Syriana (2005): Special Commentary (Guest: Peggy McGuiness)

Syriana (2005): Special Commentary (Guest: Peggy McGuiness)

April 2, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

The episode revisits the film Syriana, discussing its relevance in the context of current U.S. foreign policy and the war with Iran.

We return to Syriana, a film we discussed previously in Episode 40, but one that feels newly urgent in light of the current war with Iran. When it was released in 2005, the film offered a dense, unsettling portrait of a post-9/11 world shaped by oil, covert operations, and overlapping networks of state and corporate power. Today, Syriana reads less as a product of its time and more as a reflection of a sharp turn in U.S. foreign policy, shaped by the erosion of institutional guardrails and a ...

People in this episode

Host: Jonathan Hafetz

Guest: Peggy McGuiness

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Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Syriana

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