EconTalk

The Political Economy of Palestine (with Hussein Aboubakr Mansour)

Most discourses about Israel or Palestine are morality plays of good guys vs bad guys... seeing the conflict as a self-reproducing system of political and economic extraction where Arab regimes, opposition movements, rival states, Western academics, NGOs, and Gulf monarchies like Qatar all convert Palestinian victimhood into their own forms of power, money, and meaning.

TED Explains the World

Two Wars, No Clear Exit Plan. Now What? | TED Explains the World with Ian Bremmer

That uncomfortable, unsettled, unstable middle ground is where we have now been occupied in the Middle East for the last several weeks.

The Week

The Week | Is Britain America's Future?

Netanyahu is constantly on a war footing and I go back to the same thing. I think the world would be a much better place once Netanyahu and Trump leave the world stage. But Netanyahu is on a war footing. He sees his political survival based on his promise to annihilate or destroy his enemies.

Throughline

From Hormuz to Suez: the chokepoints of global power

For decades now, the real power in the region has often flowed through water. Three narrow waterways shape the Middle East's relationship to the world, carrying up to a quarter of global trade. Together, they form what may be the most powerful triangle on Earth.

Book of the Day

In 'Stolen Revolution,' six Iranians share perspectives on modern Iran and its future

For a certain subset of Iranians, they feel like they've tried everything, nothing has worked, the regime, the government like refuses to make significant changes, and therefore maybe a military attack is the only way to dislodge

Semafor

The Strait of Hormuz will never really be open again, argues Tim McDonnell

What we saw in this case was that the military capacity of the US to force the Strait of Hormuz back open was really a lot lower than I think many people thought it could be. This took, you know, several months and ultimately we're getting a reopening through a negotiated outcome rather than, you know, strictly through military force.

NPR Podcasts

Why Iranian perspectives often get flattened and caricatured

Iran has 90 million people of different ethnicities and faiths and very different ideas about their country.