

Arab Digest podcasts
Arab Digest
Arab Digest is where business leaders and experts on the Middle East and North Africa come together to share analysis and insight about the issues in the region that matter most.
contact email: editor@arabdigest.org
contact email: editor@arabdigest.org
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 16, 2021 • 30min
Qatar and Saudi Arabia: on the road to reconciliation
Arab Digest Editor William Law in conversation with Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and author of ‘Qatar and the Gulf Feud’. Since the Al Ula accord in January that ended the feud the mood music between the Qataris and the Saudis is all about reconciliation. The Emiratis, however, are not about to get their dancing shoes on, at least not yet.
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Apr 9, 2021 • 27min
Syria and a way to end the war
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at London's Chatham House.Their subject is the brutal and complex war in Syria, as they explore how the conflict could come to an end. Questions abound, among them the extent to which America will re-engage and how much compromise Russia, Iran and Turkey are willing to show.
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Apr 1, 2021 • 33min
America and the road out of Iraq
Arab Digest editor William Law's podcast guest is Caroline Rose, Senior Analyst and programme head in the Human Security Unit at the Newlines Institute. Caroline recently authored a report for the institute titled In the wake of drawdown: addressing blindspots in Iraq. Their conversation looks at the blindspots and the blunders, the road travelled thus far and what America needs to do on the road ahead to extricate itself from Iraq.
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Mar 25, 2021 • 28min
Stepping Stones to a Secure Middle East
Arab Digest Editor William Law in conversation with Sanam Vakil deputy director of the MENA Programme at London's Chatham House. Sanam’s research focuses on Gulf geopolitics, security issues and future trends in Iran’s domestic and foreign policy. AD got an early look at a paper she and her Chatham House colleague Neil Quilliam are publishing in mid-April that examines pathways to de-escalating conflict, building trust and moving to regional security in the Middle East.
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Mar 19, 2021 • 31min
@SALHACHIMI busts loose!
William Law, the Arab Digest editor is in conversation with Sami Hamdi, editor in chief of The International Interest. And their conversation is all about Sami's tweets. He is an incisive MENA twitterati with thoughts and opinions that are sometimes controversial but never dull. So rather than limiting @SALHACHIMI to 280 characters AD decided to let him rip.
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Mar 12, 2021 • 27min
The Gulf to America: we don't need you like we used to need you
Arab Digest editor William Law talks with Giorgio Cafiero. Giorgio is the founder and CEO of Gulf State Analytics, based in Washington. Their conversation focusses on how internal and external pressures are shaping the Gulf states and driving forward fresh regional initiatives that signal the era of America as the Gulf's big brother is well and truly over.
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Mar 5, 2021 • 25min
Fight Island
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with investigative sports journalist Karim Zidan. Their conversation focusses on Abu Dhabi's Fight Island where the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC, has landed. Karim looks at how a sport that mixes martial arts with boxing and features men and women fighters is a fit for a conservative Gulf emirate.
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Feb 26, 2021 • 28min
UAE foreign policy: time to hit the reset button
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Samuel Ramani, a non-resident fellow at Gulf International Forum and a doctoral candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Their conversation focusses on the United Arab Emirates and the challenges the country's rulers face as Joe Biden settles into the White House with new agendas on Iran, human rights in the Middle East and relations with America's Gulf allies.
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Feb 19, 2021 • 31min
Biden brings US diplomacy back to the Middle East
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Jon B Alterman director of the Middle East Program and senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. With Joe Biden in the White House American diplomacy is back in fashion but is diplomacy enough to solve the MENA region's myriad challenges?
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Feb 12, 2021 • 33min
Hey Europe! The Maghreb Matters
Arab Digest editor William Law, in conversation with Francis Ghilès, an associate senior researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). A former North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, he is a specialist on security, energy, and political trends in North Africa and the Western Mediterranean.
Francis Ghilès argues that after exploiting the Maghreb in colonial times and largely ignoring it since, Europe now is in urgent need of strategies that treat the region as an equal partner with shared concerns.
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