JN—Inter alia Crook sheds light on controversial provisions within the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that deepen military collaboration between the U.S. and Israel, giving Israeli military personnel unprecedented access to American military secrets and assuring their near-equal status with U.S. generals, potentially compromising American sovereignty. This fusion threatens to extend Israel’s influence over U.S. military actions, particularly against Iran.

GER—It has become so widely accepted that the US lost the war with Iran that now even American neoconservative hawks admit it. Ben Norton explains why major neocons like Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol have turned against the war. They lament that Iran’s victory reflects the decline of the US empire and the transition to a more multipolar world order.

GD—In this discussion, Alastair Crooke, a seasoned British diplomat and Middle East specialist, analyzes the profound geopolitical shifts triggered by the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Crooke highlights the multifaceted regional and global implications, primarily focusing on Israel, the U.S., Russia, and China. Central to his analysis is the notion that Iran has prevailed in the current conflict, marking a strategic defeat not only for the U.S. but also for Israel, which finds itself deeply embroiled in multiple intractable wars. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is depicted as politically vulnerable amid domestic scandals, faltering political support, and the failures of the Zionist project’s regional ambitions.

JM—Russian Ambassador to Romania Vladimir Lipaev told RT there was “no connection” between the drone incident and Bucharest’s decision to close the consulate. The envoy argued the move had been prepared in advance and that the Romanian authorities “just used this opportunity” to shut the mission down. Lipaev also suggested the drone incident could have been a provocation by Kiev aimed at drawing NATO deeper into the Ukraine conflict.

DD—The conversation pivots to an interview with Norman Finkelstein, a well-known critic of Israel’s policies, who laments that Palestinian liberation has shifted from being a left-wing cause to primarily a right-wing issue in contemporary discourse, especially within the podcast landscape. Finkelstein emphasizes that right-wing critiques of Israel now dominate due to the left’s retreat from the topic. His unease centers on the idea that the right-wing obsession with Israel risks fueling antisemitism and the problematic normalization of the notion that Jewish loyalty to Israel conflicts with American interests.