Middle East

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Berkeley political scientist Ron E.Hassner for a discussion of his book, War on Sacred Grounds. Hassner discusses the challenges facing international relations scholars and policy makers as they address political conflict in which religion plays a central role. He emphasizes understanding religion on its own terms in order to move toward rationally addressing the religious processes at work in conflict situations. Hassner defines the essential features of sacred places and describes the factors making holy places so contentious an issue in...

Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, discusses his experiences covering Middle East wars for the last 30 thirty years.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Fisk/fisk-con1.html

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes General John Abizaid for a discussion of the role of the military in the 21st century. Drawing on his experience as commander of the U.S. Central Command, he discusses the problems confronting the next President in the Middle East. He analyzes the lessons of the Iraq War and reflects on issues such as intelligence, the Geneva Conventions, and the role of military contractors.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people8/Abizaid/abizaid-con0.html...

Ira Lapidus, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies on the Berkeley campus joins Harry Kreisler to discuss Islam, its relation to politics, the treatment of women in Islamic societies, and how an understanding of Islamic history might inform U.S. foreign policy.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people3/Lapidus/