An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.
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This week on Conflicted, Thomas and Aimen continue their exploration into the history of Sudan, focusing on two areas of the country which we’ve left off so far – but which have been hugely influential to the country’s story: Darfur and South Sudan.
Both these areas were brutalised during Sudan’s 20th century history, and for remarkably different reasons. But it all comes back to the hegemony of Sudan’s ruling Three Arab Tribes – the tribes who have fixed the country’s course to conflict and caused the separatism which has long abounded in the country.
In this third part of our Sudan mini-series, Thomas and Aimen take us through how these two regions faired as they tried to cut their own path against the ruling Arab elite, and the destruction they were met with, from forced Islamisation in the South, to the horrific genocide perpetrated in Darfur in the early 2000s. These events proved the brutal nature of the Sudanese ruling elite, and can tell us a huge amount about the conflict going on there today.
New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.
Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.
All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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The second episode of our four part series on the history of Sudan is here!
As the British Empire loses its hold on the country, new nationalistic movements in Sudan began to develop. With the help of revolutionary Islamic thinkers like Hasan Al Turabi, various movements would vie for supremacy, with those calling for Liberal democracy, communism and Islamism all attempting to gain a foothold of power in the new reality for the country in the 20th century. But what would these tensions lead to? A happy independence, or the mire of conflict? And could Sudan overcome the ethnic and religious tensions between its North and South in the process?
In this episode, Thomas and Aimen traverse across Sudan to explore how the modern state came to be, going through independence, power struggles and civil war, with a fascinating character profile of perhaps the country’s most significant political and religious personality of the 20th century: Hasan Al Turabi.
New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.
Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.
All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Conflicted Community: Q&A - From the intricacies of Middle Eastern Diplomacy to... Eurovision?
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 • Duration 06:03
Enjoy a clip from the first exclusive Q&A episode for our Conflicted Community! Thanks so much to our supporters for sending in all these brilliant questions on our Discord chatroom.
This week, Thomas and Aimen answer your burning questions, from Eurovision to Qatar, visiting corners of the world they’ve not touched on before…
To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can ask questions for future Q&As, interact with your fellow listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, and so much more.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Bonus Content: Aimen gives evidence in Parliament
Monday, May 13, 2024 • Duration 01:09:35
Thomas introduces a whole hour of extra content, as Aimen gives evidence to the Foreign Affair Committee in the UK Parliament. To hear more about this trip to the palace of Westminster, as well as other bonus content, sign up to the Conflicted Community!
Members also get access to our chatroom on Discord, where you can engage in riveting post-episode debates, and ask questions for upcoming exclusive Q&A episodes.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
This audio is available to the public on and taken from the Parliament TV website.
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Conflicted Community: Jihadis for Hire
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 • Duration 54:49
The second episode for our Conflicted Community is here!
This bonus episode is the final one going out to all of our dear listeners on this feed, so to keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. Subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom on Discord, which is already brimming with conversation and analysis.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
For our second episode, Thomas and Aimen are returning to their bread and butter: jihadi terrorism. The attacks on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024, carried out by ISIS Khorasan Province, have revealed the return of a kind of terror not witnessed for a few years. But there’s a difference: could they have been jihadi mercenaries? Are they in fact jihadis for hire? Thomas and Aimen discuss how Afghanistan has once again become a hotbed of terror, and what this all means for the country and the rest of the world.
Sign up to the Conflicted Community: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Conflicted Community: The Gaza War – What Are Both Sides Thinking?
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 • Duration 01:15:54
Welcome to the first episode for our Conflicted Community!
We’ll be coming to you every two weeks with interactive episodes for our subscribers. We’re giving the first couple of episodes out for all of our dear listeners, but to keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom on Discord, to discuss everything you hear, and so much more.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
In our first Conflicted Community episode, Thomas and Aimen discuss the unavoidable topic of war in Israel and Gaza, giving you an update on where things stand, what they’ve been hearing about the Hamas leadership and the threats posed by Iran and the wider axis of resistance. They also dig deep into Netanyahu and the ways in which Israel is prosecuting the war – does it legally constitute ethnic cleansing? Even a genocide?
Sign up to the Conflicted Community: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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The Conflicted Community is Live!
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 • Duration 02:27
The Conflicted Community is now live!
Want to hear bonus episodes of Conflicted and chat with fellow Dear Listeners? Now you can! We’re going to be putting out new interactive episodes every two weeks for subscribers, as well as giving access to our Conflicted Community chatroom on Discord, where you can engage in riveting post-episode debates.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
This is a paid for community and these new episodes and access to the chatroom will be for subscribers only. We’ll be releasing the first couple of these episodes to all of our dear listeners on this normal Conflicted Feed, but you’ll have to join the Conflicted community to continue listening…
Episode one for our Conflicted Community is coming next week on April 17th – so watch this space!
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Q&A - Airstrikes on Yemen and the Future of the Middle East
Season 1 · Episode 24
Thursday, January 18, 2024 • Duration 01:05:46
On Friday, January 12th, the Houthis added their muscle to the spreading conflict in the Middle East. By attacking commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea, they have brought reprisal strikes from a US and UK led coalition which could bring the west into the war and even reignite the Yemeni civil war which has engulfed the country since 2014.
We covered Yemen extensively over 5 episodes at the end of Conflicted season 4, so it was only right that Thomas and Aimen come back together to answer our dear listeners’ questions about this huge new development.
We answer your questions like: What are the Houthis’ objectives in the Middle East? Was the Western military response the right move? How will Iran and its proxies respond in turn? And what does this all mean for the future of the war in Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle East.
This episode is also a taster of the kind of content you’ll get as we launch a new platform - the Conflicted Community. This will be your community hub on Discord for all things Conflicted. Discord is essentially an instant messaging community platform which will allow you to discuss all things Conflicted with fellow dear listeners, share resources we mention in the show and engage in riveting post-episode debates.
This is a paid for community, and for a small monthly fee you’ll get access to the Discord chat channels, the opportunity to chat with Thomas and Aimen, exclusive content and bonus episodes like this one, as well as ad-free listening.
Please do register your interest through the link: www.levellr.com/conflicted
We’ll be launching the Conflicted Community very soon, so keep an eye out for further details on it once you have registered interest.
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Join the Conflicted Community hub on Discord to discuss all things Conflicted with fellow dear listeners, get exclusive content, bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Register your interest through the link: http://www.levellr.com/conflicted
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Yemen: From Civil War to World War?
Season 4 · Episode 23
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 • Duration 01:06:22
The state of Yemen in 2023 is precarious. After the Arab Spring revolution descended into civil war, the Houthis have cemented their power over large swathes of Northern Yemen, while the traditional ruling parties have fractured and, in many cases, disintegrated. In this final episode of our mammoth exploration of the history of Yemen - and indeed season 4 of Conflicted - we bring things up to the modern day, stepping back from historical narrative to try and make sense of what has happened and what it means for the country and the region.
Over the course of this season, we've taken listeners through all the historical antecedents to modern Salafi Jihadism from Ahmad Bin Hanbal in the eighth century to Sayyid Qutb in the 1960s. We've looked at the Muslim Brotherhood, President Erdogan of Turkey, Iran, and their proxies across the region like Hezbollah. And now, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues, we can see so many of the themes and ideas that we've talked about this series playing out in real time.
This final episode, which sees us joined for the final time by Yemeni political activist Baraa Shaiban, attempts to make sense of current events in Yemen and beyond in the context of
Salafi and Shia jihadism. We ask what the future holds for the Middle East, and what we can learn from the tumultuous history of the region as the world attempts to bring peace to the geopolitical situation of today.
Join our FB Discussion group to get exclusive updates:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/450486135832418
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
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Join the Conflicted Community hub on Discord to discuss all things Conflicted with fellow dear listeners, get exclusive content, bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Register your interest through the link: http://www.levellr.com/conflicted
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Yemen: From Revolution to Civil War
Season 4 · Episode 22
Wednesday, November 22, 2023 • Duration 01:16:54
The Arab Spring of 2011 may have brought with it hope for a new dawn in Yemen, one of democracy and liberal reforms outside the rule of strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh. But the years that followed saw this quickly undone. The GCC Initiative brokered by Gulf States quickly broke down due to an intense culture of mistrust between all the parties within it. And with the insurgent Houthis growing ever more confident in the north, their malign influence ensured that this move for democracy was doomed to failure.
In this penultimate episode of our Yemen series, and indeed season 4 of Conflicted, we look at Yemen’s road from revolution to civil war. It’s something that our returning guest, Yemeni political activist Baraa Shaiban, witnessed first hand as a member of the GCC initiative. He tells us about the role he played in trying to keep the peace as his country fell into conflict, and how the delicate art of Yemeni politics - dancing on the heads of snakes - was one which soon became too difficult for all involved.
Join our FB Discussion group to get exclusive updates:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/450486135832418
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
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Join the Conflicted Community hub on Discord to discuss all things Conflicted with fellow dear listeners, get exclusive content, bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Register your interest through the link: http://www.levellr.com/conflicted
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