Tag: Shia

In this episode, based on listener questions, Dr. Yaron Friedman of the University of Haifa joins the podcast to discuss the fundamentals of the religion of Islam. The conversation covers the definition of Islam, its historical spread, its various streams and factions, and the possibility of a secular Muslim state.

In this episode, based on listener questions, the guest is Dr. Yaron Friedman, a lecturer in Arabic at the University of Haifa, a researcher of Shia Islam and the Alawite community, and a co-founder of the podcast. The conversation, recorded on July 8, deals with the power struggles in Iran after the death of the Supreme Leader, the new situation in Syria under rebel rule, the future of Hezbollah, and the fate of the Alawite community.

Dr. Tamar Eilam Gindin, an expert on Iran, is the guest on this episode. The conversation, recorded on the eve of Ashura, deals with the meaning of the Battle of Karbala and the death of Imam Hussein for the Shi'a. Dr. Eilam Gindin analyzes the mythological roots of the story, its influence on the mentality of the Iranian regime, and the way it is expressed in the internal rifts at the top, in negotiations with the West, and in the perception of governance and the constitution.

In this episode of "This Week in the Middle East," Professor Amatzia Baram, an expert on Iraq, joins the show to discuss the reasons that led to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. According to Baram, it was a "strange war": an initiative by one country, Iraq, to attack a country three times its size, Iran, which was in the midst of a vibrant Islamic revolution. Baram explains the chain of events and motives that led Saddam Hussein to make this risky decision.

This episode's guest is Dr. Yaron Friedman from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Haifa. The conversation deals with Iran's parade of strategic mistakes, which Dr. Friedman likens to a modern, but fake, Battle of Karbala. According to him, this is a pre-lost war that the Iranian leadership entered after believing its own propaganda.

Three months after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, commentator Yaron returns to the podcast to summarize the beginning of the rule of Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his former nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Julani. The episode deals with the question of the new leader's identity, the economic and social situation in Syria, and the challenges facing the new regime.