217 scholars (and counting) distill decades of research into an hour conversation, to unravel the misperceptions that divide East and West and clarify our common misconceptions about the Middle East - from its ancient past to its present developments.
I am Adel Aali, your host. This program is a production of History Behind News podcast (now in its 5th season). Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@ScholarsUnravelMiddleEast?sub_confirmation=1
Red Sea Power Play: Ethiopia & UAE vs. Egypt & Saudi Arabia | S3E5 UME
Could Ethiopia’s pursuit of a Red Sea coastline turn its domestic conflict into a wider regional war—and why isn’t its existing access through Djibouti enough? Dr. Etana H. Dinka joins Adel Aali to examine Ethiopia’s maritime ambitions, shifting alliances and how the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could become involved. They also discuss the unfinished peace of 2022, what Western coverage misunderstands about Ethiopia, and why acquiring coastline through force could deepen instability.
📄 Interview transcript & takeaways: COMING SOON
🚩About My Guest Scholar:
Dr. Etana Habte Dinka (https://people.miami.edu/profile/982c81f937237f34a32d170839801f2a) is an Assistant Professor of African History at the University of Miami. His books include:
--"Interpreting the Ethiopian Revolution: Imperial Heritage and Embattled Statehood"
--"Shadows of History: Nationalism, Violence and State Crisis in Ethiopia"
🚩Related Interviews:
Listen to my 2021 audio podcast interview with Dr. Dinka, "Ethiopia's "avoidable" civil war! (https://bit.ly/HbN-S1E28s)"
--Adel Aali
Host & Producer
🚩 Support My Program (https://historybehindnews.com/support):
I rely on your support (https://historybehindnews.com/support) to continue this program. So thank you in advance.
******Chapters:
00:00 Selected Highlights
01:28 Program Introduction
02:20 Guest Introduction
04:02 Could Ethiopia widen the Red Sea crisis?
09:45 How Ethiopia lost its coastline
12:02 Rival powers in the Horn of Africa
17:31 Why isn’t Djibouti enough?
22:04 The UAE’s Red Sea ambitions
26:30 Who in Ethiopia wants its coastline back?
32:02 Would Ethiopia's invasion of Eritrea bring stability?
33:49 Why the Tigray peace agreement failed
43:45 What the West misunderstands about the Horn of Africa
52:09 Can Ethiopia find lasting peace?
1:04:44 Just one point
******
🎶Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/ (https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html (https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html)
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com (https://creatorchords.com)
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon (https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon). Musicpromoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com). Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
25 Sept 2026
Iran's Territorial Integrity: Imperial Memory vs. National Identity | S3E4
Iran—a nation shaped by imperial memory and modern vulnerability.
Not too long ago, Iran was far larger than it is today. European expansion and colonial intervention cut away at its territories—provinces and realms that had long been part of Iran… or were imagined to be.
This is the history of how Iran’s shifting borders shaped the modern state—and how, in turn, the idea of the Iranian homeland continues to be shaped by memory, myth, and identity.
🚩About My 210th Guest Scholar:
My guest is Dr. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). She is a historian of modern Middle East, with a focus on Iran and its borderlands, the Persian Gulf, and the Ottoman Empire.
She has published extensively on these topics, including books that we discuss in this interview. To learn more about Dr. Kashani-Sabet, you can visit her academic homepage (https://live-sas-www-history.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/faculty/firoozeh-kashani-sabet).
Adel Aali
Host
Support My Program (https://historybehindnews.com/support):
I rely on your support (https://historybehindnews.com/support) to continue this program. So thank you in advance.
******Chapters: 02:03 — Guest Introduction
04:05 — Safavid Borders
08:50 — Qajar Territorial Losses
13:24 — Iran and the Persian Gulf
18:05 — Russia and the Iranian Psyche
22:08 — Losing Territory
28:36 — Was Iran Colonized?
33:19 — What Is the Iranian Homeland?
40:12 — Frontier Fictions
44:56 — Ethnicity, Religion and Borders
49:28 — Iran’s National Identity
56:27 — Just One Point: Territorial Vulnerability
******
🎶Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/ (https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html (https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html)
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com (https://creatorchords.com)
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon (https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon). Musicpromoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com). Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
8 Jan 2026
Who Made Iran’s 1979 Revolution? Rethinking What “Revolution” Means | HbN S2E33
Who were the Iranians of the 1979 Revolution? Was it an Islamic revolution?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Naghmeh Sohrabi is a professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University.
This interview was initially published in our History Behind News Channel in October 2022, during the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran. She is the author of the book "Taken for Wonder: Nineteenth Century Travel Accounts from Iran to Europe " and numerous articles on Iranian history, politics, and culture.
Her second book project it is tentatively titled “The Intimate Lives of a Revolution: Iran 1979”, which we talk about in this interview. And here is her academic website (https://scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/profile/naghmeh_sohrabi/overview?emplid=c22f47864ed8109851f6e4179b3b2597662153c3).
Adel Aali
Host
Support My Program (https://historybehindnews.com/support):
I rely on your support (https://historybehindnews.com/support) to continue this program. So thank you in advance.
******
🎶Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/ (https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html (https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html)
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com (https://creatorchords.com)
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com)
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon (https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon). Musicpromoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com (https://www.free-stock-music.com). Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
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YouTube views
191,293
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 78 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
94
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
67
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