“Trump’s Continued Descent into the Middle East Maelstrom: The Caesar Act’s Impact on Lebanon and Iraq: Egypt Inching To War on Two fronts: Libya and Ethiopia.” Tuesday, June 30, 2020. KGNU 1390 AM, 88.5 FM; 6 pm Mountain States Time – Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince. Hosted by Jim Nelson. Part Two
Sources of the Nile River.
“Trump’s Continued Descent into the Middle East Maelstrom: The Caesar Act’s Impact on Lebanon and Iraq: Egypt Inching To War on Two fronts: Libya and Ethiopia.” Tuesday, June 30, 2020. KGNU 1390 AM, 88.5 FM; 6 pm Mountain States Time – Hemispheres, Middle East Dialogues with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince. Hosted by Jim Nelson. Part Two.
The Trump Administration tries to put the screws on Lebanon and Iraq for trading with Syria (The Caesar Act) while China offers Lebanon $12.5 billion in “no strings attached aid” and Iraq $500 billion (you read that right) for infrastructural development.
Egypt is faced with two strategic challenges: the Turkish (Moslem Brotherhood) backed Tripoli forces in Libya push east threatening Egyptian stability. Even bigger in some ways. After ten years and what appeared to be Egypt and Ethiopia heading for an agreement on the waters of the Blue Nile as a result of Ethiopian completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Trump Administration sponsored negotiations have collapsed. Ethiopia has pulled out of the negotiations and threatens to fill the dam. Egyptian is threatening military action. As one digs deeper, Israeli, Saudi Arabia and even Lebanon’s Hezbollah are, in different ways, part of the picture.
Listen to Kazerooni and Prince try to put it all together.
That and more, Tuesday at 6 pm Mountain States Time, KGNU “Hemispheres: Middle East Dialogues”, a program now in its eleventh year.
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 
Great Show, covers the whole picture. Here is a brief summary:
The Middle East is a Giant Porta-Potty. The United States, run by colonial imbeciles, has rubbed capitalist excrement on the door-knob. The pot is full and the Russians are sitting on the sideline with a huge pump truck ready to clean up the mess and they have a warehouse full of toilet paper. Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood has been hiding behind the Great Pyramid for years but they have on their rubber gloves and are ready to open up the shit house and let the Russians clean it up.
Over in Israel Bibi and the Boys are patiently sitting out the spectacle in Jerusalem while they sip Bloody Zionist Cocktails through invisible straws while wearing their Shield of David Covid Masks. In the background is a beautiful new flush toilet built especially for them, fully stocked with plenty of toilet paper and hand-sanitizer provided by the most famous Orange Clown in History. The door of the outhouse has a beautiful traditional half-moon painted by the Prime-Minister himself. All is well and they want for nothing thanks to their Yankee Benefactor.