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