Power Problems

Israel, Gaza, and America’s Broken Middle East Policy

Power Problems

Show Notes

Justin Logan, Cato’s director of defense and foreign policy studies, and Jon Hoffman, a foreign policy analyst at Cato, discuss the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas and the imperative of avoiding further U.S. entanglement in the Middle East. They talk about the deep problems with the Abraham Accords, Biden's misguided bid for a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, how client states employ "reverse leverage" on their U.S. patron, whether Israel can avoid America's post-9/11 mistakes, and the prospects for a genuine change in U.S. policy towards this region, among other issues.

Show Notes Justin Logan bio Jon Hoffman bio Jon Hoffman and Justin Logan, “Time to Change Course in the Middle East,” National Interest, October 21, 2023. Justin Logan, “The Hamas-Israel War,” Cato at Liberty, October 14, 2023. Jon Hoffman, “Pariah or Partner? Reevaluating the U.S.-Saudi Relationship,” Cato Institute policy analysis no. 961, September 20, 2023. Jon Hoffman, “A Shaky Foundation,” Cato Institute policy analysis no. 939, December 20, 2022. Justin Logan, “The Case for Withdrawing from the Middle East,” Defense Priorities, September 30, 2020. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Power Problems

Jul 22, 2025

Emma Ashford, Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, discusses her book First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World, forthcoming from Yale University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 8, 2025

Dartmouth College's Daryl Press and George Washington University's Nicholas Anderson discuss their modeling of an outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula, assess the balance of power between the North and South, and explore the implications for the US military alliance with South Korea.

Jun 24, 2025

Rosemary Kelanic, Director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities, discusses the Israel-Iran war, U.S. involvement, whether regime change is the objective, and the risks of escalation.

Jun 10, 2025

Samuel Seitz, a fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Program, explores so-called “madman behavior” in international politics and whether it’s effective in gaining leverage in international confrontations. He explains why problems of signaling, credibility, and reassurance tend to make madman tactics ineffective and he discusses examples from the Cold War to Trump’s first and second administrations.

May 27, 2025

Christopher Chivvis and Lauren Morganbesser of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discuss the foreign policy attitudes of Gen Z, the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy, and the increasing salience of transnational issues, among other topics.

See all episodes →