Today's show features an interview with Dr. Daniel Pipes, a Middle Eastern expert on Iran and what's next, and 5 short stories about Canada in 2026, including a new daycare program, a Supreme Court ruling on the sex offender registry, and more.
00:14:04.920And now there does seem to be the beginnings of a land campaign in that the Kurds, who are based in Iraq and in western Iran, are beginning to take steps with American and Israeli encouragement and perhaps armaments to take on the regime.
00:14:25.880Now, how well they can do against the regime is an open question.
00:15:40.720What do you think of the Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi?
00:15:44.260Many diaspora communities wave his flag.
00:15:47.960I've seen here in Toronto a large number of Iranian Canadians express a desire that the son of the Shah take a role, at least on an interim basis.
00:19:20.480I saw an essay online by Melissa Chen who said, yes, this is about Israel and Iran and the region, but it's also about China.
00:19:27.900And I've seen other commentators say there's sort of two simultaneous strategies of what Israel wants, along with the local Arab states, wants to remove the threat of Iran, especially the ballistic missiles and the nukes.
00:19:43.160But America, in addition to that, wants to remove China's influence from the region and Russia's too, but China more acutely.
00:19:51.820The source of oil, a way to keep America on the back foot.
00:19:56.160Do you have any thoughts on China and this conflict?
00:20:01.060I mean, China and Russia both basically said we're not getting involved.
00:20:07.120And speak to China, if you would, the Chinese aspect of this battle.
00:20:12.000If I could just speak to Russia for a second first, there is news breaking that the Russians have supplied Iran with intelligence about American assets,
00:20:23.460be they military or commercial otherwise, and that the Iranians have relied heavily in recent days on this intelligence from Russia.
00:20:34.140So that has got lots of implications, particularly since Trump has been quite chummy with Putin.
00:20:43.560China, in contrast, has not been involved so far as we know, has not provided intelligence, has not sped up arms deliveries, has not provided money.
00:20:55.800They are proving, the Chinese are proving to be, the Communist Chinese are proving to be a fair weather friend.
00:21:01.460This probably has implications, both in the case of Russia and China, for other anti-Western regimes like North Korea and, of course, Cuba.
00:21:13.260You know, I think one of the most demoralizing moments in Joe Biden's presidency were the images of the hasty retreat of the U.S. military from Afghanistan.
00:21:23.980The images of people clambering on jets as they went down the runway, leaving behind billions of dollars worth of equipment.
00:21:30.900It really felt Jimmy Carter-esque in terms of a big dopey government that couldn't even handle itself.
00:22:13.740And I think some of the moves of the Americans, sinking ships in the manner they have, just the technological awesomeness.
00:22:24.060I think that's designed to win, but I think it's also designed to put fear in the hearts of every tyrant that maybe they could be snatched from their bed in the dead of night by special ops.
00:22:37.900I think it's a lot more than just Iran that's about to be crushed here.
00:22:41.620I think Donald Trump is trying to teach the world who America is these days.
00:22:46.280Maybe that's an obvious point, but I think, I'm not going to call it a cruelty of war, but a total approach to war feels new.
00:22:55.760I have no doubt that you're right, that this is in part a reaction to the Biden years.
00:23:01.260And, indeed, the fact that Trump was president once before and had four years to meditate on what he didn't do and what he could do probably is also a factor.
00:23:16.480I mean, he's a very different president than he was the first time around.
00:23:21.780And he got angry and he got ambitious in a way he had not been the first time.
00:24:13.500Speaking of which, I just want to ask you about one particular thing.
00:24:16.700I saw Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, use a phrase that was quite deliberate because I've seen it repeated several times in official publications since.
00:24:26.460He said that U.S. and Israel are the two most effective, most powerful air forces in the world.
00:24:35.920So not the U.K., not Russia or China, but America number one and Israel number two.
00:24:43.480And I thought about that and I thought, you know, that's probably true.
00:24:46.960I would never have thought it until Hegseth said it.
00:24:50.600I always would have assumed the mighty RAF, they've got a couple of aircraft carriers, they have modern jets, but maybe it's that willpower thing.
00:25:00.260I mean, Keir Starmer has just been a puddle.
00:25:02.900The Brits have not really been active.
00:25:30.540As the witticism goes, it used to be thought that Russia was the second most powerful military in the world.
00:25:36.400Now it's the second most powerful military in Ukraine.
00:25:38.680But beyond that, I think what is remarkable, this is the first time since World War II that the United States is working with another military on a roughly equal basis.
00:25:54.780The fact that the United States has 330 million population in Israel, 10 million, doesn't seem to be important.
00:26:02.200But in all other prior engagements, the RAF, the French, the Canadians, you name it, were junior partners.
00:26:12.240You know, the Danish would send 54 soldiers to Afghanistan sort of thing.
00:26:16.160This time, the Israeli participation is not symbolic.
00:26:23.040The problem lies in the fact that the Israeli government, the American government, presumably have different goals.
00:26:27.820And at any point, Donald Trump could declare victory and just leave the field, in which case the Israelis would be left holding the bag.
00:26:35.680And it could be a very inflammable situation still.
00:26:40.520So I think the Israelis are wary of Donald Trump and his leaving the field at will at any moment.
00:26:48.240What do you make of Keir Starmer in the UK and other countries, like the Prime Minister of Spain, announcing that he would not allow the Americans to use Air Force bases there to launch attacks?
00:27:05.440Actually, that was Keir Starmer's point of view for a while, too.
00:27:07.900It sort of undoes the point of having an Air Force base forward, you know, on the other side of the world of suddenly when you need it, you can't use it.
00:27:17.980But it certainly doesn't feel like something an ally would do.
00:27:21.640I'm completely convinced that that is solely a domestic politics decision by Starmer and the Spanish government, that they have a domestic population of Muslim activists who, at the very least, would be politically opposed to this.
00:27:42.420And they're very politically active in the UK and perhaps even would engage in violence or at least mass protest, but possible terrorist attack.
00:27:52.060I think the only reason why these NATO allies have not helped America is because they're afraid of their domestic Muslim migrants.
00:28:01.380I'd agree with you in the case of Great Britain, less so in the case of Spain.
00:28:05.360I think the Spanish prime minister has taken off, is a far leftist, and is hostile to Trump in a fundamental way and sees opposing Trump as a politically advantageous step.
00:28:17.420I don't think it's so much the domestic Muslim population as the domestic leftist population that he's appealing to in Spain.
00:28:36.900That's astonishing to hear from the country that at great cost liberated itself from the Muslim Moorish invaders after centuries of domination.
00:28:45.720It's sort of, I wonder what Ferdinand and Isabella would say if they were around.
00:28:51.400Let me ask you about when Trump goes, because he will not be president in three years' time.
00:29:02.500And it's tough to predict, but you may not have a Republican.
00:29:06.920If you have a Republican, it might be J.D. Vance.
00:29:10.220Can you look beyond Trump and give us some sort of a prognostication?
00:29:14.740And it's my observation that anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic views are on the rise on the woke left.
00:29:24.800But I also see it on what some people are calling the woke right.
00:29:29.020Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens being examples of that.
00:31:56.520America doesn't have all the weapons like the B-2s and their special bunker buster bombs.
00:32:01.880But I think it's plausible to say that Israel could have neutralized Iran on its own without America's help and without America's hindrance.
00:32:12.160Is there a future where Israel is sort of an independent country with Arab allies, by the way?
00:32:18.420And it's a regional power that's not so tightly tied to America if America is tiring of its international connections?
00:32:26.800It's worth pointing out that Israel has its own second war underway at this time, which is against Hezbollah.
00:32:35.800The United States military has no role there whatsoever.
00:32:38.720I've been arguing for three cases more that Israel should resale from American aid.
00:32:45.700You said it's 1%, even half a percent of GDP.
00:32:50.980Yes, of course, you can do it without it.