Middle East Conflict
Podcasts
Lowy Institute Conversations: The fall of Afghanistan and the rise of Taliban 2.0
In this episode of Conversations, Herve Lemahieu speaks with Lowy Institute Middle East specialists Lydia Khalil and Rodger Shanahan on the Taliban’s dramatic seizure of power and…
How Gaza occupies Indonesia’s identity wars
Indonesia’s public debate over the issue of Palestinian rights was reawakened by the latest violence, which claimed at least 243 lives in Gaza and 12 in Israel before an eventual…
The challenge to the Abraham Accords
For countries party to the so-called Abraham Accords – the series of diplomatic agreements that normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan…
An oil spill nobody owns
What does the continuing, low-intensity conflict between Israel and Iran have to do with the mysterious oil spill that has washed ashore along the coast of Israel and southern…
Why is the “Arab street” so silent on the Israel-UAE deal?
The Abraham Accord, the deal announced this month that laid the groundwork for normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, was hailed as a historic…
Middle East Peace Plan: A once in a lifetime deal, not in a good way
For close observers of business in Australia, one particular moment has become folklore, the time Australia’s then richest man Kerry Packer sold off television station Channel…
Analyses
Charities and terrorism: Lessons from the Syrian crisis
Terrorists have manipulated the humanitarian crisis in Syria to create a cover for foreign fighters and to raise funds for terrorist groups under the guise of charitable donations…
War reporting 101: Check your sources
Earlier this year I wrote about the willingness of the news media to highlight claims of civilian casualties caused by coalition forces operating in Iraq and Syria, but their…
Lifting the veil on jihad
In April 2015 a fresh-faced Australian-born doctor appeared in a slick Islamic State video extolling the virtues of making hijra to what he portrayed as a utopian Islamic society…
Assad and chemical weapons: The regional repercussions
The renewed use by the Assad regime of chemical weapons, possibly sarin, against civilian population centres in Syria - most recently in Idlib - is immoral, illegal, inhuman and…