CMEC podcast

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie reports on Middle East current affairs from the 2025 Manama Dialogue and talks to Iain Lindsay OBE, former UK ambassador to Bahrain and now advisor to the country's prime minister Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa; Shayan Talabani, geopolitics analyst with the Tony Blair Institute; and Ibrahim Hamidi, Editor-in-Chief of Al Majalla magazine.

CMEC Chairman The Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP chairs a panel of distinguished experts examining the future of the Levant & its people. The panel comprises Emir Majid Arslan, academic & leading member of the Lebanese Druze community; Prof. Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow of the Chatham House MENA programme; & Lt Gen. Sir Simon Mayall KBE CB, soldier, author & former MENA advisor to the Ministry of Defence.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie chairs a distinguished panel of experts and asks them how does the UK tackle the chronic under-reach of its soft power in the MENA region. The panel includes Omar Bdour, author and Founder & CEO, London Arabia; Tony Davis, boxing coach for the Bahrain national team; & Nicholas Hopton, Director-General of the Middle East Association and ex-ambassador to 4 MENA countries. From the UK's media & creative industries to London's global appeal, our ancient education establishments, famous military training schools, and our Royal Family, Britain really is great. No wonder so many in the region ask, "Why doesn't Britain assert itself more?"

"The future of Christianity in a changing Israel" is the subject for the first of 3 CMEC debates at the 2025 Conservative Party Conference. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces 4 distinguished speakers: Mr Ghanem Nusbeibeh, Chairman, Muslims Against Antisemitism; Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw CB CBE - former Assistant Chief of the General Staff; Jamie Eyre, CEO, Embrace the Middle East; & - speaking remotely from her home in occupied East Jerusalem is the Palestinian Christian Mrs Hana Kirreh, consultant, researcher and peace activist .

CMEC Special: The UK joins 149 other countries in recognising the state of Palestine. CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie attends a raising of the flag at the Palestinian Mission to mark this historic event. These edited highlights of the commemoration include excerpts from speeches by His Excellency Dr Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador, Hamish Falconer MP, minister for the Middle East and the Rt Hon. Kit Malthouse MP, CMEC's Chairman. There are also interviews with Kit Malthouse MP, the distinguished former diplomat Sir Vincent Fean KCVO, and Chris Doyle, Director of CAABU.

Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, former MENA Minister, gives CMEC members a private briefing on the "12-day war" strikes by Israel and the USA, against Iran in June 2025.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie hosts a discussion between two distinguished MENA experts, the soldier & scholar, Lt. Gen. Sir Simon Mayall, and Lebanese-British academic Professor Nader El-Bizri. The wide-ranging discussion covers #Lebanon and its relations with Syria, extremism, economics and how religion also acts as a key driver of identity. They also discuss the ongolng crisis and tragedy of #Gaza.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Tom Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent for The National Newspaper. Tom reports from his home in The Old City, in Jerusalem, about the current and growing Middle East omni-crisis with Israel attempting to knock out Iran's Uranium enrichment capacity and seemingly non-stop slaughter in Gaza. What happens if the US joins Israel's attack on Iran and what happens to Netanyahu at any eventual conclusion of the conflict?

Damien McElroy, the London Bureau Chief for The National newspaper, introduces the distinguished MENA expert Prof. Lina Khatib (Chatham House, SOAS, Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center) for a fascinating CMEC-hosted talk at the House of Lords about Lebanon, which is now under new political management. Important contributors to the discussion include H.E. Mr Rami Mortada, Lebanon's ambassador to the UK. What happens next in this all-important Levant nation following years of chaos and trauma which have witnessed both the destruction of Hezbollah's military leadership, an incursion by Israel, a deep economic crisis, political turmoil and the devastating Beirut Port explosion? Can Lebanon recover from its omni-crises and what can its neighbours and the West do to help?

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to celebrated Lebanese journalist and editor Nayla de Freige, who is also president of the world-renowned international annual Baalbek Festival, held among the ancient ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, north east of #Beirut.. Nayla, CEO of L'Orient-Le Jour media group, describes the terrible impact on Lebanon and the grave threat posed to her home - the historic city of Baalbek - by the current, devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,400 people in Lebanon and have displaced around a million people. It has also jeopardised the extraordinary and ancient legacy of Baalbek as well as its international festival that has witnessed performances down the years by great artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Placido Domingo. As this podcast goes live, a ceasefire has been announced between Israel and Hezbollah.

Expert & insightful discussion on what happens next in post-Assad Syria

CMEC Director talks to Cameron Hudson about the civil war raging in Sudan. Cameron Hudson is Senior Fellow in the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington, DC. He has served in a number of high level roles in think tanks, NGOs and with the UN and in the U.S. government specialising in Sudan and genocide. Cameron began his government career as an intelligence analyst in the Africa Directorate at the CIA.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to Saudi sports star, in the ring, on the pitch, and in management, Rasha Al Khamis about the success and popularity of women's sports in Saudi Arabia and the extraordinary cultural and societal changes that have made it possible. Rasha Al-Khamis is one of the women leading the way in Saudi sport. She served for more than five years on the board of directors of Alula Sports Club. She is ex vice-president of the board of directors at the Saudi Boxing Federation and currently sits on the board of directors at the Asian Boxing Co-federation. She spearheads the women committee at the Arab Boxing Federation. She holds 4 Guinness World Records and is the first female certified boxing coach from the Saudi Boxing Federation. Rasha has +10 years in leading consulting firms in Riyadh. During this time, she specialised in designing and implementing dynamic strategies, business re-engineering, target operating models, performance management, and conducting in-depth cost analyses within the Sports, Culture, and Entertainment industries. Rasha’s experience also includes working at a design engineering firm in Los Angeles, where she played a pivotal role in the success of various LA-based metropolitan projects. Rasha is a graduate of the University of Southern California, holding a Master’s in Public Policy and Management.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks about the dramatic events in Syria and the sudden collapse of the 53-year old Assad regime to author and journalist Con Coughlin, the executive defence and foreign affairs editor of the Telegraph, and author of several books, including his latest book, Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie is at the 2024 Doha Forum and discusses latest events in the Middle East & North Africa, including the lightening collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, with ex-ambassador Nicholas Hopton, Director-General of the Middle East Association, the Right Hon. Victoria Prentis, former Attorney-General, Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab -British Understanding, the Syrian historian Amr Al-Azm, professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University in the U.S, and the Rt. Hon. Tobias Ellwood, former Middle East minister of state at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Charlotte Leslie talks to renowned scholar and security specialist Dr H.A Hellyer FRSA FRHistS - Senior Associate Fellow in International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defence and Security (UK). He is also a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. What can the Middle East & North Africa expect under what is expected to be a turbulent 2nd Trump presidency? Dr Hellyer believes Israel may annex parts - if not all - of the occupied West Bank, and possibly even settle parts of Gaza. The years ahead should prove a testing time for a testing time for International rule of law and the bodies and courts established to uphold it. Dr Hellyer has more than 20 years of experience in governmental, corporate advisory, and academic environments in the West, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks Ex-Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox about the growing global water crisis - the subject of Sir Liam's latest book, "The Coming Storm, Why water will write the 21st Century." The combination of an ever-increasing global population, climate change, industrialisation, urbanisation and limited natural resources means that one difficulty, above all, will shape the political, economic and security environment in the years ahead: that is water. By 2030, an astonishing 47 percent of the entire global population will live in high water stress areas. It is inevitable in conjunction with rising global temperatures - that water shortages will drive future conflict and migration. Water is finite and more than 97.2 per cent of it is undrinkable sea water. Desalination creates highly toxic brine that cannot be dumped into the sea. From the Jordan basin to the River Nile, water is becoming ever more precious, ever more important and ever more fought over. In a fascinating interview, Sir Liam talks about the possible future solutions to this growing crisis - he rightly describes as The Coming Storm.

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie talks to The Right Hon. Alistair Burt, the highly respected former Foreign Office Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa on the first anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks by Hamas on Israel which resulted in the murder of around 1,195 Israelis, with another 251 taken hostage. The attacks in turn have led to a massive 12 month-long military response by Israel against Gaza and the deaths of at least 41,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble. A further 479 Palestinians have also been killed - mostly by settler extremists - in the occupied West Bank in the last year. Attacks by Israel on Lebanon have so far killed an estimated 2,000 people including a reported 110 health workers. A year later, the conflict shows greater potential of spreading with Israel's current intensive campaign of airstrike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Iran's recent missile attack on Israel. Alistair Burt is an acknowledged expert on the Middle East and openly discusses his own fears and hopes for the region.

Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary The Right Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP was a special panel guest at CMEC's second conference event in Birmingham for CPC24 - "Tackling migration starts in North Africa" - does it?" CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie chaired the panel discussion which also included Middle East experts Ghanem Nuseibeh, the businessman and Chairman of Muslims against Antisemitism, and Major General Jonathan Shaw CB CBE, the retired soldier, author and consultant. Our experts discuss the issues such as war, climate change, food and water shortages which are driving migrations flights from the Sahel area of Africa and North Africa. What can the West do to help make these countries sustainable and staunch the flow of misery - aided and abetted by ruthless people traffickers to Europe and the UK?

CMEC Director Charlotte Leslie introduces a an impressive panel of Middle East experts at the Conservative Party Conference 2024 to discuss "The UK's global presence after October 7th". In the chair for the discussion is The Right Honourable Alistair Burt, the highly respected former Former Office minister for the Middle East. (@AlistairBurt UK.) The other distinguished members of the panel were Dr Lina Khatib, Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute and Associate Fellow of Chatham House(@LinaKhatibUK), Lt. General Sir Simon Mayall CB KBE, author, soldier and Middle East expert (@SimonMayall) and Nicholas Hopton, the Director General of The Middle East Association and former British ambassador to Iran, Libya, Qatar and Yemen. (@NicholasHopton)