0:03

Shalom and welcome to

0:05

Unorthodox, the universe's leading

0:07

Jewish podcast. I

0:09

am Lael Leibowitz and I'm here

0:11

alone this week because Joshua, Stephanie

0:14

and I thought that this week

0:16

we all needed something special. Look,

0:18

if you're anything like us, I

0:21

assume that you are reading the

0:23

news, doom scrolling on your phone

0:25

and what's the Yiddish term

0:28

I am looking for? You're freaking out

0:30

because the world just become a really

0:32

scary place. There's a war in Israel

0:34

on one front and another front threatening

0:37

to blow up. There's unrest

0:39

everywhere you look. There are Houthis in

0:41

the Red Sea and we're all trying

0:44

to figure out who they are and

0:46

why do they dress so funky? The

0:48

world in short has gotten scary, confusing

0:50

with war, catastrophe and calamity seemingly around

0:53

the corner and now more

0:55

than ever we need someone to turn

0:57

to, someone who actually knows what's going

1:00

on, someone who knows what really matters

1:02

and what really matters just happens to

1:04

be the name of a

1:06

newish podcast that we here at

1:09

Habit Magazine produce and it stars

1:12

the man that we should really all be

1:14

listening to, the man who could make sense

1:16

of Russia, Ukraine, China, Iran, Israel,

1:18

Hamas, Hezbollah, the whole lot. Put

1:20

it not just in perspective but

1:22

also give us some much needed

1:25

historical context and tell us what

1:27

we actually need to worry about

1:29

and what's just a load

1:31

of hype. He is of course the

1:33

one, the only Walter Russell Mead,

1:35

tablet columnist, Wall Street Journal contributor,

1:37

Hudson Institute fellow and really one

1:40

of the smartest dudes you can

1:42

listen to on pretty much any

1:44

and every topic. Now any person

1:46

who is this smart and this

1:48

learned deserves someone to kind of

1:50

help him roll along. Every

1:53

Sherlock Holmes has his Watson and

1:55

Walter has our very own

1:57

tablet magazines, Jeremy Stern, former

2:00

Diplomat, current editor and really one of

2:02

the most brilliant people you will listen

2:04

to as soon as the two of

2:06

them talk and makes sense of things

2:08

great and small. Sit a light and

2:11

history and really give us the context

2:13

that we need to understand what goes

2:15

on around. This is a real privilege

2:17

of this week. We at Unorthodox are

2:19

taking a step or two baths and

2:22

were handing the keys over to Germy

2:24

Stern and Walter Russell. Mean and their

2:26

show? What Really Matters Listen for yourself

2:28

a tall glass of something. Strong, Find

2:31

a comfortable chair and prepare to

2:33

really have your eyes open because

2:35

I'm pretty sure you will never

2:37

look at the world the same

2:40

way again. And like us, you

2:42

will become an instance member of

2:44

the cup of water and germy.

2:46

Here they are. Germ. Eastern

2:48

Water Us have made what really matters.

3:00

Much. Everybody to what really matters on

3:02

Tablet. Deputy Editor Jeremy Cern with you

3:05

in Los Angeles I'm here as always

3:07

with Walter Russell made Tablet news writer

3:09

Global View, Calmness, Wall Street Journal and

3:12

Distinguished Fellow at Hudson. Let's start with

3:14

this week's news. For. Story: The

3:16

weeks. Vladimir. Putin

3:18

has said Joe Biden would be

3:20

a better Us president for Russia

3:23

than Donald Trump and dismissed concerns

3:25

over his counterparts age and acuity

3:27

for the role. Put his comments

3:29

late on Wednesday marked his first

3:31

foray into this year's presidential election

3:34

as tensions between Democrats and Republicans

3:36

rise over the White House's efforts

3:38

to send more military aid to

3:40

Ukraine Arsonists state television interview to

3:43

choose between Biden and From Put

3:45

and said Biden is quote more

3:47

experienced, Predictable. And old school politician

3:49

close quote walters This news

3:51

or phone news. While. I

3:54

would say Vladimir Putin is a

3:56

having a lot of fun and

3:59

be demonstrating. That he is next

4:01

to Donald Trump. The greatest for

4:03

all. Of our time. Honestly,

4:05

I think probably poon would be

4:08

really really happy with either of

4:10

the to. Have Trump Trump

4:12

would be kind of annoying in

4:14

some ways. that are lot of

4:16

things Trump would do. Putting would

4:18

hate Trump, would probably pump all

4:20

the oil, send all that liquid

4:22

natural gas. He could still probably

4:24

do more damage to potent than

4:26

than anything that Biden has in

4:28

mind. But. At the same

4:31

time, a poodle at Trump sort

4:33

of disruptive capability. His. Difficulty

4:36

Lot of a say in

4:38

articulating and carrying out an

4:40

integrated strategies. All of these

4:42

things would probably we're down

4:44

to prudence benefits. Yellow, these

4:47

was not. Forget the one

4:49

of Prudence biggest goals is

4:51

in fact to drive a

4:53

wedge between Europe and the

4:55

United States. and Dub. Donald.

4:58

Trump is the living embodiment

5:00

of such a wedge. On

5:02

the other hand, We. Have to

5:05

say that. President Biden,

5:07

while not quite as much

5:09

fun for put in as

5:11

her or his former patsy,

5:14

President Obama, is actually a

5:16

wonderful foil for Poodle. Biden.

5:19

His kind of in a biden

5:21

offers. Sort. Of genteel

5:23

failure. I. He

5:25

will coordinate with the Europeans

5:27

on a grand anti Russian

5:30

strategy, but it's a strategy

5:32

to can't succeed. So.

5:35

You know, in in this sense food and choice.

5:37

Between. Biden and Trump is which

5:39

way does he want to win?

5:42

Or that's one of the many reasons

5:45

why this is not the choice the

5:47

United States ought to be making this

5:49

time. But as survey American Politics right

5:51

now is one of the biggest assets

5:53

in a in. Portfolio.

5:57

And. Honestly, He. really

5:59

doesn't care all that much which

6:02

of the two wins. What he really

6:04

wants to see is the United States

6:06

having poor leadership and being a deeply

6:08

divided country, and I think he's headed

6:11

for exactly that. Do you

6:13

think there's anything to the theory

6:15

that Trump's volatility and unpredictability kept

6:19

Russia and maybe Iran

6:21

a little quieter during

6:23

those four years, or are they following

6:26

a timeline that has nothing

6:29

to do with who sits in the White House particularly,

6:31

or at least if they're choices are Biden and

6:33

Trump? I doubt anybody has any

6:35

idea of that. Trump backers will

6:37

say, ah, it was Trump who stopped all of

6:39

this. Maybe, but

6:42

we're not going to get a hold of

6:44

either the Kremlin or the Iranian documents that

6:46

would tell us what was going on. The

6:50

one thing we can be sure of

6:52

is that neither Putin nor the Ayatollahs

6:54

would tell us the truth about their

6:56

motivations. I think

6:58

we're in a black box there. I

7:01

do think that Trump's

7:05

volatility does make people

7:07

think twice, but

7:10

it's also pretty clear that

7:12

Trump is as war averse

7:14

as Biden and

7:17

is really, really not looking for a war.

7:21

Even that, I think both

7:23

of them, I think what we're seeing

7:25

over the last few years is that

7:27

if we think of American power, American

7:29

deterrent capabilities, kind of the scarecrow on

7:31

a field, what we've seen

7:34

is that starting about 2008 when Putin invaded

7:36

Georgia, the crows

7:40

have started edging a

7:42

little bit into the cornfield. Most

7:45

very nervous, a puff

7:48

of wind blows the scarecrow's cloak

7:50

a little bit and the crows

7:52

all fly away. But

7:54

Over time, they've noticed that

7:56

really that Scarecrow isn't doing

7:58

very much. And so they're

8:01

the It takes more to alarm

8:03

them and they stay alarm for

8:05

closer. and basically and the crows

8:07

are are settling into a nice

8:10

feast of grains are I'd our

8:12

second story. In.

8:14

The same interview with Russian State Tv

8:16

Vladimir Putin said he quote didn't get

8:18

complete satisfaction from last week's interview with

8:21

Tucker Carlson because the right wing Us

8:23

pundits failed to take him to task

8:25

put in said he'd thought Carlson was

8:28

a dangerous person quote because I honestly

8:30

thought he would be aggressive and ask

8:32

so cold soup questions and I wasn't

8:34

just ready for that. I wanted it

8:37

because it would have given me the

8:39

opportunity to respond sharply in kind, but

8:41

he chose a different tactic. Close quote

8:44

so. Walter Payton throwing shade at

8:46

Tucker's This news or phone news.

8:49

Again, it is a

8:51

trolls being trolls and.

8:55

Poon is obviously having fun. I think part

8:57

of his by the way is putting the.

9:00

Some there were some commentary in

9:03

Russia that prudent didn't actually do

9:05

that good of a job that

9:08

instead of making propagate using using

9:10

the interviewed to make propaganda that

9:12

would actually resonate with Americans are

9:15

instead he goes back and he

9:17

talks about well Back and Nine

9:19

Thirty Two A D. Which.

9:22

Is actually not something that a lot of

9:24

Americans are gonna are going to be excited

9:26

about one way or the other. So.

9:30

You. Know this in a white why

9:32

didn't these are about you know,

9:34

Nato destabilizing Ukraine or this in

9:36

a widening focus more on on

9:39

those talking points or even on

9:41

like the gay decadence of the

9:43

West in a why his knee

9:45

really glance some punches. So. part

9:47

of what he's doing is he

9:49

saying well because that idiot tucker

9:51

carlson just as me said softball questions

9:54

i had no ability to do this

9:56

which against suggests that tucker may not

9:58

be as

10:00

much of a shill for the Russians

10:02

is just an opportunist. But

10:05

because shill for the Russians would have probably

10:07

coordinated a little bit better with the Kremlin

10:09

before the interview. But it does,

10:11

I think, it underlines

10:14

something that this kind of new

10:16

American right, and I don't want

10:18

to put everybody into

10:20

the same bag there, but certainly Carlson

10:22

and some of the others are, you

10:26

know, good at kind of spouting sort of,

10:28

you know, headline rhetoric, getting

10:32

people, you know, on Twitter, excuse me,

10:34

the site formerly known as Twitter, getting

10:37

people's pulse rates higher and their

10:39

hormones charging, but

10:42

that's very superficial. And

10:44

when you're trying to deal with people who

10:46

come out from, you know, aren't coming at

10:48

you within American culture like

10:50

Putin, you sort of find that even,

10:52

even trolly Russian nationalist

10:55

right-wingers have a bit more of

10:57

a kind of serious,

11:00

you know, apparently serious

11:02

intellectual foundation. You

11:05

know, there are books behind the things that

11:07

Putin says and there are, there's a whole

11:09

sort of industry of

11:11

Russian ultranationalist writers

11:13

churning out a world

11:16

view. Let's not call it exactly coherent,

11:19

but a world view that has

11:21

points of reference with things that

11:23

other people have thought and said,

11:26

rather than just somebody kind of,

11:29

you know, screaming at the television

11:31

about I hate X or, you

11:33

know, whoa, this is terrible. And

11:36

it does, I think, suggest that it

11:39

should remind us that outrage

11:42

is not actually a governing

11:44

philosophy and can't really be

11:46

the basis for effective

11:49

change or even effective maintenance of

11:51

the status quo. And

11:53

we need to look, I think we all

11:55

need to go a little deeper from the

11:57

far right to the far left. I think

11:59

Americans are generally speaking doing what

12:02

we do really well, which is

12:04

keeping it superficial. All

12:06

right, final story of the week. Donald

12:09

Trump claimed earlier this week that while

12:11

president, he told the leaders of NATO

12:13

countries that he would, quote, encourage Russia

12:15

to do whatever the hell they want

12:17

to countries that had not paid the

12:19

money they owed to NATO. Trump's

12:22

allies are downplaying his comments saying

12:24

that he should once again be

12:26

taken seriously, but not literally. Meanwhile,

12:29

Bloomberg reports that among possible moves

12:32

in a second term, Trump's allies

12:34

have discussed a two tiered NATO

12:37

alliance where Article 5, which requires

12:39

common defense of any member under

12:41

attack, would apply only to

12:43

nations that hit defense spending commitments,

12:46

meaning 2 percent of GDP. I

12:48

should note that this is all according to

12:51

Trump allies who asked not to be identified

12:53

and caution no policy decisions have yet been

12:55

finalized. But Walter, is this news or phone

12:57

news? As much as anything is with Trump,

12:59

it's news. But what kind of

13:02

news? It's a little harder to say. I

13:04

do think that there's there's

13:07

something, you know, Trump's sort

13:09

of hounding of NATO. There's

13:12

this sort of constructive part and

13:14

a negative part to it. The

13:16

constructive part is actually these creeps

13:18

don't pay up. NATO will in

13:21

fact collapse. If the Germans

13:23

are unwilling to pay 2 percent

13:25

of GDP toward the common

13:27

defense, NATO is going to

13:29

fail. There's no way you

13:32

can't sugarcoat it. And it

13:34

may fail because the American people

13:36

get sick of supporting a bunch

13:39

of freeloading out, quote, allies who

13:42

were, you know, seem to constantly lecture us

13:44

but never quite do their

13:46

part. You know, it's just

13:48

not good enough to last

13:50

or NATO will fail because the Europeans

13:53

because they're not, you know, the big

13:55

some of the big countries aren't contributing

13:57

enough to the defense just doesn't have

13:59

enough stuff. The US has a

14:01

lot going on in the world. There's the

14:03

Middle East, there's the Far East. America's

14:07

got a lot going on, and we've

14:09

got a lot of budgetary pressure here.

14:11

If the Europeans don't do more, NATO

14:13

will in fact fail. It's

14:16

just simple and clear. They

14:18

need to understand that. It

14:21

has nothing to do, in essence, with Donald Trump,

14:23

or rather to say that a

14:25

figure like Donald Trump

14:27

becomes possible in

14:29

politics at a time when the

14:31

sort of establishments are unwilling to

14:33

think about serious changes, but real

14:35

problems do exist. Now,

14:37

having said that, I think

14:40

there is some credibility to

14:42

people who think that Trump is just

14:44

looking for a way out of NATO

14:46

as opposed to a way of effectively

14:49

threatening it. We

14:51

really can't know in advance. I'm not

14:54

even sure that former

14:56

President Trump knows today what

14:58

he might do in a year if

15:00

he did get returned to office. But

15:04

it does ... I think the Europeans are

15:06

not totally helpless here. I

15:09

think if they really get

15:11

their act together, something they don't

15:13

do very often, and so on,

15:18

maybe the odds are long, but

15:20

really think it through, I think they can

15:22

come up with a package of

15:25

proposals, offers, and so on that

15:27

would actually make it difficult for

15:30

Trump to walk away from NATO,

15:32

even if there's a part

15:34

of him that would actually want to

15:36

do that. Something

15:40

real is happening. There

15:43

is weakness in NATO. The center

15:45

of the weakness is not the

15:47

United States. The center of the

15:49

weakness is the Federal Republic of

15:51

Germany and some other countries in

15:54

Europe that are not very interested in their

15:56

own defense. It

15:58

needs to be dealt with. One. Way or

16:00

the other, All. right?

16:03

That does it for this week's news,

16:05

Let's have the big conversation. So.

16:13

Back to the Middle East this

16:16

week Walter were Joe Biden is

16:18

walk is getting harder as he

16:20

tries to balance politics in the

16:22

Us with strategy in the Middle

16:24

East than his own. Maybe sincerely

16:26

held, but it seems increasingly unworkable

16:28

views on Israel, Iran, and Us

16:30

interests. so there's been a kind

16:32

of drip drip of stories in

16:34

the press. Recently was one is

16:36

about the White House increasing. We

16:38

are calling for an urgent need

16:40

for a Palestinian state, which we

16:42

discussed last. Week And this is

16:44

happening at precisely the moment when

16:47

the two state solution is alleys

16:49

for the moment. Kind. Of political

16:51

poison in Israel. Even Benny Dance

16:53

and some others who Biden would

16:56

clearly prefer to Netanyahu can't utterance

16:58

in public at this point. And

17:00

then the other story is about

17:02

Bidens hardening frustration with Netanyahu and

17:05

the idea of proposed military operation

17:07

and Rafa in Gaza were Biden

17:09

seems to want to draw a

17:12

line but where the Israelis see

17:14

the ultimate success or failure of

17:16

their campaigns her eliminate Hamas. And

17:19

meanwhile during all this. In Gaza,

17:21

the administration is also desperately trying to

17:23

restrain the Israelis from escalating with Hezbollah

17:25

in Southern Lebanon by trying to strike

17:28

a deal that would involve Hezbollah withdrawing

17:30

from the border by eight kilometers in

17:32

exchange for some Israeli demilitarization of the

17:35

border area. Will see. we're all that

17:37

goes. But at least the lot of

17:39

Israelis I spoken to seem serve think

17:42

that there might very well be a

17:44

war with Hezbollah by May or June,

17:46

at least in their estimation. So Walter

17:48

bring us up to speed. On all

17:51

this where he is President Biden

17:53

in his approach to bug Israel,

17:55

Israel, Palestine question also the Iran

17:57

and a Rainy and Proxy question

17:59

And. Our domestic electoral politics

18:01

in the Us. Factoring in Tall

18:03

Bus. Or. A Jeremy Well

18:06

look. Who begin with? I've

18:08

been spending in the last week. not

18:10

sort of from. You. Know

18:12

interrogating sources in the rumor mill

18:15

serve Washington D C. I've actually

18:17

been in India, and

18:19

doing things like a

18:21

cruising the Ganges and

18:24

Varanasi. been a watching

18:26

the evening ceremonies there.

18:28

So. This is all this is all

18:31

trying to read the tea leaves them

18:33

and and look at the you know

18:35

sort of in in for what may

18:37

really be going on from that kind

18:40

of surface of the. Of

18:42

the news. which is to say maybe

18:44

I'm just conspiracy theory the arising here

18:46

but I do think. There's

18:48

a part of the Biden policy

18:50

that makes a lot of sense,

18:53

but his get big gets increasingly

18:55

difficult with times, and that's this

18:57

week's makes sense to me. a

18:59

may not make sense to others,

19:01

but he. He. Does I think

19:03

in his got. Think. That.

19:06

If this whole war is

19:08

the fault of Hamas, not

19:10

of Israel, not of the

19:13

occupations, Hamas really the doesn't

19:15

doesn't actually wants a Palestinian

19:17

state. And so and so

19:20

the President sensibly in my

19:22

view. Things that actually you

19:24

know Hamas is a terrorist

19:26

organization that has not just

19:29

the Israeli hostages that is

19:31

sheltering behinds, but it sees

19:33

the civilian population of Gaza.

19:36

And in the most cynical cold

19:38

blooded possible weights is using them

19:40

as hostages and therefore while even

19:43

even people will die in the

19:45

present would like for few were

19:47

to die as I think we

19:49

would all like were fewer to

19:52

die. Hum. The only

19:54

ultimate way to do this is

19:56

this is even possible at all is

19:58

to break Hamas in the way the

20:00

Israelis would like to do. And.

20:03

So President, You know that there's

20:05

a there's a broader area of

20:07

agreement between the President and Israel

20:09

that may sometimes appear in the

20:11

press. Now it's actually given that.

20:14

It's in the President Centers politically

20:16

and some somewhat actually industrial centers

20:18

political elites for the President's to

20:20

magnify it. And that is. You

20:22

know I am trying to stop

20:25

the killing. I am really doing

20:27

everything possible as much as you

20:29

know. for Dearborn, a on amp

20:31

and political pandering at home and

20:33

it's through International still there. They're

20:35

all kinds of the reasons why

20:37

the United States wants to be

20:39

distant from is your this is

20:41

a pattern that you can see

20:43

going. On in these

20:46

wars for a very long time,

20:48

it's offs. It's almost the standard

20:50

playbook for the Us dealing with

20:52

this or Us President dealing with

20:54

the sky situation. So now it

20:56

now. it gets complicated. Because.

21:00

I'm on the one hand, partly.

21:03

As the standard operating playbook,

21:05

Biden wants to stress the

21:07

formation of a Palestinian state

21:09

again. You can go back

21:11

through these Middle East crises

21:13

and find time after time

21:15

after time American presence go

21:17

to. A Talking about a

21:20

two state solution As or you know,

21:22

when the thing. Things are getting really

21:24

hot on the ground. In some ways,

21:26

I think we're We're seeing this pattern

21:29

reasserting. They do it. Especially when they're

21:31

talking to people like the King of

21:33

Jordan, who is deeply concerned about the

21:35

implications of what's going on in Israel,

21:37

Gaza, the West Bank for his own

21:40

country. So we have all we

21:42

have that happening. And but I

21:44

think he's a present may be making

21:46

a bit of a mistake of partly

21:48

may be the please some of the

21:50

people in his own administration who would

21:53

like him to be doing a bit

21:55

more he's done something He He seems

21:57

to have done something. and

21:59

again We can't tell without knowing exactly

22:01

what's going on in these negotiations, and

22:04

I frankly don't at this point. But

22:06

it looks as if he's done

22:09

something that Obama did at one

22:11

point of basically making demands that

22:13

were sort of tougher than the

22:15

ones the Arabs were making. And

22:18

then, okay, well, the Arabs can't

22:20

possibly be less tough in their

22:22

demands than the President of the

22:24

United States. And so

22:26

he's sort of tried to get this picture

22:29

of a deeply

22:31

reformed Palestinian governance model

22:34

with the UAE

22:36

and the Saudis very

22:38

much involved in making that happen, and

22:41

linking that very quickly to

22:44

a two-state solution. And

22:47

the thing is that that's

22:49

probably the best in general. That's the

22:51

best way to try to shape all

22:54

of this. But

22:56

to think that there's some way that you're

22:58

going to get this to happen really, really

23:00

fast, I think is that

23:03

is getting – it's

23:05

not just a question of Israeli opinion,

23:07

it's Palestinian opinion. It's putting

23:09

all the pieces in place that

23:12

aren't right now in place. So

23:16

he may have gotten –

23:18

maneuvered himself into a position

23:20

where he's made

23:22

his own objective harder to

23:24

obtain. The Arabs might well

23:26

have accepted

23:29

sort of a – where

23:31

this is opening the pathway

23:34

to a

23:36

Palestinian state as confidence in

23:38

this new administration

23:41

grows. This is

23:43

something that is technically not

23:45

off the table for the

23:47

Israelis, though it's not –

23:49

Netanyahu would frankly resist this

23:51

too as long as possible,

23:54

but it's the difference between

23:56

the Americans Pushing for something that

23:59

you actually – Would get. Of

24:02

vs something very, very unlikely

24:04

to come into being. To

24:06

have that problem. Then

24:09

you have the problem of

24:11

negotiating something with Hezbollah in

24:13

the North. And

24:15

again, I don't think that

24:17

ah that that what we're

24:19

reading about in the press

24:22

as a kind of possible.

24:25

Compromise is is off. the

24:27

is is is outrageous. In

24:29

when I've spoken off the

24:31

record to senior Israelis me

24:33

as something sort of like

24:35

this is actually in their

24:37

mind to as the alternative

24:39

to the war with as

24:41

bulla. But. Then you

24:43

have to ask, you know what

24:45

is the administration's leverage on Hezbollah?

24:49

And. The answer is not a

24:51

lot. And we were. You know we can't

24:53

cut off aid of them. Were not giving them any age. We.

24:55

Can't. Be. A know, you know

24:57

what is it. We don't have a lot

24:59

of things that they want so the only

25:02

way to get them to agree to things

25:04

is to get them to fear that their

25:06

things they don't want us to do that

25:08

we would do if they don't cooperate. And.

25:11

Here again, the Divine Demonstrations Really

25:13

Doesn't want to get more deeply

25:15

involved in the Middle East. In

25:19

a one way to change the

25:22

mind both of Hezbollah and the

25:24

who'd these about things would be

25:26

to get the Iranians to sing

25:28

a different song to their to

25:30

proxy/allies our really wanna. Define.

25:32

That relationships in that's that's not gonna

25:34

happen unless the by an administration wants

25:37

to raise the temperature and with the

25:39

ran and everything it were that i

25:41

see to decimated that they did they

25:44

really he got a lower the temperature

25:46

with are. So

25:48

I don't see how they're gonna

25:50

be able to. Her

25:52

how they're really going to find a way.

25:55

To. get everybody to

25:57

get all the people on both

25:59

sides to line up the

26:01

way they would like. The picture they

26:03

have of movement

26:06

toward a Palestinian state with

26:09

deeply reformed Palestinian governance,

26:12

I think some stuff on getting

26:15

rid of the the

26:18

incitement to hatred which is

26:20

deep in the UNRWA education

26:23

materials and really restructuring if

26:25

not moving you

26:27

know UNRWA to starting something

26:29

else in its

26:32

place where you know you'd

26:34

have again with help from the Emiratis, the

26:36

Saudis and others in the Arab world people

26:38

are actually committed to seeing that the aid

26:40

gets to the people who need it but

26:43

that the political temperature

26:45

come down rather than be

26:47

constantly stoked. You

26:49

know all of this and the

26:51

cause some sort of ceasefire compromise and

26:54

as well all of that

26:56

does make sense but I'm not sure that

26:58

they've quite gotten the sort

27:01

of put all the pieces

27:03

together and unfortunately again there's

27:05

a sense that

27:09

because in fact on

27:12

Gaza so far they've actually stuck

27:14

with Israel and even in this

27:16

last week we heard statements

27:18

from the White House they're saying you know

27:20

well an attack on Rafa is not in

27:22

itself a bad thing

27:25

it you know there needs

27:27

to be humanitarian supply but you know that's

27:29

all in very much in a gray zone

27:32

and so that again the

27:35

pressure on them is to offset

27:37

that with changes

27:39

to their negotiating posture and

27:41

rhetoric on other things that

27:44

actually make the

27:46

negotiations less likely to

27:48

succeed And

27:50

the people that are pushing this inside

27:53

the administration and out in public opinion.

27:55

I Don't think fully understand that that's

27:57

the consequence of the policies that they're

27:59

urging. But it is. An.

28:02

And it puts the by them ministration

28:04

in the very difficult position of just

28:06

having to keep saying no, no, no.

28:09

To. Some very angry, very

28:12

worried a very paid

28:14

people who have legitimate

28:17

concerns. So. Now.

28:19

They're between Iraq and a hard place

28:21

and that's not never a great place

28:23

to be. Are right that

28:26

does it for the big conversation let's and

28:28

on the tip of the weeks, We

28:36

were talking earlier in the episode about

28:38

Russia. Walter and our listeners who write

28:40

in seem to like getting your fiction

28:42

steps in particular. So this we give

28:45

us your favorite from Russian literature. Are

28:47

you a Tolstoy man avast I ask?

28:49

a Chekhov's something from the twentieth Century

28:51

or what's your favorite. Others so

28:54

much a mean none. In. ourselves.

28:56

In essence day in the life

28:58

of his Vandana services is is

29:01

fantastic and short greed. I.

29:03

Have to say this is this is

29:05

our self absorbed and narcissistic i was

29:07

when I was in a boarding school

29:09

in Massachusetts during winter term. I and

29:11

even some of my friends reserve compare

29:13

our own lives to the lives of

29:15

said he has his. Own convict

29:17

serve you know, Groton, Massachusetts has

29:20

Siberia. Well it there were times

29:22

it felt that way, but done

29:24

in a Fathers and Sons of

29:26

to Ganja says another I think

29:29

really underrated night again not that

29:31

long of a oh of of

29:33

a book that possessed and one

29:36

could go on and on their

29:38

snatches. There's not just one suggestion

29:40

that you want to make about

29:43

Russian literature, so my suggestion for

29:45

readers interested in a Russian. Leader

29:47

literatures, read it, There's

29:49

a lot of of it. It

29:52

almost doesn't matter where you start

29:54

but read it. All. Right there

29:56

you have a thanks to our producer know I'm

29:58

Bloom thanks to Will Cummings of Hudson The My

30:00

co host Walter Russell me to I'm Jeremy Stern.

30:02

We'll see you next week And until then up

30:05

please consider reading the podcast and leading a of.