PODCAST · education
CMEC podcast
by CMEC
Analysis, debate & all that's happening in the Middle East & North Africa
Episodes
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Houthi Strikes on Saudi Arabia: CMEC talks to Yemen expert Baraa Shiban from RUSI
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Baraa Shiban, Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) & leading expert on Yemen about the devastating attacks by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) on Saudi Arabia & the role of Iran in this latest stage of the conflict. Baraa Shiban is a...
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E1 - Making Peace Impossible? CMEC at Conservative Party Conference pt 3
In CMEC's third fringe event of the 2026 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, CMEC Chairman the Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP chairs a discussion of experts to discuss the controversial E1 Settlement in the occupied West Bank, adjacent & to the northeast of East Jerusalem. CMEC's two...
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Iran's Hold on Hormuz: CMEC at Conservative Conference '26 pt 2
In its 2nd event at the 2026 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, CMEC Chairman The Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP chairs a panel of experts to discuss the current U.S.- Iran war and "Iran's Hold on Hormuz". The distinguished panel also includes Nicholas Hopton, former UK ambassador to Iran &...
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Understanding Islamism: CMEC at Conservative Party Conference '26 pt 2
"Understanding Islamism & its impact" - In CMEC's first conference event, International experts examine Sunni & Shia Islamism- ideology, political movements & militia. CMEC Director, Charlotte Leslie, chairs a discussion with an impressive panel: Ghanem Nuseibeh, Chairman of Muslims Against...
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CMEC DELEGATION TO JORDAN '26
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports from CMEC's Parliamentary Delegation to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. She talks to the UK's ambassador, H.E. Philip Hall OBE, and Conservative MPs Andrew Bowie MP ( Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security, West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine) George...
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Syria Britain Business Council Conference, Damascus - Women In Business Panel
CMEC Director, Charlotte Leslie, Chairs a panel at the Syria Britain Business Council's conference in Damascus, on 1st July 2026, with Alia Ayoub Agha, of Ayoub Agha Group, Nadine Chaoui, Managing Director of Al-Inaya Drugstore and Chaoui & Co, chair of The Women's Business Committee at the...
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The E1 Settlement - Making Peace Impossible?
Does the recently approved, illegal, E1 Settlement Development in the Occupied West Bank make peace impossible? And what are the incentives for peace for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he faces elections in Israel in the autumn? Director of The Council for Arab British Understanding (Caabu)
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Simon Penney CMG talks about UK/ GCC trade
In the latest CMEC podcast, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Simon Penney CMG, former UK Trade Commissioner for the Middle East and Pakistan. He was appointed in May 2018. He was also His Majesty's Consul (HMCG) to Dubai, appointed in January 2021. Simon spent the majority of his career in...
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Business as usual? British ex-pats view from the UAE
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to former trade commissioner for the Middle East and Consul General to Dubai, Simon Penney, and to international lawyer, Marcus Booth, both based in the UAE. Simon returned to the public sector in 2023 and has lived in the UAE for 17 years.
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IRAN WAR - CMEC talks to Dubai-based journalist Gareth Browne.
CMEC Director talks to Gareth Browne, the Dubai-based Middle East Correspondent of The Economist. Gareth believes there are already signs of the beginning of the collapse of the Iranian regime - just days after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
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IRAN CRISIS LATEST - Nicholas Hopton, of the Middle East Association
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Nicholas Hopton - a former UK ambassador to Iran and three other countries in the Middle East - about the current conflict in the Middle East following the attacks on Iran by the US and Israel, as well as the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader…
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CMEC talks to Yemen expert Dr Elisabeth Kendall
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Arabist and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, about Yemen - its history, recent past and current conflicts.
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Charlotte talks to US Public Affairs expert, Jason Epstein
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie is at the Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh where she talks to US Public Affairs expert, Jason Epstein, about the extraordinary transformation that's taken place within the Kingdom over the last decade as well as the Trump administration's current policy in relation to…
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IRAN - WHAT LIES AHEAD?
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie discusses the past and future of the troubled Islamic Republic of Iran with two distinguished ambassadors , Sir John Jenkins and Nicholas Hopton.
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'All at Sea' - With Dr. Ian Ralby. Why Maritime Security Really Matters for MENA
CMEC Director talks to maritime expert Dr Ian Ralby about the critical but largely overlooked role played by the sea in all of our lives and in the conflicts in the Middle East - the strategy behind the Houthis strikes on tankers in the Red Sea, how they have jeopardised Egypt's frail economy and...
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CMEC at The Doha Forum 2025
One year on from the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports from the 2025 Doha Forum. She talks to Michael Lawrence OBE, Chief Executive of Asia House; Baria Alamudddin, respected commentator and journalist; Nicholas Hopton, Director General of The Middle East...
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CMEC AT THE MANAMA DIALOGUE 2025
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports on Middle East current affairs from the 2025 Manama Dialogue and talks to Iain Lindsay OBE, former UK ambassador to Bahrain and now advisor to the country's prime minister Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa; Shayan Talabani, geopolitics analyst with…
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CMEC AT CPC25 Pt.3: The future of the Levant & its people
CMEC Chairman The Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP chairs a panel of distinguished experts examining the future of the Levant & its people. The panel comprises Emir Majid Arslan, academic & leading member of the Lebanese Druze community; Prof. Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow of the Chatham House MENA...
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CMEC at CPC25 Pt.2 - The under-reach of UK soft power in the MENA region
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie chairs a distinguished panel of experts and asks them how does the UK tackle the chronic under-reach of its soft power in the MENA region. The panel includes Omar Bdour, author and Founder & CEO, London Arabia; Tony Davis, boxing coach for the Bahrain national team…
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CMEC at CPC25 Pt. 1: Future of Christianity in a Changing Israel
"The future of Christianity in a changing Israel" is the subject for the first of 3 CMEC debates at the 2025 Conservative Party Conference. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces 4 distinguished speakers: Mr Ghanem Nusbeibeh, Chairman, Muslims Against Antisemitism; Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw CB…
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UK RECOGNITION OF PALESTINE
CMEC Special: The UK joins 149 other countries in recognising the state of Palestine. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie attends a raising of the flag at the Palestinian Mission to mark this historic event. These edited highlights of the commemoration include excerpts from speeches by His Excellency…
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon gives a briefing on Israel-USA strikes on Iran
Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, former MENA Minister, gives CMEC members a private briefing on the "12-day war" strikes by Israel and the USA, against Iran in June 2025.
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Lt Gen. Sir Simon Mayall & Professor Nader El-Bizri discuss Middle East
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie hosts a discussion between two distinguished MENA experts, the soldier & scholar, Lt. Gen. Sir Simon Mayall, and Lebanese-British academic Professor Nader El-Bizri. The wide-ranging discussion covers #Lebanon and its relations with Syria, extremism, economics and…
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Tom Helm reports from Jerusalem
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Tom Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent for The National Newspaper. Tom reports from his home in The Old City, in Jerusalem, about the current and growing Middle East omni-crisis with Israel attempting to knock out Iran's Uranium enrichment capacity and seemingly...
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MENA expert Dr Lina Khatib talks about Lebanon to CMEC
Damien McElroy, the London Bureau Chief for The National newspaper, introduces the distinguished MENA expert Prof. Lina Khatib (Chatham House, SOAS, Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center) for a fascinating CMEC-hosted talk at the House of Lords about Lebanon, which is now under new political…
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Baalbek under fire with Nayla De Freige
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to celebrated Lebanese journalist and editor Nayla de Freige, who is also president of the world-renowned international annual Baalbek Festival, held among the ancient ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, north east of #Beirut.. Nayla, CEO of…
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Con Coughlin & Prof. Lina Khatib discuss Syria at CMEC
Expert & insightful discussion on what happens next in post-Assad Syria
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Explaining Sudan's civil war with Cameron Hudson
CMEC Director talks to Cameron Hudson about the civil war raging in Sudan. Cameron Hudson is Senior Fellow in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington, DC. He has served in a number of high level roles in think tanks, NGOs and with the UN and in...
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Saudi women's boxing star, Rasha Al-Khamis, talks to CMEC
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Saudi sports star, in the ring, on the pitch, and in management, Rasha Al Khamis about the success and popularity of women's sports in Saudi Arabia and the extraordinary cultural and societal changes that have made it possible. Rasha Al-Khamis is one of the...
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CON COUGHLIN ON COLLAPSE OF SYRIA'S ASSAD
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks about the dramatic events in Syria and the sudden collapse of the 53-year old Assad regime to author and journalist Con Coughlin, the executive defence and foreign affairs editor of the Telegraph, and author of several books, including his latest book, Assad:...
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DOHA FORUM 2024
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie is at the 2024 Doha Forum and discusses latest events in the Middle East & North Africa, including the lightening collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, with ex-ambassador Nicholas Hopton, Director-General of the Middle East Association, the Right Hon. Victoria...
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What can the Middle East expect with Trump?
Charlotte Leslie talks to renowned scholar and security specialist Dr H.A Hellyer FRSA FRHistS - Senior Associate Fellow in International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defence and Security (UK). He is also a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International...
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"THE COMING STORM - WHY WATER WILL WRITE THE 21ST CENTURY" WITH SIR LIAM FOX
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks Ex-Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox about the growing global water crisis - the subject of Sir Liam's latest book, "The Coming Storm, Why water will write the 21st Century." The combination of an ever-increasing global population, climate change,...
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Alistair Burt on the 1st anniversary of the October 7 attacks
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to The Right Hon. Alistair Burt, the highly respected former Foreign Office Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa on the first anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks by Hamas on Israel which resulted in the murder of around 1,195...
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CMEC AT CPC24 - ON TACKLING MIGRATION
Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary The Right Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP was a special panel guest at CMEC's second conference event in Birmingham for CPC24 - "Tackling migration starts in North Africa" - does it?" CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie chaired the panel discussion which also included...
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CMEC AT CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces a an impressive panel of Middle East experts at the Conservative Party Conference 2024 to discuss "The UK's global presence after October 7th". In the chair for the discussion is The Right Honourable Alistair Burt, the highly respected former Former…
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General Sir Simon Mayall talks about Lebanon crisis
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Lt. General Sir Simon Mayall CB KBE - also an author, historian and an expert on the Middle East - about the current crisis in Lebanon. In recent days Israel has assassinated the head of Hezbollah - Hassan Nasrallah, and launched a series of airstrikes...
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Assassination of Hassan #Nasrallah with Gareth Browne
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to award-winning journalist and Arabist Gareth Browne who reports from #Beirut about the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasralllah and the implications for the Middle East and the world. @BrowneGareth talks to @CharlotteLeslie about...
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Conflict Looms Over Lebanon - Gareth Browne reports from Beirut
The assassinations on July 31st by Israel of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in southern Lebanon have seriously escalated tensions in the region, and now acutely for Lebanon. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to the award-winning journalist…
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WiMENA Women in Sport Conference '24
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces highlights from the inaugural WiMENA (www.wimena.com) Women in Sports Conference that took place on June 6th, 2024 at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC. The conference was held in partnership with the Arab British Chamber of Commerce ( abcc.org.uk)...
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Climate change with the British Council
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Amr Ramadan, a climate change young advocate and activist from Egypt who has been working with thew British Council. Amr talks about his work in tackling this enormous challenge. His own city of Alexandria is one of the cities facing the threat of...
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NAKBA 76TH ANNIVERSARY IN LONDON 2024
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces the 76th anniversary commemoration of the Nakba from Methodist Central Hall in central London on May 15th 2024. The event is compared by Kate Hardie-Buckley, the film maker & journalist, and was introduced with a speech by H.E. Dr Husam Zomlot…
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GENERAL SIR RICHARD BARRONS ON CONFLICT
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks about global conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine to Sir Richard Barrons, one of the British Army's most distinguished former generals. He has served in a variety of different theatres from Iraq to Afghanistan. He has warned that Ukraine could face defeat by Russia...
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Israel and Gaza with Professor Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham House
Chatham House Associate Fellow, Professor Yossi Mekelberg, talks to CMEC director Charlotte Leslie about the Israel-Palestine conflict, six months on from October 7th, and what it means for Israel, a future state of Palestine and the world. Yossi, Professor of International Relations and…
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DANIEL SEIDEMANN TALKS TO CMEC
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to renowned attorney Daniel Seidemann. Since 1991, Daniel Seidemann has focused on the geopolitics of contemporary Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an honorary MBE for his work. Daniel talks to Charlotte...
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How francophone north Africa is falling in love with English
In the second of CMEC's series of podcasts with the British Council - Charlotte Leslie discusses the growing prominence of the English language in francophone north Africa with Hamza Koudri -.the British Council's Country Director for Algeria. Speaking from Algeria, Hamza explains that English is...
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CHRISTMAS IN JERUSALEM WITH CANON RICHARD SEWELL
This year, Christmas will be dark in Bethlehem. In a special Christmas edition of the CMEC podcast, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie discusses the Israel Palestine conflict, and the Gaza crisis with The Very Reverend Canon Richard Sewell - the Dean of St George's College in Jerusalem. Richard talks...
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CMEC AT DOHA FORUM 2023
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie attended the 2023 Doha Forum & discussed the Middle East's and the world's response to the Gaza crisis with Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab- British Understanding (Caabu) Jane Kinninmont, Policy & Impact Director for the European Leadership Network…
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CMEC TALKS TO AIR MARSHAL MARTIN "SAMMY" SAMPSON CBE DSO
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Air Marshal Martin "Sammy" Sampson CBE DSO, experienced fighter jet pilot and military-diplomat extraordinaire to the Middle East and North Africa. Air Marshal Sampson's official job title is UK Defence Senior Advisor Middle East North Africa (DSAME) and...
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MANAMA 2023 with H.E Hossam Zaki & Baria Alamuddin
CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie attends the IISS Manama Dialogue 2023 (@IISS_org) - at one of the gravest times of crisis for the Middle East- the Gaza-Israel conflict that began with the October 7th terror attacks by Hamas on Israel. Charlotte talks to two influential and experienced observers of...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Analysis, debate & all that's happening in the Middle East & North Africa
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CMEC podcast currently has 96 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Analysis, debate & all that's happening in the Middle East & North Africa
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