CONFLICTED

53:21

The Real Geopolitics of Sudan’s Civil War

CONFLICTED ·

2026/10/06

Sudan’s civil war has become a regional proxy struggle, with the UAE, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and other powers backing rival armed camps as the country fragments under the pressure of war. But while the RSF’s foreign support has drawn intense scrutiny, the forces sustaining Sudan’s army — from Islamist networks to drones, money and weapons supplied from abroad — have received far less attention.For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here:

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57:26

The Middle East Braces for Escalation

CONFLICTED ·

2026/10/02

The war is widening, diplomacy has stalled, and the Middle East is once again sliding towards escalation as the relationship between Israel and the Gulf states grows closer while pressure on Iran is mounting at sea, in the air, and across its network of regional allies.For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Aimen and Thomas discuss: The failure of the latest US-Iran

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64:07

Carlos the Jackal: The World’s First Super-Terrorist

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/29

In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joby Warrick tells Thomas all about his latest book The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-Terrorist.For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠⁠ Joby explains: Carlos the Jackal: From Venezuelan Marxist to Global Terror Icon Wadi Haddad, the KGB and the Birth of International Terrorism Dawson’s Field

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69:59

The Houthis Are Winning — Here’s Why

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/24

Aimen's away this week. But not to worry! Sitting in his seat is Mohammed al-Basha: a Yemeni-American analyst with over twenty years of experience. Basha is the perfect person to help us understand better the larger forces at work in the Yemen Civil War — with consequences for the entire world.For world-class Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Basha and Thomas discuss: How the Houthis

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84:01

1453: The Catastrophe That Ended Rome

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/22

In this latest Conflicted Conversation, historian Anthony Kaldellis of the University of Chicago discusses his new book 1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople.For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠ Anthony explains: Why the ‘Byzantines’ were really Romans The Roman state’s extraordinary longevity Constantinople’s strategic importance The rise of the Ottoman state Ottoman slavery,

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60:27

Globalisation Made Global Jihad Possible

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/17

In this week’s Conflicted Conversation, UCL associate professor Philip Cunliffe makes a provocative case: far from being polar opposites, global Islamism and American unipolarity were born of the same globalised order. But what happens when that order starts to fall apart? And is today’s rising New Left inadvertently fighting to save the liberal-imperial system it says it wants to destroy?For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here:

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63:16

Saudi Arabia’s Yemen Disaster

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/16

Every region-watcher was stunned over past week as the anti-Houthi forces in Yemen suffered an extremely brutal reversal—with global consequences. Aimen lifts up the curtain of inter-Gulf politics to help Thomas understand better what went wrong, and why Saudi Arabia's confused foreign policy may deserve the lion's share of the blame.For mind-expanding Q&A's with Aimen, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Aimen

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66:22

Re-Interrogating 9/11: A 25th Anniversary Debate

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/11

To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Aimen and Thomas take a deeper, wider look at the historical, ideological, and geopolitical context on either side of that momentous world-changing event.Join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Aimen and Thomas discuss: Was 9/11 an ending as well as a beginning? The myth of the peaceful 1990s America inherited a geopolitical mess after the USSR's

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94:00

The End of the Nation State?

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/09

Where did the nation-state come from—and what happens if the conditions that made it powerful are now disappearing?Thomas discusses these questions and much more in this wide-ranging Conflicted Conversation with award-winning novelist and essayist Rana Dasgupta, whose new book After Nations: The Making and Unmaking of a World Order sets out to explain where our world order came from and where it could be going. Rana explains: The origins of the modern nation-state and the decline of universal

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73:18

The Battle for Taiwan

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/03

In this Conflicted Conversation, journalist Chris Horton talks about his new book Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and Its Struggle for Survival.Chris explains: Why China wants Taiwan and why the island is vital to control of the western Pacific. Taiwan’s strategic position in the First Island Chain between China, Japan and the Philippines. How a Chinese invasion, blockade or maritime quarantine of Taiwan could unfold. Why a war over Taiwan could devastate global trade and the world

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57:51

Trump's Strangulation Strategy

CONFLICTED ·

2026/09/01

Aimen's prediction on 4 August came true, and in the intervening weeks the United States have ramped up the economic pressure on the Iranian regime. The question is: how with the IRGC react? The war re-escalated over the weekend, and as the Iranian people began to make their feelings felt, all indications are that peace is farther away than ever. Aimen and Thomas discuss: Operation Economic Outcast: US sanctions and regional trade restrictions tighten Iran’s economic isolation. Strait of

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71:36

Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East...

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/25

In this Conflicted Conversation, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the show, this time to talk about his new book The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East.Simon explains: How Britain and France tried — and often failed — to shape the post-Ottoman Middle East Why Sykes–Picot is a misleading shorthand for the region’s modern borders How Atatürk, Nasser and other Middle Eastern leaders remade the region through their own choices The violent shift from Ottoman pluralism to

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60:47

The Rise of the Offshore World

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/20

In this Conflicted Conversation, Ian Kumekawa (a fellow of Harvard University and a lecturer at MIT) talks about his book Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Ship.Ian explains: The offshore global economy: where loopholes, ships and responsibility slip beyond ordinary jurisdiction From Little Toot to rusting barges: how industrial capitalism lost its confident postwar world Sweden’s socialist shipyards, private tax dodges, and the strange birth of the Vessel

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56:20

The Battle for Yemen Begins Again

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/18

Yemeni researcher and political analyst Baraa Shiban (and dear friend of the show) is back not only to give us an update on Yemen now that the civil war (and Saudi Arabia’s role in it) are heating up again, but also to give Thomas a much-deserved dressing down for not going far enough to hold Jeremy Hunt to account for his role in the Stockholm Agreement.Baraa explains: The collapse of the 2022 Yemen truce and renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping The Yemen battlefield

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79:15

Libya: The Return of the Arab Strongman?

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/13

Turning their attention away from Iran and toward another Middle Eastern hotspot, Aimen and Thomas explain the course of events in Libya since the Arab Spring. Seismic political events are underway in that sad country, which has been riven by civil war and political division for over fifteen years.They discuss: The difference between East and West Libya First Libyan Civil War: state collapse and militia fragmentation NATO intervention and Western short-termism Khalifa Haftar: from

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79:07

The Crusades: What Was Really Going On?

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/11

In this Conflicted Conversation, Nicholas Morton discusses his new book The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East.Associate Professor in History at Nottingham Trent University, Nicholas reframes the Crusades as one part of a much larger transformation of the medieval Middle East, driven above all by Seljuk-Turkmen expansion, Byzantine contraction, Fatimid decline and the fragmentation of political power. Nicholas explains: The Seljuk-Turkmen transformation of the

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66:22

Slavery and Islam: The Whole Story

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/06

In this Conflicted Conversation, Justin Marozzi discusses his new book Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World. Justin traces the long, varied history of slavery in the Islamic world, arguing that slavery could sometimes offer remarkable paths to freedom and power, but that these exceptions never erased the violence of capture, ownership and exploitation—or the uneasy entanglement of abolition with Western imperialism. Justin explains: The scale

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49:51

Will America Cut and Run?

CONFLICTED ·

2026/08/04

Donald Trump has once again stepped back from a threatened major attack on Iran. So has America lost the Iran War? Or is Trump’s apparent hesitation part of a longer strategy to exhaust the Iranian regime?Aimen and Thomas discuss: Whether Iran has outmanoeuvred Trump despite America’s overwhelming military superiority Aimen’s three possible futures for the war: US withdrawal, prolonged attrition or extreme escalation Why an American retreat could unleash an even more destructive regional

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83:37

U Thant: The Diplomat Who Defined the 1960s

CONFLICTED ·

2026/07/30

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thant Myint-U talks about his new book Peacemaker: U Thant, the United Nations and the Untold Story of the 1960s. It tells the story of his grandfather U Thant, the Burmese schoolteacher turned UN Secretary-General who guided the United Nations through some of the most dangerous crises of the 1960s, yet is now woefully forgotten or badly misremembered.Thant explains: U Thant’s forgotten role as UN Secretary-General during the great crises of the 1960s His

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64:21

Wassim Nasr: My Inside Account of Macron’s Syria Visit

CONFLICTED ·

2026/07/28

French war reporter and global jihadism expert Wassim Nasr was part of the presidential press party during Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Damascus. He shares his first-hand account not only of what happened between Macron and Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa during the visit, but also what he discovered afterwards, during a trip to Aleppo and to the northern town of Kobane.Wassim and Thomas discuss: What it was like inside Macron’s presidential delegation to Syria France–Syria relations

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