The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey
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The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey
Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a...
Recent Episodes
631 episodes
Trump orders new strikes on Iran. Are we back to square one
The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be hanging by a thread. After fresh fighting erupted and Iranian attacks targeted commercial...
Yemen’s drums of war
The drums of war are beating again in Yemen.
A series of recent incidents suggests that both Iran and Saudi Arabia are more assertively supporti...
Iran weakened militarily but strengthened politically
James discusses on CNBC prospects for the US-Iran negotiations and US President Donald Trump’s interview with the network.
Lebanon casts a shadow over US-Iran talks
Lebanon looms large as a grey swan that could run roughshod over US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war.
Lebanon casts a shadow over US-Iran talks
Lebanon looms large as a grey swan that could run roughshod over US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war.
Shaping Gulf geopolitics-The battle for the Strait of Hormuz
Geography gives Iran a leg up in the struggle to determine the strategic Strait of Hormuz’s future and potentially with it the region’s balance of pow...
History suggests that prospects for a final US-Iranian deal are bleak
Widely diverging US and Iranian attitudes towards Iran’s nuclear programme are not just about preventing the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear w...
Middle East Report 26062026
James discusses the US-Iran negotiations, the Middle East’s changing geopolitics, and Yemen on Radio Islam.
Ottoman-era railway offers a glimpse at a post-war Middle East architecture
A Turkish-Saudi agreement to revive the Ottoman-era Hijaz Railway tells the story of geopolitical realignment in the wake of the wars in Gaza, Lebanon...
US-Iran talks remain fragile
The negotiations between the United States and Iran remain fragile with both contradicting the other on what may or may not have been agreed. James di...
Rethinking Yemen
It’s time to rethink policy towards Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The need to think outside of the box has become more urgent with Middle E...
Middle East Report: Iran 1-0 US
James discusses the US Iran memorandum of understanding on Radio Islam.
A birthday present with a price tag
By James M. Dorsey
Out of character, Iran gave US President Donald Trump an unexpected birthday present.
It agreed on Mr. Trump’s 80th to...
Middle East Report 12062026
James discusses on Radio Islam this week’s rollercoaster in the Iran war.
Trump and Iran agree on one thing The definition of insanity
There is one thing US President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders agree on.
They both religiously adhere to the principle that “insanity is doin...
Casting Shadows
With an unprecedented eight teams competing, the Middle East casts its long shadow over this year’s World Cup; not always for the right reasons.
...
Spinning out of control
James discusses the Iranian-Israeli tit-for-tat, the Lebanon war, and US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war on CNA938.
Reshaping the Islamic Republic
Like the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and last June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war, this year’s Iran war has reshaped the Islamic Republic.
Middle East Report
James discusses this week’s Iran war developments, Gulf splits on post-war relations with Iran, and the Middle East’s shadow hanging over the 2026 Wor...
Living by the sword
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stands accused of waging war in his personal rather than Israel’s national interest.
Mr. Netanyahu’s c...
A game of chicken
A US-Iranian tit-for-tat in the Strait of Hormuz amounts to a game of chicken that risks spinning out of control.
US President Donald Trump’s im...
Lebanon ceasefire is about more than Hezbollah
James argues on TRT World that for Iran and the US a Lebanon ceasefire is not just about Hezbollah. It’s also about leverage in US-Iranian negotiation...
Gulf states prepare for long-term Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz
Disregard the US, European, Iraqi, and Gulf states’ rejection of Iran’s insistence that it will control the Strait of Hormuz no matter what.
The...
US-Iranian negotiations are a performative tug-of-war over who blinks first
US-Iranian negotiations to end the Iran war have evolved into a performative tug-of-war over who has the longer breath rather than an all-out effort t...
The Strait of Hormuz A battle for regional dominance
For Iran, control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz is about dominance in a post-Iran war era, in which the Gulf is looking at an adapted, if not new,...
How close are the US and Iran to a deal
James argues on TRT that the United States and Iran are nowhere close to an agreement to end the Iran war.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis could help Saudi Arabia reduce dependency on the Strait of Hormuz
Three months into the Iran war, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have largely been absent, depriving Iran of an opportunity to increase further press...
Middle East Report: A Weekly Roundup
James discusses on Radio Islam this week’s Middle East developments.
Pakistan’s Iran war mediation ties the South Asian nation up in knots
A resumption of Iran war hostilities could jeopardise Pakistani mediation and turn the South Asian nation into a combatant as differences between Saud...
Iran war disrupts Gulf states' economic ambitions
James discusses on TRT World the Iran war’s economic fallout in the Gulf states
Gulf states’ differences were baked into the GCC’s DNA from the outset
The Gulf states’ divergent responses to the Iran war are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s DNA.
Founded in Abu Dhabi in 1981 by the r...
Trump fails to camouflage differences with China over Iran
A US and Bahraini draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Iran's throttling of traffic through the strategic Strait of...
Middle East Report 15052026
James discusses the struggle for the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump’s visit to China, US-Gulf relations, and the return of sectarianism o...
US-Iran diplomacy amounts to motion without movement
US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s response to peace talks as tensions rise ahead of his trip to China, while global powers prepare militar...
Are the US and Iran close to a deal
The United States and Iran are closer to a deal that would end the Iran war. James M. Dorsey tells TRT World why that does not mean that they are clos...
The US and Iran hold their fire. The question is for how long
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on thin ice when he declared this week on the White House press podium that “Operation Epic Fury is concluded.”<...
US and Iran tap dance into reviving hostilities
The good news is that Iran’s latest ceasefire proposal apparently includes elements that US President Donald Trump finds worthwhile considering, even...
Iran’s proposal puts Trump in a bind
The gap between the US and Iranian positions is widening.
Whatever understandings existed have vanished.
Driving the widening of the gap a...