zionism: A Personal View.”-Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.”-Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art-Jean Baudrillard's four stages of representation-Jonathan Glazer's 2024 Oscar acceptance speech for The Zone of Interest-Film Workers for Palestine-BDS: Boycott, Divestment, and SanctionsFILM REFERENCES:David Koff's Occupied PalestineJan Haaken and Jennifer Ruth's The Palestine ExceptionMichael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker's The EncampmentsBasel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor's No Other LandMainstreaming Palestine: Cinematic Activism and Solidarity Politics in the United States by Umayyah Cable is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

Paik Seung-hoon, Principal Researcher at HUFS Institute of Middle East Studies talks about the background behind the collapse of the second U.S.-Iran talks and the repercussions for both countries.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Bard College Professor Ziad Abu-Rish about the roots of Israel's aggression against Lebanon. They discuss why Israel has been attacking Lebanon since 1948, why Hezbollah continues to fight Israel, and why the Lebanese military can't disarm Hezbollah. They draw upon this article that Ziad recently published in The Public Source, “Sovereignty Without Defense: The Army, the State, and Hezbollah's Weapons." Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNOW Political Commentator. His newest book (published 2025) is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. He publishes regularly on https://peterbeinart.substack.com/. Ziad Abu-Rish is Associate Professor of Human Rights and Middle Eastern Studies and Director, MA Program in Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. He is a scholar of the modern Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. His research centers around state formation, economic development, and popular mobilizations, particularly in Lebanon and Jordan. His teaching experience includes undergraduate and graduate courses in human rights; comparative state formation; various themes in Middle East studies; and research methodologies. Abu-Rish is the author of The State of Lebanon: Popular Politics and Institution Building in the Wake of Independence (Stanford University Press, 2026). He co-created (with artist Tania El Khoury) The Search for Power, a touring lecture performance and sound installation exploring the history of electricity in Beirut. Abu-Rish is also coeditor of The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of an Old Order? (2012) and Critical Voices: A Collection of Interviews from and on the Middle East (2015). Abu-Rish has also authored several articles appearing in Middle East Report and Review of Middle East Studies and chapters in edited volumes on the political economy of the Middle East, the Arab uprisings, and teaching Middle East history. Abu-Rish also serves as coeditor of Arab Studies Journal and Jadaliyya e-zine, and codirector of the Lebanese Dissertation Summer Institute. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

What if the water crisis is a lie. Not a misunderstanding. Not a policy failure. A lie. What if the planet you are standing on is generating water right now, deep in the rock beneath your feet, rising through fractures that crack open every single day from the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon, and the reason you do not know about it is that someone decided a long time ago that you should not. Mark Burr is the CEO of Primary Water Technologies. A man who served four years in the United States Marine Corps, earned a degree in Middle East Studies with Phi Beta Kappa honors, worked for the World Bank, spent years as a State Department diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the war in Iraq, and then one day discovered a paradigm so old and so thoroughly buried that the people who tried to advance it were dragged into court and defeated not by science but by bond measures and political machines. The paradigm is this. In 1934, a German mining engineer named Stephan Riess hand-dug a well in El Dorado Canyon, Nevada. He had watched water pour out of mine walls his entire career, water that could not be pumped out, water that came from somewhere no rainfall could reach. When they struck the well, the crew had to scramble out of the hole to avoid drowning. The water came up free-flowing and has never stopped. Riess looked at what he had done and said four words. The Earth creates water. He spent the next 51 years proving it. He located over 750 documented wells around the world. He went to Israel and struck flows sufficient for 100,000 people in a valley where geologists said there was nothing. He saved the Sparklets water company in California in 1953 by telling them to drill deeper, and those wells are still producing today under the Danone Group, more than 70 years later. He testified before the United States Senate. He offered to locate primary water wells along the entire future route of the California Aqueduct. He was thrown into court. The bond passed. The aqueduct was built. And Riess spent the rest of his life in Escondido being called a crank by the people who built a multi-billion-dollar water delivery system that is now failing. Mark Burr found Riess's story on the internet and spent six months in due diligence before concluding it was real. What he found was not just a theory. It was a suppression. A peer-reviewed 2006 collection of geophysical studies describes a 400-mile-deep hydro zone inside the earth where hydrogen and oxygen combine under extreme pressure to produce water. Geophysicist Steven Jacobsen at Northwestern University has said the potential exists for more water inside the earth than in all the oceans. NASA found that the largest asteroid in the solar system is 50 percent water by volume. A moon of Saturn produced a hydrothermal fountain three times its own diameter. The earth is a water-generating planet, and the technology to find that water now exists. Burr uses a gamma ray scintillation counter developed in Bavaria, tracing its lineage to a NASA scientist brought to America under Operation Paperclip, and a passive seismic profiling device built by a Russian engineer from the Leningrad School of Mines, patented in the United States in 2002. Together, those two instruments can pinpoint a water-bearing fracture zone before a single drill bit touches the ground. And when they both confirm the same spot, the equation is simple. One plus one equals H2O. Tonight we are going to talk about the science that was buried, the politics that buried it, the technology that may finally dig it back up, and the man who crossed battlefields and boardrooms to get here.

Episode 231: Réflexions sur l'étude des musiques citadines maghrébines Dans ce podcast, Jonathan Glasser souligne que l'étude des musiques citadines en Algérie est plus ancienne qu'on ne le pense généralement. Il y retrace son propre parcours intellectuel, depuis sa première étude approfondie de la musique andalouse en tant que pratique sociale jusqu'à son projet de livre actuel consacré aux relations entre musulmans et juifs dans le domaine musical. Ce faisant, il situe son propre travail dans le cadre d'une longue histoire d'écrits sur les pratiques musicales citadines en Algérie, tant par des Algériens que par des étrangers, depuis les périodes médiévale et ottomane, en passant par la période de la domination coloniale française jusqu'à l'époque actuelle, six décennies après l'indépendance de l'Algérie. Il conclut en soulignant les sources sous-exploitées pour l'étude de la période moderne, qui promettent d'élargir notre perception de l'histoire des pratiques musicales citadines algériennes. Jonathan Glasser est professeur agrégé d'anthropologie à l'université William & Mary de Williamsburg, en Virginie. Il est l'auteur de l'ouvrage The Lost Paradise : Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2016), qui a remporté le prix L. Carl Brown Book Prize de l'American Institute for Maghrib Studies et le prix Mahmoud Guettat International Prize in Musicology du Ministère tunisien des Affaires culturelles. Plusieurs de ses travaux ont été publiés dans l'International Journal of Middle East Studies, l'American Ethnologist, l'Anthropological Quarterly, Hespéris-Tamuda et Turath. Glasser a récemment terminé un manuscrit intitulé More Than Friends : Muslim-Jewish Intimacy in Algerian Music (Plus que des amis : l'intimité entre musulmans et juifs dans la musique algérienne).  Cet épisode a été enregistré le 15 décembre 2024 et s'inscrit dans le cadre de la journée d'étude « Chants et musiques d'Algérie : un fait social », organisée conjointement par Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA) et le Centre de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle (CRASC). Pr. Karim Ouaras, Université d'Oran 2 / CEMA a modéré le débat. * Podcast en relation:  Épisode 214 : Jonathan Glasser :  Introduction à la journée d'études « Chants et musiques d'Algérie : un fait social » Épisode 217 : Lamia Fardeheb : L'évolution de la poésie andalouse du Muashshah au Zajal : deux genres de poésie chantés dans la « Nouba » Episode 221: Abdelouahab Belgherras: السماع والمديح في التقليد الصوفي المغاربي بين الروحانية والجمالية Episode 226: Azedine Kinzi: Musique kabyle traditionnelle : Genre, contexte de production et renouvellement Nous remercions Dr. Jonathan Glasser, anthropologue au College of William & Mary, pour son istikhbar in sika à l'alto pour l'introduction et la conclusion de ce podcast. Réalisation et Montage : Hayet Yebbous Bensaid, Bibliothécaire / Chargée de la diffusion des activités scientifiques (CEMA).   

Vote here to help The Intercept Briefing win its first Webby Award for best news and politics podcast.Show description: Vice President JD Vance is set to lead renewed negotiations with Iran this weekend to bring an end to the U.S.–Israel war on the country that stretched into a second month. The talks come after a roller coaster of a week, which began with President Donald Trump threatening genocidal war crimes against Iran. “A whole civilization will die tonight,” he wrote on social media, “never to be brought back again.” Trump urged Iran to make a deal with the U.S. and fully open the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Then, shortly before the deadline, Trump took to social media again to say Iran and the U.S. had reached a two-week ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan. Trump said the U.S. received a workable 10-point plan from Iran to begin negotiations on a durable ending to the war. In the meantime, Iran said it would allow for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Israel, however, immediately intensified its attacks on Lebanon, jeopardizing the already tenuous ceasefire. More than 300 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes the day after the ceasefire was announced. The terms of the plan are not yet clear but there are some key factors for Iran, says Narges Bajoghli, a professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “One is that Iran is asking for non-aggression from the United States into the future. It won't take the United States's word for it. It's already been burned by the U.S. multiple times,” Bajoghil tells The Intercept Briefing. “Then the other big thing is sanctions relief.” But “Iran's biggest red line is its sovereignty and independence.”This week on the podcast, Bajoghil speaks to senior Intercept editor Ali Gharib about the path that led the U.S. back to the negotiating table with Iran. This war has proven, Bajoghil says, “both to the decision-makers in Iran, to the Iranian population, and then more importantly to the international world, is that Iran's real deterrence actually doesn't come from a potential nuclear bomb, but it comes from the ability to be able to stop or regulate traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.” She notes, “In many ways, what actually has potentially led to this ceasefire is the fact that Iran is able to create a chokehold over 20 percent of the world's oil and gas trade. That is an extremely powerful weapon that they have in their hands and in many ways can force shifts to happen geopolitically in a much faster way than a nuclear bomb can.”Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen.Keep our investigations free and fearless at theintercept.com/join. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific. Financial markets swung amid uncertainty ahead of President Donald Trump's Iran deadline, with tentative ceasefire signals offset by the risk of an escalation in the conflict. Brent crude trimmed its opening gains to trade just under $110 a barrel as markets remained volatile before Trump's Tuesday 8 p.m. Eastern Time cutoff. US equity-index futures erased initial losses to trade little changed. We speak to Paul Dobson, Bloomberg's Executive Editor for Asia Markets. Plus - President Donald Trump insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz be part of any deal to end the Middle East war and escalated threats to obliterate key Iranian infrastructure if his terms aren't met before a Tuesday deadline. Trump said Monday that talks with Iran are "going well" and that reopening the strait as "a very big priority." The president in recent weeks has said an agreement on the strait wasn't among his core prerequisites for ending the conflict. "We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything," he said at a White House news conference. For more, we heard from Elisa Ewers, Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She spoke to Bloomberg's Paul Allen and Shery Ahn on the Asia Trade. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—exemplified by the Louvre Abu Dhabi—is one of the most visible cases of the increasing entanglement of art and museums with capital interests. Such projects are often touted as global enterprises diversifying the art world. Frequently, critics of these controversial projects question these claims and market influence. The intersection of these two forces—increasing capitalization and moving toward inclusivity—creates a fundamental tension, and that is the subject of Beth Derderian's Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Stanford UP, 2026). Focusing on the decade between the Louvre Abu Dhabi's announcement and its eventual opening, the book analyzes how major shifts away from the 19th- and 20th-century paradigm of culture-state representation play out in museums' and artists' everyday practices. Derderian traces the emergence of a new logic, wherein the ways that artists represent the state shift, as does the notion of what constitutes 'good art.' In addition, these intersecting forces spur preemptive erasures that neutralize and depoliticize difference for museum publics. Drawing on ethnographic research with artists, curators, museum staff, gallerists, art teachers, and other arts professionals, this book analyzes the UAE art world as a microcosm of these massive, epistemic changes. Beth Derderian is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East Studies and Anthropology at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—exemplified by the Louvre Abu Dhabi—is one of the most visible cases of the increasing entanglement of art and museums with capital interests. Such projects are often touted as global enterprises diversifying the art world. Frequently, critics of these controversial projects question these claims and market influence. The intersection of these two forces—increasing capitalization and moving toward inclusivity—creates a fundamental tension, and that is the subject of Beth Derderian's Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Stanford UP, 2026). Focusing on the decade between the Louvre Abu Dhabi's announcement and its eventual opening, the book analyzes how major shifts away from the 19th- and 20th-century paradigm of culture-state representation play out in museums' and artists' everyday practices. Derderian traces the emergence of a new logic, wherein the ways that artists represent the state shift, as does the notion of what constitutes 'good art.' In addition, these intersecting forces spur preemptive erasures that neutralize and depoliticize difference for museum publics. Drawing on ethnographic research with artists, curators, museum staff, gallerists, art teachers, and other arts professionals, this book analyzes the UAE art world as a microcosm of these massive, epistemic changes. Beth Derderian is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East Studies and Anthropology at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—exemplified by the Louvre Abu Dhabi—is one of the most visible cases of the increasing entanglement of art and museums with capital interests. Such projects are often touted as global enterprises diversifying the art world. Frequently, critics of these controversial projects question these claims and market influence. The intersection of these two forces—increasing capitalization and moving toward inclusivity—creates a fundamental tension, and that is the subject of Beth Derderian's Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Stanford UP, 2026). Focusing on the decade between the Louvre Abu Dhabi's announcement and its eventual opening, the book analyzes how major shifts away from the 19th- and 20th-century paradigm of culture-state representation play out in museums' and artists' everyday practices. Derderian traces the emergence of a new logic, wherein the ways that artists represent the state shift, as does the notion of what constitutes 'good art.' In addition, these intersecting forces spur preemptive erasures that neutralize and depoliticize difference for museum publics. Drawing on ethnographic research with artists, curators, museum staff, gallerists, art teachers, and other arts professionals, this book analyzes the UAE art world as a microcosm of these massive, epistemic changes. Beth Derderian is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East Studies and Anthropology at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—exemplified by the Louvre Abu Dhabi—is one of the most visible cases of the increasing entanglement of art and museums with capital interests. Such projects are often touted as global enterprises diversifying the art world. Frequently, critics of these controversial projects question these claims and market influence. The intersection of these two forces—increasing capitalization and moving toward inclusivity—creates a fundamental tension, and that is the subject of Beth Derderian's Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Stanford UP, 2026). Focusing on the decade between the Louvre Abu Dhabi's announcement and its eventual opening, the book analyzes how major shifts away from the 19th- and 20th-century paradigm of culture-state representation play out in museums' and artists' everyday practices. Derderian traces the emergence of a new logic, wherein the ways that artists represent the state shift, as does the notion of what constitutes 'good art.' In addition, these intersecting forces spur preemptive erasures that neutralize and depoliticize difference for museum publics. Drawing on ethnographic research with artists, curators, museum staff, gallerists, art teachers, and other arts professionals, this book analyzes the UAE art world as a microcosm of these massive, epistemic changes. Beth Derderian is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East Studies and Anthropology at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—exemplified by the Louvre Abu Dhabi—is one of the most visible cases of the increasing entanglement of art and museums with capital interests. Such projects are often touted as global enterprises diversifying the art world. Frequently, critics of these controversial projects question these claims and market influence. The intersection of these two forces—increasing capitalization and moving toward inclusivity—creates a fundamental tension, and that is the subject of Beth Derderian's Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Stanford UP, 2026). Focusing on the decade between the Louvre Abu Dhabi's announcement and its eventual opening, the book analyzes how major shifts away from the 19th- and 20th-century paradigm of culture-state representation play out in museums' and artists' everyday practices. Derderian traces the emergence of a new logic, wherein the ways that artists represent the state shift, as does the notion of what constitutes 'good art.' In addition, these intersecting forces spur preemptive erasures that neutralize and depoliticize difference for museum publics. Drawing on ethnographic research with artists, curators, museum staff, gallerists, art teachers, and other arts professionals, this book analyzes the UAE art world as a microcosm of these massive, epistemic changes. Beth Derderian is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East Studies and Anthropology at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/art

The history of modern Syria is usually reduced to a story of autocracy, repression, and occasional revolt. And it is a short story, stretching back only to the fragmentation of the Ottoman Empire, or perhaps to the secret terms of the Sykes-Picot Agreement that divided the Near East between Britain and France. But my guest Daniel Neep has a different perspective. He believes that such narratives overlook “the pre-​colonial foundations for modern Syria that were undertaken by reformers, infrastructure builders and identity entrepreneurs in the late Ottoman Empire.” They also neglect “the role that Syrians themselves played in determining the precise course of these borders” as well as the ways in which Syrians “ have fiercely clung to their right to live with respect and dignity.” These are some of the arguments which he develops in his new book Syria: A Modern History.Daniel Neep is Senior Editor at Arab Center Washington DC and a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. He has taught Middle East politics at George Washington University, Georgetown University, and the University of Exeter, and was previously Syria research director with the Council for British Research in the Levant. He has lived in Syria for five years, including for the first year of the uprising, as well as in Amman, and Beirut, and now lives in Washington, DC.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Fırat Bozçalı of University of Toronto joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Smuggling Law: Unsettled Sovereignties in Turkey's Kurdish Borderlands. Taking readers from border villages, mountain passes, and road checkpoints to courtrooms, law offices, and forensic laboratories, Fırat Bozçalı examines how Kurdish smugglers, with the help of their lawyers, legally disrupt state sovereignty in criminal courts. The book holds profound relevance in today's world, where ever-expanding regimes of surveillance, oppression, and dispossession unfold in the broader contexts of the global war on terror and data-driven capitalism. Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Daniel Neep of the Arab Center Washington DC joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Syria: A Modern History. Modern Syria has seen violence, repression, and autocracy, suffering through tragedy after tragedy over the past century. In the book, Neep offers a gripping narrative of how Syrians have navigated these events. Never losing sight of the fates of ordinary people, it provides a comprehensive account of how a nation born in conflict nevertheless sustained a rich, complex, and diverse society that will now chart its own path into the uncertain future. Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

We explore the interconnected artistic and political lives of figures from the Maghreb and the Black diaspora who collaborated in North Africa from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, forming what our guest calls the Maghreb Generation, and cover the iconic 1969 Pan-African Festival of Algiers, where cultural figures like Nina Simone and political groups like the Black Panthers were present. Assistant Professor of History at Cornell University and author of "Maghreb Noir: The Militant Artist of North Africa and the Struggle for a Pan-African Postcolonial Future," Dr. Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik discusses her work which re-centers artists and intellectuals from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as key political actors in the mid-20th-century anti-colonial and pan-African movements. Dr. Tolan-Szkilnik explains how these militant artists (deeply influenced by thinkers like Frantz Fanon) championed a philosophy of continued, revolutionary decolonization beyond flag independence. The episode details the political and personal risks these activists faced, including imprisonment for figures like Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laâbi and the assassination of Algerian poet Jean Sénac. Finally, the conversation explores film as a revolutionary form of culture for the highly illiterate populace and the enduring legacy of this generation's radical vision for South-South solidarity.   0:53 Introduction 1:37 The Path to Pan-Africanism and the Maghreb 5:51 The Pan-African Festival of Algiers (1969) 7:23 The Substance of Revolution: Beyond the Speeches 10:00 The African Union, Liberation Movements, and Algiers 12:47 Questions of Race and Algerian Reactions to Blackness 14:19 North Africa as One Entity and French Colonial Borders 16:40 Central Figures of the Maghreb Generation 23:34 Defining the "Militant Artist" 25:15 The Philosophical DNA: Continued Decolonization 26:38 Frantz Fanon as Intellectual Forefather 27:44 The Autocratic Grind: Exile, Jail, and Death 34:54 The Moroccan Poet Abdellatif Laâbi and Souffles 40:09 Film as Revolutionary Culture 45:48 Turning Away from the West 49:00 The Striking Life of Jean Sénac 53:11 Poetry of Enthusiasm and Disillusionment   Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik is a historian of 20th century Africa and the Middle East. She specializes in questions of race, gender, and sex in the post-colonial Maghreb. She has published in Jadaliyya, the Arab Studies Journal, World Art, Monde(s), The Markaz Review, and the International Journal of Middle East Studies, amongst others. Her first book "Maghreb Noir: The Militant-Artists of North Africa and the Struggle for a Pan-African, Post-colonial Future" (Stanford, 2023) tells the story of a group of militant-artists, some Maghrebi, others Angolan, Haitian, or American, who led Pan-African cultural and political projects out of the recently decolonized cities of Rabat, Algiers, and Tunis.   Connect with Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik

This week kicked off with Turkey announcing the deployment of a number of fighter jets to the occupied part of Cyprus, a move that not only represents a significant escalation in the militarization of the Eastern Mediterranean, where Cyprus has already been targeted by Iranian-made drones, but that may also violate US law. This isn't the only thing putting Cyprus in the headlines this week. Axios and the Financial Times reported Cyprus could potentially mediate talks between Israel and Lebanon after violence broke out between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Turkey's moves in the Eastern Mediterranean aren't the only thing worrying analysts and observers. Developments on the domestic front are also keeping those watching the region on alert, as the trial of Ekrem Imamoglu, the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, kicked off this week. Imamoglu's trial is largely seen as politically motivated and an effort to prevent him from challenging President Erdogan. Sinan Ciddi, Elisa Ewers, Lisel Hintz, and Henri Barkey join Thanos Davelis this week as we take a closer look at Turkey's decision to deploy fighter jets to the occupied part of Cyprus, Israel's escalating offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the trial of Ekrem Imamoglu. Taking us to our “I am HALC” segment, we're spotlighting Eleni Delimpaltadaki Janis, a founding member of HALC with a career that spans across government and the private sector. This includes serving as Vice President at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and working to transform and solve some of the world's most persistent socio-economic problems as a founder of Equivico. Stay tuned as we dig into her story. A little more info on our guests: Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of its Turkey program. Elisa Ewers is a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Lisel Hintz is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Henri Barkey is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen chair in international relations at Lehigh University (Emeritus). You can support The Greek Current by joining HALC as a member here.

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei — Iran's new Supreme Leader? Who was the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?In this episode of the Burn Bag Podcast, A'ndre Gonawela is joined by Vali Nasr, the Majid Khadduri Professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS and one of the leading scholars of Iranian politics and Shia leadership structures.Nasr breaks down the power structure of the Islamic Republic following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the rise of his son Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new Supreme Leader. The leadership transition comes as the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran continues to escalate, with Tehran threatening to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and expand attacks across the region.In this conversation, Nasr explains:Who Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was and how he shaped modern IranHow the Supreme Leader actually governs inside the Islamic RepublicThe role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran's power structureWhat Mojtaba Khamenei's leadership means for the regime and the warWho is making wartime decisions inside Iran right nowWhether the conflict represents an existential fight for the Islamic RepublicAs the war intensifies and global energy markets react to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, this episode provides a clear guide to how Iran's leadership thinks — and what it means for the future of the conflict.

In this episode, panelists discuss Iran's current political climate, concerns for civilians on the ground, and how the country's rapidly evolving internal dynamics are shaping U.S. objectives as well as broader regional and international considerations.   Background Reading: In this article, International Affairs Fellow Sam Vigersky discusses the global economic disruption caused by the Iran war and its effects on existing humanitarian crises.    Host: Deborah Amos, Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence, Princeton University; CFR Member   Guests: Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations   Mahmood Reza Amiry-Moghaddam, Professor, University of Oslo; Founder and Director, Iran Human Rights NGO   Mara Karlin, Professor of Practice, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution; CFR Member   Ray Takeyh, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies, Council on Foreign Relations   Want more comprehensive analysis of global news and events sent straight to your inbox? Subscribe to CFR's Daily News Brief newsletter.   To keep tabs on all CFR events, visit cfr.org/event. To watch this event, please visit it on our YouTube channel: Iran's Internal Dynamics and U.S. Objectives

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts.

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He's the author of several books dealing with Iran, including most recently Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Nasr was born in Tehran in 1960 and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In our talk, he discusses his surprise at the resilience the Iranian government has so far displayed in the war, as well as the high degree of advance planning the government performed in anticipation of the attack. Although many Iranians do not like the Islamic Republic, he told me, there is nevertheless a resurgent element of Iranian nationalism in Iranian society. The West, he believes, underestimates the cohesion of Iran. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Paul Starobin is a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter America and Beyond includes transcripts of podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of the podcast, Mohammed Soliman of the Middle East Institute joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East. In the book, Soliman argues that it is time for the United States to move decisively away from nation-building and get back to the business of order-building. To do so will require zooming out, in both geographical and historical terms, to build a new regional order across 'West Asia' – from the Middle East to South Asia, connecting Europe to the Indo-Pacific via the Mediterranean and Red Seas.  Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Where are Iran's ayatollahs? The real ayatollahs have not been involved in Iran's government for decades. And Ayatollah Khamenei (son and father) are not real ayatollahs. In this interview, we discuss the following: ►Was Iran's Supreme Leader supposed to be an all-powerful king or a philosopher king? ►What are the real powers of Iran's Supreme Leader? Does he rule by consensus or fiat? ►Have any Iranian presidents ever defied the Supreme Leader? ►Why does Iran have so many non-governmental institutions with so much power? ►How and when did Iran become Shia? ►Who are ayatollahs and why are there so many? ►How has Shiism formed the Iranian identity from the 19th century to now. ►What is about Iran that most Americans (actually, most people) don't understand? *****

Whether you consider it half over, or half started, there's still a lot to tackle in the legislative session, from agriculture to AI. We get a halftime check-in from our public affairs team. Plus, ensuring the "Colorado Proud" label isn't abused. Then, there are no fewer than four fronts to the war in the Middle East, says Micheline Ishay, the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. We talk with her about what could be next for the region. And we "Raise the Curtain" with second generation actor Annie Barbour, currently starring in "Brooklyn Laundry" at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

By bringing together academics and journalists that utilise gender and media studies, as well as history and international relations, this interdisciplinary panel will speak to the relationship between the family and nation-building, the role of media and advertising in representing the mother figure, and through real life stories explore how people in the Middle East and the diaspora have redefined what family looks like. Meet our speakers Dr Polly Withers is a feminist cultural studies researcher, currently leading the Leverhulme Early Career Project ‘Neoliberal Visions: Gendering Consumer Advertising and its Resistances in the Levant', which considers how commercial advertising mediates shifts in gender and sexuality in post-Oslo Palestine and current-day Jordan. Prior to this, Polly's work focused on the gender and sexuality politics of 'alternative' music and subcultural participation in contemporary Palestine and its diaspora. Her work has appeared in Feminist Media Studies, the British Journal of Middle East Studies, and related gender and cultural studies outlets. She is currently working on a single-author monograph based on her Leverhulme research. Dr Andrew Delatolla is Associate Professor in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Leeds. His research interests centre on the intersections of race and sexuality in relation to statehood and state formation. He has recently concluded a funded project examining the politics of LGBTIQ+ rights in the Spanish overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla and is currently part of an AHRC-DFG funded project examining transformations in gender and sexual governance in post-Soviet Muslim majority republics. His recent publications include a co-authored chapter, with Karim Chedid, in the anthology This Queer Arab Family edited by Elias Jahshan and a co-authored article with Hossein Cheaito in the European Journal of Politics and Gender on LGBTIQ+ activism in Lebanon. Elias Jahshan (he/him) is a Lebanese-Palestinian journalist and writer, and the editor of groundbreaking anthologies THIS ARAB IS QUEER (2022) and THIS QUEER ARAB FAMILY (2025), both published by Saqi Books. This Arab Is Queer was a 2023 Lambda Literary Awards finalist in the USA and shortlisted for the 2023 Bread & Roses Award in the UK, and has been translated into Italian and soon in French. His short memoirs have been published in several anthologies, and he has written for The Guardian, The New Arab, Raseef22, My Kali, and more. Meet our chair Hakan Sandal-Wilson is Assistant Professor of Gender, Peace and Security at the Department of Gender Studies. He is a political sociologist whose teaching and research explore how gender and sexuality intersect with democracy, conflict, and ethnic and religious difference.

In Episode 466 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joshua Landis, professor of Middle East Studies and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, about the US-Israel war against Iran, what it reveals about American strategy in the region, and why the absence of a clear theory of victory raises the specter of yet another catastrophic regime-change war in the Middle East. Kofinas and Landis examine the competing narratives surrounding the conflict — from the argument that the Trump administration was dragged into war by Israel, to the theory that Washington concluded Iran would never voluntarily relinquish its nuclear program, to speculation that the campaign is part of a broader grand strategy aimed at neutralizing a Chinese forward base in the Middle East ahead of Trump's summit with Xi Jinping. They also discuss why Iran's regime is far more institutionalized and resilient than the Arab governments the United States has previously sought to topple, the historical lessons of America's last four regime-change wars — Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya — and why the pattern of civil war, refugee crises, and strategic blowback that followed each of those interventions is likely to repeat itself in a country of over 90 million people. The conversation closes with an examination of the broader regional realignment now underway, including the emerging Turkey-Saudi axis taking shape in response to Israeli dominance, the dangerous irony of simultaneously abandoning the Syrian Kurds while attempting to arm the Kurds of northern Iran, and the most plausible optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for how this conflict ultimately resolves. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Join our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/04/2026

47 years. That is how long the U.S. and Iran have been circling each other, probing for weaknesses, and demonizing the other (in many cases for good reason). Tensions reached a tipping point on February 28, 2026 and the United States, along with Israel, initiated a new wave of strikes which has lead to chaos across the Middle East. 11 countries have been targeted by retaliatory strikes from Iran and the death toll on all sides continues to rise. How did we get here? Why was now the time to act? Where does it all end and what decisions will shape the final outcome of this latest use of military force? In this month's episode, we speak with Alex Vatanka, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, where he focuses on Iran. We review the terse relationship between these two countries since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and outline the litany of moments that have shaped the course of history. In addition, the conversation outlines how this war got started and what shape it has taken in the early days, providing key insights into possible outcomes. While much is left to be written in this story, the key moments have been set in motion. Listen to gain critical insights into this fast moving and ever changing conflict that will reverberate across the world for years to come.(Please note: This episode was recorded on February 27, one day before U.S. and Israeli airstrikes started. We have tried to capture the latest updates to the fighting, but understand this conflict has shifted rapidly in the first few days).Alex Vatanka is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. He specializes in Middle Eastern regional security affairs with a particular focus on Iran. He was formerly a Senior Analyst at Jane's Information Group in London. Alex is also a Senior Fellow in Middle East Studies at the US Air Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS) at Hurlburt Field and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at DISAS at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has testified before the US Congress and lectured widely for both governmental and commercial audiences, including the US Departments of State and Defense, US intelligence agencies, and a list of international corporations.Born in Tehran, he holds a BA in Political Science (Sheffield University, UK), and an MA in International Relations (Essex University, UK), and is fluent in Farsi and Danish. He is the author of two books: The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran: The United States, Foreign Policy and Political Rivalry Since 1979 (2021) and Iran and Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy, and American Influence (2015).He has also written chapters for a number of books, including Authoritarianism Goes Global (2016); Handbook on Contemporary Pakistan (2017); Russia in the Middle East (2018), Winning the Battle, Losing the War: Addressing the Drivers Fueling Armed Non-state Actors and Extremist Groups (2020); Global, Regional and Local Dynamics in the Yemen Crisis (2020); Routledge Handbook of Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations (2021); and Understanding New Proxy Wars (2022). He is presently working on his third book, Iran's Arab Strategy: Defending the Homeland or Exporting Khomeinism?

This weekend after weeks of threats and tense negotiations, the U.S. and Israel began a war with Iran. The developments have been incredibly consequential, from the assasination of Iran's Supreme Leader to Iran's retaliatory attacks on neighbouring Gulf states. To unpack this moment, what led to it, and go through what the future of the Middle East could look like in the aftermath, we are joined by Vali Nasr, Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is also the author of Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History.

Modern Syria has seen violence, repression, and autocracy, suffering through tragedy after tragedy over the past century. Yet the history of Syria is not just a tale of dictators and generals. From the 1800s to the 2020s, the Syrian people have engaged in a passionate struggle for justice, equality, and a better future. Whether fighting for national independence from French colonial rule, battling local landowning elites to share the country's wealth, or rising up against the Assad regime, the Syrian people have fiercely clung to their right to live with respect and dignity. Theirs is a story of protest and perseverance in the long fight to reshape the political destiny of their nation. Daniel Neep's new book, A History of Modern Syria, offers a gripping narrative of how Syrians have navigated the events of the last two centuries. Never losing sight of the fates of ordinary people, it provides a comprehensive account of how a nation born in conflict sustained a rich, complex, and diverse society that after the fall of Assad will chart a new path into the uncertain future. Daniel Neep is Non-Resident Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, and Senior Editor at Arab Center Washington DC. He has taught Middle East politics at George Washington University, Georgetown University, and the University of Exeter. He was previously Research Director (Syria) at the Council for British Research in the Levant and spent several years living in Syria and Jordan. He is also the author of Occupying Syria under the French Mandate: Insurgency, Space, and State Formation (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and articles in journals including International Affairs, Journal of Democracy, New Political Economy, and the Journal of Historical Sociology. Meet our discussant and chair Charles Tripp FBA is Professor Emeritus of Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research interests include the nature of autocracy, state and resistance in the Middle East, the politics of Islamic identities, and the role of art in the constitution of the political. He is currently working on a project on the politics of memory in Tunisia. Jasmine Gani is Assistant Professor in International Relations Theory at LSE. She specialises in anti-colonial theory and history, and the politics of empire, race and knowledge production. She is author of 'The Role of Ideology in Syria-US Relations: Conflict and Cooperation' (2014), and co-editor of 'Actors and Dynamics in the Syrian Conflict's Middle Phase' (2022).

On this week's episode of the podcast, Mohammed M. Hafez of the Naval Postgraduate School joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new article, “A Waning Crescent: Why The Era of Islamism is Coming to an End.”  In the episode, Hafez argues that "Islamism, in all its forms, has failed in achieving the major goal: which is empowering Muslims through Islamic renewal, and providing good governance and military empowerment in the face of adversaries."  Please note that the views expressed in the episode are those of the article author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or the position of the Naval Postgraduate School, the US Navy, or the US Government. Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Tensions with Iran are heating up again, nuclear negotiations are stalling, deadlines are being floated, and questions are growing about whether this ends in diplomacy or something more serious. What is really happening behind the scenes, and how close are we to a major shift in U.S. policy? Dr. Kelly Shannon, Historian of U.S. foreign relations, Fellow at Georgetown University and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, joins Ian Hoch to talk about it.

This hour, Ian Hoch asks why New Orleanians have accepted subpar infrastructure conditions and what we can do to demand more for our city. Then, Dr. Kelly Shannon, Historian of U.S. foreign relations, Fellow at Georgetown University and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, joins the show to discuss the tensions with Iran heating up again.

On today's show, Ian Hoch asks why New Orleanians have accepted subpar infrastructure conditions and what we can do to demand more for our city. Then, Ian Hoch has on Dr. Kelly Shannon, Historian of U.S. foreign relations, Fellow at Georgetown University and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, to discuss the tensions with Iran heating up again. McKinley Eastman, Managing Partner for Superior Grill, about how restaurants navigate through a boil water advisory, and Johnathan “JB” Brownlee, a founding partner of Torfoot Entertainment Group, to chat about how hyper-realistic AI will effect the future of Hollywood.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Sean Yom of Temple University joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Jordan: Politics in an Accidental Crucible. In the book, Yom provides a concise yet authoritative synthesis of the Hashemite Kingdom's development from its founding over a century ago to the present. He explores Jordan's government, society, economy, and foreign policy in a systematic manner, offering an immersive tour of this vital Arab country. Uniquely, he combines theoretical work from political science, sociology, and other scholarly fields with firsthand knowledge of Jordan garnered over decades of study. His insights show how Jordan's political experiences form a microcosm for understanding the entire Middle East. This year, in addition to the book conversations, POMEPS Director and podcast host Marc Lynch will be providing more context on the book itself or topics related to the book. Each week you'll hear about published academic research and other interesting material on the topic that Marc wants to share. You'll be able to find all of the citations and links at the end of the weekly podcast post. Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

On this week's episode of the podcast, Killian Clarke of Georgetown University  joins Marc Lynch to discuss his new book, Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed. Clarke explains both why counterrevolutions emerge and when they are likely to succeed. He forwards a movement-centric argument that emphasizes the strategies revolutionary leaders embrace both during their opposition campaigns and after they seize power. Movements that wage violent resistance and espouse radical ideologies establish regimes that are very difficult to overthrow. By contrast, democratic revolutions like Egypt's are more vulnerable, though Clarke also identifies a path by which they too can avoid counterrevolution. By preserving their elite coalitions and broad popular support, these movements can return to mass mobilization to thwart counterrevolutionary threats. In an era of resurgent authoritarianism worldwide, Return of Tyranny sheds light on one particularly violent form of reactionary politics. You can listen to this week's podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or SoundCloud: Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his website Music and Sound at www.ferasarrabi.com. POMEPS, directed by Marc Lynch, is based at the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University and is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Iran has been shaken by protests on a scale not seen since its 1979 revolution. Demonstrations that began in the country's capital over the state of the economy have spread to multiple cities, with wider calls for political change.The government has called the demonstrations "riots" backed by the nation's enemies.Thousands have been killed.For some, the scenes bring back memories of the uprising that toppled the monarchy more than four decades ago. Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last monarch, has emerged as a figure that could challenge the existing order.This week on The Inquiry, we're asking ‘Is history repeating itself in Iran?'Contributors: Naghmeh Sohrabi, modern Middle East historian, director for research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, United States Azadeh Kian, author of ‘Rethinking Gender, Ethnicity and Religion in Iran', emerita professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Paris Cité, France Sara Bazoobandi, non-resident research fellow at the Institute for Security Policy of Kiel University, Germany Siavash Ardalan, BBC Persia senior reporter, United KingdomPresenter: Daniel Rosney Producer: Megan Lawton Technical producer: James Bradshaw Editor: Tom Bigwood Production Management: Phoebe Lomas and Liam Morrey(Photo: Car on fire on a street in Iran. Credit: WANA/Reuters/BBC Images)

Back in 2022, protests in Iran were bolder than at any time since the 1979 revolution — and that time, it was teenage girls leading the way. Gen Z used their TikTok and Instagram skills to draw the world’s attention to their demand for freedom. But with almost 300 hashtags under #MahsaAmini, their movement was also being co‑opted for others’ purposes. How could anyone tell which was which? This is a story from the archives. It originally aired on October 19, 2022. None of the dates, titles or other references from that time has been changed. In this episode: Holly Dagres (@HDagres), The Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow & MENASource and IranSource Editor Marc Owen Jones (@MarcOwenJones), Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies, Hamad bin Khalifa University Episode credits: This episode was produced by Amy Walters with Negin Owliaei, Chloe K. Li, Alexandra Locke, Ruby Zaman, Ashish Malhotra and our guest host, Halla Moheiddeen. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St. Clair mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Has Iran experienced more foreign interventions than other countries? What really happened to Iran in 1953? And why are Iranians reinterpreting its history now?

Iranians have taken to the streets in nationwide protests against the country's economic crisis. During a police crackdown on protesters, dozens of people have been killed and more have been arrested. US President Donald Trump has warned Iran that if the brutality continues, Iran would be “hit very hard by the United States.” Why is the US threatening intervention? In this episode: Narges Bajoghli (@nargesbajoghli), Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, Johns Hopkins University Episode credits: This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li and Melanie Marich, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Tamara Khandaker, and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Kylene Kiang. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro is the author of five books, most recently The Empty Wagon: Zionism's Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity Theft, a 1381-page treatise on the opposition of Zionism to Judaism. He serves on the Board of Directors of International Council for Middle East Studies, and has spoken around the world. Sponsors: Omaha Steaks: Use code WOODS for $35 off your order! CrowdHealth Monetary Metals Guest's YouTube Channel: Yaakov Shapiro   Show notes for Ep. 2709   The Tom Woods Show is produced by Podsworth Media. Check out the Podsworth App: Use code WOODS50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Tom Woods Show! My full Podsworth ad read BEFORE & AFTER processing: https://youtu.be/tIlZWkm8Syk