Lebanon: “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”
Summary: the business and sectarian elites that rule Lebanon, aided and abetted by Iran and Syria, are behaving with predictable selfishness.
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BENGHAZI! A New History of the Fiasco That Pushed America and Its World to the Brink
Summary: a book just out takes a fresh look at the Benghazi attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya and became a political cudgel rather than an object lesson in the failures of US foreign policy and diplomacy.
Putin, Israel and a tarnished Middle East reputation
RUSI associate fellow Samuel Ramani joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss Putin’s flagging image in the Middle East, how his stratagems in Libya and Syria are playing out, relations with the Israelis as Netanyahu returns, Türkiye’s role in getting grain moving again and how the Middle East is weighing up its relationship with a leader who in provoking a war has stumbled badly.
Lebanon: time to end the plunder
Arab Digest editor William Law’s guest this week is Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the London-based think tank Chatham House. Their conversation focusses on the political and business elites that are plundering Lebanon. Ordinary people are suffering huge deprivation, with 80% of the population now below the poverty line, as the economic crisis caused by the insatiable greed of the elites grows ever deeper.
The ‘Global Mufti’ Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi 1926-2022
Summary: Sheikh al-Qaradawi has died leaving behind a complex and controversial legacy.
MENA and a rout of the Russians
Summary: as the Russian army continues its chaotic retreat, questions are being asked, opportunities being examined as Putin’s warrior image takes a heavy beating.
Fox in the Henhouse: INTERPOL’s Counternarcotics Engagement with Syria
Summary: the decision to bring Syria back into the Interpol fold has serious and long-term consequences as the battle to contain the captagon trade in the Gulf and the wider Middle East intensifies.
The Arab Digest Podcast Top Ten Countdown: number 2
At number 2 in the all-time top ten is Christopher Davidson’s podcast Putin’s war plays well with MENA authoritarians which aired 1 April, 2022. Chris is an academic and author of several books on the politics and foreign affairs of the Gulf states and a regular contributor to the Arab Digest newsletter. His latest book published by Hurst is titled From Sheikhs to Sultanism.
The Arab Digest Podcast Top Ten Countdown: number 3
Number 3 in the top ten is a podcast that aired 28 May 2021. It featured Aslı Aydıntaşbaş and Cinzia Bianco. Aslı is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and Cinzia is a Visiting Fellow at the Council. They co-authored the paper, “Useful Enemies – How the Turkey-UAE rivalry is remaking the Middle East”.
Reconciliation between Iran and Jordan: motivations and incentives
Summary: Jordan sees in a cautious rapprochement with Iran an opportunity to improve strained relations with the GCC and to find a way out of its economic crisis.