Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back Francis Ghilès, a leading expert on energy and politics in North Africa. Their conversation revolves around the huge opportunities and the challenges the war in the Ukraine has given Algeria and its state-owned energy corporation Sonatrach. As Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian gas, Algeria is well placed to play the advantage. The question is will it and will Europe realise that finally it needs to treat Algeria and North Africa as equa...
Apr 15, 2022•36 min
In this the 100th Arab Digest podcast editor William Law is in conversation with Aslı Aydıntaşbaş a journalist and a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Their focus is on the remarkable volte-face of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Middle East. An economic crisis and collapsing popular support have forced him into a major rethink and in the case of Saudi Arabia a significant climbdown. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start ...
Apr 08, 2022•38 min
Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the author and MENA analyst Christopher Davidson. Their conversation focusses on how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is proving beneficial for the region's autocratic leaders and not simply because the price of hydrocarbons has soared. Amongst other windfalls Russia's oligarchs are finding new homes in the Gulf and bringing their wealth with them. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter &...
Apr 01, 2022•29 min
Arab Digest’s editor William Law welcomes back the journalist and researcher Sirwan Kajjo. Sirwan is an expert on Kurdish issues and their conversation explores the challenges, aspirations and issues facing a people without a country. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Mar 25, 2022•31 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with Aviv Tatarsky. He works with Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-based NGO fighting to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in the farming village of Al Walaja where terraced agriculture has been practiced for hundreds of years and a way of life is being besieged by the full force of the Israeli state. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Mar 18, 2022•33 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the Project on Middle East Democracy's Amy Hawthorne. And their focus is Tunisia. While the world's attention is riveted on Ukraine and Putin's war, Kais Saied, the Tunisian president is quietly putting the finishing touches to a new dictatorship in North Africa. So what is the Biden administration, which claims to put democracy at the heart of its foreign policy, doing about it? Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receivi...
Mar 11, 2022•37 min
Arab Digest editor William Law's guest is Dania Akkad, an investigative journalist with Middle East Eye. Their conversation is about the practice of mahram, male guardianship, in the tiny and enormously wealthy Gulf state of Qatar. Despite the image it projects of an ultra-modern society embracing tolerance and openness, Qatar holds on to a practice that treats women as second-class citizens and that can enable domestic abuse and even murder. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the cl...
Mar 04, 2022•30 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by Chatham House's Renad Mansour. Their conversation begins with the impact of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine on Iraq and other MENA countries who may find themselves forced to take sides. They then explore the current challenges the Iraqi people face in a country where politically sanctioned corruption flourishes at a rampant pace. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Feb 25, 2022•32 min
Arab Digest editor welcomes back Sami Hamdi, editor-in-chief of The International Interest and their conversation explores a surprising rapprochement between the UAE and Turkey as President Erdoğan grapples with an economic crisis at home and setbacks to his efforts to assert leadership ascendancy in the MENA region. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Feb 18, 2022•31 min
Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back author and analyst Jim Krane. Jim is energy research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute and an expert on Gulf energy matters. Their conversation focusses on the quest for net zero. Are Gulf hydrocarbons producers serious about hitting their ambitious targets or is this little more than a PR mirage? Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Feb 11, 2022•29 min
Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is Annelle Sheline, a Research Fellow in the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Their conversation explores the role that the Yemen war has played in making the already demanding challenge of bringing Iran and the US back into a nuclear deal just that much more difficult and how various actors are like pieces of a puzzle that just won't fit. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start rece...
Feb 04, 2022•37 min
Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back Francis Ghilès, a leading European expert on the Maghreb and a senior associate research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. Their conversation explores the missteps of France in North Africa and the persistent failure to arrive at coherent policy approaches towards countries that are crucial to Europe's security. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Jan 28, 2022•35 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with Lina al-Hathloul about the fight for freedom for her sister Loujain whose crime was to lead the struggle for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, including the right to drive. Loujain was seized in the UAE and turned over to Saudi authorities. She was imprisoned and tortured before being released last year but with severe restrictions, including a travel ban. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily ne...
Jan 21, 2022•28 min
Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back the Baker Institute's Kristian Coates Ulrichsen for a conversation about how the UAE and Saudi Arabia are on the sidelines but acutely watching how talks to revive the nuclear deal with Iran are faring in Vienna. Also on the table: Yemen, Syria, the Biden White House and the growing competition between the two GCC neighbours on the economic front. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & po...
Jan 14, 2022•37 min
Arab Digest editor William Law kicks off the Digest's first podcast of 2022 with the Egyptian analyst and writer Maged Mandour who argues that President Sisi has tethered Egypt's foreign policy to the domestic imperative of strengthening his harsh authoritarian grip. Through massive borrowing and weapons purchases Sisi has lured Europe and America into turning a blind eye to human rights abuses and to an economic model that is destined to fail with profound consequences for Egypt, MENA and the w...
Jan 07, 2022•35 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with the Conservative MP Crispin Blunt about his efforts to find justice for Palestinians through the Israeli and international justice systems. He is he says "done with false hope" and the way forward now is to use the courts to right historic wrongs commmited against the Palestinian people. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Dec 31, 2021•29 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the European Council on Foreign Relations' Cinzia Bianco. Cinzia takes an insightful look at the year just past in the Middle East and North Africa, from coups, to Covid, to MbS and MbZ, to alliances abandoned and new ones forged. And she offers her predictions for 2022.
Dec 24, 2021•36 min
Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back the geopolitical analyst and commentator Samuel Ramani to discuss how, in the past decade, Russia has consistently played a strong hand in the Middle East, buttressing relations with MENA states and presenting itself as an honest disputes mediator while exploiting anxieties and uncertainties to advantage as America continues to pull away from its longstanding role as the region's guarantor of security. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join th...
Dec 17, 2021•33 min
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with the Newlines Institute's Caroline Rose on the consequences of the accelerating US withdrawal from MENA as the Biden administration continues its pivot away from a region where America had served as security guarantor for decades. In a power vacuum created by a US retreat, new players are emerging to stake a claim and new alliances are forming. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter &...
Dec 10, 2021•29 min
Just a little over a year after they were signed, Arab Digest editor William Law talks with Gulf State Anaytics CEO Giorgio Cafiero about the impact and implications of the Abraham Accords, the Trump-engineered deal that saw Israel triple the number of Arab states with whom it has diplomatic relations at no cost to itself but at a very great cost to the cause of Palestinian statehood. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts....
Nov 26, 2021•37 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with Dr Ali Bakir, a MENA region geopolitical and security analyst at Qatar University's Ibn Khaldoon Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. On the table is a discussion about the UAE's diplomatic initiative in Syria as 'Little Sparta' curbs its military adventures in favour of soft power approaches aimed at relationship building with, amongst others, Iran. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily ...
Nov 19, 2021•30 min
Newlines Institute senior analyst Rasha Al Aqeedi joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss the assassination attempt on the Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. After an election that was a serious setback for parties that back armed militias will the attempt to kill the prime minister usher in a new wave of violence or will his efforts at de-escalation prevail? Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Nov 12, 2021•33 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Libya expert Tarek Megerisi. With a presidential vote slated for 24 December they discuss whether or not it will happen, who is likely to win if it does and what's at stake for Libya if an election that lacks basic principles of fairness and transparency goes ahead. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Nov 05, 2021•32 min
Arab Digest editor William Law talks with Michael Stephens, Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute about the UK's role in the Middle East after Brexit. They discuss the need for fresh thinking among policy makers and explore challenges and opportunities in a region where Britain has historical, political and economic ties. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Oct 29, 2021•31 min
Palestinian author, activist and human rights attorney Jonathan Kuttab joins Arab Digest editor William Law for a conversation that focuses on a radical rethink of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Kuttab has abandoned any hope for two states and is now calling for a single entity that recognises the rights and obligations of both sides. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Oct 22, 2021•27 min
In the wake of elections in Qatar and Iraq, Kais Saied's increasingly autocratic moves in Tunisia and Joe Biden's apparent indifference to human rights abuses, Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with Amy Hawthorne deputy director of research at the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Oct 15, 2021•35 min
Arab Digest editor William Law's guest is Airwars' Emily Tripp. Her organisation tracks civilian casualties in conflict zones. Airwars has just released a report on civilian harm caused by Russian airstrikes in the Syrian conflict, a war that is receiving little coverage even as the death toll of civilians steadily mounts, with the Russians escaping scrutiny and dodging accountability for actions that constitute war crimes. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiv...
Oct 08, 2021•25 min
Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the Egyptian writer and analyst Maged Mandour. Their conversation focusses on the repressive dictatorship that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his generals are building in Egypt. His is a regime rooted in a fascistic, militarist nationalism that continues to hold strong appeal, even as more and more Egyptians fall ever deeper into poverty. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts...
Oct 01, 2021•35 min
The Baker Institute for Public Policy's Kristian Coates Ulrichsen joins Arab Digest editor William Law in a conversation about how Qatar is renewing independent foreign policy initiatives that are gaining pace as the small Gulf state plays a pivotal role, assisting Washington in smoothing out the rough edges from Joe Biden's abrupt and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & podcasts.
Sep 24, 2021•32 min
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Senior Research Fellow in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Oxford University's Pembroke College. Though drone strikes have seen AQAP severely degraded, the ongoing war and the Taliban victory in Afghanistan reinforce the lethal threat jihadist terrorism continues to pose to the region and to the West from its base in Yemen. Sign up NOW at Arabdigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & ...
Sep 17, 2021•31 min
