This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a columnist for The National, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. Together, they discuss popular mobilization across the Middle East since October 7th and what it indicates about regional politics. Then, Jon continues ... 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
Apr 2024
Rethinking Nasser: A New Look at One of the Arab World's Most Polarizing Figures — With Alex Rowell and Joshua Martin
For Alex Rowell, the need to reassess the legacy of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser has only increased in the decades since the death of the hugely influential figure, and especially recently.
“If you just take a moment to look at the Arab Spring and the countries in ... Show More
36m 43s
Oct 2024
Khaled Beydoun: The US Law Professor taking on Western media on Gaza
Meet the American law professor who’s visa was in question earlier this week after speaking at a Mosque in Sydney. Khaled Beydoun, who is of Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian heritage, has a staggering 2.5 million Instagram followers and has become a major source of trusted ne ... Show More
35m 36s
Jan 2025
39. The World is Syrianised with Yassin al-Haj Saleh
The Syrian writer and political theorist, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, has lived a remarkable life. As a student activist affiliated with one of Syria's communist parties, Yassin spent 16 years in Hafez al Assad's prisons. Then, shortly after the revolution of 2011, Yassin's wife, Samira ... Show More
43m 6s