'Strategy of ecological terror. Desalination as a weapon of war' in the Middle East

Eve Irvine is pleased to welcome Dr. Michael Christopher Low, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah. As a historian of infrastructure and environmental systems in the Middle East, his work examines how seemingly technical systems, like desalination, become deeply embedded in geopolitical strategy, including in wartime. In his forthcoming book "Saltwater Kingdoms", he argues that water infrastructure in the Gulf is not merely a tool of survival, but a central axis of political leverage and vulnerability.