This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Nicholas Blanford, a Beirut-based security consultant, the author of two books on Lebanon, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. They talk about Hezbollah’s evolution, its ties to other actors in the region, and the role the group is playing in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Will Todman and Leah Hickert to discuss Hezbollah’s deep roots in Lebanese society and the organization’s future. Transcript, "Nicholas Blanford: Hezbollah’s Struggle Against Israel," CSIS, May 14, 2024. N ..read more

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with award-winning Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. During the conversation, Abdul-Ahad discusses the fallout from the war and U.S. occupation, his career reporting from Iraq, and the ways that working alongside leading journalists influenced his work. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Natasha Hall and Leah Hickert, discussing the legacies of sectarianism in Iraq and Lebanon. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War, Penguin Random House, 2023. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, "Guns, cash, and frozen chicke ..read more

Baaloul is not like most towns in Lebanon for two reasons. First, its inhabitants do not use any of Lebanon’s most common languages; instead, the lingua franca is Spanish. Second, it has reliable electricity. A new Mezze from the CSIS Middle East Program ..read more

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Christoph Reuter of Der Spiegel magazine, an award winning journalist and conflict reporter. They talk about Captagon, criminal networks, and Syria's war economy. Later, Jon continues the conversation with Natasha Hall and Lubna Yousef, and they explore the intersection between criminal networks and war zones. Transcript, "Christoph Reuter: Syria's War Economy," CSIS, June 13, 2023. Jon Alterman and Natasha Hall, "Accountability in Syria," CSIS, August 9, 2022. Jörg Diehl, Mohannad al-Najjar, and Christoph Reuter, “Syria’s Drug Smuggling: The ..read more

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Christoph Reuter of Der Spiegel magazine, an award winning journalist and conflict reporter. They talk about Captagon, criminal networks, and Syria's war economy. Later, Jon continues the conversation with Natasha Hall and Lubna Yousef, and they explore the intersection between criminal networks and war zones. Transcript, "Christoph Reuter: Syria's War Economy," CSIS, June 13, 2023. Jon Alterman and Natasha Hall, "Accountability in Syria," CSIS, August 9, 2022. Jörg Diehl, Mohannad al-Najjar, and Christoph Reuter, “Syria’s Drug Smuggling: The ..read more

What started as a job advertisement for a sandwich maker in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) quickly landed one firm in hot water last December. As the UAE pushes for companies in the private sector to hire more Emiratis, they're finding that there are some jobs that Emiratis may not want. A new Mezze from the Middle East Program ..read more

In Lebanon, neighboring communities are looking to connect and build off one another's initiatives, but a dysfunctional environment makes capitalizing on that opportunity a challenge for international donors and Lebanese communities alike. A new Mezze from the CSIS Middle East Program. This Mezze episode was adapted from a vignette in the Middle East Program's latest report, Powering Recovery: Reform, Reconstruction, and Renewables in Conflict-Affected States in the Middle East, written by Will Todman ..read more

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) doesn’t seem like the ideal place for a salmon farm, but aquaculture is becoming an increasingly large part of the UAE's food security strategy. A new Mezze from the CSIS Middle East Program ..read more

This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Mahsa Alimardani, a scholar at the University of Oxford and a senior researcher with Article19. They talk about the recent protests in Iran and how both protestors and the regime have used social media, the cat and mouse game of online access and censorship in Iran, and what Western social media companies can be doing to better moderate their platforms. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Will Todman and Lubna Yousef about the intersection of protest movements and social media around the Middle East. Mahsa Alimardani, Kendra Albert, and Afsaneh Rigot ..read more

In seven episodes, the Babel: U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East podcast miniseries will take a closer look at two decades of heightened U.S. engagement in the region. Over seven weeks, Babel will cover how the United States has used its military, economic, diplomatic, and soft power tools in the Middle East—and how the Middle East has responded.   In part six, Jon explores how people and governments in the Middle East see the United States, what they want from the United States in the region, and how that’s changing. Jon speaks with Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political ..read more