Podcasts · Government · Society & Culture

Babel: Translating the Middle East

Center for Strategic and International Studies

284 episodes

Babel will take you beyond the headlines to discuss what’s really happening in the Middle East and North Africa. It features regional experts who explain what’s going on, provide context on pivotal developments, and highlight trends you may have missed. Jon Alterman, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, hosts the podcast along with his colleagues from the Middle East Program. This podcast is made possible through the generous support of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. All views, positions, and conclusions expressed here should be understood to be solely of those of the speaker(s).

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Babel Special: Jon Alterman's Next Chapter

    · 35 min · S8 E70

    This week on a special edition of Babel, Will Todman speaks with Jon Alterman, the creator of Babel and the show’s host since it began in 2019. They discuss Jon’s reflections on 22 years directing the CSIS Middle East…

  2. Mohanad Hage Ali: Hezbollah and the Captagon Trade

    · 50 min · S8 E69

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mohanad's latest paper for Carnegie investigates the rise of a new form of…

  3. Analysis: Will Trump’s Houthi Deal Stick?

    · 6:13 · S8 E68

    On Tuesday, May 6, President Trump declared that the United States would immediately halt its bombing of Houthi targets, bringing an end to months of intensified U.S. strikes across Yemen. The president linked the…

  4. Dina Esfandiary: Will Iran Make a Deal with Trump?

    · 42 min · S8 E67

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dina Esfandiary, the Middle East Geoeconomics Lead at Bloomberg. Previously, Dr. Esfandiary served as a senior adviser for the Middle East and North Africa at the…

  5. Analysis: Trump’s Novel Middle East Diplomacy

    · 6:30 · S8 E66

    The United States is currently engaged in several high-stakes negotiations across the Middle East and around the world. President Trump has departed from traditional diplomatic norms, opting instead for unconventional…

  6. Craig Larkin: The Politics of Memory, From Mosul to Beirut to Gaza

    · 41 min · S8 E65

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Craig Larkin, director of the Center for the Study of Divided Societies at King’s College London. Dr. Larkin is also a research lead on Memory and Conflict for XCEPT, a…

  7. Analysis: Iran, Deal or No Deal?

    · 6:10 · S8 E64

    While seated beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 7, President Trump announced that the United States will imminently initiate talks with Iran over its nuclear program. The announcement comes amid…

  8. Dahlia Scheindlin: Israel’s Political Turmoil

    · 34 min · S8 E63

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based political analyst and Haaretz columnist. Scheindlin also serves as a fellow at Century International and has advised on eight…

  9. Analysis: Trump Takes on the Houthis

    · 6:26 · S8 E62

    On March 15, the United States launched a wave of attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen. The Trump administration had pledged to step up efforts initiated by President Biden to combat Houthi assaults on commercial…

  10. Nicolas Pelham: Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syria’s Future

    · 47 min · S8 E61

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Nicolas Pelham, the Middle East correspondent for The Economist. Nicolas has worked in the Middle East and North Africa for more than 30 years and has reported from every…

  11. Renad Mansour and Sanam Vakil: Iranian Networks in the Middle East

    · 47 min · S8 E60

    On March 4, Jon Alterman spoke with Renad Mansour, senior research fellow and director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House, and Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House,…

  12. Analysis: Trump’s Middle East Strategy

    · 6:31 · S8 E59

    On Tuesday night, President Trump delivered the first broadcast address of his second term to Congress. Though his remarks on the Middle East were sparing and largely expected, U.S. policy in the region has largely…

  13. Max Bergmann: Does Europe Matter in the Middle East?

    · 29 min · S8 E58

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Max Bergmann, head of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at CSIS. Previously, Max held a variety of positions at the State Department, including senior adviser to the…

  14. Analysis: Are U.S.-Russia Talks a Win for the Saudis?

    · 4:49 · S8 E57

    On Tuesday this week, Saudi Arabia hosted the first set of high-level talks between the United States and Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Saudi Arabia’s role in facilitating the negotiations has drawn…

  15. Alessandro Accorsi: Disinformation Warfare in the Middle East

    · 43 min · S8 E56

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Alessandro Accorsi, a senior analyst for social media and conflict at the International Crisis Group. Prior to joining ICG, he worked for five years at the European External…

  16. Analysis: Netanyahu Comes to Washington

    · 4:37 · S8 E55

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is President Trump’s first foreign visitor since he re-entered the White House in January. The two men will meet Tuesday night, and Netanyahu will also meet key members of the…

  17. Sinem Adar: Turkey's Syria Challenge

    · 38 min · S8 E54

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Sinem Adar, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), where she works at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies. Together, they…

  18. Analysis: Gaza Peace?

    · 7:54 · S8 E53

    Last Sunday, Hamas released three female Israeli hostages that it had kidnapped on October 7, in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. The deal was the first step in the first phase of a three-phase…

  19. eL Seed: Arabic Calligraffiti

    · 33 min · S8 E52

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with eL Seed, an award-winning French-Tunisian artist whose monumental artwork blending the styles of Arabic calligraphy and graffiti is spreading in the Arab world and far…

  20. Analysis: Syria’s Bid for Sanctions Relief

    · 8:14 · S8 E51

    Just a month after Bashar al-Assad fell in Syria, the country is in the midst of a swirl of regional diplomacy. The new Syrian foreign minister is on another regional swing, and the foreign ministers of Germany and…

  21. Special: Syria's Post-Assad Scramble

    · 28 min · S8 E50

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Will Todman and Natasha Hall, senior fellows at the CSIS Middle East Program, for a special episode on the sudden collapse of the Assad regime and what will replace it.…

  22. Max Gallien: Black Markets of the Maghreb

    · 34 min · S8 E49

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Max Gallien, a political scientist specializing in informal and illegal economies and North African politics. He is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies…

  23. Analysis: The Regional Fallout of Syria's Unrest

    · 9:03 · S8 E48

    Last weekend, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate with a base in northwest Syria, launched a surprise offensive. The rebels captured Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and headed toward Homs and…

  24. Arwa Damon: Gaza's Wounds

    · 39 min · S8 E47

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Arwa Damon, a former CNN international correspondent and founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance (INARA). She talks with Jon from Gaza.…

  25. Analysis: Saudi Arabia's Economic Plans Stumble

    · 4:15 · S8 E46

    One pillar of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 development plan is NEOM, a land development, tourism, and model city project that is projected to cost at least a half a trillion dollars. Last week, NEOM’s CEO left…

  26. Mohammad Ali Shabani: Iran After October 7

    · 44 min · S8 E45

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media, a London-based news site focusing on Iran, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula countries. Together, they discuss Iran’s regional…

  27. Analysis: Israel Hits Iran

    · 5:12 · S8 E44

    Just over a week ago, Israel conducted multiple waves of airstrikes against military sites in Iran. These strikes were in response to Iran launching a barrage of ballistic missiles against Israel a few weeks prior,…

  28. Amjad Iraqi: The Future of Palestinians in Israel

    · 41 min · S8 E43

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Amjad Iraqi, a senior editor at +972 Magazine and an associate fellow with Chatham House. He is also affiliated with Al-Shabaka, an online Palestinian policy network.…

  29. Analysis: Israel's Trajectory

    · 5:37 · S8 E42

    Last week, Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and one of the main architects of the October 7th attack. Less than a month earlier, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah for…

  30. Lina Khatib: War Spreads to Lebanon

    · 35 min · S8 E41

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Lina Khatib, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, which she led for seven years and where they first met. Together, they…

  31. Analysis: Israel's Ground Invasion into Lebanon

    · 6:25 · S8 E40

    One year after the tragedy of October 7th, Israel has launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon to counter Hezbollah. Although it remains unclear how far Israel intends to send troops into Lebanon, Israel has…

  32. Peter Schwartzstein: Climate Violence in the Middle East

    · 36 min · S8 E39

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Peter Schwartzstein, an environmental journalist who reports on water, food security, and the conflict-climate nexus in around 30 countries, mainly in the Middle East and…

  33. Analysis: Israel-Hezbollah Escalation

    · 5:37 · S8 E38

    On September 23rd, Israeli airstrikes killed more than 180 Lebanese in the country’s deadliest day of conflict since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. This is one of the most recent developments in the ongoing escalation…

  34. Hussein Ibish: Popular Mobilization Since October 7

    · 40 min · S8 E37

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a columnist for The National, and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. Together,…

  35. Analysis: The Hostage Crisis in Gaza

    · 7:44 · S8 E36

    Last week, the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza. According to Israeli authorities, more than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of approximately 35 others taken captive during…

  36. Isabelle Werenfels: North Africa's Relationship with Europe

    · 38 min · S8 E35

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Isabelle Werenfels, a senior fellow in the Middle East and Africa Division of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Together, they…

  37. A Mezze: A Fishy Business in Port Said

    · 1:57 · S8 E34

    Egyptians traditionally celebrate Sham Enessim, the country’s pharaonic spring holiday, by eating faseekh, a fermented mullet. But in the weeks prior to this year’s holiday, which fell on May 6, the price of seafood…

  38. Michelle Nunn: The Challenges of Gaza's Humanitarian Crisis

    · 36 min · S8 E33

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Michelle Nunn, the president and CEO of CARE. Michelle leads more than 8,000 people working around the world in crisis response, health and education access, gender…

  39. Analysis: The Aftermath of Haniyeh's Assassination

    · 5:36 · S8 E32

    On July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas, was killed in Tehran. Just a day earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed a Hezbollah commander in the suburbs of Beirut. Leah Hickert speaks with Jon Alterman,…

  40. Analysis: Netanyahu's U.S. Visit

    · 4:17 · S8 E31

    Last week, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington D.C. to deliver a speech to a joint meeting of Congress. Leah Hickert speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, about…

  41. Hasan Alhasan: The Strategies of Gulf States

    · 43 min · S8 E30

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Hasan Alhasan, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) based in Manama, Bahrain. Prior to joining IISS, he served for five years on…

  42. Analysis: Iran's Presidential Election

    · 5:49 · S8 E29

    Masoud Pezeshkian recently won the runoff election to replace Iran's late president, Ebrahim Raisi. This week, Leah Hickert speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at CSIS, about Pezeshkian and…

  43. Karim Haggag: Egypt's Balancing Act

    · 41 min · S8 E28

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Ambassador Karim Haggag. After an Egyptian diplomatic career that spanned more than 25 years, Amb. Haggag is now a professor of practice at the American University in…

  44. A Mezze: The Voice Inside AI's Head Speaks English

    · 2:18 · S8 E27

    On March 20, Saudi Arabia announced that it planned to invest $40 billion into AI development. This move comes on the heels of the UAE's creation of two large language models developed within the last year. However, as…

  45. Karim Elgendy: Climate Diplomacy in the Middle East

    · 31 min · S8 E26

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Karim Elgendy, an expert on climate and energy policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Elgendy is the associate director at Buro Happold, an associate fellow at Chatham…

  46. Analysis: Lebanon's Dangerous Campaign against Refugees

    · 6:28 · S8 E25

    Recently, the Lebanese government developed a plan to deport Syrian refugees who were not registered with the United Nations, which accounts for almost half of all refugees in Lebanon. Although Lebanon’s sovereignty is…

  47. Jonathan Rynhold: Israel's Divided Politics

    · 39 min · S8 E24

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Professor Jonathan Rynhold, the head of the Department of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University and a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.…

  48. Analysis: Environmental Politics in Postrevolutionary Tunisia

    · 3:19 · S8 E23

    Since the revolution, Tunisia has had 12 different governments. Amid chronic political instability, Tunisian institutions lack the legitimacy necessary to implement policies. Environmental policies have taken a…

  49. Sanam Vakil: Iran's Trajectory after Raisi

    · 38 min · S8 E22

    This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies…

  50. Analysis: The Impacts of Raisi's Death

    · 4:02 · S8 E21

    This week, Leah Hickert speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at CSIS, about the impacts of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash, and how it will affect Iran's foreign…

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