CONFLICTED

Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East Was Made

Dienstag, 25. August 2026 · 1 h 12

MP3

Shownotes

In this Conflicted Conversation, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the show, this time to talk about his new book The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East (amzn.eu/d/0c0uvXjz).

Simon explains:

• How Britain and France tried — and often failed — to shape the post-Ottoman Middle East

• Why Sykes–Picot is a misleading shorthand for the region’s modern borders

• How Atatürk, Nasser and other Middle Eastern leaders remade the region through their own choices

• The violent shift from Ottoman pluralism to nationalist, more homogeneous states

• Why Nasser’s charisma produced a powerful Arab myth but a disastrous authoritarian model

• Why traditional monarchies in Morocco, Jordan and the Gulf often outlasted revolutionary republics

• How America became the Middle East’s dominant anti-imperial imperial power after Europe’s retreat

• Why militias, parastates and insurgencies make “total victory” in today’s Middle East so elusive

Find Simon on X: x.com/simonmontefiore

Visit Simon’s website: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small .

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