Podcasts about Tunis

Nchini Tunisia, kitendo cha mwanamke kuamua kubeba jukumu la kilimo cha familia baada ya baba mzazi na kaka yake kufariki dunia kimerejesha uhai katika kijiji chao ambacho vijana walikimbia kutokana na ukame na mmomonyoko wa udongo. Taarifa ya Anold Kayanda Naitwa Saida Zouaoui natoka familia ya wakulima!  Ndivyo anajitambulisha mama huyu akiwa kwenye shamba lililostawi  mizeituni nchini Tunisia, akisema babu yao ndiye aliwarithisha mbinu za kienyeji za kutumia udongo maalum kujenga bwawa la kumwagilia maji shambani.  Hata hivyo bwawa lililojengwa liliharibika na ndoto ya baba yake ilikuwa kulijenga, kwa hiyo ukosefu wa maji ulikimbiza vijana wengi akisema,  “Vijana wengi walikimbilia mji mkuu Tunis kufanya kazi za ujenzi, wengine walienda kusoma. Walitelekeza mashamba yao, lakini tulikuwa na matumaini.”  Hali ikawa mbayá zaidi baada ya kaka na baba kufariki dunia na ndipo Saida akaamua kurejea kwenye shamba la familia akisema, “Niliamua kurejesha hali kama wakati wa baba yangu kwa kutimiza ndoto yake. Watu walitambua tu kuna njia moja nataka kufanya, kurekebisha bwawa ili lifanye kazi na kumwagilia eneo lote. Hatukujua la kufanya, ndipo shirika la kazi duniani, ILO lilipoingilia kati likaandaa mkutano nikazungumza kuhusu uhaba wa maji,  mmomonyoko wa udongo na ukame! Bwawa likajengwa! Asante Mungu, tangu wakati huo vijana wameanza kurejea, COVID-19 ilikosesha watu ajira na hivyo wakageukia kilimo kwa kuwa sasa kuna maji.”  Saida anasema vijana  wamekomboa mashamba yao waliyotelekeza na kwamba kilimo kimekuwa mkombozi wakati wa janga COVID-19 na zaidi ya yote vijana wanaosoma sasa wanabobea kwenye uchumi wa kilimo ili kuwa na mbinu za kisasa zaidi za kilimo biashara kuliko yeye ambaye amejifunza mwenyewe.

Trois jours de réunion à Tunis pour réfléchir, en ce début de semaine, sur le secteur privé en Libye et les enjeux de la reconstruction après dix ans de guerre civile, la fuite des cerveaux en Algérie notamment des personnels médicaux qui fuient le pays, enfin Washington hausse le ton face à l'Iran en promettant de répondre aux attaques iraniennes de drones.

Vous n'avez plus goût à rien, vous avez perdu l'appétit, vous ne dormez plus, et vous ne comprenez pas pourquoi ? C'est peut-être une dépression. À l'occasion de la Journée européenne de la dépression, nous faisons un point sur ce trouble mental courant qui touche 264 millions de personnes dans le monde, selon l'OMS. Première cause d'incapacité, la dépression peut s'installer et devenir une maladie grave. Entraînant une grande souffrance, elle altère la vie quotidienne de la personne concernée et, dans le pire des cas, peut conduire au suicide. Certaines personnes sont-elles davantage exposées au risque de dépression ? Comment les soigner efficacement ? Que faire quand on a peur de prendre des médicaments ? Quel impact sur les proches ? Anne-Victoire Rousselet, psychologue et psychothérapeute spécialisée en Thérapie Comportementale et Cognitive, au Centre hospitalier Sainte-Anne, à Paris Pr Raja Labanne, psychiatre, professeur de Psychiatrie à la Faculté de Médecine Tunis en Tunisie. Ex-présidente de la Société tunisienne de Psychiatrie.  

Ruling prime minister has populism but no real strength to move Tunisia's political economy forward.

Les frères Karaoui libérés en Algérie. Ils sont sortis de prison mais doivent toujours répondre de leurs agissements devant la justice , une opération de perquisition au local du mouvement Ennadah à Tunis, enfin l'Arabie Saoudite se lance dans l'énergie verte.

Qu'est-ce qui fait qu'un film traverse l'espace et le temps ? Qu'il nous parle de nous, de notre humanité, indépendamment de la langue, de la couleur de peau, de l'âge ? Il y a évidemment l'aspect formel, l'esthétique, mais aussi une grâce indéfinissable, cette quintessence de l'humanité. Le réalisateur polonais Krysztof Kieslowski possédait ce supplément d'âme. La cinémathèque française lui consacre une rétrospective en ce mois d'octobre tandis que 4 de ses films (La Double vie de Véronique, Trois couleurs Bleu, Trois couleurs Blanc et Trois couleurs Rouge) ressortent en salles en version restaurée puis en DVD blue ray. Pour en parler, nous recevons ce samedi 23 octobre 2021 la comédienne Irène Jacob, qui avait décroché le prix d'interprétation féminine à Cannes en 1991 pour son double rôle dans La Double vie de Véronique, puis avait tourné sous la direction du réalisateur polonais dans Trois couleurs Rouge. À l'affiche de notre cinéma aujourd'hui, nous ferons le point sur le 27ème Fespaco, à quelques heures de la cérémonie de clôture, avec l'envoyé spécial de RFI, Guillaume Thibault. Reportage à Tunis avec le réalisateur tunisien Hamza Ouni pour son film Le Disqualifié (Lilia Blaise). Pauses musicales : BO de La Double vie de Véronique et Santé de Stromae.

Ouverture à Tripoli d'une Conférence de soutien à la stabilité de la Libye en présence de délégations étrangères, le secrétaire général de la Ligue Arabe à Tunis au chevet de la démocratie tunisienne, enfin une attaque contre un avant-poste américain dans le sud de la Syrie.

Tristesse et désolation à Beyrouth après les affrontements en milices qui ont fait 7 morts, Tunis décide de retirer son passeport diplomatique à l'ancien président Marzouki et puis le chef de la diplomatie saoudienne qui évoque les pourparlers actuels avec l'Iran

    The Mongols were famous for their ultimatums of destruction and submission. No shortage of thirteenth century states received demands for their unconditional surrender to the Great Khan granted divine mandate to rule by Eternal Blue Heaven. Initially, the Mongol imperial ideology was extremely black and white: you could submit to Mongol rule, or face total annihilation. There was no room for other relationships, for the Great Khan had no allies, only subjects. But as the thirteenth century went on and the dream of Chinggisid world hegemony slipped away as the divisions of the Mongol Empire went their separate ways, the Mongol Khans in the west began to seek not the capitulation, but the cooperation of western Europe to aid in their wars against Mamluks. For the Ilkhanate's sixty-year struggle against the Mamluk Sultanate, the Il-Khans sought to bring the Popes and Monarchs of Europe to a new crusade to assist in the defeat of the Mamluks, an ultimately fruitless endeavour, and the topic of today's episode. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       The first Mongol messages to the Kings of Europe came in the late 1230s and 40s, accompanying Batu and Sube'edei's western invasion, asking the Hungarians how they possibly could hope to flee the grasp of the Mongols. We know the Mongols sent a number of envoys to European monarchs and dukes, and employed a variety of peoples in this enterprise, including at least one Englishman. Over the 1240s and 50s, European envoys like John de Plano Carpini or William of Rubrucks to the Mongol Empire returned from Karakorum with orders for the Kings and Popes to come to Mongolia and submit in person.While Rus' and Armenian lords and kings did do so, there is little indication that European rulers even responded to these demands. For the Mongols, who seemed poised to dominate everything under the Eternal Blue Sky, there was little reason to adopt more conciliatory language. From their point of view, the Europeans were only stalling the inevitable: soon Mongol hoofbeats would certainly be heard in Paris and Rome. The Mongols treated the European states as their diplomatic inferiors, subjects basically in a state of rebellion by fact that they had not already submitted. Cruel, threatening and demanding letters were the norm, and it's safe to say any future efforts at alliance were greatly hampered by this opening salvo. The rare diplomatic exception was an embassy sent to King Louis IX of France during his stay in Cyprus in 1248 just before the 7th Crusade. There, messengers came from the Mongol commander in the west, Eljigidei, an ally to the reigning Great Khan, Guyuk. Headed by two Christians in Eljigidei's service, the embassy bore letters from Eljigidei. These letters called Louis ‘son,' and had no demand of submission, but mentioned Mongol favouritism to Christians, urged the French King not to discriminate between Latin and non-Latin Christians as all were equal under Mongol law, and wished him well in his crusade. The two Christian representatives of Eljigidei asserted that he was a Christian and that Guyuk himself had already been baptised. The urged Louis to attack Egypt, and prevent its Ayyubid prince from sending forces to aid the Caliph in Baghdad, who the Mongols were soon to attack.     Louis, is should be noted, almost certainly had not been anticipating any cooperation from the Mongols; he had  been well aware of their attacks on Hungary only a few years before, learned of Mongol demands and treatment of foreign powers from travellers like Carpini, and apparently received Mongol ultimatums for his submission in 1247. Further, a devout Christian, it is unlikely he would have gone looking for allies among “pagans,” even for fighting against Muslims. Still, he reacted well to Eljigidei's messengers and sent a return embassy with gifts with them back to Eljigidei which were to be sent on to Guyuk, while the initial letter was forwarded back to France and ultimately to King Henry III of England. Ultimately, it was for naught. Guyuk was dead even before Louis received Eljigidei's letter, and  Eljigidei himself was soon put to death in the following political turmoil. Little is known of the embassy Louis sent back with Eljigdei's representatives, but from the little heard of it through William of Rubruck a few years later, it seems to have achieved nothing beyond meeting Guyuk's widow and the regent, Oghul Qaimish, who portrayed Louis' gifts as tokens of the French King's submission.  Following the meeting on Cypress, Louis IX suffered a humiliating defeat in Egypt at Mansura, captured and was ransomed by the newly emerging Mamluks. By the time he returned to France and received Oghul Qaimish's reply, not only was she dead, but the responding letter was essentially another demand for his surrender. This first non-threatening Mongol embassy succeeded only in making the King of France feel like he had been tricked, especially since the new Great Khan, Mongke, sent a letter back with William of  Rubruck that disavowed Eljigidei's embassy. It has been speculated that Eljigidei was using the embassy to spy on Louis, as he was wary of the sudden arrival of Louis' army in Cyprus, and a desire to find out his military intentions, rather than any genuine interest in cooperation at this point.  His hope may have been to ensure that this new army attacked Mongol enemies, rather than get in the way of the Mongols.       The halting of the Mongol advance at Ayn Jalut by the Mamluks, and fracturing of the Empire into independent Khanates after Great Khan Mongke's death left the new Ilkhanate in a precarious position. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, the only direction they could expand not at the expense of fellow Mongols was against the Mamluks, who fortified their shared border with the Ilkhans. Even a small raid could trigger the arrival of the full Mamluk army, a dangerous prospect against such deadly warriors. Yet the Ilkhans could not bring their full might to bear on the shared border with the Mamluks in Syria, as it would leave their other borders open to attacks from the Golden Horde, Chagatais or Neguderis, in addition to the trouble of provisioning an army in the tough, hot and dry conditions of the Levantine coastline, a route the Mamluks secured and fortified. Opening a new front against the Mamluks was necessary, and there were already convenient beachheads established  in the form of the remaining Crusader States.   A shadow of their former selves, the Crusader states were represented by a few major coastal holdings like Antioch, Tripoli, and Acre, and inland fortifications like Krak de Chevaliers and Montfort, as well as the Kingdom of Cyprus, whose ruler, Hugh III of Cyprus, took the title King of Jerusalem in 1268. The Crusader States had shown neutrality to the Mongols, or even joined them such as the County of Tripoli did in 1260 after the Mongols entered Syria. In early 1260, the papal legate at Acre sent an embassy to Hulegu, most likely to discourage him from attacking the Crusader holdings. Along with information from the Kings of Armenian Cilicia, their most important regional vassals, the Mongols would have had a vague knowledge of western Europe and their crusading history. The Ilkhanate's founder, Hulegu, sent the first letter to the west in 1262, intended once more for King Louis IX, though this embassy was turned back in Sicily. This letter was friendlier terms than most Mongol missives, but still contained threats, if rather subdued. Pope Urban IV may have learned of the attempt, and the next year sent a letter to Hulegu, apparently having been told that the Il-Khan had become a Christian.  Delighted at the idea, the Pope informed Hulegu that if he was baptised, he would receive aid from the west. In reality, Hulegu never converted to Christianity, and died in 1265 without sending any more letters.       His son and successor, Abaqa, was the Il-Khan most dedicated to establishing a Franco-Mongol alliance and came the closest to doing so. Due to conflict on his distant  borders with the Golden Horde and Chagatayids, as well as the troubles of consolidating power as new monarch in a new realm, for the 1260s he was unable to commit forces to the Mamluk frontier. As a good Mongol, Abaqa was unwilling to allow the enemy total respite, and made it his mission to encourage an attack from the west on the Mamluks. His first embassy was sent in 1266, shortly after becoming Il-Khan, contacting the Byzantines, Pope Clement IV and King James I of Aragon, hoping for a united Christian front to combine efforts with the Mongols against the Mamluks, inquiring which route into Palestine the Christian forces would take. The responses were generally positive, Pope Clement replying that as soon as he knew which route, he would inform Abaqa.       Abaqa sent a message again in 1268, inquiring about this progress. James of Aragon found himself the most motivated by the Il-Khans requests, encouraged by the promises of Abaqa's logistical and military support once they reached the mainland. James made his preparations, and launched a fleet in September 1269. An unexpected storm scattered the fleet, and only two of James' bastard children made it to Acre, who stayed only briefly, accomplishing little there.        Not long after, King Louis IX set out for Crusade once more, making the inexplicable choice to land in Tunis in 1270. Despite his well planned efforts, the Crusade was an utter disaster, and Louis died of dysentery outside the walls of Tunis in August 1270. Prince Edward of England with his army landed in Tunis shortly before the evacuation of the crusaders, and disgusted by what he saw, set his fleet for the Holy Land, landing at Acre in May 1271, joined by Hugh of Lusignan, King of Cyprus.  Edward's timing was good, as Abaqa had returned from a great victory over the Chagatai Khan Baraq at Herat in July 1270, though had suffered a major hunting accident that November.       The Mamluk Sultan Baybars was campaigning in Syria in spring 1271, the famous Krak des Chevaliers falling to him that April. Tripoli would have fallen next, had Baybars not retreated back to Damascus hearing of the sudden arrival of a Crusader fleet, and was wary of being caught between European heavy cavalry and Mongol horse archers. Soon after landing Edward made his preparations for an offensive, and reached out to Abaqa. Abaqa was delighted, and sent a reply and orders for Samaghar, the Mongol commander in Anatolia, to head to Syria. Edward did not wait for Abaqa's reply, and there is no indication he ever responded to Abaqa's letter. He set out in mid-July, ensuring his army suffered the most from the summer heat, while missing the Mongols who preferred to campaign in the winter. Suffering high casualties and accomplishing little, he withdrew back to Acre. In mid-October Samaghar arrived with his army, raiding as far as to the west of Aleppo while an elite force of Mongols scouted ahead, routing a large group of Turkmen between Antioch and Harim, but was soon forced to retreat with the advance of the Mamluk army under Baybars.       Missing Samagahr by only a few weeks, in November Edward marched south from Acre at the head of a column of men from England, Acre, Cyprus, with Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. They ambushed some Turkmen on the Sharon plain, forced the local Mamluk governor to withdraw, but with the arrival of large Mamluk reinforcements the Crusaders fled, losing their prisoners and booty.  That was the closest the Mongols and the Franks came to proper coordination. Edward helped oversee a peace treaty between the Mamluks and the Kingdom of Jersualem, but the heat, difficulties campaigning, political infighting and an assassination attempt on his life permanently turned him off of crusading. By September 1272, Edward set sail for England. A  few weeks after his departure the Mongols again invaded, besieging al-Bira but were defeated by the Mamluks in December.        Edward's brief effort in Syria demonstrated the difficulties prefacing any Mongol-Frankish cooperation. The Mamluks were a cohesive, unified force, well accustomed to the environment and working from a well supplied logistic system and intelligence network, while the Franks and Mongols were unable to ever develop a proper timetable for operations together. The European arrivals generally had unrealistic goals for their campaigns, bringing neither the men, resources or experience to make an impact.       Abaqa continued  to organize further efforts, and found many willing ears at the Second Council of Lyons in France in 1274, a meeting of the great powers of Christendom intended to settle doctrinal issues, the division of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and plan the reconquest of the Holy land. Abaqa's delegation informed the Council that the Il-Khan had secured his borders, that peace had been achieved between all the Mongols Khanates, and he could now bring his full might against the Mamluks, and urged the Christian powers to do likewise. The current Pope, Gregory X, fully supported this and made efforts to set things in motion, but his death in 1276 killed whatever momentum this process had had. Abaqa sent another round of envoys, who reached the King of France and the new King of England, Edward. The envoys brought the Il-khan's apologies for failing to cooperate properly during Edward's crusade, and asked him to return. Edward politely declined. This was the final set of envoys Abaqa sent west. Perhaps frustrated, he finally organized a proper invasion of Syria, only an army under his brother Mongke-Temur to be defeated by the Mamluks at Homs, and Abaqa himself dying soon after in 1282. His successors were to find no more luck that he had.        The most interesting envoy to bring the tidings of the Il-Khan to Europe did not originate in the Ilkhanate, but in China: Rabban Bar Sawma, born in 1220 in what is now modern day Beijing, was a Turkic Nestorian priest who had set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before being conscripted to act as a messenger for the Il-Khan, in a journey which is a fascinating contrast to that of his contemporary Marco Polo. Even given him his own dedicated episode in this podcast series, but we'll give here a brief recount of his journey. Writing his accounts down upon his return to Baghdad later in life, he described how he brought messages and gifts to the Byzantine Emperor Andronicos II Palaiologus, marvelled at the Hagia Sophia, then landed in Sicily and made his way to Rome, having just missed the death of Pope Honorius IV. Travelling on to France, he was warmly welcomed by King Phillip IV, and then on to Gascony where he met the campaigning King Edward of England, who again responded kindly to the Il-khan's envoy.  On his return journey, he met the new Pope Nicholas IV in 1288 before returning to the Ilkhanate.    Despite the generous receptions Rabban Sauma was given by the heads of Europe, and despite the Il-khan's promises to return Jerusalem to Christian hands, the reality was there was no ruler in the west interested, or capable of, going on Crusade. By now, the act of Crusading in the Holy land had lost its lustre, the final crusades almost all disasters, and costly ones at that. With the final Crusader strongholds falling to the Mamluks in the early 1290s, there was no longer even a proper beachhead on the coast for a Crusading army. The sheer distance and cost of going on Crusade, especially with numerous ongoing issues in their own Kingdoms at hand, outweighed whatever perceived benefit there might have been in doing so. Further, while Rabban Sauma personally could be well received, the Mongols themselves remained uncertain allies. From 1285 through to 1288, Golden Horde attacks on eastern Europe had recommenced in force. Even the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Tele-Buqa, had led an army into Poland. For the Europeans, the distinctions between the Mongol Khanates were hard to register; how could messages of peace from some Mongols be matched with the open war other Mongols were undertaking? All evidence seems to suggest that the western Franks did not understand that the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate were separate political entities. Recall earlier the conflicting letters Louis IX had received in the 1240s, where one Mongol general offered friendship, only to be tricked in seemingly submitting to the Mongols and then receive letters in the 1250s telling him to discount the previous envoys. Together these encouraged unease over perceiving the Mongols as allies, and served to further dampen interest to pursue these alliances.       In contrast, the Mamluks had somewhat greater success in their own overseas diplomacy: in the 1260s Baybars initiated contact with the Golden Horde, ruled by the Muslim Berke Khan, encouraging him to keep up his warfare with his Ilkhanid cousins. Sultan Baybars also kept good relations with the Byzantine Empire and the Genoese, allowing him to keep the flow of Turkic slave soldiers from the steppes of the Golden Horde open, the keystone of the Mamluk military. There is also evidence they undertook some limited diplomacy with Qaidu Khan during the height of his rule over Central Asia and the Chagatayids. While the Mamluks and Golden Horde never undertook any true military cooperation, the continuation of their talks kept the Ilkhanate wary of enemies on all borders, never truly able to bring the entirety of its considerable might against one foe least another strike the Il-Khan's exposed frontiers. But, did the Golden Horde, in the 1260s, perceive this as an alliance? We only have Mamluk accounts of the relationship, but scholarship often supposes that the Golden Horde Khans perceived this as the submission of the Mamluks, and any cooperation was the cooperation between overlord and subject. As many of the Mamluk ruling class were Qipchaqs, so the Mongols had come to see as their natural slaves, it may well be that Berke saw the submission of the Mamluks as a natural part of their relationship, especially since he already ruled the Qipchaq homeland. This alliance, alongside never resulting in direct cooperation, was also never always amicable. When the Jochid Khans grew annoyed with the Mamluks, they would halt the trade of Qipchaq slaves and threaten to deprive the Mamluks of their greatest source of warriors. During the long reign of Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, a daughter of the Golden Horde Khan Ozbeg was wed to him, in an effort to cement the relationship after a rocky start to the 1300s. Al-Nasir soon accused her of not actually being a Chinggisid, insulting her and infuriating Ozbeg. Yet the relationship survived until the invasions of Emir Temur at the close of the fourteenth century, when the Mamluks and Golden Horde once again took part in a doomed west-Asian effort to ally against Temur.       Ilkhanid-European contacts continued into the 14th century, but with somewhat less regularity after Rabban bar Sawma's journey. An archbishopric was even founded in the new Ilkhanid capital of Sultaniyya in 1318, and Papal envoys would travel through the Ilkhanate to the Yuan Dynasty in China until the 1330s. A few envoys came from the Il-Khans still hoping to achieve military cooperation; Ghazan Il-Khan continued to send them before his invasions, including the only one that actually defeated the Mamluk army and led to a brief Mongol advance down the coast, occupying Damascus. News of Ghazan's successes did spread rapidly, for the Spanish Franciscan Ramon Llull learned of it and promptly sailed all the way across the Mediterranean, hoping to be among the first missionaries to land in the newly reclaimed Holy Land. But upon arriving in Cypress, Llull learned of Ghazan's equally quick withdrawal. The combined news of a Mongol victory followed by sudden Mongol withdrawal must have only affirmed the opinion of many of the futility of taking part in any more crusades with the Mongols.  Military operations against the Mamluks mostly ceased after Ghazan's death, until a formal peace was achieved between them and the Ilkhanate at the start of the 1320s. Naturally, no further messages for alliances with the powers of Europe were forth coming, and consequently putting an almost total end to European interest and contacts with the Middle East for the next five centuries. European-Mongol relations would continue for some time longer in the territory of the Golden Horde, where the attention of our podcast moves next, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast for more. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, then consider supporting us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one.   

Tunisia has a new prime minister, the first woman in the Arab world to hold the job. She's replacing the prime minister that President Kais Saied sacked in July, when he suspended parliament. Many Tunisians, fed up with political parties and an economic crisis, thought that was the right move – but others called it a coup, and the question has lingered. As Saied continues to consolidate power, are these steps off the road to democracy, or will they make Tunisia's democracy stronger? In this episode:  Bernard Smith (@JazeeraBernard),  Al Jazeera correspondent  Rabeb Aloui (@rababalouii), Tunis-based journalist  Connect with The Take:  Twitter (@AJTheTake), Instagram (@ajthetake) and Facebook (@TheTakePod)

The romance-stricken Don Quixote sees a fair youth seated by the side of a stream, "his feet like two crystals, his hands like snowflakes." The youth was a charming girl! (Volume 14, Harvard Classics) Cervantes aided in the capture of Tunis, Oct. 10, 1573.

Over a year ago, on 4 August 2020, one of the world's most powerful non-nuclear explosions devastated Beirut, killing 218 people. While Lebanon dominated global news headlines then, attention has since fizzled. Amidst political stagnation, disastrous inflation and shortages in basic commodities from fuel to medicine, Lebanon seems in free fall. In this webinar, nearly two years on from the 17 October Revolution, we hear from speakers active in the fields of politics, labour union organising, urban space and law, who will address the aftermath of the Beirut explosion, the future of political activism, the upcoming elections and what may be emerging in Lebanon. Ghida Frangieh is a lawyer and researcher based in Beirut. She has been a member of the Legal Agenda since 2011 and is currently the head of its Strategic Litigation Unit. The Legal Agenda is a law and society research and advocacy organization with offices in Beirut and Tunis. Ghida recently worked on producing a legal guide for the victims of the Beirut blast of 4 August 2020 to support their path to justice. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Human Rights from France and has produced various publications related to social justice and human rights issues. She is also a founding member of Ruwad Al-Houkouk Association and the Lawyers Committee for the Defense of Protesters. Ibrahim Halawi is a Teaching Fellow in International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research interests focus on theories and histories of counterrevolution and revolution, with an emphasis on counterrevolution and revolution in the Middle East. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and established outlets on Lebanon, as well as revolution and sectarianism more broadly. Ibrahim is also the Secretary of Foreign Relations for Citizens in a State party, a progressive secular Lebanese party. Abir Saksouk graduated as an architect in 2005, and later did her masters in Urban Development Planning. She is co-founder and co-director of Public Works Studio, a research-based organization that addresses spatial inequality in Lebanon. Her primary focus includes urbanism and law, property and shared space, and right to the city of marginalized communities. Abir is also a member of the Legal Agenda and co-founder of Dictaphone Group. Omar Al-Ghazzi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. His work focuses on questions around the global power asymmetries in the reporting and representation of conflict. He researches digital journalism, the politics of time and memory, and the geopolitics of popular culture, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa.

Une escale à Thessalonique, une autre à Tunis, une guerrière du rap malien, un duo clarinette et trompette, du jazz libanais imprégné de cubanité, un meringue endiablé… De quoi susciter une envolée de youyous ! Une sieste musicale proposée par Patrick Labesse.

For the second episode in our series on Healthy Hustle, I sit down with Colleen Tunis. My friend Rachel Buckner joins us as well, as we talk about staying healthy while leading in a fast-paced environment and the tension between health and hustle. Colleen leads as the programming director at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. She is just a wealth of knowledge and perspective, and she carries the weight of ministry so generously.

Fin juillet, le président tunisien Kaïs Saïed s'est octroyé les pleins pouvoirs et depuis, les signes d'une dérive autoritaire se multiplient. Dix ans après la première des révolutions arabes, la Tunisie pourrait-elle redevenir une dictature? Le Point J en parle avec Maurine Mercier, correspondante à Tunis. Caroline Stevan Réalisation: Fabrice Araldi Nous écrire: pointj@rts.ch

Amour gardé secret, amour impossible…  Que faire lorsque l'amour n'est pas – ou n'est plus – réciproque ? Comment en sortir ? Comment enfin oser avouer ses sentiments à l'être aimé ? Pourquoi peut-on s'entêter à aimer quelqu'un qui ne nous aime pas ? Comment accepter que nos sentiments n'aboutissent pas à une relation amoureuse ?   Géraldyne Prévot Gigant, Psychopraticienne, spécialiste de la dépendance affective et de la question amoureuse. Auteure du livre « La force de la rencontre » chez Odile Jacob (mars 2020) ou « 50 exercices pour sortir de la dépendance affective » chez Eyrolles. Dr Myriam Fatmi, médecin généraliste et sexologue à Tunis en Tunisie En fin d'émission, nous parlons de la 15ᵉ édition du Pasteurdon 2021 qui a lieu du 6 au 10 octobre, l'occasion de faire découvrir au grand public l'étendue des recherches menées à l'Institut Pasteur. Nous faisons le point avec Pr Jean-Claude Manuguerra Biologiste (spécialiste de la grippe aviaire), responsable de la cellule d'intervention biologique d'urgence de l'Institut Pasteur.

Comment enseigner et pratiquer les sciences en pays d'Islam ? Comment séparer la science du religieux ? Pour en finir avec les compromis... Rencontre avec une physicienne engagée, Faouzia Charfi, professeure à l'Université de Tunis. Demandons-nous comment enseigner, pratiquer et transmettre les sciences en pays d'Islam. Pourquoi et surtout comment séparer science et religion (quelle qu'elle soit...) ? Comment revisiter la très riche histoire des sciences arabes pour nous rappeler à quel point c'est l'ouverture et non l'enfermement qui a permis son âge d'or et pour en tirer les conclusions qui s'imposent ? Pourquoi pas de compromis possible en science et religion ? Avec Faouzia Farida Charfi, physicienne et professeur à l'Université de Tunis pour l'ouvrage Islam et science : en finir avec les compromis (Odile Jacob).

durée : 01:59:10 - Les Matins du samedi - par : Caroline Broué, Stéphanie Villeneuve - L'astrobiologiste Nathalie Cabrol qui raconte ses explorations en milieux extrêmes à la recherche des origines de la vie, sur Terre et sur Mars, dans son autobiographie "Voyage aux frontières de la vie" / La physicienne Faouzia Charfi, qui publie L'Islam et la science. En finir avec les compromis". - réalisation : June Loper - invités : Nathalie Cabrol Astrobiologiste; Faouzia Charfi Physicienne de l'université de Tunis

durée : 00:29:51 - L'invité(e) des Matins du samedi - par : Caroline Broué - Alors que la Tunisie vient de nommer une femme scientifique cheffe du gouvernement, rencontre avec la physicienne Faouzia Charfi, qui publie L'Islam et la science. En finir avec les compromis aux éditions Odile Jacob. - invités : Faouzia Charfi Physicienne de l'université de Tunis

Retour sur le Congrès mondial des écrivains de langue française qui s'est déroulé, les 25 et 26 septembre 2021, à Tunis. Un événement organisé par le Festival «Étonnants Voyageurs» en présence d'une trentaine d'auteurs venus des cinq continents pour débattre autour de la question «Qu'est-ce qu'écrire en français ?». Invité.e.s : L'écrivaine Leïla Slimani, du Maroc, lauréate du Prix Goncourt 2016, «représentante personnelle du chef de l'État pour la francophonie», présidente du Comité littéraire du Congrès ; l'écrivaine Fawzia Zouari de Tunisie ; l'éditrice Elisabeth Daldoul, fondatrice de «Elyzad» à Tunis ; l'écrivain Sami Tchak du Togo ; l'écrivaine Emmelie Prophète de Haïti ; Seyhmus Dagtekin, écrivain kurde de Turquie. Tout le programme complet sur le site du Festival «Étonnants Voyageurs».

« C'est une première en Tunisie et dans le monde arabe », s'exclame le site tunisien Business news . « Le président de la République Kaïs Saïed a décidé, hier mercredi, de désigner une femme, donc, Najla Bouden, pour former le gouvernement. » « Née en 1958 à Kairouan, précise Webdo, autre site d'information tunisien, la nouvelle résidente de la Kasbah est professeure de l'enseignement supérieur à l'École nationale d'ingénieurs de Tunis, spécialisée en géosciences. Elle occupait jusqu'à présent le poste de chargée de mise en œuvre des programmes de la Banque mondiale au ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, des Sciences et de la Recherche. » Elle était jusque-là totalement inconnue du grand public. Dans une première déclaration en tant que cheffe du gouvernement, relayée par le site Réalités, Najla Bouden affirme : « aujourd'hui, j'ai eu l'honneur d'être chargée par le président de la République Kaïs Saïed de former le nouveau gouvernement tunisien dans les plus brefs délais. Notre mission principale sera de lutter contre la corruption. » A peine nommée, déjà dénigrée… Et ça ne sera pas son seul défi, pointe le site d'information Tunisie Numérique : « sur le plan international, Bouden doit être consciente que sa nomination est loin d'être appréciée par les partenaires, surtout économiques, de la Tunisie, affirme Tunisie numérique. Pour eux, elle ne remplit pas en effet les conditions requises pour conduire le gouvernement tunisien, puisqu'ils avaient fait part de leur souhait de la nomination d'une personnalité compétente en économie, jouissant, en plus, d'une certaine notoriété à l'étranger. Les partenaires économiques avaient en effet émis ces "souhaits" afin de pouvoir garantir un usage optimal des fonds qu'ils vont devoir débloquer au profit de l'économie tunisienne. De ce fait, Bouden devra être très rigoureuse sur le choix de ses collaborateurs, notamment, le ministre qui sera chargé de l'économie et de la coopération internationale. Ce qui sera beaucoup plus facile à dire qu'à faire, pointe le site tunisien, quand on sait qu'elle n'aura pratiquement aucune marge de manœuvre dans le choix des membres de son gouvernement. » Et puis « sur le plan local, poursuit Tunisie Numérique, Bouden va devoir se préparer à composer avec une classe politique hostile, mais, surtout, elle va devoir convaincre les partenaires sociaux. On pense, notamment au patronat, et, surtout au syndicat UGTT qui a déjà affiché une hostilité de principe à son égard, du fait que Kaïs Saïed l'a choisie de façon unilatérale, sans prendre en considération les partenaires sociaux et leurs choix. » Aux ordres du président… La première ministre tunisienne n'aura donc pas les coudées franches… « Le 22 septembre, le président Saïed a abrogé la Constitution, rappelle Le Point Afrique, lui substituant un décret présidentiel qui lui permet de gouverner seul sans aucun recours possible contre lui. L'article 8 de cette "mini-Constitution" rédigée par Kaïs Saïed précise que "le pouvoir exécutif est exercé par le président de la République assisté d'un gouvernement dirigé par un chef du gouvernement". Madame Bouden ne bénéficiera donc pas des pouvoirs des sept messieurs qui l'ont précédée dans le bureau de la Kasbah. Elle agira sous les ordres du président. » Un contexte économique difficile… Et « c'est dans un climat d'inquiétude liée à l'arrêt des institutions démocratiques que la future cheffe du gouvernement devra évoluer, relève encore Le Point Afrique. Si l'opération mains propres prédomine, de lourds dossiers économiques et sociaux patientent. (…) Le Covid a aggravé, comme partout, une situation qui devenait structurellement périlleuse. Le taux de chômage atteint 17,9 % quand l'inflation est à 6,2 %. Toutes les entreprises publiques sont dans le rouge. Le pays a connu des problèmes importants d'approvisionnement en eau potable durant l'été. Le tourisme et le phosphate sont les deux piliers de l'économie. La pandémie a balayé un secteur qui compte pour 14 % du PIB, et qui fait vivre de façon directe et indirecte un demi-million de Tunisiens. Les recettes générées en été permettaient de vivre l'hiver. Depuis deux ans, ce n'est plus le cas. Quant au phosphate, corruption et grèves ont amoindri sa productivité. » Enfin Libération en France s'interroge : « Le Président Kaïs Saïed a-t-il choisi une femme pour entrer dans l'histoire, faire diversion sur sa prise de pouvoir autoritaire et ainsi gagner du temps avant de présenter une nouvelle Constitution à sa mesure ? Les premiers discours et la composition du gouvernement de Najla Bouden devraient donner des éléments de réponse. »

Several hundred protestors rallied in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, to demand the resignation of President Kaïs Saied.

À l'occasion des États Généraux du Livre à Tunis.  Deuxième partie de nos émissions, à l‘occasion des États Généraux du Livre qui se tiennent à Tunis, les 23 et 24 septembre 2021: comment dynamiser la diffusion du livre francophone dans le monde ?    Avec :  - Ibrahima Aya, écrivain malien, cofondateur des éditions Tombouctou et organisateur de la rentrée littéraire du Mali - Simon de Jocas, ancien président de Québec éditions, directeur de la maison d'édition «Les 400 coups» - Michel Choueri, ancien libraire à Beyrouth, aujourd'hui libraire à Dubaï. Vice-président de l'Association internationale des libraires francophones.

La Tunisie perd actuellement entre 700 et 800 médecins par an, qui décident d'aller travailler à l'étranger. Alors que le pays a été durement touché par la pandémie de Covid-19, cet exode des médecins a pesé lourd dans la crise sanitaire cet été, alors que le système de santé était débordé. Cette problématique s'observe dans d'autres pays pour des raisons sécuritaires et/ou économiques. Le Liban, la Syrie, Haïti, la Guinée, Madagascar… Comment encourager les médecins à exercer dans leurs pays d'origine ? Quelles conséquences cette fuite des cerveaux a-t-elle pour la qualité des soins dans les pays concernés ? Dr Salem Ould Zein, président du Syndicat national des praticiens à diplôme hors Union européenne (SNPadhue), médecin réanimateur au Centre hospitalier général de Châlons-en-Champagne Pr Mohamed Cissé, chef du service du Service Dermatologie MST du CHU de Donka en Guinée. Vice-président de la SODAF (la société de dermatologie d'Afrique Francophone).Doyen de la Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de la Santé à Conakry, en Guinée Dr Asmaou Diallo, interne au Service des Explorations fonctionnelles neuro-sensorielles au Centre hospitalier de Gonesse dans le Val-d'Oise, en région parisienne Dr Myriam Fatmi, médecin généraliste et sexologue à Tunis en Tunisie.

À l'occasion des États Généraux du Livre à Tunis.  Á l‘occasion des États Généraux du Livre qui se tiennent à Tunis, les 23 et 24 septembre 2021: comment se portent l'édition francophone et la diffusion du livre en français dans le monde ? Conversation avec Leila Slimani, écrivaine de langue française, lauréate du Prix Goncourt 2016 pour son roman Chanson douce, publié chez Gallimard, représentante personnelle du Président Emmanuel Macron pour la francophonie.  « Je n'aime pas le terme d' « écrivain francophone », je lui préfère écrivain de langue française »       et Sylvie Marcé, commissaire général des Etats Généraux du Livre en français. L'Europe et l'Amérique du Nord représentent 95% des revenus et la France à elle seule en concentre 85%. Parmi les 5% restants, le plus gros marché du continent africain, celui de la Côte d'Ivoire, représenterait quant à lui, 1% de ces revenus.

“Ket Buqa Noyan kept attacking left and right with all zeal. Some encouraged him to flee, but he refused to listen and said, “Death is inevitable. It is better to die with a good name than to flee in disgrace. In the end, someone from this army, old or young, will reach the court and report that Ket Buqa, not wanting to return in shame, gave his life in battle. The padishah should not grieve over lost Mongol soldiers. Let him imagine that his soldiers' wives have not been pregnant for a year and the mares of their herds have not folded. [...]The life or death of servants like us is irrelevant.” Although the soldiers left him, he continued to struggle in battle like a thousand men. In the end his horse faltered, and he was captured. [...] After that, Ket Buqa was taken before Quduz with his hands bound. “Despicable man,” said Quduz, “you have shed so much blood wrongfully, ended the lives of champions and dignitaries with false assurances, and overthrown ancient dynasties with broken promises. Now you have finally fallen into a snare yourself.”[...]     “If I am killed by your hand,” said Ket Buqa, “I consider it to be God's act, not yours. Be not deceived by this event for one moment, for when the news of my death reaches Hülägü Khan, the ocean of his wrath will boil over, and from Azerbaijan to the gates of Egypt will quake with the hooves of Mongol horses. They will take the sands of Egypt from there in their horses' nose bags. Hülägü Khan has three hundred thousand renowned horsemen like Ket Buqa. You may take one of them away.”       So the great Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashid al-Din records the heroic, and certainly greatly dramatized, account of Kitbuqa Noyan's final stand at the battle of Ayn Jalut in September 1260. This was the famous Mongol defeat at the newly established, and rather fragile, Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. The Mongols however, did not see it as an irreversible cataclysm, but the defeat of a small force which would soon be avenged, for Heaven demanded nothing less. The  defeat of the Mongols at Ayn Jalut in 1260 was not the end of the war between the Mongols and the Mamluks, and over the next 50 years Hulegu's successors, the Ilkhans, tried repeatedly to avenge their losses only to be halted by the Mamluks' valiant resistance.  Here, we will look at the efforts by the Mongol Ilkhanate to bring their horses to the Nile. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       First, we should note that for anyone wishing to read more about the war between the Mongols and the Mamluks, the most detailed work on the subject can be found in Reuven Amitai-Preiss' Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, released in 1995. No other work details the entire conflict and its sources so fully, and is an absolute must read for anyone desiring the most effective overview on the subject possible.       With the death of Grand Khan Mongke in 1259, the Mongol Empire was irrevocably broken: while Hulegu and his successors stayed on good terms with his brother Khubilai, the nominal Great Khan, Hulegu was independent, ruler of  vast domain stretching from Anatolia to the Amu Darya, known as the Ilkhanate. Hulegu's cousins in the neighbouring Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate and the Neguderis were almost immediately antagonistic to the Ilkhans, who found themselves defending their distant frontiers from all three, in addition to internal revolts. For the Ilkhans, the Mamluks were but one frontier amongst several, one they could turn to only when the threat from the other Khanates was low. More often than not, this simple fact prevented any great Ilkhanid invasion of the Mamluk state.   For the Mamluks though, their border with the Ilkhanate along the Euphrates river was of utmost importance. In the aftermath of Ayn Jalut, the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz was assassinated by the energetic Baybars, who had fought alongside Qutuz against Kitbuqa. We introduced Baybars back in episode 30 of this podcast. While much credit can be given to Qutuz and the quality of the Mamluk soldiery for the victory at Ayn Jalut, the reason for continued Mamluk successes against the Mongols can be attributed to Baybars. A Qipchaq from the great Eurasian steppe, as a young boy Baybars had been sold into slavery to the Ayybuid Sultan of Egypt. There, Baybars was converted to Islam and received extensive training in all matter of military affairs. An excellent soldier, coupled with  immense ambition, endurance and drive, Baybars understood clearly the danger the Mongols posed, and set up his entire kingdom to defend against them.    The new Sultan greatly expanded the Mamluk regiments, encouraging good relations with the Golden Horde, Genoese and Byzantine Empire to keep up the flow of Turkic slave soldiers from the Eurasian steppe, over the Mediterranean to the ports of Egypt. He established a sophisticated intelligence network to inform him on the Ilkhanate and spread misinformation within it, supported by a system of signal towers, messenger pigeons, improved roads, bridges and relay stations to rapidly send messages. This was the barid, which served as the Mamluks' answer to the Mongol yam system. Its riders reported directly to the Mamluk Sultan.  Frontier fortifications along the Euphrates River like al-Bira and al-Rahba were strengthened, and they served as the first line of defence when the armies of the Ilkhanate advanced. When messengers raced down from Syria to Egypt with news of a Mongol assault,  Baybars would immediately march with an army from Cairo to meet them head on. More often than not, the Mongol attack party would return to the Ilkhanate rather than face Baybars head on. His swift reaction kept border officials loyal, feeling their Sultan would soon be there to assist them, or to punish defections. Rather than face the Mongols in battle, garrisons of cities in Syria past the Euphrates border were ordered to withdraw and regrouped at designated locations during invasions, facing the Mongols with united forces or awaiting the Sultan.  Baybars would not allow the Mongols to overrun his empire piecemeal, as they had the Khwarezmian Empire some forty years prior.   Baybars cultivated relations with bedouin nomads across Syria, who provided valuable auxiliaries, intelligence and also to keep them from allying with the Mongols.  Finally, he strengthed his position domestically, controlling the economy and  appointing his own Caliphs to legitimize himself, presenting himself as the defender of Islam. Baybars prepared his entire kingdom for Mongol attacks, a highly effective system the Ilkhanate struggled against. For the Ilkhans, the theater with the Mamluks was a sideshow, one to attack only when other frontiers were secured. The Mamluk Sultanate itself had no hope of conquering the Ilkhanate or seriously threatening it, so the various Ilkhans felt no great rush to overwhelm the Mamluks. In contrast, for the Mamluks the Ilkhanid border was of utmost importance: Baybars had to levy almost entirety of the Mamluk army to repel the Mongols, and thus not even a single defeat could be afforded for it would allow the Mongols to overrun Egypt, and the remainder of the Islamic west. Thus did Baybars finetune a system that proved remarkably successful at defending against the house of Hulegu, although it demanded great personal ability on the part of the monarch, and Baybars' successors struggled to compare to his vision.    Soon after Ayn Jalut in September 1260, a Mongol force of about 6,000 returned to Syria that December. Commanded by Baydar, an officer of Kitbuqa who had escaped Qutuz and Baybars' great advance earlier that year, it was a serious threat. At that time Sultan Baybars had not tightened his hold over Syria, attacks by the Crusader states had wrought further confusion, and some of Qutuz's loyalists had rebelled against Baybars' rule, one of whom even declared himself sultan. There is implication in the Mamluk sources that the attack was not launched on Hulegu's order, but Baydar's own initiative to avenge Kitbuqa. As his army marched, they found that the garrisons of Syria had retreated before them. Placing a governor in Aleppo and other major cities, as the Mongols neared Homs they found the combined garrisons of Homs, Hama and Aleppo had retreated there and rallied before them. Greatly outnumbering the Syrian forces, perhaps 6,000 troops under Baydar to 1,400 under the Syrians, Baydar was ultimately defeated in battle, the Syrians aided by thick fog and the timely flanking of local Bedouin. Coincidentally, it was fought near the grave of Khalid ibn al-Walid, the great commander of the early Islamic conquests and victor at Yarmouk, which earned it double the symbolic value. This first battle of Homs, as it was to become known, strengthened the feeling that the Mongols were not invincible. The Mongol army outnumbered the Mamluk garrisons, and keenly demonstrated the importance of unified defense rather than each garrison hiding behind city walls. For many Mamluk writers, it was the first battle of Homs that stood as the great victory over the Mongols, rather than Ayn Jalut. It was also the last major Mongol offensive into Syria in the 1260s.    Hulegu spent the next years fighting with Berke Khan of the Golden Horde over the valuable territory of Azerbaijan, which Berke believed belonged to the house of Jochi. With Hulegu's death in February 1265, he was succeeded by his son Abaqa, who was distracted by Jochid attacks and the efforts of setting up a new empire. By then, the most entrenched Sultan Baybars could solidify his defences, and turn to the isolated Crusader strongholds. By this time, little remained of the former Crusader Kingdoms, baring some coastal cities like Antioch, Tripoli and Acre and a few inland fortresses like Krak des Chevaliers and Montfort. The Crusader States had shown neutrality to the Mongols, or even joined them such as the County of Tripoli in 1260 after the Mongols entered Syria. Their neutrality or allegiance to the Mongols, in addition to the possibility of them acting as a foothold to further European troops, meant that the Mamluks would unleash bloody vengeance on them whenever the opportunity arose. From February to April 1265 in the immediate aftermath of Hulegu's  death, Baybars conquered Caesarea, Haifa, Arsuf, Galilee and raided Cilician Armenia, the vassals of the Ilkhanate. In 1268 Baybars took Antioch, and in 1270-71 when Abaqa was fighting with Chagatayid and Neguderi armies in the far east, Baybars took the fortresses of Krak des Chevaliers and Montfort, and planned to attack Tripoli, another Ilkhanid vassal. Though it remains popular in some circles to portray the Mamluk conquest of the Crusader holdouts as titanic clashes, they were side affairs, undertaken by the Mamluks whenever the Ilkhans were occupied.  Such was the slow and humiliating coup de grace which ended the Crusader states.   The Mamluks' ending of the Crusader kingdoms certainly served them strategically, for it was the most effective way to prevent any link up between European and Mongol forces. Hulegu and his successors sent letters to the Kings and Popes of Europe, encouraging them to take up crusade against the Mamluks and together defeat them, offering to return Jerusalem and other holy sites back into Christian hands, but this almost always fell on deaf ears or were greeted with empty promises. Louis IX's highly organized crusades had resulted in utter debacles at Mansura in 1250 and Tunis in 1270, which dampened whatever minor enthusiasm for crusade was left in Europe. Few European monarchs ever seriously took up Mongol offers at military alliances, with two exceptions. King James I of Aragon found himself the most motivated by the Il-Khan Abaqa's requests, encouraged by the promises of the Ilkhanate's logistical and military support once they reached the mainland. James made his preparations, and launched a fleet in September 1269. An unexpected storm scattered the fleet, and only two of James' bastard children made it to Acre, who stayed only briefly, accomplishing little there before departing. This was soon followed by the arrival of prince Edward of England, the future King Edward I, at Acre in May 1271 with a small force, and Abaqa sent an army under Samaghar, the Mongol commander in Rum, to assist him: but Samaghar's force withdrew with the arrival of Baybars. Edward's troops performed poorly on their own minor raids, and set sail for England in September 1272.    One of the commanders who took part in Samaghar's raid was Mu'in al-Din Sulaiman, better known as the Pervane, from sahib pervana, the keeper of the seals, though it literally means “butterfly.” The Pervane was the dominant figure of the rump state of the Seljuqs of Rum: when the previous Mongol installed Seljuq Sultan, Kilij Arlan IV, had challenged the Pervane, he succeeded in getting Abaqa to execute the Sultan and instate Arslan's young son, a toddler enthroned as Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw III. Thus did the Pervane, in coordination with Samaghar Noyan, act as the master of Anatolia. Essentially co-governors, Samaghar and the Pervane had a stable relationship, enriching themselves along the way. But when Abaqa appointed his younger brother Ejei to oversee the Pervana and Samaghar. The Pervane chafed under the increased financial burden and supervision, and asked Abaqa to recall his brother, claiming Ejei was in cooperation with Baybars. Abaqa promised to recall him, but delayed. In his frustration, the Pervane himself  reached out to Baybars. The Sultan's curiosity was piqued, but didn't commit; by the time his response reached the Pervane in 1274, Ejei and Samaghar had been replaced by Toqa Noyan, and the Pervane didn't respond. Under Toqa Noyan, Mongol pressure was even greater in Anatolia, and the Pervane's powers were more limited than ever.    What followed was a terrible mess of political machinations. The Pervane got Toqa Noyan removed, Ejei was reinstated, the Pervane's efforts to remove Ejei again frustrated Abaqa, who removed Ejei, killed some of his followers and reinstated the Pervane and Toqa Noyan. In November 1275, the Mongols besieged al-Bira, but Baybars had learned of it in advance allegedly due to contacts with the Pervane. After this, the Pervane was careful to rebuild trust with Abaqa, bringing him the Seljuq Sultan's sister to wed. At the same time, with or without the Pervane's support a group of Rumi amirs met with Baybars in July 1276, urging him to attack. Judging there was enough support in Rum for him he agreed, and Baybars mobilized his army over winter 1276, setting out in February 1277.   As Baybars sped up the Levantine coast, the Pervane rapidly lost control of Rum as various Turkmen rebelled and a new Mongol army under Tudawan cracked down on the amirs who had contacted Baybars. In Syria, Baybars sent a diversionary force from Aleppo over the Euphrates, while his main army entered Anatolia in early April. After pushing off a Mongol advance force of 3,000 in the Taurus Mountains, news reaches Baybars that Tudawun was camped close by on a plain near the town of Abulustayn (Elbistan) and set out for them, the armies meeting on the 15th of April 1277.   Tudawan's army was about 14,000 Mongols, Turk and heavily armoured Georgian cavalry was joined by an army of Rumi troops similar size under the Pervane, but Tudawan distrusted them, and kept them away from his lines. Tudawan's scouts had failed to judge the size of the Mamluk army, which he believed to be smaller and lacking Baybars. In reality, the Mamluks outnumbered the Mongols by a few thousand. As the Mamluks entered the plain at the narrow end they were unable to properly form up, and their centre was positioned before their left wing.  The Mongol left flank began the battle, sending arrows into the Mamluk standard bearers in the centre before charging them. The Mamluk centre buckled under the charge, and the more exposed Mamluk left wing was similarly pounded by the Mongol right.   The situation was critical for the Mamluks: likely at this stage, their bedouin irregulars fled. Baybars sent in his reserve, the garrison of Hama, to reinforce his left, and succeeded in forcing back the Mongols. A brief respite allowed the Mamluks to better deploy their lines, and counterattack. The Mongols fought fiercely, but the greater number of the Mamluks made the difference. Gradually forced back over the course of the day, their horses exhausted and unable to access remounts, the Mongols dismounted, signalling they were fighting to the death. With great struggle, the Mamluks defeated them and killed their commanders. The Rumi army took little part in the battle and dispersed, the Pervane escaping, with one of his sons captured by Baybars. The next day the Mamluk Sultan marched for Kayseri, reaching it on April 20th.   Baybars ordered the Pervane and the Seljuq Sultan to him, but the Pervane held out in his own castle. Both realized that Baybars would not be able to hold this position, deep in enemy territory, supplies low and the rest of his kingdom unprotected while a furious Abaqa rallied his army. 5 days after entering Kayseri, Baybars was en route back to Syria and though his vanguard deserted to the Mongols, by June he was in Damascus. Abaqa arrived in Rum too late to catch Baybars, and in his fury was only narrowly persuaded out of massacring everything between Kayseri and Erzerum, while the summer heat kept him from invading Syria. He was able to catch the Pervane though, and put him to death: allegedly, his flesh was eaten by Abaqa and the senior Mongols.   Thus ended one of Baybars' most skillfully executed campaigns: lightning quick and devastating, creating a terrible mess for the Ilkhanate, though in itself brought no strategic gain or shift in the status quo. It was a great shock when the Lion of Egypt suddenly died at the beginning of July 1277 soon after his return. Baybars had hoped to establish a dynasty: he was seamlessly succeeded by his older son, named al-Sa'id Berke. The new Sultan quickly antagonized the Mamluk emirs through his efforts to limit their powers, and was forced to abdicate in favour of his younger brother, the 7 year old Sulamish. The boy was nothing but a puppet, and his guardian, one of the late Baybars' Mamluks named Qalawun, soon forced the boy out and took power himself in November 1279.  Like Berke, Qalawun had been taken from the Qipchap steppe and sold as a Mamluk. He had loyally served Baybars and proven himself an able commander, though something of a schemer. Though Qalawun's line came to dominate the Mamluk Sultanate for essentially the next century, initially Qalawun faced stiff opposition in attempting to assert his authority.    This disruption in the Sultanate was a golden opportunity for Abaqa, who decided it was time to press the Mamluk frontier. To this, he decided to put his younger brother Mongke-Temur to the task. Prince Mongke-Temur first  raided Syria in November 1280 with King Lewon III of Armenian Cilicia, Bohemond VII of Tripoli and a contingent of Knights Hospitaller. In September 1281, Mongke-Temur returned again, a large force of perhaps 40-50,000 Mongols, Armenians under Lewon III, Georgians, Franks and troops from Seljuq Rum. Abaqa initially followed with another army, but may have been forced to hold due to rumours of an attack by the Golden Horde at Derbent.   The Mongol invasion provided a common enemy to unite the Mamluk factions fighting for power, and under Qalawun they advanced, reinforced by Syrian garrisons and bedouins. They reached Homs a few days before the Mongols in late October, giving Qalawun's troops a chance to dig in and rest on the plain north of the city. Their preparations were improved as a Mongol defector informed them of Mongke-Temur's battle plan. Most of the Mongol army was to be placed in the center with the right wing also strong, intending to overpower the Mamluk left and centre where the Sultan's banners would be. Qalawun thus reinforced his left wing, and positioned himself on a hill behind the vanguard to oversee the battle and act as reserve.    Marching through the night, the Mongols arrived early on the 29th of October, 1281. It was a massive front, over 24 kilometres in length due to the size of both armies. The wings of both forces, so far apart, had little knowledge of what was occurring on the other side. While tired from the night march, the Mongols were eager: the battle was initiated when the Mongol right under Alinaq charged forth. The Mamluk left and part of their centre crumpled  and routed under the onslaught. Alinaq continued his pursuit, and here Mongke-Temur's inexperience and the scale of the battlefield began to tell. Proper communication with the command seemingly absent, Alinaq pursued the fleeing Mamluks off the battlefield, as far as the Lake of Homs where they dismounted to rest, evidently anticipating the rest of the army would soon arrive.   A similar charge by the Mongol left wing lacked the numbers of the Mongol right, so the Mamluk right and centre were able to hold and counterattack. Qalawun's actual role in this counterattack isn't clear: some sources have him personally lead the attack, while in others he kept his position hidden, not even raising his banners so as to avoid Mongol arrows. The Mamluks pushed back the Mongol right and the bedouin came around to hit the Mongol flank. The Mongol right fell back to the centre, which under Mongke-Temur was being held in reserve. In the resulting confusion, perhaps thrown by his horse, Mongke-Temur was injured and unable to command. Most of the Mongols then dismounted to make a final stand around the prince, and ultimately routed under the Mamluk assault.    The Mamluks chased the fleeing Mongols right to the border with the Ilkhanate, many drowning in the Euphrates or dying in the desert: so deadly was this rout that  Mamluk authors said more Mongols were killed in flight than in the actual battle. Qalawun and a small guard remained on the battlefield: they were forced to hide their banners and stay silent when the Mongol right wing finally returned to the battlefield, too late to turn the tide. It seems it was able to take an orderly retreat back into the Ilkhanate.       Abaqa was furious at this loss, and intended to return the next year, but died in April 1282. As we have covered in our previous episodes, Abaqa's successors were not blessed with his same longevity or stability, and until 1295 the Ilkhanate saw a succession of short lived monarchs and infighting, internal revolts and renewed attacks by the Golden Horde. Though the succeeding Ilkhans continued to demand Mamluk submission, send threatening letters and continue to attempt an alliance with European powers, nothing materialized beyond border raids and skirmishes in both directions. For the time being, the immediate Mongol threat to the Mamluks had ended, and Sultan Qalawun turned to the remaining Frankish strongholds, all possible beachheads for European armies coming to assist the Ilkhans. Armenian Cilicia was pillaged, remaining inland Crusader strongholds were taken, and in April 1289 the Mongols' vassal Tripoli fell. After the death of Abaqa's son Arghun Il-Khan in March 1291, the Mamluks used the resulting distraction in the Ilkhanate to take the final major Frankish city in the Holy Land, Acre, leaving them with but miniscule holdings which fell in the following years. So ended 200 years of Crusader Kingdoms.       Following Qalawun's death in 1290, he was succeeded by his son al-Ashraf Khalil. A fearsome military commander, it was he who led the push to seize Acre and the final Crusader holdings of note. Yet he did not long to enjoy the throne, and was assassinated in the last days of 1293 due to his efforts to curb the power of the existing Mamluk emirs. With his assassination, the Mamluks entered a period of political instability over the Sultanate. Initially his younger brother al-Nasir Muhammad was placed on the throne, still a child and without any real power. After a year as Sultan he was forced out by his guardian and regent, a Mamluk named, of all things, Kitbuqa. Apparently of Mongol origin, he had been taken captive by the Mamluks at the first battle of Homs in 1260, and made in turn a Mamluk, that is, a slave soldier. Kitbuqa's reign as Sultan was not particularly notable, mostly marked by intense political infighting and machinations. There was, however, a large body of Oirats who deserted the Ilkhanate to join the Mamluks Sultanate. Kitbuqa's generous treatment of this body of nomadic troops, with whom it appeared he shared kinship, angered a number of the other Mamluk emirs and undermined his power. He was soon forced to flee as one of al-Ashraf Khalil's assassins, the Emir Lajin, seized power. When Lajin was murdered in 1299, al-Ashraf Khalil's young brother al-Nasir Muhammad was recalled to take the throne. Only 14 years old, al-Nasir Muhammad had no real power and was still a puppet for the emirs competing for power.   In comparison, 1295 saw the beginning of the reign of the powerful Ghazan Khan, son of Arghun. Ghazan, as we have covered, was not the first Muslim Ilkhan but by his reign a majority of the Mongols within the Ilkhanate had converted, and made the Ilkhanate an Islamic state. Ghazan consolidated his position early on, executing a number of potential challengers to the throne and restabilizing the  Ilkhanid economy, though you can listen to our episode dedicated to Ghazan for more on the internal matters of his reign. While Ghazan was a Muslim, this did not change Ilkhanid policy to the Mamluk. He continued to send letters to western Europe urging them to land an army behind enemy lines. In late 1298, while Mamluk armies ravaged the Ilkhan's vassal Cilician Armenia, the na'ib of Damascus, Sayf al-Din Qibjaq and a few other top Mamluks deserted to the Ilkhanate during a particularly violent stretch within the Sultanate. Fearing for their lives, they inform Ghazan of Sultan Lajin and his vice-Sultan Manketamur's purges and unstable positions. Then in summer 1299 a Mamluk raid into the Ilkhanate sacked Mardin, violating Muslim women and descretating a mosque during Ramadan. Ghazan was thus able to easily obtain a fatwa against the Mamluks for this, presenting himself not as an invader, but a holy warrior coming to avenge atrocities against Islam to encourage dissent among Mamluk ranks. Indeed, the ruler of Hama, a top Mamluk ally, believed the accusations.        By December 1299, Ghazan and his army of Mongols, Georgians and Armenians under their King Het'um II, had crossed the Euphrates. By then, Sultan Lajin had been replaced by a al-Nasir Muhammad who was nearly toppled by the Oirat refugees to the Sultanate. Ghazan bypassed Aleppo and Hama, and hunted for the Mamluk army. While encamped on the edge of the Syrian desert, Ghazan learned the Mamluks were gathering at Homs, where they had defeated Mongke-Temur 18 years prior. Rather than fall into their trap, Ghazan chose to outflank them, crossing the Syrian desert and coming out onto a stream some 16 kilometres north of Homs on the 22nd of December. To the Mamluks, it appeared that Ghazan was retreating, and advanced out of their favourable position to pursue. In a reverse of the 2nd Battle of Homs, now the Mamluks were forced to cross the desert, exhausting themselves to reach Ghazan early the next morning, while his own troops rested, quenched their thirst and formed up. Crucially, the Ilkhanid army was under the firm control of Ghazan and his commander Qutlugh-Shah, while the young al-Nasir Muhammad could not control his senior emirs.        On the morning of December 23rd, 1299, the Mamluks found Ghazan's army was drawn up. Ghazan commanded the centre, while his general Qutlugh-Shah commanded the right.  Qutlugh-Shah's beating of  war drums made the Mamluks believe Ghazan to be located there, and to him they charged, forcing the Mongol right back. Ghazan led the counterattack against them, and Qutlugh-Shah rallied what forces he could and rejoined the Il-Khan. From 11 a.m until nightfall, the battle raged, but finally the Mamluks broke and fled.  Ghazan pursued them past Homs before encamping, not wishing to be drawn into a false retreat in the dark. Homs surrendered without a fight and Ghazan took the Sultan's treasure, distributing it among his nokod, keeping for himself a sword, the title deeds to the Mamluk Sultanate and the muster roll of its army. Next Ghazan marched onto Damascus, which also surrendered without a fight, though its citadel held out. It seems almost the entire Mamluk garrison of Syria had retreated, perhaps recalled to defend the capital. Mongol raiding parties were making it as far as Gaza, with one source reporting they even entered Jerusalem, and the Sultanate seemed poised to fall.       But on February 5th, 1300, Ghazan withdrew from Damascus, returning to the Ilkhanate. Qutlugh-Shah had been left to take the Citadel of Damascus, but he soon followed the Il-Khan. By the end of May, the Mamluks had retaken Syria. Exactly why Ghazan withdrew is unclear: possibly reports of a Neguderi invasion in the east of his realm demanded his attention, or he feared there would not be sufficient pasturage for his large army to make the trip to Egypt: the Mamluks were known to burn grassland and destroy supply depots on the routes they suspected the Mongols to take.  Likely he was unaware of how dire the situation really was for the Mamluks, and suspected further armed resistance along the route would make the already treacherous crossing over the Sinai even harder on his army. Whatever the reason, Ghazan had lost the greatest chance to destroy the Mamluks. Ghazan did cross the Euphrates at the end of December 1300, reaching as far as Aleppo, but heavy rains rendered military operations untenable. In 1303 Ghazan ordered Qutlugh-Shah back into Syria, but he was defeated at Marj al-Suffar near Damascus in April. Ghazan's death the next year, only 34 years old, prevented his next assault. His brother and successor, Oljeitu, ordered the final Ilkhanid attack on the Sultanate, an embarrassing effort in winter 1312 which saw the army retreat not from the Royal Mamluks, but the stiff resistance of ordinary townsfolk. Oljeitu's son, Abu Sa'id, ultimately organized peace with the Mamluks in the early 1320s, ending the sixty years of warfare between the Mongols and the Mamluks. The Ilkhanate did not long outlive this treaty. Abu Sa'id death in 1335 without an heir saw the Ilkhanate torn apart by regional commanders -the Jalayirids, Chobanids, Muzaffarids and Injuids, among others- who appointed their own puppet Khans or abandoned the pretense entirely.       For the Mamluks, they were unable to take advantage of the Ilkhanate's disintegration as when al-Nasir Muhammad died in 1341, they entered their own period of anarchy: 8 of al-Nasir's children and 4 of his grandsons would in turn become Sultan between 1341 and 1382, a period which culminated in the rise of the Circassian Burji Mamluk Dynasty. Whereas the Sultans from Qutuz, Baybars through Qalawun and his descendants were men of Qipchaq-Cuman or even Mongol origin,  over the late thirteenth and first half of the fourteenth century a growing number of the Mamluks were sourced no longer from the Qipchaq steppe, but Circassia, a region along the Black Sea's northeastern coastline. With the end of the Qalawunid Dynasty, Mamluks of Circassian origin took power and established their own dynasty. The Bahri and Burji distinction refers to the parts of Cairo each Mamluk garrison had been based. It was this Mamluk dynasty who would face the wrath of Temur-i-lang at the beginning of the fifteenth century.       These post-Ilkhanid events will be the topic for a forthcoming episode, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast to follow for that. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, please consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson.  I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one. 

Mona El Ghobashy of New York University talks about her latest book, Bread and Freedom: Egypt's Revolutionary Situation, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. The book is a multivocal account of why Egypt's defeated revolution remains a watershed in the country's political history. (Starts at 1:28). Killian Clarke of Georgetown University speaks about his new article entitled, "Which protests count? Coverage bias in Middle East event datasets," published by Mediterranean Politics. (Starts at 31:48). Laryssa Chomiak, the Director of Centre d'Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis, to talk about recent political developments in Tunisia. (Starts at 47:05). Music for this season's podcast was created by Bashir Saade playing Ney, along with Farah Kaddour on Buzuq. You can find more of Bashir's work on his YouTube Channel.

[transcript below] Reissue episode of the week! Jack.  In the Box. This was an early comedy romance episode I wrote specifically with A-R-T - American Radio Theater - in mind.  This was recorded with A-R-T in Marge's dining room.  I would like to point out that the title is not "jack-in-the-box" but Jack[period] in the box [period].  It's a subtle distinction, but it does make it mean something a bit different. I also want to point out right away that the whole Chinese suspicion subplot was meant to be silly and a clue to how disconnected from reality Mrs. McGruder is, not serious.  Keep in mind this was written ten years ago and set in the 1940s.  I have nothing but disgust for any frickinh racists who are currently, in real life, harassing people of Asian descent, particularly the elderly.  The transcript is on the page here, and you will note that the first couple of "radio shows" heard in the background in this episode are in the main script, but after that, they got too complicated to write in between lines and I moved them to the end so they could be recorded "of a piece".  The shows are clear parodies of The Shadow, I love a Mystery, and Flash Gordon.  This also marks the first appearance of Tunis the Unstoppable, whom I later used in Bingo the Birthday Clown. I realized recently that I haven't yet included the full text of the opening sequence of 19 Nocturne Boulevard in any of my transcripts.  My apologies, and it will follow.  It originally started out much longer, but I whittled it down until it was just the right length. Platinum Death Ray Forever! ******************************************************** 19 Nocturne Boulevard Opening VOICE:    19 Nocturne Boulevard CABBIE:    Nocturne Boulevard?  Not far.  When you hit Howard, hang a right.  Howard meets Philip at a weird kind of angle, then you cross James and Poe.  You can't miss Nocturne, it's just past the Automat. VOICE:    19 Nocturne Boulevard, your address for suspenseful stories of the speculative, strange, and supernatural.  [VOICE, or OLIVIA]    Tonight's story is [title] [also might include warning about violence or language here] OLIVIA:    Yes.  This is 19 Nocturne Boulevard, won't you step inside?  What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?  Why it's a [episode specific location] ***************************************************** JACK. IN THE BOX.   Cast: Trudy Garfunkel (F/30ish), divorcee, single mom Timmy Garfunkel (M/10), her son MacGruder (F/50ish), landlady Colonel Chutney (M/70), retired WWI colonel Susan (F/20ish), Trudy's co-worker Jack (M), a robot Mockam (any), an alien Pockam (any), another alien   ON THE RADIO: Announcer Horse voice Ralph The Spook Thug 1 Thug 2 Jake Mack Frenchy Snap Harper Amanda Cool Tunis the unstoppable OLIVIA      Did you have any trouble finding it?  What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?  Why, it's a run-down bungalow apartment court, can't you tell?  SCENE 1. MUSIC     CREEPY SCI FI AMBIANCE      VERY ALIEN POCKAM     The interview will be conducted in the unit's assimilated language. MOCKAM     Report, unit X-14. JACK     [very robotic in all scenes with aliens]  Report.  Earth viability as target for invasion-- MUSIC     BREAK   OLIVIA     Oops.  My mistake.  Here's that bungalow court...   SCENE 2. MUSIC     A BIT OF MELODRAMA - VERY 40s AMBIANCE     OUTSIDE.  TRAFFIC NEARBY SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL.  DOOR OPENS SLIGHTLY OFF. MACGRUDER     [slightly off] Trudy?  Trudy! SOUND     FOOTSTEPS STOP TRUDY     [sigh]  Mrs. MacGruder.  SOUND     FOOTSTEPS SWIVEL IN GRAVEL TRUDY     I'll have the rent on-- MACGRUDER     [slightly off] Oh, no this is ...  When? TRUDY     Friday.  Um, what, then? MACGRUDER     [coming on]  You got a package! TRUDY     What?  I didn't-- MACGRUDER     I was thinking just that.  What's Trudy Garfunkel doing ordering stuff--? TRUDY     I didn't! MACGRUDER     On her little government salary, and I knew she-- I mean, you-- wouldn't, so then I wondered if maybe it wasn't that deadbeat man of yours-- TRUDY     He's not mine- he hasn't been for a long time-- MACGRUDER     --Might have sent something for the boy, so I figured no harm in letting the movers into your place - I hope you don't mind - but I wanted to let you know before you walk in and trip over it or anything.  TRUDY     Thank you for the warning.  SOUND     FOOTSTEPS - BOTH OF THEM TRUDY     You don't have to-- MACGRUDER     I better go come along and make sure, since if I let it into your place and it turned out to be something dangerous, well I'd never forgive myself.  On the other hand, I was just thinking it might just be a vacuum cleaner, so I was just thinking if it was a vacuum cleaner, then I would knock a whole dollar off your rent - each week - if you just let me use it.  [gasps] TRUDY     The box is that big?  I mean big enough for a vacuum? SOUND     FOOTSTEPS STOP MACGRUDER     Lands sakes!  You just have to get a gander at it!  [beat] Well?  Open it. SOUND     A COUPLE OF ALMOST HESITANT STEPS ON STONE, THEN KEY IN LOCK TRUDY     Did the movers say anything when they--? MACGRUDER     Say anything?  Well, I expect they did, but they didn't really seem to speak much English.  Didn't worry me much though - they were big Italian looking fellers, not Chinese at all. SOUND     KNOB TURNS TRUDY     Chinese?  Why Chinese? MACGRUDER     Oh, I heard it on the radio just the other day, about the Chinese.  Not sure what they said, but I'll tell you, you better check your laundry reaaal good. TRUDY     [dubious]  All right. SOUND     DOOR OPENS.  A COUPLE FOOTSTEPS, THEN PULLED UP SHORT TRUDY     [gasps] MACGRUDER     Didn't I tell you? TRUDY     You said a box - I didn't expect a crate!  How'd they get it through the door? MACGRUDER     Crate.  Box.  I said it was big enough for a vacuum.  TRUDY     [joking] Or some Chinese. MACGRUDER     You think so, too?  Well, you better open it now - maybe this is how they plan to invade or do whatever it was the radio was saying about them.  I'll stay with you while you do it, so that I can run back and call the army if they come popping out of there. TRUDY     I really doubt it's a box of Chinese people. MACGRUDER     You better check! SOUND     SCRABBLING AT WOOD.  TAPPING - SOUNDS PRETTY SOLID. TRUDY     I don't know how to open it. MACGRUDER     Here, I'll go and get a hammer.  We'd better get this done quickly! TRUDY     Yes, I'd rather have this sorted out before Timmy gets home. MACGRUDER     [going off] Oh, well, that too - I was thinking that "Love of a Generation" will be coming on the radio real soon. TRUDY     The radio.  Tsch.  [almost chuckling]  Chinese.   SCENE 3. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     Status of Earth readiness to hold off an invasion fleet? JACK     The earth is fully prepared to repel all invaders. POCKAM     What?  We have seen no evidence--! MOCKAM     Explain.   SCENE 4. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND     SQUEAK OF NAILS AS CRATE LID IS PRIED OFF MACGRUDER     What is it? TRUDY     Let me get the lid off before you go jumping in - you don't want the nails to get you.  MACGRUDER     [sniffs]  Well, it doesn't smell Chinese. TRUDY     [takes breath as if to say something, then sighs]  No. SOUND     HEAVY LID FALLS TO FLOOR MACGRUDER     Well, someone sent you a box of excelsior - sure it wasn't your ex husband?  He seems the type to be making a big deal out of nothing. SOUND     ROOTING AROUND IN PAPER SHREDS TRUDY     Every belonging he ever had wouldn't fill this darn thing.  No, the only time he remembers to send us anything is the occasional model airplane for Timmy's birthday - and they're always late. MACGRUDER     You're better off without him.  Just like Ermintrude on Romances of the Great White Way.  She dumped a crumb who would-- TRUDY     I found something! SOUND     METAL CLANG AS SOMETHING IS PULLED OUT OF PAPER SHREDS MACGRUDER     Well...  It could still be a vacuum cleaner. TRUDY     Here - set this down somewhere. MACGRUDER     Hmph.  Well, I can't be standing around here all day, and if there's nothing more in there but scrap metal-- TRUDY     Aha!  Papers! MACGRUDER     Instructions? SOUND      RIFFLE OF MANY PAGES TRUDY     Um... Maybe.  I don't think it's in English. MACGRUDER     Lessee.  I knew it!  Chinese! SOUND      TAPS PAPER   SCENE 5. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     Which country or continent has the largest potential resistance force? POCKAM     Who do we capture first, in other words? JACK     [strange stuttering noise] Uh, uh, The main army is not that of any surface nation, but a hidden underground force-- POCKAM     Explain!  Underground? JACK     The minions of Tunis the Unstoppable are counted in the millions.   SCENE 6. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND     [off] DOOR SLAMS OPEN, FEET RUNNING IN TIMMY     Hey mom!  I'm starvin--  TRUDY     [absently]  Close the door. SOUND     PAGES TURN TIMMY     Whoa!  What in Hi-ho Silver is that? TRUDY     Huh?  [coming out of it]  Oh!  Young man, I should make you march right back outside and come back in like a civilized human being, and not like a--  a-- TIMMY     Bucking bronco? TRUDY     No, that was last week.  Um, a-- TIMMY     Crazy apeman? TRUDY     Fine.  Like a crazy apeman.  But I happen to be busy. TIMMY     If-- TRUDY     Ask like a-- TOGETHER     --civilized human being. TRUDY     [swallows a chuckle] TIMMY     What is it, then, mom?  It looks -- well--? TRUDY     Honestly, I'm not sure.  Grab yourself an apple in the kitchen, and come and help me find a part that looks like this--   SCENE 7. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP POCKAM     [worried] Of what nation is this Tunis the unstoppable?  Has he no enemies on Earth? JACK     [sounding slightly human] He is the secret master of the world.  His armies are legion.   SCENE 8. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND     SQUEAKY.  METAL PIECES BEING PUT TOGETHER.  FINALLY SNAPS IN TRUDY     There!  [pause, sigh, gasp] Goodness!  Look at the time!  It's nearly dinner! TIMMY     Ah, bananas!  I missed the start of Ralph Richardson, Thug Breaker! SOUND     SCRAMBLE ACROSS THE FLOOR.  RADIO TUNING IN TRUDY     Don't wanna keep me company in here while I get set to feed you? SOUND     RADIO CRACKLE, WARMING UP TIMMY     Oh, c'mon mom!  Ralph just found the smuggler's lakeside warehouse, and then they caught him and tied him to a piling and the tide's coming in! SOUND     RADIO MUSIC ANNOUNCER     [very tinny] ...that's why Alfalfa-bet is your best bet for breakfast.  Ask any horse what he likes and he'll say-- HORSE VOICE     Alfalfa-Bet! ANNOUNCER     And now, hear the creaking of the piling? SOUND     PILINGS CREAK ANNOUNCER     Hear the lapping of the incoming tide? SOUND     TIDE LAPS ANNOUNCER     But can we still hear Ralph? RALPH     [A couple of manly grunts] TIMMY     C'mon Ralph!  You can get loose!   SCENE 9. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     [suspicious]  We have seen no evidence of this Tunis the unstoppable. JACK     He is said to be an ancient sorcerer, who is capable of hiding his every movement. POCKAM     That's ludicrous!  Explain this title of Sorcerer! JACK     One who manipulates the ether and the world around him through mental abilities, rather than the use of devices or scientific artifices. MOCKAM AND POCKAM     [gasp]   SCENE 10. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND     RADIO BACKGROUND The SPOOK     Of course you could not see me, for I have the cloak of ancient darkness to protect myself! THUG 1     Oh no! THUG 2     You said it.  He's got us.  There ain't no way out. SOUND     MUSIC SWELLS SOUND     CLICK.  RADIO OFF TIMMY     Well, that's a fine how d'you do! TRUDY     It's time for bed, and we've nearly finished putting this... thing... together. TIMMY     I still say it's a robot!  Look, arms, legs - everything. TRUDY     A robot would look as silly as anyone else without a head.  Up, up! TIMMY     [moving slowly off] You'll look through the shavings again, won't you?  See if there's anything else in the box? TRUDY     Aye, Aye, captain.  Now scoot!   SCENE 11. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     Is this planet Earth very populated with these... sorcerers? JACK     From my research, they are few but very powerful. POCKAM     Bah!  Even such as these cannot withstand our platinum death ray!   SCENE 12. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND     [off] DOOR SLAMS OPEN, FEET RUNNING DOWN STAIRS TIMMY     [off]  Mom?  SOUND     FEET STOP FOR A SECOND, THEN COME ON RAPIDLY TIMMY     [panicky, coming on quickly] Mom!  Where'd it go? SOUND     FEET SLIDE ONTO KITCHEN TILES, THEN SKID TO A STOP TIMMY     I- I'm --  Whoops! TRUDY     [very amused] Timmy, you should join us for breakfast.  I would like you to meet...  [considers] Jack.  Jack [searching for a name] Box- Bocscome - Boscome.  Jack Boscome. TIMMY     Sorry to break in like this, sir.  Mom.  Um, pleased... to meet you? TRUDY     [almost laughing]  Well, shake his hand! TIMMY     [whispered] He's not moving - is he OK? TRUDY     [finally breaks down and laughs]  Jack here?  Why he's just peachy.  SOUND     SLAP ON THE BACK.  SFX     WEIRD MECHANICAL NOISES BEGIN.  VERY LOW TIMMY     What'd you do? TRUDY     I just - I must have pushed his switch or something. TIMMY     Oh!  He's--  Oh!  He sure looks ... real with a head and all. SFX     WHIRRING, ETC., GETS LOUDER, THEN OUT JACK     [very mechanical sounding]  I am unit X-14.  I am at your service. TRUDY     Well, he looks real, but he don't sound it. SOUND     [off] KNOCKING AT FRONT DOOR TRUDY     [sigh] That will be Mrs. MacGruder, about the vacuum cleaner.  Or the Chinese. TIMMY      What vacuum cleaner? Huh? JACK     Explain.  What is Chinese.  SOUND     RAPID FOOTSTEPS TIMMY     [fading out under] Oh, Chinese are folks who come from across the ocean and don't talk like us, and they cook good food... TRUDY     [calling back] Timmy, make sure and keep Jack in the kitchen.  I don't know WHAT Mrs. MacGruder would make of him. SOUND     DOOR.  UNLOCKING CHAIN AND BOLT.  DOOR OPENS MACGRUDER     So?  Did you -uh - manage to ... uh? TRUDY     It's just... Well, apparently it's Ken's idea of a joke. MACGRUDER     I thought you said he wouldn't-- TRUDY     It was all filled with random pieces of metal, and when I got to the bottom, there was a note from him.  Tsch.  He said it was supposed to be some sort of .... um, furnace... but it didn't even have all the pieces. MACGRUDER     [suspicious]  Why would he send such a darn fool thing?  Your furnace here is fine, isn't it?  I can always get Bob in to-- TRUDY     No, no!  Um, it was just that... the last time he bothered to stop by, we--we were living in a place with a dicey furnace. MACGRUDER     [after a long moment]  Man like that, you're better rid of him. TRUDY     I'll see about selling the bits for scrap or something.  MACGRUDER     Take your time - you can always burn the crate and the shavings.  [joking, going off]  Save on your furnace worries... TRUDY     [agreeing noise] SOUND     DOOR SHUTS QUICKLY BUT NOT QUITE SLAMMED TRUDY     Whew.  SOUND     HEAVY FOOTSTEPS APPROACH JACK     Explain.  What is a "Ken".   SCENE 13. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     [sotto] We may need to reconsider the invasion plans. POCKAM     [sotto] I do not agree- MOCKAM     If these sorcerers can withstand our invasion-- POCKAM     I think the information unit is faulty. MOCKAM      That is impossible - the unit must tell the truth.  That is its function. POCKAM     It may not know the truth.  I say we wait until the other units have been retrieved.   SCENE 14. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND      CLICK - MUSIC CUTS OUT SFX     TUNING IN RADIO JACK     Explain.  What is--? TIMMY     Shh.  Now this is a really good show.  Jake, Mack, and Frenchy are the B-9 detective agency.  And they're about to go head to head with the crime syndicate. SFX     MUSIC IN BACKGROUND - PARODY OF I LOVE A MYSTERY OPENER - SEE SCRIPT AT END SOUND      KNOCK ON DOOR TIMMY     Mom!  The door! JACK     Mom! SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON LINO, THEN WOOD.  TRUDY BRUSHES HER HANDS TOGETHER TRUDY     You two.  You should be doing your homework.  I let you put it off all weekend-- TIMMY     But the show!  Besides, Jack here'll help me with it, won't you Jack old boy? JACK     Explain.  What is homework. SOUND     KNOCK ON DOOR AGAIN TRUDY     Yeah.  A big help. SOUND     KNOB, DOOR OPENS A BIT TRUDY     Yes?  Oh!  Susan! SUSAN     Aha!  [chiding] You remember my name!  TRUDY     [realizing] Oh, no...  Last night...! SUSAN     Are you going to just keep me out here on the doorstep while I read you the riot act for standing me up?  You left me high and dry on a Saturday night, with two sailors and only one pair of feet! TRUDY     I-- [thinks] Let me take you to the corner coffee shop - to make it up. SUSAN     What?  Why? TRUDY     Um, Timmy isn't feeling well, so I really don't want to wake him. TIMMY     [off, sickly sounding]  Mommy? SUSAN     [mollified]  So that's it.  [sigh] You better stay.  TIMMY     [off, coughing]  SUSAN     Kids.  I love em, but I'm not sure I could keep em.  You gonna be in to work tomorrow? TRUDY     He's much better than he was.  Just needs rest. SUSAN     OK.  But next time - you could at least call!  See ya manyana! TRUDY     Bye!  [pause, whew] SOUND     DOOR SHUTS, QUICK FOOTSTEPS SFX     RADIO COMES ON - SCENE PLAYS IN THE B/G TRUDY     Thank you honey!  [hug noise] TIMMY     [boy hug reaction]  Moooom!  The shooow. JACK     Explain.  What is sick. TIMMY     Ssh! TRUDY     C'mon Jack, and I'll explain. SOUND     FOOTSTEPS SFX     RADIO RECEDES AGAIN SOUND     FEET ON LINO TRUDY     Have a seat? JACK     As you instruct. SOUND     SQUEAK OF CHAIR TRUDY     [chuckles] You look so darned human, I keep forgetting you're a machine. JACK     I am X-14, designated Jack Boscome. TRUDY     Glad you like the name. JACK     Explain.  What is Like. TRUDY     First sick.  Hmm.  Well, that's a toughee.  Humans, like machines, have lots of parts that all work together - and when one of the parts doesn't work right - like instead of breathing, you start coughing - that's what it means to be sick. JACK     Repair seems the obvious answer.  Explain.  TRUDY     Well, see you might be repairable - like if you broke a spring or something, you could just go in, take out the spring and put in a new one, but it doesn't work that way for living things - If one of our parts starts to break, it has to fix itself. JACK     Processing.  Corollary - Timmy is sick.  Which part is broken? TRUDY     [ashamed] Well, he's not really sick.  That was a lie.  My friend Susan keeps trying to fix me up with guys, and I -- well, I really just forgot, we were so caught up with having you working and all. JACK     Explain.  What is lie. TRUDY     [rueful] Oh, boy...   SCENE 15. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     Three more units! POCKAM     Three?  Nonfunctional? MOCKAM     Worse - three more we could not retrieve effectively, so destruct function was activated. POCKAM     Only five still functional!  When is retrieval? MOCKAM      It is being done.    SCENE 16. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SOUND      POUNDING ON DOOR, FOOTSTEPS, DOOR OPENED QUICKLY TRUDY     [breathless] Yes?  Mrs. Mac-- MACGRUDER     [furious] Don't you Mrs. MacGruder me with that innocent look on your face, young lady! TRUDY     But--! I--! MACGRUDER     I know you have a man in here.  I've seen him through the window.  What kind of a place do you think I'm running here? And you with a child in the house! TRUDY     Oh, but he's-- JACK     [slightly off, sounding less robotic]  Trudy?  Is there a problem? TRUDY     [thinking fast] Mrs. MacGruder, this is Jack Boscome.  He's a-- a [moving closer, whispering]  He's a vet.  Battle fatigued.  Our office sent a memo around, asking for people willing to open their homes to these boys.  How could I say no? MACGRUDER     [much softened] But it's-- TRUDY     He stays in the living room.  On the couch.  He's really good with Timmy. TIMMY     [off]  Jack?  Hey, ask me that question again.  On my homework. TRUDY     See? JACK     [off] What is the capitol of Idaho? MACGRUDER     [resigned] You should have told me. TRUDY     I wanted to wait and see if it was going to work out first.  I didn't want anyone to make a fuss right away - he's still pretty nervous, you know? MACGRUDER     That's why he never leaves the house, eh? TRUDY     Yup.  MACGRUDER     All right.  All right.  No monkey shines, now! TRUDY     Cross my heart. SOUND     DOOR SHUTS TRUDY     Whew. JACK     [coming on, sounding just like a robot] Explain?  What is battle fatigue?  [then softening]  I should probably know.   SCENE 17. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     They are all disabled.  All but the X-14 unit. POCKAM     All?  But we landed thirty-- MOCKAM     Apparently we both overestimated and underestimated the humans.  Twelve were rendered nonfunctional in assembly, six were completed and placed in government hands and had to be destructed, and eight were never even opened.  POCKAM     Records show these beings are much more curious and greedy than that.  Wait.  What of the other three? MOCKAM      [almost reluctant] They tried to resist retrieval and were destroyed.   SCENE 18. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA SFX     SCENE 2 PLAYS ON RADIO IN B/G [following line about Death-O-tron] TIMMY     Man, I wish we had a Death-o-tron landship.  I wouldn't have to walk to school any more. JACK     But you are not afraid?  What if Tunis comes here.  His landship will crush this house. TIMMY     [exasperated sigh] Jack.  Tunis is just a story.  Did you really think all this stuff on the radio was true? JACK     Why would it not be true?  Explain. TIMMY      It's ... fun.  Like make believe.  Everyone makes stuff up - you mean you don't have stories where you come from? JACK     I don't know where I come from.  My memories begin when you assembled me.  TIMMY     Oh, hold on [listen to the final part of the scene, then as the announcer comes on].  That's kind of sad.  You're sort of just a kid, too.  [pause] But you learn real fast.   SCENE 19. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     We must assume this data is correct. POCKAM     I would prefer a second opinion. MOCKAM     Of course, but we cannot take chances.  There is another planet in the Gargon Nebula whose dominant life form hasn't yet left the ground.  They should be easy to conquer and enslave. POCKAM     The Gargon Nebula is light years from here!  We should-- MOCKAM      We are under orders.  No unnecessary chances.   SCENE 20. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA AMBIANCE     PARTY - SMALL CROWD.  RADIO MUSIC PLAYS IN THE B/G TRUDY     [whispered]  Just stick to the plan.  They all want to meet you.  You remember? JACK     I am unable to forget.  The plan is if the answer to a question is awkward, I ask them what they like on the radio and let them talk. TRUDY     Right.  Everybody here practically lives for one show or another.  You thought Timmy was stuck on his shows- wait until Mrs. MacGruder starts regaling you with the plot from "my fifth husband."  Just don't go thinking anything they say is real. JACK     Timmy explained-- SOUND     DOOR OPENS MACGRUDER     [coming on]  Trudy!  You look lovely.  And this must be-- JACK     Jack Boscome.  MACGRUDER     I hear you were in the army? JACK     I-- [uncomfortable beat, error noise] uh, uh, would rather talk about you.  Do you listen to the radio? MACGRUDER     [fading out] Oh, just occasionally... BRIEF MUSIC - TIME PASSES - SAME SCENE SUSAN     Oh-ho! TRUDY     What? SUSAN     Nothing.  Just Oh-ho.  Can't a girl Oh-ho a friend without someone thinking maybe she just put all the pieces together and realized why said friend is no longer interested in coming out on Saturday nights? TRUDY     Jack?  Oh, he's just-- SUSAN     Living in your house.  Where do I sign up? TRUDY     Oh, that reminds me - I told Mrs. MacGruder he was a vet, and the office set it up.  Don't let on, OK? SUSAN     Oh-ho! BRIEF MUSIC - TIME PASSES - SAME SCENE CHUTNEY     [coming on] You, boy! JACK     Me?  I am Jack-- CHUTNEY     We met earlier, remember? JACK     [almost mechanical sounding]  You are Colonel Chutney.  12th mobile.  Great War.  Medal of-- CHUTNEY     It isn't a test, my boy.  Don't try so hard.  [pause] I wanted you to know that there is someone here who understands your condition and what you've been through.  JACK     Explain? CHUTNEY     I've seen a number of cases - of course, we called it shell shock - but it's all the same thing.  If you ever need to talk to anyone, and don't want to disturb the ladies.  I'm just across the court. JACK     [more and more lost and confused] Talk? CHUTNEY     About your experiences in the war.  Battle fatigue is nothing to sneeze at-- JACK     Oh!  Yes.  Yes, sir. CHUTNEY     [chuckles, then insinuating]  What sort of action did you see? JACK     Sir?  Do you listen to the radio, sir? CHUTNEY     Oh, you can't trust the radio for intelligence.  Everything on it is either so covert no one would recognize it or outright fiction.  Were you with infantry? JACK     [almost panicking, getting more robotic] Sir?  I cannot answer that. CHUTNEY     You can't shock me, son.  JACK     [error noise, very bad] uh, uh, uh, I was slugged, and tortured.  Tied up while the water came in.  Flooded with gas.  [drawing from a radio episode from earlier] CHUTNEY     [shocked] P-O-W?  I am so sorry, my boy.  No wonder.  I won't ask you any more.  Just know that I'm always ready to listen.   SCENE 21. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP MOCKAM     What shall we do with this unit? POCKAM     X-14?  The only logical choice is to vaporize it.  Its memory cells are congested with data from this planet.  It is easier to assemble a new unit than to refresh this one.   SCENE 22. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA AMBIANCE     OUTSIDE, NIGHT SFX     SOMEWHERE A RADIO PLAYS ROMANTIC MUSIC SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL TRUDY     You were marvelous.  I was so worried when Colonel Chutney buttonholed you like that. JACK     [almost teasing]  Explain.  What is buttonholed? TRUDY     [chuckles fondly]  Only three weeks, and you sound like any other guy.  And you look so real.  I-- It's nice having a man around the house, you know.  Timmy loves you, and the way you fixed the furnace! JACK     Machines make sense.  Humans are confusing.  TRUDY     Don't I know it!  I- I confuse myself sometimes. JACK     Explain? TRUDY     I can't.  Some things are just inexplicable.  Like ... love. JACK     Explain? TRUDY     I- well... Love is a lot like "like".  Just stronger. JACK     A feeling of attachment and a desire to be near the object of the feeling? TRUDY     More or less.  JACK     As an example, you love Timmy? TRUDY     Yes! JACK     And Timmy loves-- Jake, Mack and Frenchy. TRUDY     [chuckling]  Yes. JACK     Do you think love can be learned? TRUDY     I-- Well, I really don't know. JACK     If this is a topic you do not wish to discuss, we can talk about radio shows. TRUDY     [laughing] No.  It's just a topic that no one finds easy to discuss. JACK      I would like to learn more. MOCKAM     [on filter]  Unit X-14!  Unit X-14!  Prepare for imminent retrieval. JACK     Did you hear that? TRUDY     What? JACK     [sigh, starting to sound more and more robotic] I am a robot. TRUDY     I know, but somehow it doesn't matter. JACK     I may come to understand feelings such as love, but I cannot feel them. TRUDY     You once said you could never lie, and look how that turned out. JACK     I have completed my time with you.  [error noise]  uh, uh, uh, uh, I have no feelings for this world or its inhabitants.  Uh, uh, I will fulfill my mission. TRUDY     Jack, what's wrong? SOUND     FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL, AWAY TRUDY     Jack!   SCENE 23. MUSIC     SPACE AMBIANCE      SPACE SHIP JACK     [very robotic]  I am capable of further use. POCKAM     What?  Did you speak out of turn, X-14? JACK     Destroying me-- this unit would be a waste of resources.  Logic dictates utilizing all capabilities. POCKAM     What did they teach this thing down there?  no wonder three units had the self-motivation to destruct themselves. MOCKAM     The unit cites logic.  Let it continue. JACK     This unit has assimilated enough to remain out of the hands of government entities, and to blend into society on the planet below.  MOCKAM     True. JACK     Continued data gathering is always of use. MOCKAM     One unit is not enough to gather all the data we would need for a full scale attack - not in our projected time frame. JACK     If you go to the Gargon Nebula, this unit can continue to gather information for your return. MOCKAM     It might work, at that.  POCKAM     But it will be forty of this planet's years before we would return from the Gargon Nebula!   SCENE 24. MUSIC     40s MELODRAMA TRUDY     [sigh] No, Colonel.  He had a -- a bad relapse and had to -- go back to the hospital. CHUTNEY     [on phone] Too bad.  Good boy, that.  When he comes back... well, a divorcee like yourself could do a lot worse. TRUDY     [trying not to cry]  I-- I know.  I have to go, Colonel, there's someone at the door. SOUND     AS IF ON CUE, KNOCK ON DOOR SOUND     PHONE HANGS UP SOUND      RUNNING FEET, DOOR FLUNG OPEN TIMMY       [off, yelling, happy and excited] Hey mom!  It's a big wooden box! TRUDY     [excited gasp] Huh? END **************************************************** RADIO SCENE 1 ANNOUNCER     --in the underground caves beneath the tiny mining town. MUSIC STING JAKE     Look, Mack!  It's Frenchy! FRENCHY     Ooooh. MAC     Well, dip me in honey and roll me in a haystack!  He's been slugged! FRENCHY     [bad french accent] Jake?  They took the scrimshaw!  I couldn't stop them! JAKE     I know, Frenchy.  Mack, Check that door - see if it's clear.  We'll have to leave Frenchy someplace safe while we go after the Syndicate boys.  If they find him, he'll be tortured, or worse. SOUND     SHAKING LOCKED DOOR MACK     Well boil me fer a rutabaga sandwich, the door won't open! JAKE     What's that noise? MACK      Sounds like someone went and left a faucet running. FRENCHY     Jake!  The floor!  It is water! JAKE     So that's the plan, is it - they'll drown us here like rats! MUSIC STING **************************************************** RADIO SCENE 2 SNAP HARPER     As long as we have breath, he won't rule the world.  Are you with me Amanda? AMANDA COOL     Anything you say, Snap! SNAP HARPER     If we can just get to the central coolant chamber of his death-o-tron landship, Amanda, I think we might be able to-- TUNIS     [on filter] To -- what?  Go on Snap Harper, I am -- powerfully interested. AMANDA COOL     Tunis the Unstoppable!  Snap!  He's found us, but how? SNAP HARPER     He must have listening devices planted in these service crawlspaces.  Blast Tunis's cleverness! TUNIS     I would return the compliment, Snap Harper, but it would be pointless. AMANDA COOL     Oh, Snap! TUNIS     For you are about to die!  Flood the room with gas! MUSIC STING ANNOUNCER     After just a short word from our sponsor, Tunis the Unstopppable will outline his cunning plan for doing in Snap Harper.  But first-- --END--  

About a decade ago, Tunisia was the birthplace of the so-called Arab spring, when Tunisians toppled the decades long dictator Ben Ali, heralding momentous changes across North Africa and beyond. To some extent, the Tunisian experience seems to be an exception in the region, because the country did not descend into the chaos  and violence that have affected its neighboring countries since.  However, many argue that the popular aspirations of the Tunisian people have been subverted and their demands for dignity, national sovereignty, and social justice have been sidelined by the same disastrous economic policies that led the people to rise up and revolt in the first place.  Fast-forward to 25 July 2021. After a day of protests across the country, Tunisia's president Kais Saied announced that he was invoking article 80 of the 2014 constitution, which allows him to instate a state of emergency, following an imminent threat. He sacked the prime minister, closed the parliament for 30 days, and revoked the immunity of members of parliament and declared himself prosecutor general- all this while being backed by the  military.    The reactions were swift, especially from western media and pundits. There were headlines about the collapse of democracy in Tunisia, amid assertions that the coup is channeling the country towards dictatorship and turmoil. Saied has been described as a Trump-like populist, and of being inspired by the Egyptian scenario where Sisi orchestrated a coup after popular mobilisations in 2013, which pushed Egypt into a much worse form of dictatorship. We even saw the re-emergence of some orientalist and racist stereotypes about the region of the like, “maybe Tunisians are not yet fit for democracy after all.”  Yet many in Tunisia were celebrating these developments, seeing them as corrective measures to the revolution and the burgeoning democracy.  Is this a coup or not, and if so, is it a military reactionary coup, or is it a progressive coup to correct the revolutionary process? Is this a useful question to ask? What are the dangers and opportunities emerging from such developments, and what would a progressive agenda look like in this context?  Our guest, Heythem Guesmi, is a Tunisian researcher and activist based in Tunis. His focus of work is around agrarian questions and land struggles. He currently works with the North African Food Sovereignty Network. He also hosts a podcast on Tunisian affairs, called The Arrogant Monkey. Heythem  is in  conversation with Hamza Hamouchene, the coordinator of our North Africa program at TNI. This conversation is part of a series looking at the Arab Uprisings, a decade afterwards. Listen: What makes a Revolution? The Arab Uprisings a Decade on: In Conversation with Jamie Allinson   Image source: M.Rais/Wikimedia Keywords:  Arab Spring, Tunisia revolution, Mohamed Bouazizi

Music journalist David Hepworth reflects on the life and drums of Rolling Stone Charlie Watts who has died aged 80. Natalya Romaniw is a soprano on her way to stardom. With numerous Madame Butterflies, Mimis and Tatyanas under her belt, Natalya was on the brink of international fame when the pandemic hit and took her momentum. Now she's preparing to sing the eponymous Tosca in Puccini's masterpiece, and she tells Tom how she's preparing for one of opera's most iconic roles and performing post-lockdown. We hear from another of the five museums and galleries shortlisted for the prestigious £100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021. This year's prize will reflect the resilience and imagination of museums during the pandemic, and today John Tanner, Project Manager at Experience Barnsley talks about five exhibits in the museum that speak for the town Once Upon A Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia is a darkly comic play about just that. Two young couples in Tunis, one Jewish the other Muslim, find their long-standing friendship tested by the German invasion of their country opening up questions of race, religion and identity. Tom talks to the playwright Josh Azouz about his use of humour in such serious circumstances. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Harry Parker

Plus je respire En Sol Majeur avec vous, plus je sens que notre terre natale nous maquille fatalement la chambre intérieure. Prenez Hejer Charf, réalisatrice et productrice canadienne d'origine tunisienne. (Rediffusion du 1er février 2020) Ce «d'origine tunisienne» est un fleuve qui remonte Sisyphe... le cours de ses interrogations sur l'Autre. Qui est l'Autre et comment le raconter ? Que ce soit dans ses courts (avec Les passeurs ou La mélomane voilée) ou dans ses longs métrages (avec Autour de Maïr ou Béatrice, un siècle, trophée culturel de l'Office des Tunisiens à l'étranger) Hejer Charf recueille, accueille l'Autre (l'homme de peu, la femme totale, le juif, le musulman, le différent) avec un sens littéraire évident. Godard et Pasolini ont fait leur nid dans cette chambre intérieure. Et avec toujours au fond du sac à dos de la citoyenne canadienne, un souffle révolutionnaire, peut-être devrais-je dire arabo-révolutionnaire ? Les choix musicaux de Hejer Charf El Mixtape Aman aman Yalmani Philippe MckenzieEken Pua

Following nationwide protests over economic stagnation, corruption and mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and assumed extraordinary executive powers. Host Carol Castiel and VOA senior analyst for North Africa and the Middle East, Mohamed Elshinnawi, talk with Amy Hawthorne, Deputy Director for Research, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED, about why Tunisia, which overthrew its autocratic leader in the context of the Arab Spring protests, has reached this precarious moment. How does Saied plan to reshape Tunisia's political landscape and to what extent does it imperil Tunis' fledgling democratic system?

Following nationwide protests over economic stagnation, corruption and mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and assumed extraordinary executive powers. Host Carol Castiel and VOA senior analyst for North Africa and the Middle East, Mohamed Elshinnawi, talk with Amy Hawthorne, Deputy Director for Research, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED, about why Tunisia, which overthrew its autocratic leader in the context of the Arab Spring protests, has reached this precarious moment. How does Saied plan to reshape Tunisia's political landscape and to what extent does it imperil Tunis' fledgling democratic system?

Email: Laernorsknaa@gmail.com Transcript: https://laernorsknaa.com/4-6-the-norwegian-realm-1240-1319 Website: https://laernorsknaa.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/laernorsknaa Twitter: https://twitter.com/MariusStangela1 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdRJ5lW2QlUNRfff-ZoE-A Norgesveldet, 1240-1319 Norge var størst under kong Håkon IV Håkonsson på 1200-tallet. Håkon var konge fra 1217 til 1263. Han var altså konge i hele 46år, noe som skapte stabilitet i landet. Norge hadde nettopp vært i en borgerkrigsperiode; det husker dere kanskje fra forrige episode. Det var borgerkrigstid i Norge helt til 1240. Etter dette blei Norge det nærmeste vi har vært en stormakt i Europa. La oss se litt mer på Norge på sitt største. Norge var på sitt største i 1261. I 1261 blei Grønland lagt under den norske krona. Grønland blei en del av Norge. Som dere kanskje husker så reiste norske vikinger til Grønland, så det bodde nordmenn på Grønland. Nå var de under den norske kongen. I tillegg til Grønland var Island, Færøyene, Orknøyene, Shetland, Hebridene og Man alle en del av det norske kongeriket. Norge hadde altså et stort rekkevidde i Atlanterhavet. Norge hadde mange øyer og områder i Atlanterhavet og ved de britiske øyene. Selve fastlands-Norge var også større enn det er i dag. Båhuslen i dagens sør-vest Sverige og Jemtland og Herjedalen i midt-Sverige på grensa til Trøndelag var alle en del av Norge på denne tida. Norge var altså et av de største rikene i Europa på denne tida. Dette var en slags storhetstid for Norge. Kong Håkon hadde diplomatiske forbindelsermed store deler av Europa. Han snakka med den tysk-romerske keiseren, utvekslagaver med sultanene av Tunis og gifta bort ei datter, Kristina Håkonsdatter, til den spanske kongefamilien. I tillegg blei flere europeiske ridderromaner oversatt til norrønt, språket i Norge i denne perioden. Under storhetstida blei et av de mest unike middelalderlovverkene i Europa laga. I 1274 blei Magnus Lagabøters landslov ei samla lovbok for hele Norge. Før denne landsloven hadde det vært fire forskjellig hovedlovbøker i landet som blei brukt i ulike deler av Norge. Nå hadde hele Norge ei felles lovbok. Lovboka er unik ettersom det er en av de eneste lovbøkene i Europa som dekkaet helt land. Det vanlige var å ha flere lovbøker innad i et land i denne perioden. Norge var dermed et av de første landene i Europa som fikk en felles lovbok for hele landet. Hvorfor gikk Norge inn i en storhetstid i akkurat denne perioden? En grunn kan være at både Sverige og Danmark hadde problemer med borgerkrig i denne perioden. Begge land sleit med borgerkrig på 1200-tallet og første del av 1300-tallet. Norge var derimot heldig som hadde konger som regjertelenge i denne perioden. Dette førte til stabilitet i Norge. I tillegg slappNorge innblanding fra Sverige eller Danmark som hadde sine egne problemer. I 1319 stabiliserte ting seg i Sverige og da fikk Norge og Sverige en felles konge. Dette var slutten på storhetstida og begynnelsen på en ny periode i norsk historie: unionstid.

The political crisis which broke out in Tunisia last weekend is still simmering. Of all the countries in North Africa and the Middle East which toppled their dictators a decade ago, only Tunisia emerged as a full, multi-party democracy. Its free and fair elections, featuring candidates and groups of all ideological stripes, have been an exception in the wider region since then. But discontent has still mounted over the state of the economy, pandemic response and police tactics. Plenty of Tunisians don't necessarily see their country as a model for others - and President Kais Saied's recent moves to freeze Parliament and remove the Prime Minister were welcomed by many. Rana Jawad explores why the situation looks rather different from Tunis. Next week it will be a year since the chemical explosion that devastated the Lebanese capital, Beirut. It was one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history – which killed more than 200 people and left more than 300,000 homeless. One of the worst-hit neighbourhoods was the close-knit district of Karantina, right next to the port. Survivors who've gone back to their rebuilt homes there hope that its special character can be preserved. But there are also some visionary, larger-scale proposals to redevelop the city – and as Tim Whewell found, the new plans might not leave room for everyone. This November, Barbados is planning to celebrate its 55 years of independence and become a republic – meaning the Queen will no longer be its head of state. It's seen as a turning point in the country's history - and a chance for Barbados to move even further on from its colonial past. Other historic legacies may be harder to unpick, though. Barbados was Britain's first slave-holding society abroad; and the economic impact, and the debts, of the slavery era are still much discussed across the Caribbean. Zeinab Badawi recently visited a surviving 17th century mansion in the north of this island, which is now a museum. The UNHCR estimates that there are probably at least ten million individuals worldwide with no identity or nationality documents issued by any country. For them, the most basic challenges – registering a birth, getting childhood inoculation or exam certificates, applying for jobs or loans - can be insurmountable. But some countries are now deciding to make it easier to get legal status. In Kenya, hundreds of people from a Shona-speaking religious community with roots more than a thousand miles south, in Zimbabwe, were recently given a fresh chance. Vivienne Nunis saw several moments of pure joy at a ceremony to grant them citizenship. There's never been a summer Olympic Games quite like Tokyo's... and Covid restrictions also apply to the journalists who are meant to cover the event. Their task is even more important when the crowds of spectators aren't around to witness the sporting triumphs at first hand – but this time they definitely can't just wander around looking for athletes to speak to. Or soak up the atmosphere inside the Olympic village or on the streets of Tokyo. Alex Capstick has covered more sporting contests than he'd care to remember – but this time it's different… Producer: Polly Hope

Cultural activist Hisham Ben Khamsa provides nuanced analysis from the capital Tunis after President Kais Saied sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament. Tunisia is coping with economic, social and health crises, with the coronavirus pandemic overwhelming its hospitals. Jess & Jamal comment on the Israeli High Court's decision to postpone ruling on the evictions of Palestinian families living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.

S dovolenými se letos neodmyslitelně pojí testování na covid-19 a sledování cestovatelského semaforu. Přesto je o cesty do zahraničí zájem, tvrdí místopředseda Asociace cestovních kanceláří Jan Papež. Ten za černého koně letošních destinací považuje Bulharsko, které zůstalo turistům otevřené a podařilo se mu udržet v zelené barvě. Stalo se tak náhradním cílem cest pro dovolenkáře, kteří se nedostali do vytouženého Tuniska nebo Turecka.

My guest today is Tarek Kahlaoui, an academic and activist who has been involved in student protests in the 1990s and the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia in the early 2000s. After teaching for various years at Rutgers University in the US, he returned to Tunisia to join the Southern Mediterranean University in Tunis, where he is now an assistant professor in history. Pre-COVID, he wrote me an email that he was writing a book on populism in Tunisia, which he described as “the only Arab surviving democracy after the wave of the Arab Spring” -- note that this interview took place a week before president Saied's "constitutional coup". You can follow Tarek on Twitter at @t_kahlaoui.

durée : 03:00:21 - Le 6/9 - par : Amélie Perrier - Christian Dominé, président de l'association La Jeunesse en Plein Air, Ahlem Belhadj, professeure de médecine, Salwa Hamrouni, professeure de droit constitutionnel et Henda Chennaoui, journaliste, blogueuse et militante féministe, sont les invités du 6/9 de France Inter. - invités : Christian Dominé, Ahlem Belhadj, Salwa Hamrouni, Henda Chennaoui - Christian Dominé : Président de l'association La Jeunesse en Plein Air (JPA), Ahlem Belhadj : Professeure de médecine, secrétaire générale du Syndicat des médecins, pharmaciens et dentistes hospitalo-universitaires, ancienne présidente de l'Association tunisienne des femmes démocrates., Salwa Hamrouni : membre de l'Association tunisienne du droit constitutionnel, professeur de droit public à l'université de Tunis, Henda Chennaoui : Journaliste, blogueuse et militante féministe - réalisé par : Laurie-Anne TOULEMONT

Trainiere dein Hörverstehen mit den Nachrichten der Deutschen Welle von Donnerstag – als Text und als verständlich gesprochene Audio-Datei.Billionenschweres Infrastrukturpaket nimmt erste Hürde im US-Senat Im Ringen um ein hunderte Milliarden Dollar schweres Infrastrukturpaket hat der US-Senat das Prestige-Projekt von Präsident Joe Biden vorangebracht. Die Senatoren stimmten nach wochenlangen Verhandlungen dafür, das Gesetzgebungsverfahren anzustoßen. 17 Republikaner schlossen sich bei der Abstimmung den 50 Demokraten der Kammer an. Zusätzliche Verfahrensabstimmungen und Debatten über den Vorschlag selbst werden bis zum Wochenende oder darüber hinaus erwartet. Es ist unklar, ob das Repräsentantenhaus als zweite Kammer der Vereinbarung zustimmen wird. Biden trifft Tichanowskaja im Weißen Haus Als Zeichen der Unterstützung für die Oppositionsbewegung in Belarus hat US-Präsident Joe Biden deren Anführerin Swetlana Tichanowskaja im Weißen Haus empfangen. Die Vereinigten Staaten stünden an der Seite des Volkes von Belarus bei seinem Streben nach Demokratie und universellen Menschenrechten, twitterte Biden anschließend. Die frühere Präsidentschaftskandidatin erklärte, sie habe mit Biden über "mehrere Möglichkeiten des Drucks auf das Regime" gesprochen. Es müsse gezwungen werden, die Gewalt zu beenden, politische Gefangene freizulassen und den Dialog mit der Opposition zu beginnen. Vertrauter von Chinas Präsident Xi wird Botschafter in den USA China hat einen engen Vertrauten von Präsident Xi Jinping als Botschafter nach Washington entsandt. Bei seiner Ankunft in der US-Hauptstadt sagte Qin Gang vor Reportern, China und die USA würden in eine neue Runde des Verständnisses und der Anpassung eintreten. Qin, der Xi auf zahlreichen Auslandsreisen als Protokollchef des Außenministeriums begleitete, gehört zu den Diplomaten, die China angesichts der zunehmenden Kritik auf der Weltbühne energisch verteidigt haben. Qin tritt seine Position in einer Zeit an, in der die Beziehungen zwischen Peking und Washington äußerst angespannt sind. Perus neuer Präsident Castillo tritt Amt an In Peru hat der neue Präsident Pedro Castillo sein Amt angetreten. Der 51-Jährige legte im Kongress in Lima den Amtseid ab. Damit folgt der Linkspolitiker auf Francisco Sagasti, der in einer innenpolitischer Krise Ende 2020 als Übergangspräsident die Regierungsgeschäfte übernommen hatte. Zu der Amtseinführung von Castillo waren unter anderem König Felipe von Spanien und die Staatschefs von Argentinien, Chile, Ecuador und Kolumbien gekommen. Der frühere Dorfschullehrer hatte sich in der Stichwahl knapp gegen die Rechtspopulistin Keiko Fujimori durchgesetzt. Impfpflicht für Google- und Facebook-Mitarbeiter Die Mitarbeiter der Internetriesen Google und Facebook in den USA müssen sich vor einer Rückkehr in die Büros gegen das Coronavirus impfen lassen. Das teilten die Unternehmen unabhängig voneinander mit. Google-Chef Sundar Pichai erklärte, die Regelung betreffe zunächst die USA, werde in den kommenden Monaten aber auch für andere Regionen gelten. Wegen der starken Verbreitung der Delta-Variante verschiebt Google zudem die geplante größere Rückkehr in die Büros bis Mitte Oktober. Auch der Tech-Konzern Apple will seine Mitarbeiter bis Oktober im Homeoffice lassen. Eine Impfpflicht kündigte er noch nicht an. Weitere Entlassungen in Tunesien Der tunesische Präsident Kais Saied hat den Leiter des staatlichen Fernsehsenders, Mohamed al-Dahach, aus dem Amt entfernen lassen. Auf seinem Posten wurde ein vorübergehender "Ersatz" platziert, wie das Büro von Saied in Tunis mitteilte. Außerdem sollen weitere hohe Regierungsbeamte entlassen worden sein. Die Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt nach eigenen Angaben wegen mutmaßlicher illegaler Parteienfinanzierung gegen die islamistisch geprägte Ennahda. Am Sonntag hatte der Staatschef den Ministerpräsidenten entlassen und das Parlament entmachtet. Nach Explosion in Leverkusen werden Dioxinverbindungen im Rauch vermutet Nach der Explosion in einer Leverkusener Müllverbrennungsanlage rückt die Frage nach Gesundheitsgefahren für die Bevölkerung in den Vordergrund. Das nordrhein-westfälische Landesumweltamt erklärte, es gehe davon aus, dass die Rauchwolke "Dioxin-, PCB- und Furanverbindungen" in umliegende Wohngebiete getragen habe. In verbrannten Tanks seien unter anderem chlorierte Lösungsmittel gelagert worden. Beim Verbrennen könnten giftige Dioxin- und PCB-Verbindungen entstanden sein. Die Betreiberfirma Currenta erklärte, es gebe keine Hoffnung mehr, dass die vermissten fünf Mitarbeiter überlebt hätten.

Episode 129: L'école de médecine de Kairouan dans l'histoire de la médecine arabe médiévale : repères historiographiques Dans ce podcast, qui prend la forme d'un retour historiographique, Dr. Meyssa Ben Saad présente l'école médicale de Kairouan, ses fondateurs, ses innovations et les traces qu'elle a laissé dans la longue histoire de la médecine. De la médecine arabe médiévale, l'histoire a surtout retenu des grands noms comme Rāzī (865-925) et Ibn Sīnā (980-1037), ou encore Abul Qāsim al-Zahrāwī (940-1013), représentant respectivement l'école dite de Bagdad, et celle de Cordoue (Al-Andalus). Mais un autre centre culturel avait prospéré au IX-Xe siècle dans une autre sphère de l'empire arabo-islamique, à Kairouan, alors capitale de l'Ifriqya et grand pôle de rayonnement scientifique et culturel du IXe siècle. Plusieurs médecins y ont exercé, notamment Isḥāq Ibn ‘Imrān (IX-Xe), et ses disciples Isḥāq Ibn Sulaymān (832-932), et Ibn al-Jazzār (898-980), dont les œuvres ont circulé et ont influencé autant le monde arabe que l'Europe latine, mais dont certaines se sont faites appropriées par leur traducteur latin, Constantin l'Africain (1020-1087). Meyssa BEN Saad est Docteur en Histoire des sciences spécialisée en Histoire de la zoologie arabe médiévale. Elle est chercheuse associé au Labo SPHère CNRS UMR 7219, Université Paris Diderot, et Coordinatrice du Pôle Recherche & Innovation à l'Université Mahmoud el Materi, Tunis. Cet épisode a été enregistré entre Oran et Tunis le 3 Juin 2021 et s'inscrit dans le cadre du cycle des conférences “Santé et humanités au Maghreb” de l'American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), organisé par le Centre d'Études Maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA) et le Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) en étroite collaboration avec Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM). Professeur Marouane Ben Miled, Enseignant-chercheur à l'Ecole nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis (ENIT), a modéré la conférence et le débat.   Montage : Hayet Lansari, Bibliothécaire / Chargée de la diffusion des activités scientifiques (CEMA). 

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by journalist and former student activist Ghaya Ben Mbarek to discuss Tunisian president Kais Saied's firing of the country's prime minister and suspension of the Parliament, the recent protests which have rocked the capital of Tunis, and what the future may hold for working Tunisians suffering through the economic downturn and a frustrating lack of progress following the so-called “Arab Spring.”In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, author, researcher and professor at the University of Havana, to discuss demonstrations taking place in support of Cuba's government across the island in honor of the revolutionary national holiday of July 26th, violent attacks on Cuban diplomatic facilities occuring internationally amid Washington's regime change efforts, and why right-wing Latin American expatriate population in Miami doesn't speak for all Cubans.In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Chris Garaffa, editor of Tech for the People, for another edition of our weekly segment “Tech For The People.” They discuss the monsignor who stepped down after his data was apparently used to track him frequenting gay bars and using the LGBTQ-oriented Grindr app, the police departments encouraging owners of the Shotspotter “gunshot detection system” to manufacture or alter evidence, and the unanimous vote by the Federal Trade Commission enshrining the Right of Repair for consumers.Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, and author of the book “The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean,” to discuss the testimony by officers before the January 6th Commission, why “more police” aren't the answer to the uptick in gun crimes, and what's behind Turkey's charm offensive in the African continent and within the Black population in the US.

In this segment of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by journalist and former student activist Ghaya Ben Mbarek to discuss Tunisian president Kais Saied's firing of the country's prime minister and suspension of the Parliament, the recent protests which have rocked the capital of Tunis, and what the future may hold for working Tunisians suffering through the economic downturn and a frustrating lack of progress following the so-called “Arab Spring.”

What now for Tunisia's young democracy? Following a day of nationwide protests, Tunisia's president sacked the PM and suspended parliament. As he put himself in charge, he said this was about getting the country back on track. Problem is: his critics accuse him of leading a coup. Do they have a point? Host: Alan Kasujja (@Kasujja on Twitter) Guest: Rana Jawad, BBC's North Africa correspondent (based in Tunis). #AfricaDaily

There's mounting tension in Tunisia as President Kais Saied sacks the Prime Minister and suspends parliament after mass protests nationwide. We spoke to Dr. Yusra Ghannouchi, spokeswoman for Tunsia's biggest party Ennahdha and daughter of the Speaker of the House. Also in the programme: As top diplomats meet to discuss relations, China accuses the US of turning it into an imaginary enemy to cover up its own problems; and skateboarding at the Olympics. (Photo: Tunisians gather after president ousts government in Tunis. Credit: Reuters/Zoubeir Souissi)

Take a journey to Tunisia, where cheeky Jean tells us how he got into a tight spot! It's the summer of 1950 and young Jean is up to mischief. Hear about his mad dash among the streets and rooftops of Tunis and how he got away. What do you think of French en route? Let us know how we could improve! Follow this link that will guide you to our special survey: https://bit.ly/3iAH2js Merci ! Don't just listen, read along! You can find the transcript for this episode here: babbel.com/podcasts or https://bit.ly/3AWzu12 You can also write us at podcasting@babbel.com to let us know what you think.

Listen to Jean's funny story about a bit of childhood mischief in Tunis, in French. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2VD96cJ What do you think of French en route? Let us know how we could improve! Follow this link that will guide you to our special survey: https://bit.ly/3iAH2js Merci ! You can also write us at podcasting@babbel.com to let us know what you think.

Welcome to episode 237 of the Sexology Podcast! Today I am delighted to welcome Dr. Marissa Tunis to the podcast. In this episode, we discuss ways in which we can get closure from a breakup, analyzing what gaslighting is and how we can stop the cycle of repeating the same mistakes when it comes to relationships.    Dr. Marissa Tunis is a licensed psychologist, dating coach, and founder of Datefully, dating coaching based in psychology.  She is based in Los Angeles and sees clients across the country who are struggling with heartbreaks, dating anxiety and relationship issues.      She hosts a weekly live-streamed digital talk show on the Meet Me app, Live with Dr. Marissa, which addresses the topics of love, dating and mental health.      In this episode, you will hear:     How Dr. Marissa became interested in this line of work   Ways in which we can get closure from a breakup  How we can learn to heal after a very bitter breakup   How long should we wait after a breakup to start dating again?  Learning to take time for yourself after a breakup   The way in which a bitter breakup can lead to trauma   Analyzing what gaslighting is  The negative ripple effects that come from gaslighting   How many people don't even know they are gaslighting   The importance of trusting your own judgments and gut feeling   Why do we keep making the same mistakes?  How we can stop the cycle of repeating the same mistakes         Find Dr. Marissa Tunis Online   https://www.datefully.com     Dating Anxiety Checklist  https://oasis2care.com/dating-anxiety    Podcast Produced by Pete Bailey - http://petebailey.net/audio    

Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to be a world record holder? It may seem like their experiences are so different from yours, but you'll be surprised with how alike they are to you. They may share the same hobbies or be in the same industry as you before they made their record. Or they may have faced the same struggles you're currently confronting. No matter where they come from, great people are still people, just like you. Today, ex-Special Forces soldier, security specialist, and record-breaking adventurer Dean Stott joins us. He shares his experiences, from his military background to his Pan-American Highway cycling adventure. His is an inspiring story of pushing the limits and redefining the meaning of ‘adventurer'. Just like everyone journeying through life, he has also faced challenges on the way to the finish line. After listening to the episode, you may gain the motivation to try something you've never done before. If you're thinking of one day achieving a world record or if you want to know the meaning of being an adventurer, this episode is for you.   Get Customised Guidance for Your Genetic Make-Up For our epigenetics health program all about optimising your fitness, lifestyle, nutrition and mind performance to your particular genes, go to  https://www.lisatamati.com/page/epigenetics-and-health-coaching/.   Customised Online Coaching for Runners CUSTOMISED RUN COACHING PLANS — How to Run Faster, Be Stronger, Run Longer  Without Burnout & Injuries Have you struggled to fit in training in your busy life? Maybe you don't know where to start, or perhaps you have done a few races but keep having motivation or injury troubles? Do you want to beat last year's time or finish at the front of the pack? Want to run your first 5-km or run a 100-miler? ​​Do you want a holistic programme that is personalised & customised to your ability, your goals and your lifestyle?  Go to www.runninghotcoaching.com for our online run training coaching.   Health Optimisation and Life Coaching If you are struggling with a health issue and need people who look outside the square and are connected to some of the greatest science and health minds in the world, then reach out to us at support@lisatamati.com, we can jump on a call to see if we are a good fit for you. If you have a big challenge ahead, are dealing with adversity or are wanting to take your performance to the next level and want to learn how to increase your mental toughness, emotional resilience, foundational health and more, then contact us at support@lisatamati.com.   Order My Books My latest book Relentless chronicles the inspiring journey about how my mother and I defied the odds after an aneurysm left my mum Isobel with massive brain damage at age 74. The medical professionals told me there was absolutely no hope of any quality of life again, but I used every mindset tool, years of research and incredible tenacity to prove them wrong and bring my mother back to full health within 3 years. Get your copy here: https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books/products/relentless. For my other two best-selling books Running Hot and Running to Extremes chronicling my ultrarunning adventures and expeditions all around the world, go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books.   Lisa's Anti-Ageing and Longevity Supplements  NMN: Nicotinamide Mononucleotide, a NAD+ precursor Feel Healthier and Younger* Researchers have found that Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide or NAD+, a master regulator of metabolism and a molecule essential for the functionality of all human cells, is being dramatically decreased over time. What is NMN? NMN Bio offers a cutting edge Vitamin B3 derivative named NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) that is capable of boosting the levels of NAD+ in muscle tissue and liver. Take charge of your energy levels, focus, metabolism and overall health so you can live a happy, fulfilling life. Founded by scientists, NMN Bio offers supplements that are of highest purity and rigorously tested by an independent, third party lab. Start your cellular rejuvenation journey today. Support Your Healthy Ageing We offer powerful, third party tested, NAD+ boosting supplements so you can start your healthy ageing journey today. Shop now: https://nmnbio.nz/collections/all NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 capsules NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 Capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 Capsules Quality You Can Trust — NMN Our premium range of anti-ageing nutraceuticals (supplements that combine Mother Nature with cutting edge science) combat the effects of aging, while designed to boost NAD+ levels. Manufactured in an ISO9001 certified facility Boost Your NAD+ Levels — Healthy Ageing: Redefined Cellular Health Energy & Focus Bone Density Skin Elasticity DNA Repair Cardiovascular Health Brain Health  Metabolic Health   My  ‘Fierce' Sports Jewellery Collection For my gorgeous and inspiring sports jewellery collection ‘Fierce', go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/lisa-tamati-bespoke-jewellery-collection.   Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:  Find inspiration as Dean shows us the meaning of adventurer. Realise your similarities in experiences with a world record holder. Gain insight into how long-distance cycling is both a physical and mental feat.   Resources Gain exclusive access and bonuses to Pushing the Limits Podcast by becoming a patron!  Harness the power of NAD and NMN for anti-aging and longevity with NMN Bio.  Listen to other Pushing the Limits Episodes: #183: Sirtuins and NAD Supplements for Longevity with Dr Elena Seranova #189: Understanding Autophagy and Increasing Your Longevity with Dr Elena Seranova #192: Mental Resilience and Endurance: A Journey Across the Ocean with Laura Penhaul Connect with Dean: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter   Relentless by Dean Stott   The Black Country Buddhas Podcast Episode #55: Dean Stott- Human Performance, World Records And The Unrelenting Pursuit Of Excellence!  13 Hours (2016)  Heads Together UK Windy TV    Episode Highlights  [04:53] Dean's Background Dean's father was a tracksuit soldier or the football manager and coach in the army.  Dean was an active child growing up.   While he was never forced to go into the military, he ended up joining anyway. [09:00] The Fruits of Dean's Military Training Dean's time in the military helped him put on some muscle and gain height and weight. He didn't feel pressure to choose a department because he wasn't aware of how difficult each option would be. Dean ended up in the SBS (Special Boat Service) as he was more comfortable with water. He learned that rehearsing over and over helps you prepare for different scenarios.  Dean's training also prepared him to expect things to never go according to plan. He was taught how to react and plan for the best outcomes. [16:57] Dean's Turning Point Unfortunately, Dean had an accident while on an aircraft jump during pre-deployment training. Luckily, he landed successfully. However, he tore numerous supporting muscles, particularly in his knee. He couldn't even run 100 meters due to these injuries. Dean left the military. After retiring, he experienced an identity crisis. Dean's wife, Alana, was also pregnant. So, he was under a large amount of mental pressure. Alana helped him during this challenging period.  [22:35] Experience in the Security Industry With his training from the Special Forces, Dean went on to the security industry. He carried out projects for the British and Canadian embassies. Dean bought weapons and communication tools to sell to his clients. Additionally, he also made and sold evacuation plans to oil and gas companies. Ad-hoc security projects were a better option for Dean as he didn't want to join organisations. He helped in the aftermath of the Benghazi assassination of the then American ambassador. With his safe houses and contacts, he was able to transport people from Benghazi to Tripoli.  Despite the numerous tribal and ideality differences between these two places, Dean helped people safely reach their destinations. He did this by communicating respectfully and humbly with the locals. [31:33] The Effect of Fear The media largely contributes to the world's perception of high-risk places.  Dean is fully aware of the threats present in his job. But he learns to appreciate and look at another perspective.  Despite terrorist threats and danger, these high-risk cities have hospitable people and lovely surroundings.  [37:03] Looking for the Meaning of ‘Adventurer' Dean became fixated on working to gain money. Then, he realised he was losing physical and mental wellness. Before turning 40, Dean experienced a midlife crisis. He wanted to leave a legacy. And so he chose to break a world record on cycling.  Dean chose to cycle from South Argentina to North Alaska via the Pan-American Highway, the longest road in the world. To beat the record of 117 days, Dean's goal needed to cover the distance in 110. So, he trained to cycle in different weather conditions and altitudes. Dean cycled for Heads Up, the mental health campaign of Prince Harry, Prince William, and Kate. He set a target of  ₤1,000,000. [48:11] Preparation Phase As Dean was doing his research for cycling, he also spoke to previous record holders. He asked them questions that he learned from his experiences in Special Forces debriefings.  Dean learned that the previous record holders experienced issues in South and Central America, the second half of the challenge. [49:27] Dean's Journey Across South and Central America  Dean decided to start in the south first to get all the issues out of the way. His adventure began in Southern Argentina. He became physically and mentally stronger after four weeks on the road. Most of the time, Dean would also go beyond his daily-set kilometres and hours.  He divided his milestones into countries, cities, and days. He also divided his days among four stages. With smaller and more manageable milestones, Dean didn't feel overwhelmed. He instead felt like he was training, nothing more. Dean looked forward to small rewards after each milestone. These motivated him to move and be better the next day. [55:47] Dean's Trip Across North America By this time, Dean learned that he was invited to Prince Harry's wedding. This meant he had to finish the challenge in 102 days.  So, he cycled at night.  Dean also saw a post of a recent world breaker, saying he'll break a record within 100 days.  Dean's family was also at the end to greet him; this thought motivated him. So, Dean cycled for 22 hours every day, even at -18 degrees, to beat the record.  [1:01:50] The Cycling World Record Dean's adventure lasted for 99 days. He spent ninety-four days cycling and five days on logistics.  He averaged 147 miles a day with a speed of 16.8 miles per hour. Dean also lost 12 kilos. Most importantly, he raised $1.2 million, or  ₤900,000, through corporate donors and sponsors.  He was even able to attend the royal wedding.  [1:03:19] Events Following Dean's Adventure  Dean experienced two highs in a week and felt a depression phase after. Dean did a Q&A with Prince Harry shortly after returning to talk about the amount they raised. It's weird for your family to go on with their everyday lives while you're still riding the highs of your success.  Dean feels lucky because his family is involved in his activities. So, they can be with him throughout his journey.  Anyone can do a world record when they have the luxury to just focus on their craft and immediate goals. Mortgages, physical health, and family responsibilities may get in the way of those goals. [1:08:44] What Lies Ahead for Dean His next goal is to kayak from Rwanda to Egypt, which is a 4,280 mile-long feat. This time, he will raise awareness on issues such as human trafficking, modern slavery, and pollution.  This new feat will also promote African people and their beautiful and natural environment. Kayaking is more skill-involved since he'll be encountering wild animals and overcoming water currents and waterfalls. Listen to the episodes about the specifics of Dan's preparations. [1:14:54] Final Thoughts and Advice Don't compare yourselves to other people, especially on social media.  Anticipation is worse than participation. Start with small steps and progress from there.    7 Powerful Quotes from This Episode ‘If someone disagrees, “I didn't think you're gonna do it”. The best way to prove them wrong is actually physically doing it.' ‘You can't control the uncontrollables, you know, as long as you have a plan. One thing I saw, really take from the military is that meticulous planning and detail that goes into it.' ‘What I really took from the military is that unrelenting pursuit of excellence, trying to be the best you can be.' ‘The world's very quick to tarnish certain societies with one brush because of what they've seen on TV.' ‘Before you get, sort yourself out, you know, we'll sit down, and we'll ask three questions: “What worked? What didn't work? And if you're going to do it again, what would you do differently?”' ‘And then it was just, look at the next two hours. Look at the next stage. I didn't look at the afternoon, didn't look at the next day. And before you've done it, you've done a day, you've done a week, you've done a world record.' ‘Don't worry about what other people are doing. Just focus on yourself. You know, I always say anticipation is worse than participation.'   About Dean Dean Stott is a former member of the British Special Forces, where he travelled to dangerous places for 16 years. After an accident, he was forced to find other ways to use his time and skills. With his experiences in the Special Forces, Dean is now a world-leading security consultant and avid adventurer. Indeed, Dean redefines the meaning of adventurer in everything that he does. He has set the world record, cycling the entire 14,000 km Pan-American Highway in less than 100 days. Apart from these successes, Dean is also a motivational speaker who helps others overcome fear and adapt to change. His positive mindset and wide range of skills also enable him to work with brands and charities. He also incorporates advocacies into his adventures, with his most recent world record supporting mental health. Check out his website if you want to know more about Dean and his next adventure. You can also reach him through other platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.   Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your family and friends so they can understand the meaning of being an ‘adventurer' and go on their own adventures. Have any questions? You can contact me through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts. To pushing the limits, Lisa   Full Transcript Of The Podcast Welcome to Pushing the Limits, the show that helps you reach your full potential. With your host Lisa Tamati, brought to you by lisatamati.com. Lisa Tamati: Welcome back everybody. Lisa Tamati here, your host. Fabulous to have you with me again for another crazy episode of Pushing the Limits. Before we get underway with today's guests who I know you're going to find very, very exciting and interesting, just a reminder, to check out our epigenetics program, our flagship program that we do. One of our main programs besides our online run training system, where we look at your genes and how to optimise your life, your nutrition, your food, your exercise, all aspects of your life, including your social, your career, what parts of your mind you use the most, your dominant hormones, all this information is now able to be accessed and we can identify the lifestyle changes and the interventions that we can make to optimise your life. So if you want to hit know a little bit more about that program, head on over to lisatamati.com, hit the work with us button and you'll see our Peak Epigenetics program, go and check that out.  I also like to remind you about my new supplement, NMN, nicotinamide mononucleotide. A bloody long name I know, but it's about longevity and anti-ageing. There is a ton of science that has gone into the research into NMN and as a precursor for NAD, which is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. I've had a couple of podcast episodes with Dr. Elena Seranova. I'd love you to go and check those out. She is the founder of the company and I'm importing it now into New Zealand, Australia and down the center of the world. So if you want to check out that anti-ageing and longevity supplement, I spent months trying to get it so make sure if you're down in the world and you want top quality, independently certified, scientists-backed supplement that really does what it says on the label, then check it out. Go to www.nmnbio.nz, nmnbio.nz, and find out all about it.  Right. Today's guest is oh he's a bit of a legend. Dean Stott is his name. He's a ex-Special Forces soldier, he was in the special boat service, British Army's where he came from originally. And he spent 16 years going into the most dangerous places on the planet and doing his job as a frogman. That's his nickname on his website. Even, as The Frogman. He is the author of a book called Relentless. Go figure, we've both got books called Relentless. I think we knew that we were going to get along. He's a motivational speaker. He's also a world record holder. Most recently he cycled the entire Pan-American highway. What are we talking- what is it, 14,000 miles or something ridiculous. And he did it in under 100 days. He's an absolute legend. And he had to get it done in time to get to Harry and Megan's winning. So he was desperate to get it done under 100 days. It's a really interesting story. This is a guy who's lived life on the edge in every which way you can possibly imagine. So I'm really looking forward to sharing his insights and his story with you now. Right, over to the show with Dean Stott.  Well, hi everyone and welcome back to Pushing the Limits. Your host Lisa Tamati here, sitting in New Zealand and ready for a fantastic interview today. I have a bit of a hard ask with me. I think it's a bit hard to describe this man, what he's done. I have Dean Stott with me. Dean, welcome to the show. It's fantastic to hear you. Yeah, you're sitting in Orange County? Dean Stott: I say, yeah moved to move to Orange County in California six months ago, actually in the middle of the pandemic. Just took advantage of the world pause, and just changed scenery. Lisa: Just change the scenery. Right, Dean we're gonna have a really interesting conversation because when I discovered you actually through another friend's podcast, My Home Vitality, shout out to Sean and everyone over there. And I realised that we had the same title of our books, was your one right?  Dean: Yeah.  Lisa: My one's been smaller. I thought, you, ‘This guy's probably right up my alley'. So you are known as the frogman, you've been in this Special Forces, Special Boat Services. You have also become an expeditionary athlete and adventurer and, in many years. But I want to go back a little bit, and it's starting to, were you always this determined and crazy and head through the wall type of person? And tell us a little bit about your background for starters. Dean: Yeah, so I don't know whether I was on reflection, you look back and think maybe I was slightly, you know, you touched when I was in the military, my father was in the military. And I grew up surrounded by that, in that environment, but was never forced upon me to continue any sort of tradition and things like that. My father was the army football manager and coach. So he was very sports-oriented, what we would call a tracksuit soldier. He very much that, you know, his career was based on his sport and abilities. So there was that competitive drive anyway, that I had from my father. My parents split up when I was a young age. And when I was about eight years old, I moved away with my mother for a couple of years. My father then got custody of me and my sisters, we went back to live with my dad, so I only had the single parent, and we just went everywhere with him. And it was all with the military and all these sporting events. I wasn't, you know, the children of today, with technology, you know, when we were younger, as you will know, we know you weren't allowed in the house unless it was absolutely raining.  So we had some natural physical robustness. And by, I joined the military, I approached my father and told him my intentions of joining the military, when I was 17. And he, he told me, I'd last two minutes. I don't know whether that was reverse psychology for me to push harder and prove him wrong. And, but I was about 65 kilos, and five-foot-seven, so I wasn't, you know, the figure, the man that I am today. And, but when I did join the military, I then went through training and things. And I didn't have aspirations of being Special Forces or commandos or anything like that. And I didn't, I wasn't really aware about the structure of the military anyway, because it was just sport. That's all I've seen where my dad, I hadn't seen the bigger picture. So then when I pass basic training. It's only 10 weeks long, you know, you then get a little bit of confidence in your abilities. And then you started in a short period of time, by the age of 20, or 21 actually, I was a para-commando diver and a PTA, done every arduous force within the military. But I'd grown so quick over those two or three years, and I will be about 85 kilos, now. I'm five-foot-eleven. So I was getting confident in my own abilities. And I was also growing into the individual that I was today. And I mean, once you pass a certain threshold, or pass a course, you then sort of look at, ‘Well, what's next?' You know, I wasn't the best on the courses, but I just gave it my 100%. And then you sort of, your career then starts channelling in one direction, you then those before you or your peers, the mentors are all going Special Forces. And then it's like, the next question is, ‘Why not? Let's have a crack.' Lisa: Yeah, that it takes a special type of person to be able to, like, I grew up in a family with lots of stories, like my dad was only in the military for a short time, but he was a firefighter. And so, you know, my husband's a firefighter, my dad's a firefighter, my brother's a firefighter, we're a firefighter family. And when I was a girl, when I was a little girl, we couldn't, I couldn't grow up to be a firefighter. It wasn't, it wasn't you know, unfortunately. Thank God, you can now. And, you know, if my dad had had his way, I would have been a firefighter, I would have been an SAS soldier, I would have been like, because he was a hard ass And he wanted all of that for me. And, you know, unfortunately, society sort of stopped some of the things. So I ended up doing it in other ways that I could do it. But wasn't there a lot of pressure? Did you feel like you had to live, you know, your dad saying that to you? Was it sad and just a thing? Or did that really bite with you that, ‘Hey, I'm going to prove you wrong,' you know what I'm going for?  Dean: Yeah, I think for me, it was. And we'll talk about other stories in my career, and it seems to be a common theme. I know, I fought. There's no point in arguing my father, you know, and or anyone, if someone disagrees, ‘I don't think you're gonna do it'. The best way to prove them wrong is actually basically doing it. Yeah. And then you don't even need to say anything. You just need to just leave that pause. And so I think for him, I don't know. I think it was a throwaway comment, you know, the fact I still talk about it now. And you know, a lot of people say to me, would you say that to your son? So of course, you know, I mean, I and, but for me it was that drive. Now, my father we talked about, you know, he really, he was sport oriented, actually when I joined Military I got sent to Germany to play football as well, because they knew I was Dave Stott's son.  Lisa: Yeah.  Dean: And see, after a year of being there, I said, ‘No, I don't want to follow the same footsteps as my father, I want to carve my own path.' And that's when I then went, commando, para and things. So I was going a different path from my father, he wasn't a para commando and things like that. So for me, it was like, this was new territory to me. I wasn't really put under pressure from him. I know a lot of guys who I served with, you know, from a young age, from young boys, all they ever wanted to be was a Royal Marine, or a para, they wanted to be SAS and things. I didn't, I wasn't, there was something that I didn't– Lisa: You weren't conditioned. Dean: Look, I wasn't even aware of it. That was why. So when I approached these courses, I didn't put myself under that self-induced pressure with some of these guys– guys and girls do. And I think that helped in a way. I sort of approached it in a, you know, it is what. It is not being naive, it's not what was involved walk in the park. But, you know, I was aware how difficult it was. But it wasn't the be-all or end-all. You know, some guys who did it, don't achieve the grades or, or the standards, and then they're broken. That's all their life. And I think it's actually too much pressure on themselves. So sort of going into these situations, you just need to be a bit open-minded. Lisa: And what was the training like to go into the Special Forces and to know what you do? What is it like to go through– because we see the stuff on the telly, and you know, everybody knows about how hard ass all that type of training is. And what do you need? What did you get out of it? What was the experience like for you to do those extreme sort of courses? Dean: Well for me, it's very much a grown-up course. You know, the way that then, you've got this stuff on TV, where you have the perception it's hard-ass and everyone's swearing and shouting here. And it is night and day from that, you know. I understand with TV, there's a fine line between authenticity and entertainment. Actually, if you film selections, it's actually quite boring. You know, these guys just get told where they got to go. And they just do it. So, and that's what I liked about the course is that the fact that you're– you all grow– you're all treated as grown-ups. There was no shouting, and they just told you what to do. They didn't need to shout, the selection was that hard in itself, that they didn't need to put that additional pressure on you. So I did what I can. And in fact, they gave you some sort of independence. To think on your own. I was fortunate to be an instructor on the commando course and also the senior dive instructor. So I've seen it from an instructor's perspective. And on those sort of courses, you do give the students some motivation and inspiration as well.  But on this one, you don't get anything. Yes, you get the reverse when you go to the jungle, and they tell you about how you're not doing well. And you know, just give up now and save six months of your life and things out. But again, I got that reverse psychology as a young boy telling me I couldn't do it. So yeah. And for me, I didn't go– you're– I was from, I came from the army. So I, the normal traditional route was especially SAS. I went SBS. I was one of the first army guys to do that. And that was because I'd spent eight years with three commando brigades, Brigade Iraqi force and I was a senior dive instructor. So water, I was more comfortable in water. So the special boat service was that natural transition for me. So they say when you go on selection, be the gray man, you know, just don't don't stand out and bring attention to yourself and things. I'll be the gray man for about two minutes. Because they will react, they'll scream my name out. And that's why I was going this way and not the traditional, right? Lisa: Because you came from the wrong place. Dean: Yeah, although I didn't put myself under my own self-induced pressure. I had that sort of hovering above my head. But again, once you– if you're confident in your abilities, and there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance at that age. I was a 28 year old sergeant. And I spent seven years in Brigade Iraqi. I've seen those who've gone before me and I knew that I was just as good as then. And you sort of know that they're going to play these mind games and when they come, as long as you identify when they come in and just deflect it.  Lisa: Yeah. Has it really helped you in everything that you've done since like, what are some of the key learnings that you take away from doing such arduous, tough, scary stuff? Dean: Um, I think, you know, you can't control the uncontrollables you know, as long as you have a plan. One thing I saw, really take from the military is that meticulous planning and detail that goes into it. And the fact that we rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. You know, we do that over and over and over again. You know, I've been guest speaking alongside some, like, some of the England rugby players. They talk about the World Cup, now that how they repeat an exercise, until they get 1% better. You know, we'll rehearse, rehearse all these different scenarios. And, but ours is a bit of a different situation. You know, if we get it wrong or pause or hesitate, you know, we don't lose five points in a row, we lose lives. Guys, people will get killed.  So yeah, so there's that which what I really took from the military is that unrelenting pursuit of excellence, trying to be the best you can be. But also, as well as the planning, and that we talked about that, we'll probably talk about it later when we talk about the bike ride, is the fact that not– nothing always goes to plan. Plan is the best plan in the world, you know, and things never go to plan. And don't worry about that. And that's what I liked about the Special Forces is there were a lot of, ‘Well, if you don't go as planned, you just react to the situation that's in front of you.' And a good friend of mine told me a quote, ‘You can't be experienced without experiences'. And that's what I got from the military. The military, a lot of these big corporates around will, would love to try and replicate the scenarios or, or conditions that these people have been in, but you just can't. And that's the great thing about the military. They put you in some high octane environments, in difficult positions, difficult environments, and having to make difficult decisions. But you learn from that, you know, my decision, when was the wrong decision? You know, when you have to make? Yeah, you just reflect back on what worked and what didn't work. Lisa: Wow. So you were in the military for, I think it was 16 years, was it, or something?  Dean: Yes, yes. Yeah.  Lisa: And so it was a big chunk of your life. And then and then what happened? Tell us about the accident. Dean: Yeah. So I joined, I joined a special forces in the height of the war on terror. So I was the pinnacle of my career, everything was going really well. I was doing what these children nowaday plays Call of Duty. That was my lifestyle, day in day out. And we're just about to get pre-deployment training to go back out to Afghanistan again, and we're out training in Oman. And I was doing what's called a HAHO jumps, it's a high altitude, high opening jump. So unlike freefall, where you're free aligned, you're actually still connected to the aircraft. You exit the aircraft at 15,000 feet. And you do that, because that's the limits of oxygen. Any higher and you need oxygen. You open the aircraft and the parachute will open– pull open straight away. And when you travel up to 50 kilometers, or 30 minutes in the air to the target area. So I've done–  no– we've done hundreds of these jumps before, I think it's about the third or fourth jump in a day.  And I just exit the aircraft as I normally did, no different from any time before. But this time, when I look, there was something wrong and my leg was actually caught in the line above my head. So I was trying to clear my leg in time before the parachute opened and potentially rip my leg off. But I couldn't clear it in time. The parachute opened, pulled my leg up over my head and the right. Thankfully made my foot released. And otherwise wouldn't be here having this conversation. But straight away I knew there was a problem. The pain was so severe that I was vomiting and because of how thin the air was, I was drifting in and out of consciousness. But no one else in the team knew there was a situation so I wasn't going to come over to net and tell them that I had a sore leg. So I managed to stay with the team, assess where the other parachutes were coming in against the wind.  And my first challenge was to land it because if I didn't land it correctly, you know, on one leg, you know potentially, you could damage your good leg. So, but I did. It was a great, great landing, landed one-legged. And fortunately, the damage sustained on the exit show in my career. As I tore my ACL, my MCL, my lateral meniscus, my hamstring, my calf and my quadriceps, so all these supporting muscles–  Lisa: Just got ripped. Dean: Yeah, just got ripped. But you know, in the ideal world you would go straight back to UK and you start physio, you just start working on it. But it was the same time as the Icelandic volcano which grounded all aircraft. I was there for about nearly five weeks just thrown in a hotel with painkillers.  Lisa: Are you kidding. So that was it.  Dean: Yeah, yeah, I sort of missed that, and then got back to UK. I remember I made it back to UK, got sent home for six weeks and leaves. We're now talking about 11, 12 week period from the injury. Then they lost my MRI scans. It was just a spiral of failure in the medical system there. And so yeah, so I left. But all I've ever known, it's 16 years. Military, even as a young child growing up. So I didn't have, I didn't look beyond the military. For me, I was a lifer. That was me. Lisa: Wow. So how did that, apart from the gun to the physical injury, but how did that affect you mentally? Like you suddenly– you're at the top of your game, you've been training for this forever, you're doing your job. And then all of a sudden, you're out of the game. And you're completely sidelined. What happened to you mentally from that side? Dean: My wife will tell you a different– Lisa: You didn't get divorce. So that's good. Dean: But the one of the things I scored an identity crisis. Well, it is whether you believe in the military, whether you're a professional sports person, or whether you're just someone who works in an organisation or a team, but I've been– I've gone from working in a tight-knit unit, having a role and having a purpose, knowing what I was doing for the next two years, to like, ‘Where do I now fit in society? What was my role and purpose?' But I got to where I got to, because of my physical robustness. That had now been taken away from me as well. I couldn't even run 100 meters without my leg being in pain. So I had that going on in the background. Also, to add to the pressure, my wife was eight months pregnant. So also wondering whether there is going to be any work there. How am I going to support my family? And thankfully, for me, my wife is very entrepreneurial. You know, you hear horror stories of men and women when they leave the military, about that transition can be quite turbulent. Mine was quite smooth. You know, the military, like your mother and father, you know, they clothe you, they feed you, they pay you on time. You don't even know what, who provides the water or what to eat. You've just got a job to do.  But when we leave, we're not aware of who we need to speak to in the council's or the state. There. So my wife was a bank manager for three sons and their banks in Aberdeen. So the stuff that I would normally be worried about, she was, ‘Yeah, I've got all that.' And she sent my first security company on a Blackberry watching TV, you know, done the right paperwork. So when, so whatever I was going through a hard time having to talk personally, you know, thankfully, wasn't that bad, because my wife had sort of–  Lisa: Yeah, she's awesome.  Dean: But yeah, I just had, you know, talking to the security industry, the pressure of trying to, if there's any work. And I was very fortunate. Within 48 hours I was asked if I can go out to Libya, which I know you're familiar with, to help set up the different project restart the British Embassy during the Arab Spring. And so that's what I did. So wow, look at me, I had work straight away. And I was out in Benghazi, helping sell that project. Lisa: Can you tell us a little bit about that story? Because that sounds like a bit of a movie. Dean: You know– familiar I did– when I left, I wanted to find a niche within the security industry. I didn't want to go to Afghanistan and Iraq and do the hostile action, because I've sort of done that, you know, I've done that bit. And you know, I was very lucky to survive. So why would you take another risk? And I looked at the security industry, and actually, a lot of my friends from the special boat service. They were,  they had their maritimes companies who are dealing with the Pirates of the east coast of Africa. So I didn't want to be competing with them either. My wife's from Aberdeen, so I moved back to Scotland with her. It's the only gas capital of Europe. So where is all this trouble? So I was looking into more in the corporate clothes protection sort of industry, that's where my head was focused.  But when I got to Libya, I soon identified that Libyans didn't want another Libyan, another Afghan or Iraq once Gaddafi had fallen, they wanted to take control. But also these larger security companies, the big five, now sort of like dominate the industry. They were charging crisis management in evacuation plans, when actually we just scraped the surface, there was nothing in place. So I flew home, my wife gave birth to our daughter, Molly. And I said, ‘Look, I have a plan. Do you mind if I take our savings out of the bank?' And that's what I did. And I went back into Libya, there was a huge proliferation of weapons at this point. It's actually ammunition was difficult to get hold of, weapons are not a problem.  So I bought 30 weapons off the black market, and I buried them between Tunis and Egypt and buried them with communications equipment money, and just designed my own evacuation plan, spent a month in the desert. These in design. And I mean, I sold them to a couple of the oil and gas companies on a retainer and just just sat on them. Then the security industry. You know, for me, I didn't want to work for an organisation and be on rotation and things like that. I took a gamble and it was very ad hoc. So each time I got a phone call was a different job. So you know, for example, we did London Olympics. And then next thing you're taking the UAE royal family superyacht from Barcelona to Maldives, and you're training the Kurdish Special Forces in Erbil.  Lisa: Wow! Fascinating! Dean: It's very diverse. When you tell people in the security industry, I mean, they think you're a doorman from the local nightclub. Lisa: Surely not. Dean: I'd like to help people as well. And I'm for me, but what it what it was good for me was– is I was seeing– some of these countries that I've been to anyway with the military, but seeing all the cultures and seeing how things, not from a military perspective, because it was almost a little bit blinkered, there, you know. Lisa: Yes. Like you say, your head, your role. Dean: You know, it's understanding more the politics, the demographics and things like that. So I just come back from the London Olympics. I was in Benghazi. And in the evening, the American ambassador got killed. And they made it into a film called 13 Hours. Lisa: Yes, that's what I thought, it sounds very familiar, I'm sure. Dean: I know, I always say, ‘Right place, right time' or ‘Wrong place, wrong time'. And I was there in Benghazi. And I was asked by a German oil company if I could get some of their German engineers from Benghazi to Tripoli. So I had safe houses in the desert. And that's what I did over the three days. I took them back out. And then two years later, I was in Brazil, covering the World Cup. Lisa: You're just like… You just got them out through a hole and you do that like going to the supermarket. Dean: There's no real, no threat to them, no direct threat to them. the only issue I had with that one, you know, we could have– I had drivers from Benghazi, who took us out initially. The problem in Libya, you have 167 tribes. And this is where there's real issues. Because, I mean, you have, you know, those in the East in Benghazi, don't like those in the West in Tripoli. You know, the politics are in Tripoli, the oils are in the East. And so it's understanding that as well. And that's why, so we did it over three days, and the reason we did that is, I was actually, I had the drivers from Benghazi in the safe house. And now that will, ‘You know, Mr. Dean, we can go on because Tripoli is only, you know, it's not far, 300 kilometers'. But they didn't realise I had drivers coming in from Tripoli. Lisa: And you didn't want them to–. Dean: And I didn't want the drivers to compromise us when we go in. So I woke up that morning that we were setting off and the drivers that arrived from Tripoli, the drivers and Benghazi in there. They all had their guns out.  Lisa: Oh, my God.  Dean: I say I mean, I mean, they're worried they weren't gonna get paid. I said, ‘No, you're paid. I just can't take you to Tripoli.' And so it's just understanding that sort, rather than just driving as fast as you could to Tripoli and potentially running into issues along the way. And so yes, that was a success. And two years later, I was in Brazil covering the World Cup. And we now had the Tripoli war, which is a civil war between the militias and the government. And I think that's just ended now. And I got a phone call from the Canadian Embassy saying that they'd been stuck in Tripoli. And so they had 18 military within an area close protection team with them, but they weren't allowed to leave the city. So they'd never seen the coastal road out and didn't really have eyes on. So in the days leading up to that, the British Embassy got shot at every checkpoint between Tripoli and the Tunis border. So I went out with my fixer, and just spoke to the tribal elders in those regions at war and everywhere else. And it was actually just showing them courtesy and respect. Just let us know who we are, when we will come in, we were no threat. And again, it's that understanding the politics and the demographics, which was a success to that. And yeah, we got 18 military in four different maps safely back to back to Tunis. Lisa: Wow. Dean: But you know, I've never like they said in Hollywood, I never needed to dig up any of the weapons. They're still there. It's more of an intelligence-led security thing. But I came home from that trip and my normal procedure would be to wash my kit, repack my bag and everything else, and then get ready for the next phone call. Yeah, one of my shirts was covered in blood. But I've been doing first aid and RTA. And I said to my wife, ‘Can we get the blood out of the shirt?' And she said ‘Yes, but I'm more concerned why there's blood in there'. Totally what I just got yourself is like a throwaway comment. Yeah, you see, this was the second time in my life, I realised the pin dropped. There was something more mentally, I was just five years now from the military and I was trying to match the adrenaline rush that I had been, without coming to terms with the fact that I'd left and I didn't have that support network. If something had gone wrong, my friends were gonna come in and parachute for me. And so something had to change. And my daughter was young, and my wife now is, you know, she had a very successful property development business. And she said, ‘Look, this was actually all about communication'. She thought I wanted to go away. And I thought she needed me to go away. Lisa: Yeah, yeah. Because you've been used to that sort of setup for so long. Dean: Yeah. And I've just been disconnected from society. I just thought that was the norm. You know, I was going to Somalia on my own. Yeah. Just doing– Lisa: Were you not like, like most people listen to this, I mean, it's such a foreign world for the average person who's never been exposed to any of this. And I've never been anything military. I've been in some tricky situations, and self-caused, gone into shit places which I wasn't really for or shouldn't have been in. But for most people, this is a terrifying thought to even go to some of these places, let alone to do the job that you do. Did you never have a fear of like, do you not have the normal fear responses that most people have? Dean: I think I do. I think the problem that we have in today's society is TV, is media. You know, it's very, you know, dramatised about these places. These places they go. I use Somalia as an example. I'll go there on my own and have a walk from the airport to the hotel, I won't– because that's where the business is. That's where I think things are happening. And then I've been, you know, yes, there's bad places and things go on. But it's no different from any city, you know. Yes, there's a bit of a terrorist threat and things. But I've been sent on a mission, south of Mogadishu, and in some of the most beautiful waters. I see parts of the country that people don't see. Now, I'm not naive to think there is no threat at all. You know, the success of a lot of my projects is having the right fixers and local influence. The world's very quick to tarnish certain societies with one brush because of what they've seen on TV. For me, they're the most hospitable people. You know, the Canadian Embassy, the KCA Deutag and a few others, they wouldn't have been successful if it wasn't for the locals. Lisa: The local people. Yeah.  Dean: And I think that's where somebody's security companies or individuals who think they can just come in with weapons and guys like me, very arrogant, they think they're going to do, to get away with it. And, and it's just showing respect, and humility. And that's my approach to it. So I am obviously conscious there is there is a friend, you know, I have friends who–  Lisa: And you can handle yourself there as well.  Dean: –things that, but yeah, I think that as long as–  Lisa: Yeah, I know what you'd be like when you go to some of these places, you have these preconceived ideas. And some of the places I've been to, like Niger. I went to Niger and you know, Niger, I don't even know how to say it properly, Niger. Never got that right. That was one place where I landed there. And we were doing a 333k race through there. And I didn't like go, ‘Holy shit, this place is pretty damn scary'. And you know, you're running across the desert on your own, and there was a lot of military, sort of oil problems. Chinese doing exploration in the desert against the wishes of the tribal people. So there was lots of military convoys coming through with all the arms and things. And you're a little girl running across the frickin' desert on your own. It's pretty, pretty hairy moments here where you think you can just disappear, you know. But generally speaking, most of the places that you go to where you think are gonna be terrifying, aren't that terrifying. And the people are pretty amazing, too. And you've got to be aware of yourself and, you know. Dean: Yeah. Having the responsibility, you know, those sort of places as well if they're running an event like that, and, you know, these countries want, you know, it's all about tourism and try and promote and put the country in a good light, you know, they'll do this. Yeah. Lisa: This one was a bit out there, though. Like this was a French Foreign Legion guy who was running it. He didn't give a shit about anything except making money, right? We went into it naively. These particular ones thinking it was gonna be like the marathon on Saturdays or something. You know what I mean? And it wasn't. It was like 17 runners, nothing was organised. It was like, we ran out of water, we ran out of food, we, you know, I ended up getting food poisoning on top of it all. So that was a really– that's when I realised that most of the races are really super well run, but then there are the cowboys out there. And, you know, we were in their very hands really, you know, and we were lucky to get out the other side on that one. But so how do you like, for your wife? What's it like having your husband off doing God knows what, and having to keep the, you know, the business going, and the life going, and that fear of you being away?  Dean: Yeah. And I'm very fortunate. I've got a, my wife is part of the business anyway, the scoop is anyway, so she would always be doing intelligence bits anyway. So having her being part of that helps. Yeah. Well, rather, you just go in, and she's not knowing what's going on. Yeah. I mean, a part of that. And when we talk about the bike ride, you know, she was the campaign director that so–  Lisa: Sounds amazing.  Dean: –but gets involved in everything. Because then it's very easy to explain why you're doing something or why you're going away because, yeah, the full picture. But no, very, very fortunate to have an understanding– and she, you know, Alana's got a book coming out soon as she talks about why she fell in love with me, because I showed a world that she hadn't seen before. I mean, I was very, we had very similar mindsets, and like, achieve whatever goals you want. So for her to then say, ‘I couldn't do something,' or you know, would go against, you know, what she believes in, and why we got into it. So obviously, now I'm a bit older and we've got kids and obviously I need to be a bit you know, she needs a little bit more. Yeah. Lisa: She sounds like an amazing lady. I'll have to get her on. Dean: Yeah, yeah, she is. She's got a cracking story herself. Lisa: Yeah, she sounds like it. So I want to transition now into going into life after this chapter of your life, if you like, in becoming this professional adventurer. Because in what you're doing now, what you've got coming up, and the whole world record that you have. Tell us about that. Dean: Yeah, so we actually stem from coming back from that Canadian Embassy job. You know, something had to change. In chapter 16 in the book, it's called ‘Dead or Divorce', so that's the stage we're talking about. Obviously, it's been five years since my leaving the military. I've sort of neglected my own sort of physical and mental well-being. I've been so fixated on work and bringing in money, and I take like a TRX with me around, just throw it in the suitcase. And I haven't done any sort of cardiovascular stuff. My injured leg like now was two kilos lighter than my good leg, which is an awful wastage.  So I just that's when for Alana said, “Come do property development.' And that's what I did. I hung up my security boots and just bought a pushbike of farmers, and just cycled to and from the office. There's only about eight miles there and eight miles back. You know, nothing big but straightaway being physically active again, you know, I felt like there was a big, big weight off my shoulders, and that's what I did. I cycled to and from the office. But you can imagine my story, you know, sat in these architects and planners meet.  So it's about a month for my 40th birthday. So I was getting a midlife crisis around. What have I done with my life? I'm going to have a legacy and things. So I said, well, ‘I've always fancied doing a world record.' And Alana said, ‘Well, what in?' And I said, ‘Well, cycling is good, because it's not impacted– well, you need to consider my knee injury.' And something that wasn't the knee injury wasn't going to compromise it.  So I said, ‘Well, what about cycling?' And you know, being in Scotland, I was thinking maybe Aberdeen to Glasgow or something. And my wife then found the world's longest road, which runs in southern Argentina to northern Alaska. So for the listeners, it's probably equivalent to say it's the equivalent of cycling from London to Sydney. Yeah, 30,000 miles.  Lisa: And then another.  Dean: Yeah. Because of the curvature of the earth. So having only cycled 20 miles, this is what I did: I applied for the world record in it. We had looked at Cairo to Cape Town. But I–  majority of my security work was in Africa. So I'd be in those days anyway. So for me, I wanted to, as part of the challenge, I wanted to see places that I am–  someplace that I hadn't been to before and also because of where you started, and when you're finishing, you're going through all different temperatures and climates and things like that. And so Guinness came back. And the world record when I apply for it was 125 days. Six weeks later when it came back, and said you were successful with the application. And we've been beaten by eight days, the new world record was 117 days.  So that was my target. And my wife and I do a lot charity work. We have been doing since I met her really and, you know, do a lot of stuff with the military. You know, it's part of a special boat service, ambassador for Scotland. Legion, which is the oldest military charity in the UK. But I'm gonna name drop now massively. So Prince Harry and I are good friends, and we've known each other.  Lisa:  Is he though? Dean: Yeah. And as you've seen. And I've been friends about 14 years, met each other on a community training course. And, you know, he'd come to some of my events; I've been to some of his events. You know, I– in Mozambique, Tanzania had an intelligence fusion sale, which would identify smuggling routes for the ivory, you know, which I could then relay back to him. So he's doing a lot of stuff in the background. So I rang him up, and I said, ‘Look, I'm gonna cycle, the world's longest road, you know, what campaigns should we do it for?' And this is back in 2016. So him and his brother and Kate, were just about to launch a mental health campaign called Heads Together in 2017. And he said, would I do it for that campaign? And I said, ‘Yes, of course'. So I now have the challenge of the campaign. And in the end, I set a target of a million pounds.  Lisa: Wow, that's a big-ass target! Dean: For me it had to be the enormity of the challenge to reflect how much you're trying to raise. You know, you couldn't– you know, you can't go– can't say I'm going to raise a million pounds and run the London Marathon because it just doesn't add up. The size of the challenge and the size of the ask here, you know, was balanced. And also to add to that I'd never cycled before as well, which is even more of a– Lisa: Mental.  Dean: Yes, yeah. So I did a train for a year, you can imagine what it is like trying to get sponsorship at the beginning. Lisa: What the hell! Dean: I will perform, break a record, and we'll record and raise a million pounds in mental health and a lot of them thought had mental health problems themselves. Lisa: But you had a track record of what you've done? I mean, I would have taken you seriously, as far as the– Dean:  A lot of people say to me, ‘How do you get sponsorship?' You know, I got– and it was just, it was the right messaging at the right time. You know, the Heads Together campaign is launched in the UK, and it's very much the topic of conversation. So a lot of these big corporates wanted to get behind.  Lisa: Wonderful. Yep, yeah.  Dean: So it was the right message at the right time. And, yeah, I got a great sponsor. And, you know, that was only about two months before setting off. You know, I funded it, funded 50,000 of my own money up until that. I had to believe in it Lisa: And put something on the line?  Dean: Yep. Yeah. So. So that's what I did. Yeah, I mean, I set off on the first of February 2018, the– when I was doing all the early stages when I was doing the planning, and I'd never cycled with I just took a military set of orders, put it on there and just crossed out ammunition. And then as I started learning about saving, I then introduced that into the plan. But there's things that, you know, there are things that are out of my control, like natural disasters, coups, third party influence. So the world record was 117 days, but I was aiming for 110. And it wasn't– I was going to beat it by a week.  Lisa: You're in that buffer. Dean: Yeah that buffer. The buffer, the fudge they call it. Encounter that is eating into the fudge and not your challenge. So that's why, where I set off aiming for 110 days. You know, I was very fortunate to, being in the military and worked in the desert, the Arctic, and the jungle, and things that I've never done on the bike. I had to then simulate those situations. So the Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest non popular desert in the world. It's 47 degrees. What I decided to do so, I went out to Dubai and did two weeks heat training in Dubai. The altitude in Ecuador, of cycling. You know, the biggest climbs in Tour de France ranges in 21, 23 kilometers, minus 67 kilometers and sea level to four and a half thousand meters. So I had to train altitude. So I know that on the day of the event, you know, you do 8 to 10 hours on the bike.  Lisa: Altitude. Yeah.  Dean: So, yeah, I did that. And there's a famous bike ride in the UK called Land's End to John O'Groats. Lisa: Yes, I know that one.  Dean: Yeah, so I did that twice. I never mean to sound arrogant, but for me, it was a training ride and actually it's training ride because the challenge was 15 Land's End to John O'Groats back to back. So if I couldn't do one, how was I going to do 15? Lisa: Yes. It's funny how your perception changes, the bigger your current goal that you're going for, the other stuff becomes small, but what I've learned too is that it goes the other way as well. When you stop doing the big stuff, your horizon comes back in pretty quickly. And then you know, it can be gone the other way. Dean: You can never replicate what you're going to do with some of the ultra marathons, you won't go run the exact distance.  Lisa: No, no, you're running near it.  Just interrupting the program briefly to let you know that we have a new Patron program for the podcast. Now, if you enjoy Pushing the Limits, if you get great value out of it, we would love you to come and join our Patron membership program. 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Dean: Yeah, what I got from doing those Land's End to John O'Groats, you know, I did about nine days, is the fact that the first four or five days are always whether you're at your peak, or wherever you're below peak is always going to be hard and then by the end of the first week, your body then knows what you're asking of it. Lisa: I found that like too, when I did– because I ran through New Zealand, and I did you know, 2250ks in 42 days, which I was aiming for 33 days, but I had again, I didn't add in the fudge, did I? And I got slower and slower and more injuries and so on. So it took me a bit longer than I was planning. But at the two-week point was when I was at that absolute, like I don't know how to take the next step point, you know. And somehow I had to drop the kilometers a little bit, but then I was able to– my body actually got better from that point on. And I would never have believed if I hadn't lived through it. I thought I was like, absolutely, I don't know the how I'm going to take the next step to then actually the end of the 42 days being like, ‘I could carry on now'. You know, it was quite a phenomenal thing to go through. And I've heard other expeditions that athletes go through the same sort of thing that it bottoms out at the worst point. I've got a couple of mates who ran across the Sahara, and I mean, right, right across the Sahara, 7,000 kilometers. And they said the same thing that they you know, two weeks, and they were thought, you know, ‘We're about to die here. We're not gonna make it.' And then it's sort of you know, and you have the ups and downs. But if you can push through that mentally, that point you seem to come through it. Dean: Yeah, you do. I think, you know, for me, I set off from sort of going back slightly when I was doing my research, I, you know, was reading books and magazines learning about cycling. You know, it evolved so much since I was a young boy in a BMX, and I wasn't getting the information I really wanted. So I spoke to the previous record holders, and they're very open, which was great, really, they're very receptive. but they– you know, one of the things we do in the military, especially in the special forces is, it's like a hot debrief. So when, as soon as you've done a job or operation, you come. Before you get, sort yourself out, you know, we'll sit down, and we'll ask three questions: ‘What worked? What didn't work? And if you're going to do it again, what would you do differently?' So I just asked that question to the previous record holders, and all their issues were in South and Central America: bureaucracy, the borders, languages, first to the base. So they all started in North America, and it was the second half of the challenge which had the issues, right. So I turned on its head, start in the south and get those issues out the way early. So one thing I was quite proud of–  just because everyone did it that way didn't mean it was the right way.  Lisa: Yeah.  Dean: But yeah, but I set off from Southern Argentina in the first week, you know, relentless winds, it was like 40 mile an hour, approximate speed. I've never known anything like it. But once that had–  I had targets each day, you know what I had to hit each day and I was hitting those targets. I think by the end of the first week, I was 39 miles behind target, but my target is still a week ahead of the world record, right? Yeah, yeah. The weather sort of changed for the better and now the winds have abated. I got through Peru, I got tailwind all the way through Peru. That's 2500 kilometers of tailwind. We did you know, I crashed the bike in Chile, I got food poisoning in Peru, you know, coming out with issues and, you know, got to Ecuador, got the big climb-ins. But before they're gone on the challenge, I've never done more than 150 miles on the road, on the road. I've done 10 hours on a turbo trainer, but never done more than 150 miles. By the week four when I was in Peru, anything less than 150 miles wasn't enough for me. I was physically and mentally stronger as I went. I started at 90 kilos. I was too big.  Lisa: Yeah, but I but you needed it.  Dean: Yeah, but I knew from my time in the military that special forces selection six months long, you don't start day 1 100%. You carry that timber and weight, and then that will shed and you'll get fit. And that's what I did. And you know, when I finished I weighed 78 kilos. Almost 12 kilos. And you know you have to– it's almost like a polar expedition, you're losing weight from the start. So you just need to try and try and keep it on. But I got to Cartagena on day 48 on March 21. That took 10 days off the previous world record for South America. But that wasn't the world record. And a lot of people called me said, ‘Oh,' they said, ‘The pressure's off.' I said, ‘That's not world record. Call it Brucie bonus. That was a Brucie bonus or a marker to aim for rather than looking at the full challenge. As you know, you don't look at the– Right down into– Lisa: You get overwhelmed pretty quick. Dean: What do you do on the flight? So I