Middle East Focus

This bonus episode of Middle East Focus features an excerpt from a recent MEI Virtual Briefing recorded on January 20. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib is joined by MEI Affiliate Fatima Abo A...

23 Jan 53min

MEI Senior Fellow Charles Lister joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to unpack the latest developments in Syria, as a tenuous cease-fire takes hold after several days of intense fighting be...

20 Jan 33min

MEI Vice President for Policy Ken Pollack joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to explore what the precedent set by the Trump administration's military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolá...

15 Jan 1h 8min

This bonus episode of Middle East Focus features a conversation from MEI's Virtual Briefing Series. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib is joined by Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Alan Eyre and...

8 Jan 1h 1min

In the final episode of 2025, MEI Senior Fellow Paul Salem joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to unpack the major developments that shaped the Middle East over the past year and to look ah...

18 Des 202544min

In this episode, MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Ambassador David Hale joins host Alistair Taylor to unpack the Trump administration's new National Security Strategy (NSS). Released on December 4,...

11 Des 202540min

MEI Senior Fellow Fadi Nicholas Nassar joins host Matthew Czekaj to share expert insights and personal reflections on Pope Leo XIV's trip to Lebanon from November 30 to December 2. Nassar unpacks the ...

4 Des 202539min

In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj sit down with MEI Visiting Scholar F. Gregory Gause, III, to analyze the policy implications of Saudi Arabian Crown Princ...

20 Nov 202537min