This week, Amos Hochstein, the Senior Advisor for Energy Security in President Biden's State Department, travelled to Lebanon where he attempted to broker an agreement between Lebanon and Israel over their maritime boundary. If successful, Hochstein's mediation will potentially allow Lebanon and Israel to exploit the offshore gas fields in currently disputed waters. Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and one of the most insightful Lebanon analysts in America, is a sharp critic of Hochstein's initiative, which he sees as the latest iteration of a bipartisan American strategic mistake. Tony joins Marshall and Mike to explain his thinking.
About Counterbalance:
Counterbalance is a foreign policy podcast that embodies 91’s tradition of challenging conventional wisdom. The Trump era attacked the elite consensus regarding several key issues, including the rise of China, American policy toward the Middle East, and the compartmentalization of domestic and foreign policy. Many observers in the media and in establishment foreign policy circles are presenting the advent of a Biden presidency as a total repudiation of President Trump’s policies and a return to “normalcy.” But, regardless of how one feels about the Trump era or any of his specific policies, there is no turning back the clock. The elite foreign policy consensus will never be the same. Counterbalance will reckon with what’s next.