“History is a collection of stories with dates” Conn Iggulden was told by his mother growing up. As one of today’s most successful authors in historical fiction, Iggulden has written about the extraordinary lives of Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan. He shares his thoughts on historical accuracy, the balance between facts and fiction, and judging historical icons by today’s morals. Iggulden also analyzes the most formidable fighters to ever live – the Spartans.
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Surrounded by China, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East, lies Central Asia. The region consists of five post-Soviet states that became independent against their will 30 years ago. Johan Engvall, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies, has built up his expertise on these countries over several decades. He describes the current political, economic, and conflictual situation, and predicts how different future scenarios may unfold.
After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United Nations decided to intervene and disarm Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime. Hans Blix was appointed responsible for the weapons inspections, and while the US military was poised for invasion, Blix had the world’s attention on him. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on the mission, the American invasion and also talks about his new book ‘A Farewell to Wars’.
One of the most renowned astrophysicists of the 20th century, Martin Rees, shares his thoughts on black holes, quasars, Astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life, human space exploration and what the remaining, unsolved mysteries of the Universe are.
Jan Eliasson is one of the most experienced diplomats in the world, having served as Chairman of the UN General Assembly and the UN Deputy Secretary-General. He published his memoirs earlier this year and it is fascinating to take part of his learnings from a career marked by war and conflict but also with a never-ending hope for peace.
Sweden was one of the European countries who accepted the most immigrants during the refugee crisis in 2015. Mustafa Panshiri who then worked as a police officer, used his cultural knowledge and language skills from Afghanistan to help many of the young refugees to better understand the written and unwritten rules in Sweden. He now works full time with integration and is a highly regarded public speaker and author.
Would you be open to have a conversation with anyone, no matter how much you detest their opinions? Navid Modiri is a “conversational extremist” who invites a wide range of guests to his podcast, especially those he tends to disagree with. He speaks in this interview about genuine curiosity, the complexity in people and what he has learned from more than 200 podcast episodes.
Sarah Haider went from being a devout Muslim girl in Pakistan to being one of the most well-known atheists in the world, as the co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America. She has seen with her own eyes how horrible many dissenters and apostates are treated by their religious community and she has devoted her career to make a change. She talks about the reality facing Ex-Muslims, the security threats against her personally, the problem with the word Islamophobia and what she hopes to achieve with her organization.