Unscripted

Karin Kneissl is an Austrian diplomat, journalist, and politician. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for Austria between 2017 and 2019 for the government of Sebastian Kurz, the third woman to hold this function. Prior to assuming her government position, she was a lecturer. She is also an expert in international law, history of West Asia and the energy market. And she is an author: Diplomacy Makes History, the Art of Dialogue in Uncertain Times, and the book My Middle East.

Joining us in today's program is Costas Isihos, former deputy minister of national defense of Greece. He was active during the tough negotiations and economic turmoil that had gripped Greece in the 90s, citing at that time disagreements with the government's policy on the bailout deal with creditors.

This edition of the program features an interview with Dr. Udo Steinbach, a specialist in Middle Eastern studies, who leads the Maecenata Foundation’s MENA Study Center in Berlin. At the center of its work is the role of civil society in countries in the Middle East and North Africa, in the southern Caucasus and in Central Asia. Particular attention is also given to the position of Muslims in Germany and to intercultural dialogue.

In today's program, we have the pleasure of having Dr. Abdul Halim Fadlallah, president of the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, Beirut. Dr. Fadlallah is a researcher and a professor, who teaches economics in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration in the Lebanese University. He has published various books and studies on issues such as poverty, development, reformation, globalization, and political economics. Furthermore, he has submitted a number of working papers and research materials to specialized conferences held in Lebanon and abroad. Additionally, he has participated in social and economic dialogue initiatives and supervised many research projects.

In today's program, we have the pleasure of having Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur and Prof. of International Law. Alena Douhan is a Belarusian legal scholar. She was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights on March 25, 2020.

This Special Edition of the Unscripted looks at the war scenario with the Israeli regime.

Today’s interview is with the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal. He is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including the best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty-One-Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America's state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.

It's called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). It has launched the Madleen, a civilian ship now sailing toward Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and international human rights defenders in direct defiance of Israel's illegal and genocidal blockade. Madleen symbolizes the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel's use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies. Yasemin Acar is a Human Rights activist and organizer of the Freedom Flotilla, and she joins us in this edition of Unscripted.

Our featured guest for today's program is Alastair Crooke. Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and is the founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, an organization that advocates for engagement between Islam and the West. Amongst his other career highlights, he was a former advisor on West Asia issues to Javier Solana, the former EU Foreign Policy Chief. He also has extensive experience with resistance movements like Hamas and Hezbollah. Crooke has said that Imam Khomeini was an Islamic cleric, a philosopher and a poet of high standing: pursuing what is often a private and personal voyage of inner intellectualism. He somehow, incredibly, in the words of Jaques Berques, took in hand his people; gave them healing, authenticity and a solution to their crisis. He gathered up a tradition and forged a new equilibrium: one which would offer renewal through a grand "sewing together" of dispersed parts, making the present "an organic whole", not some mere syncretic assembly of parts. The tradition, on which he drew, was of Mulla Sadra, Ibn Arabi, Mir Damad's. This interview also covers Imam Khomeini negative view of the Israeli regime, like when he said "Neither our problems nor the Palestine issue would not be resolved unless we follow Islam to resolve our problems". Nations must separate themselves from actions of states. Why does Israel rule those countries that have every resources and power? The reason is the division among Islamic nations and they just simply look at Israel's crimes against Lebanon and Palestine.

In today’s program, we have the pleasure of having Osama Hamdan, a member of the Hamas politburo, a senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement. The Palestinian resistance movement says the war will not end as the Israeli enemy had envisioned. Osama Hamdan, who is Hamas’ representative in Lebanon and also a member of the group’s politburo, said the conclusion of this confrontation will be in favor of the resistance.