New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy | Podcasts

The Prospects for Nation-Building in Syria after Assad

In this edition of The New Lines Institute Middle East Center’s Post-Assad Podcast series, Middle East Center co-director Nicholas A. Heras sits down with Dr. Sultan Alamer to assess how the new governing authorities in Damascus can reimagine Syrian nationalism after Assad and build an inclusive state for all Syrians. Dr. Alamer is a Resident Senior Fellow with the Middle East Center at The New Lines Institute, and a senior member of the editorial committee of Alpheratz, an Arabic language magazine. He is also a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University’s Center of Middle East Studies, an executive committee member of the Arab Political Science Network, and a Bucerius Fellow at the Zeit-Stiftung Ebling und Gerd Bucerius. Heras and Dr. Alamer analyze the potential scenarios where the successful Syrian revolution could result in new mass movements for political reform, or even revolution, in other states in the wider Middle East.

Global Hotspots: Hybrid War in Ukraine Intensifies Amid Diplomacy

This week, Ukrainian forces initiated new offensive operations in Russia’s Kursk region while NATO ships deployed to the Baltic Sea to protect critical infrastructure from suspected Russian sabotage attempts. In the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan is investigating a Chinese vessel’s suspected role in damage to undersea internet cables, while the U.S. Treasury announced further sanctions against Chinese tech companies. In the Middle East, Hamas listed hostages it would be willing to release, while the UAE proposed a framework for the governance in Gaza in a post-conflict scenario.
Read the full Weekly Forecast Monitor here: https://newlinesinstitute.org/forecast/week-20250110/
Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Captagon Trade After Assad

In this episode of the Contours Podcast, New Lines Director of the Strategic Blindspots portfolio Caroline Rose sits down with Non-Resident Senior Fellow Dr. Karam Shaar and U.S. Department of State counter-narcotics expert Jonathan Earles. Together, they discuss how the fall of Assad’s Syria may affect the captagon trade, including its production and state-sponsored distribution, and the demand for the drug in the region.

Global Hotspots: Outlook for 2025

2025 will be headlined by the domestic and global impact of Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency. Key diplomatic and security shifts will occur in the Russia/Ukraine conflict as well as in the Middle East, while geopolitical tensions between the United States and China will intensify, both bilaterally and in the wider Indo-Pacific.
Read the Annual Forecast here: https://newlinesinstitute.org/forecast/2025-annual-forecast/

Forecasting Syria in 2025

In this edition of The New Lines Institute Middle East Center’s Post-Assad Podcast series, Middle East Center co-director Nicholas A. Heras sits down with Dr. Kamran Bokhari to develop a strategic forecast for Syria in the upcoming year. Dr. Bokhari is a Senior Director at the Institute who is a specialist on Eurasian politics with a particular focus on the Middle East with over three decades experience in the intelligence analysis community providing strategic assessments on global events. A distinguished professor at the Institute’s M.A. in Strategy and Policy program, Dr. Bokhari also teaches a course on Central Asia at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. Heras and Dr. Bokhari investigate the key dynamics that will shape post-Assad Syria in 2025, and present especially important context on events in Syria that are not being widely discussed that will be essential to understanding the trajectory of the country.

Global Hotspots: Middle East Diplomacy Ramps Up

This week, Western countries have organized diplomatic outreach to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz expressed hope for a potential cease-fire with Hamas. In the Indo-Pacific, members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue finalized plans to hold joint military exercises for the first time, while the U.S. stated it would take necessary steps to prevent further coercive action from China following the latter’s recent critical minerals ban. In Russia, Ukrainian agents assassinated a top Russian general in Moscow, and North Korean troops participated in intense fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
Read the full Weekly Forecast Monitor here: https://newlinesinstitute.org/forecast/week-20241220/

How Can Civil Society Build a Better Syria?

In this edition of The New Lines Institute Middle East Center’s Post-Assad Podcast series, Middle East Center co-director Nicholas A. Heras sits down with Nidal Betare to assess the potential for a Syrian-led, inclusive process of democracy-building in post-Assad Syria. Betare is a Palestinian-American who was born and raised in Syria, and a well-known expert on civil society and the Syrian political opposition. They engage on a wide-ranging discussion on how Syrian civil society can lead its country to engage in a process of reconciliation across Syria’s diverse communities after a decade and a half of war, and a half-century of the rule of a brutal authoritarian regime. Betare and Heras also tackle the subject of what the vibrant and active Syrian-American community can do to help rebuild the country and make it more prosperous than ever before.

Can a Former Al Qaeda Affiliate Stabilize Syria After Assad?

In this inaugural edition of The New Lines Institute Middle East Center’s Post-Assad Podcast series, Middle East Center co-director Nicholas A. Heras sits down with the Center’s Resident Senior Fellow Murad Batal Al Shishani and the Institute’s Priority Sustainable Counterterrorism Portfolio head and Senior Analyst Tammy Palacios to discuss the prospects for stability in post-Assad Syria. These two institutional experts on global Salafist-Jihadist movements and the Syrian conflict assess the likelihood that former Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir Al Sham will be able to turn its shocking military victory over the former Assad regime into a sustainable and inclusive governance system in Syria.

Global Hotspots: The Outlook for Post-Assad Syria

This week, Syrian rebel groups captured Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad sought asylum in Moscow, and Israeli forces struck key military targets across Syria. In the Indo-Pacific, China held its largest military drills to date in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s recent Pacific tour, while the U.S. increased funding for key initiatives for Taiwan. In Ukraine, Russia made significant advances in Donetsk towards the city of Pokrovsk, while French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Paris.
Read the full Weekly Forecast Monitor here: https://newlinesinstitute.org/forecast/week-20241213/

Global Hotspots: The Syrian Conflict Re-emerges

This week, rebel groups in Syria captured Aleppo and other areas in a renewed push against Bashar al-Assad’s government, while Israel bombed Lebanon despite the cease-fire. In the Indo-Pacific, China vowed to halt all exports of critical raw minerals to the U.S. in response to the latter’s new batch of export controls targeting Chinese tech companies, while South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol is facing possible impeachment after having imposed martial law, a decision quickly repealed by lawmakers. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, President Vladimir Putin threatened renewed IRBM strikes against Kyiv as Ukrainian officials met with incoming Trump administration officials in Washington.
Read the full Weekly Forecast Monitory here: https://newlinesinstitute.org/forecast/week-20241206/
Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/