The Bunker – News without the nonsense13 Jan 2021

Daily: The “BLACK WAVE” that engulfed the Middle East

From the Iranian Revolution to the invasion of Afghanistan, events in 1979 turned the tides on decades of liberalisation across the Middle East. Kim Ghattas, journalist and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East tells Alex Andreou about our misconceptions of the Middle East and her journey as a reporter. Have Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Sunnis and Shias, always been at each others’ throats? Was Bin Laden a “naïve revolutionary”? And what Biden can take from Trump’s policies on Iran…

“I couldn’t believe that no-one had written a book that brings the story of the whole region together before – but no-one had”
“My parents were more concerned about my safety and gun crime in the US than in Lebanon.”
“Not every Iranian woman wore a miniskirt, but before 1979, they had the freedom to choose.”
“The book’s for a Western audience – but it’s also for us in the region, to understand what happened to us, where we went wrong. And how we can undo some of it.”
“Today, we only talk about religion at the extremes. But Iran’s progressive, liberal, pluralistic core were often devout Muslims.”
“Trump’s renewed pressure on Iran has actually been welcomed by many Iranians”

Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1905)

Trump’s ‘bribe’, Miliband’s sanctions, Met investigates Reform – Weekly Wrap-Up with Rafael Behr and Zoë Grünewald

Looking back at the big stories of the past seven days… Nigel Farage faces yet another headache after the Met launched a criminal investigation into whether Reform broke party donation rules. Will he ...

11 Sep 36min

Terror Century – How the trauma of 9/11 made Trump and MAGA inevitable

A three-part mini-series from The Bunker… The horror of the 9/11 terror attacks 25 years ago this week led America into massive retaliation and ultimately national humiliation in Afghanistan and Iraq....

10 Sep 35min

Terror Century – Did the War on Terror become a war on freedom?

A three-part mini-series from The Bunker… In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks 25 years ago, an enraged America stumbled into the quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq. At home the Bush Administrat...

9 Sep 29min

Terror Century – Are we living in the world that 9/11 created?

A new three-part mini-series from The Bunker… When terrorists murdered 2,977 people in the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago this week, al-Qaeda set America on a dark path which ultimately led to torture, bru...

8 Sep 32min

Farage: It wasn’t me! — Start Your Week with Alex von Tunzelmann

Nigel Farage is doing everything he can to deny having been in the wrong in those disastrous sting videos. Can his excuses work? Plus, Trump is going wild with AI slop, Kushner has visited Putin and t...

7 Sep 30min

Farage's candid camera calamity — Emergencycast from Oh God, What Now?

Quick-fire reaction with News Statesman’s associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe and Jacob Jarvis. Given the Farage fallout, we had to record something quickly, so we did an emergencycast! This wa...

4 Sep 23min

Burnham-Badenoch bust-up, Reform's griftfest, RIP Gloria Steinem – Weekly Wrap-Up with Seth Thévoz

Looking back at the big stories of the past seven days… Burnham and Badenoch finally went head-to-head at PMQs. Who came out on top? Reform kicks off its conference, complete with £3,000 tickets for a...

4 Sep 29min

What's really going on in Britain’s dodgy “vape shops”

Is that mini-mart laundering money? Why have five barbershops opened on the same street? And how can suspiciously empty phone repair shops afford to run? For years, rumours have swirled about Britain’...

3 Sep 26min