CONFLICTED
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CONFLICTED
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.
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The People Who Became Arabs
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to historian Yossef Rapoport about his new book Becoming Arab, and the revolutionary argument at its he...
Trump, Netanyahu, and the Iran Endgame
With war clouds gathering once again over the Middle East, Aimen takes us behind the scenes of the indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. He...
How the US is Abandoning its Afghan Allies
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to U.S. Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, founder of AfghanEvac, about the fate of Afghans who worked alongs...
The CIA’s Zero Units in Afghanistan
After a tragic shooting in Washington, D.C., Thomas and Aimen trace the story back to Afghanistan and to the CIA-backed Zero Units that carried out so...
Why China’s Rise Cannot Be Stopped
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to veteran Singaporean diplomat Prof. Kishore Mahbubani about his thesis that the 21st century will be...
Trump vs Iran: The War That Wasn’t
In this semi-emergency episode, Aimen helps Thomas unpack the last eight months of escalating tension and threats between the US and Iran, and explain...
Paul Kenyon: 30 Years Under Fire as a BBC War Reporter
In this episode, Thomas talks to distinguished BBC journalist Paul Kenyon about his new podcast series Two Nottingham Lads. Paul recalls highlights fr...
Mali: When Jihadists Win
As jihadist violence in Mali escalates, Thomas and Aimen trace the history and present-day power of JNIM (‘Support Group for Islam and Muslims’), an A...
Syrian Blitzkrieg: How Damascus Crushed the SDF
In this episode, Aaron Zelin returns to Conflicted to unpack the extraordinary collapse of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ position in northeast Syria o...
Trump vs USAID: The Rise and Fall of America’s Aid Empire
On the first anniversary of the dismantling of USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, Thomas and Aimen trace the history of th...
How Yemen Broke the Saudi-UAE Alliance
In this episode, Yemeni researcher and political analyst Baraa Shiban (a great friend of the show) tells the thrilling behind-the-scenes story of how...
Saudi Arabia vs the Emirates: A Gulf Family Feud Crisis in the Gulf? Saudi vs UAE
A rare public rupture has emerged between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Triggered by a dramatic escalation over Yemen in late December 20...
Re-Thinking Islam’s Global History
Islam is often treated as a civilisation apart — self-contained, resistant to modernity, and fundamentally at odds with the West. In this episode, Tho...
The Crisis in Iran: The History Behind US-Iran Tensions
As mass protests sweep Iran and President Trump declares the U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’, Thomas and Aimen revisit the event that shaped U.S.–Iran rel...
Zohran Mamdani and the Ascendancy of Third Worldism
Amid controversy surrounding Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power in New York City, Hussein Mansour tells Thomas all about the history of Third Worldism — w...
2025 Year in Review
As 2025 draws to a close, Thomas and Aimen take an unconventional tour of the Islamic world — looking beyond the usual headlines to the under-the-rada...
Inside the Trenches of Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is back in the headlines as a peace agreement appears increasingly probably — though with major concessions to Russia. So as a Chri...
2025 Conflicted Christmas Special
What is ‘the Christmas story’ really? And how does it change when you tell it from within a different religious tradition? In Conflicted’s first-ever...
What Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy Means For The World
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with global finance and security analyst Giri Rajendran about the Trump Administration’s newly publishe...
The 2026 Middle East Forecast
What does the future hold for the Middle East — and the world — in 2026?
In this special episode of Conflicted, Thomas instructs Aimen to...
What the U.S. Gets Wrong About the Muslim Brotherhood
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Programme on Extremism at The George Washington University.
...
Saudi Arabia’s New Bargaining Chip
The Middle East is shifting again, and fast. In this wide-ranging overview, Aimen and Thomas break down the hidden forces reshaping the geopolitical c...
Has the Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrated the UK?
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat about the Muslim Brotherhood.
What happens when a Weste...
Conflicted Returns: A New Era Begins
Conflicted is back. Aimen and Thomas return with a renewed mission and a bold vision for the future of the show. In this special relaunch episode, the...
Conflicted Revisited: Ethiopia’s Overlooked Conflict
This week on Conflicted, we’re unlocking another episode we first released for members of the Conflicted Community.
In th...
India and the Future of World Order: A Conversation with T.V. Paul
This week on Conflicted, Thomas is joined by T.V. Paul, Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill Universi...
Conflicted Revisited… Husam Mahjoub – How Foreign States are Fuelling Sudan’s Civil War
This week on Conflicted, we’re unlocking for everyone an episode we first released a year ago for members of the Conflicted Community — an interview w...
CC: Patrick McGee – How Apple Built a Superpower
This week on Conflicted, Thomas Small is joined by Patrick McGee, technology reporter and author of the phenomenal new book, Apple in China. Patrick p...
Conflicted Revisited… Hamza Howidy – Protest, Exile, and a Post-Hamas Vision of Gaza
Another revisited interview from the Conflicted Community Interview archive this week, as we get ready for more Conflicted episodes coming soon… This...
CC: Emma Ashford – The Collapse of America's Unipolar Moment
This week on Conflicted, Thomas Small is joined by Dr. Emma Ashford, a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and an expert on US grand strategy. Emma br...
The Gaza Peace Deal: Behind the Scenes with Aimen Dean
This week on Conflicted, Thomas Small is joined by co-host Aimen Dean, who returns to the show to provide a vital debrief on the recent Gaza peace dea...
7/7: The Inside Story – A New Terror Paradigm • Episode 6
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary serie...
CC: Alex Vatanka – How has the 12 Day War Changed Iran?
This week on Conflicted, host Thomas Small is joined by Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and a leading scholar of Iranian do...
7/7: The Inside Story – The Lone Wolf • Episode 5
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary serie...
7/7: The Inside Story – How to Spot a Radical • Episode 4
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary serie...
CC: Aaron Zelin – New Syrian Government, Same Old Conflicts?
This week on Conflicted, host Thomas Small is joined by returning guest, Aaron Zelin - the Gloria and Ken Levy Fellow at the Washington Institute for...
7/7: The Inside Story – The Hunt • Episode 3
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary serie...
7/7: The Inside Story – The Voices of Londonistan • Episode 2
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
Episodes 1 & 2 are available from today, with the following epis...
7/7: The Inside Story – A Thursday in July • Episode 1
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
Episodes 1 & 2 are available from today, with the following epis...
Conflicted Revisited... 9/11
On the anniversary, we go all the way back to where it all started with Conflicted, Episode One - 9/11.
Where were you on 9/11? Thomas a...