This episode is about assessing Joe Biden’s foreign policy as it relates to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. While not a whole lot has changed in terms of the substance of US policy towards Palestine and Israel, a lot has indeed changed in terms of the political discourse in Washington.

Uzair talked to Matt Duss about these developments and the long-term implications of Biden’s foreign policy choices. We also talked about the prospects for a broad agreement with Saudi Arabia, and the ways in which communities can engage at the grassroots levels to influence foreign policy.

Matt Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. The Center for International Policy is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable U.S. approach to foreign policy.

Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, Duss was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). Duss’s work has been widely published, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, The American Prospect, and Foreign Policy.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

2:20 What has changed in Washington?

5:20 Role of AIPAC

8:40 America’s leverage over Israel

12:20 Impact of the presidential debate

18:35 Long-term implications of US choices

22:10 Saudi-Israel normalization

27:10 Key risks on the horizon

30:30 What can we do to change policy?

32:45 Reading recommendations

Reading recommendations

- The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes by Zachary D. Carter

- Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe