Babel will take you beyond the headlines to discuss what’s really happening in the Middle East and North Africa. It features regional experts who explain what’s...
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with eL Seed, an award-winning French-Tunisian artist whose monumental artwork blending the styles of Arabic calligraphy and graffiti is spreading in the Arab world and far beyond. His smaller works are in some of the most important museum collections around the world, but he takes special pride in his process of working with communities to select meaningful quotations to inspire his art and then to execute that artwork together. Jon and eL Seed discuss the cultural and political forces that shaped eL Seed's artistic evolution, as well as art’s role in spurring social change. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Martin Pimentel and Natasha Hall to discuss the ways art anchors Middle Eastern diaspora communities to their homelands and interacts with political movements across the Arab world.
Transcript, "eL Seed: Arabic Calligraffiti," CSIS, January 14, 2025.
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Analysis: Syria’s Bid for Sanctions Relief
Just a month after Bashar al-Assad fell in Syria, the country is in the midst of a swirl of regional diplomacy. The new Syrian foreign minister is on another regional swing, and the foreign ministers of Germany and France visited Damascus. A central question is when and how the comprehensive sanctions placed on Syria during a half-century of Assad family rule will be lifted. Asher Grant-Sasson speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, about the prospects for these diplomatic efforts and what their results might signal about Syria’s future.
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Special: Syria's Post-Assad Scramble
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Will Todman and Natasha Hall, senior fellows at the CSIS Middle East Program, for a special episode on the sudden collapse of the Assad regime and what will replace it. Together, they discuss the promise and peril of this historic moment, and the domestic and regional forces moving aggressively to shape Syria’s new direction.
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Max Gallien: Black Markets of the Maghreb
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Max Gallien, a political scientist specializing in informal and illegal economies and North African politics. He is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and the International Centre for Tax and Development at the University of Sussex. Together, they discuss the political, social, and economic functions of smuggling economies in North Africa. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Martin Pimentel and Will Todman to discuss what factors lead Middle Eastern states to ignore, or even condone, smuggling by their citizens.
Transcript, "Max Gallien: Black Markets of the Maghreb," CSIS, December 10, 2024.
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Analysis: The Regional Fallout of Syria's Unrest
Last weekend, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate with a base in northwest Syria, launched a surprise offensive. The rebels captured Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and headed toward Homs and Hama, two major population centers. The weekend’s battles mark the first significant shift of battle lines in Syria since 2020. With Russian and Syrian airstrikes on rebel strongholds picking up, Asher Grant-Sasson speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, about the regional and geostrategic implications of a possibly new phase in Syria’s 13-year civil war.
Babel will take you beyond the headlines to discuss what’s really happening in the Middle East and North Africa. It features regional experts who explain what’s going on, provide context on pivotal developments, and highlight trends you may have missed. Jon Alterman, senior vice president, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts the podcast along with his colleagues from the Middle East Program. This podcast is made possible through the generous support of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. All views, positions, and conclusions expressed here should be understood to be solely of those of the speaker(s).
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