Podcast appearances and mentions of Steven A Cook

During the first 100 days of Donald Trump's administration, he has signed more executive orders than any other president in the same time span. They are part of his mandate to put "America first". But many of his foreign policy orders have also had a direct and immediate impact on the Middle East. He has frozen foreign aid, hitting countries like Egypt and Jordan that rely on US assistance. He has disrupted the admission of refugees into the US. He has imposed major tariffs on trading partners, with additional levies on Syria, Israel, Iraq and other Middle East countries. At the same time, we've seen efforts by the Trump administration and Arab countries, including Gulf states, to pursue new economic partnerships. Negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran are also bringing a glimmer of hope. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks back at Mr Trump's first 100 days in office to understand where his priorities lie in the Middle East and how his policies will shape the region. She speaks to Steven A Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and to Mohamad Bazzi, director of the Hagop Kevorkian Centre for Near Eastern Studies at New York University.

Missing The World Next Week? Host Robert McMahon shares his favorite CFR resources for news and analysis on foreign policy and global affairs. The President's Inbox goes beyond the headlines as host James M. Lindsay speaks with leading experts about how the United States should respond to global challenges and opportunities that are shaping the future. In this featured episode, Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for the Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, shares how the Israel-Hamas cease-fire over Gaza came together, what the agreement requires each side to do, and what could come next.   This episode was originally released by The President's Inbox on January 28, 2025.   Featured Episode: The Gaza Cease-Fire, With Steven Cook   Find Us   The President's Inbox   Apple Podcasts   Spotify   YouTube

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the fall of the al-Assad dictatorship in Syria with Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations; the killing of a health insurance CEO and the acquittal for the death of a troubled man; and the future of American birthright citizenship. For this week's Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss President Joe Biden's clemency for nearly 1,500 Americans and pardons for 39 more.    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Stephanie Gorton about her new book, The Icon & the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America.    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen   Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond's yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond's YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the fall of the al-Assad dictatorship in Syria with Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations; the killing of a health insurance CEO and the acquittal for the death of a troubled man; and the future of American birthright citizenship. For this week's Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss President Joe Biden's clemency for nearly 1,500 Americans and pardons for 39 more.    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Stephanie Gorton about her new book, The Icon & the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America.    Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen   Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen. Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond's yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond's YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Middle East Focus Presents: 'Taking the Edge Off the Middle East' with Brian Katulis A series of casual conversations with leading policy professionals on the most important happenings in the Middle East today - hosted by MEI's Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy Brian Katulis. Steven A. Cook, Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, sits down with Brian to discuss his latest book “The End of Ambition,” their policy outlook with the incoming Trump Administration, and deteriorating discourse in Washington policy circles. 

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how Middle Eastern countries are reacting to former President Donald Trump's election victory and his potential policy for the region. This episode is the second in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2025 presidential transition and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.   Mentioned on the Episode   Steven A. Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East   Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay, The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership   Jared Kushner, Breaking History: A White House Memoir For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/trump-and-middle-east-steven-cook-transition-2025-episode-2 

Every day this week, FP Live will have a new episode focused on a different part of the world and how presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would tailor their foreign policies for those regions. In this episode, host Ravi Agrawal looks at the Middle East and speaks with experts Steven A. Cook and Sanam Vakil.  Suggested reading (FP links are paywall-free): Steven A. Cook: Why Americans and Israelis Don't See Eye to Eye on Iran Talal Mohammad: Why the Gulf States Are Likely Backing Trump Rishi Iyengar: Why Everyone's Suddenly Talking About Iranian Election Hacking Arash Reisinezhad: Iran's Israel Strategy Has Already Changed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is going on in the Middle East now that the conflict has expanded to include Hezbollah? How has the United States struggled to bring resolution and peace to this part of the world? And where does the region go from here? Zachary and Emma speak with Steven A. Cook, expert on U.S.-Middle East policy and Arab politics, and author of "The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East." They discuss politics, economics, and power across various states, not limited to Israel and Palestine but including Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, and growing Qatar, as well as Steven's recent time spent in the West Bank. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, and Amy Hawthorne, independent consultant on the Middle East, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the widening war in the Middle East and the challenges it poses for the United States. This episode is the fourth in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2024 presidential election and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.   Mentioned on the Episode   Steven A. Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East   Jake Sullivan, “The Sources of American Power,” Foreign Affairs   The U.S. Election and Foreign Policy, CFR.org For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/middle-east-challenge-steven-cook-and-amy-hawthorne-election-2024-episode-4   

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the United States' past, present, and future policy in the Middle East.   Enter the CFR book giveaway by June 17, 2024, for the chance to win one of ten free copies of The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East by Steven A. Cook. You can read the terms and conditions of the offer here.    Mentioned on the Episode    George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed   Steven A. Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the Middle East   Steven A. Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/us-policy-middle-east-steven-cook 

FDD Senior Vice President Jonathan Schanzer delivers timely situational updates and analysis on headlines of the Middle East, followed by a conversation with Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/

Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, and Ray Takeyh, the Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle East studies at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel and the prospects for a broader Middle East war.   Mentioned on the Episode    Steven A. Cook, "Iran Attack Means an Even Tougher Balancing Act for the U.S. in the Middle East," CFR.org   Steven A. Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East [forthcoming]   Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh, “Keeping U.S. Power Behind Israel Will Keep Iran at Bay,” New York Times   Ray Takeyh, "Iran Attacks on Israel Spur Escalation Concerns," CFR.org   Ray Takeyh, The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/irans-attack-israel-steven-cook-and-ray-takeyh 

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the state of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the prospects for an end to the fighting, and the tensions in U.S.-Israeli relations.   Mentioned on the Episode    Steven Cook, “Five Months of War: Where Israel, Hamas, and the U.S. Stand,” CFR.org   Steven Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East [forthcoming]   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/war-gaza-steven-cook  

What does the Israel-Hamas war mean for the region and the world? That's what's on the minds of policymakers as the conflict enters a new phase with the start of Israel's ground invasion of Gaza. Experts Kim Ghattas and Steven A. Cook share their analysis with host Ravi Agrawal. Ghattas is a journalist based in Beirut and the author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. Cook is a regular FP columnist and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Suggested reading: Kim Ghattas: Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East Steven A. Cook: Saudi Arabia is Mysteriously Absent in the Israel-Hamas War Steven A. Cook: Why the U.S. Tolerates Qatar's Hamas Ties Oliver Stuenkel: Why the Global South is Accusing America of Hypocrisy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip continues, diplomacy ramps up in the Middle East amid concerns of spreading tensions; Argentina holds an election while its economy suffers record inflation; Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials venture abroad to seek allies as their war with Ukraine grinds on; and the death toll from Sudan's conflict reaches at least nine thousand.   Mentioned on the Podcast   Keith Bradsher, Anatoly Kurmanaev, and David Pierson, “Putin Visits China to Bolster Ties With ‘My Friend,' Xi,” New York Times   Christina Bouri and Diana Roy, “The Israel-Hamas War: The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza,” CFR.org   Steven A. Cook, “Will Egypt Play a Role in Easing the Gaza War?,” CFR.org   Steven A. Cook, “Why the U.S. Tolerates Qatar's Hamas Ties,” Foreign Policy   Shannon K. O'Neil and Will Freeman, “Latin America This Week: September 20, 2023,” CFR.org   “President Joe Biden: The 2023 60 Minutes Interview,” 60 Minutes   David J. Scheffer, “What International Law Has to Say About the Israel-Hamas War,” CFR.org   “The Genocide That No One's Talking About,” The Intelligence   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/eyes-gaza-argentinas-presidential-vote-putin-seeks-friends-and-more 

Elliot Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at CFR, and Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the context and consequences of Hamas' surprise attack on Israel.    Mentioned on the Podcast   Elliott Abrams, "The Hamas Attack Changes Everything," National Review    Steven A. Cook, "Surprise Palestinian Attack Spawns Fears of Wider Mideast War," CFR.org    Steven A. Cook, The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East [forthcoming]   Summer Said, “Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks,” Wall Street Journal   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at:  https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/israel-hamas-war-elliott-abrams-and-steven-cook 

Israel is assembling troops near Gaza, from which it has cut-off food, water fuel, and electricity. Israel state officials believed that Hamas is holding about 150 hostages in Gaza. Yesterday, Hamas threatened to execute Israeli hostages if Israel bombs civilian homes in Gaza without warning. There is concern that the war will expand to fronts other than Gaza and southern Israel. Hezbollah fired some missiles into northern Israel from Lebanon. The Israeli military says it bombed three military positions in Lebanon after it found that armed militants had made it across the border into Israel. Today on Midday, perspectives on the conflict: what's happened and what's next as a bloody war continues in the Middle East. Our guests are Dr. Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Elisheva Goldberg, a former aide to former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and a contributing writer for Jewish Currents magazine. She's also the media and policy director at the New Israel Fund. (Photo by Hatem Ali, Associated Press)Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the ongoing negotiations to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.    Mentioned on the Podcast   Steven A. Cook, “How Sisi Ruined Egypt,” Foreign Policy   Steven A. Cook and Martin Indyk, The Case for a New U.S.-Saudi Strategic Compact    Andrew Exum, “The Israeli Saudi Deal Had Better Be a Good One,” The Atlantic   Thomas Friedman, “Biden Is Weighing a Big Middle East Deal,” New York Times   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/israeli-saudi-peace-deal-steven-cook 

For decades Saudi Arabia was a place of official silence but now it is taking its place and the center of the geo-political stage. Whether it is paying exorbitant sums to entice football stars to play in its new league or holding peace conferences on Ukraine or opening up diplomatically to Israel, Iran AND the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia's leader, Mohammed bin Salman has put his kingdom in the center of the global conversation without revealing much about the place. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb talks with Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations about the Silent Kingdom.

In a special episode of the podcast, I speak to three former guests about the divergent fortunes and trajectories of the governments in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia. In Turkey, Erdogan is emboldened following an election victory unexpected in some quarters; in Saudi Arabia, MBS is cautiously reforming the country's domestic and foreign policy in a bid to extend its longevity; in Russia, Vladimir Putin's regime is seemingly on the verge of collapse. My guests for this episode are: Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies, Steven A. Cook; New York Times reporter and author of Blood and Oil, Justin Scheck; and Associate Fellow on the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia Programme, John Lough.

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what the reelection of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan means for U.S.-Turkey relations and the future of NATO.    Mentioned on the Podcast   Sinan Ciddi and Steven A. Cook, “Why Turkey Experts Got the Election All Wrong,” Foreign Policy   Steven A. Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East    Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America For an episode transcript and show notes, visit us at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/erdogans-victory-steven-cook 

The CFR Academic luncheon event held in conjunction with the International Studies Association Convention featured a discussion on Geopolitics in the Middle East on Friday, March 17, in Montréal. The conversation featured Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars at CFR; Nicole Grajewski, Stanton nuclear security postdoctoral fellow in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University; and Catherine E. Herrold, associate professor of public administration and international affairs at Syracuse University. Lawrence P. Rubin, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, moderated the discussion. 

Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the future of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia in the wake of the decision by OPEC+ to cut oil production.     Mentioned on the Podcast   Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O'Sullivan, “Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy,” Foreign Affairs   Steven A. Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East    Steven A. Cook and Martin Indyk, The Case for a New U.S.-Saudi Strategic Compact   Steven A. Cook and Martin Indyk, “Go Big In Saudi Arabia,” Foreign Affairs

Joe Biden is currently on his first trip to the Middle East as President, which will include a controversial meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah”, but with gas prices punishing American consumers, and Russia and China court Riyadh, Biden's tone and policy toward the Kingdom has rapidly evolved. Council on Foreign Relations' Martin Indyk and Democracy for the Arab World Now's Sarah Leah Whitson join Deep Dish to discuss the human rights, energy, and geopolitical dimensions of the US–Saudi relationship.  Like the show? Leave us a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts. Reading List: The Case for a New U.S.-Saudi Strategic Compact, Steven A. Cook and Martin S. Indyk, Council on Foreign Relations, June 2022  America's Middle East ‘Withdrawal' Breathes Its Last Breath, Sarah Leah Whitson, The American Prospect, June 24, 2022 

Turkey is nominally a close military and political ally of the United States and other NATO countries, as well as an important economic partner to the European Union. But reading headlines in recent months and years, one wonders how close the Turkish government really feels to its western partners. Under President Erdogan, Turkey has waged war against Kurdish allies of the United States in Syria and Iraq, and supported militias associated with al-Qaida, Hamas and other Islamic extremists. It has also developed a somewhat close relationship with Russia, even buying a Russian air defense system despite strident opposition from the United States—a decision which got it kicked out of the U.S.-led F-35 fighter jet program. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has, largely succesfully, tried to maintain good relations with both sides and act as a mediator, delivering weapons to Ukraine and refraining from sanctions on Russia. None of this can be understood without taking a close look at Turkey's domestic politics and especially its long-running economic crisis and the upcoming general elections in 2023 that could challenge President Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian grip on power. Steven A. Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations joins Trend Lines from Washington to discuss Turkish foreign policy and domestic politics, and the relationship between the two. If you would like to request a full transcript of the episode, please send an email to podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.   Relevant articles on World Politics Review: Erdogan Is Giving Turkey's ‘Zero Problems' Strategy Another Try  Sweden and Finland's NATO Bids Hit a Roadblock Named Erdogan  Can Turkey's Erdogan Rebuild the Bridges He Has Burned?  Erdogan's Engagement Finds Willing Partners in Africa  Erdogan Has a Lot Riding on the Russia-Ukraine Crisis  Erdogan's Obsession With Low Interest Rates Could Be His Downfall Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie. To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com

Steven A. Cook, CFR's Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how countries throughout the Middle East are responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   Articles Mentioned on the Podcast   Steven Cook, “The Middle East Kumbaya Moment Won't Last,” Foreign Policy, May 6, 2022   Books Mentioned   Steven Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East (2019)

From Sudan-based fellow Samah Fawzi, this episode is about about Somalia and Somalis, as they are in real life and real time. Our guests are Mohamed Shidane from Mogadishu, the Capital of Somalia, Hassan Jama from Hargeisa, the Capital of Somaliland, and Najih Al-Hilowli, a Somali based in Sweden. They share with us their views on the current status of affairs in Somalia and Somaliland, the intricate connections binding the Somalis across the globe, and what they believe to be the best method to rectify prejudices and media fallacies.Books, Links, & ArticlesMohamed ShidaneHassan Jama AliNajih Al-Hilowli Yemenis in Hargeysa     The Africa They Don't Show You in the Media - Hargeisa Somaliland 2021 STATEMENT OF SPECIAL SITTING OF THE KZN PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL “Over 300 killed after flooding washed away roads, destroyed homes in South Africa” by David McKenzie, Larry Madowo, Mia Alberti and Angela Dewan, CNN“More rain expected across South Africa's east coast as flooding death toll rises to 395”  by  Amy Cassidy and Jack Bantock, CNN “Miscalculating Tunisia”  by Steven A. Cook  “Political, Not Partisan: The Tunisian General Labor Union under Democracy”  by Dina Bashara and Sharan Grewal  “Next Africa: Ramaphosa's Xenophobia Warnings May Be Too Late” by Antony Sguazzin  The Postcolonial State in Africa  by Crawford YoungPrevious Episodes We MentionedEp. 113: A conversation with Nanjala Nyabola about "Travelling While Black"

This week on The New Arab Voice, we explore the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the impact that it is having in the Middle East. We examine how Middle Eastern countries have responded to the crisis and how relations with the likes of Russia and Ukraine have been shaped by events. Featuring interviews with , Inna Melnykovska from the Central European University (@ceu) Gerald M. Feierstein from the Middle East Institute (@MiddleEastInst), Murat Aslan (@dr_murat_aslan), Steven A. Cook (@stevenacook), and Ruslan Trad (@ruslantrad).And then, we speak with Mona Iskander (@monaisk2010), a founding board member of the Arab and Middle East Journalist Association (@AMEJA), about the Western coverage of the war in Ukraine, and some of the unhelpful comparisons made to conflicts in the Middle East.This podcast is produced by Hugo Goodridge (@hugogoodridge) and Rosie McCabe (@RosieMcCabe3). Music by Omar al-Fil (@elepheel). Other music by by Blue Dot SessionsTo get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@alaraby.co.uk

Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what's happening across the Middle East as 2021 comes to a close.   Books Mentioned in the Podcast    Steven A. Cook, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East (2019)    Events Mentioned    “A Conversation with Jake Sullivan,” Council on Foreign Relations, December 17, 2021 

Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars at CFR, leads a conversation on geopolitics in the Middle East.   FASKIANOS: Welcome to today's session of the CFR Fall 2021 Academic Webinar Series. I'm Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach at CFR. Today's discussion is on the record and the video and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/Academic, if you want to share it with your colleagues or classmates. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Today's topic is geopolitics in the Middle East. Our speaker was supposed to be Sanam Vakil, but she had a family emergency. So we're delighted to have our very own Steven Cook here to discuss this important topic. Dr. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies, and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of several books, including False Dawn; The Struggle for Egypt, which won the 2012 Gold Medal from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Ruling But Not Governing. And he's working on yet another book entitled The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East. So keep an eye out for that in the next year or so. He's a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and contributor and commentator on a bunch of other outlets. Prior to coming to CFR, Dr. Cook was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Soref research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. So, Dr. Cook, thank you for being with us. I thought you could just—I'm going to give you a soft question here, to talk about the geopolitical relations among state and nonstate actors in the Middle East. And you can take that in whatever direction you would like. COOK: Well, thanks so much, Irina. It's a great pleasure to be with you. Good afternoon to everybody who's out there who's on an afternoon time zone, good morning to those who may still be in the evening, and good evening to those who may be somewhere where it's the evening. It's very nice to be with you. As Irina mentioned, and as I'm sure it's plenty evident, I am not Sanam Vakil, but I'm happy to step in for her and offer my thoughts on the geopolitics of the Middle East. It's a small topic. That question that Irina asked was something that I certainly could handle effectively in fifteen to twenty minutes. But before I get into the details of what's going on in the region, I thought I would offer some just general comments about the United States in the Middle East. Because, as it turns out, I had the opportunity last night to join a very small group of analysts with a very senior U.S. government official to talk precisely about the United States in the Middle East. And it was a very, very interesting conversation, because despite the fact that there has been numerous news reporting and analytic pieces about how the United States is deemphasizing the Middle East, this official made it very, very clear that that was practically impossible at this time. And this was, I think, a reasonable position to take. There has been a lot recently, in the last recent years, about withdrawing from the region, from retrenchment from the region, reducing from the region, realignment from the region. All those things actually mean different things. But analysts have essentially used them to mean that the United States should deprioritize the Middle East. And it seems to me that the problem in the Middle East has not necessarily been the fact that we are there and that we have goals there. It's that the goals in the region and the resources Washington uses to achieve those goals need to be realigned to address things that are actually important to the United States. In one sense that sound eminently reasonable. We have goals, we have resources to meet those goals, and we should devote them to—and if we can't, we should reassess what our goals are or go out and find new resources. That sounds eminently reasonable. But that's not the way Washington has worked over the course of the last few decades when it comes to the Middle East. In many ways, the United States has been overly ambitious. And it has led to a number of significant failures in the region. In an era when everything and anything is a vital interest, then nothing really is. And this seems to be the source of our trouble. For example, when we get into trying to fix the politics of other countries, we're headed down the wrong road. And I don't think that there's been enough real debate in Washington or, quite frankly, in the country about what's important in the Middle East, and why we're there, and what we're trying to achieve in the Middle East. In part, this new book that I'm writing called the End of Ambition, which, as Irina pointed out, will be out hopefully in either late 2022 or early 2023, tries to answer some of these questions. There is a way for the United States to be constructive in the Middle East, but what we've done over the course of the last twenty years has made that task much, much harder. And it leads us, in part, to this kind of geostrategic picture or puzzle that I'm about to lay out for you. So let me get into some of the details. And I'm obviously not going to take you from Morocco all the way to Iran, although I could if I had much, much more time because there's a lot going on in a lot of places. But not all of those places are of critical importance to the United States. So I'll start and I'll pick and choose from that very, very large piece of geography. First point: There have been some efforts to deescalate in a region that was in the middle of or on the verge of multiple conflicts. There has been a dialogue between the Saudis and the Iranians, under the auspices of the Iraqis, of all people. According to the Saudis this hasn't yielded very much, but they are continuing the conversation. One of the ways to assess the success or failure of a meeting is the fact that there's going to be another meeting. And there are going to be other meetings between senior Iranian and Saudi officials. I think that that's good. Egyptians and Turks are talking. Some of you who don't follow these issues as closely may not remember that Turkey and Egypt came close to trading blows over Libya last summer. And they pulled back as a result of concerted diplomacy on the part of the European Union, as well as the Egyptian ability to actually surge a lot of force to its western border. Those two countries are also talking, in part under the auspices of the Iraqis. Emiratis and Iranians are talking. That channel opened up in 2019 after the Iranians attacked a very significant—two very significant oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia, sort of scaring the Emiratis, especially since the Trump administration did not respond in ways that the Emiratis or the Saudis had been expecting. The Qataris and the Egyptians have repaired their relations. The Arab world, for better or for worse, is moving to reintegrate Syria into is ranks. Not long after King Abdullah of Jordan was in the United States, he and Bashar al-Assad shared a phone call to talk about the opening of the border between Jordan and Syria and to talk about, among other things, tourism to the two countries. The hope is that this de-escalation, or hope for de-escalation coming from this dialogue, will have a salutary effect on conflicts in Yemen, in Syria, in Libya, and Iraq. Thus far, it hasn't in Yemen, in particular. It hasn't in Syria. But in Libya and Iraq, there have been some improvements to the situation. All of this remains quite fragile. These talks can be—can break off at any time under any circumstances. Broader-scale violence can return to Libya at any time. And the Iraqi government still doesn't control its own territory. Its sovereignty is compromised, not just by Iran but also by Turkey. But the fact that a region that was wound so tight and that seemed poised to even deepen existing conflicts and new ones to break out, for all of these different parties to be talking—some at the behest of the United States, some entirely of their own volition—is, I think, a relatively positive sign. You can't find anyone who's more—let's put it this way, who's darker about developments in the Middle East than me. And I see some positive signs coming from this dialogue. Iran, the second big issue on the agenda. Just a few hours ago, the Iranians indicated that they're ready to return to the negotiating table in Vienna. This is sort of a typical Iranian negotiating tactic, to push issues to the brink and then to pull back and demonstrate some pragmatism so that people will thank for them for their pragmatism. This agreement to go back to the negotiating table keeps them on decent terms with the Europeans. It builds on goodwill that they have developed as a result of their talks with Saudi Arabia. And it puts Israel somewhat on the defensive, or at least in an awkward position with the Biden administration, which has very much wanted to return to the negotiating table in Vienna. What comes out of these negotiations is extremely hard to predict. This is a new government in Iran. It is certainly a harder line than its predecessor. Some analysts believe that precisely because it is a hardline government it can do the negotiation. But we'll just have to see. All the while this has been going on, the Iranians have been proceeding with their nuclear development, and Israel is continuing its shadow campaign against the Iranians in Syria, sometimes in Iraq, in Iran itself. Although, there's no definitive proof, yesterday Iranian gas stations, of all things, were taken offline. There's some suspicion that this was the Israelis showing the Iranians just how far and deep they are into Iranian computer systems. It remains unclear how the Iranians will retaliate. Previously they have directed their efforts to Israeli-linked shipping in and around the Gulf of Oman. Its conventional responses up until this point have been largely ineffective. The Israelis have been carrying on a fairly sophisticated air campaign against the Iranians in Syria, and the Iranians have not been able to mount any kind of effective response. Of course, this is all against the backdrop of the fact that the Iranians do have the ability to hold much of the Israeli population hostage via Hezbollah and its thousands of rockets and missiles. So you can see how this is quite worrying, and an ongoing concern for everybody in the region, as the Israelis and Iranians take part in this confrontation. Let me just continue along the line of the Israelis for a moment and talk about the Arab-Israeli conflict, something that has not been high on the agenda of the Biden administration, it hasn't been high on the agenda of many countries in the region. But since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, there have been some significant developments. The normalization as a result of the Abraham Accords continues apace. Recently in the Emirates there was a meeting of ministers from Israel, the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, and Sudan. This is the first kind of face-to-face meeting of government officials from all of these countries. Now, certainly the Israelis and the Emiratis have been meeting quite regularly, and the Israelis and the Bahrainis have been meeting quite regularly. But these were broader meetings of Cabinet officials from all of the Abraham Accords countries coming together in the United Arab Emirates for talks. Rather extraordinary. Something that thirteen months—in August 2020 was unimaginable, and today is something that doesn't really make—it doesn't really make the headlines. The Saudis are actually supportive of the normalization process, but they're not yet willing to take that step. And they're not willing to take that step because of the Palestinian issue. And it remains a sticking point. On that issue, there was a lot of discussion after the formation of a new Israeli government last June under the leadership, first, of Naftali Bennett, who will then hand the prime ministership over to his partner, Yair Lapid, who are from different parties. That this was an Israeli government that could do some good when it comes to the Palestinian arena, that it was pragmatic, that it would do things that would improve the lives of Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, and seek greater cooperation with both the United States and the Palestinian authority toward that end. And that may in fact turn out to be the case. This government has taken a number of steps in that direction, including family reunification, so that if a Palestinian on the West Bank who is married to a Palestinian citizen of Israel, the Palestinian in the West Bank can live with the family in Israel. And a number of other things. But it should also be clear to everybody that despite a kind of change in tone from the Israeli prime ministry, there's not that much of a change in terms of policy. In fact, in many ways Prime Minister Bennett is to the right of his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. And Yair Lapid, who comes from a centrist party, is really only centrist in terms of Israeli politics. He is—in any other circumstances would be a kind of right of center politician. And I'll just point out that in recent days the Israeli government has declared six Palestinian NGOs—long-time NGOs—terrorist organizations, approved three thousand new housing units in the West Bank, and worked very, very hard to prevent the United States from opening a consulate in East Jerusalem to serve the Palestinians. That consulate had been there for many, many, many years. And it was closed under the Trump administration when the U.S. Embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Biden administration would like to reopen that consulate. And the Israeli government is adamantly opposed. In the end, undoubtably Arab governments are coming to terms with Israel, even beyond the Abraham Accords countries. Egypt's flag carrier, Egyptair, announced flights to Tel Aviv. This is the first time since 1979. You could—you could fly between Cairo and Tel Aviv, something that I've done many, many times. If you were in Egypt, you'd have to go and find an office that would sell you a ticket to something called Air Sinai, that did not have regular flights. Only had flights vaguely whenever, sometimes. It was an Egyptair plane, stripped of its livery, staffed by Egyptair pilots and staff, stripped of anything that said Egyptair. Now, suddenly Egyptair is flying direct flights to Tel Aviv. And El-Al, Israel's national airline, and possibly one other, will be flying directly to Cairo. And there is—and that there is talk of economic cooperation. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Sharm al-Sheikh not long ago. That was the first meeting of Israeli leaders—first public meeting of Israeli leaders and Egyptian leaders in ten years. So there does seem to be an openness on the part of Arab governments to Israel. As far as populations in these countries, they don't yet seem to be ready for normalization, although there has been some traffic between Israel and the UAE, with Emiratis coming to see Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and so on and so forth. But there are very, very few Emiratis. And there are a lot of Egyptians. So as positive as that all is, this is—this has not been a kind of broad acceptance among the population in the Arab world for Israel's legitimate existence. And the kind of issue du jour, great-power competition. This is on everybody's lips in Washington, D.C.—great-power competition, great-power competition. And certainly, the Middle East is likely to be an arena of great-power competition. It has always been an arena of great-power competition. For the first time in more than two decades, the United States has competitors in the region. And let me start with Russia, because there's been so much discussion of China, but Russia is the one that has been actively engaged militarily in the region in a number of places. Vladimir Putin has parlayed his rescue of Hafez al-Assad into influence in the region, in an arc that stretches from NATO ally Turkey, all the way down through the Levant and through Damascus, then even stretching to Jerusalem where Israeli governments and the Russian government have cooperated and coordinated in Syria, into Cairo, and then into at least the eastern portion of Libya, where the Russians have supported a Qaddafist general named Khalifa Haftar, who used to be an employee of the CIA, in his bid for power in Libya. And he has done so by providing weaponry to Haftar, as well as mercenaries to fight and support him. That episode may very well be over, although there's every reason to believe that Haftar is trying to rearm himself and carry on the conflict should the process—should the political process in Libya break down. Russia has sold more weapons to Egypt in the last few years than at any other time since the early 1970s. They have a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia. It's not clear what that actually means, but that defense agreement was signed not that long after the United States' rather chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which clearly unnerved governments in the Middle East. So Russia is active, it's influential, its militarily engaged, and it is seeking to advance its interests throughout the region. I'll point out that its presence in North Africa is not necessarily so much about North Africa, but it's also about Europe. Its bid in Libya is important because its ally controls the eastern portion of Libya, where most of Libya's light, sweet crude oil is located. And that is the largest—the most significant reserves of oil in all of Africa. So it's important as an energy play for the Russians to control parts of North Africa, and right on Russia's—right on Europe's front doorstep. China. China's the largest investor and single largest trading partner with most of the region. And it's not just energy related. We know how dependent China is on oil from the Gulf, but it's made big investments in Algeria, in Egypt, the UAE, and in Iran. The agreement with Iran, a twenty-five-year agreement, coming at a time when the Iranians were under significant pressure from the United States, was regarded by many in Washington as an effort on the part of the Chinese to undercut the United States, and undercut U.S. policy in the region. I think it was, in part, that. I think it was also in part the fact that China is dependent in part on Iranian oil and did not want the regime there to collapse, posing a potential energy crisis for China and the rest of the world. It seems clear to me, at least, that the Chinese do not want to supplant the United States in the region. I don't think they look at the region in that way. And if they did, they probably learned the lesson of the United States of the last twenty-five years, which has gotten itself wrapped around the axle on a variety of issues that were unnecessary and sapped the power of the United States. So they don't want to get more deeply involved in the region. They don't want to take sides in conflicts. They don't want to take sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict. They don't take sides in the conflict between the United States and Iran, or the competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran. They want to benefit from the region, whether through investment or through extraction, and the security umbrella that the United States provides in the region. I'm not necessarily so sure that that security umbrella needs to be so expensive and so extensive for the United States to achieve its goals. But nevertheless, and for the time being at least, we will be providing that security umbrella in the region, from which the Chinese will benefit. I think, just to close on this issue of great-power competition. And because of time, I'm leaving out another big player, or emerging player in the region, which is India. I'm happy to talk about that in Q&A. But my last point is that, going back to the United States, countries in the region and leaders in the region are predisposed towards the United States. The problem is, is that they are very well-aware of the political polarization in this country. They're very well-aware of the political dysfunction in this country. They're very well-aware of the incompetence that came with the invasion of Iraq, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, or any number of disasters that have unfolded here in the United States. And it doesn't look, from where they sit in Abu Dhabi, in Cairo, in Riyadh, and in other places, that the United States has staying power, the will to lead, and the interest in remaining in the Middle East. And thus, they have turned to alternatives. Those alternatives are not the same as the United States, but they do provide something. I mean, particularly when it comes to the Chinese it is investment, it's economic advantages, without the kind of trouble that comes with the United States. Trouble from the perspective of leaders, so that they don't have to worry about human rights when they deal with the Chinese, because the Chinese aren't interested in human rights. But nevertheless, they remain disclosed toward the United States and want to work with the United States. They just don't know whether we're going to be there over the long term, given what is going on in the United States. I'll stop there. And I look forward to your questions and comments. Thank you. FASKIANOS: Steven, that was fantastic. Thank you very much. We're going to now to all of you for your questions. So the first raised hand comes from Jonas Truneh. And I don't think I pronounced that correctly, so you can correct me. Q: Yeah, no, that's right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Cook, for your talk. I'm from UCL, University College London, in London. COOK: So it is—(off mic). Q: Indeed, it is. Yeah. That's right. COOK: Great. Q: So you touched on it there somewhat particularly with great-power competition, but so my question is related to the current energy logic in the Middle East. The Obama administration perhaps thought that the shale revolution allowed a de-prioritization, if I'm allowed to use that word, of the Middle East. And that was partly related to the pivot to Asia. So essentially does the U.S. still regard itself as the primary guarantor of energy security in the Persian Gulf? And if so, would the greatest beneficiary, as I think you indicated, would that not be China? And is that a case of perverse incentives? Is there much the U.S. can do about it? COOK: Well, it depends on who you ask, right? And it's a great question. I think that the—one of the things that—one of the ways in which the Obama administration sought to deprioritize and leave the region was through the shale revolution. I mean, the one piece of advice that he did take from one of his opponents in 2002—2008, which was to drill, baby, drill. And the United States did. I would not say that this is something that is specific to the Obama administration. If you go back to speeches of presidents way back—but I won't even go that far back. I'll go to George W. Bush in 2005 State of the Union addressed, talked all about energy independence from the Middle East. This may not actually be in much less the foreseeable future, but in really—in a longer-term perspective, it may be harder to do. But it is politically appealing. The reason why I say it depends on who you ask, I think that there are officials in the United States who say: Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. But when the Iranians attacked those two oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia, that temporarily took off 50 percent of supply off the markets—good thing the Saudis have a lot stored away—the United States didn't really respond. The president of the United States said: I'm waiting for a call from Riyadh. That forty years of stated American policy was, like, it did not exist. The Carter doctrine and the Reagan corollary to the Carter doctrine suddenly didn't exist. And the entirety of the American foreign policy community shrugged their shoulders and said: We're not going to war on behalf of MBS. I don't think we would have been going to war on behalf of MBS. We would have been ensuring the free flow of energy supplies out of the region, which is something that we have been committed to doing since President Carter articulated the Carter doctrine, and then President Reagan added his corollary to it. I think that there are a number of quite perverse incentives associated with this. And I think that you're right. The question is whether the competition from China outweighs our—I'm talking about “our”—the United States' compelling interest in a healthy global economy. And to the extent that our partners in Asia, whether it's India, South Korea, Japan, and our important trading partner in China, are dependent upon energy resources from the Gulf, and we don't trust anybody to ensure the free flow of energy resources from the Gulf, it's going to be on us to do it. So we are kind of hammered between that desire to have a healthy global economy as being—and being very wary of the Chinese. And the Chinese, I think, are abundantly aware of it, and have sought to take advantage of it. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next question, which got an up-vote, from Charles Ammon, who is at Pennsylvania State University. And I think this goes to what you were building on with the great-power competition: What interests does India have in the Middle East? And how is it increasing its involvement in the region? COOK: So India is—imports 60 percent of its oil from the region. Fully 20 percent of it from Saudi Arabia, another 20 percent of it from Iran, and then the other 20 percent from other sources. So that's one thing. That's one reason why India is interested in the Middle East. Second, there are millions and millions of Indians who work in the Middle East. The Gulf region is a region that basically could not run without South Asian expatriate labor, most of which comes from India—on everything. Third, India has made considerable headway with countries like the United Arab Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia, in counterextremism cooperation. This has come at the expense of Pakistan, but as relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and relations between Pakistan and the UAE soured in recent years, the Indians have been able to take advantage of that. And Indian leaders have hammered away at the common interest that India and leaders in the region have in terms of countering violent extremism. And then finally, India and Israel have quite an extraordinary relationship, both in the tech field as well as in the defense area. Israel is a supplier to India. And the two of them are part of a kind of global network of high-tech powerhouse that have either, you know, a wealth of startups or very significant investment from the major tech players in the world. Israel—Microsoft just announced a huge expansion in Israel. And Israeli engineers and Indian engineers collaborate on a variety of projects for these big tech companies. So there's a kind of multifaceted Indian interest in the region, and the region's interest in India. What India lacks that the Chinese have is a lot more capacity. They don't have the kind of wherewithal to bring investment and trade in the region in the other direction. But nevertheless, it's a much more important player than it was in the past. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next question from Curran Flynn, who has a raised hand. Q: How do you envision the future of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia politics for the next thirty years? Ethiopia controls the Nile dam projects. And could this dispute lead to a war? And what is the progress with the U.S. in mediating the talks between the three countries? COOK: Thank you. FASKIANOS: And that is coming from the King Fahd University in Saudi Arabia. COOK: Fabulous. So that's more than the evening. It's actually nighttime there. I think that the question of the great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is really an important one, and it's something that has not gotten as much attention as it should. And for those of you who are not familiar, in short the Ethiopians have been building a massive dam on the Blue Nile, which is a tributary to the Nile. And that if—when competed, threatens the water supply to Egypt, a country of 110 million people that doesn't get a lot of rainfall. Ethiopia, of course, wants to dam the Nile in order to produce hydroelectric power for its own development, something that Egypt did when it dammed the Nile River to build the Aswan High Dam, and crated Lake Nasser behind it. The Egyptians are very, very concerned. This is an existential issue for them. And there have been on and off negotiations, but the negotiations aren't really about the issues. They're talks about talks about talks. And they haven't gotten—they haven't gotten very far. Now, the Egyptians have been supported by the Sudanese government, after the Sudanese government had been somewhat aligned with the Ethiopian government. The Trump administration put itself squarely behind the Egyptian government, but Ethiopia's also an important partner of the United States in the Horn of Africa. The Egyptians have gone about signing defense cooperation agreements with a variety of countries around Ethiopia's borders. And of course, Ethiopia is engaged in essentially what's a civil war. This is a very, very difficult and complicated situation. Thus far, there doesn't seem to be an easy solution the problem. Now, here's the rub, if you talk to engineers, if you talk to people who study water, if you talk to people who know about dams and the flow of water, the resolution to the problem is actually not that hard to get to. The problem is that the politics and nationalism have been engaged on both sides of the issue, making it much, much more difficult to negotiate an equitable solution to the problem. The Egyptians have said in the past that they don't really have an intention of using force, despite the fact of this being an existential issue. But there's been somewhat of a shift in their language on the issue. Which recently they've said if red lines were crossed, they may be forced to intervene. Intervene how? What are those red lines? They haven't been willing to define them, which should make everybody nervous. The good news is that Biden administration has appointed an envoy to deal with issues in the Horn of Africa, who has been working very hard to try to resolve the conflict. I think the problem here however is that Ethiopia, now distracted by a conflict in the Tigray region, nationalism is running high there, has been—I don't want to use the word impervious—but not as interested in finding a negotiated solution to the problem than it might have otherwise been in the past. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to take the next question from Bob Pauly, who's a professor of international development at the University of Southern Mississippi. It got three up-votes. What would you identify as the most significant likely short and longer-term effects of Turkey's present domestic economic and political challenges on President Erdogan's strategy and policy approaches to the Middle East, and why? COOK: Oh, well, that is a very, very long answer to a very, very interesting question. Let's see what happens in 2023. President Erdogan is facing reelection. His goal all along has been to reelected on the one hundredth anniversary of the republic, and to demonstrate how much he has transformed Turkey in the image of the Justice and Development Party, and moved it away from the institutions of the republic. Erdogan may not make it to 2023. I don't want to pedal in conspiracy theories or anything like that, but he doesn't look well. There are large numbers of videos that have surfaced of him having difficulties, including one famous one from this past summer when he was offering a Ramadan greeting on Turkish television to supporters of the Justice and Development Party, and he seemed to fade out and slur his words. This is coupled with reports trickling out of Ankara about the lengths to which the inner circle has gone to shield real health concerns about Erdogan from the public. It's hard to really diagnose someone from more than six thousand miles away, but I think it's a scenario that policymakers in Washington need to think seriously about. What happens if Erdogan is incapacitated or dies before 2023? That's one piece. The second piece is, well, what if he makes it and he's reelected? And I think in any reasonable observer sitting around at the end of 2021 looking forward to 2023 would say two things: One, you really can't predict Turkish politics this far out, but if Turkish elections were held today and they were free and fair, the Justice and Development Party would get below 30 percent. Still more than everybody else. And Erdogan would have a real fight on his hands to get reelected, which he probably would be. His approaches to his domestic challenges and his approaches to the region are really based on what his current political calculations are at any given moment. So his needlessly aggressive posture in the Eastern Mediterranean was a function of the fact that he needed to shore up his nationalist base. Now that he finds himself quite isolated in the world, the Turks have made overtures to Israel, to the UAE, to Saudi Arabia. They're virtually chasing the Egyptians around the Eastern Mediterranean to repair their relationship. Because without repairing these relationships the kind of investment that is necessary to try to help revive the Turkish economy—which has been on the skids for a number of years—is going to be—is going to be more difficult. There's also another piece of this, which is the Middle East is a rather lucrative arms market. And during the AKP era, the Turks have had a significant amount of success further developing their defense industrial base, to the point that now their drones are coveted. Now one of the reasons for a Saudi-Turkish rapprochement is that the United States will not sell Saudi Arabia the drones it wants, for fear that they will use them in Yemen. And the Saudis are looking for drones elsewhere. That's either China or Turkey. And Turkey's seem to work really, really well, based on experience in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh. So what—Turkish foreign policy towards the region has become really dependent upon what Erdogan's particularly political needs are. There's no strategic approach to the region. There is a vision of Turkey as a leader of the region, of a great power in its own right, as a leader of the Muslim world, as a Mediterranean power as well. But that's nothing new. Turkish Islamists have been talking about these things for quite some time. I think it's important that there's been some de-escalation. I don't think that all of these countries now love each other, but they see the wisdom of pulling back from—pulling back from the brink. I don't see Turkey's position changing dramatically in terms of its kind of reintegration into the broader region before 2023, at the least. FASKIANOS: Great. Let's go next to, raised hand, to Caleb Sanner. And you need to unmute yourself. Q: Hello, my name is Caleb. I'm from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. So, Dr. Cook, you had mentioned in passing how China has been involved economically in North Africa. And my question would be, how is the U.S. taking that? And what are we doing, in a sense, to kind of counter that? I know it's not a military advancement in terms of that, but I've seen what it has been doing to their economies—North Africa's economies. And, yeah, what's the U.S. stance on that? COOK: Well, I think the United States is somewhat detached from this question of North Africa. North Africa's long been a—with the exception of Egypt, of course. And Egypt, you know, is not really North Africa. Egypt is something in and of itself. That China is investing heavily in Egypt. And the Egyptian position is: Please don't ask us to choose between you and the Chinese, because we're not going to make that choice. We think investment from all of these places is good for—is good for Egypt. And the other places where China is investing, and that's mostly in Algeria, the United States really doesn't have close ties to Algeria. There was a tightening of the relationship after the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, recognizing that the Algerians—extremist groups in Algerian that had been waging war against the state there over the course of the 1990s were part and parcel of this new phenomenon of global jihad. And so there has been a security relationship there. There has been some kind of big infrastructure kind of investment in that country, with big companies that build big things, like GE and others, involved in Algeria. But the United States isn't helping to develop ports or industrial parks or critical infrastructure like bridges and airports in the same way that the Chinese have been doing throughout the region. And in Algeria, as well as in Egypt, the Chinese are building a fairly significant industrial center in the Suez Canal zone, of all places. And the United States simply doesn't have an answer to it, other than to tell our traditional partners in the region, don't do it. But unless we show up with something to offer them, I'm afraid that Chinese investment is going to be too attractive for countries that are in need of this kind of investment. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to a written question from Kenneth Mayers, who is at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. In your opinion, what would a strategic vision based on a far-sighted understanding of both resources and U.S. goals—with regard to peace and security, prosperity and development, and institutions and norms and values such as human rights—look like in the Middle East and North Africa? COOK: Well, it's a great question. And I'm tempted to say you're going to have to read the last third of my new book in order to get the—in order to get the answer. I think but let me start with something mentioned about norms and values. I think that one of the things that has plagued American foreign policy over the course of not just the last twenty years, but in the post-World War II era all the way up through the present day, you see it very, very clearly with President Biden, is that trying to incorporate American values and norms into our approach to the region has been extraordinarily difficult. And what we have a history of doing is the thing that is strategically tenable, but morally suspect. So what I would say is, I mean, just look at what's happened recently. The president of the United States studiously avoided placing a telephone call to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Egyptians, as many know, have a terrible record on human rights, particularly since President Sisi came to power. Arrests of tens of thousands of people in the country, the torture of many, many people, the killings of people. And the president during his campaign said that he was going to give no blank checks to dictators, including to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. And then what happened in May? What happened in May was that fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas and others in the Gaza Strip, a brutal eleven-day conflict. And Egypt stepped up and provided a way out of the conflict through its good offices. And that prompted the United States to—the president of the United States—to have two phone calls in those eleven days with the Egyptian leader. And now the United States is talking about Egypt as a constructive partner that's helping to stabilize the region. Sure, the administration suspended $130 million of Egypt's annual—$130 million Egypt's annual allotment of $1.3 billion. But that is not a lot. Egypt got most of—most of its military aid. As I said, strategically tenable, morally suspect. I'm not quite sure how we get out of that. But what I do know, and I'll give you a little bit of a preview of the last third of the book—but I really do want you to buy it when it's done—is that the traditional interests of the United States in the Middle East are changing. And I go through a kind of quasi, long, somewhat tortured—but very, very interesting—discussion of the origins of our interests, and how they are changing, and how we can tell they are changing. And that is to say that the free flow of energy resources may not be as important to the United States in the next twenty-five years as it was over the course of the previous fifty or sixty years. That helping to ensure Israeli security, which has been axiomatic for the United States, eh, I'd say since the 1960s, really, may not be as important as Israel develops its diplomatic relations with its neighbors, that has a GDP per capita that's on par with the U.K., and France, and other partners in Europe, a country that clearly can take care of itself, that is a driver of technology and innovation around the globe. And that may no longer require America's military dominance in the region. So what is that we want to be doing? How can we be constructive? And I think the answers are in things that we hadn't really thought of too systematically in the past. What are the things that we're willing to invest in an defend going forward? Things like climate change, things like migration, things like pandemic disease. These are things that we've talked about, but that we've never been willing to invest in the kind of the resources. Now there are parts of the Middle East that during the summer months are in-habitable. That's going to produce waves of people looking for places to live that are inhabitable. What do we do about that? Does that destabilize the Indian subcontinent? Does it destabilize Europe? Does it destabilize North Africa? These are all questions that we haven't yet answered. But to the extent that we want to invest in, defend and sacrifice for things like climate, and we want to address the issue—related issue of migration, and we want to deal with the issue of disease and other of these kind of functional global issues in the Middle East is better not just for us and Middle Easterners, but also in terms of our strategic—our great-power competition in the region. These are not things that the Chinese and the Russians are terribly interested in, despite the fact that the Chinese may tell you they are. FASKIANOS: Thank you. I'm going to go next to Ahmuan Williams, with a raised hand, at the University of Oklahoma. COOK: Oklahoma. Q: Hi. And thank you for being here. You kind of talked about the stabilization of northern Africa and the Middle East. And just a few days ago the Sudanese government—and they still haven't helped capture the parliamentarian there—have recycled back into a military—somewhat of military rule. And it's been since 2005 since the end of their last civil war, which claimed millions of innocent civilians through starvation and strife and, you know, the lack of being able to get humanitarian aid. There was also a huge refugee crisis there, a lot of people who evacuated Sudan. How's that going to impact the Middle East and the American take to Middle East and northern Africa policy, especially now that the Security Council is now considering this and is trying to determine what we should do? COOK: It's a great question. And I think that, first, let's be clear. There was a coup d'état in Sudan. The military overthrew a transitional government on the eve of having to hand over the government to civilians. And they didn't like it. There's been tension that's been brewing in Sudan for some time. Actually, an American envoy, our envoy to East Africa and Africa more generally, a guy named Jeff Feltman, was in Khartoum, trying to kind of calm the tension, to get the two sides together, and working to avert a coup. And the day after he left, the military moved. That's not—that doesn't reflect the fact that the United States gave a blessing for the military to overthrow this government. I think what it does, though, and it's something that I think we all need to keep in mind, it demonstrates the limits of American power in a variety of places around the world. That we don't have all the power in the world to prevent things from happening when people, like the leaders of the Sudanese military, believe that they have existential issues that are at stake. Now, what's worry about destabilization in Sudan is, as you point out, there was a civil war there, there was the creation of a new country there, potential for—if things got really out of hand—refugee flows into Egypt, from Egypt across the Sanai Peninsula into Israel. One of the things people are unaware of is the large number of Sudanese or Eritreans and other Africans who have sought refuge in Israel, which has created significant economic and social strains in that country. So it's a big deal. Thus far, it seems we don't—that the U.S. government doesn't know exactly what's happening there. There are protesters in the streets demanding democracy. It's very unclear what the military is going to do. And it's very unclear what our regional allies and how they view what's happening. What Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, what Saudi Arabia, what Israel—which Sudan is an Abraham Accords country now—what they are doing. How they view the coup as positive or negative will likely impact how effective the United States can be in trying to manage this situation. But I suspect that we're just going to have to accommodate ourselves to whatever outcome the Sudanese people and the Sudanese military come to, because I don't think we have a lot of—we don't have a lot of tools there to make everybody behave. FASKIANOS: OK. So I'm going to take the next question from Elena Murphy, who is a junior at Syracuse University's Maxwell School. And she's a diplomatic intern at the Kurdistan Regional Government's Representation in the United States. COOK: That's cool. FASKIANOS: That's very cool. So as a follow up, how much do you believe neo-Ottomanism and attempting regional hegemony has affected Erdogan's domestic and foreign policy, especially in consideration of Turkey's shift towards the MENA in their foreign policy, after a period of withdrawals and no problems with neighbors policy? COOK: Great. Can I see that? Because that's a long question. FASKIANOS: Yeah, it's a long question. It's got an up-vote. Third one down. COOK: Third one down. Elena, as a follow up, how much do you believe neo-Ottomanism—I'm sorry, I'm going to have to read it again. How much do you believe neo-Ottomanism and attempting regional has affected Erdogan's both domestic and foreign policy, especially in consideration of Turkey's shift towards the MENA in their foreign policy, after a period of withdrawals and no problems with neighbors? OK. Great. So let us set aside the term “neo-Ottomanism” for now. Because neo-Ottomanism actually—it does mean something, but people have often used the term neo-Ottomanism to describe policies of the Turkish government under President Erdogan that they don't like. And so let's just talk about the way in which the Turkish government under President Erdogan views the region and views what Turkey's rightful place should be. And I think the Ottomanism piece is important, because the kind of intellectual framework which the Justice and Development Party, which is Erdogan's party, views the world, sees Turkey as—first of all, it sees the Turkish Republic as a not-so-legitimate heir to the Ottoman Empire. That from their perspective, the natural order of things would have been the continuation of the empire in some form or another. And as a result, they believe that Turkey's natural place is a place of leadership in the region for a long time. Even before the Justice and Development Party was founded in 2001, Turkey's earlier generation of Islamists used to savage the Turkish leadership for its desire to be part of the West, by saying that this was kind of unnatural, that they were just merely aping the West, and the West was never actually going to accept Turkey. Which is probably true. But I think that the Justice and Development Party, after a period of wanting to become closer to the West, has turned its attention towards the Middle East, North Africa, and the Muslim world more generally. And in that, it sees itself, the Turks see themselves as the natural leaders in the region. They believe they have a cultural affinity to the region as a result of the legacies of the Ottoman Empire, and they very much can play this role of leader. They see themselves as one of the kind of few real countries in the region, along with Egypt and Iran and Saudi Arabia. And the rest are sort of ephemeral. Needless to say, big countries in the Arab world—like Egypt, like Saudi Arabia—don't welcome the idea of Turkey as a leader of the region. They recognize Turkey as a very big and important country, but not a leader of the region. And this is part of that friction that Turkey has experienced with its neighbors, after an earlier iteration of Turkish foreign policy, in which—one of the earliest iterations of Turkish foreign policy under the Justice and Development Party which was called no problems with neighbors. In which Turkey, regardless of the character of the regimes, wanted to have good relations with its neighbors. It could trade with those neighbors. And make everybody—in the process, Turkey could be a driver of economic development in the region, and everybody can be basically wealthy and happy. And it didn't really work out that way, for a variety of reasons that we don't have enough time for. Let's leave it at the fact that Turkey under Erdogan—and a view that is shared by many—that Turkey should be a leader of the region. And I suspect that if Erdogan were to die, if he were unable to stand for election, if the opposition were to win, that there would still be elements of this desire to be a regional leader in a new Turkish foreign policy. FASKIANOS: Steven, thank you very much. This was really terrific. We appreciate your stepping in at the eleventh hour, taking time away from your book. For all of you— COOK: I'm still not Sanam. FASKIANOS: (Laughs.) I know, but you were an awesome replacement. So you can follow Steven Cook on Twitter at @stevenacook. As I said at the beginning too, he is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine. So you can read his work there, as well as, of course, on CFR.org, all of the commentary, analysis, op-eds, congressional testimony are there for free. So I hope you will follow him and look after his next book. Our next Academic Webinar will be on Wednesday November 3, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on the future of U.S.-Mexico relations. In the meantime, I encourage you to follow us, @CFR_Academic, visit CFR.org, ForeignAffairs.com, and ThinkGlobalHealth.org for new research and analysis on global issues. And stay well, stay safe, and thank you, again. COOK: Bye, everyone. FASKIANOS: Bye. (END)

Turkey has been on a charm offensive ahead of the planned NATO summit in Brussels on June 14, and tries to act as if there is no day-light between Ankara and the alliance, Steven A. Cook, senior fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Ahval's Nervana Mahmoud in the new episode of Turkish Trends podcast series. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will have a number of bilateral meetings during the NATO summit, including with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to discuss crisis-ridden bilateral relations.

Steven A. Cook, CFR’s Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced the beginning of a new era in the relations between Egypt and Turkey this week. Egypt’s lukewarm response to apparent olive branches from Turkey, on the other hand, has raised questions on the success of this proposed reset by Ankara. Turkey, Egypt and Middle East expert Steven A. Cook, in a podcast with Nervana Mahmoud of Turkish Trends, said that in order for countries to mend ties, there were a number of Egyptian demands that Ankara needed to meet.

In a very rough year, there were sprinkles of renewed optimism about the Middle East as Israel established relations with a few of the Gulf Arab nations, but the Middle East is, and has been, always about more than Arab-Israeli relations.From North Africa across the Mediterranean coast to Syria and across the Arabian Peninsula to Yemen, what is the state of play in the Middle East as a whole, and where are the trends taking the region?Our guest this Sunday, October 18th for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Steven A. Cook.Steven is Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy. Cook is the author of False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East; The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square, which won the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s gold medal in 2012; and Ruling But Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey.He is a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine. He has also published widely in international affairs journals, opinion magazines, and newspapers, and he is a frequent commentator on radio and television. His work can be found on CFR.org. Prior to joining CFR, Cook was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution (2001–2002) and a Soref research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (1995–1996). Cook holds a BA in international studies from Vassar College, an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and both an MA and a PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. He speaks Arabic and Turkish and reads French.

Steven A. Cook discusses Turkish politics. How did Turkey go from promising EU candidate to a model of authoritarian populism? What is next as Turks look forward to general elections in 2023? The CFR Master Class Series is a biweekly 45-minute session in which a CFR fellow will take a step back from the news and discuss the fundamentals essential to understanding a given country, region of the world, or issue pertaining to U.S. foreign policy or international relations.

Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations joins Israel Policy Forum's weekly briefing to explain how the recent normalization agreements between Israel and Bahrain and Israel and the United Arab Emirates are being received throughout the Middle East.Support the show (http://support.israelpolicyforum.org/donate)

We spoke to Steven A. Cook about the historic Israel/UAE peace deal and the recent explosion in Beirut, and what these mean within the global COVID crisis. The post Steven A. Cook on the UAE, Israel, and Lebanon appeared first on Octavian Report.

Panelists' remarks during GIF's online panel "The Gulf Spreads its Tentacles in the Levant and North Africa." Gulf International Forum's Non-Resident Senior Fellow Dr. Gawdat Bahgat was joined by H.E. Yaşar Yakış Former Turkish Foreign Minister, Dr. Steven A. Cook, Betul Dogan-Akkas, and Quentin de Pimodan. https://gulfif.org/ Twitter: @GulfIntlForum Facebook: @GulfIntlForum LinkedIn: @GulfIntlForum

Steven A. Cook, CFR’s Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies and director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the novel coronavirus’s impact in Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and other nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Steven A. Cook discusses the COVID-19 outbreak and the deepening crises of the Middle East, and provide an overview of the IAF-TIRS.

Steven A. Cook, senior fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at the Council on Foreign Relations, spoke with Ahval editor David Lepeska about the grave mistakes of Turkey’s leadership in responding to coronavirus, an emerging global tendency toward more authoritarian responses, and the looming corona disaster in Syria’s Idlib province.

In this episode of our special Election 2020 series of The President’s Inbox, Steven A. Cook, Philip H. Gordon, and Ray Takeyh join host James M. Lindsay to discuss the killing of Qasem Soleimani and its consequences for the Middle East.

It's 2018 and we're back with our first episode of the new year. In this episode of the Managing Uncertainty Podcast, Bryghtpath Principal & CEO Bryan Strawser and Senior Consultant Jennifer Otremba talk through Bryghtpath's view of the Top 12 Global Risks of 2018. Topics discussed include national security, the global economy, lessons learned from the 2017 hurricane season, cybersecurity, and risk to companies from the ongoing sexual harassment revelations. //static.leadpages.net/leadboxes/current/embed.js Episode Transcript Bryan Strawser:            It's 2018. Jen Otremba:               2018, Happy New Year. Bryan Strawser:            Happy New Year. Welcome back to the Managing Uncertainty Podcast. Jen Otremba:               We're excited to be back in the New Year here. Bryan Strawser:            We are. We actually didn't record any podcasts for the last three weeks of the year. I think we recorded four or five like that first of December and we used those throughout the months. So this is really our first time back in the studio here at our offices for a month or so. Jen Otremba:               It's good. Much like many, it gave us chance to enjoy the holidays. Bryan Strawser:            It did. So in this episode we're gonna talk about our view of the top risks of 2018. I think we're gonna kind of run the gamut here from things that many of you are probably thinking about. Some things that we've talked about before and then some things that maybe you're not thinking about that are gonna have an impact on you in some way, in terms of the global economy. Because that does impact you locally or foreign affairs and national security issues, which will also impact you in ways that you're probably not thinking about today. Bryan Strawser:            So the first risk on our list of 12 risks that we're gonna talk about today is the rise of China and I think we hear a lot about this. I don't think people really understand the impact of what's going on but under the current leadership, China's really taken a different approach to geopolitical affairs and international relations than they have before. And what we're seeing now with China is really they appear to have started to cooperate with a number of international institutions where and before they really kind of set themselves aside and didn't do any sort of cooperation like this. Jen Otremba:               Yeah, they really isolated themselves as far as international trade, discussions, things like that. Bryan Strawser:            And what's interesting about that is, that was really a role the United States has played historically. We are beginning to do less of that. China is beginning to fill somewhat of the vacuum or void left behind by our leadership. It's not really a Republican or Democrat thing, it's just that the direction that our country has gone over the last decade or so has been a different role Internationally. So China is starting to fill that gap and it's an interesting comparison I think to think about the rise of China and what many perceive to be the decline of the United States as a geopolitical power for the last 20 - 30 years. Is very similar to the situation that the United Kingdom found themselves in, in the late 1800's where they made the strategic choice to hitch themselves through a surging United States as a global power and it has allowed the United Kingdom to bat above their weight in foreign affairs for well over a century. And perhaps we have similar opportunity to coach and guide the Chinese in the same way, but I'm not sure that our current administration or even previous administration is interested in doing that. They seem to be more interested in confrontation. Jen Otremba:               Well, I don't even know that the mass population of the US is ready to do that. Bryan Strawser:            No. Jen Otremba:               Or ready to welcome that as being an option. Bryan Strawser:            But China will continue to be for the foreseeable future the world's largest economy, one of the largest geopolitical powers, and I think we'll see them continue to flex their muscle on the international stage for decades to come. Our second risk is ... and these are in no particular order by the way. Our second risk is North Korea. Obviously the threat here is North Korea is a nuclear power. They have achieved at least some intercontinental ballistic missile capability that seems to be advancing and the Olympics are in South Korea in just a short period of time here. And we have a significant amount of military forces in South Korea. They're under treaty to defend South Korea who is a close ally of the United States. Nobody knows what's going to happen. Jen Otremba:               No, but really interesting, right? To follow that and watch what will happen as we lead up to the Olympics there. Bryan Strawser:            We had a client call us, what ... about four months ago and asked the question ... first they kind of danced around the point and then they just got to it and said, "What we're really concerned about is we have a billion dollars in product being manufactured in South Korea right now and I don't know if we should think about where to manufacture that elsewhere or if we're even going to get the product." Jen Otremba:               And they're not an isolated case, right. So there's many of these types of organizations that have products coming out of South Korea, and trying to figure out what is the answer going forward. Bryan Strawser:            So North Korea will continue to be ... I think they are the very definition of uncertainly really no idea of what they're going to do. They don't follow any international rule set that countries like United States are expected to follow. We don't know what their decision making is going to be. There's an awful lot of sabre-rattling that's gone on and any type of military conflict would just be enormously damaging. Not just in terms of life but on the global economy as a whole. Jen Otremba:               Yes, very much so. Bryan Strawser:            Our third risk is really a risk to business, and it is about the impact of technology on how we operate. And this is really about the rise of three specific technologies and that's automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. That we are seeing these as kind of the next huddle that businesses are going to be faced with that what you do today manually is going to be done in the near future and in some cases is already is, being done by systems that are robotic or automated or that utilizing artificial intelligence. Jen Otremba:               Yeah, and we're seeing that already come out with cars, with helicopters, with obviously [inaudible 00:06:16] but things like that where there's a lot of experimentation going on right now and I think it's just gonna continue. Bryan Strawser:            We see that with Amazons Alexa, with Apple's Siri, with Google Home and with these other products that are beginning to use ... you know we think of it as voice recognition but what's really happening here is artificial intelligence processing going on behind the scenes and making that happen. And I think this is gonna have huge impact on jobs in a way that people don't expect today. If your job is something that you can replaced by software, that's probably gonna happen in the next decade. Jen Otremba:               Yeah, and we've seen it happen in the past before. Bryan Strawser:            We have. Jen Otremba:               So it will be interesting to see how this evolves and how it continues to affect us. Bryan Strawser:            Fourth on our risk and this is really for US centric companies but is Mexico. The risk here is not about illegal immigration or people crossing the border. The risk here is strategic and it is about the desire of the United States to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA, will undoubtedly have an impact on trade and on the price of goods and on the free flow of goods between the US and Canada and Mexico. This is all complicated by the fact that Mexico will have a presidential election in July and that could alter the United States' relationship and the tenor and tone of these negotiations. Jen Otremba:               Which has already- Bryan Strawser:            It's already happened. Jen Otremba:               ... happened, yes. Bryan Strawser:            Number five on our risk is Iran. I'm sure most of you are not dealing with Iran in terms of working with vendors or sourcing product from there or visiting Iran for tourism purposes. But Iran, particularly over the last few weeks has been the site of kind of democracy driven protests against the ruling regime that's in place and their form of government, which is very non-democratic and highly theocratic in nature. The risk here is not so much about the impact on companies that might be doing business Iran 'cause that's not happening. It's really about Iran's place in the Middle East and how this impact neighboring countries and the kind of general state of conflict going on throughout the Arab World. Iran is in the middle of a lot of that. In fact Iran has instigated or been in driving a lot of that particularly with Iraq and others there. We talked before the podcast, I think were both fairly pessimistic about the protest situation there. Jen Otremba:               Yeah. I mean in the course of history and what we've seen with protest is generally the outcome is not necessarily favorable of the protesters or to the cause. They don't usually get what it is that they are hoping to get out of it. Bryan Strawser:            We're both fans of Steven A. Cook who is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in DC. Jen Otremba:               Yes, recently we got to see him talk. Bryan Strawser:            Got to see him talk at University of Minnesota Humphrey School and Dr. Cook has a great book called False Dawn about this rise of protest and democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. I can remember the money quote that you gave me this morning that there was no pot of gold at the end of the protester rainbow. Jen Otremba:               Yeah something along those lines. That was quoted from Steven Cook but maybe not exactly the way he said it but something like that. And it really rang true to what we've seen in protests really throughout history but specifically in the Middle East. Bryan Strawser:            Right. There's a theory, and I believe in this theory to some extent and I don't think this means that it's ... if you pair this with Cook, I don't think this is optimistic at all. But Thomas P. M. Barnett who wrote the book The Pentagon's New Map, really talked about the change in the Middle East and elsewhere, where you have isolated economies and countries, Myanmar and Haiti were examples of this. That connectedness with the outside world drives the kind of protests and pro-democracy behavior because people start to understand that there is a life beyond the form of government and the regime in which they live under. I've seen that sighted, this connectedness to the outside world through satellite television, through mobile phones, through the internet as being kind of a catalyst for some of these protests. But it still doesn't make me optimistic that they're gonna be successful in the long run. It will require other change to happen. Jen Otremba:               Right. Bryan Strawser:            Number six on our list is protectionism I trade. Again, this is more of a US centric issue but it will have global economic impact. The current administration, President Trump's administration has said in numerous ways that they wish to pursue essentially a trade war, but they're interested in pursuing tariffs on certain products coming into the United States. And I don't think there's any way to talk about that without realizing that those tariffs are gonna be reciprocated in some way shape or form. We were talking about tariffs on foreign steel particularly Chinese steel, which is much more ... it's much cheaper than steel manufactured in the United States. But if you put big tariffs on that, the Chinese will find a way to reciprocate, it might not be on steel but they'll find another issue, televisions, Apple products that are manufactured there and they will make them more expensive in retaliation. Jen Otremba:               So it's a risk, so we'll see where that goes, what happens there. Bryan Strawser:            Number seven on our risk is Brexit in the United Kingdom. This has been a multi-year battle now across two prime ministers following the referendum about the UK leaving the European Union. Their negotiations are ongoing. But this has been a really difficult thing to work through for the British Government, it brought down the previous prime minster who was of course opposed to Brexit lost, I think did the smart and honorable thing and resigned. And now Theresa May who is his successor is leading the Conservative Party as Prime Minister and is really struggling from a leadership standpoint to get through the Brexit negotiations are bringing this to a close. You know she called a snap election, didn't pick up the seats that they thought they were going to get. She thought they were in a good position, turned out they had read the electorate wrong. Probably isn't gonna make it as Prime Minister given what we're seeing over there in terms of politics, you can get toppled by your own party and in sometime this year if things don't improve. Number eight on our list is the sexual harassment scandals of 2017 and how they will continue to play into 2018, definitely not a risk that's going away. Jen Otremba:               No, we did a whole podcast geared on this topic alone where we talked a lot through what that risk looks like for organizations, corporations, things like that. Bryan Strawser:            So we don't go in a lot of detail there except to say that the tolerance for this kind of behavior is at I think at an all time low. I think accountability for this behavior is high and getting higher. And I don't really think there's been the impact in the business community yet that we're gonna see down the road. Still seen this ripple through entertainment and news. But I think they'll be more about company scandals that we'll learn over time. Number nine is on our risk of top threats is the failure to deal with the lessons of the 2017 hurricane season. Jen Otremba:               This is huge. Bryan Strawser:            So there was a number of lessons that came out of the hurricane season last year, three major hurricanes. The most difficult hurricane season, biggest hurricane in a very long time in the US. And we're still dealing with the aftermath of this and the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico where we still don't have 100% power restoration and water restoration. But there's a number of lessons that came out of this, we're gonna talk about these on an upcoming webinar later this month. But the real risk out all of this is not that I don't think of the risk is that, 'Hey we're gonna have another really bad hurricane season," statistically- Jen Otremba:               We will, we know at point. Bryan Strawser:            At some point we're going to. But to us the real risk is that in the month or so following the hurricane season wrapping up, lots of companies wanted to do a lot to address the issues like not having a good crisis management process, not having good communication, not having the logistics in supply contracts and place to deal with things, not knowing how to account for your team. Jen Otremba:               Not having good plans. Bryan Strawser:            Not having good plans. These are all things that need to be addressed and if they're not addressed, well that's the real risk. The real risk is, "I've decided not to deal with these things," thinking that, "Hey, this isn't gonna happen again." But it is going to happen again and it might not be a hurricane, it could be another issue. We're seeing smart companies deal with the lessons learned of the hurricane season. We're seeing a lot of companies that are like, "Well, it's okay." Jen Otremba:               "It's a risk we're willing to take." Bryan Strawser:            Yeah or, "Well, we don't have money this year so we're gonna wait." And that's not a good strategy. Jen Otremba:               It's really not. Bryan Strawser:            Number 10 on our list is just the uncertainty of the world today. And we were speaking prior to the podcast but a lot of the recaps of 2017 going into 2018 particularly here in the United States were around this, "God, 2018 is just gonna be a mess and a disaster. It's gonna be so difficult." I don't think we feel that way. Jen Otremba:               No. Bryan Strawser:            But there is more ... It feels like there's more uncertainty and more potential for disruption than before. I think part of this is the ... we think part of this is just the political turmoil that we kind of feel here in the United States where if you watch the news and they're talking about politics, state, local, federal, it's exhausting. Jen Otremba:               It is. I walked in the office this morning and I even said that to Brian. I was like, "Gosh, I'm just so exhausted with everything and then the media right now." Bryan Strawser:            I can't watch it. Yeah, I can't watch the news. Jen Otremba:               Everything is a significant emotional event so it is exhausting. So how do organizations become more resilient to be able to manage through that? Bryan Strawser:            And how do they make sure that their team is resilient, that we can deal with this kind of up and down situation that they have to be faced with. I was talking to a reporter this morning about that very issue is, I think their question when they called was, "What do you tell small businesses about how to help their employees be more resilient with all of this." I mean she describes just all of this chaos that's going on in the world. And I'm like, "Well, one is, I wouldn't frame it that way. I don't think the world is that chaotic but the world's uncertain. You really have to be able to help your employees understand how to deal with the ups and downs of the business cycle." Jen Otremba:               Like roll with the punches? Bryan Strawser:            You gotta roll with the punches and there's gonna be down cycles of things that happening. You have to manage through that as an individual and as an employee and you have to drive those behaviors in your business. Number 11 on our list is Terrorism that this an issue we don't think goes away. We certainly saw, I think over the last two or three years there's been a clear trend towards some shifting of strategy when it comes to terrorism attacks in the Western world, in Europe, in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. We are seeing more vehicle-borne attacks where fire arms or knives are not necessarily involved. We've seen knife attacks even here in Minnesota in [inaudible 00:17:59]. And then we continue to see the ... I hate to use the phrase lone wolf 'cause it's so overused. But we see this individual who might be motivated and radicalized for some purpose who then plans and executes and attack on their own without any kind of command or control structure and that's incredible difficult to detect and even more difficult to stop because you really don't know it's coming, you don't know who to watch in that case. Jen Otremba:               Not unless you know some of the risk factors anyway. Bryan Strawser:            Right, there's obviously risk factors in some of those cases. Well, there's things that people should have seen that we don't wanna react to. Jen Otremba:               Right, ultimately I think we don't want to, is a good way of putting, yeah. Bryan Strawser:            Yeah, if you see something, say something. Jen Otremba:               Exactly. Bryan Strawser:            Last on our risk and certainly not least is the whole issue of cyber security. I think there is a good article I was reading last night about, "The cyber security piece has really come to a standoff between the ever increasingly high barrier to breach into an organization and the incredibly more sophisticated tools that hackers and those that seek to do harm like state actors, intelligence agencies and others, their tools are getting more and more sophisticated over time." I mean we saw an attack here in the last 18 month where someone basically used an exploit that the US National Security Agency had discovered and used that exploit to breach into organizations, steal information and PII and PCI data. So it continues to be more difficult. And one of the gaps that we see pretty commonly here is, you know, we don't do technical infosec work. That's not the field that we're in. There are many reputable places that do that kind of work. We are more interested in when the thing happens, how do you react and what is your process and how do you manage the incident? What happens if you really have a breach and how do you handle the crisis communications from that? Jen Otremba:               And what are your plans? Bryan Strawser:            And what are your plans and do you practice those plans? And wow, people are not good at this. Jen Otremba:               And do you exercise them and people are not good at this. Bryan Strawser:            They're not good at all. So there's a great opportunity that I think goes back to the hurricane lessons, which is what is your crisis strategy, your incident strategy leading to a crisis that allows you to react and deal with these things. Bryan Strawser:            Those are our top twelve risks for 2018 as Jen just outlined. And we'll be talking in some depth about a couple of these risks moving forward in some more in-depth additions to the podcast and on our blog in the future. Jen Otremba:               And certainly how they evolve throughout the year. Bryan Strawser:            Thanks for listening.

Senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Steven A. Cook discusses the delivery of S-400s with Hot Pursuit. Cook is an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy. Cook is the author of False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East; The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square.

With thanks to Steve C for his Dice Roll Zine, produced & published by Hog Town Games, words and maps copyright 2019 Steven A. Cook. Contact: hogtowngamesosr@gmail.com. If you have any questions comments or concerns regarding this episode, please contact me, spikepitpodcast@gmail.com. Enjoy.

Dr. Steven A. Cook, Council on Foreign Relations Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies, joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Carisa Nietsche for a discussion on the latest rerun of the Istanbul mayoral election. A decade of divisive AKP politics has turned Erdogan’s ‘stronghold’ of Istanbul against him, but his personalist regime is far from collapse. Going forward, Erdogan and the AKP will try to box in opposition urban mayors and retain as tight a grip on national-level politics as possible.

We dig deep with Steven A. Cook on the Istanbul election re-rerun and why it could cause an explosion in Turkish politics. The post After the Istanbul Election, What’s Next? appeared first on Octavian Report.

May 8, 2018: At the Council of American Ambassador's Spring Conference, Global Tour d'Horizon, Dr. Steven A. Cook discusses Turkey's pivotal regional role and draws on the history of U.S.-Turkey relations to suggest foreign policy for the United States going forward. Dr. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The presentation was moderated by Ambassador William C. Eacho and followed with a Q&A session.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-dominant political party lost elections in Ankara and Istanbul last week. At the same time, a dispute between Washington and Ankara over Turkey buying a Russian missile system has hurt ties between the NATO allies. Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations and Mustafa Akyol of the Cato Institute join Deep Dish to explain.

In early August, the Trump administration issued sanctions against Turkey for its continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. Ties between the two governments have been under strain for years, but the latest incident has seemingly touched off the most severe crisis in recent memory. What are the future prospects and pitfalls for U.S.-Turkish relations? Listen to analysis from an expert panel as they debate how to salvage the bilateral relationship - and even whether the alliance is worth saving at all. Near East PolicyCast: Conversations on Middle East issues from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

When Syria was pulled apart seven years ago, the United States opted to stay on the sidelines. It was clear that President Bashar Al-Assad was a bad guy, but it was far less clear who the good guys were. Unfortunately, inaction has also had its price for the U.S., according to our guest Steven A. Cook, who is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dr. Steven A. Cook discusses Turkey's pivotal regional role at the Council of American Ambassadors' Spring conference, "Global Tour d'Horizon." Dr. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The presentation was moderated by Ambassador William C. Eacho and followed with a Q&A session.

Dr. Keyu Jin, London School of Economics & Political Science Professor, says the confusion about trade deficits by both the U.S. and China is fatal. Daniel Tannebaum, PWC Global Financial Services Sanctions Leader, predicts it will be a "go-fish exercise" to know who actually owns businesses in Russia. Steven A. Cook, CFR Middle Eastern Fellow, sees us inching closer to confrontation on Syria. Scott Galloway, NYU Stern Professor and Author "The Four," says that Facebook isn't doing anything any other media company hasn't tried before. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Dr. Keyu Jin, London School of Economics & Political Science Professor, says the confusion about trade deficits by both the U.S. and China is fatal. Daniel Tannebaum, PWC Global Financial Services Sanctions Leader, predicts it will be a "go-fish exercise" to know who actually owns businesses in Russia. Steven A. Cook, CFR Middle Eastern Fellow, sees us inching closer to confrontation on Syria. Scott Galloway, NYU Stern Professor and Author "The Four," says that Facebook isn't doing anything any other media company hasn't tried before.

Steven A. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Tune in as he and Zachary share a conversation covering many interesting topics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Steven Cook discusses the violent aftermath of the Arab Spring. In this excerpt, Cook describes how and why Washington got its response wrong to revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, with a special focus on Libya.

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Steven Cook discusses the violent aftermath of the Arab Spring. In this excerpt, Cook describes how and why Washington got its response wrong to revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, with a special focus on Libya.

Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of violence and renewed state repression. How did things go so wrong so quickly across a wide range of regimes? What role can and should the United States play? Don't miss this conversation with Steven Cook, an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy.

Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of violence and renewed state repression. How did things go so wrong so quickly across a wide range of regimes? What role can and should the United States play? Don't miss this conversation with Steven Cook, an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy.

Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of violence and renewed state repression. Egypt remains an authoritarian state; Syria and Yemen are in the midst of devastating civil wars; Libya has descended into anarchy; and the self-declared Islamic State rules a large swath of territory. Even Turkey, which also experienced large-scale protests, has abandoned its earlier shift toward openness and democracy and now more closely resembles an autocracy. How did things go so wrong so quickly across a wide range of regimes? In his new book, noted Middle East expert Steven A. Cook looks at the trajectory of events across the region, from the initial uprising in Tunisia to the failed coup in Turkey, to explain why the Middle Eastern uprisings did not succeed.

Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of violence and renewed state repression. Egypt remains an authoritarian state; Syria and Yemen are in the midst of devastating civil wars; Libya has descended into anarchy; and the self-declared Islamic State rules a large swath of territory. Even Turkey, which also experienced large-scale protests, has abandoned its earlier shift toward openness and democracy and now more closely resembles an autocracy. How did things go so wrong so quickly across a wide range of regimes? In his new book, noted Middle East expert Steven A. Cook looks at the trajectory of events across the region, from the initial uprising in Tunisia to the failed coup in Turkey, to explain why the Middle Eastern uprisings did not succeed.

Steven A. Cook discusses his new book on the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermath

Steven A. Cook discusses his new book on the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermath

Steven A. Cook discusses his new book on the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermath

Steven A. Cook discusses his new book on the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermath

Arab uprisings; the original summer blockbuster; conmen and cardsharps; Russian espionage. The post Steven A. Cook, The Aeneid, The Sting, and more appeared first on Octavian Report.

The 2nd half of my conversation with Brad Rothschild, we pick up right where the previous episode left off: having a very laid-back chat which eventually leads into what Brad does for a living. He’s a documentary filmmaker with films you may have even seen on Netflix or iTunes (Tree Man and Kinderblock 66: Return to Buchenwald).Brad also makes up half of the team that does The Amen Corner podcast. His partner, Steven A. Cook, you may recall was a recent guest on my podcast as well. But, don’t let yourself think for a second that means the 4 episodes of them are anything alike. They really aren’t.This episode not only goes into a lot of Brad’s process with his films, but it kind of meanders into some funny territory. We go so far as naming David Lee Roth’s yoga clothing company that he may not even realize he owns. Brad also at one point tells me that my podcast is the cocaine of podcasts. Yeah. I will just leave that here because I’m sure that will bring a lot of new listeners in, right?I hope you all enjoy this second episode with Brad. I had a great time talking with him. I’m sure you’ll agree that his episodes just kind of flow in a surprising way, for two guys who have never really spoken together before.Daddy Unscripted can also be found at:iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Google PlayTwitter: @DaddyUnscriptedFacebook: Daddy Unscriptedwww.daddyunscripted.comAll music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey’s McGee.You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to our podcast/blog website at www.daddyunscripted.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/daddyunscripted. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The 1st of 2 episodes with Brad Rothschild, this conversation is now becoming a line that is stretching out from its epicenter: my previous guest, Bruce Mendelsohn. So, again, a ton of thanks to Bruce for starting this rolling ball.Brad makes up half of the team that does The Amen Corner podcast. His partner, Steven A. Cook, you may recall was a recent guest on my podcast as well. But, don’t let yourself think for a second that means the 4 episodes of them are anything alike. They really aren’t. Aside from the fact that it got really close to tears being shed on Steven’s Daddy episode and the same happening here. Although, truth be told, it was me on this episode, rather than the guest.This part of our conversation got really deep, even if there were a lot of laughs. The history of Brad’s family is intense. His own Father’s family fled the Nazis as Jews in Germany shortly before many people they knew and loved were put in concentration camps. They became refugees, moving from country to country before they eventually came across the ocean to settle in New York.This episode got a tremendous addition, thanks to an interview that Brad’s Dad did with Kean College back in 1988. I was able to select a few minutes of the audio from that to let everyone here some of that intense struggle in his own words.Like Brad’s podcast co-host, Steven, we also share the fact that our Dads are no longer with us. We delved into how the passing of a parent changes your life. This also went into a very interesting territory: dying with dignity and some of the other ways death effects a family.I hope you all enjoy this episode with Brad. I almost felt like I may be able to hang a little with the guys on their podcast after we had this conversation. Even though, as a Red Sox fan dealing with these two Yankees fans, I may have to let them humiliate me in some way in order to make that happen.Daddy Unscripted can also be found at:iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Google PlayTwitter: @DaddyUnscriptedFacebook: Daddy Unscriptedwww.daddyunscripted.comAll music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey’s McGee.You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to our podcast/blog website at www.daddyunscripted.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/daddyunscripted. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dr. Steven A. Cook, author of False Dawn, explains the complicated and evolving multinational relationships in the Middle East in this Global I.Q. Minute with the Council's Jim Falk. For example, how significant is Qatar's difficulty with Saudi Arabia? Cook says, Qatar's "prime directive in foreign policy has been to remain independent of Saudi Arabia." Can democracy "take root" in the Arab and Muslim worlds? Cook has an answer. And, on another challenging topic involving U.S. diplomacy, he says, "It's clear that Turkey's trajectory is authoritarian and unstable." Then there's Syria... Cook has an analysis.

Steven A. Cook is an Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy. Cook has published widely in foreign policy journals, opinion magazines, and newspapers, and he is a frequent commentator on radio and television. He also currently writes the blog From the Potomac to the Euphrates. His latest book, False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East will be available May 2017. In this special edition of the IVY Podcast, Steven joined us at IVY HQ  for a live discussion on the current geopolitical climate in Syria and how to achieve peace in the middle east. And remember to visit IVY.com to enjoy access to a lifetime of learning, growth, and impact through in-person collaborations with world-class leaders, thinkers, and institution   -- This episode of the IVY Podcast is brought to you by Verst.  What if WordPress, Google Analytics, and Medium had a baby? That baby would be Verst — the first and only website platform built for the unique needs of professional publishers. Hailed by TechCrunch as the “blogging platform with all the optimization tools you need,” Verst makes it easy for you to design, manage, and optimize your website - no plugins, coding, or professional help needed. You can even harness the power of machine learning to help you get more signups, purchases, or whatever your business relies on. Anyone can try Verst free for 30 days, and IVY Podcast listeners get an extra 20% off their first 2 months with code IVY. Additionally, the first 10 IVY listeners to sign up for a paid membership will also get a personal design consultation with Verst.

My conversation with Steven A. Cook was made possible by last episode’s guest, Bruce Mendelsohn. So, many thanks to Bruce for that. I did my research on Steven immediately when Bruce mentioned him. My first thought, frankly, was that he was going to be out of my league if or when we touched on things other than just about being Dads. I saw that he is the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and I not only had no clue what all that meant, but it made me laugh a little at the idea of my having a political conversation with him. Kind of like those videos you sometimes see of a professional athlete playing against a little kid. Oh, isn’t that cute? Look how the pro is not even really trying and letting the kid feel like he’s good. Yeah, that would be me as the kid.Our episodes prove me wrong. Which serves as a solid reminder in life, really. Not to get a certain 80’s song stuck in your head or anything, but People are People. It’s very true. Which isn’t to say that every human is as gracious as Steven is. But, we are all people… people with stories to tell, with feelings to share with others. It’s up to all of us whether we decide to share those or not, and how far we actually extend that, beyond our little circle of comfort within the people that we know and love.Steven and I have something in common in that our Dads are both no longer with us. Steven’s Dad passed away 9 years ago, so his experience of loss is not only a bit more fresh than mine, but very different in the way that he experienced his Dad’s passing as an adult. We dug a bit into the grief we both feel and how it still affects us to this day. Steven had some great stories about his Dad and I’m so glad we were able to have this conversation. I think I’m not reaching when I speak for both of us in saying it offered a little bit of emotional healing.I hope you all enjoy this episode with Steven. His latest book is coming out in a matter of months. So, make sure you keep an eye out for “False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East”. You can find his previous books on Amazon. Links to many things Steven A Cook are just below.Daddy Unscripted can also be found at:iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Google PlayTwitter: @DaddyUnscriptedFacebook: Daddy Unscriptedwww.daddyunscripted.comAll music proudly provided with a partnership by Umphrey’s McGee.You can send questions and suggestions for future guests to our podcast/blog website at www.daddyunscripted.comSteven A Cook is on Amazon. Steven on Twitter: @stevenacook. Steven’s blog is called From the Potomac to the Euphrates. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/daddyunscripted. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.