Shows
The Intercept BriefingBiden’s Indifference to Palestinian Lives Is Sending the Middle East Into the AbyssIn the face of growing international pressure, the Biden administration has continued to double down on a policy of blanket support for Israel, even as it presses ahead with a possible military offensive against the town of Rafah that many observers have warned could trigger the largest humanitarian crisis of the war so far. This week on Intercepted, co-hosts Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain discuss the Biden administration's approach to the conflict with Thanassis Cambanis, director of the foreign policy think tank Century International. Cambanis explains how Biden’s policy toward Israel is pushing the entire Middle East to th...2024-04-2458 min
Order From AshesHow Is the Gaza War Affecting the Middle East?The Middle East has faced growing instability, violence, and the risk of a wider war ever since October 7.
Most attention is understandably focused on Israel, where 1,200 people were killed in a single day, and Gaza, where the death toll is steadily climbing past 11,000, the majority children and women.
But the wider region is experiencing a level of violence that is cause for alarm: near-daily clashes between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel; steady attacks on the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria; and increasingly bold military initiatives by Yemen’s Houthi rebel fo...2023-11-2955 minOrder From AshesAid That BackfiresForeign donors are propping up Lebanon’s public institutions and services with the kind of aid they ordinarily provide to failed states. Will this aid create more problems than it solves for Lebanon’s long-suffering people?
On this episode of Century International’s Order from Ashes podcast, fellow Sam Heller discusses the alarming findings of his report, “Adopt a Ministry: How Foreign Aid Threatens Lebanon’s Institutions.”
As Lebanon’s crisis worsens, foreign donors have stepped in to take over many core functions normally fulfilled by the government. Is this aid, which is vital i...2023-11-0744 min
Background Briefing with Ian MastersNovember 5, 2023 - Ghada & Ghaida Ageel | Thanassis Cambanis | Chenggang XuA Palestinian Mother and Daughter Who Just Lost 36 Members of Their Family in Gaza | An Analysis of the Speech by the Leader of Hezbollah Which Is Poised to Open a Second Front | US/China Relations Ahead of Next Saturday's APEC Summit Where Biden and Xi Will Meet
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facebook.com/ianmastersmedia2023-11-051h 01Order From AshesShia Power: Sectarian PrejudiceOn this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Ali Al-Mawlawi traces the long history of anti-Shia prejudice in Iraq. That prejudice, he argues, distorts contemporary debates over whether Shia factions are undermining the state when they compete for power.
This episode of Order From Ashes is the fourth and final episode in “Shia Power,” a series about the transformation of Shia politics in Iraq, and what Iraq’s experience teaches us about the role of religion in politics everywhere.
In episode 1 of “Shia Power,” Sajad Jiyad and host Thanassis Cambanis chart the pow...2023-10-2337 min
The NewsWorthySpecial Edition: Israel, Hamas & War in GazaToday we’re talking about the attack in Israel and the now unfolding war. I’m speaking with Thanassis Cambanis, the director of Century International, an independent think tank that researches the human impact of global policy. *We recorded this discussion on Wednesday. While a lot has continued to develop since then, we still think the conversation is relevant to help you understand more about what’s happening and the groups involved. Learn more about our guests: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/shownotes Sign-up for our bonus weekly email: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/email Bec...2023-10-1416 minOrder From AshesShia Power: Iraq’s Nationalist RevolutionariesOn this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast “Shia Power” series, Taif Alkhudary explains how the October 2019 protests formed a popular response to years of thwarted democratization.
The Tishreen protests movement, Alkhudary argues, represents an indigenous democratization movement that is resisting the putative democracy put in place after the U.S. invasion. Since 2003, Iraqis have endured corruption, dysfunction, and ethno-sectarian tensions, which the political elite justified as the cost of democracy. The Tishreen movement, while still politically immature, has revealed an alternate path.
This episode of Order From Ashes is the thir...2023-10-1038 minOrder From AshesShia Power: Do Clerics Still Have Authority?On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Marsin Alshamary explains why, despite some setbacks, Shia clerics in Iraq still wield a great deal of authority.
Protest movements have rejected religion in politics, while corrupt politicians have sullied the reputations of religious factions. But clerics and their institutions remain powerful players in Iraqi society even as their roles change.
This episode of Order From Ashes is the second in “Shia Power,” a four-part series about the transformation of Shia politics in Iraq, and what Iraq’s experience teaches us about the role...2023-10-0238 minOrder From AshesShia Power: What’s an Islamist?On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Sajad Jiyad plumbs the complex evolution of Shia Islamism during two decades at the center of Iraqi power.
This episode of Order From Ashes is the first in “Shia Power,” a four-part series about the transformation of Shia politics in Iraq, and what Iraq’s experience teaches us about the role of religion in politics everywhere.
A new edited volume from Century International, Shia Power Comes of Age: The Transformation of Islamist Politics in Iraq, 2003–2023, maps the radical transformation of Shia Islamist politics in...2023-09-2553 minOrder From AshesFacing Iraq’s Climate CatastropheIn a miserable twist for the people who live there, Iraq has become a front-line test lab for the extreme effects of climate change. A combination of forces, accelerated by bad human decisions, has dramatically degraded Iraq’s environment. And Iraq’s experience is a harbinger of what’s coming to the rest of the world.
On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Century International fellow Zeinab Shuker explores the unhappy mix of factors that has made Iraq so inhospitable.
Zeinab is leading “Living the Climate Emergency: Lessons from Iraq,” a new Century Internation...2023-07-1136 minOrder From AshesLebanon’s Botched Economic RescueLebanon’s ruling elites have sabotaged talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which offered the last hope for reforms that could save the country’s economy and improve life for millions of suffering people.
On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, researchers Sami Zoughaib, from The Policy Institute in Lebanon, and Sam Heller, from Century International, reveal how Lebanon’s elites have misled the public on the reality of the country’s dire situation.
Without some course change, Zoughaib and Heller argue, Lebanon will not have the IMF program it needs to halt its...2023-06-1343 minOrder From AshesPower and Power in LebanonThe scramble for electricity has produced new interest groups that will shape the evolution of Lebanon’s decaying power sector, and the country’s future. Lebanese people endure erratic and expensive electricity supplies—not because of some staggering technical challenge but because of corrupt, often criminal, monopolies that control the energy sector.
On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Century International fellow Zachary Cuyler talks about the competing interest groups that reap the benefits of Lebanon’s failed electricity system.
Zack delves deeper into the dysfunction in Lebanon’s electricity sector in his recent Cent...2023-05-0935 min
Military and Defence Policy Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio ShowIn Breaking Iraq, America Broke ItselfBush’s lies gave Trump moral scaffolding; today Americans believe big lies. On this show Thanassis Cambanis, a reporter who was in Iraq at the invasion, details the harm Bush and Cheney did to America. Even Russia gained power from our
The post In Breaking Iraq, America Broke Itself appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.2023-04-0559 minWar Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio ShowIn Breaking Iraq, America Broke ItselfBush’s lies gave Trump moral scaffolding; today Americans believe big lies. On this show Thanassis Cambanis, a reporter who was in Iraq at the invasion, details the harm Bush and Cheney did to America. Even Russia gained power from our
The post In Breaking Iraq, America Broke Itself appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.2023-04-0559 minOrder From AshesA Tale of Two Border TownsThe effort to secure Iraq’s borders after the defeat of ISIS has created other, new sources of instability, as conflict supply chains adapt to new circumstances.
A close look at two border towns in Iraq’s western desert illustrates the law of unintended consequences. The Iraqi government, bordering countries, and the international community moved to more tightly control official border crossings in order to defeat ISIS. As a result, however, militias and smugglers have moved a great deal of commerce, legal and illicit, to other crossing points. In the meantime, people along once-prosperous trade routes suffer priv...2023-04-0436 minOrder From AshesBroken Bonds: Quitting the BrotherhoodMembers have fled the Muslim Brotherhood in droves since its ouster from power in Egypt in 2013, frustrated that the organization can’t take care of them, or provide meaning for their lives. Will the Brotherhood learn the lessons of its failures before its next, inevitable, comeback?
In this final episode of Broken Bonds, Amr ElAfifi explores the Brotherhood’s crisis of membership and the implications for policy.
Some have left the Brotherhood because they’ve lost trust in the leadership; others, because they say the organization “is not being brotherhood enough.” The Brotherhood’s fractious trajectory af...2023-03-0742 minOrder From AshesBroken Bonds: Leaders without LegitimacyThe Muslim Brotherhood is a hierarchical organization suffering a debilitating leadership vacuum. Now, the organization has to reinvent itself while most of its top cadres are in exile, dead, or in jail.
Years after being forced to become a transnational organization because of its leadership’s expulsion from Egypt, the Brotherhood is now at an even more complex crossroads. Its old strategies for managing its relationship with the Egyptian state, and maintaining a quasi-clandestine presence in Egypt, are no longer relevant.
Abdelrahman Ayyash explains the power struggles and inchoate efforts to create a coherent strategy amo...2023-03-0233 minOrder From AshesBroken Bonds: No IdentityEgypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is suffering from an identity crisis, made worse by ongoing, violent state repression. Nearly a century since its founding, the Brotherhood hasn’t reconciled its social and political aims.
Noha Khaled plumbs the first of three crises besetting the Brotherhood: its internal identity conflict over what kind of organization it aspires to be.
Throughout its history, the Brotherhood has struggled to accommodate its mission as a religious and social service network, alongside its ambitions for political power. That ambivalence, or contradiction, forms the cornerstone of the Brotherhood’s ongoing triple crisis.
T...2023-02-2834 minOrder From AshesBroken Bonds: Existential CrisesThe Muslim Brotherhood tries to project an image of grassroots power and disciplined leadership. A trio of researchers takes a different view, describing a once-formidable organization that is under strain and out of touch.
The Brotherhood, they argue, is experiencing multiple crises—of identity, legitimacy, and membership—which accelerated after Egypt’s military coup in July 2013.
Based on unprecedented access to Brotherhood leaders, rank-and-file members, and internal dissenters, the three researchers—Abdelrahman Ayyash, Amr ElAfifi, and Noha Khaled—take a new granular view of the organization.
The Brotherhood and its detractors alike have misunderstoo...2023-02-2342 minOrder From AshesBroken Bonds: My Life as a Muslim BrotherWhat’s it like to come of age in a Muslim Brotherhood family in Egypt’s Nile Delta? Abdelrahman Ayyash recounts his childhood, political awakening, and disenchantment.
Ayyash recounts his early history cocooned in a Brotherhood community that took care of its members’ schooling, moral training, social life, and career counseling. And he recalls with stark frankness his shock, as a young blogger and political activist, at the political rigidity of the movement in which he’d been raised.
Ayyash’s personal journey from a young movement standout to dissident, critical researcher opens Broken Bonds, a five-par...2023-02-2140 minOrder From AshesThe Earthquake, Cholera, and BordersThe catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 had particularly dire consequences for the millions of displaced Syrians living near the epicenter. Many of them have moved multiple times to flee violence. Since September, an outbreak of cholera has rapidly spread across Syria and entered Lebanon. And to make matters worse, international humanitarian aid is only allowed to enter northern Syria through a single border crossing, which is closed because of earthquake damage.
On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast from Century International, Aron Lund discusses Syria’s unending catastrophe, its origins in ba...2023-02-0831 minOrder From AshesIraq’s Heist of the CenturyThis fall, news broke that a web of thieves—including high-level officials—had stolen $2.5 billion in Iraqi government cash. The scam is only the most recent example of systemic corruption perpetrated by Iraq’s elites since 2003. The country’s new government has its work cut out for itself.
On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Sajad Jiyad talks about the sordid theft and the way forward to fight corruption.
Sajad shares more about the origins of Iraq’s consociational system of power sharing, and public graft, in his report “Corruption Is Strangling Iraq.”
Participa...2023-01-1032 minOrder From AshesProgressive Policy: Shrinking America’s Military FootprintAmerica maintains an enormous military infrastructure on the Arabian peninsula and in the Persian Gulf. How should the United States shrink this enormous footprint while continuing to protect its interests and those of its sometimes difficult partners in the region?
On this episode of the Order From Ashes podcast, Becca Wasser considers some of the practical ways in which a progressive-minded United States could shift away from its overinvestment in military bases.
Despite the war in Ukraine and rising tensions with China, the United States retains a massive and problematic military footprint in the Middle...2022-12-1945 min
Demos Helsinki PodcastCitizenship Introduction: A Global Crisis in Citizenship Podcast: Order From Ashes (LS 25 · TOP 10% what is this?)Episode: Citizenship Introduction: A Global Crisis in CitizenshipPub date: 2022-04-25Notes from Demos Helsinki Podcast:A worldwide crisis in citizenship and rights has made it clear that no country’s struggle is entirely exceptional. This episode discusses the connections between the crises in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America.Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationA worldwide crisis in citizenship and rights has made it clear that no count...2022-05-0643 min
POMEPS Middle East Political Science PodcastContested Legitimacies, Digital Authoritarianism, Century International (S. 11, Ep. 30)Jannis Julien Grimm of the Freie University of Berlin joins Marc Lynch on this week's podcast to discuss his new book, Contested Legitimacies: Repression and Revolt in Post-Revolutionary Egypt. The book explores this resilience of contentious politics through a multimethod approach that is attuned to the physical and discursive interactions among key players in Egypt’s protest arena. (Starts at 0:46). Marwa Fatafta of Access Now discusses digital authoritarianism, content moderation, and the potential impact of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. (Starts at 33:13). Thanassis Cambanis of Century International discusses their new project on citizenship, armed groups, and comparing the United States, Eu...2022-05-051h 03Order From AshesCitizenship Introduction: A Global Crisis in CitizenshipA worldwide crisis in citizenship and rights has made it clear that no country’s struggle is entirely exceptional. Today’s episode of Order from Ashes kicks off a new season of the podcast: Transnational Trends in Citizenship.
Today, Naira Antoun, director of Century International’s Transnational Trends in Citizenship project, talks with Century International director Thanassis Cambanis about the connections between the crises in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America.
For more than a year, Century International hosted discussions among experts who usually focus on their own regions—the Middle East or Western Eur...2022-04-2543 minOrder From AshesWar in Ukraine, Pain in SyriaEven while Ukraine is experiencing tremendous suffering and dislocation since the Russian invasion, spillover effects are being felt all over the world. Syria is especially vulnerable, after ten years of war, with Russia as a major player in the Syrian conflict.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, Century International fellows Sam Heller and Aron Lund assess some of the most immediate humanitarian, diplomatic, and military consequences of the Ukraine war for Syria.
Heller’s recent Century International report argues in some detail how humanitarian pressures and increased diplomatic tension are likely to exacerbate hunger and...2022-04-1241 minOrder From AshesMaking Lemonade from the Abraham AccordsA year and a half ago, the historic Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel and four Arab countries—but did little for stability or democracy in the region, much less for Israeli–Palestinian peace. On this episode of Order from Ashes, Century International fellow Dahlia Scheindlin assesses the possibility of salvaging progressive foreign policy goals from the problematic agreements.
A progressive U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East should encourage Israeli–Palestinian peace, reduce militarization, support democracy, and strengthen the rules-based international order. So far, the Abraham Accords have mostly undermined these goals. In a new report...2022-03-0234 min
Security DilemmaDebate: What's Driving the Middle East's New Wave of Diplomacy? (Parsi vs. Cambanis)Diplomacy is breaking out in the Middle East. Traditional rivals like Saudi Arabia and Iran have been sitting down to talk through their differences. Why is this happening?
Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute and several other influential commentators have argued that the United States' drawdown in the region has forced its partners to dial back more confrontational elements in their foreign policies, as they no longer have Uncle Sam backing them up. What's more, Parsi and others argue, there's reason for optimism that this diplomacy can improve things in the region.
Not so, argues...2021-11-111h 01Order From AshesClosing Syria’s Border to AidMillions of Syrians depend on international aid that comes through a single border crossing—aid that depends on an agreement with Russia. Every year, and sometimes more frequently, the UN Security Council fiercely debates its tenuous agreement to keep open aid crossings into Syria. The number of open crossings has steadily diminished, and today, only a single access point remains, at Bab al-Hawa. This year, Russia has suggested it will no longer agree to let UN aid through this crossing after the current UN authorization expires on July 10.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, TCF fellows and Sy...2021-07-0245 minOrder From AshesSyrians Are Going HungrySyria faces an unprecedented food security crisis. Almost 60 percent of the country is now food-insecure, and more than a million Syrians cannot survive without food aid. The crisis has many causes, chief among them the country’s economic collapse and the depreciation of its currency. But disruptions to key imports such as wheat and fuel have also harmed food security. Western sanctions have exacerbated these problems.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, Syria expert Sam Heller discusses the case that Western governments should do what they can to help, even though they have a limited ability to...2021-06-0844 min
Democracy in Question?What is the legacy of Egypt’s Arab Spring, 10 years on?10 years ago anti-government protests in Tunisia sparked a wave of spontaneous uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. The Arab Spring was met with repression by governments in the region, but ultimately led to the ousting of rulers such as Ben Ali in Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. But the hope that these changes would usher a new era of democracy in the region has been belied. Michael Wahid Hanna (International Crisis Group) helps us understand the turbulent events of 2011 in Egypt, what changes t...2021-06-0330 minOrder From AshesIran and Saudi Start to TalkRegional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia have a hand in nearly every hot spot around the Middle East. The two rivals don’t control what happens, but they can play a major role in destabilizing battleground states—or calming tensions. There are many spots ripe for diplomacy: the war in Yemen, the simmering instability in Iraq and Syria, the political crisis in Lebanon.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, we hear Middle East expert Dina Esfandiary and Iraqi analyst Sajad Jiyad about the new round of diplomacy. What has prompted Iran and Saudi Arabia to be will...2021-05-1833 minOrder From AshesThaw Between Turkey and Egypt
Tensions between Egypt and Turkey have run high for nearly a decade. Turkey has hosted Egyptian dissidents and opposition parties since the Egyptian coup in 2013; and the two countries support opposite sides in the Libyan War and have very nearly come into direct military conflict. Both are major U.S. partners, at least on paper: Turkey is a formal treaty ally in NATO, and Egypt is a top recipient of U.S. military aid.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, we hear from Turkey expert Nicholas Danforth and Egypt expert Michael Wahid Hanna about t...2021-03-3046 minOrder From AshesYemen’s Wars at a Turning PointSoon after taking office, President Biden announced that the United States would stop contributing offensive weapons to the war in Yemen. “This war has to end,” the president said. But the complex conflict in Yemen appears, to the contrary, to be heading for a new round of intense fighting, this time around the city of Marib.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, we talk to two analysts who know Yemen intimately: Nadwa al-Dawsari and Peter Salisbury. It might be possible for the United States to wash its hands of the Yemen war, they argue, but ve...2021-03-0947 minOrder From AshesRethinking American Assumptions about the Middle EastOn this episode of Order from Ashes, we talk with Dahlia Dassa Kaye, the lead author of a new RAND Corporation study that advocates a major overhaul of U.S. strategy in the Middle East. Washington can and should jettison legacy arrangements that no longer make sense. Multi-billion dollar military assistance deals with Israel, Egypt, and Jordan were conceived nearly fifty years ago. Big-ticket weapons deals with Arabian monarchies have distorted American policy.
Dassa Kaye argues that the United States can redefine stability and invest in better governance, moving away from dysfunctional partnerships and counterproductive policies. The...2021-03-0241 minOrder From AshesEgypt’s Revolution at 10Ten years ago, the uprising in Tahrir Square toppled Egypt’s dictator and raised hopes for political reform across the Middle East. Great setbacks followed in Egypt, which now suffers under an even more repressive autocracy than the one it overthrew in 2011.
On this episode of Order from Ashes, close observers of Egyptian political life explore the still unfolding legacy of the unsuccessful revolution of 2011. The threat and promise of Egypt’s uprising still makes Egypt’s military dictatorship nervous—and still suggests prospects for future democratic reforms.
Participants include:
Naira Antoun, Mada Masr...2021-02-0945 minOrder From AshesWar Comes HomesCritics of hyper-militarized foreign policy argue that the abuses of America’s war on terror led in a direct line to the January 6 attempt to overturn the presidential election. On this episode of Order from Ashes, two advocates from the grassroots organization Win Without War dissect the connections between unaccountable foreign policy and surging authoritarianism.
Democracy is threatened in the United States because of global trends. Stephen Miles and Kate Kizer argue that deep systemic trends will continue to threaten democracy after Trump’s presidency. A serious attempt at accountability, and an investment in peaceful tools of powe...2021-01-2642 minOrder From AshesAmerica’s Attempted CoupThe challenge to American democracy has called into question some of the country’s deepest assumptions about exceptionalism. Fellows at The Century Foundation have been studying fragile democracy, authoritarianism, and militia rule in the Middle East for decades.
We apply some of the lessons learned from studying authoritarian relapse around the world—from the importance of calling a coup attempt by its proper name, to the limits of the “war on terror” model for dealing with violent insurrectionists and white supremacist terrorism in the United States.
Participants include:
Michael Wahid Hanna, senior fellow, The Century F...2021-01-1939 minOrder From AshesNature and National Security in the Middle EastA fearsome array of climate and environmental woes is straining the Middle East, worsening the existing crisis of poor governance and weak states in the region. On this episode of “Order From Ashes,” we speak to climate researcher Peter Schwartzstein about some of the specific environmental emergencies in the Middle East, and some of the possible solutions.
The United States has many opportunities to incorporate environmental and climate change concerns into all its policymaking. Because of its acute crises of climate, governance, and security, the Middle East is particularly ripe for a new approach.
Drawing on t...2020-12-1739 minOrder From AshesPromoting America’s Devalued DemocracyThe United States always had difficulty squaring its record on the ground in the Middle East with its efforts to promote rights and democracy. It’s even harder after the Trump presidency and a contested election, which featured the sitting president and many Republicans questioning the integrity of the electoral process without any basis in fact.
The Middle East’s long authoritarian relapse increasingly has echoes in the crisis in the United States. On this episode of “Order from Ashes,” we talk with Amy Hawthorne, deputy director for research at the Project on Middle East Democracy...2020-12-0140 minOrder From AshesWhat’s Next for the Muslim Brotherhood?Egypt’s 2013 military coup and crackdown left the Muslim Brotherhood more adrift than ever before in its ninety-two-year history.
With tens of thousands of members surviving in exile in Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood is undergoing new strains. Youth in the diaspora have experimented with new, liberal approaches to life, politics, and religion, pitting them against a rigid and aging Brotherhood leadership.
Abdelrahman Ayyash, author of the recent report, “The Turkish Future of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,” discusses how the Brotherhood has changed under unprecendented repression, and whether it can adapt enough to survive...2020-09-2345 minOrder From AshesCan the U.S. Help Syria Without Helping Assad?Washington, D.C. has been the most generous donor in the world to humanitarian aid efforts for Syrian civilians. But United States policy has also been bent on overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On this episode of “Order from Ashes,” we talk with Syria-watchers Daphne McCurdy and Sam Heller about ways the United States can provide meaningful assistance to Syrian people, without endorsing the Assad regime. With Assad securely in power and the war in Syria largely over, how can the United States balance the conflicting imperatives to stabilize Syria, help civilians, and hold war crimi...2020-08-0342 minOrder From AshesSaudi Arabia’s Disruptor KingMohammed Bin Salman quickly shook up the old sleepy way of doing business in Saudi Arabia when he effectively took power in 2015. He took on the Saudi establishment, sidelining the clergy and other royals. He also quickly spent the international goodwill invested in him with a series of destabilizing moves, including a destructive war in Yemen and the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Now solidly ensconced in power as a crown prince in his early thirties, Mohammed Bin Salman could rule for decades to come, steering the policy of one of the world’s wea...2020-06-2340 minOrder From AshesCOVID-19 Gathers Force in Middle EastAt the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, displaced populations and conflict zones were considered especially vulnerable, driving early fears that the Middle East would be especially hard hit. The first wave of the pandemic shook Iraq and Iran, but the worst fears did not materialize, at least not initially.
Now, however, cases are increasing across the region. The pandemic is straining areas already buckling under sanctions, armed conflict, regional rivalries, corruption, and economic depression. On this episode of Order from Ashes, international affairs researchers at The Century Foundation discuss how the pandemic is accelerating regional crises and w...2020-06-0942 minOrder From AshesLebanon, Neoliberalism's Proving GroundLebanon has served for decades as one of the world’s leading experiments in extreme libertarianism, illustrating what happens to a society with little to no government regulation or social protection.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses of a health system suffering from corruption and gaping inequalities between public and private hospitals. What role have neoliberal international aid demands for austerity and privatization—known as the Washington Consensus—played in setting up Lebanon’s health system for failure? And what does Lebanon’s case show about the need to reinvest in strong public goods?
On this epis...2020-04-2833 minOrder From AshesLessons from the European Union in CrisisThe European Union is the world’s most successful experiment in shared sovereignty, and its biggest, wealthiest social welfare state. It also has struggled with nationalism and fragmentation in the face of crises, from the 2008 global financial meltdown, to the 2015 migration wave and subsequent rise of the far right, to the ongoing stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In what ways has the European model worked, and in what ways has it failed? Only a revived international order can address global problems like health, finance, and climate change. Veteran observers of the European Union discuss the continent’s re...2020-04-0653 minOrder From AshesA New World Order after the Pandemic?The global crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic will prompt a period of reflection and, potentially, a once-in-a-generation chance for sweeping policy change and reform. But the United States and the rest of the world have a checkered record during similar hinge points in modern history.
After World War II, policymakers responded to widespread social collapse and upheaval with bold, visionary investments in a new international and domestic order, spending money on long-term institutions and programs that produced deep and lasting stability. But other critical moments ended up as missed opportunities, characterized by chauvinism and isolationism: the e...2020-03-2338 minOrder From AshesVirus and Oil Price Shocks Buffet the GulfThe COVID-19 epidemic hit Iran and its neighboring countries early, and has tested health systems and governments across the region. A second crisis hit the region in early March, when oil prices plummeted after a decision by oil producers to flood the market. Our guest on this episode, Karen Young, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has been following both crises.
These twin shocks have shaken vulnerable people across a region already buffeted by conflicts and political crises. Countries like Iraq and Iran seem ill-positioned to handle a health emergency—and falling oil prices threaten to ma...2020-03-1833 min
The Beirut BanyanEPISODE 118: Political Reform & Citizenship with Thanassis CambanisWe're joined by Thanassis Cambanis for Episode 118 of The Beirut Banyan, and we discuss the dilemma of weapons beyond state control and the challenges to political and economic reform.
Thanassis shares his views on the political calculations that brought Lebanon to its current economic breakdown, and the potential for a citizenry and social pact that respects universal rights and ensures the protection of various identities throughout the region.
Thanassis is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. He is the author of 'A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel' and co-author of 'Citizenship and...2020-02-171h 02
Order From AshesWhat’s the Price of Giving Up on Human Rights and International Law?During the Cold War, the United States promoted international law and human rights as a way to constrain its global rivals. Since the 1990s, however, Washington has more and more often dispensed with even the rhetorical cover of international law. The United States and its allies have habitually considered themselves exempt from international legal constraints.
The decades since the 2003 invasion of Iraq have witnessed an acceleration of this trend. What is the cost of a full-fledged abandonment of the norms promoted by international law and human rights? International law and Middle East policy scholar Aslı Ü. Bâli dis...2020-02-1138 minOrder From AshesRupture in the Iraq–America partnershipYears of tension and slights between the governments of Iraq and the United States came to a head after the United States breached the terms of its partnership with Iraq with the assassination of a group of government officials outside Baghdad International Airport.
Now Iraq is asking the United States to withdraw its troops, and the United States is threatening sanctions against Iraq—one of its most important strategic partners in the Arab world.
How will this crisis affect security in Iraq and the resurgence of the Islamic State? How much of the relationship can be...2020-01-2837 min
Politics with Amy WalterIran, Impeachment, and IowaAgainst the background of impeachment, heightened tensions with Iran, and the Iowa Caucuses, Astead Herndon of The New York Times and Clare Malone of FiveThirtyEight join Politics with Amy Walter to provide an update on the state of the Democratic Primary.
Plus, Thanassis Cambanis of the Century Foundation analyzes the future of the US-Iran relationship in light of the assassination of Major General Qassim Soleimani and Andrew Clevenger of CQ Roll Call provides context about the War Powers Resolution.
2020-01-1031 min
Order From AshesDubai Ports World and a New Form of ImperialismA new report out today from TCF report examines Gulf expansionism through a case study of the Emirates-based company Dubai Ports World (DP World). This multinational is one of the world’s leading global port operators and logistics giants—and a source of power for the United Arab Emirates.
A close look at its operations in the Horn of Africa reveals the ways that a government can exert control through a modern state-chartered company. A closer look at the operations of DP World also casts light on a key driver of disastrous state fragmentation in the Horn of Af...2019-12-0931 minOrder From AshesA Better Explanation for Powerful Armed Groups: HybridityFrom Libya to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and beyond, countless militias, parties, “brigades,” “forces,” “battalions,” and “detachments” have emerged to directly challenge the formal state.
These groups form a new category of actor, which draws power from the state, and at the same time competes with the state or even undermines it. The authors of a new report from The Century Foundation discuss the concept of “hybrid actor,” which allows us to make better sense of the pivotal players in conflict zones and shaky states across the Middle East, and beyond.
Participants include:
Renad Mansour, research fell...2019-11-2534 minOrder From AshesHow Is Iraq Managing Its Oil?Iraq is the second-largest OPEC oil producer, believed to have huge unexploited reserves that will make the country increasingly rich as it modernizes its decrepit energy infrastructure.
Iraq holds a strategic position at the center of regional rivalries, and is perhaps the only country that maintains close security, political, and economic relations with Iran, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other competing powers. The underdeveloped oil sector underlies much of Iraq’s significance, wealth, and potential power in the region.
An expert in Iraq’s oil sector and the international companies that compete for contracts in Iraq, Samya Kullab gives an over...2019-11-0533 minOrder From AshesPopular Protest Redux in Iraq and EgyptNearly a decade after the Arab uprisings gripped the region, large-scale protests have broken out in Iraq and Egypt. In Iraq, arguably one of the most open political systems in the Arab world, authorities struck the protesters with surprising levels of violence. In Egypt, the surprise was that protests took place at all, given the historic levels of authoritarian repression.
What do the protests reveal about state failure—and what kind of pressure do they exert on governments to change? Iraq and Egypt, like many governments in the region, have rigid systems that appear incapable of serious ch...2019-10-1444 minOrder From AshesReviving the United NationsThis podcast is part of an ongoing TCF series that explores progressive policy proposals for America’s most pressing international priorities.
The United States is by far the most significant donor to the United Nations and has, for much of the UN’s history, been one of its primary boosters. American support for the United Nations has fluctuated, and, since President Trump took office, has plummeted. But Washington’s love-hate relationship with the United Nations and with the compromises and niceties of international diplomacy predates Trump, and has come in for bipartisan criticism.
However, a pressi...2019-09-3036 minOrder From AshesRethinking Israel–Palestine’s Stifling Status QuoThis podcast is part of an ongoing TCF series that explores progressive policy proposals for America’s most pressing international priorities.
On this podcast, we learn about the shifting views of Israelis and Palestinians, and the different visions of the future that they are considering in addition to the two states envisioned in the Oslo Accords—including confederation, a single state, annexation, and indefinite occupation.
Politics in Israel–Palestine can seem unpredictable, but some long-term trends are clear. The Israeli electorate has moved decisively to the right, and support for a “two-state solution” has fallen to historic...2019-09-0342 minOrder From AshesDowngrading America’s Commitments in the Middle EastThis podcast is part of an ongoing TCF series that explores progressive policy proposals for America’s most pressing international priorities.
America has had an inflated military presence since 9/11, especially in the Middle East. Defense budgets are historically bloated, and policymakers have avoided making choices about closing bases and reducing troop deployments.
Political support is waning for the forever war and politicians from both major American parties agree that the United States needs to scale back its global military entanglements and set real priorities. The Middle East, many of them say, has occupied policy attention tha...2019-08-1344 minOrder From AshesA Smarter Iran PolicyThis podcast is part of an ongoing TCF series that explores progressive policy proposals for America’s most pressing international priorities.
As part of our running series exploring in detail what an alternative progressive U.S. foreign policy would look like, on this episode of TCF World we turn to Iran. We analyze what an effective foreign policy toward Iran should look like, taking into account Iran’s destabilizing record of expansion and militarism in the Middle East.
Tensions with Iran are as high as they’ve been in decades, after U.S. President Donald J. Tru...2019-07-1847 minOrder From AshesDefining a Progressive Middle East PolicyProgressives still have to figure out how to translate into policy widely shared concerns with global inequality, authoritarianism, climate change, and reflexive militarism. In this episode, Thanassis Cambanis, Michael Wahid Hanna, and Daniel Benaim discuss the contours of a future progressive foreign policy in the Middle East, what’s missing from the current debates, and the limits of American power.
Participants include:
Thanassis Cambanis, senior fellow, The Century Foundation
Michael Wahid Hanna, senior fellow, The Century Foundation
Daniel Benaim, senior fellow, Center for American Progress, and visiting assistant professor, New York University
2019-06-1747 minOrder From AshesKurdish Nationalism at an ImpasseDespite enjoying more autonomy than other parts of Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan is losing its position as the center of gravity for Kurdish nationalism. The unwillingness of Kurdish elites to relinquish their power, economic crisis, and regional instability have made political evolution all the more difficult. As a result, Kurdish society and young Kurds in particular are disengaging from the political process. In this podcast, two researchers who conducted extensive fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan discuss the current political impasse of Kurdish nationalism. They argue for a new social contract that provides rights based on citizenship rather than party affiliation or...2019-04-2931 minOrder From AshesUniversal and Minority Rights in the Middle EastThe question of universal rights in the Middle East is a delicate one. As pluralism and rights come under threat from communal violence, authoritarianism, and religious identity politics, the call for universal rights becomes even more necessary. Yet marginalized groups face unique challenges that set them apart from the wider population. Our guests discuss the basis of rights and how to create inclusive forms of citizenship. The biggest challenge they contemplate is how to push for universal rights without erasing difference.
This podcast is part of “Citizenship and Its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism, and Inclusion in...2019-04-0926 minOrder From AshesThe Caliphate’s Last StandAt the end of March, the last die-hard supporters of the Islamic State were driven out of the final remnant of a once-sprawling territorial caliphate encompassing vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb covered the end of this phase of the Islamic State at the remote riverbank hamlet of Baghouz.
The group’s territory is gone, but the followers that El Deeb interviewed have not given up their allegiance to the violent group and its extreme, nihilistic ideology. El Deeb discusses the conundrum of what to do with thousands of captured Islamic St...2019-03-2631 min
On the Issues with Alon Ben-MeirOn the Issues Episode 54: Thanassis CambanisThanassis Cambanis is an author, journalist and fellow at The Century Foundation, who specializes in the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. He is co-director of TCF’s “Arab Politics beyond the Uprisings.” His most recent book, Once Upon A Revolution: An Egyptian Story (Simon and Schuster: 2015), chronicles Egyptian efforts to create a new political order. His first book, A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel, was published in 2010. He writes “The Internationalist” column for The Boston Globe Ideas, and regularly contributes to The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and The New York Times.
He has taugh...2019-02-0535 minOrder From AshesIran after the Broken DealLast year, the much-vaunted Iran nuclear deal fell apart when President Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement, imposed new sanctions, and pressured American allies to stop doing business with Iran. With Trump’s policy now seemingly settled, what is going to become of Iran’s relations with Europe and other major powers, such as Russia and China? On this episode, Dina Esfandiary examines the challenges Iran faces with regional and global powers following the United States’ withdrawal from the Iran deal.
Dina Esfandiary is a fellow at The Century Foundation. Her research focuses on Persia...2019-01-0831 minOrder From AshesThe Difficulty of Reporting from Assad’s SyriaIt’s always been a challenge to conduct independent research and journalism in Syria, where the government’s network of secret police and informants tightly monitor all conversations. Since the uprising and conflict that began in 2011, it’s only become harder to gather information in Assad’s Syria.
Nabih Bulos, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, discusses the difficulties of reporting on the Syrian conflict from government-controlled areas. He recently travelled to the Syrian cities of Damascus, Mhardeh, and Quneitra, as well as to the Ghouta region. On this episode of TCF World, Nabih speaks about th...2018-12-1831 minOrder From AshesThe Challenges of Defending Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy Whenever policymakers have tried to place human rights at the center of American foreign policy, they frequently find themselves trading them away for other strategic goals—or facing accusations of hypocrisy. How can we make human rights take center stage?
Sarah Margon, the Washington director for Human Rights Watch, discusses the complicated relationship between American foreign policy and human rights. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, the United States has cultivated an ambiguous relationship to the issue of human rights. Since September 11, human rights discourse has been marginalized more than ever, despite the steady ef...2018-12-0436 minOrder From AshesThe Overlapping Wars in Yemen—and U.S. Complicity in CatastropheThe Saudi-led coalition has led a brutal air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015. The result has been a tremendous humanitarian catastrophe, with 50,000 dead, millions on the brink of starvation, and a deadly outbreak of cholera in 2016. The dire situation has also been exacerbated by the continuation and intensification of two overlapping wars—the U.S. war against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State, and an intractable, multi-sided civil war. While the United States has demonstrated some desire to distance itself from the Yemen war, the Saudi-led coalition has intensified its battle over the po...2018-11-1540 min
Order From AshesIraq’s New Government, and Rebuilding SyriaIraq is finally forming a new government after its elections in May, and faces a daunting crisis of governance and corruption. A frustrated electorate has high, perhaps unrealistic, expectations that the new government will transition from a system of redistribution based on sectarian identity to one rooted in accountability, institutions of oversight, and cross-ethnic and cross-sectarian alliances.
Maria Fantappie, a senior advisor for the International Crisis Group, discusses the long-standing stalemate within the Iraqi parliament and the deleterious impact of competition between the United States and Iran. She argues that the next four years are likely to...2018-10-1633 minOrder From AshesBasra Protests Shake Iraqi Status QuoSeptember’s mass protests in Basra shook Iraq’s government all the way to the top—and perhaps mark a new phase in Iraq’s popular politics. In a brief wave of demonstrations, residents of Basra attacked government buildings, militia headquarters, and the Iranian consulate: symbols of the corruption that has kept their city poor, polluted, and starved of public services, despite the fact that it produces most of Iraq’s oil.
Tamer El-Ghobashy covered the protests in Basra, and here discusses why Iraq’s second city reached a breaking point. He also reflects on the decidedly post-sectari...2018-09-2526 minOrder From AshesHow Germany Is Integrating One Million Syrian RefugeesGermany is more than three years into a massive human and policy experiment, figuring out how best to integrate mor- e than one million Syrian asylum seekers. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Syrian refugees and others fleeing conflict zones—partly on humanitarian grounds, and partly as a bet that an influx of motivated young workers might rejuvenate the economy.
Lily Hindy traveled to Germany and interviewed dozens of people involved in this great social engineering project, from Syrian refugee families to vocational instructors to government officials. She shared her findings in a multimedia TCF report. She found that Ge...2018-09-1135 minOrder From AshesNew thinking about American liberal foreign policyLiberal internationalists (from all over the American political spectrum) have responded with horror to President Trump’s broadsides against the very idea of alliances and international cooperation. But the president’s questioning of the principles of the United Nations and NATO have raised doubts within the internationalist foreign policy elite. How effective are international institutions, agreements and alliances? Was there really a golden age—an international liberal order—that lasted from the end of World War II until the inauguration of Trump, during which generous American stewardship produced prosperity and stability?
Paul Staniland has joined the debate with a f...2018-08-2133 minOrder From AshesHow to Research Lebanon’s Youth Problem (and Other Questions)Aya Fatima Chamseddine has been exploring the ways that Lebanese youth get indoctrinated into armed militant groups—or trapped in dead-end jobs that encourage them to join dead-end sectarian political parties, or flee the country. Her path-breaking reports for Synaps brought the voices of her research subjects to life, shedding light on thorny policy questions with a narrative flair. What is the “youth problem” in the Arab world, and is it really that different than in the rest of the world?
Synaps is a new research collective based in Beirut and founded by veteran policy analyst Peter Harlin...2018-07-2331 minOrder From AshesRecruiting militants: Greed or grievance?The growing power of armed groups in the Middle East has raised an old question: how do militants recruit new constituents? Researchers have long debated the relative merits of ideology versus services as drivers of militant groups (an argument dubbed “greed vs. grievance”).
Developments in Iraq and Lebanon have given us a better understanding of the interplay of ideas and material rewards for militia recruitment. Legacy militia groups like Hezbollah have been joined by relative newcomers like Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (“Hashd al Shaabi”) at the epicenter of power. On this podcast, Renad Mansour, a leading expert on I...2018-06-2027 minOrder From AshesIran in IraqAs tensions flare between Iran and the United States, TCF takes a look at Iran’s record in Iraq. Some critics of American policy say that Washington “lost Iraq,” and paint Tehran as a master puppeteer controlling every development in the country.
Two scholars of Iran and Iraq examine the situation, and the picture they paint is decidedly more mixed. On this podcast they discuss Iran’s missteps, as well as the ways it has successfully extended its power in the MIddle East. Iran might have edged out the United States in Iraq, for now, but it hasn’t e...2018-06-0827 minOrder From AshesDo Elections Help or Hurt Middle-East Democracy?Another season of elections is upon the Middle East. Egypt’s presidential election appeared anything but free, as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi renewed his authoritarian mandate and squelched even the appearance of competition. In contrast, both Lebanon and Iraq are hosting freewheeling parliamentary campaigns, with elections coming in both countries in May.
How much do these electoral contests serve to bring more democracy? Status-quo players have learned how to navigate the electoral process without engaging in any significant reform or opening—whether outright authoritarians like Egypt’s Sisi, or more complex but profoundly undemocratic warlords and demagogues like m...2018-04-1929 minOrder From AshesBridging the Middle East’s Security GulfThere seem to be fewer and fewer opportunities to build relationships between adversarial governments in the Middle East region. Even the faint promise that briefly flared during the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program has faded. Today, the Middle East has fewer communications channels and institutional forums than any other region in the world.
Dalia Dassa Kaye and David Griffiths debate some of the incremental possibilities to begin constructing (or reconstructing) the region’s security architecture. If expectations are kept low and governments are willing to improvise, these researchers suggest there are prospects to establish rudimentary security arch...2018-04-0632 min
Beyond the HeadlinesThe US welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin SalmanSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United States on an official visit this week. The already strong relationship between the two countries is being reinforced during meetings with President Donald Trump and senior officials. He will then look to engage other aspects of his Vision 2030 in trips to Silicon Valley and other parts of he US.
We talked to Joyce Karam, our Washington correspondent, who was present during Saudi embassy briefings and has been talking to insiders in the capital on what the trip means for bilateral relations.
We were also joined by Thanassis Cambanis, a senior...2018-03-2125 min
Beyond the HeadlinesThe US welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin SalmanSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United States on an official visit this week. The already strong relationship between the two countries is being reinforced during meetings with President Donald Trump and senior officials. He will then look to engage other aspects of his Vision 2030 in trips to Silicon Valley and other parts of he US.
We talked to Joyce Karam, our Washington correspondent, who was present during Saudi embassy briefings and has been talking to insiders in the capital on what the trip means for bilateral relations.
We were also joined...2018-03-2125 minOrder From AshesIraq’s Militia Problem and A Dangerous Point in SyriaIraq’s Popular Mobilization Units played a pivotal role in defeating the Islamic State and are positioned to reap a greater share of power in the upcoming May elections. Fanar Haddad argues that the militias — while newly popular — are an old phenomena. Iraq has struggled to consolidate state authority and grapple with militia politics at least since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003. Today’s problems are thorny, but don’t necessarily mark a watershed.
Also in this episode, Aron Lund discusses the latest developments in Syria, where a war that is supposed to be entering its final phase is pr...2018-03-0738 minOrder From AshesWhy We Shouldn’t Expect an Arab NATO
There have been repeated, failed efforts over the decades to assemble some kind of Middle Eastern regional security force, something like an “Arab NATO.” Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, examines those initiatives all the way to the present. Grand initiatives are impossible, he argues, but small-scale, piecemeal, and tactical efforts to build cooperation among Arab security forces might make headway. America’s role remains important because of its deep bilateral security ties with so many Middle Eastern governments.
Meanwhile, the Arab states of the Gulf are enjoying warm relations with th...2018-01-3132 minOrder From AshesDealing with Iran and Rebalancing American InterestsFrom America’s vantage point, Iran is a primary source of destabilizing intervention across the Middle East. But Iran, like other states, much of the time is pursuing its own interests and trying to manage what it perceives as security threats. Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at King’s College London, talks about the view from Tehran, where the nuclear deal isn’t perceived a windfall or a free lunch. She proposes some ways to better manage Iran’s fears as well as its provocations.
In the second segment of this podcast, former U.S. government official and current...2018-01-2434 minOrder From AshesSecurity Architecture in the Middle EastWhy does the Middle East lag behind every other region in the world in security architecture? What is security architecture?
The Century Foundation has launched the results of a multi-year research project, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, that examines the Middle East’s current regional security environment at a time of perhaps unprecedented turmoil and instability.
In this podcast, TCF senior fellows Michael Wahid Hanna and Thanassis Cambanis discuss the findings in Order from Ashes: New Foundations for Security in the Middle East, which will be released online beginning January 2018 and in bo...2018-01-1629 minOrder From AshesWho Cares About A Faraway Siege?It’s been a year since the dramatic siege and fall of Aleppo, and another part of Syria suffers under blockade: Eastern Ghouta, on the flank of Damascus, where an estimated 400,000 civilians languish under arguably worse conditions than Aleppo experience, but with little international attention.
Syrian activist Marcell Shehwaro was at the center of the popular uprising in Aleppo, and won a reputation as an unflagging supporter of civil society and a critic of abuses by the government and also by rebel militias. Today she is working from Beirut to give voice to her fellow citizens trapped in...2017-12-2140 minOrder From AshesA Post-American WorldDonald Trump's presidency has brought into stark relief questions about America's role and standing in the world. Author Suzy Hansen has spent a decade investigating America's complicated relationship with the Islamic world.
She unspools some of the delusions and denials that undergird America's troubling foreign policy, and asks how it's possible to be a progressive at home and in the world in her new book, "Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World." TCF talks to Suzy Hansen in Istanbul.
Participants include:
Suzy Hansen is contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and has written fo...2017-12-0821 minOrder From AshesTalking with Syrian ExilesMore than five million Syrians, over one-fifth of the country’s prewar population, have left their homeland since the uprisings began in 2011. As President Bashar al-Assad claims victory and reconstruction talks ensue, many of these exiles, refugees, and émigrés see no possibilities for return.
On November 30, The Century Foundation published a report on national identity and belonging among Syrian exiles by TCF Foreign Policy associates Lily Hindy and Sima Ghaddar, based on their series of extended narrative interviews with displaced Syrians in Lebanon, Europe, and the United States.
Participants include:
Thanassis Cambanis, Senior Fellow...2017-11-3024 minOrder From AshesIraq after the Kurdish referendumThe Kurdish drive for independence has foundered and Iraq has reestablished control over disputed areas. Ethnic strains remain, and political divisions are flaring within Iraq’s major communities.
How much control does Iran really have over Iraq? Can Iraqi prime minister Haidar al-Abadi maintain his balancing act, keeping Iran and the United States both on his side, and avoiding dangerous strongman overreach?
We speak in Beirut with Renad Mansour, a research fellow at Chatham House, and Christine van den Toorn, director of the Institute of Regional and International Studies at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.
Participants include:
Renad Mansour, research fellow...2017-11-0934 minOrder From AshesSyria's Next PhaseAs Syria’s conflict settles decisively into a new phase, much of the fight has moved to diplomatic salons. Reconstruction and normalization are the biggest questions of the day. If Syria is to be rebuilt, who will pay? If Bashar al-Assad wins the civil war outright, will the foreign governments that opposed him now change tack and reestablish full diplomatic relations?
These questions frame the Syrian government’s diplomatic agenda, as it tries to leverage battlefield gains to reap lasting political dividends. Western governments are perplexed, as they ponder whether and how to continue their opposition to Assad.
Participants include:
Thanass...2017-10-2027 minOrder From AshesPress Freedom in EgyptEgypt is enduring the harshest crackdown on civil liberties and political freedom in its modern history. As media outlets, civic institutions, and political parties buckle or vanish under inordinate pressure, Mada Masr has managed to maintain a small space for free expression, publishing critical and engaging content in Arabic and English.
Founder and editor Lina Attalah, speaking in Cairo, discusses the risks and challenges of editing a publication that regularly publishes stories irksome to the government. She also discusses Mada’s experiments with collective management and reader engagement, as the publication seeks to succeed as a journalism business.
List of part...2017-10-2017 minOrder From AshesHezbollah and Iran's RoadHas Iran secured a path to the Mediterranean, as some analysts and politicians claim? What is Hezbollah doing these days inside Syria? The Century Foundation’s foreign policy team considers some of the more alarming analysis of Hezbollah and Iran’s position.
Tehran and its Lebanese partner have achieved many of their aims in Syria, changing the strategic playing field — although some of the threat assessments seem inflated.
Participants include:
Thanassis Cambanis, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation
Sima Ghaddar, Policy Associate, The Century Foundation
Michael Wahid Hanna, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation
Aron Lund, Fellow, The Century Foundation
Sam Heller, Fellow, T...2017-10-1217 minOrder From AshesDemythologize ISISIn TCF World’s inaugural podcast episode, Century Foundation fellows Thanassis Cambanis, Michael Wahid Hanna, Aron Lund, and Sam Heller try to put to rest some of the mythology and exaggerations that have grown up around the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). After three years of power in a self-declared caliphate, ISIS is on the run from Mosul, its capital in Iraq, and is on the verge of defeat in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa. Nonetheless, many commentators and U.S. policymakers still contend that ISIS is as powerful as ever, and is winning even while appearing to lose.
The...2017-10-1211 min
Download Audiobook in Newspapers & Magazines, News & CultureMichel Aoun Rises to Lebanese Presidency, Ending Power Vacuum by Thanassis Cambanis | Free AudiobookListen to full audiobooks for free on :https://hotaudiobook.com/freeTitle: Michel Aoun Rises to Lebanese Presidency, Ending Power Vacuum
Author: Thanassis Cambanis
Narrator: Fleet Cooper
Format: Unabridged
Length: 4 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-01-16
Publisher: The New York Times
Genres: Newspapers & Magazines, News & Culture
Summary:
"Michel Aoun Rises to Lebanese Presidency, Ending Power Vacuum" is from the October 31, 2016 US section of The New York Times. It was written by Thanassis Cambanis and narrated by Fleet Cooper.
©2016 The New York Times News Service Division of The New York Times Company (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Contact: info@hotaudiobook.com2016-11-0104 min
POMEPS Middle East Political Science PodcastPOMEPS Conversations: Michael Wahid Hanna & Thanassis Cambanis (S. 4, Ep. 2)The George Washington University's Marc Lynch, director of the Project on Middle East Political Science, with Michael Wahid Hanna & Thanassis Cambanis of The Century Foundation. They talk about the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution on January 25, and the challenges facing Egypt today.2016-01-2019 min
Inside MediaState of World Press FreedomPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dana Priest moderates a panel that includes Kevin Kallaugher, a political cartoonist at The Economist and winner of the 2015 Herblock Prize for political cartooning; Thanassis Cambanis, a Middle East correspondent and author of “Once Upon a Revolution”; and Vanessa Tucker, vice president for analysis at Freedom House, an independent organization that promotes freedom around the world.2015-04-2956 min
Talk CocktailThe Legacy of Tahrir Square...Four years laterRevolutions are hard AND exciting. They combine courage and new ideas and the excitement of once in a generation change. However what’s even harder, is what comes next. The way in which the apogee of a moment of revolutionary fervor sticks and is translated into changes in government and in bureaucratic institutions. And perhaps most importantly, the way in which the multilateral ideas of the divergent revolutionaries come together to shape it, accommodate and compromise.
We know from our own American revolution how difficult that can be. Think about it. We are still impacted by mistakes or compromises ma...2015-01-2722 min
PRI's The World: 22nd February, 2013Hezbollah's Role in Syria's Civil WarSyria's opposition claims the government in Damascus is working with the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. Anchor Aaron Schachter finds out more from Thanassis Cambanis, a fellow with The Century Foundation who has written extensively about Hezbollah.2013-02-2204 min
Chris RibackThanassis Cambanis, The Century Foundation (6-30-12)Just a over a year since the famed Arab Spring blossomed in the Middle East -- and notably in Cairo’s Tahrir Square -- Egypt today swore in Mohamed Morsi as the country’s first democratically-elected and civilian leader. It’s an event that would have been hard to imagine only 18 months ago. Does today mark a hopeful, first step towards true democracy, not only in Egypt, but in the region -- or, is the electing of the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate the first step towards Islamist law in this important country. And all of this, of course, in the shadow o...2012-10-0216 min
How to Get Audiobook in Radio & TV, Great InterviewsCharlie Rose: Dexter Filkins, David Walker, Martin Feldstein, and Thanassis Cambanis, November 11, 2010 by Charlie Rose | Free AudiobookListen to full audiobooks for free on :https://hotaudiobook.com/freeTitle: Charlie Rose: Dexter Filkins, David Walker, Martin Feldstein, and Thanassis Cambanis, November 11, 2010
Author: Charlie Rose
Narrator: Charlie Rose
Format: Original Recording
Length: 55 mins
Language: English
Release date: 11-11-10
Publisher: Charlie Rose Show
Genres: Radio & TV, Great Interviews
Summary:
A conversation about Afghanistan with Dexter Filkins of The New York Times. Then, banker David Walker and economist Martin Feldstein in a discussion of the federal deficit. And finally, a conversation with Thanassis Cambanis, who reports for The New York Times from Beirut. [Broadcast Date: November 11, 2010]
Contact: info@hotaudiobook.com2010-11-1155 min