Unravelling the Middle East

Today Baghdad, Tomorrow Tehran!

This was the mantra and mentality of very high ranking officials of the Bush White House after the swift fall of Baghdad to the US military in 2003, which was the same year that Iran sent a secret letter to the U.S., offering to negotiate about... well, just about everything!

In this episode, we'll also talk about why the Obama White House drew parallels... between Iran and Vietnam,... even thou...

Our Holy Land and only Our Holy Land!

What does this mean to you?

My guest scholar explained to me that the Crusades is an example of what happens when outsiders come in and make exclusionary claims on Palestine.

As she told me, the history of the Crusades is not forgotten by the People of Palestine, because they draw sharp contrasts between Christian Europeans' conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, in which Muslims and Jews were sl...

Would it surprise to hear a Palestinian, in fact, a scholar of Palestinians and their history, to assert that there was NOT a distinct people called Palestinians. Instead of Palestinians, my guest scholar prefers the "people of Palestine". And as it turns out, there is a huge difference between these two terms, a considerable distinction that belies our common misunderstanding of the people of Palestine and our attempts t...

Spanish explorers and colonizers spoke in Christian terms and with religious zeal - calling for another crusade against the Muslims. And when describing the Americas, they referred to Montezuma as a Sultan, America's structures as mosques and Native women's dresses as Moorish.

🚩About My Guest:

⁠Dr. Alan Mikhail⁠ is a professor of history and chair of the Department of History at Yale University. He is the author of ...

The Ottomans didn't explore the Americas because they didn't need to. The Ottomans were much wider polity than merely being a Turkish Empire. And the ambitions and life story of one Ottoman Sultan explains how the Ottomans became the custodian of Islam's holy cities.

These are the short answers to the questions posed in the title. But the long answer is way more interesting. The Ottoman Empire - the superpower of its t...

►How did the mighty Sasanian Persian Empire fall to the Muslim Arabs?

►What happened in the Persian Empire on February 9, in the year 628? ►How did the Sasanian royal attempt to retake Iran from the Muslims? ►Where is the tomb of the heir to the Sasanian throne - the last Sasanian King of kings, the last pre-Islamic Shah of Iran?

🚩About My Guest:

⁠Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani⁠ is a lecturer and a senior research fellow at Leiden U...

Were the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires Persian or Iranian? What's the significance of these terms in the context of the past? How about now? Or in the 20th century, when Persia officially changed its name to Iran?

Were ancient tribes of Ukraine an Iranian people?

🚩About My Guest:

Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani is a lecturer and a senior research fellow at Leiden University. He is a historian of Global Late Antiquity and Early Mi...

Habits, health, beer parties, careers, raising kids, and personal crises – stories of ancient Mesopotamians told through more than half a million clay tablets. They say, “The past is a foreign country.” This is true. Also true are the similarities of modern and ancient people.

🚩About My Guest:

⁠Dr. Amanda Podany⁠ is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, including the following:

• Brothe...

Before powerful empires could conquer faraway lands, the Middle East was a peaceful region, where sophisticated diplomacy averted wars with neighbors and established trade between distant kingdoms. And the absence of foreign intervention contributed to peace in the ancient Middle East.

🚩About My Guest:

Dr. Amanda Podany is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, including the following:

• Bro...

The Ottomans, Portuguese and British have fought over Yemen. And through it all, the Zaydi Imamate has been there - since the 9th century. These are the roots of the Houthis - Shia Muslims who practice a different Shi'ism than Iran. As important as their religions beliefs may seem, including their association with Iran, as you will learn in this episode, it's more about geopolitics and power than anything else.

My gue...

The Ottomans, Portuguese and British have fought over Yemen. And through it all, the Zaydi Imamate has been there - since the 9th century. These are the roots of the Houthis - Shia Muslims who practice a different Shi'ism than Iran. As important as their religions beliefs may seem, including their association with Iran, as you will learn in this episode, it's more about geopolitics and power than anything else.

My gue...

Middle East reclaims the glories of its past - real and imagined. As you'll note in this episode, colonialism derailed the history of Middle East. And now its despots, representatives, clerics, and the masses reach for history to continue what they believe should be their paths.

Interestingly, despite the repression of most Middle East countries, vibrant intellectual communities have flourished there in which they discuss hist...

Does history have a meaning? Christianity demands a meaning - because human life is not in vain. And Islam is similar. But our perception of history has changed in the last 300 years. It has become more secularized. Interestingly, political Islam is a product of that process.

After you have listened to this episode, please share your thoughts regarding the following questions:

• Do you think that people in the non-wester...

Losing an American ally & the Carter Doctrine!

In yesterday's conversation with Dr. Bacevich, we discussed how America's military strategy transitioned from fighting Nazis and fascists, and later fighting proxy wars against communists, to fighting in the Middle East. In this episode, Dr. Bacevich tells us about the fall of America's prime ally in the Middle East - the Shah of Iran. And he explains the Carter Doctri...

What was the Carter Doctrine? How did the fall of the Shah of Iran affect U.S. military policy in the Middle East? Did America take sides in the Iran-Iraq War?

We love to get your answer to these questions:

1. Before listening to this episode, did you know that the United States supported Saddam Hussein in his long war against Iran?
2. Do you believe that America should continue to intervene in Middle East conflicts? Or should...

Is democracy the best form of government for the economic progress of countries in the Middle East? If your answer is yes, then how do you explain Turkiye? But if your answer is no, then how do you explain the UAE? And if not democracy, then what form of government would you suggest?

⁠click here to answer

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This question form will expire on Fir., Feb. 2, 2024.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Philip T. Hoffman. He is a ...

And when did Middle Easterners begin to all fall behind Europeans? And what does it even mean to fall behind?

For progress, which one do you think is better:

1. many small states competing against each other?
2. big states with huge resources and internal stability?

click here to answer

This question form will expire on Wed., Jan. 31, 2024.

My guest for this episode is Dr. Philip T. Hoffman. He is a professor of  B...

Welcome to our new program. I am Adel Aali, host of Unravelling the Middle East, an in-depth history and analysis podcast that will launch on January 25, 2024.

In this program, I ask my guests, who are all preeminent scholars, fundamental questions about the Middle East.

Unravelling the Middle East is a production of the ⁠History Behind News⁠ program.

I started the History Behind News podcast three seasons ago. Since then, 125 sc...