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Like the title says.... Fawcett, L. (ed.). International Relations of the Middle East . 5th ed. Oxford University Press.  Gaddis, J. L. The Cold War . Penguin.  Halliday, F. The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology . Cambridge University Press.  Gelvin, J. L. The Israel ‑ Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War . Cambridge University Press.  Smith, C. D. Palest...

A brief discussion of why Resolution 242 is so important. UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967), full text — peacemaker.un.org   UN Digital Library record of Resolution 242 — digitallibrary.un.org   Camp David Accords (17 September 1978) — avalon.law.yale.edu digitallibrary.un   Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty (26 March 1979) — avalon.law.yale.edu peacemaker.un   Ruth Lapidoth, "The Misleading...

A brief discussion about the significance of the policy of containment.

A discussion of the significance and legacy of Yasser Arafat. Khalidi, Rashid. Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness . Columbia University Press, 1997.  Rubin, Barry. Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography . Oxford University Press, 2003.  Morris, Benny. Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 . Vintage Books, 2001.  Shlaim, Avi. The Iron...

A very quick explanation of UN Resolution 425 and the Blue Line United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 (1978)   UNIFIL Background - United Nations   Norton, A. R. (2007). Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton University Press.   Shlaim, A. (2001). The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. W. W. Norton & Company.   Kassem, S. (2024). UNIFIL’s “Blue Line” Demarcation. International Studi...

A more in-depth discussion and analysis of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

References  Sciences Po. "The historiography and the memory of the Lebanese civil war." Mass Violence and Resistance - Research Network . Accessed June 12, 2026. https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/historiography-and-memory-lebanese-civil-war.html     El-Khazen, Farid. The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967-1976 . Centre for Lebanese Studies a...

A brief discussion about the significance of the Camp David Accords.

A brief discussion of the significance of the invasion of Hungary on the changing dynamics of the Cold War in Europe.

A companion podcast to the Yom Kippur War podcast

A brief discussion of the cause and effect of the war along with some historians' interpretations. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. (1967). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/en/S/RES/242(1967) Rabinovich, A. (2004). The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East . Schocken Books.  Shlaim, A. (2000). The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World . W. W. Norton...

A brief discussion of the role of the UN in working for and hindering peace in the Middle East. Brynen, Rex. Palestinian Refugees and the Politics of Peacemaking .  Finkelstein, Norman. Image and Reality of the Israel–Palestine Conflict .  Gold, Dore. Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos .  Hroub, Khaled. Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide .  Indyk, Martin. Innocent Abroad: An In...

Terrorism: what it is, why it is used, and its impact and effects on the peace processes in the Middle East. Sources used: BBC 2024, Middle East Conflict , BBC History, , https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/middle_east Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) 2024, Middle East and North Africa Backgrounders , CFR, https://www.cfr.org/middle-east-and-north-africa Wilson Center 2024, Terrorism & Extremism ,...

A brief discussion about the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and Berlin Blockade. Sources: Truman, Harry S. Address Before a Joint Session of Congress on Greece and Turkey (The Truman Doctrine). 12 March 1947.  Marshall, George C. Harvard Commencement Address (The Marshall Plan Speech). 5 June 1947.  Stalin, Joseph. Interview with Pravda on the Marshall Plan. 1947.  Allied Control Council Document...

A deep dive into the Iran-Iraq War and its causes and consequences with some historians' takes on the matter. Hiro, D. (1991). The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict . New York: Routledge.     https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/iran-iraq-war       https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-iran-iraq-war-will-shape-the-region-for-decades-to-come/     https://www.merip.org/200...

A discussion of the Six Day War and its significance when looking at the history of the Middle East and the struggles for peace. Laron, G. (2017, June 5). The Historians’ War Over the Six-Day War . The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/historians-war-six-day-war/     J. Correspondent. (1997, May 30). Six-Day War memories: 30 years later, revisionists ask how war began . JWeekly.com...

A brief conversation about Jimmy Carter and his efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East Abrahamian, E. A History of Modern Iran . Cambridge University Press, 2008. Gerges, F. The Superpowers and the Middle East . Westview Press, 1994. Khalidi, R. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood . Beacon Press, 2006. Lewis, B. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000...

A kind of rambling discussion of the historiography of the First and Second Intifadas and their causes and significance.

A brief discussion the Berlin Wall (resources in show notes) Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. Penguin Press, 2005.  Kempe, Frederick. Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth. Putnam, 2011.  Leffler, Melvyn. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. Hill and Wang, 2007.  Sarotte, Mary Elise. The Collapse: The Acci...

A discussion of Gold Meir and whether she worked for or opposed peace in the Middle East. Shapira, Anita. Israel: A History. Brandeis University Press, 2012.  Oren, Michael. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Oxford University Press, 2002.  Shlaim, Avi. The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. Penguin Books, 2014.  Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage: The Story of the...

A discussion of the Arab League and how it worked for and limited peace negotiations. Cleveland, William L., and Martin Bunton. A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press, 2018.  Kerr, Malcolm H. The Arab Cold War: Gamal Abd al ‑ Nasser and His Rivals. Oxford University Press, 1971.  Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. Beacon Press, 2006. ...

A brief discussion of the significance of the Eastern Bloc with various historians' interpretations Applebaum, Anne. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956. Penguin, 2012.  Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. Penguin, 2005.  Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991. Abacus, 1994.  Kotkin, Stephen. Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Colla...

A brief discussion of the impact of Arab Fundamentalism and various historians' views on it. Esposito, John. Islam and Politics . Oxford University Press, 1998.  Khalidi, Rashid. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood . Beacon Press, 2006.  Lewis, Bernard. The Crisis of Islam . Random House, 2003.  Milton‑Edwards, Beverley. Islamic Politics in Palestine . I.B. Tauri...

A look into the Iranian revolution and historical interpretations References  Britannica. (n.d.). Iranian Revolution . https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution    Skocpol, T. (1982). Rentier State and Shi'a Islam in the Iranian Revolution. Theory and Society , 11(3), 265-283. https://www.jstor.org/stable/657269    Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. (2019, February 11). Ideology...

A discussion of the various perspectives of historians of the major events during the Cold War in Europe (apologies, I didn't realise I had recorded video and not audio, but really didn't want to re-record it) Sources used for this podcast: Harrison, Hope M.  Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961 . Princeton University Press, 2003.  Hanhimäki, Jussi M. &q...