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A weekly take on US politics and policies and how they affect the world.
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United States President Donald Trump “looks at Saudi Arabia like a piggy bank or an ATM machine” and that’s why the recent Saudi-US summit focused on deals instead of strategic regional issues, such as Sudan, Palestine, Iran and Syria, argues political scientist Gregory Gause, professor emeritus of international affairs at Texas A&M University. Gause tells host Steve Clemons that if Riyadh can seal a deal to house a joint AI data centre, “that's the best guarantee of US security.” He adds that China may be Saudi Arabia’s biggest customer but the US is Riyadh’s “preferred partner on security, AI, economics and defence cooperation”. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
After the capital of capitalism voted for socialism and Democrats in two states trounced Republicans, United States President Donald Trump is worried that he won’t be able to impose his domestic vision for the nation, Republican strategist John Feehery argues. Feehery tells host Steve Clemons that Trump needs to refocus his energy from foreign policy to the domestic concerns facing Americans, especially the cost of living. On Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City, Feehery says: “Republicans have to be careful because if he turns out to be popular, that could be something that Democrats decide to run on.”
The United States and China have declared a truce in the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump in April, argues Evan Medeiros, former US National Security Council director for China. Medeiros tells host Steve Clemons that the deal reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump resolves the urgent trade issues between the two sides - tariff rates, soya beans and rare earth minerals - but China “remains committed to ensuring that Russia doesn't lose” in Ukraine. The US has more than 200,000 soldiers surrounding China, Medeiros adds, but Washington knows that “nobody wants to choose between the US and China.”
Trump’s Gaza plan is in danger of going the way of the Oslo Accords, argues US journalist Chris Hedges: Never to be implemented beyond the first phase. Hedges tells host Steve Clemons that there are no guarantees that the US-brokered deal “will actually thwart the genocidal project that Israel is intending to carry out in Gaza and … the West Bank”. While a parade of US officials visited Israel to signify commitment to the ceasefire, Israel continued to restrict food and medicine to millions of Palestinians, and Israeli forces continued to occupy more than half of the Gaza Strip.
The US has forced Israel to end its war on Gaza, but now the challenge is “to be engaged every single day, several times a day” to make sure the ceasefire holds, says Israeli American activist Gershon Baskin, the cofounder of Alliance for Two States. Baskin tells host Steve Clemons that President Donald Trump was convinced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel could force the Palestinians to surrender, but over time, it became obvious that “Hamas will never surrender.” Baskin predicts “there will be an awakening in Israel that we can’t keep doing this ... military strategies don’t work any more.”
Arguing that some places in the United States – primarily those governed by Democratic officials – are rampantly crime-infested, President Donald Trump has been deploying military forces to cities from Los Angeles to Washington, DC. Former National Security Council official Kori Schake tells host Steve Clemons that Trump is trying to enlist the US military to get involved in his culture war issues, such as immigration and political dissent. She warns that US forces should be kept out of politics “so that the American public continues to have confidence and trust in the military”.
The US plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza is designed, supervised and administered “primarily by people who are very staunchly pro-Israel,” and has little chance of delivering peace, argues Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard University. “We’ve seen this movie before,” Walt tells host Steve Clemons. According to the terms announced by US President Donald Trump, Israel can argue at any time that the Palestinian side isn’t fulfilling its obligations and thus resume the war. Increasingly seen as a threat by other countries in the region, Israel “is in for a very troubling future”, Walt says.
1French official Pascal Confavreux says the French-Saudi initiative takes the two-state solution "out of the moral danger" it was in. Pascal, spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry, tells host Steve Clemons that France aims to end Israel’s war on Gaza by sidelining Hamas, reshaping the Palestinian Authority to make it more palatable to Israel’s right-wing government, and involving some Arab and Muslim states in the governance of Gaza. After his government recognised the State of Palestine for the first time on September 22, Confavreux argued that the alternative to a two-state solution is “an endless cycle of violence.” Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
New initiatives to support Palestinian statehood, while reflecting growing international attention, are “perpetuating the illusion” that a two-state solution can resolve the conflict with Israel, argues former US diplomat Rob Malley. Malley was a leading United States negotiator across the Middle East for decades, and was on the cusp of a new Iran-US deal in 2023 when he was suspended by then-US President Joe Biden. Malley’s new book, Tomorrow is Yesterday, details the damage done by decades of US involvement in Middle East peacemaking. Malley tells host Steve Clemons that Israel can't achieve normalcy or “absolute security” while sidestepping the issue of justice for the Palestinians.
In the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Qatar targeting the leadership of Hamas, American political scientist John Mearsheimer argues, “The Israelis are interested in making sure there are no negotiations that settle the conflict in Gaza.” Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the United States and Israel “basically act as a tag team”, and despite a mild rebuke by President Donald Trump, “the US supports Israel unconditionally”. He adds that Israel has three main strategic goals: expand territory, move the Palestinians out of all conquered territory, and ensure that all countries in the region are weak. #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
For decades, the United States has been courting India as a counterbalance to China in Asia. But after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to agree with US President Donald Trump's insistence that he had ended a Pakistan-India military conflict in May, Trump slapped 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods entering the US market. He also insisted that New Delhi stop buying discounted Russian oil. Host Steve Clemons asks Ravi Agrawal, chief editor of Foreign Policy, and Anja Manuel, executive director of the Aspen Security Forum, whether the India-US dispute is a temporary blip or the beginning of a major realignment.
As the popularity of the United States Democratic Party reaches historic lows, author Joan Williams argues that the party’s elitism is still pushing people away. Williams is the founder of the Equality Action Center at the College of Law at the University of California at San Francisco and author of Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back. She tells host Steve Clemons that, unless the Democrats realign themselves with the people, they will continue to founder and voters will continue to flock to populists. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
If Israel rejects the latest offer to pause its War on Gaza, it’s a sign that Israel “doesn’t want any deal,” argues US journalist and author Jeremy Scahill. Scahill, the co-founder of Drop Site News, tells host Steve Clemons that Hamas has offered major concessions on sticking points such as the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released, Israeli withdrawal from the border with Egypt, and the so-called GHF. But with carte blanche from the US to continue its war, the question remains: Will Israel decide to sign a temporary deal or pursue war? Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to meet his US counterpart in Alaska, there were no indications that a deal to end the Ukraine war was imminent. Editor of the National Interest, Jacob Heilbrunn, tells host Steve Clemons that US President Donald Trump “will try and reach an agreement with Putin and impose it upon Ukraine. If Ukraine refuses, then he'll wash his hands of it and say that Ukraine is the obstacle to peace.” Heilbrunn argues that Trump is “squeezing the remnants of what’s left of the American empire” and that “the American brand is tattered” globally. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
By offering nothing except continual massacre for the Palestinians, and attempting to subjugate the surrounding areas to its will, Israel finds itself “in a predicament of its own making”, argues former Israeli adviser Daniel Levy. Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, tells host Steve Clemons that Israel has put Arab leaders in a bind, as regional disgust grows towards Israel for its war crimes in Gaza. And while Western governments and cultural institutions have been carrying water for Israel for decades, argues Levy, some have begun “acknowledging things they worked hard not to acknowledge for an awfully long time.” Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
Despite some pushback from his party to deal with the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza - especially Israel’s starvation policy - the US governing Republican Party remains unmoved. Republicans overwhelmingly support Israel’s tactics against the Palestinians, as support for Israel plummets among Independent and Democratic voters. Trump says he wants more food to reach Gaza via the militarised distribution mechanism, the GHF. But he criticised Western countries that spoke of diplomatic moves, such as recognising Palestinian statehood. Host Steve Clemons speaks with Republican analyst Mark Pfeifle and Democratic analyst David Bolger on Trump’s political calculations on Middle East policy. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
Several groups of professors in the United States are suing the Trump administration over its policy of arresting, detaining, cancelling visas, and deporting students who participate in pro-Palestinian advocacy. The crackdown on free speech is creating a chilling effect across US academia, argues Jamil Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which is one of the organisations that brought the lawsuit. Jaffer tells host Steve Clemons that the issue is much wider than the rights of non-citizens in the country. The government's actions have the effect of "stifling a political viewpoint that the government doesn't like". Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
Africa’s leaders have no one to blame but themselves if they cannot reach equitable trade deals with the United States, argues the former representative of the African Union to the US, Arikana Chihombori-Quao. Chihombori-Quao tells host Steve Clemons that US President Donald Trump’s “trade, not aid” policy opens up “an opportunity that African leaders were not awarded by the colonisers, the European nations, when they set out to exploit the continent of Africa”. She adds that African leaders should not allow themselves to be bullied by Trump, “because he has what you need, you also have what he wants”. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
Israeli columnist Gideon Levy tells host Steve Clemons that almost all Israelis believe their country “has the right to do whatever it wants”. This includes war crimes and plans to create concentration camps for Palestinians in Gaza, in preparation for expulsion. Levy argues that it makes no difference if a Republican or Democratic administration were in power in the United States or if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or a different politician were in power in Israel. “The same war might have taken place, and the same crimes of war would have been committed,” he said. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
Although it’s not clear that Israeli leaders want to end the "Forever War" they launched in the aftermath of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, the US has enough leverage to force a truce, argues Georgetown University visiting scholar, Khaled Elgindy. Annelle Sheline, a former State Department official who quit in protest of President Biden’s Gaza policies, argues that Israel’s war was “not really about Hamas” but more about the Israeli desire to control Gaza, the West Bank and the wider region. Sheline and Elgindy delve into the details of the proposed ceasefire deal with host Steve Clemons. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X : https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #aljazeera #aljazeeraenglish #aljazeeranewslive
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United States
This might be the dumbest general I have ever heard interviewed.