Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East Was Made
Notes de l’épisode
In this Conflicted Conversation, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the show, this time to talk about his new book The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East.
Simon explains:
- How Britain and France tried — and often failed — to shape the post-Ottoman Middle East
- Why Sykes–Picot is a misleading shorthand for the region’s modern borders
- How Atatürk, Nasser and other Middle Eastern leaders remade the region through their own choices
- The violent shift from Ottoman pluralism to nationalist, more homogeneous states
- Why Nasser’s charisma produced a powerful Arab myth but a disastrous authoritarian model
- Why traditional monarchies in Morocco, Jordan and the Gulf often outlasted revolutionary republics
- How America became the Middle East’s dominant anti-imperial imperial power after Europe’s retreat
- Why militias, parastates and insurgencies make “total victory” in today’s Middle East so elusive
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Visit Simon’s website: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com
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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.
Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.
Produced and edited by Thomas Small .
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