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The White House, Gaza, and the NSC’s Lies with Akbar Shahid Ahmed

On this special episode of American Prestige, a discussion of the post-Gaza plans of a Biden official to rebuild the Palestinian territory through a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

January 16, 2024

Brett McGurk, US National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Saudi ambassador to the US, look on during an investment agreement signing ceremony between the US and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022.(Amer Hilabi / AFP via Getty Images)

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The White House, Gaza, and the NSC’s Lies with Akbar Shahid Ahmed | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Recorded Monday, January 15, 2024:

Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior foreign affairs reporter at HuffPost, returns to the American Prestige podcast to discuss his recent pieces covering the post-Gaza plans of top White House official Brett McGurk and the imminent departure of the White House’s special Middle East envoy on humanitarian issues.

Then, for American Prestige subscribers, the group gets into the NSC’s attempts to discredit Akbar’s reporting, the media backlash, how this compares to treatment of reporters under Trump, and more.

Subscribe to American Prestige for the full interview!

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On this episode of American Prestige, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior foreign affairs reporter at HuffPost, returns to the podcast to discuss his recent pieces covering the post-Gaza plans of top White House official Brett McGurk and the imminent departure of the White House’s special Middle East envoy on humanitarian issues.

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.

Biden's Carte Blanche for Israel, Slovakia PM Shot, Myanmar's Rohingya Conscription | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek are back at “it” (the news). This week: in Gaza, a Rafah invasion update and Biden’s “red line” (0:29), more questions about Israel’s postwar plans (6:16), an update on the humanitarian situation and the American “aid pier” (11:10), and the Biden administration’s refusal to punish Israeli rights violations (15:05); Egypt-Israel tensions are escalating as Gaza continues to deteriorate (19:56); in Myanmar, a report on the forced conscription of the nation’s embattled Rohingya minority (22:49); in Sudan, the RSF has surrounded the city of El-Fasher, trapping about 2.5 million displaced civilians (25:36); the US withdrawal from Niger grinds on as the former sends a negotiating team to iron out the details (28:08); Vladimir Putin replaces defense minister Sergei Shoigu (30:34); in Ukraine, a new Russian offensive (33:34) and a visit from Antony Blinken (35:57); prime minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was shot five times in an attempted assassination (36:54); the State Department removes Cuba from a counterterrorism list only to keep it on a terrorism supporter list (38:23); a New Cold War update featuring Biden’s new tariffs on Chinese imports (40:29) and Putin visits Xi Jinping (42:23).

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Daniel BessnerTwitterDaniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs.


Derek DavisonDerek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.


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