- mehrmals pro WocheErscheinungsrhythmus
- 1 h 06typische Länge
- 15. Okt.letzte Folge
Folgenzu den neuesten
Iran: The Long Road to War
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Ali Ansari, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of St Andrews. Prof. Ansari discusses: • The depth and antiquity of Iranian culture • His childhood experiences inside
Who is Iran's New Supreme Leader and What Does He Believe?
Iran has chosen its new Supreme Leader: Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the recently assassinated Ayatollah Khamenei. Who is he? What does he believe? And most importantly, is his coming to power the fulfilment of ancient prophecy? Aimen and Thoma
The Iran War: British Uncertainty vs. French Resolve
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to two friends of the show about how Europe is responding to the war with Iran. In the first half, the Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP — former chair of the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee and form
The Death of Ayatollah Khamenei & The Future of Iran
With missiles streaking across Middle Eastern skies and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader sending shockwaves through the region, Aimen joins Thomas from a Dubai under fire to unpack a historic turning point. They discuss: • Iran’s
🚨 Emergency Episode: The Iran War Has Begun 🚨
In this very special Emergency Episode, Aimen and Thomas discuss the Iran War, which began this morning with wide-ranging air strikes carried out by Israel and the United States against IRGC and Iranian regime targets, and which almost imme
African Slavery: The Untold Story
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to former BBC journalist Martin Plaut about his new book Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement (https://amzn.eu/d/0fZ6covW), which tells the whole story of African slaver
Conflicted Revisited: Spying for Saudi
As Saudi Arabia celebrates Founding Day, and as the murky underbelly of GCC geopolitics is on everyone's minds, we're re-releasing this classic Conflicted episode from early 2022. Thomas & Aimen discuss: • The deep history of Arabia • The f
The People Who Became Arabs
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to historian Yossef Rapoport about his new book Becoming Arab (https://amzn.eu/d/02Jg6F9Q), and the revolutionary argument at its heart: that Arab identity in Egypt and the Levant was not the r
Trump, Netanyahu, and the Iran Endgame
With war clouds gathering once again over the Middle East, Aimen takes us behind the scenes of the indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. He narrates the shifting Iranian position, the will-he-or-won’t-he calculus surrounding Dona
How the US is Abandoning its Afghan Allies
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to U.S. Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, founder of AfghanEvac, about the fate of Afghans who worked alongside American forces during the U.S. occupation, and how the Trump administration’s immigra
The CIA’s Zero Units in Afghanistan
After a tragic shooting in Washington, D.C., Thomas and Aimen trace the story back to Afghanistan and to the CIA-backed Zero Units that carried out some of the coalition’s most clandestine kill-or-capture missions. They discuss: • The Novem
Why China’s Rise Cannot Be Stopped
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to veteran Singaporean diplomat Prof. Kishore Mahbubani about his thesis that the 21st century will be remembered as ‘the Asian Century’, and how the West can prepare peacefully and optimistica
Trump vs Iran: The War That Wasn’t
In this semi-emergency episode, Aimen helps Thomas unpack the last eight months of escalating tension and threats between the US and Iran, and explains why it’s now unlikely the American ‘armada’ President Trump sent to the Gulf will be goi
Paul Kenyon: 30 Years Under Fire as a BBC War Reporter
In this episode, Thomas talks to distinguished BBC journalist Paul Kenyon about his new podcast series Two Nottingham Lads. Paul recalls highlights from his remarkable career, which has taken him from Iran to Libya to Ukraine to Stockport —
Mali: When Jihadists Win
As jihadist violence in Mali escalates, Thomas and Aimen trace the history and present-day power of JNIM (‘Support Group for Islam and Muslims’), an Al Qaeda affiliate that has been laying siege to the capital Bamako. Will Mali’s secular st
Syrian Blitzkrieg: How Damascus Crushed the SDF
In this episode, Aaron Zelin returns to Conflicted to unpack the extraordinary collapse of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ position in northeast Syria over the past week — and what the fallout could mean for Syria’s fragile post-Assad order.
Trump vs USAID: The Rise and Fall of America’s Aid Empire
On the first anniversary of the dismantling of USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, Thomas and Aimen trace the history of the organisation and ask whether USAID’s collapse represents a failure of liberal internatio
How Yemen Broke the Saudi-UAE Alliance
In this episode, Yemeni researcher and political analyst Baraa Shiban (a great friend of the show) tells the thrilling behind-the-scenes story of how different visions for the future of Yemen led long-simmering tensions between the UAE and
Crisis in the Gulf: Saudi vs UAE
A rare public rupture has emerged between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Triggered by a dramatic escalation over Yemen in late December 2025, the dispute has exposed deeper ideological and strategic differences between the two G
Re-Thinking Islam’s Global History
Islam is often treated as a civilisation apart — self-contained, resistant to modernity, and fundamentally at odds with the West. In this episode, Thomas speaks to Oxford professor James McDougall about why that framing is misleading, and h
The Crisis in Iran: The History Behind US-Iran Tensions
As mass protests sweep Iran and President Trump declares the U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’, Thomas and Aimen revisit the event that shaped U.S.–Iran relations for the next half-century: the Iran Hostage Crisis. Then, in real time, the convers
Zohran Mamdani and the Ascendancy of Third Worldism
Amid controversy surrounding Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power in New York City, Hussein Mansour tells Thomas all about the history of Third Worldism — where it comes from, what it originally meant, and why the term has resurfaced. Thomas and
2025 Year in Review
As 2025 draws to a close, Thomas and Aimen take an unconventional tour of the Islamic world — looking beyond the usual headlines to the under-the-radar shifts that happened in 2025, with the potential to shape 2026 and beyond. They discuss:
Inside the Trenches of Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is back in the headlines as a peace agreement appears increasingly probably — though with major concessions to Russia. So as a Christmas present to our listeners, we’ve brought this episode from August out from behind the
2025 Conflicted Christmas Special
What is ‘the Christmas story’ really? And how does it change when you tell it from within a different religious tradition? In Conflicted’s first-ever Christmas Special, Thomas and Aimen retell the Nativity as it appears in the Gospels and i
What Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy Means For The World
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with global finance and security analyst Giri Rajendran about the Trump Administration’s newly published National Security Strategy — what it signals, what it omits, and what it suggests about
The 2026 Middle East Forecast
What does the future hold for the Middle East — and the world — in 2026? In this special episode of Conflicted, Thomas instructs Aimen to peer into his crystal ball and offer his forecasts for the year to come. In this episode, Aimen and Th
What the U.S. Gets Wrong About the Muslim Brotherhood
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Lorenzo Vidino (http://@gwupoe), Director of the Programme on Extremism at The George Washington University. What happens when an ideological movement is neither a terrorist organisation n
Saudi Arabia’s New Bargaining Chip
The Middle East is shifting again, and fast. In this wide-ranging overview, Aimen and Thomas break down the hidden forces reshaping the geopolitical chessboard as 2025 draws to a close. In this episode, Aimen and Thomas uncover: • The power
Has the Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrated the UK?
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat (https://x.com/TomTugendhat?s=20) about the Muslim Brotherhood. What happens when a Western democracy encounters an ideological movement it no longer has the
