Episodes

  • The encirclement of Sisi

    The encirclement of Sisi
    May 27 2026
    William Law, editor of the Arab Digest newsletter, welcomes the Egyptian political and economic analyst Maged Mandour on to this week's podcast. Their conversation focusses on the trap that Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has built for himself and his country. With America, the UAE and Israel determined to reshape the Arab world to fit their own purposes Sisi is caught in a debt trap with the Emiratis being his biggest financial backer while the Israelis with the support of Donald Trump push forward to become the Middle East's new hegemon. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    28 mins
  • How hard has the war hit GCC economies?

    How hard has the war hit GCC economies?
    May 20 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes the Gulf banking and finance analyst Andrew Cunningham onto the podcast to talk about the extent to which the Iran war is impacting the economies of the GCC states. They discuss the metrics used to measure economic damage and explore just how quickly Gulf economies can rebound once the war has ended. Given that the regime in Tehran has survived and will continue, both the West and the GCC will need to find what Andrew Cunningham calls a grand bargain with Iran. 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
  • Football, Sudan and Sheikh Mansour

    Football, Sudan and Sheikh Mansour
    May 15 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week on the podcast is the analyst and rights expert Nick McGeehan. The subject is football and how the owner of Manchester City FC is the subject of a complaint about his relationship with the Rapid Support Forces conducting a genocidal campaign as the Sudan civil war rages. Their conversation also explores FIFA's response to issues raised by the Palestinian Football Association about racism and matches being played in illegal West Bank settlements. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    30 mins
  • A template for troubled times

    A template for troubled times
    May 6 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law invites the North Africa specialist Tarek Megerisi onto this week’s podcast. The starting point for their conversation is Tarek's take on the EU's "Pact for the Mediterranean" and how a fresh approach to North Africa could shape positive outcomes in a region urgently in need of them. They explore the threat that Israel and Trump's America pose regionally as well as globally and what Europe could do to ease that threat. Tarek concludes with his assessment of the current situation in Libya. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    30 mins
  • Hezbollah and the war in Lebanon

    Hezbollah and the war in Lebanon
    Apr 29 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back the Levant expert Dr Lina Khatib to discuss the war in Lebanon. Dr Khatib argues that Hezbollah though significantly degraded continues to play a spoiler role and that until a solution is found that ends the Israeli-American war against Iran Lebanon will continue to suffer further collateral damage. She also argues that with the war over Israel will have no choice but to pull out of Lebanon. 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
  • How safe is al-Sharaa?

    How safe is al-Sharaa?
    Apr 22 2026
    To discuss the current situation in Syria Arab Digest editor William Law's guest this week is the Syrian analyst Malik al-Abdeh.The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and president of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa has been embraced by Washington but he has faced multiple challenges, including assassination attempts, as he works to balance pressure from Israel and Türkiye with internal threats and ISIS re-emerging in a bleak economic landscape. Sign up NOW at ArabDigest.org for free to join the club and start receiving our daily newsletter & weekly podcasts.
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    28 mins
  • The Gulf and three mad countries

    The Gulf and three mad countries
    Apr 15 2026
    The Gulf states are on the frontline of a war they worked hard to prevent. Once it began they find themselves facing a prime minister who uses permanent war to survive politically, a president who increasingly seems out of touch with reality and a regime that those two, Netanyahu and Trump, said they would replace but which has become only more hardline and more threatening. To help explain the challenging landscape the Gulf states are staring at, Arab Digest editor William Law has brought the defence and security expert Andreas Krieg back onto the podcast. 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
  • High energy stakes and the Strait of Hormuz

    High energy stakes and the Strait of Hormuz
    Apr 8 2026
    Arab Digest editor William Law has invited two top energy analysts - the Baker Institute's Jim Krane and Arab Digest's Alastair Newton - onto the podcast to discuss the implications and the impact for energy markets as Donald Trump vows to use force to open the passage. Iran’s Gulf neighbours and the wider region wonder, as does the rest of the world, how the war will end and where markets are headed once it does. The podcast was recorded 7 April at 1500 GMT 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