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.
Episodes
December 25, 2025 • 82 mins
The war in Ukraine is back in the headlines as a peace agreement appears increasingly probable - though with major concessions to Russia. So as a Christmas present to our listeners, we’ve brought this episode from August out from behind the paywall.
In it, Thomas speaks with his old university friend Jakub - a former Slovak Army officer who volunteered to fight in Ukraine - about the lived reality of modern warfare, from trench ...
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December 23, 2025 • 49 mins
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 Christmas Special, Thomas and Aimen retell the Nativity as it appears in the Gospels and in the Qur’an.
They discuss:
Who were the Magi? Zoroastrian priests or Nabataean nomads?
How the Nativity story differs between the Bible and the Qur’an
A controversial theory abou...
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December 18, 2025 • 60 mins
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with global finance and security analyst Giri Rajendran about the Trump Administration’s newly published National Security Strategy — what it signals, what it omits, and what it suggests about America’s role in a multipolar world.
Thomas and Giri discuss:
How this report differs from previous US National Security Strategies
The end of the old rules-based order of liberal int...
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December 16, 2025 • 52 mins
What does the future hold for the Middle East — and the world — in 2026?
In this special episode of Conflicted, Thomas instructs Aimen to peer into his crystal ball and offer his forecasts for the year to come.
In this episode, Aimen and Thomas discuss:
How professional geopolitical analysts make forecasts
The impossibility of foreseeing Black Swan events
Why an end to the war in Ukraine could reshape Middle Ea...
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December 11, 2025 • 63 mins
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Programme on Extremism at The George Washington University.
What happens when an ideological movement is neither a terrorist organisation nor an ordinary religious group — but something in between? One of the world’s leading experts on the Muslim Brotherhood explains…
The early history of Islam in America
The first Brotherhood-linked s...
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December 9, 2025 • 55 mins
The Middle East is shifting again, and fast. In this wide-ranging overview, Aimen and Thomas break down the hidden forces reshaping the geopolitical chessboard as 2025 draws to a close.
In this episode, Aimen and Thomas uncover:
The power of Saudi Arabia’s discovery of vast rare-earth reserves
The U.S.–Saudi grand bargain
Why the F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia rattled Israel and what it means for the future of the Abra...
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December 4, 2025 • 51 mins
In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat about the Muslim Brotherhood.
What happens when a Western democracy encounters an ideological movement it no longer has the language — or the institutions — to understand?
The former Security Minister and long-time observer of the Middle East explains what the Brotherhood is, how it operates, and why the British state is struggling to deal with ...
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December 2, 2025 • 52 mins
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, they look back at the journey so far, celebrate the global community that’s grown around Conflicted, and reveal what’s coming next in an ever-more turbulent world.
In this episode, Aimen and Thomas:
Offer a sweeping recap of Conflicted’s story arcs, themes, and analyses
Rev...
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November 26, 2025 • 90 mins
This week on Conflicted, we’re unlocking another episode we first released for members of the Conflicted Community.
In this interview from last January, I talk with Martin Plaut, a distinguished journalist who has reported on conflicts across Africa for decades, and whose book Understanding Ethiopia’s Tigray War was an essential resource for us in preparing our series on Ethiopia. We discuss:
Ethiopia’s recent Tigray War ...
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November 20, 2025 • 74 mins
This week on Conflicted, Thomas is joined by T.V. Paul, Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University.
Prof. Paul is one of the world’s leading thinkers in international relations and author of Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era and The Unfinished Quest: India’s Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi.
In this wide-ranging convers...
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November 12, 2025 • 76 mins
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 with Hussam Mahjoub, a Sudanese journalist, political activist, and founder of the independent TV channel Sudan Bukra, which has become a vital source of truth amid the chaos of war.
When it was recorded, Sudan was already sliding into catastrophe. But in the months since, the count...
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November 5, 2025 • 74 mins
This week on Conflicted, Thomas Small is joined by Patrick McGee, technology reporter and author of the phenomenal new book, Apple in China. Patrick provides an exclusive look at how Apple, in its relentless pursuit of operational excellence, drove a unique form of globalization that profoundly reshaped the economic and geopolitical world.
Thomas and Patrick dissect the story of Apple's pivot from near-bankruptcy to becoming a glo...
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October 29, 2025 • 95 mins
Another revisited interview from the Conflicted Community Interview archive this week, as we get ready for more Conflicted episodes coming soon… This time, the FULL interview with Hamza Howidy - a Gazan who years ago was forced to flee to Europe, telling us about his experiences and his vision for a post-Hamas Gaza…
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This week, Thomas speaks with Hamza Howidy, a Palestinian activist originally from Gaza now living in exile in Ge...
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October 22, 2025 • 24 mins
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 brings a clear-eyed, realist perspective to the current global debates, arguing that the emerging multipolar world is an opportunity, not a catastrophe, for the United States.
Thomas and Emma dissect the end of the American unipolar moment, exploring whether the US's pivot to global pr...
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October 15, 2025 • 71 mins
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 deal. The episode focuses on the fragile ceasefire deal brokered by President Trump, which has brought a temporary halt to hostilities between Israel and Hamas. Aimen is back with his signature, deeply informed analysis, answer your and Thomas’ questions to get beyond the narrative we no...
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October 13, 2025 • 48 mins
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary series will release every Monday. But if you want to listen to them all right now and ad-free, you'll have to sign up to the Conflicted Community.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
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When a horrific terrorist attack against children...
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October 8, 2025 • 24 mins
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 domestic and foreign policy. Together, they explore the profound impact of the recent 12-Day War between Iran, Israel, and the United States on the Islamic Republic. As an Iranian who has studied the regime for decades, Alex offers a vital look into the power struggles between revolutio...
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October 6, 2025 • 53 mins
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary series will release every Monday. But if you want to listen to them all right now and ad-free, you'll have to sign up to the Conflicted Community.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
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On March 22, 2017, the Westminster Bridge attack ...
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September 29, 2025 • 52 mins
Conflicted: 7/7 The Inside Story is now live to all our dear listeners!
New episodes of this 6 part Conflicted special documentary series will release every Monday. But if you want to listen to them all right now and ad-free, you'll have to sign up to the Conflicted Community.
All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/
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Just months after the 7/7 bombings, a new terror pl...
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September 24, 2025 • 24 mins
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 Near East Policy and founder of the acclaimed website Jihadology. Following up on their last conversation after the fall of the Assad regime, Aaron gives us an in-depth analysis of the current state of play in Syria as the new transitional government, led by Ahmad al-Shara, attempts t...
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