Arab Digest podcasts

Épisodes

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  Jordan’s Dilemma 16.09.2026 28min

  The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is caught in a vice: US bases there are the target of Iranian missiles and influential Jordanians are calling for the removal of the bases but the US presence is part of the 1994 peace deal with Israel which is now threatening to drive Palestinians out of the West Bank and into the kingdom. Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the journalist Nour Halabi to discuss Jordan’s dilemma. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Saudi Arabia and the Mecca Pact 09.09.2026 32min

  Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Brooking Institution’s Aslı Aydıntaşbaş as his guest this week. Their conversation focusses on the Mecca Pact, the defence deal signed by the Saudis, Pakistan and Türkiye. The pact is designed to provide security against threats from both Iran and Israel in a neighbourhood where increasingly war, rather than diplomacy, is the weapon of choice. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  The Gulf: sitting on a security fault line 02.09.2026 28min

  Arab Digest editor William Law kicks off season 8 of the Arab Digest podcast with the Gulf analyst and author Kristian Coates Ulrichsen. As the war with Iran settles into no war no peace the Gulf states find themselves caught in an insecure landscape facing both Iran and Israel and unsure what President Trump will say or do from one day to the next. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #1 A template for troubled times 26.08.2026 29min

  Coming in at number 1 in our top five is the 6 May 2026 podcast with the North Africa analyst and ECFR visiting fellow Tarek Megerisi. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #2 The Gulf and three mad countries 19.08.2026 34min

  Coming in at number 2 in our top five is the 14 April 2026 podcast with the Gulf security and defence analyst Andreas Krieg. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #3 How hard has the war hit GCC economies? 12.08.2026 28min

  Coming in at number 3 in our top five is the 19 May 2026 podcast with the Gulf banking and finance analyst Andrew Cunningham. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #4 Football, Sudan and Sheikh Mansour 05.08.2026 29min

  Coming in at number 4 in our top five is the 15 May 2026 podcast with Nick McGeehan, the director and co-founder of the non-profit organisation FairSquare which focuses on sport to promote systemic change and stop human rights abuses. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Arab Digest top five podcast countdown: #5 Hezbollah and the war in Lebanon 04.08.2026 31min

  Today we launch our top five podcast countdown. Coming in at number 5 is our 29 April 2026 podcast with the Levant expert Dr Lina Khatib. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  No war, no peace 22.07.2026 28min

  Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Gulf security analyst Andreas Krieg back to the podcast to discuss the ongoing escalation of the Iran-US war. Recent events have further underscored the vulnerability of the Gulf states as both sides seek to inflict damage on the other. But as he points out Iran’s pain threshold is much higher than either the Gulf states or the US. With diplomacy taking a back seat the likely scenario is no all out war but equally no peace with damaging consequences that go well beyond the region. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  The GCC, Iran and Trump's busted flush 16.07.2026 35min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Gulf analyst Giorgio Cafiero. Donald Trump blundered into the Iran war. He wants to bully and bluff his way out but Iran is holding firm. This leaves the Gulf states in an increasingly vulnerable and dangerous predicament caught on the frontlines of a war they were not consulted about and never wanted. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Ever Land: a brilliant debut novel 07.07.2026 32min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the writer Amy Abdelnoor. Ever Land, her debut novel, explores the Palestinian resistance against Israel's brutal colonisation through the eyes of two young women. One is a murdered Palestinian, the other a Jewish teenager from North London who with her family emigrates to Israel. The seamless interweaving of their stories creates a stunning and disturbing narrative. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Iran and a complicated jigsaw puzzle 01.07.2026 25min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Iran expert Dr Sanam Vakil. Their conversation focuses on the challenges facing any sort of a peace deal that emerges from the current talks. There are many pieces to the puzzle and a long and challenging road to finding a solution that works for the parties concerned. And then there is the missing piece to this complex puzzle: Palestine. Without a fair solution to the Palestinian struggle the region will remain a dangerous tinderbox. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Uncertain times in Syria 25.06.2026 33min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Syrian analyst and pollster Malik al-Abdeh. With reconstruction of a war ravaged country still not effectively under way Syria's president Ahmed al-Sharaa faces multiple challenges both from within the country and from external players including Iran which my guest argues poses an even greater threat than Israel. He also urges the government to build a narrative that tells the Syrian people positive change is on the way. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Iraq: a new PM and old dilemmas 17.06.2026 26min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Iraq expert Renad Mansour. With a new prime minister in place Iraq still faces severe challenges both domestically and regionally. A country that had successfully avoided being pulled into Israel's war against Palestine has since the February 28 attack by the US and Israel been dragged into a conflict that remains unresolved and threatens its hard won stability. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Algeria: economic opportunity knocks 10.06.2026 31min

  With the Ukraine war and the conflict in the Gulf, Algeria finds itself well placed to benefit economically. So Arab Digest editor William Law asked the North Africa and Western Mediterranean energy and security analyst Francis Ghilès to talk about how Algeria can exploit the opportunities and whether a country facing structural economic challenges can get past those challenges to realise the windfalls that wars in Europe and the Middle East are creating. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  The war that Trump has lost 03.06.2026 35min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Quincy Institute's Annelle Sheline. Their conversation explores the damage that the Iran war is doing to Donald Trump's MAGA base and what the casual and contemptuous manner in which he treats his Gulf allies will mean for present and future relations with the GCC as Netanyahu strives to further exploit the president's guileless acceptance that Israel with America's backing is winning wars that are in fact already lost. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  The encirclement of Sisi 27.05.2026 27min

  William Law, editor of the Arab Digest newsletter, welcomes the Egyptian political and economic analyst Maged Mandour on to this week's podcast. Their conversation focusses on the trap that Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has built for himself and his country. With America, the UAE and Israel determined to reshape the Arab world to fit their own purposes Sisi is caught in a debt trap with the Emiratis being his biggest financial backer while the Israelis with the support of Donald Trump push forward to become the Middle East's new hegemon. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  How hard has the war hit GCC economies? 20.05.2026 28min

  Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Gulf banking and finance analyst Andrew Cunningham onto the podcast to talk about the extent to which the Iran war is impacting the economies of the GCC states. They discuss the metrics used to measure economic damage and explore just how quickly Gulf economies can rebound once the war has ended. Given that the regime in Tehran has survived and will continue, both the West and the GCC will need to find what Andrew Cunningham calls a grand bargain with Iran. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  Football, Sudan and Sheikh Mansour 15.05.2026 29min

  Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week on the podcast is the analyst and rights expert Nick McGeehan. The subject is football and how the owner of Manchester City FC is the subject of a complaint about his relationship with the Rapid Support Forces conducting a genocidal campaign as the Sudan civil war rages. Their conversation also explores FIFA's response to issues raised by the Palestinian Football Association about racism and matches being played in illegal West Bank settlements. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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  A template for troubled times 06.05.2026 29min

  Arab Digest editor William Law invites the North Africa specialist Tarek Megerisi onto this week’s podcast. The starting point for their conversation is Tarek's take on the EU's "Pact for the Mediterranean" and how a fresh approach to North Africa could shape positive outcomes in a region urgently in need of them. They explore the threat that Israel and Trump's America pose regionally as well as globally and what Europe could do to ease that threat. Tarek concludes with his assessment of the current situation in Libya. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.