In new video clips from Intelligence Squared U.S., five experts debate three related motions about how we should handle the current power dynamics in the Middle East:
- “Trump Is Right on Saudi Arabia”
- “The World Is Safer Without the Iran Deal”
- “Turkey Is an Asset to NATO”
The five debaters, all experts on international relations, shift sides and allegiances based on the motion. The debaters are:
- Michael Doran, senior director on the National Security Council under President Bush
- Reuel Marc Gerecht, former CIA case officer
- Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton
- Brett McGurk, the State Department’s former Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS
- Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative
The first debate is excellent except that no one mentioned what Trump’s ME plan is about.
Yes Trump wants to withdraw but he wants to leave a strong coaltition in his place and that coalition is moving forward. It consists of Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan. Together they are stronger. That doesn’t mean that Israel will be also fighting Yemen but there are many places where they can support each other.
For instance Iran just attacked Saudi Arabia and articles appeared suggesting that the US let Saudi Arabia down. But he didn’t. Israeli and Saudi Arabian planes are attacking Iranian interests in Iraq and Syria in a massive way but are not publizing the magnitude of the attacks. This is done so that Iran is not forced to respond. But the message is clear. By the end of Trump’s second term, Kurdistan will be added to this coalition.
Meanwhile in the process, Saudi Arabia and Israel are drawing closer together. This is very important to US interests. It reduces the Arab/Israeli conflict