Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s reign was profoundly connected to the Western news media. The mainstream press played an active role in the ousting of his rival Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, and spent the next two decades lavishing him with the kind of praise that only paid…

Isa Blumi is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University. Heholds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University and a Master of Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School…

A interview with legendary English journalistRobert Fiskfrom 2015 produced by Vancouver’sRedeye Collective. The talk was titled: “Goodbye, Mr Sykes! Adieu, Monsieur Picot!” How the ISIS ‘caliphate’ frightens the Middle East – and us.” For more on Redeye, please consult their archive…

This is the story of the now largely forgotten “dark night” of October 17, 1961, “the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in Western Europe in modern history”. Adapted from Sina Rahmani, “It’s when there’s more than one that there…

While they may not be household names, Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington can justifiably count themselves among the most influential academics of the last few decades. As the Cold War was winding down, the two men helped manufacture one of the biggest intellectual frauds in…

Sara Salem is Assistant Professor in Sociology at the London School of Economics. Sara’s research interests include political sociology, postcolonial studies, Marxist theory, feminist theory, and global histories of empire and imperialism. Please send all comments and suggestions to eastisapodcast@gmail.com or reach us…

Manu Samriti Chander is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark. He holds an MFA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from Brown University. His first monograph,Brown Romantics: Poetry and Nationalism in the Global Nineteenth Century(Bucknell, 2017), examined the…

An interview with Gayatri Spivak fom the archives of Alternative Views, the legendary public access TV show based in Austin created and hosted by Douglas Kellner and Frank Morrow. In the episode, the hosts ask Spivak about her experiences teaching in the KSA.Interview begins around…

Turkey has for decades been one of the most important allies of the Western powers. The rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan–a charismatic nationalist and polarizing figure who survived a coup attempt in July 2016–has stirred up consternation among the establishment about his loyalty to the…

In April 1964, Malcolm X traveled to Saudi Arabia to complete the Hajj. Upon his return, he gave a press conference and explained what lessons his experiences abroad had taught him about the problems facing African-Americans. Please send all comments and suggestions to Read More