In seven episodes, the Babel: U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East podcast miniseries will take a closer look at two decades of heightened U.S. engagement in the region. Over seven weeks, Babel will cover how the United States has used its military, economic, diplomatic, and soft power tools in the Middle East—and how the Middle East has responded.  

In part six, Jon explores how people and governments in the Middle East see the United States, what they want from the United States in the region, and how that’s changing. Jon speaks with Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political scientist; Nabil Fahmy, Cairo’s former ambassador to Washington and later Egypt’s foreign minister; Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut; Alon Pinkas, a former diplomat who worked at the top levels of the Israeli government; and Nasser Hadian, an Iranian political scientist.