Arab Digest podcasts

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Helen Lackner. Her book "Yemen in Crisis: the Road to War", published by Verso in 2019, is a seminal study of the current war and what lies behind it. Today's podcast looks at the ongoing battle for Ma'rib, the failed efforts of the UN special envoy and the fragile hope that Oman's recent intervention in efforts to get effective peace talks underway may bear fruit as the conflict grinds on in its sixth year. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest is Ali Bakir, a research assistant professor at Ibn Khaldun Center for Humanities and Social Sciences in Doha. His analysis focuses on Turkish relations with the MENA region. Today's podcast explores the warming relationship between Turkey and Egypt and how it is impacting on the regional power balance as Cairo seeks to chart a distinctive foreign policy while lessening its reliance on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the author and academic Christopher Davidson. He's written several books on the Gulf, the latest, just published by Hurst, is titled From Sheikhs to Sultanism. Their conversation is about two crown princes and their transformation into regional power players. Mohammed bin Salman enjoys playing on the world stage while Mohammed bin Zayed takes a more quiet road but both have consolidated power in an unprecedented manner as they shift from sheikhs to sultans. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Samuel Ramani, a geopolitical analyst and non-resident fellow at Gulf International Forum. Their conversation explores the extraordinary gains Russia has made in positioning itself as a player of consequence in the Middle East. Showing a deft hand and adroit manouevring Vladimir Putin, in a few short years, has realised the dream of Catherine the Great to establish Russia in the Middle East and North Africa as a Mediterranean power to be reckoned with. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with the European Council on Foreign Relations' Aslı Aydıntaşbaş and Cinzia Bianco. As Turkey's president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi vie to grasp the mantle of regional leadership, the Biden administration has caused them to place a temporary pause on their competition for ascendancy. Meanwhile, their dispute is proving useful to each of them but for different reasons. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Dr Andreas Krieg, lecturer at King's College London's School of Security Studies. As the Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed continues to forge new directions for the country, the podcast explores his relations with Israel in light of the Gaza war, how enmity with Qatar drives his strategy of promoting counter-revolution, and how he is pivoting to China while moving the UAE away from its traditional relationship with the US. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

As violence escalates Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Prince Hassan calls for an end to confiscations and expropriations in East Jerusalem: "Jerusalem is a shared gift, not the exclusive property of one government or one people." And he warns that creeping annexation in the West Bank will end the possibility of the two state solution with disastrous consequences for all. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

William Law, Arab Digest editor is in conversation with Tarek Megerisi, a policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. Libya has a new government and a new prime minister but has the situation there improved as dramatically as some would like to think? Tarek takes a long hard look at the new regime and sees old patterns, old faces and the same old set of outside players. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with the Syrian Kurdish journalist Sirwan Kajjo. In northeast Syria,in the midst of civil war, the SDF has carved out an autonomous region and the Kurdish Region of Iraq has long asserted its autonomy from Baghdad but Kurds in both countries face significant challenges and the dream of a Kurdish homeland seems as elusive as ever. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.

Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Mosul native Rasha al-Aqeedi. Rasha is a Senior Analyst at the Newlines Institute in Washington. Her work focuses on non-state armed groups and political Islam. She grew up in Mosul under the Saddam dictatorship, experienced the occupation and then, like many others, left Mosul and Iraq. But her passion for her hometown remains defiantly strong. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.