Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East Was Made
Shownotes
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
Find Simon on X: x.com/simonmontefiore
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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