Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eyes on Geopolitics
Speaker 1: Very Special with Mark poly Moropolis and myself Dmitri on
Speaker 1: Tacos All Greeks today. Uh so, no, no, no outsiders.
Speaker 1: Mark of course, former c I A officer, frequent guests
Speaker 1: of the team, hands freaking guests of Eyes on Geopolitics,
Speaker 1: M S M M S. NBC correspondence. Sorry, I can
Speaker 1: never get that right. Uh Mark, what's up man? How
Speaker 1: are you? Good to see you again?
Speaker 2: Good to be here. It's been a wild week in
Speaker 2: the in the Middle East, a place where I spend
Speaker 2: most of my career, and uh, I mean, so many
Speaker 2: things to talk about, from you know, iron nuclear talks,
Speaker 2: to the new Air Force one I guess, Israel being sidelined,
Speaker 2: Syria back into yeah, the you know, the the world arena.
Speaker 2: And you know, if people who know me, I think
Speaker 2: probably your audience does some of these moves the US
Speaker 2: is doing and the Trump administration I actually support, which
Speaker 2: which I'll probably be stricken down for saying that, but
Speaker 2: you but but ultimately a wild, wild week and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: let's let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So we kicked off Trump's doing the
Speaker 1: Middle East visit he's visited Saudi Arabia, he's.
Speaker 2: Going to Qatar, he's in he left Katar, now he's
Speaker 2: in the UA.
Speaker 1: Okay, so he's doing like the rounds interestingly enough, and
Speaker 1: people I've seen it in the news a bit like
Speaker 1: a couple of some rough old feathers that he's not
Speaker 1: visiting Israel. And this comes at the heels of the
Speaker 1: American Israeli hostage I was released last week or this
Speaker 1: week that was kind of done. Seems outside of Israel,
Speaker 1: like just bilaterally with the US and Hamas. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Israel is kind of bristling at the seams
Speaker 1: because they have, let's be honest, they don't really outside
Speaker 1: of the Trump administration or America as a whole, they
Speaker 1: don't really have many allies in terms of what's going
Speaker 1: on in Gaza generally. So yeah, I mean there's so
Speaker 1: many places to start. I mean, the thing that just
Speaker 1: broke right now while Trump's in the Middle East is
Speaker 1: I'm gonna mess up his name. Barack Ravine from Axios
Speaker 1: had to scoop about the jick POA the Nuclear Deal
Speaker 1: two point zero because it's essentially a carbon copy of
Speaker 1: Obama's back in twenty and fifteen or seventeen, one of those.
Speaker 1: So there's been a lot of talk, we've had mixed
Speaker 1: been on and he's been talking about it too, like
Speaker 1: at some point the Trump administration was gonna have to
Speaker 1: give up some ground in terms of whether it's in
Speaker 1: Richmond or whatever, you know, whatever the deal points were
Speaker 1: to get an actual deal. And I'm sure it's not
Speaker 1: sitting great with Israel.
Speaker 2: Right. So this thing is so interesting because you have
Speaker 2: to remember, you know, Republican foreign policy orthodoxy was that
Speaker 2: the j c poa Obama's agreement with Iran, that was,
Speaker 2: you know, the worst deal in US diplomatic history. Republicans
Speaker 2: on the hill, both the House and the Senate, every
Speaker 2: Republican presidential candidate, and of course even President Trump railed
Speaker 2: against the deal in Trump then pulled us out of it.
Speaker 2: So now it comes under the new you know, the
Speaker 2: the Trump two point zerother Trump administration way, where the
Speaker 2: last several months they've been a lot of tough talk
Speaker 2: about potential strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities, where we
Speaker 2: moved but a third of our B two fleet of
Speaker 2: thirty five squadrons. There's two carrier battle groups in the
Speaker 2: Red Sea there work, and so it looked like we
Speaker 2: were gearing up for a strike in the Israelies, of course,
Speaker 2: believe this is something seriously to consider because you know,
Speaker 2: Iran has been so weakened. The Irunian air defenses there
Speaker 2: I think there is four hundred systems were disabled, were
Speaker 2: greatly degrade from previous Israeli strikes. And of course his Bulah,
Speaker 2: which is the Iranian proxy, which in essence was an
Speaker 2: aircraft carrier sitting on Israeli's border, on Israel's border, that
Speaker 2: has been degraded as well. So the time was right
Speaker 2: to take a shot at the Iranian nuclear program, which
Speaker 2: is an existential threat to Israel. But then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, we have to remember that Donald Trump during
Speaker 2: the campaign and the Magabase really was very vocal about
Speaker 2: no more Middle East wars, no more never ending wars.
Speaker 2: The Tucker Carlson's and the JD Vance's of the world
Speaker 2: were absolutely opposed. Tulsea Gabbard as well, absolutely opposed to
Speaker 2: the US military action in Iran. And so Trump now
Speaker 2: has decided to go forward with the nuclear talks with
Speaker 2: the Iranians, to the absolute horror of the Israelis, against
Speaker 2: all the kind of the Iran hawks in Congress, to
Speaker 2: many of the think tanks in Washington, DC, kind of
Speaker 2: the pro Israel thing tanks. And so ultimately you have
Speaker 2: this kind of mind boggling moment in which it looks
Speaker 2: like and NBC reported it today as the The Wall Street
Speaker 2: Journal that we might be getting close to an agreement
Speaker 2: which does d as you said, very much resemble the
Speaker 2: original JCPOA. This is causing, you know, my head to
Speaker 2: explode a little bit. But again, if you think back,
Speaker 2: forget Trump's rhetoric during the campaign, just think about the
Speaker 2: magabase and the desire for no more, never ending Middle
Speaker 2: East commitments and wars. And so we're at a point
Speaker 2: now where uh, and this is gonna, you know, probably
Speaker 2: enrage some of the listeners here, our viewers here. And
Speaker 2: certainly I said it the other day, I think on
Speaker 2: social media. I don't know if I did it on
Speaker 2: MSNBC hit, but Trump's kind of following the Biden foreign
Speaker 2: policy when it comes to Iran sure pretty extraordinary. My
Speaker 2: friends in Israel and the Israeli intelligence community, their heads
Speaker 2: are about to explode. I think again, some of the
Speaker 2: pro Israel folks in Congress are on suicide watch right now.
Speaker 1: Because I could just imagine what's going on in Lindsay
Speaker 1: Graham's office. Funck.
Speaker 2: I mean so and but you know what, you know, Trump,
Speaker 2: I think is not only so again, he's you know,
Speaker 2: I think he wants a Nobel prize. He thinks this
Speaker 2: is you know that, this is this is what he
Speaker 2: craves the most. And it's interesting. He does have the
Speaker 2: ability to go against many people in his orbit, although
Speaker 2: not of course the Magabase. And so we'll see. The
Speaker 2: question will be will the Republicans rally around? I mean,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be funny the hip hop. So there's two
Speaker 2: parts of this d One is the substance of it.
Speaker 2: Should we actually commit to strike on the Iranian facilities
Speaker 2: or do a deal? And we can debate that all day.
Speaker 2: The other is the hypocrisy on the Republican side, which
Speaker 2: is which I find. I want to pop you know,
Speaker 2: popcorn and crack a beer open because it's such utter
Speaker 2: bullshit if any Republican is going to back this diplomatic
Speaker 2: agreement because it is a Obama slash Biden policy. In
Speaker 2: my view, I'm actually one of the iron Haawks. I
Speaker 2: don't know, I can't remember where mc mulroy is in
Speaker 2: this too. But I think this would be a good
Speaker 2: time to take a shot at the Iranian nuclear program
Speaker 2: because I think this is not only an existential threat Israel,
Speaker 2: but also the United States as well. You've got to
Speaker 2: remember that the Iranians have been the response for the
Speaker 2: deaths of numerous Americans and we're trying to kill former
Speaker 2: Trump administration officials and Trump himself he's pointing to sign
Speaker 2: a deal. So really kind of head spinning stuff going
Speaker 2: on when it comes to this, and I find it
Speaker 2: hard sometimes as a commentator to separate that. I want
Speaker 2: to point out the hypocrisy all the time, sure of
Speaker 2: the Republican on this with actually, then let's debate the
Speaker 2: merits of should there be a nuclear deal or not.
Speaker 2: I was always I've been a hawk all the time.
Speaker 2: I think that we should consider a strike. It should
Speaker 2: be a US joint US IS really strike. But let
Speaker 2: me tell you that's off the table now. So the
Speaker 2: Israelis just have to consider are they going to take
Speaker 2: a crack at it on their own risk, infuriating Trump
Speaker 2: or just deal with a bad situation like they did
Speaker 2: under the Obama administration. But pretty amazing, uh, change of events.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I disagree with you in
Speaker 1: terms of like let's smoke all right, because number one,
Speaker 1: what does it really do even if we hit him
Speaker 1: with our big boy bunker busters, like the whatever the
Speaker 1: MOP fifty seven at GBU fifty seven, like they said, like,
Speaker 1: it probably only bring back the program three to six months, right,
Speaker 1: And Israel kind of needs us because they don't have
Speaker 1: that if they could make it, Like a perfect scenario
Speaker 1: for me would be like in the deal, there's some
Speaker 1: kind of language for proxy forces that can be monitored,
Speaker 1: and like that'll be a step up from the first agreement.
Speaker 1: I don't know about, Like what's bombing Iran going to
Speaker 1: do for us?
Speaker 2: Well, it's not by I mean, it's hitting the strikes.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Yeah, we're not going to.
Speaker 2: War with Iran. It would be it would be kind
Speaker 2: of very pinpointed strikes. But you raise a good point
Speaker 2: is there's other parts of what a deal could include,
Speaker 2: which would be the Iranian support of their proxy forces,
Speaker 2: the region of Runnie and missile production in what in
Speaker 2: the reporting that I've seen, I don't know if that's
Speaker 2: included again, which is going to make it one's kind
Speaker 2: of head explode if I didn't see it, iron Hawk.
Speaker 2: I think that ultimately Trump wants a deal enough in
Speaker 2: which he's going to agree to something which is going
Speaker 2: to look very similar to.
Speaker 1: Right, but he's going to take credit and say it's
Speaker 1: way better and he.
Speaker 2: Done, and Democrats are going to have the Democrat so
Speaker 2: he's going to get some Democratic support for this too.
Speaker 2: The irony, of course, is that this is the Democratic
Speaker 2: Party would have supported a president Kamala Harris, for example,
Speaker 2: if she had gone down this road.
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Speaker 2: So it's really it's really Republicans would no, yeah, right right, possible, No,
Speaker 2: it would be armageddon right now. And you have Yahoo,
Speaker 2: you know, addressing cocks again screaming about a nuclear deal.
Speaker 2: So this really throws everything up in the air. But
Speaker 2: we also have to think think about what's happened. For example,
Speaker 2: now it's turned to Yemen. General Pla, you know, the
Speaker 2: head of Central Command, laid out about what a ten
Speaker 2: month plan to severely degrade and perhaps just try to
Speaker 2: destroy the Hoothies. And after a month, Trump got bored
Speaker 2: because we burned through a billion dollars of ordinance, we
Speaker 2: lost three F eighteen's and a whole bunch of MQ
Speaker 2: nine reapers, and so literally against again, it just said
Speaker 2: now we're done and declared to cease fire with the
Speaker 2: Hoothies and leaving everybody hanging out to dry other, you know,
Speaker 2: Israel Again, Hoothis are still shooting stuff off at these Raelies.
Speaker 2: And we don't even know if this kind of cease
Speaker 2: fire between the US and the Hoothies also applies to
Speaker 2: other kind of international.
Speaker 1: I don't think it does. I think it's just American assets.
Speaker 2: And so so again Trump going against kind of every
Speaker 2: advice of certainly the US military, and ultimately uh kind
Speaker 2: of kind of uh going back to that MAGA notion
Speaker 2: of never of no more, never ending wars in the region.
Speaker 2: And and what is interesting to see is kind of
Speaker 2: the foreign policy blob, you know, which I'm kind of
Speaker 2: a part of here in d C. You're in New York,
Speaker 2: so you're a little separate, but you know you're kind
Speaker 2: of an adjunct up there in that Boklyn. Yes, but
Speaker 2: but ultimately, uh, you know, people are people, you know,
Speaker 2: so so as literally sentcom on their social media and
Speaker 2: all everybody was saying, you know, we this is a
Speaker 2: this is where is a campaign against the kind of
Speaker 2: the homicidal, hoothy terrorists. Now we just pack up and leave. Okay,
Speaker 2: We're done. So how do you I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: it's hard. It's hard for someone to support these these
Speaker 2: policies in which Trump just seemingly on a dime, just
Speaker 2: flips switches and then and then let's also throw in
Speaker 2: what you mentioned before. Okay, so now the war in Gaza, well,
Speaker 2: Trump seems to be getting sick of bebe Yahu, the
Speaker 2: Israeli Prime Minister. Somehow someone has gotten to him finally
Speaker 2: with the notion about the horrific humanitarian conditions there, which
Speaker 2: is actually a fact. I mean, there's a strange kind
Speaker 2: of current in Washington that's that that kind of defends
Speaker 2: the Israeli behavior there, which is indefensible in terms of
Speaker 2: civilian casualties. I think they've gone way overboard. I've been
Speaker 2: a friend of Israel my whole career. We're closely with them,
Speaker 2: but the idea of killing fifty thousand Palestinians is is
Speaker 2: a bit extreme. And then then ultimately the you know,
Speaker 2: not solving the Gaza issue, well, Trump is now annoyed.
Speaker 2: You know, we had five American hostages that presumably one
Speaker 2: has just been the one living one has been released,
Speaker 2: but we did it by going behind the Israelis back.
Speaker 2: These found about it from their own intel collection, and
Speaker 2: so they're furious about that too. Again because I think
Speaker 2: what Trump sees dangling in front of them. You know,
Speaker 2: the way to describe Trump now is he's doing some
Speaker 2: some right, some of the right things for all the
Speaker 2: wrong reasons. It's not because of you know, yeah, I
Speaker 2: love the Palistin right, and so I think he wants
Speaker 2: to go Abel prize. Uh and again, so some daylight there.
Speaker 2: And then the final piece is on Syria, on normalizations,
Speaker 2: a country which I know really well I lived there,
Speaker 2: is served there. There was a huge argument to be
Speaker 2: made that we have to have to re engage with
Speaker 2: Syria to drop these drop these sanctions. These were third
Speaker 2: party sanctions. So ultimately the US, by doing this will
Speaker 2: allow Syria to reintegrate into the kind of the global
Speaker 2: financial system with aid reconstruction coming in. You know, right now,
Speaker 2: ninety percent of Syrians live below the poverty line. Damascus
Speaker 2: says about an hour of electricity every day. And if
Speaker 2: you want to Syria, if you want to ensure Syria
Speaker 2: become another state sponsor of terrorism, another safe haven, you
Speaker 2: do this. You let them become a failed state.
Speaker 1: So this is obvious.
Speaker 2: And I think what I read in the National Review
Speaker 2: the other day I do reconservative publications, is that the CIA,
Speaker 2: my old was really pushing for engagement. There's people in
Speaker 2: the National Security Council Seb Gorka, who's certainly an extremist
Speaker 2: I think, was wishing against this. And Trump overruled his
Speaker 2: own NSC and on this trip said I'm given a
Speaker 2: favorite to Muhammed bin Salman, the Saudi ruler. Sure we're
Speaker 2: dropping all sanctions again. Everyone's head in DC exploded. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: it really.
Speaker 1: Wasn't much like lead up to it, right, And it
Speaker 1: was also like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna meet al Shaa too.
Speaker 2: Unbelievable. And then he says, you know, I shot it
Speaker 2: was someone who you know, I call him Al Kaita, curious,
Speaker 2: but he was a member of her sham, you know,
Speaker 2: certainly an al Qaeda affiliate, imprisoned, bias released, fought US forces,
Speaker 2: and Trump on Air Force one the other day I
Speaker 2: said something like, yeah, he was a tough guy, strong fighter.
Speaker 2: Like imagine Joe Biden saying that, No, forget, but again,
Speaker 2: I think it's the right policy.
Speaker 3: Uh r.
Speaker 2: Did it for the wrong reasons, but the right policy.
Speaker 2: So you know, and again that is something the Israelies
Speaker 2: were not pushing. They were very suspicious and in fact,
Speaker 2: there's been incredible Israeli military activity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which we haven't really spoken about much. You see
Speaker 1: a couple of blurbs here in there on Twitter and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, but it's not really reported that that frequently.
Speaker 2: So so again this maybe I should have said this
Speaker 2: in the beginning of my theme on this. This is
Speaker 2: like a strangely biden Esque foreign policy, you know, caution
Speaker 2: in Yemen, re engaging with Syria, pushing bb for a
Speaker 2: settlement in Gaza, getting a hostage home by the way,
Speaker 2: Biden administration, uh throughout there kind of into the into
Speaker 2: the wind the notion of direct dialogue with Hamas and
Speaker 2: all the Republicans went crazy, so they didn't do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then.
Speaker 2: Finally a JCPOA. So all of a sudden, Trump is
Speaker 2: pursuing policies which on every single level are against traditional
Speaker 2: Republican orthodoxy. But you can also make the argument, uh,
Speaker 2: it does fall in line with that mega notion of
Speaker 2: of isolationism, you know, getting out of the Middle East.
Speaker 2: And in fact, Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia was pretty
Speaker 2: extraordinary because it was definitely an isolationist. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, he was talking about our intervention and interventionists. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean so pretty wide. I kind of understand that
Speaker 1: a little bit. I'm not saying like, oh, we remove
Speaker 1: all presence of like Special operations and CIA, obviously, like
Speaker 1: we're gonna do what we're gonna do, and that's that's
Speaker 1: just how it goes. And if people think differently, they're
Speaker 1: fucking naive, right, Like that's the business, that's what we do, right,
Speaker 1: That's what every country really does. So yeah, but it
Speaker 1: was pretty hardcore like anti interventionist and like foreign wars,
Speaker 1: which I can kind of get behind, but like I
Speaker 1: think there's a balance to be struck there that I
Speaker 1: think we can get to. I hope.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I think there's a difference between the rhetoric of
Speaker 2: that speech and then what he's doing actually in the region.
Speaker 2: You can make an argument that we actually are a present.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're bombing the Hoothi's for fifty one you
Speaker 1: know days.
Speaker 2: But but you know, there is engagement, so inter you know,
Speaker 2: isolationist means non engagement. So but we are right, it's
Speaker 2: just with kind of following the old Democratic playbook. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's it's a it's fascinating. I think that one
Speaker 2: of the things and this is it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: worth discussing. And I thought, you know we were talking
Speaker 2: about this morning on MSNBC as well, is you know,
Speaker 2: for those of us who've been big critics of the
Speaker 2: Trump administration, you know, you are now faced with some
Speaker 2: things that he's doing that you actually might support, So
Speaker 2: you got to kind of put out aside. So what
Speaker 2: I have to do is called balls and strikes the
Speaker 2: way I see it. And when he does something that
Speaker 2: I think is right, I got to say that, Yeah, uh,
Speaker 2: you have to dissect why he did that. So again,
Speaker 2: maybe the wrong reasons. He's doing the right things. But
Speaker 2: some of these policies I think are are are smart,
Speaker 2: and you know, in particular on on Syria and also
Speaker 2: on Gaza as well. I mean, the war in Gaza
Speaker 2: has got to end. It's it's like, it's ridiculous, and.
Speaker 1: Let's be real, like there's elements of BB's government that
Speaker 1: want to wipe it all out. Right, Let's be honest.
Speaker 2: This is it's it's getting to the point now where
Speaker 2: and again I think President Trump has recognized that, you
Speaker 2: know enough already the humanitarian suffering. There was article i
Speaker 2: think yesterday in the New York Times quoting for senior
Speaker 2: Israeli intelligence or the military officials talking about pending famine
Speaker 2: in Gaza, like this just can't happen anymore. And yeah,
Speaker 2: again to to, I think we're coming to a point
Speaker 2: where there's going to be a break on Gaza, a
Speaker 2: full break with Israel hones, and then these Raelies are
Speaker 2: gonna have to decide what to do.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: To the credit of ma Israeli friends, they want this
Speaker 2: thing to end as well, there is no you know,
Speaker 2: because there is no endgame in Gaza. And here's here,
Speaker 2: d is that is something that I think that that
Speaker 2: listeners will will certainly understand. You know, you see President
Speaker 2: Trump with Mohammed bin Salman and with Ahman Shada, this
Speaker 2: new Syrian president in such an easy kind of next frame,
Speaker 2: you could also have seen President nt Yaho. There a
Speaker 2: prim miiter Nanya. I'm sorry, prim miiter Natya who they are?
Speaker 2: Because if the Israelis had agreed to any type of
Speaker 2: day after in Gaza, any type of future Palestinian entity
Speaker 2: and call it a state or not, but something. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's so much push for this normalization agreement between Israel
Speaker 2: and Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis want it, and but
Speaker 2: they need progress in the Palestinian issue. But who's in
Speaker 2: transigence on this and the crazies on the right who
Speaker 2: kind of thwart him from doing anything on the Palestinians.
Speaker 2: He could have been there, And I think that missed
Speaker 2: opportunity is now dawning on Israelis. If you read the
Speaker 2: Israeli press, which I certainly do, and I have friends
Speaker 2: again in the Israeli security establishment, they all they're looking
Speaker 2: at this and saying, holy shit, we missed out. And
Speaker 2: I think they spectacular.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are sensible Israelis in the National security
Speaker 1: apparatus and stuff like that. But from my sense, and
Speaker 1: I have nobody on the inside, it's just from what
Speaker 1: I read and what I see is that the war
Speaker 1: Cabinet and Nanna, who specifically are extremely belligerent, they don't
Speaker 1: care about starving two million plus people at all. They're
Speaker 1: using it as a tactic, and which is a fucking
Speaker 1: war crime. However, you slicing, we've been into a couple
Speaker 1: of wars the last twenty years, do we use starvation
Speaker 1: as a tactically right? Right? I mean, like, I know,
Speaker 1: war is discussing no matter what, but like there is
Speaker 1: some there are some rules, and like starving ten year
Speaker 1: old people kids maybe maybe not take right.
Speaker 2: The monstrosity of October seventh. And I think I told
Speaker 2: you all before I went a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: You saw the fort, and I saw the raw footage
Speaker 2: at the Israeli embassy. I was invited there, and it
Speaker 2: was it's it's it's heart wrenching that said, killing fifty
Speaker 2: thousand Palestinians in return and trying to starve them is
Speaker 2: not the right answer. And uh, and you know it is,
Speaker 2: so it is what it is it's happened now. That
Speaker 2: sounds horrible, but it can also end, right, And now
Speaker 2: it's time for the Warren Gaza to end and for
Speaker 2: there to be some type of future Palestinian entity. You know,
Speaker 2: there's some the signs that encourage me a little bit.
Speaker 2: I've been wrong all the time. Is the Israelis took
Speaker 2: a shot at Mohammed Sinhar. That's the new kind of
Speaker 2: the military leader of Commas, that brother of right. So
Speaker 2: there's we're still waiting for the kind of the b
Speaker 2: d A on this the bomb damage assessment.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You could conceivably see that as kind of the excuse
Speaker 2: or the reason why we Israeli say okay, we can
Speaker 2: wind this down.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And then again the pressure that that Steve Widcoff, the
Speaker 2: US envoy, is is placing on the Israelis. I think
Speaker 2: he talked to NYA who several times even yesterday. Trump
Speaker 2: wants this, that wants this thing to to to wrap up.
Speaker 2: And again, is it for the right reasons? Maybe not.
Speaker 2: He wants a Nobel see kind of you know this,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of the more a region in which
Speaker 2: you know, you can have a lot more you know,
Speaker 2: international trade and investment. But again, you know, we might
Speaker 2: come to the point where where the US and it's
Speaker 2: and it's unique because it's a Republican administration right more
Speaker 2: closely aligned with UH with the curn Israeli government. But
Speaker 2: pressure from Trump on yeah who certainly is more effective
Speaker 2: than pressure from Biden on that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was pure no pressure from Biden.
Speaker 2: Well, there there was, but he's hamstrung by the Republican Congress.
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson then asks Speaker of House, Johnson asked bb
Speaker 2: to come address Congress. So time the US tried to
Speaker 2: do anything the Republicans in Congress, howel that we were
Speaker 2: banned Israel? Now that Yahoo, Now that Trump is doing
Speaker 2: all these things that Biden wanted to do, there's there's
Speaker 2: a relative silence from the Republicans. So maybe you go
Speaker 2: down the theory of the notion that hey, Trump is
Speaker 2: the one who could actually.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no question he's not going to face the
Speaker 1: double standard that like a democratic administration would face dealing
Speaker 1: with the Republicans and stuff like that. Even with the
Speaker 1: say and the same thing goes for the Jake Poa right,
Speaker 1: if he were to sign an exact carbon copy, he's
Speaker 1: not getting as much shit, not even close, like probably
Speaker 1: not even like there might be a quote here and there,
Speaker 1: but like John Bolton might show up on Fox News, fine,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to be from inside the party.
Speaker 2: Are cowards when it comes to Trump. I agree, it
Speaker 2: is that I realized. I think this is you know
Speaker 2: and so so, but of course they know better. But uh,
Speaker 2: this will and because because Trump will also see this
Speaker 2: as his crowning achievement diplomatically, his road to a nobel
Speaker 2: and he will. I'm sure that it will be messages
Speaker 2: sent that you opposed me on this will primary you.
Speaker 1: Sure, Yeah, I believe that too.
Speaker 2: But but what all this means d is that the
Speaker 2: Middle East is fucking mathadically, but it's a radically different
Speaker 2: place than literally the last time I came on this show. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's pretty amazing because you know, every once in a while,
Speaker 2: something extraordinary happens. And in this case, it's in multiple arenas.
Speaker 2: It's in Gaza maybe definitely, and Yemen one hundred percent
Speaker 2: because we took our toys durn going home and on
Speaker 2: Iran in a on steroids. I mean, this is literally today.
Speaker 2: You read the Washington Post in New York Times and
Speaker 2: it says Trump says, nearing diplomatic agreement with Iran on
Speaker 2: nuclear weapons. And if you had put that in front
Speaker 2: of someone, you know, six months ago, they would have thought.
Speaker 1: You were in no way.
Speaker 2: Yeah you were, you were, you know, doing some Uh.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing about that, the messaging for the Iran deal,
Speaker 1: especially initially was like it was mixed messaging because Rubio
Speaker 1: had started talking about like enrichment and whether they're be
Speaker 1: able to enrich and not able to enrich, and then
Speaker 1: the administration came out and said no, they wouldn't be
Speaker 1: able to do and all that stuff. There was like
Speaker 1: a lot of mixed messages going on, which I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm as confuses most I mean most Americans don't know
Speaker 1: what the fuck's going on. Let's be real, right right,
Speaker 1: Like they don't care unfortunately, but uh, it's just like
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like I feel like one side of
Speaker 1: the administration doesn't know what the other side is doing.
Speaker 2: So you bring up an awesome, awesome point. And so
Speaker 2: this is such an unorthodox place. There's no inter in
Speaker 2: my view, there's no inneragency process. So ordinarily what you
Speaker 2: do is is the National Security Council would over time
Speaker 2: conduct a series of meetings starting at mid level, then
Speaker 2: going up to the senior levels what's called a Deputy's committee,
Speaker 2: and then a principals committee. And these are decision.
Speaker 1: Points about changing policy and and and you have and
Speaker 1: each each relevant agency has a chance to weigh in.
Speaker 2: I don't think any of.
Speaker 1: This happens now, no shots.
Speaker 2: I think stuff is done makes the same thing on
Speaker 2: a napkin in the oval. And you know, one of
Speaker 2: the things that I think is uh it reflects that
Speaker 2: is that you have different cabinet members, you know, espousing
Speaker 2: different positions all the time. So you know, at one point,
Speaker 2: and I know we're getting into the technical details, but
Speaker 2: you know, Rubio or someone would say, well, we need
Speaker 2: we need to have full dismantlement of the Iranian program,
Speaker 2: including their civilian program. And then the next day someone
Speaker 2: wit cough the voices, no, no, we're good with low enrichment. Nobody.
Speaker 2: And then you have the DC think tanks, the prose
Speaker 2: real thing tanks howling all the time that they need,
Speaker 2: you know, full dismantlement. No one really knows what this is.
Speaker 2: And I don't know. I don't think Trump really cares. Actually,
Speaker 2: I think he wants a deal. So I think we're
Speaker 2: going to probably get a deal which is much closer
Speaker 2: to the Iranian position. Then it would be the hardcore
Speaker 2: position of full dismantlement of the entire program. Like because
Speaker 2: that model is Libya and Mohammed Warmar Kadafi gave up
Speaker 2: the Libyan program Libyan nuclear program with a deal reach
Speaker 2: of the United States and then later on got deposed
Speaker 2: and killed. Yeah, when you say the Libyan model, another
Speaker 2: country is like, wait.
Speaker 1: A second, I don't want that. Yeah, that doesn't sound great.
Speaker 2: But but this, this lack of interagency and I know
Speaker 2: this is you know, kind of our world here geeking
Speaker 2: out on on foreign policy. But that is I think
Speaker 2: really important because then there's no but there seems to
Speaker 2: never be a coordinated position. Let me just just a
Speaker 2: little bit. I'll take one quick second to to demonstrate
Speaker 2: this again. So uh, and we're not talking Russia Ukraine today,
Speaker 2: we don't have time to do that. But but right
Speaker 2: now in Turkey there's a gathering of US officials, Ukrainian officials,
Speaker 2: and Russian officials, and there there's all sorts of uh
Speaker 2: chatter on who would show up, and Putin was invited,
Speaker 2: but he's not showing up. He is showing up. We
Speaker 2: don't even know what's gonna make come of these talks.
Speaker 2: There's threats if these talks don't don't succeed, there'll be
Speaker 2: more sanctuous. And then Trump in a truth sorry, in
Speaker 2: a in a statement in the UE today, says, well,
Speaker 2: nothing's getting done on any of this stuff until I
Speaker 2: see putin directly, and everyone's like, where'd that come from?
Speaker 2: So he just throws everything in the disrect once again.
Speaker 2: And so you know again that's that's based on very
Speaker 2: unorthodox decision making. Now, I will say that this craziness,
Speaker 2: which you know foreign governments hate, I think we don't
Speaker 2: like it as well. Because US is not reliable or predictable,
Speaker 2: it probably does lead to some of these wild swings
Speaker 2: and policies like Trump literally talking to the Saudi ruler
Speaker 2: Mohammad bin Salman and says, fuck it will relax sanctions,
Speaker 2: which the NSC they're staffed, their heads blew off. So
Speaker 2: you are able as a king to make these pronouncements
Speaker 2: when you don't have a process in which you know,
Speaker 2: your advisors come to in a kind of a concerted policy,
Speaker 2: right uh uh, making positions, and so I think you know,
Speaker 2: I guess the best. Why do you think Trump is
Speaker 2: so happy in the Gulf now? He wants to be
Speaker 2: the mirror.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the crown or the camp.
Speaker 2: He loves this.
Speaker 1: And I just kind of wish there was a little
Speaker 1: I just wish there was kind of a little bit
Speaker 1: of like strategy, a little bit. I know, that's like
Speaker 1: the crazy thing. It's just like every day it might be.
Speaker 2: And everyone's supposed to know in line, Hey, we're doing this,
Speaker 2: fall in line, and everyone's like, what our whole policy
Speaker 2: was uh to uh to frankly, uh try to entice
Speaker 2: behavior change with the with the Syrians based on a
Speaker 2: slow process moving sanctions.
Speaker 1: Nope, they're just yeah, which was that's what I thought
Speaker 1: to initially. I'm like, wait, they're removing sanctions that have
Speaker 1: been around for forty years or whatever. Shouldn't be like
Speaker 1: all of them, Yes, can be like like you said,
Speaker 1: in increments, like I don't know if like you should deluge.
Speaker 2: And you know don yep, because because he doesn't care. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I still think it's the right move. But it is
Speaker 2: kind of funny that there's no there's no process now,
Speaker 2: you know the the what this makes is fun for
Speaker 2: us to talk about. Sure, there's really serious stuff on this.
Speaker 2: But if you're either an ally or an adversary, the
Speaker 2: US is so wildly unpredictable right now, I think you know,
Speaker 2: there's you literally, as an intelligence officer from a foreign country,
Speaker 2: cannot make any kind of analytic judgments because Trump is
Speaker 2: just is so unpredictable and can swing so wildly. Maybe
Speaker 2: based on the last person he talked to.
Speaker 1: If you're the SDF, for you worried, well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, particularly because we have you know, we we Trump's
Speaker 2: kind of close relationship with with the with Turkey and right,
Speaker 2: it's rare to one. Now I think there are you know,
Speaker 2: there are kind of pieces of this which perhaps are
Speaker 2: going to be okay if there can be some kind
Speaker 2: of personal model between the SDF and the Turks. I mean,
Speaker 2: things are changing in Turkey as well. The PKK leader
Speaker 2: now decided that the armed struggle is over. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean so, but do you I mean, that's that's
Speaker 2: the perfect That's what would happen on a policy paper,
Speaker 2: right right, right what happens to the SDS. You're doing
Speaker 2: what happens here and there, and you kind of maneuver
Speaker 2: around instead of but now it's like okay, and by
Speaker 2: the way every ally of ours is saying, what does
Speaker 2: this mean?
Speaker 1: Hold on?
Speaker 2: Yeah, wait wait what just happened?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: And and you know the prime example of course being
Speaker 2: the Israelis sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, I'm gonna be completely honest. I think God,
Speaker 1: there needs to be ceasefire yesterday in Gaza. What's going
Speaker 1: on as a fucking travesty. And like Israel's I've said
Speaker 1: it before, Israel's really good at like targeted assassination and intelligence.
Speaker 1: That's the route they should have took with dealing with
Speaker 1: Hamas in Gaza instead of like just wiping out the
Speaker 1: whole place, because what would we say there was third
Speaker 1: forty thousand Gaza fighters Hamas fighters in a in a
Speaker 1: city of two point three million people. Right, Like the
Speaker 1: civilian casualty to a combatant casualty rate is like out
Speaker 1: of control, it's just and it's it's sad man like,
Speaker 1: it's a it's I it's a real bomber. And I
Speaker 1: have no faith in Yaho in his war cabinet. I
Speaker 1: think me Nan Yahoo wants to keep a perpetual war
Speaker 1: going because you know you're gonna have to face the
Speaker 1: corruption charges if and when it's over, because there was
Speaker 1: also reports about even if they do deals for hostages,
Speaker 1: we're still going into Gaza.
Speaker 2: Right, and so again that that's going to be against
Speaker 2: the wishes of President Trump, so that we're coming the
Speaker 2: daylight now is is getting to be so great. And
Speaker 2: there's a lot of Israelis I talk to who are
Speaker 2: actually very supportive of Trump giving, you know, being tough
Speaker 2: with Yahoo because nothing else has worked. Yeah, and so
Speaker 2: so you know, now it's going to be kind of
Speaker 2: a crunch time. You know, what's going to happen here
Speaker 2: or when? And and you know, you know, Steve Wikoff,
Speaker 2: the envoy, has been very critical h Israelis, and so
Speaker 2: I mean, so you know, again it's I wake up
Speaker 2: and it's Thursday, and you're like, okay, what's happening today?
Speaker 2: So he's in the UAE. But then there's but then
Speaker 2: there's also these meetings going on in Istambul with Russia Ukraine.
Speaker 2: But then you think about, okay, what are the next steps,
Speaker 2: you know, particularly with the with Gaza because and again
Speaker 2: all this is is kind of lost and all this noise.
Speaker 2: Netanyahu said they would they would actually start their offensive
Speaker 2: at the end of Trump's trip to the Middle East.
Speaker 2: If though, but Trump said, oh, I want a hostage
Speaker 2: deal in a ceasefire. That's tomorrow. Like here, I mean
Speaker 2: maybe not tomorrow because it's a religious holiday, you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's Friday in Israel. But we're talking that,
Speaker 2: We're talking every day. You wake up and say this
Speaker 2: is a significant day.
Speaker 1: Every day. Yeah, it's It's nuts. And it's also a
Speaker 1: little uh nerve racking because every day the administration could
Speaker 1: change his policy position one.
Speaker 2: Absolutely and which is us.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying like yeah like this.
Speaker 2: So so you know, accepting this this cuttery air Force
Speaker 2: cuttery seven forty seven is such a stupid own goal
Speaker 2: by by Trump. Now you know, the cutteries never should
Speaker 2: have offered. Uh, they kind of own half the town already.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: So this they're dropping a ton of money and like
Speaker 1: lobbying and.
Speaker 2: Stuff they do and everything. You know, they're they're they've
Speaker 2: funded Universe and all. This is kind of up and up.
Speaker 2: But they funded universities, Thinkings DC. They spend a ton
Speaker 2: of money. Their influence is massive here and that's just
Speaker 2: the way Washington works.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uh, the Israelis do the same, The Saudis do the same.
Speaker 2: The Greek lobby is very active. I mean, everybody lobbies here.
Speaker 1: Greek cobby sent me some fucking money man, right.
Speaker 2: But but ultimately, uh, this was a really it's a
Speaker 2: huge own goal because it distracts from you can argue
Speaker 2: was a successful trip. But everyone is talking about this
Speaker 2: because the corruption is so blatant and disgusting and and
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, uh, you know, uh, Senator Kennedy
Speaker 2: from Louisiana uh said he trust the cutteries as much
Speaker 2: as he trusts a bathroom rest stop, which then on
Speaker 2: MSNBC yesterday I commented on air that gives me memories
Speaker 2: of New Jersey Turnpike ress stops. And but but ultimately,
Speaker 2: the Trump administration also has a kind of this self
Speaker 2: defeat mechanism that they seem to hit every once in
Speaker 2: a while, whether it's signal gate, you know, or some
Speaker 2: kind of just ridiculous like the plane fiasco is just
Speaker 2: totally unnecessary. Yeah, and took away from that's what everyone's
Speaker 2: talking about on the trip.
Speaker 1: And also think about it, like you said, it's gonna
Speaker 1: cost hundreds of millions or a billion dollars to retrofit
Speaker 1: Air Force one to become secure right, because it's an
Speaker 1: air force jet that the president rides on command post, right,
Speaker 1: So like, how is that helping us? It's you're gotta
Speaker 1: at fourmed a million dollar gift, but you have to
Speaker 1: pay another billion to make it work. Also, Pambondie, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get a little partisan here. Pam Bondi's a rat.
Speaker 1: She was a Katari lobbyist, making one hundred and fifteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month from the Qatari government to lobby
Speaker 1: for them. She okayed this as if it's as if
Speaker 1: it's normal, like.
Speaker 2: Right, But when I talk privately to any Republican they're
Speaker 2: just like, oh my.
Speaker 1: God, yeah, how can you not? It's just so.
Speaker 2: And it's cutter, which is kryptonite here in DC too
Speaker 2: because of their role in as as a mediator with
Speaker 2: Taliban with Hamas right now, Ludad Air Force Base is
Speaker 2: the biggest US military base in the region. So the
Speaker 2: Cutteries are an ally, but there's there's some dark side
Speaker 2: the cuttery stuff, and so it's probably you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know if if if Trump went to France
Speaker 2: and President Macron gave him a a you know, an
Speaker 2: airbus jet, didn't happen because it's a European company. But
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone would care as much the fact
Speaker 2: that came from Cutter.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that.
Speaker 3: You think.
Speaker 2: So if the French gave us a jet, I don't know,
Speaker 2: it would be like the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I think it's like that. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: I get like the connotations that Qatar has where they
Speaker 1: are deeply involved.
Speaker 2: In Air Force one, be from a foreign government, that's
Speaker 2: right at all. Yeah, you can't do it. The French
Speaker 2: intelligence whatever field day with this, but I guess you
Speaker 2: know they they chose. They certainly chose the wrong country.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, get a jet Canada or something.
Speaker 1: They should have done. They should have done what the
Speaker 1: Saudi government didn't just buy like fine hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: worth of Trump's Trump.
Speaker 2: Mean coin, what they probably have done.
Speaker 1: That's what they should have done. That's what's going on
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now that there's another whole discussion here is
Speaker 2: how screwed up Boeing is that these these Air Force
Speaker 2: one jets are so the cost over runs are massive,
Speaker 2: they're they're certainly delayed. Boeing is at a rough time.
Speaker 2: Although Boeing had a great trip. The irony of this
Speaker 2: is Trump is pissed at Boeing because they've screwed up
Speaker 2: the whole Air Force one procurement. Yet yet Boeing had
Speaker 2: just made ninety on this trip, and.
Speaker 1: So you know, yeah, there's no real clear strategy. And
Speaker 1: if someone tries to tell me he's playing five D
Speaker 1: four D jests, now he doesn't probably not a right
Speaker 1: to play regular chess.
Speaker 2: To be honest, I can't. You know again that that's
Speaker 2: and every once in a while you'll see a maga
Speaker 2: foreign policy person pop up and say, look at the
Speaker 2: genius of Trump.
Speaker 1: Yeah I can't. I'm sorry. It's like at the same
Speaker 1: level like people talking about how Putin's and strategic genius. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like yeah, put because Putin thought this be over in
Speaker 1: a week in Ukraine and he's three years in. So
Speaker 1: uh man, it's crazy because it's like there's so much
Speaker 1: happening and now I guess this is part of their
Speaker 1: you know, the flood of his own thing, but to
Speaker 1: like pinpoint stuff of what's going on, it's really wild.
Speaker 1: And to me, I mean, if I'm a foreign government.
Speaker 1: I'm it's transactional. We're right with the with Trump specifically
Speaker 1: in the administration. So I'm if I really want to
Speaker 1: curry favor, I'm making things transactional, just how like Saudi
Speaker 1: Arabia Kadar does, UAE does. Yeah, I don't know what
Speaker 1: the fuck's gonna happen tomorrow. I'm gonna be honest. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's good for us. If you're smart, you would say
Speaker 1: you're living in Brooklyn or Queens Brooklyn. If you're smart,
Speaker 1: you would you would tomorrow come to the administration with
Speaker 1: the proposal to build a Trump tower in Brooklyn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: why would get probably paid.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: And so you know, and and so everyone has that playbook.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I think would be fun
Speaker 2: to see, which would probably be very brief, would be
Speaker 2: the leadership the leadership profile that intelligence services always do
Speaker 2: on foreign leaders, on foreign heads of state. The one
Speaker 2: on Trump is probably a paragraph, you know. The one
Speaker 2: on on on uh, you know, on Biden or Obama
Speaker 2: was probably five pages. Yeah, but Trump is pretty easy.
Speaker 2: How to how to examine, manipulate, deal with you know,
Speaker 2: everyone loves getting on their hands and knees. It seems
Speaker 2: to work. Now, it works for a short period of time, right.
Speaker 2: You know what I always tell people is, you know,
Speaker 2: gotta be careful if you're going to go blow Trump,
Speaker 2: because he's gonna you know, he's going to give you
Speaker 2: something right after that. But you know, three hours later
Speaker 2: he's like a goldfish. And so but but that's what
Speaker 2: and so you see, you know, flattery seems to work.
Speaker 2: The Brits have seemed to have mastered this because Trump
Speaker 2: is enamored with the British royal family, so starmer the
Speaker 2: British Prime Minister comes with an invite to see King Charles,
Speaker 2: and Trump's like, great, I love you. Yeah, there's little
Speaker 2: pieces like that that you know, the Gulf Arabs know
Speaker 2: that Trump loves pomp and circumstances, is wowed by wealth,
Speaker 2: and so when he goes there, he sees you know,
Speaker 2: wealth on steroids. Yeah, that gets to him. You know,
Speaker 2: everybody kind of has that. You know, what is that
Speaker 2: one key thing that's gonna that's gonna kind of peak
Speaker 2: his interest? Uh, and so those leadership profiles are probably
Speaker 2: not that that complex.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not super depth sided yet it's just like
Speaker 1: give him a carrot. Give him something shiny and they'll
Speaker 1: do almost everything you want.
Speaker 2: Yeah, an investment, Trump tower or something. I mean Amashata said,
Speaker 2: I want to build a Trump tower in Damascus. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I saw that music. And in fact, the matter is,
Speaker 2: I've lived in Damascus. You could do it. There's a
Speaker 2: four seasons there, sure, and so you know there and
Speaker 2: and it's a it's a it's a magical city. That's
Speaker 2: the oldest city on the planet. You can think of
Speaker 2: a thousand reasons why this could actually happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So are you are you worried at all that
Speaker 1: Skuy's a former jihadi?
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, uh uh sure, I mean it's
Speaker 2: it's a data point. But you also have to understand
Speaker 2: he's got you know, the Turks, uh, you know behind
Speaker 2: him in the sense of as probably a modulating force.
Speaker 2: But most importantly it's trusting you know, uh uh you know,
Speaker 2: you don't trust what trust but verified. Yeah, so you
Speaker 2: know everyone's watching, you know, is he going to have
Speaker 2: an inclusive government? So far? Sort of? You know, is
Speaker 2: he you know, is he going to kick out the Iranians?
Speaker 2: He says he's going to Is he going to kick
Speaker 2: out the Palestinian rejectionist groups. He says he's going to
Speaker 2: let's see and so along with there's gonna be stumbles
Speaker 2: along the way. But I guess the opposite is that
Speaker 2: you can't leave someone like that without you know, you know,
Speaker 2: in a in a state of kind of desperation and
Speaker 2: poverty and so and this is, this is completely different
Speaker 2: than the Taliban. You know, Damascus is a place where
Speaker 2: you know, people can walk out in the streets, you know, free,
Speaker 2: there's alcohol, women go to schools. It's not I mean,
Speaker 2: it's not draconian at all, right, and so, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: is there reason to be to to monitor? Sure?
Speaker 1: So I know SDF is like the real like the
Speaker 1: main force driving the fight against ISIS in the area.
Speaker 1: But that's my question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you if you think about that as well,
Speaker 2: not only is he apparently shot, they have helped in
Speaker 2: the counter ISIS fight. But of course i'll KaiA in
Speaker 2: ISIS or enemies. So so you know, ideologically Shota doesn't
Speaker 2: like ISIS to begin with, even if you say he's
Speaker 2: never changed from an a Q guy. Yeah, but again,
Speaker 2: but I think that there's there's enough evidence out there
Speaker 2: to show that he has reformed enough.
Speaker 1: But he's the he's the boss now, so he's there, right, like,
Speaker 1: you got to deal with whoever's there, right, And it's
Speaker 1: better than a sod as of right now.
Speaker 2: I mean it's not even close. So that to me,
Speaker 2: that's a that's a no brainer. You know, uh, you know, uh,
Speaker 2: but Charlasa killed half a million Syrians, six million refugees. Yeah,
Speaker 2: old kind of terrorist asshole, but he seems to have
Speaker 2: performed enough for us to deal with him.
Speaker 1: Is Russia? Is Russia angling to get back in there?
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a key point. Is so that that's another thing,
Speaker 2: is that we're gonna want to keep Russia out. Now
Speaker 2: that's a big question, but that's another thing that we
Speaker 2: can monitor, and so that that you know, the the
Speaker 2: the Russian influence they are. That's I'm sure is a
Speaker 2: point of discussion between US and Syrian officials, and of
Speaker 2: course the Turks want We're gonna want to keep the
Speaker 2: Russians out as well.
Speaker 1: Syria is like this fucking place, This menagerie of like Mayhem, dude,
Speaker 1: who's fighting who, who's aligned with who? But they're also
Speaker 1: aligned with this other group is unbelievable. Man Mark, where
Speaker 1: can people find you?
Speaker 3: On Twitter?
Speaker 1: On Blue Sky everywhere.
Speaker 2: At M Polymer on Blue Sky as well. I don't
Speaker 2: even know my Blue Sky thing, but you can find
Speaker 2: me on there at M Polymer or something Blue Sky.
Speaker 2: Uh and uh. And as I've hinted before, it's the
Speaker 2: the long awaited debut of a new kind of podcast
Speaker 2: series I'm involved with is coming at the end of
Speaker 2: the month.
Speaker 1: Nice, all good, good.
Speaker 2: That's awesome overseas based uh in a friendly country.
Speaker 1: But I was gonna say not Katari, right, Oh god no, But.
Speaker 2: It's it's gonna be It's gonna be fun, and I
Speaker 2: will certainly let you all know. And I can still
Speaker 2: come on as a guest.
Speaker 1: Every better. Come on, man, I'm gonna put all the
Speaker 1: links to market the description, check them out, check them
Speaker 1: out at MSNBC, and look out for his new podcast
Speaker 1: coming out a couple few weeks.
Speaker 2: And again, the big story here not only changes in
Speaker 2: the Middle East, but I've actually agreed with Trump administration policy.
Speaker 2: And I hope your listeners notice that because it doesn't
Speaker 2: happen often.
Speaker 1: Honestly, I'm telling you, at least push it for a
Speaker 1: ceasefire and Gaza I'm in if he's also pushing for
Speaker 1: an Iran nuke deal. However, it looks like I would
Speaker 1: love some proxy force language in there. I mean, because
Speaker 1: I don't think bombing Iran is really going to bombing
Speaker 1: Iran Iranian nuclear facility is really going to do anything
Speaker 1: to stop them. If I'm Iran, I would dig deeper
Speaker 1: and build it even deeper where no one can get it,
Speaker 1: and then like, hey, I have a nuclear weapon. Now,
Speaker 1: what are you guys gonna do? Right, because that's the
Speaker 1: ultimate regime security, right, like we talked about with Libya.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I do agree with some of the stuff.
Speaker 1: Hopefully tomorrow or next week it doesn't change completely.
Speaker 2: Probably, well, right, this is fleeting.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, so guys stay tuned because every day is
Speaker 1: a new adventure.
Speaker 2: And they'll screw something up and rush of Ukraine too.
Speaker 2: So anyhow, but the awesome, awesome to see you as always, Uh,
Speaker 2: keep the faith, and as we've said before, you know,
Speaker 2: when we have the kind of the Greek mafia that
Speaker 2: taking over the teamhouse, that's always a good thing.
Speaker 1: We're already running the CIA, right, So guys, see you later, Mark,
Speaker 1: thank you. I'm going to finish up. Guys, do me
Speaker 1: a favorite. Don't forget to like a subscribe check out
Speaker 1: mark of course is links are in the description, and
Speaker 1: the best way to support the show is Patreon dot
Speaker 1: com slash the Teamhouse. You get both eyes On and
Speaker 1: The Teamhouse ad free if you join, and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot mark, Thanks again, man, Thanks Bud.
Speaker 3: See ya, guys, it's Jack.
Speaker 4: I just want to talk to you for a moment
Speaker 4: about how you can support the show. If you've been
Speaker 4: watching it, enjoying it, but you'd like to get a
Speaker 4: little bit more involved and help us continue to do this,
Speaker 4: you can check out our Patreon. It is patreon dot
Speaker 4: com slash the Teamhouse, and for five dollars a month
Speaker 4: you can get access to all of these episodes of
Speaker 4: The Teamhouse ad free.
Speaker 3: The same goes with.
Speaker 4: Our affiliated podcast eyes On with Andy Milburn, Jason Lyons mcmulroy.
Speaker 4: That one you will also get all of those episodes
Speaker 4: ad free, and you support the channel and the show,
Speaker 4: and we really appreciate it. The Patreon members are literally
Speaker 4: what has helped this company and this small business survive,
Speaker 4: especially during our early years, and you are what continues
Speaker 4: to help this thing going even as we navigate the
Speaker 4: turbulent world of YouTube advertising.
Speaker 3: So we really appreciate all of you guys.
Speaker 4: There's going to be a link down in the description
Speaker 4: to that Patreon page, and there is also going to
Speaker 4: be a link to our new merch shop, so if
Speaker 4: you guys want to go and get some Team House merchandise,
Speaker 4: we got stickers and we also have patches, and I
Speaker 4: should mention if you sign up for Patreon at ten
Speaker 4: dollars a month, we will mail you this patch as well,
Speaker 4: so we really appreciate that. But they're also for sale
Speaker 4: on the merch shop and additionally, they got t shirts
Speaker 4: up there, water bottles, a tote bag, coffee mugs, all
Speaker 4: that good stuff, so please go and check them out
Speaker 4: and support the show.
Speaker 3: We really appreciate it, guys. Thank you.