We’re joined by Tony Badran for Episode 11 of The Beirut Banyan. Tony is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and has written extensively on US foreign policy towards Lebanon.
Tony’s take on US policy is a blunt assessment of mistakes he perceives made by the current and previous administrations. His writings have appeared in numer ... Show More
Sep 23
Reestablishing Trust with Fadi Makki (Ep.433)
An episode discussing a personal decision to return to government, walk out after other ministers from the same sect left during cabinet sessions on disarmament, picking up where Fouad Chehab left off and the long-term task of administrative reform, and regaining trust among citi ... Show More
49m 23s
Sep 10
The Right Direction with Ibrahim Mneimneh (Ep.432)
An episode discussing sub-state disarmament, the mood for 'Change' approaching 2026 parliamentary elections, pragmatism vs purity tests on measuring government success, factors due to war vs local agency, positive trends moving forward and how to interpret the moment we're living ... Show More
51m 38s
Nov 2021
Lebanon: Anatomy of a failed state
Lebanon is in economic crisis with shortages of food, medicine and electricity on the ground. Today, how did the country, whose capital was once described as the Paris of the Middle East, get here? And is there hope for the future?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the sup ... Show More
30m 27s
Mar 2021
President Biden, Saudi Arabia and human rights
Tommy and Ben talk about the newly released report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and how President Joe Biden is approaching the US-Saudi relationship, US airstrikes on Syria, how Iran has responded to outreach from the Biden administration, why another French President is goin ... Show More
1h 11m
Nov 2021
CLM S5#11 – Karim Émile Bitar – "Liban : jusqu'où la descente aux enfers ?"
Le Liban est confronté à une crise sans précédent. Secoué en 2019 par des mouvements de contestation, le pays est resté sans gouvernement pendant plus d’un an. La situation financière libanaise, quant à elle, ne cesse de se dégrader depuis l’été 2019 avec, entre autres, une infla ... Show More
25m 53s
Oct 2022
The British PM vs a head of lettuce
Ben and Tommy cover the latest from Ukraine, the ongoing disaster that is the Liz Truss-led Tory government in the UK, how former US military officials are making big money in Saudi Arabia, China’s party congress, the Iran protests, BTS joins the military, Biden’s surprising new ... Show More
1h 9m
May 2021
Talks with Iran and covid in India
Tommy and Ben discuss all the latest news out of Iran and the Iran deal negotiations, reports about mysterious directed energy attacks against Americans, the Biden administration’s North Korea policy, a deadly stampede in Israel, fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikista ... Show More
1h 28m
Aug 2020
After The Blast: How Lebanon's History Led To Disaster
The pictures reverberated around the world: an explosion, caught in real time, on the docks of Beirut. For the people of Lebanon, it was a dangerously familiar time, after many years of living with conflict. Today, The Quicky looks at why this explosion has led the country to t ... Show More
16m 5s
Feb 2024
61. James Rubin: Working for Biden, American intervention, and the fight against Russian disinformation
“You took me to one side and said be very, very careful of these people, these neo-cons. Because they’re going to use this to do all sorts of stuff that you shouldn’t be involved in.”
What are the limits of foreign intervention? Do the American people still want their country to ... Show More
1h 8m
Feb 2024
‘Where globalism goes to die’: inside the US right at CPAC
It’s billed as the most influential gathering of conservatives in the world: CPAC, or the Conservative Political Action Conference. In the past, it’s brought US Republican leaders together with activists on the right. In recent years, though, it’s catered to one particular leader ... Show More
23m 1s
Feb 2024
60. Anthony Scaramucci: What it's like to be Donald Trump's Communications Director
Would a second Trump presidency be far more right wing? What drives the former US president? Is he trying to do a deal with Taylor Swift?
In this week's episode of Leading, Rory and Alastair are joined by Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's former spin doctor, where he answers all these ... Show More
1h 8m