Order From Ashes

Century International
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Today’s world is in unprecedented flux. Rights and citizenship are under assault. Authoritarianism is on the rise. Century International director Thanassis Cambanis talks with researchers and activists at the cutting edge of the crises of our times. Find our work at https://tcf.org/topics/century-international/.

  1. 3D AGO

    Erasing Bint Jbail: What War Looks Like Now

    Shownotes Mohamad Bazzi was born in southern Lebanon in 1975, and spent his first years in the border town of Bint Jbail. In the half century since, his family’s village has been invaded and destroyed multiple times. Today, Bazzi’s extended family shelters in the far-flung spots where they have sought shelter during the war that began at the end of February, while Bazzi takes stock of what is drearily familiar about the latest round of violence —and what is shockingly new. This latest Israeli war against Lebanon has transgressed the norms of war to an unprecedented degree, with a staggering level of destruction in southern Lebanon. Israeli leaders have proclaimed their intention to depopulate the border area, where more than half a million Lebanese people live. The world has gotten used to a steady stream of war, displacement, and avoidable death in the Middle East, but Bazzi argues that Israel’s war on Lebanon, modeled after Gaza, has crossed a line. The United States and its allies could stop Israel’s wars—and they should. Related reading Mohamad Bazzi, “Is This What War Looks Like Now?” Guardian, April 24, 2026 Participants Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and a journalism professor at New York University. He is the former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 111

    43 min

  2. APR 28

    Gulf Power Without an American Shield

    Shownotes The Arab monarchies of the Gulf invested colossal wealth to build modern, diversified economic power. But their growing power depended on safety in the Persian Gulf, which in turn depended on an American military umbrella. Now, Trump’s war on Iran has shown just how flimsy that umbrella really is. Still, these cash-rich and economically powerful monarchies retain tremendous influence as a cornerstone of the global economy and the Middle Eastern order. Rohan Advani, a sociologist and Century International fellow, offers a tour of the political economy of Arab monarchies of the Gulf during a period of shifting world order that threatens to reduce their influence.  Gulf wealth can no longer rely on the monarchies’ reputation for absolute peace and security, but will continue to act as a central force. What shifts can we expect in Gulf economic power and security in an era of declining American influence and increasing armed conflict in the Middle East? Participants Rohan Advani is a fellow at Century International. He is writing his doctoral dissertation at the University of California-Los Angeles on the financial tools of state power.. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 110

    1h 9m

  3. APR 21

    A US War Economy That Destroys Value

    Shownotes The forever costs of America’s war on Iran could disfigure economic life for generations to come, around the world and in the United States. In an earlier era, war spending helped pull the United States out of the Great Depression by pulling unemployed farmers into the cities and retraining them for manufacturing. Even through the Cold War, many Americans viewed war spending as a major driver of high-quality manufacturing jobs and consumer well-being. The war economy since 9/11 has been different. The wars themselves drive antidemocratic currents and undermine well-being even for people, like most Americans, who are far from the battlefields. These wars also undermine economic life in less obvious ways, like incentivizing endless private sector investment in defense rather than more productive industries. Eamon Kircher-Allen joins Order from Ashes to explain the profound distortions of the modern American war economy. Inflation and a possible recession are only the most immediate economic costs of the Iran war. As the forever wars after 9/11 proved, runaway war spending disfigures every aspect of the economy. The true long-term costs of this war will be much higher than the price of military operations. Related article Commentary: “The Iran War’s Forever Costs Will Far Exceed the Immediate Pain for Consumers,” Century International, by Eamon Kircher-Allen Reports Referenced Report: “The Cold War and the U.S. Labor Market,” National Bureau of Economic Research, by Ilyana Kuziemko, Donato A. Onorato & Suresh Naidu   Joseph Stiglitz, “Structural Transformation, Deep Downturns, and Government Policy” (referenced in the podcast by a one-time working title, “Sectoral Dislocations and Long-Run Crises”), National Bureau of Economic Research working paper no. 23794, September 2017. See also: Joseph Stiglitz et al., “Mobility Constraints, Productivity Trends, and Extended Crises,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 83 (2012): 375–93. Participants Eamon Kircher-Allen is editor-in-chief at Century International. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 109

    53 min

  4. APR 14

    A Truce That’s Still War in Lebanon and Hormuz

    Shownotes American policy has not kept up with the punishing realities unleashed by the war President Donald Trump started with Iran.  Iran and the United States announced a truce, even as they’re still fighting to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – and more tellingly, Israel accelerated its attacks on Lebanon the day after the truce supposedly took effect. A similar disconnect is at play in the negotiations between two powers with opaque decision-making processes and an apparent high tolerance for ambiguity and instability. Associated Press correspondent Kareem Chehayeb joins Order from Ashes from Lebanon, with a bracing report on the staggering harm to Lebanese society. In the second segment of the podcast, Michael Wahid Hanna from Crisis Group takes stock of the tremendous costs to the world and to the US of Trump’s unjustified war of choice, and what we’ve learned about how the US government is making decisions. Participants Kareem Chehayeb is a correspondent with the Associated Press in Lebanon. Michael Wahid Hanna is the U.S. program director at International Crisis Group. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 108

    1h 8m

  5. MAR 23

    Trump Opens Pandora’s Box in Iraq

    Shownotes Iraq’s government has maintained friendly relations simultaneously with Iran and the United States. The war launched by President Donald J. Trump at the end of February upended that equilibrium.  Now the United States is directly at war with some Iraqi militias, and the Iraqi state is caught in the middle, too weak to control the militias, too dependent to antagonize either Washington or Tehran.  Century International fellow Sajad Jiyad argues that Iraq will try to revive its precarious middle course once the current phase of the war subsides — but that Iraq’s economy and security will suffer unless it can create a state strong enough to operate independently of Iran and the United States. Participants Sajad Jiyad is the Iraq fellow at Century International. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Monday, March 23, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 107

    52 min

  6. MAR 16

    Forever War for Lebanon and Israel?

    Shownotes Is there an off ramp to the war of choice that Israel and the United States initiated at the end of February? The violence has spiraled across the region, directly threatening hundreds of millions of people in the Middle East, and straining the entire global economy. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have publicly floated plans to invade southern Lebanon once more. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast we hear from two Century International fellows, Sam Heller in Beirut and Dahlia Scheindlin in Tel Aviv, who provide strategic analysis to contextualize the dizzying cascade of events. With US support, Israel has embraced an approach that it can only achieve security through total war, with no serious consideration of diplomacy and a political resolution with its neighbors, or with Palestinians in occupied territory. That approach won’t produce enduring security for Israel, but will destabilize the entire Middle East and set the region on course for an unresolved cycle of wars. Participants Sam Heller is a Century International fellow in Beirut. Dahlia Scheindlin is a Century International fellow in Tel Aviv. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Monday, March 16, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 106

    1h 17m

  7. MAR 9

    An Expensive Folly: Costs of the Iran War

    Shownotes Just a week into America’s war of choice on Iran, the costs already are spiraling out of control. The lives lost and broken are the most important cost. But there’s a colossal price tag for waging war, and America’s opening salvo has a number: $5 billion for the first week and a reported $50 billion that the Trump Administration is planning to seek from Congress. The American defense budget this year is the world’s largest, at $1 trillion. As a point of comparison, it would have cost less than $30 billion to extend health care subsidies to Americans through 2026.  Analysts have spent decades tallying the costs of America’s forever wars: direct costs in equipment and personal and indirect costs in long term health care. Perhaps the most powerful long-term cost is in opportunities: when the United States pours its resources into warmaking, it starves resources to the spheres that create opportunity and well-being: health care, education, research and development. William D. Hartung, long-time researcher of the American defense-industrial complex and author of The Trillion-Dollar War Machine joins Order from Ashes this week to survey the staggering costs of the Iran war. Related reading Analysis, “The Costs of the War With Iran Will Mount For Decades,” William Hartung, Forbes Report, “The Trump Administration’s Reckless War in Iran Has Already Cost More Than $5 Billion,” Allison McManus, Center for American Progress Fact Sheet, “How Much Is the War in Iran Costing American Taxpayers?” Institute for Policy Studies Roundtable, “War on Iran Was Easy to Start. It Won’t Be Easy to End,” Century International Open-source tool: The Iran War Cost Ticker Project: Brown University Costs of War Participants William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at The Quincy Institute. Bill is the co-author, with Ben Freeman, of the recently released The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Monday, March 8, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 105

    46 min

  8. MAR 3

    Hezbollah Enters the Iran War Catastrophe

    Shownotes By the fourth day of its war on choice against Iran, the United States government was offering a shifting and contradictory set of reasons it attacked — to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb, or because Iran had missiles that could reach the US, or to preempt Iran from responding to Israel's preemptive attack. It was clear from the start that the United States had no critical national security interest at stake, and that the war violates American and international law. It's also a guaranteed disaster for international security and American standing. Century International fellow Sam Heller joins the Order from Ashes podcast from Beirut to discuss Hezbollah's entry into the conflict, the new dangers created by the war, and the baffling decision-making in Washington. Related reading Commentary, “Attacking Iran Is a Guaranteed Disaster,” Century International, by Thanassis Cambanis Participants Sam Heller is a fellow at Century International. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Wednesday, March 3. 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 104

    43 min
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About

Today’s world is in unprecedented flux. Rights and citizenship are under assault. Authoritarianism is on the rise. Century International director Thanassis Cambanis talks with researchers and activists at the cutting edge of the crises of our times. Find our work at https://tcf.org/topics/century-international/.

Information

  • Creator
    Century International
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    111
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Order From Ashes

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