Month: January 2015

Palestinian Statehood Efforts

~ middleeastweekblog

Hussein Ibish comes back on the show to talk about recent issues in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, including Palestinian efforts to join international organizations and treaties, support for Palestine from other Arab states, Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenue, and much more.

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India’s Middle East Foreign Policy

~ middleeastweekblog

Shashank Joshi comes on the show to talk about India’s Middle East foreign policy. Topics we covered include:

  • Importance of remittances from Indians living in the Middle East
  • India’s relationship with Israel
  • Why India sees an “advantage in obscurity” in deciding its Middle East strategies
  • Indian hostages in Iraq and India’s inability to effectively respond to the situation
  • India’s need for a “Look West” policy in addition to “Look East”
  • India’s relationship with Iran and Saudi Arabia

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Please support the podcast by making a small monthly donation on Patreon. Thank you!

Libya: Understanding the Crisis

~ middleeastweekblog

Mary Fitzgerald comes back on the show to discuss the conflict in Libya. Topics we covered include:

  • The two competing parliaments, their strengths and weaknesses, and the various armed groups that make up their coalitions
  • The complexity of the conflict, and the importance of resisting simplistic narratives to describe the situation
  • Political leaders’ ability to control the armed groups operating in Libya
  • Attempts by the UN and UN Special Representative Bernadino Leon to deal with the crisis
  • Contradictions between what Libyan political leaders say and what they do
  • External actors’ role in the development and escalation of the crisis
  • How Libya’s oil factors into the conflict
  • What could come next in the Libyan conflict

Make sure you check out the book the upcoming book that Mary co-authored: The Libyan Revolution and its Aftermath – you can pre-order it on Amazon.