Israel’s security model is being tested on every front. Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran are all shifting at the same time, and the old formulas of deterrence are no longer behaving the way they used to. 

In this episode of The Diplomat, Israeli Defense Strategist Assaf Orion breaks down why Israel’s traditional reliance on walls, buffer zones, and preemptive deterrence is reaching its limit. Orion served more than three decades in the IDF, headed the strategic division, and worked directly with UN peacekeepers and neighboring militaries. 

This conversation explains the collapse of old doctrines and the uncomfortable choices that lie ahead. Essential listening for anyone trying to understand the next phase of conflict in the region and Washington’s role in it. 

Why Trump sees Turkey as an essential problem solver, and why Israel views the same moves as a growing danger. 

Middle East politics are rearranging themselves in real time, and Turkey is touching every pressure point. Ankara is brokering deals in Gaza, pushing into Syria, resetting ties with Egypt, and balancing between Washington and Moscow. All of this is happening while Israeli officials warn that Turkey is becoming a strategic threat.

In this episode of The Diplomat, Soner Çağaptay, Director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, joins Joe Kawly to decode how Ankara is playing multiple games at once: rebuilding ties with Egypt, negotiating influence in Gaza, managing refugees from Syria, and positioning itself as Washington’s indispensable, and unpredictable, partner.

This conversation traces the real levers of influence behind the headlines: regional triangles, security doctrines, refugee politics, and a rivalry over who gets to set the terms of the next Middle East order. If you want to understand power in this moment, you cannot understand it without understanding Turkey.

Lebanon has been called a failed state, a fragile state, even a cautionary tale,  but none of these labels capture what’s really happening.
In this episode, Dania Arayssi, Senior Fellow at the New Lines Institute and a political scientist studying Lebanon’s public trust and remittance economy, joins Joe Kawly to unpack:
• Why Lebanon’s leadership can’t disarm Hezbollah without risking civil war
• How the U.S. and Israel’s pressure campaigns are reshaping Beirut’s politics
• What “sovereignty” actually means in a system run by multiple powers
• Why civil society may be the country’s only functioning institution
• How foreign remittances are quietly reshaping political behavior
This is not another segment about Lebanon’s collapse: it’s an explanation of why it hasn’t fallen apart completely.

This week on The Diplomat, we look at how some democracies are quietly reshaping themselves under pressure. Jonathan Katz, an anti-corruption and democracy expert, from the Brookings Institution explains why Moldova is moving forward while Ukraine, Tunisia, and others are struggling to keep reform alive. From strategic corruption to AI-fueled disinformation, this episode reveals how democracy can slip away in silence, and why that matters now more than ever.

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.

In this episode of The Diplomat, Dr. Kenneth Pollack joins Joe Kawly to map what comes next:
Iran is retrenching, Israel is recalibrating, and Gulf capitals are quietly rewriting the rules of power?

Pollack has been inside the CIA, briefed U.S. presidents, and watched the Middle East reinvent itself through war, diplomacy, and everything in between.

From Tehran’s post-war caution to Washington’s search for deals, and Saudi Arabia’s strategic flexibility between the U.S., China, and Iran, this is a rare look inside how power is being redistributed across the Middle East. A must-listen for anyone trying to understand where this region is heading after Gaza, after the Iran war, and before whatever comes next.

He served under three U.S. presidents, shaped policy on the Middle East and Latin America, and was America’s special envoy for both Iran and Venezuela.

In this episode of The Diplomat, Elliott Abrams joins Joe Kawly to assess whether Iran’s influence across the region is truly weakening or if that is just an illusion. From Hezbollah’s arsenal in Lebanon to Gaza’s uncertain future and the so-called Iran Russia China axis, Abrams explains where U.S. strategy meets Middle East reality.

A must-listen for anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy, Iran’s regional network, and the future of diplomacy in a fractured Middle East.

Elliott Abrams has spent decades inside the highest levels of U.S. foreign policy. In this conversation, he delivers an unfiltered take on Iran’s vulnerabilities, Hezbollah’s weapons, and the political choices facing Washington in Gaza and beyond.

In this episode, Abrams and host Joe Kawly explore:
• Whether Hezbollah is truly weakening under pressure
• Why the Iran Russia China axis is more illusion than alliance
• The political future of Gaza and the risks of displacement
• Why U.S. credibility still hinges on human rights

This episode reveals the opportunities and dangers that could define America’s role in the Middle East for years to come.

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.

He warned NATO about Russia long before the tanks rolled into Ukraine and built one of the world’s most advanced digital societies from a country once dismissed as a “former Soviet republic.”
In this episode of The Diplomat, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves joins Joe Kawly to reveal how ignorance, prejudice, and misplaced faith in dialogue left NATO exposed and how Estonia turned technology into a tool of national survival.
From cyberattacks that shut down his country to diplomatic battles over language and perception, Ilves offers a rare inside look at how small states survive in a world shaped by bigger powers’ blind spots.

A must-listen for anyone interested in NATO, Russia, cybersecurity, and the hidden rules of diplomacy in dangerous times.

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.

He advised U.S. presidents, negotiated peace deals, and shaped Washington's Middle East policy from the inside.

In this episode of The Diplomat, veteran peace negotiator Aaron David Miller joins Joe Kawly to explain how domestic politics, evangelical support, and deep-rooted alliances continue to shape America’s policy on Israel and Gaza. From the Trump-Netanyahu partnership to the silence on civilian suffering, this conversation breaks down what drives U.S. diplomacy today.

A must-listen for anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and the political dynamics influencing American decisions in the Middle East.

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.

What happens when the truth comes too early, and no one listens?
He wrote the memo that warned the Iraq war could ignite a regional storm. Then he was sent into the storm.

In this episode of The Diplomat, Ambassador James Jeffrey reflects on what Washington refused to see, from Iraq’s fragile sovereignty to the myth of unlimited U.S. support. Joe Kawly pulls back the curtain on the delicate line between blunt honesty and diplomatic risk.

This is not a history lesson. It’s what happens when diplomacy runs up against denial.

Perfect for listeners who follow geopolitics, U.S. foreign policy, or still ask: how did we get here?

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.

What happens when war creeps to your doorstep, and you’re the one sent to hold the line?

In this episode of The Diplomat, Ambassador Douglas Silliman tells the untold stories of his time in Kuwait and Iraq. From covert smuggling routes to tense backroom talks, this is the kind of diplomacy that never makes the news, but changes everything.

Host and Producer Joe Kawly brings you into the conversations that happened off-mic.

Perfect for listeners who follow geopolitics, foreign policy, or just want to know what really happened after Mosul.

• Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.