Program Description

The UCLA Center for Middle East Development hosted the event, "CMED Chats, Episode 1," on May 25, 2021. Watch or listen to the first-ever edition of the series, hosted by CMED Director, Dr. Steven Spiegel, with guest, Ambassador Hesham Youssef, by clicking on the podcast or video above. In addition to several other subjects, the discussion includes the current crisis in the region, and where we go from here.

CMED Chats is a unique new monthly series that will engage charismatic guests who are from the Middle East and North Africa or connected to the region in some capacity. We plan to bring you diplomats, activists, journalists, analysts, policy makers, artists, musicians, and many more guests who can help us dig deeper into an often misunderstood, complex part of the world. Our hosts will sit down for one-on-one casual chats of at least 30 minutes, covering a variety of topics that will highlight the myriad voices and realities that enrich this colorful region. 

HOST — Dr. Steven Spiegel is Director of the UCLA Center for Middle East Development. He is also a research professor of political science, focusing on international relations and American foreign policy in the Middle East. He has written over 100 books, articles, and papers. He is the author of “The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict: Making America’s Middle East Policy from Truman to Reagan,” and “World Politics in a New Era,” as well as one of the authors of "The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011.”

GUEST — Ambassador Hesham Youssef joined the United States Institute of Peace as a senior fellow in July 2019. Before that, he joined the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as an assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs in July 2014. Youssef joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt in 1985, and was posted in Canada and Geneva. He served twice in the Cabinet of the Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2001, he joined the Arab League where he was the official spokesman and in 2003 became the Chief of Staff of the Secretary General. By mid-2011, Mr. Youssef was the campaign manager for Mr. Amre Moussa’s presidential campaign. By mid-2012, he became a senior advisor to the Secretary General of the Arab League on issues pertaining to crisis management and reform.