A Mezze: Set in Stone

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

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

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

Tunisia was supposed to be the success story of the Arab Spring — the only democracy to last in the decade since revolutions swept the region.Recently, after mass protests, President Kais Saied appears to be taking the reins of power for himself.What happened? We hear from Mr. Sa ... Show More

Zack, Jenn, and Jen Kirby discuss the political crisis gripping Tunisia following the president’s decision to fire the prime minister and suspend parliament. Tunisia was the big “success story” of the Arab Spring: the one country whose revolution produced a real, albeit rocky, tr ... Show More

Tunisian President Kais Saied has drafted a new constitution for Tunisia that gives him new sweeping powers, including authority over the judiciary and immunity for life from prosecution. Tunisia was a beacon of hope for democracy after the Arab Spring. The country rid itself of ... Show More

Tunisia has a new prime minister, the first woman in the Arab world to hold the job. She’s replacing the prime minister that President Kais Saied sacked in July, when he suspended parliament. Many Tunisians, fed up with political parties and an economic crisis, thought that was t ... Show More

Tunisia in North Africa was the birthplace of the Arab Spring, a wave of popular uprisings that shook or toppled authoritarian regimes in the region. But, after a decade of fragile democracy, in 2019 a new strongman, President Kais Saied, swept to power. He directed his campaign ... Show More

Proud to be Tunisian. 

Abdelwahed Mokni (University of Sfax) gives the first talk in Panel 2: The Actors of the Revolution, part of The Tunisian Revolution: Origins, Course and Aftermath