Tito becomes an international celebrity, with a jet-set lifestyle to match his status. His hybrid ‘coca-cola socialism’ sees Yugoslavia booming. But the good times have been built on shaky foundations. And as Tito ails it seems his Balkan miracle will prove short-lived… A Noiser ...Show more
Tito Part 4: The Marshal Versus Stalin
In the war’s aftermath Tito exacts his bloody revenge. Manoeuvring the king out of the picture, Yugoslavia is swiftly consolidated under communist rule. A clash with the US risks further conflict, even a nuclear strike. Though the biggest showdown is to come… with Joseph Stalin… ...Show more
In our previous episode on the Iranian revolution, we left the Ayatollah Khomeini sitting high and mighty in Tehran. Little did he know, next door in Baghdad, an Arab strongman nursed revolutionary, expansionary ambitions of his own: Saddam Hussein, the Lion of the Arabs and Defe ...Show more
Saddam Hussein was reviled and loved, and not necessarily in equal measure. His supporters say the Iraqi president was “just in his injustice”, but his victims would tell a very different story. In 2003, his near quarter of a century rule came to an end when invading US forces f ...Show more
Zainab Salbi grew up in the inner social circle of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in the 1980s because her father worked as Saddam’s personal pilot. It was a world of apparently glamorous parties on the River Tigris, but where the slightest falling-out with the dictator coul ...Show more
6. The Real Godfather: Assad’s Syrian Mafia (Ep 1)
How did Bashar al-Assad become one of the Middle East’s most feared dictators? What role did Hezbollah play in the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister in 2005? And how did Assad’s rise to ultimate power mirror the ascent of Michael Corleone in the Godfather? As the new ...Show more