Podcasts about north africa program

Russia today launched one of its heaviest missile barrages yet in Ukraine, killing at least 36 and wounding more than 100. Even a children's hospital that performs 7,000 surgeries on sick children every year was hit hard, according to local officials. Christiane spoke to former Supreme Allied Commander for Europe Wesley Clark about what is at stake for Ukraine and for NATO in its face-off with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Also on today's show: Clément Beaune, former Deputy of the French National Assembly; Sanam Vakil, Director of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Program; author Adam Moss  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the US, police have again moved on campuses from coast to coast: over a thousand people have been arrested from more than 25 colleges. At the heart of it all is a mostly peaceful protest against a dire situation in Gaza and a deep dissatisfaction with US policy in the region. Rabbi Sharon Brous is the founder of IKAR, an influential progressive Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. Last week, she visited both Columbia and UCLA to visit the protests, and she speaks to Christiane from L.A. to share her experience.  Also on today's show: Sanam Vakil, Director, Middle East and North Africa Program, Chatham House; Kenneth Stern, Director, Bard Center for the Study of Hate / Author, “The Conflict over the Conflict”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On a previous episode of the China Global Podcast, we discussed Beijing's position on the conflict in Gaza during the early days following Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Today, we discuss one of the conflict's spillover effects– the attacks on cargo and trade ships transiting the Red Sea by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed Shia group governing parts of Yemen. While the Chinese-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran was as the beginning of a “wave of reconciliation” in the region by China's foreign minister Wang Yi, the resurgence of violence since October 7th has proven that prediction to be overly optimistic. At face value, disruptions of global trade may seem to run counter to Chinese interests, but Beijing's hesitance to become more deeply involved in the crisis may tell us something about China's calculations in this crisis. It may also show the limits of Chinese influence in the region. Host Bonnie Glaser is joined by Ahmed Aboudouh. Ahmed is an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council, and heads the China Studies research unit at the Emirates Policy Center. His research focuses on China's rising influence in the Middle East and North Africa region, Gulf geopolitics, and the effects of China-US competition worldwide. Timestamps[01:36] China's Statement on Palestine at the International Court of Justice[08:20] Why is China indirectly supporting Hamas despite its relations with Israel?[12:11] Effectiveness of China's Narrative Critical of America and the West[16:54] Israel, Palestine, and China's Diplomatic Calculus[20:12] China's Hesitance to Counter the Houthis in the Red Sea[25:15] Does China have leverage over Iran, and if so, will they use it?[29:59] Circumstances for Deeper Chinese Involvement

Palestinian authorities say one in every 100 people have been killed in Gaza over the past three months. That's more than 23,000, and nearly two-thirds are women and children. That human toll is front and center as Western officials visit the region expressing increasing concern about the situation. But is the Israeli government listening to its strongest allies? And what are the long-term consequences of such destruction? Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy says there's no way to explain Israel's conduct in Gaza. He joined the program from Tel Aviv.  Also on today's show: Sanam Vakil, Director of Middle East & North Africa Program at Chatham House; former British MP Rory Stewart; musician Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A surprise deal between golf's two main tours and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund sent shockwaves through the world of men's professional golf at the start of June. It came as increasing numbers of players move to Saudi Arabia's football league, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has become a more visual presence on the sporting scene, hosting Formula 1 races and high-profile world title boxing bouts. The controversial purchase of Newcastle United was further evidence of a growing interest in using sport to project Saudi Arabia to a wider audience. But human rights campaigners say Saudi Arabia is trying to sports-wash its poor human rights record. On the Real Story this week, we examine the reasons behind Saudi Arabia's increasingly prominent presence on the international sporting scene. How does it link to the domestic and geopolitical ambitions of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? And what impact could it have on international sport going forward? Shaun Ley is joined by: Dina Esfandiary, advisor to Crisis Group's Middle East and North Africa Program on research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy. Matt Slater, a senior football news reporter with the sports website and podcast, The Athletic. Aziz Alghashian, a Saudi foreign policy analyst and a fellow at the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation project at Lancaster University. Also featuring: Dan Roan, BBC sports editor. Lina al-Hathloul, Saudi activist and head of monitoring and communications for ALQST, a non-profit organization promoting human rights in Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Al-Ittihad officially present Karim Benzema as their new player, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - 08 Jun 2023. Credit: EPA)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Greece Tuesday to seal a number of agreements on energy, military cooperation, and in other fields. The visit comes as Greece has forged closer diplomatic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia in recent years as it seeks to build alliances and partnerships in the wider region. This was Mohammed bin Salman's first trip to an EU country since the killing in 2018 of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and follows President Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month. Dr. John Sfakianakis joins me to discuss this visit to Greece by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and break down Greece's diplomatic pivot toward the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, over the last years.  John Sfakianakis is a senior scholar at Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge and an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. He is also the chief economist and head of research of the Gulf Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:Saudi crown prince: First EU visit since Khashoggi killingPM, Saudi Crown Prince talk business, regional issuesGreece, Saudi Arabia sign raft of agreements during crown prince's visitNew barrage of Turkish accusationsCavusoglu: Talks over F-16 sale ‘going well'Senior European Parliament Member Targeted as Spyware Abuse Spreads

The United Arab Emirates assumes the Security Council presidency in March at a time when the body finds itself powerless to overcome Russia's veto and take any real action on Ukraine. We talk with Emirati Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh as well as Dr. Sanam Vakil, Deputy Head of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Program, about the UAE's foreign policy priorities as Council president, its abstention on the recent vote to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the relationship among the women ambassadors on the Council. This was co-host and co-producer Stéphanie Fillion's last episode of UN-Scripted. We wish her good luck in her future endeavors. You can keep up with Stéphanie on Twitter, @fillionsteph10. Links: PassBlue's website: www.passblue.com Twitter: @pass_blue Facebook: @PassBlueUN Instagram: @passblue ----- Are you interested in joining a community of policy influencers working toward positive change? Consider Seton Hall University's results-driven executive graduate programs in international affairs. You can customize your studies through research in regional areas and specializations -- including conflict management, global health security and more. As a graduate candidate, you can leverage a collaborative and dynamic professional platform that includes 1-on-1 faculty mentorship, career workshops, international seminars, AND discussions with global leaders on campus, at the U.N. headquarters in New York, and in Washington, D.C. The program is flexible. Study full or part-time, online, or at the New Jersey campus just 14 miles from New York City. To learn more or sign up for a webinar, visit www.shu.edu/passblue. ----- Are you looking for a talk show featuring leading global voices? Do you want to learn more about how international issues directly affect people locally? Global Connections Television presents the insights of global influencers at-no-cost to viewers and programmers. GCTV is independently produced, and reaches more than 70 million potential viewers worldwide each week. The show covers everything from human rights to climate change, from peace and security to empowering women and girls. It features guests such Dr. Jane Goodall, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and Peter Yarrow of “Peter, Paul and Mary.” The show also hosts expert voices from the private sector, academia, and labor and environmental movements. GCTV is available to public television media outlets, universities, and service clubs for distribution. To watch the show, visit www.globalconnectionstelevision.com. For more information, contact Bill Miller, the show's host, at millerkyun@aol.com.

For the last two years, Lebanon has been witnessing an acute multi-dimensional crisis that has left more than half the population living below the poverty line. Many families are struggling to survive. Some say that the massive economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2020 Beirut explosions and instability have all combined to create conditions even  worse than they were during the 1975-1990 civil war.   In October 2019, Lebanon also saw a mass uprising, rejecting corruption and sectarian politics, and demanding change. However, the uprising short-lived for various reasons, including the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 that halted mobilisations and protests.  To add to all these huge difficulties and challenges, the Lebanese people find themselves in the midst of a thorny and complex geopolitical situation that has significant bearings on their internal politics. The actions of players such as Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, the Gulf monarchies, Western imperialist powers and Russia have had and continue to have considerable consequences on political developments, not just in Lebanon but in the entire Arab region. To help us understand the situation in Lebanon, the Coordinator of TNI's North Africa Program, Hamza Hamouchene,  sat down to have a chat with Hicham Safieddine. Hicham is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. He is a scholar of political economy and intellectual history (19th and 20th centuries) with a particular emphasis on the MENA region. He is currently researching financial (de)colonization on a global scale, the history of economic thought, as well as modern Arab and Islamic thought, with an emphasis on the age of anti-colonial national liberation in the mid-20th century. In addition to his academic research and teaching, he is the co-founder of e-zines Al-Akhbar English and The Legal Agenda's English Edition. His press writings have appeared in The Toronto Star, Al-Jazeera English, The Monthly Review, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Middle East Eye, among others. Image source: NicolasGaron/Wikimedia Keywords:  Lebanon, Crisis, Economic Crisis, Debt, Middle East, Arab Uprisings

Flights between Saudi Arabia and Qatar are resuming this week and the land border has reopened between the two countries—signs of a thaw in relations after three and half years of acrimony. Last week, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt agreed to end a travel and trade blockade they had imposed on Qatar in 2017. Those four countries, calling themselves the “anti-terror quartet,” had accused Qatar of supporting radical Islamist groups, among other charges. The crisis had divided the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, and the United States had lobbied extensively for an end to the blockade. But according to Sanam Vakil, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House in London, there remains a lot of work to do for the GCC to rebuild trust and address the disputes that caused relations to break down in the first place. This week on Trend Lines, Vakil joins WPR’s Elliot Waldman to discuss the lingering divisions and mistrust among Gulf countries Relevant Articles on WPR: Are Saudi Arabia and Its Gulf Neighbors Close to Ending the Qatar Boycott? What Does Disarray in the Gulf Mean for the GCC? Qatar’s Exit From OPEC Could Exacerbate a Rift Among Its Members Turkey Rolls the Dice by Supporting Qatar in Its Feud With Saudi Arabia Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie. To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.

Listen now to WACA's Cover to Cover conference call from Thursday, July 16, at 2:00-2:30 PM ET, featuring Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, on his book Qatar and the Gulf Crisis.   In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, launching an economic blockade by land, air and sea. Well into its second year, the standoff in the Gulf has no realistic end in sight. With the Bahraini and Emirati criminalisation of expressing support for Qatar, and the Saudi labelling of detainees as ‘traitors’ for their alleged Qatari links, bitterness has been stoked between deeply interconnected peoples. The adviser to the Saudi crown prince advocating a moat to physically separate Qatar from the Arabian Peninsula illustrates the ongoing intensity - and irrationality - of the crisis. Ulrichsen offers an authoritative study of this international standoff, from both sides.

The recorded live webinar from 11 June on the current political and media landscapes of the Gulf 3 years after the Gulf crisis first began. Our speakers explored questions such as: How have Saudi Arabia and the UAE's calculations failed and how is Qatar faring today? Where do other key regional players such as US, Turkey and Iran stand in relation to the crisis? How has the emergence of new shared challenges this year (such as coronavirus) impacted the prospects for reconciliation? Who is winning the narrative war on the global stage?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Speakers:Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is a Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Pub-lic Policy and Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. He is the author of seven books, including five on the Gulf, the most recent being Qatar and the Gulf Crisis (Hurst, February 2020).Reem Alharami is a researcher and columnist. She was a fellow at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. She has published articles in both Arabic and English, in several international newspapers and websites. Her interests are focused on issues such as media and social media; counter-terrorism; feminism and women's issues; and international and U.S. politics. Moderator:Abdulrahman Elshayyal was the CEO of Alaraby Aljadeed, a pan-Arab news organisation, and a board member of Alaraby TV. Previously, he worked at the BBC world service in different roles as well as the University of Birmingham and government departments where he worked on gulf security issues. He was also responsible for setting up a media training institute in Yemen.

--Moderator, Ambassador William Luers, US Foreign Service (Retired), Director, The Iran Project --Dr. Gary Sick, Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University’s Middle East Institute and Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs --Ellie Geranmayeh, Senior Policy Fellow and Deputy Program Head, Middle East and North Africa Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations --Host, LCDR Patrick Ryan, USN (Retired), President, Tennessee World Affairs Council This special edition of the TNWAC Global Dialogue: International Speakers series presents a conversation about current developments in relations with Iran. Ambassador Bill Luers will moderate a conversation with Professor Gary Sick of Columbia University and Ellie Geranmayeh of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Iran remains at the center of U.S. decision makers attention in the Middle East as Tehran grapples with the effects of Washington’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign and the catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile Tehran continues its “Maximum Resistance” response through maritime provocations, space vehicle (potential ICBM) launches and backing Iraqi militias that are in conflict with U.S. forces. This Tennessee World Affairs Council Webinar is part of the “CxC Amplified: Ideas Summit – Putting the World Back Together Again” — a weeklong series of virtual events organized by the 90+ councils of the World Affairs Councils of America.

We're with Lina Khatib for Episode 146 of The Beirut Banyan. Click to watch: https://youtu.be/RhTAtG2ZJMM We discuss the economic crisis in Lebanon and prospects for accountability and political reform given the complexities in tackling rampant corruption and sub-state weaponry. We also get into the distinction between the governing regime and the Lebanese state. Lina leads the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, and is a co-founder of the World Metal Congress: https://www.worldmetalcongress.org She previously directed the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, and was the co-founding head of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Photo embedded from the World Metal Congress website. Help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut Or donating through our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan Watch these episodes via our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/c/thebeirutbanyan Subscribe to our podcast from your preferred platform. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter: @thebeirutbanyan And check out our website: www.beirutbanyan.com Music by Marc Codsi. Graphics by Sara Tarhini.

EastWest Institute's Kawa Hassan sets out why the Middle East will remain relevant in the coming years despite the rise of renewable forms of energy and shortcomings in world leadership. Listen now! Kawa Hassan is vice-president of EastWest Institute's Middle East and North Africa Program in Brussels where he leads diplomacy initiatives focused on trust-building, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution. Author and editor of numerous publications, Hassan is a frequent media commentator on Iraq, Syria, Kurdish politics and Middle East affairs. He has served on NATO missions and as a member of the Atlantic Council's Task Force Report on the Future of Iraq. Prior to joining EastWest Institute, Hassan was a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut and a knowledge officer at Hivos in the Hague. He holds a Master of Science in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam and studied English and German at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. 

David Sterman is a senior policy analyst at New America and holds a master's degree from Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies. His current research focuses on terrorism and violent extremism in America, immigration and terrorist threats, foreign fighter recruitment, and the effectiveness and consequences of American counterterrorism efforts. In the past, he edited Foreign Policy Magazine’s South Asia Channel. Hassan Hassan is a Senior Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on militant Islam, Syria, Iraq, and the Arab Gulf states. He was previously an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program in London and, before that, a research associate at the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi and a deputy opinion editor for the National, an English-language daily in the Middle East.He advises senior policymakers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and has testified before Congress on extremism.

Charles Kantor, Neuberger Berman Senior Portfolio Manager, sees no exuberance or optimism in equity markets. Frank Newport, Gallup Poll Editor-In-Chief, discusses the challenges of polling election turnout. Sanam Vakil, Chatham House Senior Consulting Research Fellow in the Middle East & North Africa Program, says Saudi Arabia wants to preserve their relationship with the U.S. at all costs. Gina Martin Adams, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Equity Strategist, hops in the studio to analyze the market losses this morning.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Charles Kantor, Neuberger Berman Senior Portfolio Manager, sees no exuberance or optimism in equity markets. Frank Newport, Gallup Poll Editor-In-Chief, discusses the challenges of polling election turnout. Sanam Vakil, Chatham House Senior Consulting Research Fellow in the Middle East & North Africa Program, says Saudi Arabia wants to preserve their relationship with the U.S. at all costs. Gina Martin Adams, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Equity Strategist, hops in the studio to analyze the market losses this morning. 

Yemen’s unprecedented humanitarian crisis cannot be understood in isolation from the country’s complex political and economic dynamics, International Rescue Committee (IRC) president and CEO David Miliband and other experts agreed at an event on “The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen” on April 5, 2018 hosted by the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda in partnership with the CSIS Middle East Program. Yemen’s humanitarian emergency is both a product and a potential driver of political instability, Miliband argued. Political and diplomatic actors share an urgent responsibility to address the drivers of that instability.  A subsequent panel discussion analyzed the context for Yemen’s humanitarian emergency and the consequences of its persistence. The participants were Barbara Bodine, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Peter Salisbury, senior consulting fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, and Abdulrahman al-Eryani, a Yemeni international economist and development specialist.  The speakers agreed that Yemen is a relatively low priority for global powers but argued it should not remain so. Should Yemen’s humanitarian crisis be left to deteriorate, they warned, the consequences will be far-reaching and long-lasting. Charting a constructive path forward requires sustained diplomatic engagement to facilitate aid provision and conflict resolution and to draw a broad base of Yemenis into a process to forge a framework for the future.   In its complexity, its protracted nature, and its devastating toll on civilians, the conflict plaguing Yemen since 2015 embodies what Miliband called some of the most perilous patterns in modern wars. As al-Eryani noted, Yemen’s preexisting fragility was a factor in lowering Yemen’s resilience to the impacts of conflict. Yet, a convergence of factors have made the conflict more harmful to civilians and more complex to resolve. Miliband argued, “This is a manmade conflict with very deep roots and very, very acute consequences.” One factor, the speakers held, is the failure of warring parties to uphold rules of war that protect civilians. Miliband cited information collected by the Yemen Data Project that since the start of Yemen’s conflict, essential infrastructure has been hit by at least 4,500 air strikes, while 342 strikes have hit educational buildings and 68 have hit hospitals and health clinics. Miliband also framed the blocking of aid delivery as not merely a logistical issue, but also a political one. “The problem is strangulation, not access,” he argued. He further asserted that a stable humanitarian supply chain rests on the “permanent” opening of ports to humanitarian and commercial shipments including food, fuel, and medicine. Second, the complex and fragmented nature of Yemen’s conflict has complicated its resolution. It is a gross oversimplification, the speakers agreed, to characterize the war as merely a two-sided contest between the government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels, nor is it principally a proxy war between a Saudi-led coalition that supports Hadi and Iran, which supports the Houthis. In reality, sub-conflicts are playing out along local, national, regional, and increasingly global axes, and parties often switch sides opportunistically.  Even actors ostensibly allied with each other possess a wide range of agendas and priorities and sometimes come into direct competition with one another, explained Salisbury. He described tensions within the Saudi-led coalition between a “tribal military faction” in the North that has aligned with Islah, Yemen’s leading Islamist party, and a subset of forces backed by the United Arab Emirates in the South that is broadly hostile to Islah. The Houthis are also far from a monolith, Salisbury argued. The political wing leading the negotiations has waning...

Yemen’s unprecedented humanitarian crisis cannot be understood in isolation from the country’s complex political and economic dynamics, International Rescue Committee (IRC) president and CEO David Miliband and other experts agreed at an event on “The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen” on April 5, 2018 hosted by the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda in partnership with the CSIS Middle East Program. Yemen’s humanitarian emergency is both a product and a potential driver of political instability, Miliband argued. Political and diplomatic actors share an urgent responsibility to address the drivers of that instability.  A subsequent panel discussion analyzed the context for Yemen’s humanitarian emergency and the consequences of its persistence. The participants were Barbara Bodine, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Peter Salisbury, senior consulting fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, and Abdulrahman al-Eryani, a Yemeni international economist and development specialist.  The speakers agreed that Yemen is a relatively low priority for global powers but argued it should not remain so. Should Yemen’s humanitarian crisis be left to deteriorate, they warned, the consequences will be far-reaching and long-lasting. Charting a constructive path forward requires sustained diplomatic engagement to facilitate aid provision and conflict resolution and to draw a broad base of Yemenis into a process to forge a framework for the future.   In its complexity, its protracted nature, and its devastating toll on civilians, the conflict plaguing Yemen since 2015 embodies what Miliband called some of the most perilous patterns in modern wars. As al-Eryani noted, Yemen’s preexisting fragility was a factor in lowering Yemen’s resilience to the impacts of conflict. Yet, a convergence of factors have made the conflict more harmful to civilians and more complex to resolve. Miliband argued, “This is a manmade conflict with very deep roots and very, very acute consequences.” One factor, the speakers held, is the failure of warring parties to uphold rules of war that protect civilians. Miliband cited information collected by the Yemen Data Project that since the start of Yemen’s conflict, essential infrastructure has been hit by at least 4,500 air strikes, while 342 strikes have hit educational buildings and 68 have hit hospitals and health clinics. Miliband also framed the blocking of aid delivery as not merely a logistical issue, but also a political one. “The problem is strangulation, not access,” he argued. He further asserted that a stable humanitarian supply chain rests on the “permanent” opening of ports to humanitarian and commercial shipments including food, fuel, and medicine. Second, the complex and fragmented nature of Yemen’s conflict has complicated its resolution. It is a gross oversimplification, the speakers agreed, to characterize the war as merely a two-sided contest between the government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels, nor is it principally a proxy war between a Saudi-led coalition that supports Hadi and Iran, which supports the Houthis. In reality, sub-conflicts are playing out along local, national, regional, and increasingly global axes, and parties often switch sides opportunistically.  Even actors ostensibly allied with each other possess a wide range of agendas and priorities and sometimes come into direct competition with one another, explained Salisbury. He described tensions within the Saudi-led coalition between a “tribal military faction” in the North that has aligned with Islah, Yemen’s leading Islamist party, and a subset of forces backed by the United Arab Emirates in the South that is broadly hostile to Islah. The Houthis are also far from a monolith, Salisbury argued. The political wing leading the negotiations has waning...

Now that Islamic State has been defeated militarily, what does the future hold for Iraq? Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute Anthony Bubalo discussed this and other issues, including Iraq’s forthcoming elections and evolving relations with its neighbours, in conversation with Hayder al-Khoei. Hayder al-Khoei is Director of the Centre for Shi’a Studies in London and a doctoral researcher at the University of Exeter, focusing on US foreign policy and ethno-sectarian politics in Iraq. Prior to this, he was a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).