Hello, Conflicted fans. Thomas Small here.

Aeman, my co-host, is off traveling the world right now.

But don't worry, he's coming back for a second season of conflicted.

You'll remember that in season one, we did a couple of things.

We tried our best to tell the story of the war on terror and to put recent Middle Eastern history in context.

And we did that largely through the lens of Amun's remarkable life experience, a jihadist

for Al Qaeda for four years, before switching sides and working

for MI6 as a double agent.

The theme of season one was the jihadist belief that the end of the world was nigh, and we started with 9-11.

In season two we'll explore something similar, but this time we'll start our story here.

Until now, the world we've known has been a world divided, conflict, cold war.

Now we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is

the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a world order in which the principles of justice and fair play protect the weak against the strong.

A world where the United Nations, freed from Cold War stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic

vision of its founders, a world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home

among all nations.

That was President George Bush Sr. speaking in 1991.

The Cold War was over, and America was looking forward to the continual spread of liberal democracy everywhere.

Well, 30 years on and it's quite clear that George Bush's new world order is coming apart.

With the credit crunch and everything that followed,

its effects on income, wealth, inequality, and our politics are still with us.

With the rise of China and what's going on in the streets of Hong Kong.

...