CONFLICTED

In this Conflicted Conversation, George Osborn draws on his excellent new book Power Play: Video Games, Politics and the Battle for Global Influence to reveal the hidden political power of video games.

Once dismissed as a niche hobby, gaming has become one of the largest social environments ever created: a vast digital third space where billions of people form identities, build communities, and increasingly encounter politics — often aligned with authoritarian agendas.

George explains:

The history of video games: from arcades to global digital networks

How gaming helped drive the modern technology revolution

Why video games became the ‘third spaces’ of the internet age

Steam, online gaming, and the rise of digital communities

How China controls and regulates gaming culture

Saudi Arabia's investment strategy in gaming and esports

Russia, information warfare, and influence operations in gaming

Gamergate and the politicisation of gaming communities

Steve Bannon, online culture, and the rise of populist politics

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Find George on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/georgeosborn.bsky.social

And on Instagram: www.instagram.com/george_e_osborn

And his Newsletter: www.videogamesindustrymemo.com

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
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In the wake of the recently published Memorandum of Understanding between the White House and the Iranian regime, Aimen and Thomas explore what the MoU means and reflect on everything they got wrong about the Iran War.

They discuss:

How the MoU is a strategic lifeline for the Islamic Republic

How it legitimises Iran’s proxy network, from Hezbollah to the Houthis

How billions in frozen Iranian funds have already been released through Qatar — with American approval

How the proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran has corruption written all over it

How it enshrines the principle that Iran can charge for access to the Strait of Hormuz

Whether Netanyahu lured Trump into a war he did not fully understand

The collapse of the Abraham Accords' vision for a new Middle East

If Conflicted itself has misread Trump, populism, and the future of American power

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
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Elizabeth Tsurkov returns for another Conflicted Conversation. This time, the conversation turns to Israel after October 7th. Elizabeth traces her own political journey from the Israeli right to a hard-won humanism, then explains how Israel’s old security doctrine collapsed — and why the new one may lead not to safety, but to permanent war.

Elizabeth and Thomas discuss:

Israel’s security doctrine after 7 October

Israel’s shift from deterrence to pre-emption

Why deterrence without a political endgame failed

Gaza, Hamas and the limits of military victory

Hezbollah, Lebanon and Israel’s buffer-zone strategy

Israel’s new "buffer zone" security perimeter

Iran’s missile threat and Israel’s war with Tehran

The Abraham Accords, IMEC and bypassing Palestine

Why real Israeli fears may be producing the wrong answers

Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Elizabeth's personal website: ⁠https://elizabeth-tsurkov.net/en/⁠

Find Elizabeth on X: ⁠https://x.com/LizHurra⁠

Find Elizabeth on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-tsurkov-79491b15/⁠

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aimen returns to bring us up to date on all the latest manoeuvrings in the Middle East.

Aimen and Thomas discuss:

Trump’s chaotic, micromanaged Iran diplomacy and reliance on inexperienced “real estate” advisers.

Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Turkey, and Egypt as flawed or compromised mediators with “skin in the game.”

Why Aimen thinks Switzerland would be the proper neutral US–Iran mediator.

Oman’s tilt toward Iran amid assumptions of American decline and future Iranian regional weight.

The UAE–Saudi split over Iran: Emirati hawkishness versus Saudi caution and strategic bruising.

Saudi resentment over Yemen, Houthi attacks, Israel’s freer hand, and lack of US security guarantees.

Israel, Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Iran: efforts to decouple the Lebanon front from the US–Iran track

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hamza Abu Howidy returns for another Conflicted Conversation. Last time he appeared, he told us his personal story of growing up in Hamas-ruled Gaza, how he was imprisoned and tortured by Hamas for speaking out against their oppression, and how he entered into exile in Germany just before the 7 October attacks changed everything.

This time he switches from Gaza to the West Bank, telling Thomas all about the other side of Palestine — a side which goes overlooked, but which is increasingly becoming a zone of almost unbearable conflict.

Hamza and Thomas discuss:

Settler violence as settler terrorism

How Israeli settlements undermine the Oslo process

Settlement expansion as a strategy to prevent a Palestinian state

The shift from a two-state ideal to a one-state reality

The Hardal movement and Smotrich’s political world

The Hilltop Youth: origins, ideology and violence

The dual legal system in the West Bank

The Yehuda Shmuel Sherman incident and the revenge attacks that followed

E1 and the threat to a viable Palestinian state

The West Bank economy after 7 October

Palestinian municipal and national elections

Israeli elections and the lack of hope for political change

Israel’s post-7 October security doctrine

The Board of Peace and the problem of Hamas disarmament

Arab disillusionment with resistance ideology

Find Hamza on X: https://x.com/HowidyHamza

Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm

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And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠

⁠And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices