Hi folks,
In the latest episode of the podcast, Nick talked to two deeply experienced guests about how Trump’s Middle East thinking and policies might evolve.
Alan Makovsky has worked on the Middle East on Capitol Hill and the U.S. State Department, and is now a fellow at the Center for American Progress. Hümeyra Pamuk, who has been on the podcast before, is a senior correspondent and deputy foreign policy editor at Reuters focusing on the State Department.
They recorded this one last Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving in the U.S.
I was on paternity leave, so couldn’t take part. Listening to the episode now, I really wish I could have taken part.
There’s a lot going on in the episode. How is Trump going to come down on the Israel-Palestinian conflict early on? How does he balance his desire for being a peacemaker with the dubious record of his cabinet? How are the Gulf powers, Turkey, Iran, and others positioning themselves?
Hümeyra has some excellent sparks of gossip that’s sure to get you thinking. Alan is great at weighing different theories and making educated guesses about which one’s more realistic.
Everyone agrees that concrete predictions for Trump’s term are impossible. But Nick kept pushing for people to go a little further in their speculation (strategically withholding his own). Given how much new and unexpected has happened in Syria just since last week, we’ll see how this all holds up in four years time. In the meantime, though, this seems like a smart and sensible look at how things might go down.
All the best,
Selim
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