In late December 2025, Iran was hit by a nationwide uprising triggered by the collapse of the Rial and deepening economic distress. What began as anger over inflation and currency instability quickly broadened into political demands, with protesters challenging the authority of the Islamic Republic. The state’s response was swift and forceful with mass arrests, reported fatalities, and a near-total internet blackout that has limited independent reporting. The scale of unrest across provinces sug...
Feb 18, 2026•51 min
Saudi Arabia is recalibrating its role in a region defined by protracted wars, shifting alliances, and declining faith in military solutions. After years of assertive intervention, Riyadh has begun to pull back from direct confrontation, opting instead for diplomacy, de-escalation, and strategic hedging. The Yemen war exposed the costs of prolonged conflict, while attacks on Saudi oil facilities underscored the kingdom’s vulnerability to asymmetric threats. At the same time, the reliability of U...
Feb 04, 2026•52 min
Saudi Arabia emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire not as a colonial creation, but through conquest and consolidation, anchored in an alliance between political power and religious authority. This distinct origin shaped how the kingdom understood sovereignty, security, and its role in the regional order. Oil transformed Saudi Arabia into a global energy power and, during the Cold War, tied it closely to Western interests, particularly the United States. The 1979 Iranian Revolution mark...
Jan 21, 2026•54 min
The Islamic State emerged from years of war, political collapse, and sectarian violence in Iraq and Syria. Shaped by the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the chaos of the Syrian civil war, the group evolved from a local insurgency into the most powerful jihadist organisation of its time. By 2014, ISIS controlled major cities, erased borders, and declared a caliphate. It governed territory, raised revenue, and enforced its rule through extreme violence and sophisticated propaganda, attr...
Jan 07, 2026•58 min
By 2015, Syria’s civil war had reached a turning point. Russian military intervention reversed the regime’s fortunes, Iran entrenched itself through militias and economic networks, and the armed opposition steadily lost ground. ISIS was eventually defeated territorially, but its presence — and the conditions that enabled it — did not disappear. As active frontlines stabilised, Syria entered a new and uneasy phase. Large parts of the country remained fragmented, millions of refugees were unable t...
Dec 24, 2025•54 min
On March 15, 2011, a small protest in Daraa ignited what would become one of the 21st century’s deadliest conflicts. But Syria’s crisis didn’t start overnight. Decades of authoritarian rule, sectarian tensions, and political repression had already set the stage. The Assad family’s iron grip on power, combined with economic stagnation and deep social divides, left the country fragile. When peaceful protests erupted during the Arab Spring, a brutal regime crackdown and a divided opposition quickly...
Dec 10, 2025•57 min
After the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan became the frontline of America’s “War on Terror.” The U.S. invasion in 2001 aimed to dismantle al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban, but the mission quickly expanded into a far more ambitious nation-building project. Over two decades, billions were spent and new institutions were created. Yet corruption, weak governance, and a resilient Taliban insurgency steadily undermined those goals. The Bonn Agreement sought to rebuild Afghanistan’s political system, but excl...
Nov 26, 2025•1 hr 1 min
The Taliban emerged in the mid-1990s amid the instability that followed the Soviet withdrawal and the civil war that devastated Afghanistan. Promising to restore order and justice, the movement drew support from war-weary Afghans and backing from sections of Pakistan’s military establishment. By 1996, it had captured Kabul and declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban’s rule brought a measure of stability but imposed severe social restrictions. Its leadership enforced a strict int...
Nov 12, 2025•55 min
Afghanistan has long held a pivotal place in regional geopolitics, its strategic location making it a prize and a battleground for competing powers. From the 19th-century “Great Game” between Britain and Russia to the Cold War proxy wars of the 20th century, external influence has continuously shaped its trajectory. Following independence in 1919, successive governments sought to modernise while balancing tribal, religious, and regional interests. Yet instability persisted, deepened by ideologic...
Oct 29, 2025•48 min
Iran today stands at a crossroads, acting as both a stabilising and destabilising force in one of the world’s most volatile regions. Its influence extends through a network of allies and proxies, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis in Yemen, while its diplomatic and strategic moves continue to draw global attention. In this second part of our two-part series on Iran, we examine the country’s foreign relations and regional strategy. We look at Tehran’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia in 2023...
Oct 15, 2025•57 min
Iran has been a key force in East Asian politics for decades, influencing regional conflicts, global diplomacy, and international security. From the 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh to the transformative 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s history has shaped a political system that blends elected institutions with the authority of a Supreme Leader. In this first part of our two-part series on Iran, we explore the country’s regional ambitions, its backing of groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, an...
Oct 01, 2025•57 min
In the first two episodes of this three-part series , we traced the roots of the Israel–Palestine question - from the legacies of colonialism and partition in 1948 to the cycles of displacement, violence, and negotiations that followed. In this third and final episode, we shift the lens to the present, asking how the rest of the world is responding to a crisis that refuses to fade. While the United States continues to offer unwavering support to Israel, parts of Europe have moved towards recogni...
Sep 17, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In the previous episode, we revisited the history of the Israel Palestine conflict, until the creation of Israel in 1948. However, 1948 was not the end, but the beginning of a turbulent new chapter in the region. In the decades that followed, the region was repeatedly reshaped by wars, occupations, and resistance. Borders shifted, cities changed hands, and generations came of age knowing little beyond conflict. In this episode, we examine the major wars that followed 1948, asking difficult but n...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Why does the Israel–Palestine conflict remain one of the most intractable crises of our time? To understand today’s headlines, we need to go back to where it all began. In the launch episode of Global Faultlines, we trace the roots of the conflict up to the creation of Israel in 1948. The discussion unpacks the competing nationalisms, religious significance of the land, colonial interventions, and the promises made — and broken — along the way. This historical lens reveals why the choices made d...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr
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Aug 20, 2025•51 sec
