CONFLICTED

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to veteran Singaporean diplomat Prof. Kishore Mahbubani about his thesis that the 21st century will be remembered as ‘the Asian Century’, and how the West can prepare peacefully and optimistically for China's return as the fulcrum of world history.

Drawing on his books Living the Asian Century, Has China Won?, and Can Asians Think?, Prof. Mahbubani explains:

Why the 21st century will be the Asian century and why this need not require Western decline

How colonialism shaped Asian self-perception, and the need for intellectual decolonisation

How other countries can adopt Singapore’s model for success

His meeting with Fidel Castro, Hafez al-Assad, and Yasser Arafat

The hypocrisy of Western power and diplomacy

How the United States keeps the UN weak on purpose

Why Pres. Trump’s China realism has been a good thing

The threat of war in Asia

Follow Prof. Mahbubani on X: https://x.com/mahbubani_k

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm

Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this semi-emergency episode, Aimen helps Thomas unpack the last eight months of escalating tension and threats between the US and Iran, and explains why it’s now unlikely the American ‘armada’ President Trump sent to the Gulf will be going to war with Iran anytime soon.

Thomas and Aimen discuss:

How the 12-Day War changed Iran

Why Israel’s Doha strike jolted the Gulf and accelerated a ceasefire

The Saudi–Pakistan defence pact and the Abraham Accords fallout

How the region became more militarized and less diplomatically aligned

Iran’s protest wave and the regime’s unspeakably brutal crackdown

How Trump’s promises were empty from the start

Why this may be Trump’s ‘Obama red line’ moment

What this latest example of TACO signals to China

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/

Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod

And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConflictedYoutube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Thomas talks to distinguished BBC journalist Paul Kenyon about his new podcast series Two Nottingham Lads. Paul recalls highlights from his remarkable career, which has taken him from Iran to Libya to Ukraine to Stockport —as he watched, in real time, America lose its grip on the international order.

Paul talks about:

How two Nottingham lads ended up on opposite sides of the Ukraine War

The time he was detained by Iranian secret police

Watching anti-Gaddafi tribesmen ride into Benghazi on horseback

Accompanying unarmed Ukrainian guards as they marched uphill toward Russian troops

Getting to know the notorious ISIS brides in the Midlands

Being the only BBC journalist in Liverpool who witnessed the outbreak of the riots there in summer 2004

Listen to Two Nottingham Lads here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ntm9 

Follow Paul on X: https://x.com/paulkenyonTV 

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulkenyontv/

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm 

Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As jihadist violence in Mali escalates, Thomas and Aimen trace the history and present-day power of JNIM (‘Support Group for Islam and Muslims’), an Al Qaeda affiliate that has been laying siege to the capital Bamako. Will Mali’s secular state survive? Or is a jihadist takeover of the whole country now inevitable?

**Including BONUS MATERIAL for subscribers to the Conflicted Community!**

Thomas and Aimen discuss:

The evolution of JNIM out of AQIM (‘Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’)

The jihadist ‘privateers’ who built the organisation

Slavery and racial hierarchy in the Sahel

Will JNIM’s leader Iyad ag-Ghali become the King of Mali?

Fuel blockades, economic warfare, and attacks on the capital, Bamako

Whether Mali can still exist as a sovereign state

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠

Find us on X: ⁠https://x.com/MHconflicted⁠

And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠

And Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠

And YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ConflictedYoutube⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices⁠

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Aaron Zelin returns to Conflicted to unpack the extraordinary collapse of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ position in northeast Syria over the past week — and what the fallout could mean for Syria’s fragile post-Assad order.

Aaron explains:

Why the March 2025 framework agreement ultimately failed

Why Sunni Arab tribes abandoned the SDF — and how Damascus prepared the ground

How and why fighting erupted in Kurdish neighbourhoods of Aleppo

The rapid fall of SDF-held areas in Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasakah

What happened at ISIS prisons and detention camps during the collapse

Why claims of ‘Kurdish abandonment’ by the United States are misleading

The PKK factor — and the risk of a new insurgency or terrorism campaign

What Syria’s consolidation means for ISIS, regional stability, and the country’s future

Follow Aaron on X: https://x.com/azelin

This episode includes BONUS MATERIAL after the credits ONLY for subscribers to the Conflicted Community.

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm 

Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices