Latest news with #MichaelSafi
Economic Times
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Peas in a podcast: Devouring the past
Wars have long made ancient sites vulnerable to looting, and in post-Assad Syria , this grim tradition continues. In Syria's treasure-hunting fever, a compelling episode from The Guardian's podcast, reporter William Christou talks to Michael Safi about the ongoing plunder of the ancient city of Palmyra . Once a jewel of the Roman Empire and a Unesco World Heritage site , Palmyra now lies pockmarked with holes - dug by desperate Syrians in search of millennia-old burial explains how the collapse of Syria's security infrastructure and the deep poverty left in war's wake have driven ordinary people to hunt for antiquities. Joining the discussion is archaeologist Amr Al-Azm, founder of the Athar Project, which monitors online trafficking of looted artefacts. He describes how the Islamic State's earlier exploitation of cultural heritage sites has fuelled a lasting appetite for illegal the looters are not the only ones to blame. Al-Azm points to the global antiquities market - particularly buyers in Europe and North America - as complicit. Without tackling demand, he warns, the destruction will continue. This sobering episode is a must-listen for anyone concerned about the survival of our shared cultural heritage.
The Guardian
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Afraid of Israel, angry at the regime: Iranians on 12 days of war
Before the war, something in Iran seemed to be shifting, says Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations. Years of protests by the opposition had come at a heavy cost – civilians injured, political prisoners, deaths – but the authoritarian government had begun to make concessions. Most visibly, there were reports that as many as one in three women were moving around Tehran with their heads uncovered. And then the Israeli strikes began, and Geranmayeh says 'all of that has now been turned upside down'. Michael Safi hears how Iranians' relationship with the regime has changed in the last two weeks, as people have rallied around the flag, horrified by Israeli and US bombs, and at the same time expressed anger and shock at a government that seems to have been so little prepared for this war. As a fragile ceasefire seems to hold, many are asking themselves the same question: what kind of Iran will come next? With special thanks to the journalist Deepa Parent, who helped to contact people from across Iran.
The Guardian
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Why Trump bombed Iran
The US has joined Israel in its attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. Michael Safi hears from reporter Hugo Lowell and world affairs correspondent Andrew Roth on what happens now
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Film-maker Adam Curtis on why this moment feels so weird
Adam Curtis is a journalist who delves deep into the BBC archive to make films about the ideas and feelings that define our times. In his latest series of films, Shifty, Curtis charts how Margaret Thatcher and her government transformed Britain by transferring power to the world of finance and by promoting a radical individualism. In conversation with Michael Safi, Curtis discusses the way his films try to capture what an idea feels like, how the ideas of the 1980s have led us to feelings of powerlessness and melancholy, and how new ideas are the key to a different future. Support the Guardian today:
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A declaration of war': Israel's strike on Iran – Today in Focus Extra
Israel has launched an unprecedented strike on Iran. Though in the last couple of years the two rivals in the region have traded a few tit-for-tat attacks, the world woke up on Friday to an extraordinary escalation. As the Guardian's senior international correspondent Julian Borger reports from Jerusalem, this time Israel has attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, as well as killing the head of the Revolutionary Guards, the army chief of staff, and six senior nuclear scientists. So, asks Michael Safi, this time are we really on the brink of a regional war?
