The Invisible Lines That Divided South Asia
The historian Sam Dalrymple joins Faisal Al Yafai on the podcast to discuss the politics of making borders, partition in the Indian subcontinent and his new book, “Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia.”
Beirut’s History Is Being Repaved
Incredibly, parts of Beirut’s Roman walls have survived all the intervening upheavals, human and natural, of the past two millennia. But these remnants, and the ancient tombstones the walls were lined with, are under threat — not from earthquakes or war, but the construction of a parking lot.
Hind Rajab and the Dying Light
If Hind’s voice is a reproach, then the humanity of her would-be rescuers is redemption, however inadequate. For the hours they spent with her — comforting and reassuring the child on one hand, berating and beseeching her tormentors on the other — they expiate our collective guilt.
Inside the End of Kurdish Self-Rule in Syria
A deal between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces that will end Kurdish self-rule in northeastern Syria is moving forward. But mistrust runs deep, and many SDF fighters reject integration, while civilians, worn down by war, hope for stability but fear what unification could bring.
The Islamic Republic’s Broken Promises of Economic Justice
Iran’s Islamic republic was built on a pledge to uplift the poor and uproot inequality. Instead, decades of sanctions, ideological priorities and the Revolutionary Guard’s economic dominance have produced mass impoverishment and recurring unrest.