Episode notes
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 medieval Middle East Why the Crusades were not the region’s main event Dandanqan, nomadic warfare and…
CONFLICTED
by Message Heard · English · History
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
-
20 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
The Rise of the Offshore World
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 Containerisation’s hidden cost: how global trade hollowed out Manhattan’s working waterfront The Falklands War,…
-
18 Aug 2026 · 56 min
The Battle for Yemen Begins Again
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 map: Houthi control of Sanaa, Hodeidah and the northwest versus government-held south and east The…
-
13 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 19 min
Libya: The Return of the Arab Strongman?
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 Gaddafi officer to eastern strongman Second Libyan Civil War: Operation Dignity and divided government Libya…
-
6 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
Slavery and Islam: The Whole Story
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 and longevity of slavery in the Islamic world The spiritual status of enslaved people in early Islam…
-
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…
-
8 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 23 min
Adrian Wooldridge: Can Liberalism Save Itself?
In this latest Conflicted Conversation, journalist Adrian Wooldridge discusses his latest book Centrists of the World Unite: The Lost Genius of Liberalism. For deeper dives and world-class Q&As with Aimen Dean, join the CONFLICTED COMMUNITY here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Adrian and Thomas explore: Why liberalism is in crisis — and whether it can reinvent itself Modernity, permanent change and the birth of the liberal world Erasmus, tolerance and the case for a “chastened liberalism” Hobbes, individualism and whether liberalism misunderstands human nature John Stuart Mill,…
-
6 Oct 2026 · 53 min
The Real Geopolitics of Sudan’s Civil War
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: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Aimen and Thomas discuss: Why Sudan has…
-
2 Oct 2026 · 57 min
The Middle East Braces for Escalation
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 diplomacy at the UN and the growing risk of renewed escalation. Israeli claims of renewed Iranian nuclear…
-
29 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Carlos the Jackal: The World’s First Super-Terrorist
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 and the Rise of Made-for-TV Terror How the Media Created the Myth of “Carlos the Jackal” OPEC 1975:…
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.
