BICOM's Podcast

Episode 76 | China's expanding role in the Middle East

James Sorene talks to Sam Nurding who wrote BICOM’s new paper “UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East” and to Dr Andreas Krieg from King’s College London about China’s objectives in the Middle East and how it is expanding trade, investment and arms sales across the region.    

Read UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East here.

Episode 75 | Upheaval in Lebanon and Iraq, deadlock in Israeli coalition talks

James Sorene speaks to Richard Spencer, Middle East correspondent for The Times about protests in Lebanon and Iraq and Ronie Gazit speaks to former Israeli deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh about coalition talks in Israel and the security challenge posed by Iranian precision-guided missile technology.

 

Episode 74 | Can ISIS return?

James Sorene speaks with Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post journalist and author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East, about the potential resurgence of ISIS following the Turkish invasion of north-east Syria.

Episode 73 | Turkish invasion forces rethink in Israel

James Sorene speaks to former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor Dr Eran Lerman about the Israeli perspective on the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria and what key issues the national security establishment might need to rethink.

Episode 72 | Why is Turkey invading Syria?

James Sorene speaks to Hannah Lucinda Smith, Turkey correspondent for The Times and author of Erdogan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey, about why President Erdogan really ordered the operation in Syria, what it means for the battle against ISIS and what happens next.

Episode 71 | Israel’s campaign between the wars

James Sorene speaks to Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog about Israel’s ongoing battle against Iran in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and Ronie Gazit speaks to Phillip Smyth from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy about Shia militias in Iraq and Iran’s wider militia strategy in the middle east.

Episode 70 | Gantz plays it calm as Bibi feels the heat

James Sorene talks to Tal Shalev from Walla news about coalition talks, Netanyahu’s pre-trial hearing and the contrasting style of Bibi Netanyahu and Benny Gantz.

Episode 69 | Is it really bye bye Bibi?

James Sorene talks to Lahav Harkov, Senior Contributing Editor of the Jerusalem Post and Raf Sanchez, Israel correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and Richard Pater speaks with Daphna Liel and Shalom Lipner to examine the Israeli election results and analyse what happens next during weeks of coalition talks.

Episode 68 | The election endgame

For the first time ever, the BICOM podcast was recorded on a moving train as James Sorene talked to polling expert Dahlia Scheindlin and journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer on the 21:15 from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. They discussed the final phase of the Israeli election campaign and how voter turnout and Avigdor Lieberman’s quest to bring Bibi down will decide who wins on 17 September.

Episode 67 | Israel's battle with Iran

In this week’s podcast, Richard Pater talks to Jerusalem Post's editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz, author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, about recent events along the Israeli-Lebanese border. They also discuss the latest events in the Israeli election campaign.