Best Arab Digest Podcasts (2025)

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Sudan and the war the world ignores 30:22

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1h ago30:22

30:22

Arab Digest's William Law launches a new podcast season with the Sudanese political analyst Dallia Abdelmoneim. It's been more than two years since a vicious civil war between two generals erupted, one that has been aided and armed by different international players on both sides. Today Sudan is the world's worst humanitarian disaster and the world…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #1 A good year for MbS 32:56

9d ago32:56

32:56

The Saudi crown prince continued to polish his image while staking his claim to leadership of the Arab and Muslim world but the issue of Palestine remains a significant challenge and a potential stumbling block to the ambitions of Mohammed bin Salman.Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & …

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #2 Syria: caught between Türkiye and Israel 29:50

14d ago29:50

29:50

Both Israel and Türkiye see Syria as a prize to be grasped; for President Erdoğan as a zone of influence and economic opportunity; for the far right extremists in the Netanyahu government as an opportunity to seize territory in pursuing their vision of Greater Israel. First podcast 8 January 2025.Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the c…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #3 Yemen: the Huthis and Al Qaeda 30:46

22d ago30:46

30:46

With the ability to attack maritime shipping in the Red Sea the Huthis threaten not just regional but international security while the Gaza war has given them a huge propaganda victory, one that would be decisively undercut should Palestinian statehood be enabled. No. 3 in our Top Ten with Elisabeth Kendall was first broadcast on 29 January 2025.Si…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #4 Palestine and a new awakening 34:45

29d ago34:45

34:45

In a landscape of genocide and ethnic cleansing a leading Middle East writer and analyst peels away the empty rhetoric to unflinchingly show the catastrophe that Israel has chosen to inflict upon the Palestinian people over decades while finding hope in the generation of young Arabs who have discovered their identity in the ongoing tragedy of Pales…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #5 The Queer Arab Glossary 36:32

1M ago36:32

36:32

A brilliant anthology of images, essays and slang locates and embraces Arab queerness and defines the urgency of resistance to oppression, arbitrary force and to the Gaza genocide.Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.By Arab Digest

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #6 Erdoğan plays a long game 35:44

1M ago35:44

35:44

Just after Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate in June of last year and just before the annual NATO Summit Arab Digest invited a leading Washington-based Middle East and Türkiye analyst onto the podcast to discuss amongst other matters what a Trump presidency would mean for Türkiye and the wider Middle East region.Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.o…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #7 Syria has a new strongman 32:20

2M ago32:20

32:20

Summary: on 8 December last year the regime of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was routed in a lightning offensive that had burst out of the previously besieged rebel enclave of Idlib. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa known then by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani.Sign up NOW at ArabD…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #8 Netanyahu and the war of weaponised narratives 32:59

2M ago32:59

32:59

On 27 September 2024 the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut in an Israeli airstrike. Four days later Arab Digest invited the security and defence specialist Dr Andreas Krieg onto the podcast to discuss the assassination and the broader picture within the context of his study on the weaponisation of narratives.Sign up NOW a…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #9 Lebanon looks forward 29:50

2M ago29:50

29:50

With the appointment of a new president and the arrival of a new prime minister in early 2025 optimism among the Lebanese has grown despite a shaky ceasefire and the ever present threat of IsraelSign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #10 Understanding Iran 28:51

2M ago28:51

28:51

Through July and August we are featuring our all new top ten podcasts countdown. We begin with Sanam Vakil’s Understanding Iran first podcast 8 October 2024 a week after Iran had hit Israel with ballistic missiles. The attack was in retaliation for the Israeli assassinations of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, the IRGC general Abbas Nilforoushan and t…

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The Danger Games in the Middle East 31:35

3M ago31:35

31:35

Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the defence and security analyst Andreas Krieg to the podcast to discuss the latest moves in a dangerous game that Israel and Iran are playing out while Donald Trump dances on his social media stage and Western nations join him in throwing out the rules-based order that with all its flaws provided a modicum o…

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Walking into war eyes wide open 27:54

3M ago27:54

27:54

As the limits of Donald Trump's transactional approach to foreign policy becomes all too dangerously clear Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Iraq expert Renad Mansour on to the podcast. With the old world order evaporating almost overnight state and non-state actors have rushed to fill the vacuum. This week's conversation reveals how in t…

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The Kurds see an opening 30:36

3M ago30:36

30:36

With rapid change sweeping a region still in the throes of wars the Kurdish people spread across four nations see an opportunity to secure if not their dream of a nation then autonomy within national federal structures that would secure their rights and culture as a people. Arab Digest editor William Law invites the Kurdish-American journalist Sirw…

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US and Iran edge closer to a deal 25:55

3M ago25:55

25:55

The Iran expert Sanam Vakil joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss the likelihood of Washington and Tehran striking a new nuclear accord. What sort of a pact will the Ayatollah and the self-proclaimed ‘dealmaker in chief’ arrive at and what will America's Gulf friends, to say nothing of the Israelis make of it? The White House has said it …

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Saudi Arabia and an uncertain oil market 28:38

4M ago28:38

28:38

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the energy analyst and Digest regular contributor Alastair Newton. Their conversation focusses on how Saudi Arabia is seeking to shape oil prices and the market to meet their financial requirements as Saudi Aramco profits dip and the costs for Mohammed bin Salman's multiple giga-projects continue …

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A Gulf bonanza for the 'dealmaker in chief' 36:45

4M ago36:45

36:45

Two top Washington Middle East analysts join Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss President Trump's recent trip to the Gulf. Annelle Sheline and Jon Hoffman reflect on the deals made, Trump's meeting with the former jihadist and now president of Syria Ahmad al-Sharaa and the significance of the president deciding to bypass Israel and Prime Min…

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GHF: aiding and abetting the IDF 26:34

4M ago26:34

26:34

Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by Middle East Eye's Dania Akkad and the focus of their conversation is GHF - the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - which popped up fully formed and already seemingly underway with a plan that closely mirrors Israeli strategy to use humanitarian aid to force Palestinians out of most of the Gaza Strip and into a…

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Libya in a dangerous time 30:55

4M ago30:55

30:55

Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Libya specialist Tarek Megerisi back to the podcast to discuss Libya and the dangerous stalemate it has settled into. Two families preside over an extraordinary level of corruption that further impoverishes the Libyan people. Their criminality is aided and abetted by foreign players who see in the politic…

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Trump's quiet war on Yemen 34:50

5M ago34:50

34:50

The podcast returns after a short break with Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with the Yemen expert Helen Lackner. As the world focusses on Donald Trump's egregious trampling of the rule of law and his destruction of the prevailing world order little notice is given to US strikes on claimed Huthi targets that are occurring on a daily …

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Lebanon looks forward 29:50

6M ago29:50

29:50

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Levant expert Dr Lina Khatib. Their conversation focusses on new hope building in Lebanon after the crushing blow Israel delivered to Hezbollah and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. With a new president and a new prime minister in place hope is running high that the country will find …

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Syria in a dangerous time 33:22

6M ago33:22

33:22

Syria expert Malik al-Abdeh joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss the latest developments in Syria as the country's new leadership struggles with internal sectarian rivalries and pressures from outside players in the neighbourhood including Israel and Türkiye. They explore too the role of Putin and Trump and what will happen as Washington…

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Assad is gone, Captagon hangs on 29:03

6M ago29:03

29:03

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the New Lines Institute's Caroline Rose an expert on the illicit drug Captagon. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad his family's hold on the lucrative trade has suddenly evaporated but the drug hasn't disappeared from Syria and other actors and other countries are eying up opportunities as the Trump …

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A small town in Lebanon 32:56

7M ago32:56

32:56

Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes George Kanaan to this week's podcast. His book Beyond Lebanon's Peaks: An Odyssey is a fascinating memoir of a businessman and banker who though he has travelled the world in a storied career has never left behind Suq el-Gharb and his Levantine roots. In a wide ranging conversation he reflects on the book and…

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Morocco's economic express 30:34

7M ago30:34

30:34

In this week's podcast Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the North Africa expert Francis Ghilès to discuss the reasons why the Moroccan economy is in good health while its Maghreb neighbours Algeria and Tunisia are struggling. Part of the answer is its geography: Morocco sits as a linchpin between Europe and Africa. The rest though has to…

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The Gulf's Islam rebrand 29:42

7M ago29:42

29:42

William Law, Arab Digest editor welcomes the Cato Institute's Jon Hoffman to the podcast to discuss his just released book Islam and Statecraft. Jon lays out how the Gulf ruling families have used Islam as a political tool to enhance foreign policy thrusts, ensure regime security and project power. With the West embracing the Gulf's so-called "mode…

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Refugee crises in the Levant 32:57

7M ago32:57

32:57

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the European Council on Foreign Relations' Kelly Petillo. While the world is fixated on Trump and tariffs the refugee crisis in the Middle East gathers pace as Europe pushes to remove Syrian refugees under the assumption that now that Assad is gone Syria is safe. Meanwhile President Trump muses on…

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Yemen: the Huthis and Al Qaeda 30:46

8M ago30:46

30:46

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the jihadist extremism expert Dr Elisabeth Kendall. Their conversation focuses on Yemen's Huthis and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP.) Both have benefitted from the Gaza war in terms of popular support and propaganda messaging while a peace deal to end the nearly ten years of civil war sli…

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A ceasefire and the gap between hope and reality 32:32

8M ago32:32

32:32

Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes analyst and author Andreas Krieg back on the podcast to discuss the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Both sides claim a victory but unless the ceasefire holds and until it moves into the second phase and beyond that into its third phase of full withdrawal of the IDF and the beginning of reconstruction of w…

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Israel, war crimes and a case to answer 33:05

8M ago33:05

33:05

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the director of Airwars Emily Tripp. Airwars has methodically detailed the civilian casualties caused by the thousands of air strikes carried out by Israel on Gaza in its prosecution of the war against Hamas. The body of evidence assembled tells a story unprecedented in the annals of contemporary …

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Syria: caught between Türkiye and Israel 29:50

8M ago29:50

29:50

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Turkish writer and analyst Aslı Aydıntaşbaş. With the victory of the Salafist HTS in Syria both Türkiye and Israel see opportunities to accelerate their regional ambitions but the two may be heading toward an intense new rivalry as Netanyahu woos the Kurds of Northeast Syria and Erdoğan weighs…

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Editor's choice: Amal Ghandour 34:45

9M ago34:45

34:45

The editor's choice for 2024 is our 18 September podcast Palestine and a new awakening with the writer and commentator Amal Ghandour. When we spoke with her then 41000 Palestinians had been killed and 96000 wounded. As Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people continues that number has now reached more than 45000 killed and 107000 wounded. T…

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The Arab Digest 2024 yearender 36:13

9M ago36:13

36:13

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest is the analyst and commentator Sami Hamdi. In a rapid fire run through the Middle East headlines of 2024 they cover a lot of ground from an ISIS massacre to the Sudan war, from the ICJ decision on Israel's seizure of Palestinian land to the triumph of Trump and the fall of Assad with several stops in between a…

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Oil, OPEC and the outlook for 2025 31:51

9M ago31:51

31:51

William Law's guest this week is Arab Digest's resident energy analyst Alastair Newton. In a tumultuous and violent year in the Middle East and elsewhere OPEC has seen its market relevance continue to decline raising concerns for Saudi Arabia as its bid to diversify away from hydrocarbons falters. Questions too about whether the cartel itself will …

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Syria has a new strongman 32:20

9M ago32:20

32:20

With the stunning success of HTS and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani in bringing down the Assad regime Syria enters a new era. How al-Jolani chooses to structure the country and how Syria's neighbours in the Middle East respond will determine whether instability and new war fronts emerge or whether the Syrian people finally secure lasting peace a…

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A good year for MbS 32:56

9M ago32:56

32:56

William Law's guest this week on the Arab Digest podcast is the Gulf expert Kristian Coates Ulrichsen. They look back at the year that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has had, one where he has strengthened his diplomatic ties with Iran, holds the upper hand in the normalisation with Israel game and looks set to gain essential time on deliver…

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The silence of Sisi 29:08

10M ago29:08

29:08

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Egyptian analyst and author Maged Mandour. They explore the reasons behind President Sisi's virtual silence as the IDF conducts its genocide in Gaza while increasing land seizures in the Occupied West Bank and enlarging the war into Lebanon. Maged Mandour reveals that economic and ideological …

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Macron in Morocco 27:18

10M ago27:18

27:18

When the French president recognised Morocco's claim to the disputed territory of Western Sahara he sought to burnish his tarnished reputation in North Africa. Francis Ghilès joins Arab Digest editor Wiliam Law to discuss why Macron's efforts are likely to produce few if any positive results and he argues that the situation won't change unless Fran…

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Libya: cooperation with devils 34:18

10M ago34:18

34:18

Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back the Libyan analyst Tarek Megerisi for a wide ranging conversation about the criminal activities of the two families that rule in a divided Libya squandering the country's wealth while playing Europe and the EU for patsies in the lucrative, ever growing and utterly ruthless industry of human trafficking.S…

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What Trump 2.0 means for the Middle East 27:05

10M ago27:05

27:05

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is Jon Hoffman a research fellow in defence and foreign policy at Washington's Cato Institute with a particular specialism in US policy in the Middle East. Donald Trump's emphatic victory in this week's presidential election comes at a time when the MENA region is convulsed by war. In his triumphal v…

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Iraqi Kurdistan walks a fine line 27:18

11M ago27:18

27:18

Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the Kurdish American journalist Sirwan Kajjo. A recent parliamentary election in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq featured a high turnout and a strong showing by a new party, both indications that the grip of the two families that have controlled the region for decades is beginning to slip. Meantime Iraqi Kur…

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Sudan: the war the world forgot 34:48

11M ago34:48

34:48

Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair. Their conversation focusses on a war that has gone on for 18 months and has caused the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. Sudan's people are the victims of two generals vying for dominance backed by outside players who like the generals have no concern …

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Biden, Netanyahu and the war against Iran 35:11

11M ago35:11

35:11

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Quincy Institute's Annelle Sheline who quit the US State Department in protest at her government's Gaza policy. She argues that rather than restraining Israel the Biden administration is backing Netanyahu's efforts to provoke a major war with Iran in order to redraw the map of the Middle East.…

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Understanding Iran 28:51

11M ago28:51

28:51

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the head of the Middle East programme at London's Chatham House Sanam Vakil. Their conversation focusses on Iran and Israel as the confrontation between the two edges ever closer to a hot war. Also on the agenda are Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the efforts they are making to avoid such a war. What…

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Netanyahu and the war of weaponised narratives 32:59

12M ago32:59

32:59

Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the security and defence analyst Andreas Krieg. As the intensity of Israeli attacks increases Dr Krieg - who has written a groundbreaking book on the weaponisation of narratives by state and non-state actors - details how such narratives are driving the Middle East toward all out war and he offers proposa…

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The US in the Middle East: same old playbook 29:20

12M ago29:20

29:20

With tensions rising daily in the region, Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Cato Institute's Jon Hoffman to the podcast. As Israel pounds Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets back the slide into a full scale war looms but Washington's response is the same as it ever was: call for restraint while backing Israel to the hilt.Sign up NOW at Ar…

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"My children feel they are lost" 18:22

12M ago18:22

18:22

Arab Digest editor William Law speaks with Hasan Ramadan. Before the 7 October war Hasan was a teacher at a school in North Gaza where he lived with his wife and three sons. Now he and his family are among the nearly 2 million IDPs in Gaza. After several attempts we were able to reach him at an IDP camp in the south of Gaza.Sign up NOW at ArabDiges…

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Palestine and a new awakening 34:45

12M ago34:45

34:45

Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Beirut-based author and commentator Amal Ghandour. Their conversation explores the impact of the Gaza war on the Levant and beyond and looks at how young Arabs have been galvanised by Israel's genocidal conduct into a new sense of themselves and the role they will play in securing what Amal ca…

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The Queer Arab Glossary 36:32

1y ago36:32

36:32

Arab Digest editor William Law kicks off a new season with the editor of a new book titled The Queer Arab Glossary, the graphic designer, artist and writer Marwan Kaabour. Art book, Arab gay slang glossary and essay collection from a diverse and distinguished group of Arab artists, writers and activists The Queer Arab Glossary is both a provocative…

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AD’s All New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #1 30:15

1y ago30:15

30:15

Summary: the IDF’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank have revived popular support in Arab states for Palestine, forcing MENA governments to back away from further normalisation with Israel.Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly po…