Podcast
CMEC podcast
Hosted by CMEC · EN
Analysis, debate & all that's happening in the Middle East & North Africa
11episodes
Episodes
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Simon Penney CMG talks about UK/ GCC trade
2w ago00:21:45Tap to summarizeIn the latest CMEC podcast, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Simon Penney CMG, former UK Trade Commissioner for the Middle East and Pakistan. He was appointed in May 2018. He was also His Majesty's Consul (HMCG) to Dubai, appointed in January 2021. Simon spent the majority of his career in the banking sector, with extensive experience leading corporate and financial institution groups and teams across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In 2023, he returned to the private sector. He has lived in the UAE for 17 years. He is also the Hub-Chairman of the Middle East for the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.
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Business as usual? British ex-pats view from the UAE
Mar 600:32:53Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to former trade commissioner for the Middle East and Consul General to Dubai, Simon Penney, and to international lawyer, Marcus Booth, both based in the UAE. Simon returned to the public sector in 2023 and has lived in the UAE for 17 years.
Transcribe →IRAN WAR - CMEC talks to Dubai-based journalist Gareth Browne.
Mar 300:26:37Tap to summarizeCMEC Director talks to Gareth Browne, the Dubai-based Middle East Correspondent of The Economist. Gareth believes there are already signs of the beginning of the collapse of the Iranian regime - just days after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
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IRAN CRISIS LATEST - Nicholas Hopton, of the Middle East Association
Mar 200:16:43Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Nicholas Hopton - a former UK ambassador to Iran and three other countries in the Middle East - about the current conflict in the Middle East following the attacks on Iran by the US and Israel, as well as the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini. What happens next, and what can be done to prevent this conflict escalating further? Nicholas Hopton is also the Director-General of the Middle East Association.
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CMEC talks to Yemen expert Dr Elisabeth Kendall
Feb 2500:48:42Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Arabist and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, about Yemen - its history, recent past and current conflicts.
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Charlotte talks to US Public Affairs expert, Jason Epstein
Feb 2500:32:53Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie is at the Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh where she talks to US Public Affairs expert, Jason Epstein, about the extraordinary transformation that's taken place within the Kingdom over the last decade as well as the Trump administration's current policy in relation to the Middle East and Iran in particular.
Transcribe →IRAN - WHAT LIES AHEAD?
Feb 2500:50:22Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie discusses the past and future of the troubled Islamic Republic of Iran with two distinguished ambassadors , Sir John Jenkins and Nicholas Hopton.
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'All at Sea' - With Dr. Ian Ralby. Why Maritime Security Really Matters for MENA
Jan 2000:45:02Tap to summarizeCMEC Director talks to maritime expert Dr Ian Ralby about the critical but largely overlooked role played by the sea in all of our lives and in the conflicts in the Middle East - the strategy behind the Houthis strikes on tankers in the Red Sea, how they have jeopardised Egypt's frail economy and the trade routes on which we all rely; how Russia's frantic search for a warn sea port after losing its base in Syria has helped fuel the terrible Sudan war.
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CMEC at The Doha Forum 2025
Dec 1200:28:25Tap to summarizeOne year on from the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports from the 2025 Doha Forum. She talks to Michael Lawrence OBE, Chief Executive of Asia House; Baria Alamudddin, respected commentator and journalist; Nicholas Hopton, Director General of The Middle East Association and former UK ambassador to Qatar, Iran, Libya and Yemen, and to Alicia Kearns, shadow Home Affairs minister and former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
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CMEC AT THE MANAMA DIALOGUE 2025
Nov 900:20:28Tap to summarizeCMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports on Middle East current affairs from the 2025 Manama Dialogue and talks to Iain Lindsay OBE, former UK ambassador to Bahrain and now advisor to the country's prime minister Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa; Shayan Talabani, geopolitics analyst with the Tony Blair Institute; and Ibrahim Hamidi, Editor-in-Chief of Al Majalla magazine.
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