'Middle East Analysis' started in earnest in 2010-11 when a series of anti-regime uprisings took place across a large swathe of the Middle East North Africa region - what was termed the Arab Spring. Dr Harry Hagopian, an international lawyer, regional analyst - and the voice of these podcasts - helped us to understand the context and long advocated for the voice of the people to be heard rather than supressed. A semi-constant topic in the early 2010s was the turmoil and civil war in Syria and th...
Dec 17, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our studio guest for this special 30-minute Middle East Analysis podcast is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Born in northern Italy, the Patriarch, a Franciscan, has spent 35 years of his ministry in the Holy Land. In this time he has seen many episodes of war and tension. The current cycle of violence is particularly devastating. However, it is the season of Advent and the eyes of the world slowly turn to Bethlehem. Hope prevails in the darkness, and the Patri...
Dec 03, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's hard to put into words - let alone sensible ones - how one feels looking on at the multiple tragedies unfolding (rapidly) in the Middle East. Particularly in those lands referred to as 'holy'. It all seems rather unholy and, as usual, those caught in the eye of the storm of overlapping conflicts are the civilians trying to live their lives. The voice of 'Middle East Analysis', Dr Harry Hagopian, is usually a man of good humour, even in the darkest times. As an international lawyer, consulta...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Father Gabriel Romanelli travelled to the West Bank to get some urgently-needed medicine for a nun living with his community in Gaza, it never crossed his mind he'd be separated from his flock for over six months. Father Romanelli, parish priest of the Holy Family Church in the north of the strip, had to watch from a distance as the horrors of the 7 October Hamas attack unfolded, before Israel's bombardment of Gaza led to the humanitarian crisis and suffering we now see in this torn land. O...
Apr 27, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast We keep our firm focus on the Holy Land and whilst we continue to weep as we look on at the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the suffering of all civilians caught up in this conflict, we're joined by Fr Fadi Diab to discuss the lived realities of the Palestinian people in the West Bank as well as in the decimated strip. Fr Diab is from Ramallah and is the rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church and also minister at St Peter's Church in Bir Zeit. He is also Chair of the Holy Land Committee of Fri...
Mar 19, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Five long, painful months after the Hamas terror attack of 7 October and the subsequent bombing and ground offensive that has reduced Gaza to rubble and led to several thousand deaths and a humanitarian disaster of the most tragic proportions, this 'Middle East Analysis' special asks the question: Is there a road map to peace in the Holy Land or are we eternally to walk the path of violence, revenge and hatred? International lawyer and MENA region analyst Dr Harry Hagopian joins us in the studio...
Mar 07, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ending a long-running podcast is painful. It's also hard to let go - especially when the expert sitting opposite you has been a friend for 15 years. This is the last ever Middle East Analysis and, as such, is something of a fond farewell - on this channel at least - to Dr Harry Hagopian. The man's a colossus with a brain to match and a bucket-load of integrity. He also delivers his views and analysis with a fair dollop of wit and panache. So it's with a heavy heart we say goodbye, but not withou...
Jan 13, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football World Cup, hurtling through the group stages in Qatar after a fair helping of pre-tournament controversy, takes centre stage for our November Middle East Analysis podcast. Surely even the most optimistic Saudi looked at the Argentina fixture and prayed KSA would just keep the score down? Well, would you believe it? Lionel Messi and co found themselves chastened after an extraordinary 2-1 win for Saudi Arabia. And, as far as the Arab States are concerned, that result wasn't the only ...
Nov 25, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ever clicked a link and hit a 404 "not found" error page? Happens a lot. It's also very frustrating. You think you've finally found that elusive content but it's a false dawn and you'll have to go back and search again. The image for this 'Middle East Analysis' podcast was taken on the West Bank side of the Separation Wall earlier this year. It seems rather appropriate for today's episode. Dr Harry Hagopian, our resident international lawyer and regional analyst, takes on a quick-fire five to be...
Oct 29, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr Harry Hagopian, the voice of 'Middle East Analysis', came up with the novel idea of looking behind the interventions made by the Heads of State and political leaders from the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf regions at the recent 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Treat this as a fly-on-the-wall side event, a briefing, that steps away from the carefully crafted podium speeches - somewhat predictable in terms of content and agenda - to get to the nub of neighbou...
Sep 28, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast August's 'Middle East Analysis' podcast sees Dr Harry Hagopian rewind 34 years to look at the publication of Salman Rushdie's controversial fourth novel 'The Satanic Verses', the author's use of magical realism and the religious edict that left a bounty on his head the repercussions of which may have been felt three decades later. We then discuss the closure of seven Palestinian NGOs after Israeli raids in the West Bank. But what do these human rights organisations stand accused of and when Isra...
Aug 26, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's more of a hot rather than warm welcome to this 'Middle East Analysis' podcast. We've 'enjoyed' record temperatures of over 40°C in recent times here in the UK - far more in keeping with the Middle East, Gulf States and North Africa. Here to cool us down with his usual stylish, sharp analysis is the voice of MEA, Dr Harry Hagopian. The topic? Well it can only be the four-day visit of US President Joe Biden to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jeddah. A trip pilloried in certain quarters as high on ph...
Jul 22, 2022•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast A sharp, thirty-minute podcast for June's 'Middle East Analysis' that takes a slightly different format. Having returned from a six-day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, host James Abbott discusses Holy Land realities with regular studio guest Dr Harry Hagopian. To use an English translation of a French phrase that Harry has used more than once, it's a serious case of "the more it changes, the more it stays the same”. Relating regional experiences - limited on the part of the host, extensive...
Jun 10, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Middle East Analysis takes a sombre tone this month as, just before recording, we learned of the killing of long-term Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in the West Bank. We're left asking, as often we do, where is the justice that will open the door to peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict? Dr Harry Hagopian looks at the disturbing upturn in violence as the world, seemingly, looks the other way. Our next stop is Lebanon and a look at the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections...
May 11, 2022•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just over two years ago we started recording our 'Middle East Analysis' podcasts remotely. The pandemic rendered face-to-face interaction impossible. Now, joyously, we have returned to the studio for this month's offering. Dr Harry Hagopian, in the flesh, turns his legal and political mind to the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf States. April has been a month of regional summit meetings - most involving Israel and its diplomatic relations with Arab neighbours. Negotiations have covered food an...
Apr 08, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this Middle East Analysis podcast we're turning our attention to the on-going war in Ukraine and how the aftershocks are reverberating across Europe, down into the Middle East, across North Africa and through the Gulf States. Dr Harry Hagopian delivers the analysis and comment as usual and as an international lawyer with conflict resolution and Second Track diplomacy on his CV, he's well placed to take a close look at the tragedies of war and the possible outcomes. International relations get...
Mar 04, 2022•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's Middle East Analysis podcast sees resident contributor Dr Harry Hagopian don his jabot and peruke, the white bib and curly wig of a barrister-at-law, as we examine the three main components of power: government (Executive), parliament (Legislature) and the judiciary (Courts). In the Middle East & North Africa, do we see a separation of these branches of power? How much authority can a judge lay claim to? Are presidents, prime ministers or monarchies above the law? Are there political sol...
Jan 25, 2022•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you fit a year into an hour? Impossible, surely? Not so. As the voice of Middle East Analysis, Dr Harry Hagopian is charged with defying the laws of physics for you on this podcast. We're taking a different approach this time round. Rather than examining MENA matters at the top of the news agenda, we're taking you on a regional tour to discuss some of the key events of 2021 - from the Middle East, through the Gulf and then across to North Africa. Stylistically, this is more of a series of...
Dec 15, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the cold sets in here in the UK, we turn our attention to a region where something's always heating up. The three prongs to today's 'Middle East Analysis' podcast are the elections in Iraq, delayed from June, that have yielded some interesting results, the on-going, out-of-sight-out-of-mind conflict in Yemen - will the violence ever end and does the rest of the world care enough? Then we take a look at the eternally beleaguered Lebanon and some of the worst violence to hit the streets in the ...
Oct 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're always gloriously counter-cultural, a little like the regions we discuss, but if you're looking at the image for this podcast you'll get a rare look at the faces of the two contributors - host James Abbott and the voice of Middle East Analysis Dr Harry Hagopian. In today's MEA podcast, the first after a short summer break, they discuss Qatar's role in the turbulent weeks of a transitional Afghanistan, Lebanon's slow recovery from economic meltdown, the 1000th 'what next' for Israel / Pales...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr Harry Hagopian's message on the one-year anniversary of the blasts that tore through the port in Lebanon's capital Beirut taking lives, livelihoods, hopes and aspirations with them.
Aug 04, 2021•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast If it looks like a coup and smells like a coup, it's a coup... right? Not so fast says Dr Harry Hagopian in this 'Middle East Analysis' podcast as we focus on Tunisia. When a president dismisses goverment, sacks the prime minister, blocks parliament and orders journalists to leave, surely we're witnessing the classic hallmarks of a coup d'état? Perhaps not. Once the dust had settled on a bold move by Tunisian President Kais Saied, it seems he has 'frozen' parliament for 30 days to address the co...
Jul 27, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast New leaders are popping up all over the place in the Middle East and North Africa. Today's 'Middle East Analysis' is something of a presidential, prime ministerial and parliamentary podcast as we take a closer look at the newly or recently elected men (obviously) in the limelight. First to Iran and a man who could well be in line to succeed Supreme Leader Khamenei, President-elect Ebrahim Raisi. How will the 60-year-old conservative cope with Covid and the potential resurrection of the nuclear d...
Jun 29, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast This 'Middle East Analysis' can only have one topic up for discussion - the escalating violence between Israel and Palestine. Much has been said and written about the conflict and the nature of its seemingly never-ending cycle of attack and counter attack - not just in the physical sense but the political too. So many countries with so many vested interests look on. In the case of some states, it would be hard to ascertain whether they're looking at all. The voice of Middle East Analysis, Dr Har...
May 17, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast April's Middle East Analysis is squeaking in on the last day of the month. In its own way it carries some of the chaos of the region. Today we focus primarily on Jordan. It's a country close to the heart of our ever-present guest Dr Harry Hagopian. Why? Well, for starters he was born there. But there are other reasons you'll hear more about in our packed 70-minute podcast. What lies behind the royal spat? Why has Prince Hamzah bin Hussein turned to the East Bank-ers and where does this leave him...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast This Middle East Analysis podcast is a one-hour journey through a variety of countries and regional realities. It's a podcast of questions - and questions need answers. To provide them, we look to Dr Harry Hagopian. He frequently tells us he's NOT a prophet - the region has plenty of those - but he IS an international lawyer, commentator and consultant on the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf regions. Here's what we're asking: Who are the puppet masters in a country on the brink? Who's the king...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, makes an historic visit to Iraq - the first by a Pope - from 5-8 March 2021. From Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda to ISIS, the footage beamed onto our screens has often been of terrorist attacks, conflict and destruction - all played out with the people of Iraq trying to survive in the middle. This is the first topic we cover on this 'Middle East Analysis' podcast with our guest Dr Harry Hagopian. Will it be a positive visit tha...
Feb 22, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Don't act the prophet and learn to bear the recurring disappointment of one false dawn after another. Two lessons I've learned the hard way after thirteen years of covering the realities of the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf regions with the knowledgeable and engaging Dr Harry Hagopian. Today's Middle East Analysis podcast, the first of 2021, actually has a positive feel to it in light of the Al-Ula Agreement that brought to an end the three-and-a-half year blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia,...
Jan 11, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our last Middle East Analysis podcast of 2020 is out ten years to the day since the Tunisian street seller Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated in frustration and despair triggering what came to be known as the Arab Spring. But what has changed and what have we learned in the last decade? Resident contributor Dr Harry Hagopian is once again in the chair, remotely, to discuss this and the fourth country in the region to agree to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel - Morocco. But what does ...
Dec 17, 2020•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast 'MENA Gulf 140' sees Dr Harry Hagopian given a mere 140 seconds per topic to discuss the often complex realities playing out in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf regions. We touched on it last month but now the legal challenges and allegations of corruption surrounding the US Presidential election have amounted to very little, we expect Joe Biden in the White House from 20 January 2021. So three of the 140-second blocks are allocated to looking in more depth at the US and how its foreign po...
Nov 23, 2020•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
