In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to bestselling novelist and historian Jack Carr. A former Navy SEAL sniper, Carr talks about his phenomenal book Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror as well as his upcoming novel The Fourth Option.

Jack describes:

• His path from childhood fascination with war to becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper
• SEAL training: Hell Week, mental fortitude, and what separates those who quit from those who don’t
• Boarding Iraqi oil tankers: enforcing sanctions at sea and policing the post–Gulf War international order
• His experience as a sniper in Iraq and Afghanistan
• The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and its role in shaping modern terrorism and U.S. foreign policy
• The mistakes in US counter-terrorism policy: how limited responses can shape enemy strategy over time
• From warfighter to writer: how Carr’s military experience informs his novels and nonfiction on the War on Terror

Jack Carr's official website: https://www.officialjackcarr.com/

Find Jack on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackcarrusa/

Find Jack on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackcarrusa/

Find Jack on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JackCarrUSA

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Alan Leer.

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Aimen describes the counter-coup which has taken place inside the Islamic Republic against Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, the key to understanding the failure of the Islamabad peace talks.

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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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In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist Jason Burke about his new book The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s.

Jason explains:

• Why the origins of modern terrorism lie earlier than the Afghan jihad of the 1980s
• The global revolutionary ferment of the 1960s and 70s
• Why early terrorist attacks were often designed to attract attention rather than cause mass casualties
• The role of Palestinian militant groups in pioneering modern tactics like hijacking
• Connections between European radicals, Japanese militants, and Middle Eastern groups
• How states adapted to terrorism through new counterterrorism measures
• The shift from theatrical violence to mass-casualty and suicide attacks
• The relationship between secular revolutionary movements and later Islamist militancy
• The Iranian Revolution as a turning point in the evolution of political violence
• Why many common narratives about the origins of jihadism are incomplete

Find Jason on X: https://x.com/burke_jason

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.

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After the peace talks in Islamabad fail as expected, the United States adopts Plan B: a complete blockade of all Iranian maritime trade. Aimen explains this latest move in the Iran War.

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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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Aimen does his best to explain the sudden and somewhat unexpected ceasefire between the United States and Iran which was announced early on Tuesday.

Aimen and Thomas discuss:

• Pakistan's role: what game are they playing?
• Russia's delicate balancing act between Iran and the GCC
• How GCC leaders cope with President Trump's erratic shifts in messaging and policy
• Did Netanyahu know about the ceasefire in advance?
• The potential coup in Lebanon which Israel's intervention stopped
• Whether Lebanon is included in the ceasefire or not
• What U.S. military hardware is on its way to the region
• Why European politicians and diplomats still support containment when it comes to Iran while being gung-ho against Russia
• How energy dependence helps explain the posture of Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey
• How the Islamabad talks between Vance and Ghalibaf are likely to go down

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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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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In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist Oliver Bollough about his illuminating new book ⁠Everybody Loves Our Dollars: How Money Laundering Won⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Oliver and Thomas discuss:

• Iranian oil money flowing into London property
• Russian oligarch wealth parked in Western banks
• Al Capone to Miami: evolution of money laundering
• Jeffrey Epstein and elite financial fixers network
• $100 bills fuelling global criminal cash economy
• White House insiders profiting from crypto and stablecoins
• Chinese gangs laundering cartel money worldwide
• Hawala and ancient trade-based money transfer systems

Find Oliver on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/olbullough/⁠

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠

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And YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.

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In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to journalist and author Anand Gopal about his wonderful new book Days of Love and Rage, a profoundly moving and intellectually stimulating history of the Syrian revolution told from the perspective of the northern town of Manbij.

Anand and Thomas discuss:

• Anand's first-hand witnessing of 9/11
• How Anand embedded with the Taliban
• Revolution as a crisis of faith and collapse of social reality
• Manbij as a microcosm of the tensions of Syrian modernity
• The failure of Manbij's democratic experiment and the limits of liberalism
• How ISIS exploited both material grievances and liberal norms
• Baathism: egalitarian ethos vs authoritarian reality

Find Gopal on X: https://x.com/Anand_Gopal

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm⁠

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.

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As all sides in the Iran War escalate their attacks, another spectre looms on the horizon: Iran-backed sleeper cell agents across the world launching terrorist attacks against strategic assets — including in the West. Aimen opens the lid on this little-known dimension of the IRGC's activity.

Aimen and Thomas discuss:

• How the U.S. will deal with the problem of Bandar Abbas before launching an amphibious assault on islands in the Gulf
• The recent escalation: the Houthis join the war, an AWACS plane destroyed in Saudi Arabia, a desalination plant attacked in Kuwait
• The history of the sleeper cell as a tool of revolutionary subversion
• The five types of Iranian sleeper cell
• Aimen's experience embedded in sleeper cells as a double agent
• How Iranian sleeper cells launder money
• The prevalence of sleeper cells in South America
• Aimen's work investigating the finances of sleeper cells
• How London restaurants are secret IRGC fronts

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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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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Aimen's back after a few days away uncovering the secret info and true motivations behind the Iran War.

Today he and Thomas focus on the Lebanon front in the war, telling the story of how the Lebanese state was progressively undermined over several decades, as non-state actors acted like a cancer on the body politic — with the largest tumour being, of course, Hezbollah.

Aimen and Thomas discuss:

• The method behind the madness of Pres. Trump's chaotic messaging.
• The likelihood of a U.S. assault on Iran's islands in the Gulf.
• Whether Gulf leaders are really egging the U.S. on to bring an end to the regime.
• The U.S.'s objective of 'regime destruction' and how that differs from 'regime change'.
• The failure of energy traders to price risk properly.
• Abdul Malik al-Houthi's speech on 26 March and what it reveals about his intentions
• The long history of Lebanon's experience of militant non-state actors and foreign intervention
• How Hezbollah was able to re-arm and re-build after the catastrophe of autumn 2024.
• How deep corruption within the Lebanese government and military is preventing the state from disbanding Hezbollah.
• What to think about all those seasoned analysts who are convinced that America will lose this war.

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠

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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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Aimen has been called away for important last-minute insider meetings, so sitting in for him on today's episode is Nadwa Al-Dawsari, veteran researcher, conflict analyst, and policy advisor with 20 years of field experience in Yemen and the broader Middle East.

Nadwa and Thomas discuss:

• How Yemeni tribalism really works
• The IRGC agents who are in control of Houthi war policy
• Houthi eschatological beliefs
• When the Houthis are likely to join the Iran War in force
• What the military capabilities of the Houthis really are
• The long shadow of the Stockholm Agreement
• Houthi techniques of indoctrination and control
• The growing Houthi presence in the Horn of Africa
• How the Houthis and Al Qaeda are now effectively allies
• Why Western decision-makers get the Middle East so disastrously wrong

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Find Nadwa on X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/Ndawsari⁠⁠

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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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In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to Harvard professor Sven Beckert about his new book Capitalism: A Global History.

Sven explains:

• Why the history of capitalism matters for understanding the present
• How most histories of capitalism are too Eurocentric
• How merchant communities in the medieval Muslim world and other regions laid the foundations of capitalism
• How European merchants learned from and interacted with merchants in the Muslim world
• Trust networks in global trade, including family, religious, and city-based merchant networks
• How capitalism and state power grew together
• European divergence: why Europe became central to capitalism
• Effects of Ottoman control and European geopolitical weakness on Atlantic expansion
• Role of conquest, slavery, and colonial expansion in building capitalist societies
• Tension between capitalism’s drive for unlimited growth and nature’s limits
• Challenges to neoliberalism from the left and the populist right

Find Sven on Bluesky: @svenbeckert.bsky.social

Visit Sven’s personal website: svenbeckert.com

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small.

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