Episodes

  • Sudan suffers and the world sits by

    Sudan suffers and the world sits by
    Feb 19 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Sudanese researcher and policy analyst Hamid Khalafallah. It was nearly three years ago that two generals went to war and plunged the country into what has become the world's worst humanitarian disaster. Outside players such as the UAE which has armed one of the sides have played a significant role in prolonging the war and causing enormous harm to the people of Sudan. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    29 mins
  • Deinvesting Israel's genocide

    Deinvesting Israel's genocide
    Feb 11 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the lawyer Sara Segneri, an expert in sanctions law, war crimes and international financial crime. Israel with the support of the US, the UK and other Western governments acts with impunity as it prosecutes a genocide but as Segneri succinctly argues ignoring national and international law puts foreign investors in illegal settlements and in the broader Israeli economy at risk of bottom line losses to accompany the reputational damage they will inevitably incur. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    31 mins
  • Algeria, Libya and Europe's urgent energy needs

    Algeria, Libya and Europe's urgent energy needs
    Feb 4 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the security and energy analyst Francis Ghilès onto the podcast. With European states needing to escape their reliance on Russian gas they explore opportunities for the energy rich Maghreb countries of Libya and Algeria to meet Europe's requirements. In doing so a new relationship based on energy links could evolve but big obstacles remain on both sides of the Mediterranean. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    29 mins
  • Syria's Kurds face an uncertain future

    Syria's Kurds face an uncertain future
    Jan 28 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Kurdish American journalist Sirwan Kajjo. With the sudden defeat of the SDF the Kurds who had hoped for autonomy are seeing those hopes evaporate. At the same time the abandonment of ISIS prisons and camps in North East Syria and the presence of their supporters in the Syrian army resurrects the spectre of a jihadist war in Syria and Iraq and renewed terror attacks elsewhere in the world. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    29 mins
  • Trump seeks "the strategic submission of Iran"

    Trump seeks "the strategic submission of Iran"
    Jan 21 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law invites Sanam Vakil director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House onto the podcast to discuss the current situation in Iran. Yet again another uprising has been brutally suppressed but as its Arab neighbours breathe a sigh of relief that a war has been averted the regime itself, assailed from within and without, is severely weakened. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    26 mins
  • A black eye in Yemen for the UAE

    A black eye in Yemen for the UAE
    Jan 14 2026
    This week's podcast looks at recent events in Yemen that have severely damaged the reputation of the UAE as a wily and pragmatic regional powerhouse. Joining Arab Digest editor William Law is the Yemen expert and author Helen Lackner. They explore the quick and humiliating defeat of the UAE-backed southern Yemen STC forces as Saudi Arabia delivered a powerful military punch that routed the secessionists. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    34 mins
  • The Middle East in Trump's new world order

    The Middle East in Trump's new world order
    Jan 7 2026
    Aslı Aydıntaşbaş from Washington's Brookings Institute joins Arab Digest editor William Law for the first podcast of 2026. Barely a week in and with Donald Trump's seizure of the Venezuelan president and his wife it is already a year that has upended the old world order. Where that leaves the volatile and violent Middle East is a question their conversation grapples with. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    32 mins
  • Editor's Choice - A small town in Lebanon

    Editor's Choice - A small town in Lebanon
    Dec 31 2025
    The editor's choice for 2025 is our 26 February podcast 'A small town in Lebanon' with George Kanaan. His book Beyond Lebanon's Peaks: An Odyssey is a fascinating memoir of a businessman and banker who though he has travelled the world in a storied career has never left behind Suq el-Gharb and his Levantine roots. In a wide ranging conversation he reflects on the book and on the current situation in Lebanon and what he calls Trump's 'cruel idea' for Gaza. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    33 mins