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The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast

By: James Ryan
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 The MERIP Podcast features exclusive interviews with contributors to the Middle East Research and Information Project from the present and past about their work for MERIP, as well as audio from events we've conducted online and in-person that examine contemporary issues in the politics, economy, society and culture of the Middle East. Hosted by James Ryan, MERIP's Executive Director. Visit our website, www.merip.org, to read all of our work without paywalls.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Ryan Political Science Politics & Government World
Episodes
  • Episode 14: The MERIP Roundtable, On Iran's Protests

    Episode 14: The MERIP Roundtable, On Iran's Protests
    Jan 27 2026
    In this installment of the MERIP Roundtable podcast, MERIP’s executive director James Ryan is joined by a panel of MERIP comrades to discuss the latest wave of protests in Iran. The protests began on December 28, 2025, as merchants and bazaar workers reacted negatively to new budgetary measures announced by President Masoud Pezeshkian. The protests snowballed in the first week of January, reaching a peak on and shortly after January 8, after which the government instituted an internet blackout. The protests have been intense, widespread and increasingly cross-sectoral. They’ve also been met with harsh repression by the IRGC and its affiliates, with reports of clashes and summary executions resulting in thousands of casualties. The panel discussed the protests, how they compare and contrast with prior waves, and how regional and global politics are influencing both the regime and its opposition. Participants in the panel are Kaveh Ehsani, a member of MERIP’s board of directors and a professor of international studies at DePaul University; Maziyar Ghiabi, a member of MERIP’s editorial committee and an associate professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies at the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter; and Asma Abdi, an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, also at Exeter’s Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies. This conversation was recorded on January 21, 2026.Further Reading: Setareh Shohadaei, Nazanin Shahrokni, Peyman Jafari, Kaveh Ehsani, Arash Davari and Maziyar Behrooz, “Echoes of a Short War: Critical Reflections on Israel’s Attack on Iran” Jadaliyya roundtable, September 23rd, 2025 https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/46907Arang Keshavarzian, “An Explosion Long in the Making” Equator January 17, 2026 https://www.equator.org/articles/iran-explosion-long-in-the-making Naghmeh Sohrabi, “We Can’t Live Like This Anymore” Equator January 18, 2026 https://www.equator.org/articles/messages-from-iran Yassamine Mather, “Seeds of Revolt: Iran’s Economic Collapse and Inflation” Counterpunch January 16, 2026 https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/16/economic-collapse-and-inflation/ Gal Beckerman, “The Silence of the Left on Iran” The Atlantic January 16, 2026 https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/01/the-iranians-who-feel-betrayed-by-the-left/685644/ Asma Abdi, “A feminist international political economy of sanctions: crises and the shifting gendered regimes of labor and survival in Iran” International Feminist Journal of Politics August 15, 2022 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616742.2025.2454462 Iman Ganji and Bahar Noorizadeh, “Iran’s Three Body Problem” N Plus One January 16, 2026 https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/irans-three-body-problem/?fbclid=PAdGRleAPY0pBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAaflBX0em6er1z0KbzOClKd6DOApTeHXqHWUwi43cCt9p_j8yZur4Ipw7RGZSQ_aem_5uz1JbQNzT2KXqezqXAUqw Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, “Scylla and Charybdis” New Left Review January 20, 2026 https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/scylla-and-charybdis The MERIP Podcast features exclusive interviews with contributors to the Middle East Research and Information Project from the present and past about their work for MERIP, as well as audio from events we've conducted online and in-person that examine contemporary issues in the politics, economy, society and culture of the Middle East. Hosted by James Ryan, MERIP's Executive Director. Visit our website, www.merip.org, to read all of our work without paywalls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Episode 13: Ned Leadbeater

    Episode 13: Ned Leadbeater
    Dec 22 2025

    Today on the podcast we have an interview with Ned Leadbeater, a researcher and analyst based in Britain who recently wrote an article for our Summer/Fall double issue on the material politics of normalization titled, “Fiber Optics and the Hidden Politics of Connectivity.” His article explores the politics surrounding undersea fiber optic cables in the Red Sea and plans for possible overland cable routes through the Middle East. Currently, the vast majority of internet traffic between Europe and Asia flows through the Red Sea—as much as 90 percent, making it vulnerable to cargo ship accidents and Egypt’s high installation and transit fees. Before October 7, 2023, major tech companies like Google and Meta were developing plans to bypass that Red Sea bottleneck by creating new overland and undersea cable routes from the Mediterranean across Israel and Jordan to the Gulf states that would necessitate new forms of normalization, particularly with Saudi Arabia. James Ryan, MERIP’s executive director, spoke with Ned Leadbeater about the actors involved in fiber optic cable politics, the longer geopolitical history of telecommunications infrastructure in the region and how states and corporations may be rethinking their security strategies in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza.


    This conversation was recorded on December 16, 2025.


    Further Reading:


    Ned Leadbeater, “Fiber Optics and the Hidden Politics of Connectivity” Middle East Report Fall/Summer 2025, https://www.merip.org/2025/10/fiber-optics-and-the-hidden-politics-of-connectivity/

    Paul Cochrane’s reporting at Middle East Eye: https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/paul-cochrane

    Submarine Telecoms Forum, https://subtelforum.com/

    Nicole Starosielski, The Undersea Network Duke University Press, 2015 https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-undersea-network

    Pauline Lewis, “Wired Ottomans: A Sociotechnical History of the Telegraph and the Modern Ottoman Empire, 1855-1911” Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA, 2018 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/985895xr


    Support MERIP by making a one-time or monthly donation at www.merip.org/donate

    The MERIP Podcast features exclusive interviews with contributors to the Middle East Research and Information Project from the present and past about their work for MERIP, as well as audio from events we've conducted online and in-person that examine contemporary issues in the politics, economy, society and culture of the Middle East. Hosted by James Ryan, MERIP's Executive Director. Visit our website, www.merip.org, to read all of our work without paywalls.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    49 mins
  • Episode 12: Honoring Joe Stork, Live in Washington, DC

    Episode 12: Honoring Joe Stork, Live in Washington, DC
    Dec 8 2025

    On this episode of the MERIP Podcast we're sharing highlights of our live event Honoring Joe Stork, held at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C. on November 22, 2025. The event featured reflections and reminiscences about Joe Stork, our co-founder and longtime editor who passed away October 23, 2024. Featured speakers included Sarah Leah Whitson, Lisa Hajjar, Mouin Rabbani, Joel Beinin, Zachary Lockman, Rick Reinhard, Andy Shallal and Joan Mandel. The event was MC'd by Joost Hiltermann, a MERIP contributor and analyst at the International Crisis Group. All of the speakers shared stories of their experience working with Joe, from the founding of MERIP in the 1970s through his work with Human Rights Watch later in his career.


    MERIP is grateful to the staff at Busboys and Poets for hosting us, and Andy Shallal, the owner of Busboys and Poets, for joining the proceedings to share a few words.


    To support MERIP's work so that it continues to be paywall-free, please visit www.merip.org/donate today to make a one-time or monthly donation.

    The MERIP Podcast features exclusive interviews with contributors to the Middle East Research and Information Project from the present and past about their work for MERIP, as well as audio from events we've conducted online and in-person that examine contemporary issues in the politics, economy, society and culture of the Middle East. Hosted by James Ryan, MERIP's Executive Director. Visit our website, www.merip.org, to read all of our work without paywalls.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
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