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CONFLICTED: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Message Heard
An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.
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- 2 weeks ago58 min
Taiz: The Yemeni City That Refuses to Surrender
We welcome back friend of the show Baraa Shiban, who was recently on the front lines in Yemen. The Houthis have surrounded Taiz once again. Can the city that has defied Yemen's tyrants for generations hold out against another devastating siege? For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Baraa and Thomas discuss: Baraa's eyewitness journey into besieged Taiz along its treacherous mountain supply route. Life under siege: ruined streets, sniper fire, shelling and hospitals running short of supplies. Displaced families, makeshift schools and the children dreaming of justice. Taiz's defiant celebration of Yemen's 1962 republican revolution. From Rasulid capital to republican stronghold: Taiz's turbulent history. Taiz's political traditions: Nasserists, Socialists, Islamists and resistance to the Imamate. Outgunned defenders confronting Houthi artillery, drones and Iranian support. The fall of Al-Turbah and the battle for Mocha, Bab al-Mandab and Taiz's supply routes. The Saudi-backed counteroffensive and whether Taiz can survive without outside help. Find Baraa on X: https://x.com/BShtwtr Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 14m
We’re Addicted to Security, and It’s Destroying Us
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Ruben Andersson, professor of social anthropology at Oxford University's Department of International Development, discusses his new book Age of Security: The Rise of a Global Obsession. For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Ruben and Thomas explore: How security replaced politics Why failed security breeds more security The border crackdown that fuels illegal migration How neoliberalism hollowed out social order Sweden’s slide into gang violence When Big Tech became Big Security China and the rise of the Paranopticon How surveillance blurred civilian and military life Why Covid made us surrender freedom so easily Can we escape the politics of fear? Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 23m
Adrian Wooldridge: Can Liberalism Save Itself?
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, journalist Adrian Wooldridge discusses his latest book Centrists of the World Unite: The Lost Genius of Liberalism. For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Adrian and Thomas explore: Why liberalism is in crisis — and whether it can reinvent itself Modernity, permanent change and the birth of the liberal world Erasmus, tolerance and the case for a “chastened liberalism” Hobbes, individualism and whether liberalism misunderstands human nature John Stuart Mill, moral formation and the need for cultural elites Power, authority and how liberal distrust became a “democracy of disdain” Meritocracy, elite failure and the rise of the examination class Identity politics, minority rights and the limits of anti-majoritarian liberalism America, China and the unraveling of the liberal international order Can liberalism recover its moral foundations without Christianity? Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago53 min
The Real Geopolitics of Sudan’s Civil War
Sudan’s civil war has become a regional proxy struggle, with the UAE, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and other powers backing rival armed camps as the country fragments under the pressure of war. But while the RSF’s foreign support has drawn intense scrutiny, the forces sustaining Sudan’s army — from Islamist networks to drones, money and weapons supplied from abroad — have received far less attention. For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Aimen and Thomas discuss: Why Sudan has become everyone’s proxy war The UAE, the RSF — and the case against the usual narrative Who is really backing Burhan’s army? How the Muslim Brotherhood returned through Sudan’s war Iran, Turkey and the drone war changing the battlefield The hidden regional contest between Egypt and Ethiopia Did Sudan’s army use chemical weapons? Can the outside powers stop the war they helped sustain? Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Oct 2, 202657 min
The Middle East Braces for Escalation
The war is widening, diplomacy has stalled, and the Middle East is once again sliding towards escalation as the relationship between Israel and the Gulf states grows closer while pressure on Iran is mounting at sea, in the air, and across its network of regional allies. For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Aimen and Thomas discuss: The failure of the latest US-Iran diplomacy at the UN and the growing risk of renewed escalation. Israeli claims of renewed Iranian nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain and the wider nuclear question. The secret Abu Dhabi meeting and the emerging Saudi-UAE-Israeli security alignment. The war in Yemen, the Houthi advance, and Saudi plans for a major counter-offensive. Pakistan’s growing military role in Saudi Arabia and the significance of the Mecca Pact. The widening regional front: Somaliland, al-Shabaab, Eritrea, Europe, and security around the Bab al-Mandab. Iraq after the US troop withdrawal and the future of Iran-backed militias across the region. The Strait of Hormuz, pressure on Iran’s economy and aviation, and the attempted FlyDubai terrorist attack. Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 29, 20261h 4m
Carlos the Jackal: The World’s First Super-Terrorist
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joby Warrick tells Thomas all about his latest book The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-Terrorist. For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Joby explains: Carlos the Jackal: From Venezuelan Marxist to Global Terror Icon Wadi Haddad, the KGB and the Birth of International Terrorism Dawson’s Field and the Rise of Made-for-TV Terror How the Media Created the Myth of “Carlos the Jackal” OPEC 1975: Gaddafi, Ransom Millions and Carlos’s Biggest Coup Carlos Inc: How Dictators Turned Terrorism Into a Hired Service From Carlos to Bin Laden: The Shift From Marxism to Jihadism Joby Warrick Meets Carlos: Unrepentant After 30 Years in Prison Find Joby on X: https://x.com/JobyWarrick Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 24, 20261h 9m
The Houthis Are Winning — Here’s Why
Aimen's away this week. But not to worry! Sitting in his seat is Mohammed al-Basha: a Yemeni-American analyst with over twenty years of experience. Basha is the perfect person to help us understand better the larger forces at work in the Yemen Civil War — with consequences for the entire world. For world-class Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Basha and Thomas discuss: How the Houthis Smashed Yemen’s Western Front in Just Seven Days Inside the Houthi Machine: From Mountain Rebels to a Revolutionary State Abdul-Malik al-Houthi: The Hidden Leader His Followers Treat Like a Sacred Authority How Gaza Supercharged Houthi Recruitment, Weapons and Global Ambition Why Yemen’s Anti-Houthi Forces Keep Falling Apart Tareq Saleh: The Warlord Who Embodies Yemen’s “Game of Thrones” Saleh Co-Opted the Tribes — the Houthis Are Trying to Crush Them Could the Houthis Take All of Yemen — and Would Yemen Survive It? Find Basha on X: https://x.com/BashaReport And on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bashareport Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Sep 22, 20261h 24m
1453: The Catastrophe That Ended Rome
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, historian Anthony Kaldellis of the University of Chicago discusses his new book 1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople. For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Anthony explains: Why the ‘Byzantines’ were really Romans The Roman state’s extraordinary longevity Constantinople’s strategic importance The rise of the Ottoman state Ottoman slavery, the devşirme, and the janissaries Romans, Italians and Turks living side by side Venice and Genoa’s role in the East Ottoman cannon and the myth of Orban Why the siege was not inevitable The enslavement and dispersal of the Romans How ‘Byzantium’ was reinvented after its fall Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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About CONFLICTED
An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.
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