Podcast
CONFLICTED
Hosted by Message Heard · EN
An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.
43episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
My Road to Conflicted (with Jake Warren)
2d ago01:03:12Summary readyBecause Aimen is still away, we’re taking this opportunity to introduce you all to our executive producer Jake Warren. A journalist and programme-maker, Jake not only had the idea for Conflicted, he is also the founder of Message Heard, the company that produces the show. Jake and Thomas discuss: Conflicted’s origin story Jake’s Hungarian-Jewish grandfather who escaped on the Kindertransport His early work for Vice Media in North Korea, Rwanda, and Lebanon How he won the trust of notorious Islamist preacher and organiser Anjem Choudary while covering his story Visiting the family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby How Jake first came across Aimen’s story How Thomas and Aimen became friends Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find Jake on X: https://x.com/TheJakeWarren Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConflictedYoutube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
Jeremy Hunt: Democracy’s Defeat Is Not Inevitable
1w ago01:11:59Summary readyIn this latest Conflicted Conversation, Thomas talks with Tory MP Sir Jeremy Hunt. Over fourteen years of Conservative government, Hunt served as Culture Secretary, Health Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. But in this discussion, Jeremy draws especially on his eventful year running the Foreign Office to argue against Western defeatism and to make the case for liberal democracy. Sir Jeremy discusses: The view from inside power during Britain’s 2010–2024 crisis years Britain’s imperial inheritance, post-Brexit identity, and the “Global Britain” problem Trump’s 2018 NATO shock and Hunt’s case for higher European defence spending China, Russia and Iran as the new autocratic challenge to liberal democracy Yemen and the Stockholm Agreement as a tragic test of humanitarian diplomacy Iran, hostage diplomacy, the JCPOA and the limits of Western coercive power Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced by Thomas Small and Ross Field and edited by Mariana Ramirez-Zablah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
The Madman Theory from Nixon to Trump
2w ago01:13:41Summary readyIs Donald Trump mad? Or is he a practitioner of the Madman Theory — and therefore not mad at all? James D. Boys, author of U.S. Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory: From Nixon to Trump, argues that the Madman Theory is not madness, but the performance of madness: a tactic by which a sane leader feigns irrationality to make an adversary believe there is even a one percent chance of overwhelming, disproportionate force. In this new Conflicted Conversation, Boys explains: What the Madman Theory means Donald Trump, unpredictability and Trump Derangement Syndrome Nuclear strategy, Eisenhower, and Cold War brinkmanship Barry Goldwater, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the politics of nuclear fear Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and the Madman Theory in Vietnam Trump’s use of Madman tactics against North Korea, Iran, NATO and trade partners Whether Trump’s second-term grand strategy is chaos, coercion or calculated geopolitical pressure Follow James on X: https://x.com/jamesdboys Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find us on X: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SummaryThe UAE’s OPEC Withdrawal & Trump’s Wartime Dilemma
2w ago01:09:10Summary readyAimen is back with a huge amount of behind-the-scenes information on what’s been happening in the Middle East in the past three weeks—especially on the real reasons the UAE withdrew from OPEC, and what’s been going on inside Donald Trump’s head as he tries to chart a course to victory in the Iran War. Aimen and Thomas discuss: The recent discovery of HUGE shale oil reserves in the UAE The Mar-a-Lago deal the UAE struck with Trump Why the recent OPEC shake-up had NOTHING to do with Saudi Arabia The truth about UAE and Saudi attacks on Iran Did the UAE, Saudi, and Qatar really beg Trump not to resume the war? How Iran’s military capability remains STRONGER than people think The corruption behind Pakistan’s mediation efforts in the Iran War The benefits and liability of Trump as a War Leader Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
Utopia or Dystopia? The Truth About Jewish-Muslim History
3w ago01:01:48Summary readyIn this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas talks to Marc David Baer, Professor of International History at the London School of Economics, about his new book Children of Abraham: The Story of Jewish-Muslim Relations. Marc discusses: The recent stabbing in Golders Green, North London The myth of utopian co-existence and the counter-myth of total antagonism The earliest encounters of Jews and Muslims in Arabia The Qur'an's mixed messaging about Jews The reality of Sharia dhimmitude laws Jewish-Muslim relations in the Khazar Kingdom, in Al-Andalus, and in the Ottoman Empire Colonialism and the rupture of Jewish-Muslim relations Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Jewish-Muslim solidarity today Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Marc on X: https://x.com/MarcDavidBaer1 Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SummaryMali’s Crisis is Not What it Seems
3w ago00:59:22Summary readyAs we eagerly await Aimen’s return to Conflicted next week, today Wassim Nasr returns to the show. As only Wassim can, he draws on his expertise of the Sahel to explain the remarkable events in Mali over the past several weeks — events which Aimen forecast on the show back in January. Wassim explains: France’s failed counterterrorism strategy in Mali JNIM’s emergence from AQIM and local insurgencies Iyad Ag Ghaly’s political and jihadist leadership The junta’s repression and strategic miscalculations The JNIM–FLA alliance in northern Mali The 25 April 2026 coordinated attacks Negotiating with Islamists after the War on Terror Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Follow Wassim on X: https://x.com/SimNasr Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
Sir Vince Cable: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy
4w ago00:55:51Summary readyIn this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas talks to Sir Vince Cable, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, about his new book Eclipsing the West: China, India and the forging of a new world. Sir Vince discusses: Postcolonial state-building, development economics, and his formative experiences in Kenya Globalisation, financialisation, and the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis The rise of China and India as “superstates” in a new tripolar world Geo-economics, US–China rivalry, and the breakdown of the liberal international order Democracy versus authoritarianism and the crisis of liberal governance Ideology, nationalism, and the limits of rationality in geopolitics Multipolarity, global disorder, climate crisis, and the future of world order Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced by Thomas Small & Ross Field and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SummaryIraq: Anatomy of a Broken State
May 501:14:15Summary readyAimen's in the thick of it this week so isn't able to appear on the show. Sitting in for him is Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli researcher and analyst, and a doctoral student at Princeton University. During field research in Iraq in 2023, she was kidnapped by Kata'ib Hezbollah and held in captivity for over two years, suffering torture and solitary confinement. In what we hope will be the first of many appearances on Conflicted, Elizabeth discusses: Saddam Hussein’s faith campaign and the rise of Shia religious politics in Iraq The Sadrist movement in Iraq and Muqtada al-Sadr The politicisation of sectarian identity in post-2003 Iraq Iraqi militias as criminal-political enterprises engaged in in theft, extortion, oil smuggling, and dollar smuggling The difference between Iraqi militias and Lebanese Hezbollah The impact of militia rule on ordinary civilian life Iraq’s extreme inequality despite its oil and gas wealth The 2003 Iraq War and the debate over American responsibility Iraqi elite agency and the failures of Iraq’s political class The 2010 Iraqi election crisis and Nouri al-Maliki’s return to power The Iraqi constitution and the failure of constitutional democracy Iraq’s dependence on oil revenues and the Strait of Hormuz The impact of the current Iran war on Iraq’s economy Iranian attacks on Iraqi oil exports and oil tankers The U.S. military presence in Iraq after ISIS American influence over Iraqi prime ministerial politics Nouri al-Maliki, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and Ali al-Zaidi Fa’iq Zaidan and the power of Iraq’s judiciary Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Elizabeth's personal website: https://elizabeth-tsurkov.net/en/ Find Elizabeth on X: https://x.com/LizHurra Find Elizabeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-tsurkov-79491b15/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
The CIA: What is It For?
May 101:12:18Summary readyIn this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist Tim Weiner about his new history of the CIA in the 21st century, The Mission, and about the enduring tension between intelligence gathering and covert action. Drawing on four decades of reporting, Weiner argues that the CIA’s greatest failures arise when it abandons its core purpose of understanding the world in favour of trying to change it. Weiner explains: How he began covering the CIA during the Reagan era and what drew him into intelligence reporting Why the CIA is best understood as an instrument of presidential power, not an independent actor The agency’s post–Cold War collapse and its loss of mission before 9/11 How the War on Terror transformed the CIA into a global counterterrorism and paramilitary force The origins, logic, and consequences of torture, black sites, and the failure of interrogation The intelligence failures behind the Iraq War and how ‘facts were fitted around the policy’ The rise of drone warfare under Obama and the normalization of targeted killing Covert operations from Peru to Syria, including the limits and dangers of programs like TIMBER SYCAMORE The difference between espionage and covert action—and why only the former can prevent war and save lives Why the greatest danger today is a president who ignores intelligence while using the CIA’s coercive power Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SummaryThe Problem of President Trump
Apr 2801:02:33Summary readyThomas expresses his growing conviction that President Trump has utterly mishandled the Iran War, while Aimen describes: how the final, fatal phase of the Islamabad peace talks was a utter humiliation for Trump; what's going on inside the heads of GCC leaders regarding the White House's leadership; and the Islamic Republic's new delay tactics. Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary