Extremism Expert Charles Asher Small - STOP Taking Money From the QATARIS

Andrew Gold sits down with Charles Asher Small, one of the world’s foremost experts on extremism, foreign influence, and ideological warfare, for one of the most urgent and revealing conversations we’ve ever hosted on Heretics. Small argues that Western institutions—universities, media, political circles, and cultural organisations—have become dangerously dependent on funding from authoritarian actors. And he issues a stark warning: it’s time to stop taking money from the Qataris before it’s too late. Subscribe to Heretics Clips for more fearless interviews: https://www.youtube.com/@hereticsclips/videos

Small explains how a long-term ideological project, rooted in the intellectual history of the Muslim Brotherhood, has slowly gained influence across the West over nearly a century. He argues that Western elites have, intentionally or not, traded away core democratic values in exchange for financial partnerships and political convenience—what he describes as selling out our institutions “for two pieces of silver.”

A major focus of the discussion is Qatar’s vast soft-power campaign, which Small says has reshaped academic environments in both the US and the UK. From billion-dollar university funding streams to influence in think tanks, NGOs, and cultural bodies, he outlines how foreign money can quietly shape political narratives without the public realising it. Without making any defamatory or unverified claims, Small highlights the systemic vulnerabilities that allow outside actors to shape Western conversations from the inside.

He also breaks down the ideological partnership he calls the “Red–Green Coalition,” a convergence of radical left movements and Islamist ideological actors who—despite differing worldviews—share a mutual interest in weakening traditional Western structures.

In this episode, we explore:

Why some Middle Eastern nations, including Jordan and the UAE, have banned the Muslim Brotherhood

Whether the West is “sleeping through a revolution”

The UK’s extraordinary 40,000-person jihadist watchlist

The moral crisis facing Western leadership

The consequences for women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, and democratic freedoms

Whether certain extremist interpretations of political Islam are fundamentally incompatible with liberal democracy

Small is clear: the problem is ideology, not ordinary Muslims, who overwhelmingly want peaceful, stable lives and are often the first victims of extremism.

This is a high-stakes, gripping, and deeply researched warning about foreign influence, ideological warfare, and the future of Western democracy.

Watch the full podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWpJKSqA-FE

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