Yesterday, Richard Haass and I linked up to discuss the status of the war in the Middle East, which began as a war on Iran. The first question we addressed is: how does the war end? If it takes three (U.S., Israel, Iran) to tango, what does each side need to end it? Richard lays out one path to “peace”: first a cease fire and then a negotiated settlement.
The second question we addressed is: Who has leverage in the negotiations? I’m of the view that Iran has more leverage than most think. (There is, of course, the possibility that the Iranian regime will collapse of its own weight, but that seems unlikely at the moment).
We went from there to a discussion about the Strait of Hormuz and volatile (!) energy markets, drone warfare, Russia, China and Ukraine.
Because of an annoying “domain name” issue, I’m unable to provide you with a direct link. But you can listen to this episode (and all the previous episodes) by clicking on these hyperlinks — Apple, Amazon, Spotify.
‘Alternate Shots’ with John Ellis and Richard Haass is also available at most of the other major podcast platforms).
When we get the “domain name” issue sorted, I’ll send out a new link.