Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell

James Dorsey is a writer and journalist and author of the new book The Battle forthe Soul of Islam - Defining the Muslim Faith in the 21st Century, published by Macmillan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In September last year, an established community in a European country of hundreds of thousands of people was removed in its entirety after a devastating military campaign. This was not Ukraine, but the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has now ceased to exist. To understand this and the dynamics of a little understood region including the complex interplay between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, all under the watchful and interfering Russian eye, it was a great pleasure to speak to Neil Hauer, a Canadian journalist based in the region for several years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Away from NATO's glitzy summit 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC, the war in Ukraine drags on. Ian Bond, a former British ambassador and now Deputy Director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank spoke to me about his recent visit to Ukraine and Moldova and what it portends for the war in Ukraine and wider European security. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I speak to Annette Dittert, London correspondent of German TV channel ARD since 2008. She has lived here since 2008, but she remains someone who can look dispassionately at our politics, culture and institutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Veteran political journalist Nick Cohen discusses the 14-year record of the Conservative government, analyzing their impact on public services, Brexit, and leadership. They also explore radicalization in politics, contrasting UK and US political systems, Conservative Party's Brexit maneuvers, and challenges for a potential Labour government in the global political landscape.

I spoke to Jason Pack about the fallout from President Joseph Biden's poor debate performance on 27 June. Jason has written about this in his substack and also recorded his own podcast on the subject, both available here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-146086715?source=queueWe covered: does the poor debate even matter? What is the process (if one exists) for replacing Biden as the presidential nominee? Who are the likely candidates? What is at stake if Biden doesn't stand down and Trump wins? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Macron did something truly unexpected when he called a snap election in the aftermath of the European parliamentary elections. It now looks very likely that France's next legislature will contain a plurality of hard right deputies from Marine Le Pen's National Rally. I spoke to Lord Peter Ricketts, former British Ambassador to France about this unexpected election and what it portends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was delighted to speak to Akanksha Narain, Indian political analyst and consultant about the unexpected election results in India where Modi's BJP party fell far short of their target of 400 seats in the 542-seat lower house of Parliament (Lok Sabha). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I spoke to Christina Keßler of the Centre for European Reform (CER) about the current EU elections and the possibility of Europe taking a turn to the right.You can find Christina's work at the CER here: https://www.cer.eu/personnel/christina-kesslerSeparately, I appeared on the new podcast Quiet Riot. Find the episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6RGol2iYEkToCCrYjFUwkm?si=4FDTU1NaTgOaRfGf_Y2Qog Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Trump's criminal conviction, the chaos and division of American politics seems set to increase. But this is about much more than what happened in a New York courtroom, with roots in American history, its political structures and the rise of certain ideological movements. I spoke to American political scientist Jonathan Terra about the backdrop to the current events. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.