A Mezze: Perils of the Sea

This week on a special edition of Babel, Will Todman speaks with Jon Alterman, the creator of Babel and the show’s host since it began in 2019. They discuss Jon’s reflections on 22 years directing the CSIS Middle East Program, his analysis of how the Middle East policy ecosystem ...  Show more

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mohanad's latest paper for Carnegie investigates the rise of a new form of drug smuggling in Lebanon. Together, they discuss Hezbollah’s i ...  Show more

‏اليمن يعلن غرق السفينة الجانحة ويحمّل الحوثيين المسؤولية البيئية... وواشنطن تفند راوية العراق عن مفاوضات الانسحاب 

From the BBC World Service: Two major shipping companies are avoiding the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen step up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Then, a veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner goes on trial. And later: When the Taliban captured Ka ...  Show more

Kingman, Arizona, a small farming town in the desert, is a cautionary tale in the West’s water crisis. About a decade ago, large corporate farms started moving into the desert of Mohave County, growing thirsty crops like alfalfa and nuts. At the time, there were practically no ru ...  Show more

One of the many casualties of the war in Yemen is the FSO Safer, a floating storage facility which holds one million barrels of crude oil. No maintenance has been carried out on the vessel for years, and experts believe it’s in danger or exploding or leaking oil in to the Red Sea ...  Show more