2025 Conflicted Christmas Special

The war in Ukraine is back in the headlines as a peace agreement appears increasingly probable - though with major concessions to Russia. So as a Christmas present to our listeners, we’ve brought this episode from August out from behind the paywall. In it, Thomas speaks with his old university friend Jakub - a former Slovak Army officer who volunteered to fight in Ukraine - about the lived reality of modern warfare, from trench fighting to FPV strike drones. Drawing on nearly eighteen months at the front, Jakub offers an unvarnished account of combat, morale, fear, boredom, and survival - and challenges many popular assumptions about how this war is actually being fought. Thomas and Jakub discuss: Why Jakub left academia to fight in Ukraine Life as a foreign volunteer inside a regular Ukrainian infantry battalion The psychological reality of trench warfare How artillery, drones, and attrition have reshaped the battlefield The limits of NATO doctrine when confronted with peer warfare What this war suggests about the future of European security Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with global finance and security analyst Giri Rajendran about the Trump Administration’s newly published National Security Strategy — what it signals, what it omits, and what it suggests about America’s role in a multipolar world. Thomas and Giri discuss: How this report differs from previous US National Security Strategies The end of the old rules-based order of liberal internationalism The Middle East: a phase shift toward deeper economic engagement China: economic and industrial competition, not ideological crusade Europe: NATO burden-sharing, culture-war politics, and coercion by inducement Russia as a potential ally, no longer an enemy Whether global governance can exist without global institutions Follow Giri on X here: https://x.com/Trajan1898 Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does the future hold for the Middle East — and the world — in 2026? In this special episode of Conflicted, Thomas instructs Aimen to peer into his crystal ball and offer his forecasts for the year to come. In this episode, Aimen and Thomas discuss: How professional geopolitical analysts make forecasts The impossibility of foreseeing Black Swan events Why an end to the war in Ukraine could reshape Middle Eastern geopolitics The likelihood of a U.S. war against the Houthis in Yemen Renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon The strategic importance of the Gulf states Iran’s nuclear programme, proxy network, and the risk of renewed confrontation Add your predictions to your 2026 Forecast Card here: https://forms.gle/sMCbRFmFTBdcfEDd8  Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks with Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Programme on Extremism at The George Washington University. What happens when an ideological movement is neither a terrorist organisation nor an ordinary religious group — but something in between? One of the world’s leading experts on the Muslim Brotherhood explains… The early history of Islam in America The first Brotherhood-linked students arriving in the U.S. in the 50s and 60s The formation of the first American Brotherhood cells The Brotherhood’s gradual institutional influence across the 80s and 90s Why CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) is so controversial Germany’s three-fold classification system and what the U.S. can learn from it Follow Lorenzo on: X, BlueSky, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  Check out his books: The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West (Columbia University Press, 2010) The Closed Circle: Joining and Leaving the Muslim Brotherhood in the West (Columbia University Press, 2020). Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Middle East is shifting again, and fast. In this wide-ranging overview, Aimen and Thomas break down the hidden forces reshaping the geopolitical chessboard as 2025 draws to a close. In this episode, Aimen and Thomas uncover: The power of Saudi Arabia’s discovery of vast rare-earth reserves The U.S.–Saudi grand bargain Why the F-35 sale to Saudi Arabia rattled Israel and what it means for the future of the Abraham Accords Iran’s deepening water crisis and Gulf states’ preparations for instability The simmering tensions between India and Pakistan Afghanistan’s compounded crises Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices