This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Mahsa Alimardani, a scholar at the University of Oxford and a senior researcher with Article19. They talk about the recent protests in Iran and how both protestors and the regime have used social media, the cat and mouse game of online access and censorship in Iran, and what Western social media companies can be doing to b ... Show More
May 22
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 15
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 8
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
Sep 2022
The Killing of Mahsa Amini: Iran's growing protest movement and a challenge to the regime
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini has sparked mass protests across Iran. In at least 86 towns and cities, people - from different classes, backgrounds, and genders - have taken to the streets. Demands for accountability after Mahsa’s brutal death, which occurred while she was ... Show More
24m 4s
Sep 2022
162 Mass Protests, Morality Police, and Iranian Bravery | King Raam
In this episode, I spoke with King Raam about Iran's ongoing anti-government protests in response to the death of a 22 year old Kurdish woman in Iran, Mahsa Amini. I felt the need to cover this as there’s a narrative in the west that women in Iran are not oppressed and that is no ... Show More
45m 29s
Jan 2023
Arrests, Executions and the Iranian Protesters Who Refuse to Give Up
This episode contains descriptions of violence and injury. In September, protests began in Iran over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of the government. The demonstrations have since intensified, as has the government’s response, with thousands arrested and a ... Show More
34m 35s
Dec 2022
Are protests changing Iran?
The anti-government protests sweeping Iran are now in their third month, with no sign of ending, despite a bloody crackdown. Women have been at the forefront of the unrest that began in mid-September following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detai ... Show More
48m 58s
Jan 2023
‘Killing spree’ in Iran as government crushes dissent
Iran has recently executed a British-Iranian national, Alireza Akbari, a former deputy defence minister, on charges of spying for Britain. Akbari’s execution comes as Iranian authorities have crushed anti-government protests and carried out four other executions. Western countrie ... Show More
27m 45s
Sep 2023
U.S.-Iran Exchange Prisoners – A Year Since the Death of Masha Amini Sparked Protests
On Monday, five Americans who were imprisoned in Iran, stepped off a plane in Doha, Qatar. They were freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal between the U.S. and Iran.
Despite the happy news, the Biden administration is facing a lot of criticism for this deal, which also gave I ... Show More
12m 27s