Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Aug 23, 2026

Israel’s Escalating Conflict With Turkey

Adam Weinstein on Syria as a battleground for regional hegemony.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Israel’s Escalating Conflict with Turkey w/ Adam Weinstein
byThe Nation Magazine

The current conflict in the Middle East might escalate on a new front. In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjaman Netanyahu has been touting Turkey as a potential threat on par with Iran. This conflict is partly spurred by the fact that Syria, currently rebuilding after a brutal civil war, is becoming a battleground for competing projects of regional hegemony. To discuss this as well as the prospects for a more realistic foreign policy, I talked to Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 14, 2026.

(Ercin Erturk / Anadolu via Getty Images)

The current conflict in the Middle East might escalate on a new front. In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjaman Netanyahu has been touting Turkey as a potential threat on par with Iran. This conflict is partly spurred by the fact that Syria, currently rebuilding after a brutal civil war, is becoming a battleground for competing projects of regional hegemony. To discuss this as well as the prospects for a more realistic foreign policy, I talked to Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute.

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The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Trump’s Chaotic Foreign Policy w/ David Klion / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

There’s an ongoing feud in the Trump administration between restrainers (advocates of a less hawkish foreign policy) and neoconservatives (advocates of militarism on multiple fronts). David Klion wrote about this conflict for the Nation but notes that the ideologies are less important than the fact that Trump is an impulsive bully who often changes his mind. I talked to David about this conflict and the larger incoherence of right-wing foreign policy.

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