logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2020
22m 3s

Syria’s condition: Bashar al-Assad

The Economist
About this episode
The country’s dictator has spent nearly half his time in power waging war on his own people. His patchwork support network is fading, but he will not go easily. America’s racial unrest has put reparations back in the national conversation—but how best to pay slaves’ descendants, and how much? And the antiquated etiquette lessons required of South Asia’s civil servants. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
Effective non-altruism: Elon Musk’s foundation
The world’s richest person does not say much nice about philanthropy, and his foundation does not say much about itself. Our correspondent digs deeper. The next stop for our midterm-elections series is Kansas, where a Republican-seeming Democrat has an unlikely shot at the Senate ... Show More
23m 2s
Oct 28
Bye bye Bibi? Israel’s election results
Binyamin Netanyahu has underperformed but so has his main opponent, Gadi Eisenkot. Who will form a government? We decipher what the messy results mean for Israel. Our American-midterms series heads south to Georgia. And how film critics and audiences have agreed to disagree.Guest ... Show More
21m 19s
Oct 27
Act of Claude: Anthropic’s IPO bid
It would be the first public listing from a frontier-AI firm—and perhaps the largest IPO of all time. We comb through the filing to understand how the company is thinking about itself and its industry. Our American-midterms series continues in the battleground state of Alaska. An ... Show More
23m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2020
Syria’s condition: Bashar al-Assad
The country’s dictator has spent nearly half his time in power waging war on his own people. His patchwork support network is fading, but he will not go easily. America’s racial unrest has put reparations back in the national conversation—but how best to pay slaves’ descendants, ... Show More
22m 3s
Feb 2022
Normalizing A Brutal Dictator
As Syrians continue to suffer under Bashir al-Asaad, Christiane asks a Syrian journalist and a former US ambassador why world leaders are welcoming him back into the fold … The story behind the emotional reunion of a US Army vet who refused to leave his Afghan counterpart behind ... Show More
56m 56s
Aug 2025
Rule and divide: opposition grows in Syria
Less than nine months after Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled, the honeymoon is over. How is the new regime responding to rising dissent? Introducing Britain’s revolutionary retirees: why pensioners increasingly dominate political protest. And celebrating the life of o ... Show More
23m 38s
Jun 2022
The wrath of Khan: Pakistan’s turbulent spring
Pakistan’s government faces an unpleasant choice between doing what’s popular and what is economically necessary, as <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/06/02/imran-khan-is-jeopardising-pakistans-attempts-to-fix-its-economy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Imra ... Show More
20m 57s
Sep 2023
Paranoia politics: a Tunisian lesson in demagoguery
<p>The president is using racist hate-mongering as both a rallying tool and a distraction mechanism. It is the oldest trick in the <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/08/31/how-cynical-leaders-are-whipping-up-nationalism-to-win-and-abuse-power?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_m ... Show More
25m 41s
Nov 2024
A losing battle: Sudan’s elusive peace deal
<p>As <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/11/21/a-genocidal-militias-quest-for-legitimacy?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" ... Show More
24m 6s
Oct 2021
How to lose friends and alienate people: Ethiopia’s civil war
<p>Abiy Ahmed is sworn in again as prime minister, even as continuing strife increases the country’s isolation. Our correspondent witnesses the gruesome aftermath of a telling battle. China once encouraged, even forced abortions. Now, as it frets about declining birth rates, it’s ... Show More
20 m
Dec 2024
Peace from pieces: Syria after Assad
<p>President Bashar al-Assad has been run out, his regime in tatters. As Syrians awaken to a new era, how can they put their broken country <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/12/08/who-will-rule-syria-now-the-assad-regime-has-been-toppled?utm_campaign= ... Show More
26m 21s
Mar 2022
Bear trapped: the sanctions on Russia
<p>The West’s co-ordinated financial weaponry is starting to bite, opening a <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/a-new-age-of-economic-conflict/21807968?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_show ... Show More
25m 36s