CMEC podcast

Charlotte Leslie, Director of CMEC, chairs the first of of 4 of CMEC's CPC'23 debate series: "Who's BRIC-ing it? Can NATO and the West maintain relevance in the MENA region?" Saudi-Iran rapprochement, China stepping up its deal-making diplomacy in MENA, the rise and expansion of BRICS influence, the possibility of de-dollarisation. As tectonic plates shift, CMEC brings together world experts to di...

Charlotte Leslie, Director of CMEC, leads a delegation of 5 British parliamentarians to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a bastion of stability in the Middle East, and a valued and important ally of the United Kingdom. Jordan faces a number of challenges. It is bearing the brunt of the region's refugee crisis - with 1.3 million Syrian refugees. The Kingdom is also having to deal with a serious wat...

The prospects for peace and a two state solution for Palestinians and Israelis have never looked so bleak. Benjamin Netanyahu leads a controversial government dominated by far right and ultra nationalist ministers clearly ill-disposed opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie takes stock on the current situation with two activists, one an Israeli and the o...

Con Coughlin, The Telegraph's Defence Editor and author, talks to CMEC's Director Charlotte Leslie about his new book The Triumph of Tyranny. This fascinating and insightful book published by Pan Macmillan lifts the lid on the brutal Assad regime which has been in power in Syria for 53 years. With decades of reporting experience in the Middle East, Con Coughlin explains the family's rise to power...

This podcast tells the remarkable story of how a theatre company - the Khaleej Aden theatre troupe - brought William Shakespeare's Hamlet to war-torn Yemen, and provides a valuable insight into Yemenis living with war. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to the Aden-based film and theatre director, Amr Gamal, about the challenges in putting on the production, the war in Yemen and the yearning Yem...

This podcast covers the #NAKBA 75 Commemoration at Westminster Central Hall on May 12th 2023 that was led by H.E Dr Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Ambassador to London. Other speakers included the Rt Hon Crispin Blunt MP, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, The Rt Hon Layla Moran MP, The Rt Hon Bambos Charalambous MP & Dr Aimee Shalan, Chair of the British Palestine Committee.

CMEC's Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Roger Macmillan, Director of Safety & Security at Iran International, an independent Persian speaking news service. Roger Macmillan talks about the sustained campaign of threats and intimidation waged by the regime against staff at Iran International, which has reported fearlessly on the extensive human rights abuses in Iran. Iran has accused Iran Internat...

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie - at the IISS Manama Dialogue '22 - talks to CMEC's Honorary President, Lord Soames, (pictured, left) to Sir Alan Duncan KCMG, former Foreign Office minister and former CMEC chairman, to HE Roddy Drummond, UK's Ambassador to Bahrain, and to Iain Lindsay OBE, a former ambassador to Bahrain and advisor to the Bahrain Economic Development board. Topics include the Russi...

CMEC`'s Director Charlotte Leslie interviews Matthias Burchard, the Representative to the EU of the UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA), about the critical role played by the Agency in looking after 5.8 million Palestinian refugees. Mr Burchard explains the vital work of the UNRWA which provides, health, education and social care services across the region for Palestinian refugees, and robustly defen...

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie chairs the 2022 CMEC Party Conference Event on the impact on the Middle East of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine - with special guests and Middle East experts Lt. Gen. Sir Simon Mayall, Baria Alamuddin, the celebrated author and columnist, and Dr Ziya Meral, Director for Research and Programmes and Head of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Historical Analysis a...

Lt General (Ret.d) Sir Simon Mayall KBE CB reflects on his childhood in Yemen and a remarkable military career that was interwoven with the last tumultuous half century of the Middle East and North Africa. In this podcast interview by CMEC's Director Charlotte Leslie, Sir Simon talks about his time as a Soldier in the Sand, the title of his book, which is very much a personal history but one that...

This is the third in a series of CMEC podcasts on Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy – being done in conjunction with the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies based in Saudi Arabia. At the heart of Vision 2030 is Neom, the astonishing and carbon neutral city being built along the Red Sea Coast in northern Saudi Arabia. It has been described as the Kingdom's "new oil". CMEC's Direct...

In the third of a series of CMEC podcasts on Turkey, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks Turkey with Dr Ziya Meral, a senior associate fellow at RUSI, as well as being a programmes director specialising in global trends shaping defence and security, politics and foreign policies of Turkey and the Middle East. Since Russia began its attack on Ukraine in late February, Turkey has assumed an even gr...

Chris Doyle has - for 20 years - been the Director of Caabu, the Council for Arab-British Understanding. An Arabist by education and background, Chris is a respected commentator on the Arab World and on the issue of Palestine in particular. Chris talks to CMEC's Director Charlotte Leslie about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Middle East and the way Arabs interpret the reaction of the West...

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Peter Millett CMG, who was, from 2015, for 3 years, the UK's Ambassador to the troubled and war-torn country of Libya. Chaos and civil war has wracked Libya since 2011 and the fall and death of the dictator Colonel Mu'ammar Gaddafi. Warring rival governments were established in the East and West and militias have fought for control of the country's resources...

Prime Minister Theresa May praises CMEC's "vital" work by CMEC

Prime Minister Theresa May congratulates CMEC on its forthcoming 40th anniversary and "its vital work" in the region, and its role in creating a more peaceful and prosperous world"

Almost 19 years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, CMEC's Charlotte Leslie interviews senior Iraqi official Mr Mohamed al-Daraji about the necessity of maintaining security in Iraq. Mr Al-Daraji - the President of the country's National Defence Industries Commission, effectively Iraq's arms department - speaks candidly about the current security and political challenges facing Iraq, particularly fol...

CMEC'S Director Charlotte Leslie explores the central role of women now and in the future in Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom evolves away from its dependence on oil, with two influential Saudi figures. Dr Thoraya Obaid was the first Saudi woman to head up a UN agency when she was appointed as Under-Secretary General of the UN Population Fund. In 2013, she was one of the 30 women to join the King's Sh...

Charlotte Leslie reports from the IISS Manama Dialogue and talks to Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP and Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, Baria Alamuddin, celebrated writer and journalist, H.E Roddy Drummond, Britain's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Mina Al-Orabi, Editor-in-chief of the Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper.

CMEC's fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference at Manchester, on "Global Britain and the Middle East - Challenges and opportunities." Chaired by CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie. Guest speakers included H.E Sheikh Fawaz Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Nabil Ben Khedher, Tunisia's Ambassador to the UK, Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, Chair of the Iraqi-British Busi...

As the UK hosts COP26, CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie speaks to Dr Hoda Al-Helassie - a member of the Kingdom's advisory Shura Council, and Dr Yousef Alshammari - an expert in the future of oil and in alternative energy at OPEC, about the rapid change Saudi Arabia is currently under going through its Vision 2030 strategy. --- Climate change is forcing the world to wean itself off fossil fuels, and...

For the second in our series of podcasts on Turkey, CMEC interviewed Sir David Logan, from the Centre for Turkey Studies and a distinguished former UK Ambassador to Ankara. --- This podcast is proudly sponsored by Karkin & Yuksel, a Turkish law firm based in London. You can find more information about Karkin & Yuksel, their London office and their practise areas on their website, www.karkinyuksel....

This CMEC Podcast is part of CMEC's new Turkey series. Turkey is living through tumultuous times. 2021 started with student protests at Istanbul’s Bogazici University over the appointment of a leading supporter of Turkish President Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party as university rector; Ankara caused shockwaves by withdrawing from the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combatin...

Palestinian legislative council elections are taking place on the 22nd May this year, for the first time since 2006. This precedes the Presidential elections in July. Yet it will not be Palestine’s first democratic experiment. Long before the advent of the Arab uprisings, Palestine held free and fair elections to choose a president and a parliament. In hindsight, these elections, held in 2005 and...