Simon Sebag Montefiore: How the Modern Middle East Was Made

In this Conflicted Conversation, Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the show, this time to talk about his new book The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East.

Simon explains:

• How Britain and France tried — and often failed — to shape the post-Ottoman Middle East
• Why Sykes–Picot is a misleading shorthand for the region’s modern borders
• How Atatürk, Nasser and other Middle Eastern leaders remade the region through their own choices
• The violent shift from Ottoman pluralism to nationalist, more homogeneous states
• Why Nasser’s charisma produced a powerful Arab myth but a disastrous authoritarian model
• Why traditional monarchies in Morocco, Jordan and the Gulf often outlasted revolutionary republics
• How America became the Middle East’s dominant anti-imperial imperial power after Europe’s retreat
• Why militias, parastates and insurgencies make “total victory” in today’s Middle East so elusive

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Visit Simon’s website: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small .

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