Academy Of Ideas

Listen to this session from the International Battles strand of the recent Battle of Ideas festival In the past few years, the Middle East has undergone serious convulsions, from the collapse of Iraq to the Arab Spring, the Syrian war and the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen. The spread of Islamic State has wiped out one hundred-year-old borders in a matter of months, with large areas of Iraq and Syria now part of those countries only in name. America’s interest and power in the region seems to waning while regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran are becoming more assertive. A bewildering number of alliances and counter-alliances seem to be in play in which religious affiliations, local political grievances and powerful external players meet in a maelstrom. The Gulf states intervene against and for Sunni jihadists depending upon which state one looks at; America supports Iranian-backed militias in Iraq while backing Saudi-led airstrikes against Shia groups in Yemen; in Syria, Am