Episode notes
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Thomas talks with Yaakov Katz, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and co-author of While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East. Yaakov explains: October 7 intelligence failure and Israel’s missed warnings Hamas’s ‘Jericho Walls’ plan and ignored Unit 8200 alerts The Israeli conceptzia: why leaders believed Hamas was deterred Netanyahu’s Gaza containment strategy and Qatari money policy Hamas as a political asset against Palestinian statehood Israel’s overreliance on technology, SIGINT and border…
Podcast
CONFLICTED
Message Heard · History · English
An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.
More from CONFLICTED All episodes →
-
4 Aug 2026 · 50 min
Will America Cut and Run?
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 war Israel, the Gulf states and Pakistan in a Middle East without American restraint The revival of the…
-
30 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 24 min
U Thant: The Diplomat Who Defined the 1960s
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 sociability, humour, directness, and moral imagination How Buddhism shaped U Thant’s approach to crisis…
-
28 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Wassim Nasr: My Inside Account of Macron’s Syria Visit
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 after the fall of Bashar al-Assad Macron and Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Umayyad Mosque and Mount Qasioun…
-
23 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 15 min
Indo-European: The Language Family That Went Global
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas meets Laura Spinney, author of Proto: How One Language Went Global, the story of the Proto-Indo-European language and its descendants, which are spoken today by half of humanity. Laura explains: How, where, and among whom Proto-Indo-European emerged How Indo-European split into English, Hindi, Persian, Russian, Greek, Latin-derived Romance languages, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic tongues How linguists reconstruct an unwritten prehistoric language through sound laws, comparative vocabulary and ancient texts Why ancient DNA has transformed the…
-
21 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Iran Will Never Give Up Hormuz
The MoU with Iran has broken down, war has returned to the Middle East, and so Aimen walks us through the events since the war re-ignited on 7th July. More than anything, the fighting now focuses on the Strait of Hormuz. In Iran’s eyes, it has won control of the Strait as a spoil of war. In the rest of the world’s eyes, freedom of navigation through the Strait remains a cast-iron principle of international law. Aimen and Thomas discuss: Why the US–Iran MoU collapsed over control of the Strait of Hormuz Iran’s attacks on Gulf shipping and the return of the US naval blockade US strikes on…
-
14 Jul 2026 · 51 min
Ben Hodges: Russia Can Be Defeated
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, Thomas talks with retired US lieutenant general Ben Hodges, former commanding general of US Army Europe. Drawing on his experience at the heart of NATO’s military leadership, Hodges explains: His proposed path to Ukrainian victory Ukraine’s deep strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure Ukraine’s campaign to isolate and recover Crimea Why Hodges overestimated the speed of Ukraine’s victory The risk of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine America’s failure to define clear political objectives in war Ukraine’s emergence as a European…
-
10 Jul 2026 · 50 min
Syria Turns Another Corner (Conflicted Revisited)
As Aimen works hard to uncover the truth of what's going on in the region now that the MoU has been torn to shreds — or so it seems — and in recognition of Syria being taken off the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, we are rerunning this episode from last year where Aimen tells the story of his nephew who joined the jihad against the Assad regime. Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook:…
-
7 Jul 2026 · 59 min
Guns, Greed and the Making of Modernity
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas discusses the true foundations of modernity with Clifton Crais, author of The Killing Age: How Violence Made the Modern World. Clifton explains: The Mortecene as an alternative to the Anthropocene Why global violence accelerated after 1750 How firearms destabilised traditional political orders The role of credit and debt in expanding slavery Global complicity beyond a simple West-versus-rest narrative The industrial destruction of whales, elephants and bison Vodun and other religious responses to predatory power What muskets can teach us about drones…
-
3 Jul 2026 · 36 min
Undiscovered: The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi
In this special episode, we bring you an exclusive audio episode of ‘Undiscovered’ the new YouTube-first documentary series from Conflicted’s executive producer and Message Heard founder, Jake Warren. Jake sits down with the legendary journalist Robert Young Pelton to discuss the infamous battle of Qala-i-Jangi, which he experienced first hand, and how it changed the war on terror forever. In this episode they discuss: How Robert became a journalist and documentarian Robert’s documentary ‘Heavy D and The Boys’ Meeting and spending time with General Dostum The rumours and myths about General…
-
30 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
The Bastard Children of Neoliberalism
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas sweats his way through a personally revealing exchange with Quinn Slobodian, Professor of International History at Boston University and the author of Hayek’s Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right. Quinn explains: Friedrich Hayek’s “knowledge problem” and his defence of markets over central planning. Hayek’s later theory of cultural evolution, inherited institutions, and the limits of universal market society. The split between “cultural Austrians” at George Mason University and “racial Austrians” around the Mises Institute. Murray…
Take it with you
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
