This week on Babel, Jon talks with Ghassan Salamé, a Paris-based academic and former UN mediator with over three decades of experience moving between academia and public policy. They talk about how he started his UN career, the role and limitations of the United Nations as a conflict mediator, and how his experiences as a practitioner inform the way that he ... Show More
May 2025
Babel Special: Jon Alterman's Next Chapter
This week on a special edition of Babel, Will Todman speaks with Jon Alterman, the creator of Babel and the show’s host since it began in 2019. They discuss Jon’s reflections on 22 years directing the CSIS Middle East Program, his analysis of how the Middle East policy ecosystem ... Show More
34m 59s
May 2025
Mohanad Hage Ali: Hezbollah and the Captagon Trade
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mohanad's latest paper for Carnegie investigates the rise of a new form of drug smuggling in Lebanon. Together, they discuss Hezbollah’s i ... Show More
50m 16s
May 2025
Analysis: Will Trump’s Houthi Deal Stick?
On Tuesday, May 6, President Trump declared that the United States would immediately halt its bombing of Houthi targets, bringing an end to months of intensified U.S. strikes across Yemen. The president linked the policy reversal to what he described as the Iran-backed Houthis’ c ... Show More
6m 13s
Jan 2022
How To Fix The Foreign Office
<p>Matt Chorley speaks to former Ambassador to the US Kim Darroch, Times Diplomatic Editor Roger Boyes, and former senior civil servants Jill Rutter and Simon Fraser about the issues facing the Foreign Office, and what it can do to get back on top. </p><br><p>PLUS</p><b ... Show More
43m 5s
Jul 2025
Three Experts on Trump’s Foreign Policy
Today on the show, in a special edition of GPS from the Aspen Ideas Festival, Fareed speaks with two former national security advisers, John Bolton and Susan Rice, and former CIA Director/US Army retired Gen. David Petraeus about the Trump administration’s foreign policy, includi ... Show More
41m 10s
Oct 2024
Reframing Global Narratives with Salem Barahmeh
Today, we are honored to have Salem Barahmeh, a dynamic figure whose life journey spans from the heart of Palestine to the global stage. Growing up between Jerusalem and Jericho during the first and second Intifadas, Salem's early life was marked by the harsh realities of aparthe ... Show More
1s
Dec 2023
How to Reveal the Many Sides of Elon Musk: The Art of the Interview
Leaders are grappling with a critical moment, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, a U.S. presidential election and disruptive changes from artificial intelligence. That was the theme throughout the DealBook Summit, which featured conversations with heads of state, chief exe ... Show More
28m 40s
Mar 2023
Gary Younge Interview: Mandela, Trump, Obama and Black Lives Matter
Hello! This week Ed and Geoff sat down with writer, journalist and now Professor of Sociology, Gary Younge. Gary talks about his new book ‘Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter’, and how his upbringing in a new town - Stevenage - led to a life te ... Show More
46m 45s