Are they then going to be used to take out those Iranian nuclear facilities either before or probably after the midterms? What's your sense here?

I think that the fact that they're still there, absolutely.

And not to mention, we have an additional carrier in the region.

This is the Trump administration letting the Iranians in the world know that we are not giving up either.

And so, yes, there is this timeline here.

blip, which called the midterm elections.

But obviously, we would not be moving additional forces into the region if we were to decide to negotiate with them, the Iranians, in the near future.

But President Trump's refusal to take the Iranians out before the midterms could have come back and bite them in the tuchus, as we used to say in New York.

[laughs]

Election, yep.

And, and then, then again, uh, Lula himself served time briefly in 2018.

So I think that the, that the people of Brazil are probably quite cynical now when it comes to elections.

But with regard to U- US interests in the hemisphere, this is, as you say, very big news.

Brazil is one of the founding company... uh, countries of, of the, of the BRIC, uh, bloc, which, whose focus has been to champion the so-called Global South, i.e., uh, and, you know, China is another founding member, as is Russia.

I think that Bolsonaro has said something along the lines of he would actually consider leaving BRICS.

I- Is it something that simple, or is it more complex?

Christine Balling is an adjunct professor and senior VP at the Institute of World Politics.

I am grateful that this got, uh, congressional attention, but, uh, it was just recently back, I think it was July 20th, the State Department put out a profoundly disturbing report called the Cuba Report, in which it does, I think for about 100 pages, outlines in detail how successful, starting with Fidel Castro, Cuban intelligence has been in infiltrating, uh, our domestic politics, our, our way of life.

So very specifically, in, in 1960, C- Castro, uh, founded something, in the English it would be ICAP, which is the Cuban Institute of Friendship for Peoples.

It grew...

I- its primary purpose was to, uh, create pro-Cuban sentiment in many different countries.

Target number one, the United States.

The largest partner today of ICAP is the NNOC, which the, which is the National Network on Cuba.

So this isn't more li- you know, th- this isn't like, "All right, we're trying to recruit, uh, tourists to come and spend money, uh, at our beach hotels or buy our cigars and our rum This is something, again, a bit more devious.

Would you mind telling me this? How is it that we find two United States CIA members killed in Mexico after a crash that they've tied back to cartel-related narcotics?

Well, the truth is the Central Intelligence Agency has been assisting in counter-narcotics efforts in countries like Mexico, Colombia, etc., for a long time.

No doubt.

So this is really not a surprise, and I think that the reaction that the president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, has had is largely due to her domestic political views priorities.

But in any event, yes, CIA operations officers do have in the past done work in country training host nation partners.

And so it's no shock to me that, of course, I don't know what exactly they were doing, but the fact that we've got case officers working covertly in Mexico to to shore up what should be, as you point out, a much stronger partnership between the United States and Mexico to counter these terrible cartels.

It's no surprise.

Well, so, Christine, as long as the cartels have this kind of role in Mexico and they have this kind of hold over the Mexican government at it seems like almost every level, how do we ever get on top of this problem and stop the cartels from shipping drugs into what has to be one of the most attractive marketplaces for drugs on planet Earth?

Is the enticement of 300 billion dollars enough to get Iran to be a little bit more adherent to this deal? And if not, what do you what do you foresee in the next few months that ultimately makes it crumble, as you said, and not hold?

Well, I suspect that there could be renewed exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel, for one.

I think that, in fact, I think that was even happening today.

I don't...

I hate to be cynical, but no matter what Iran agrees to over the next 60 days, what really matters is the extent to which the United States and, with luck, our European partners will be able to confirm that Iran is sticking to the deal.

Again, most importantly...

if they're trying to unearth that rich uranium that we buried during Operation Midnight Hammer several months ago.

Is that a significant foreign policy achievement, even if it isn't all the things that at various times people thought maybe Donald Trump would get in this deal?

And people don't understand that.

Yeah.

Well, Raul Castro was and, and still is again, even though symbolically, very powerful in that essentially he was the technocrat behind the scenes.

Fidel, as you say, was the larger than life, unfortunately, character who was very inspirational for all of the communist revolutions, uh, in the region, it w- obviously in Cuba itself, and then also sadly an inspiration for the extreme left in, here in the United States.

That's a whole different topic, but it is something that's worth addressing at some point.

So, uh, there of course is, is Raul Castro's, uh, grandson, the, nicknamed strangely The Crab because one of his, uh, hands actually has six fingers, who is, uh, also a conten- yes, a, a contender.

He's, he's I think much more than just a bodyguard for his grandfather.

Does Cuba have an, uh, a, a presence in that regard outside of Cuba, perhaps in the United States and, and elsewhere?

And people don't understand that.

Yeah.

Well, Raul Castro was, and, and still is again, even though symbolically, very powerful in that essentially he was the technocrat behind the scenes.

Fidel, as you say, was the larger than life, unfortunately, character who was very inspirational for all of the communist revolutions, uh, in the region.

W- obviously in Cuba itself, and then also sadly, an inspiration for the extreme left in here in the United States.

That's a whole different topic, but it is something that's worth addressing at some point.

So, uh, there of course is, is Raul Castro's, uh, grandson, th- nicknamed strangely, The Crab, because one of his, uh, hands actually has six fingers, who is, uh, also a conten- yes, a, a contender.

Does Cuba have an, uh, a, a presence in that regard outside of Cuba, perhaps in the United States and, and elsewhere?

That they've often gone back on their words.

Oh, I agree.

And I, and I, I think that, uh, that the administration, we need to remain100% skeptical about what they're saying.

But what, what seems to have been the case throughout this conflict is regardless of, of the, of the, uh, the public statements, the actions speak for themselves.

So, uh, in a certain sense what, what the Iranians say publicly, uh, probably has zero bearing on the reality.

I think at this point the way that this conflict will be resolved is if the...

W- we just, we have to continue to exert pressure to the point where the Iranians surrender on one front, whether it be their threats of, of setting up toll booths in the Strait of Hormuz, you know, whether they're, they're saying that they, th- they will never back down to the United States.

But, uh, the president's displeasure with NATO has already been, um, has been expressed more than once.

That they've often gone back on their words.

Oh, I agree.

And I, and I, I think that, uh, that the administration, we need to remain one hundred percent skeptical about what they're saying.

But what, what seems to have been the case throughout this conflict is regardless of, of the, of the, uh, the public statements, the actions speak for themselves.

So, uh, in a certain sense, what, what the Iranians say publicly, uh, probably has zero bearing on the reality.

I think at this point, the way that this conflict will be resolved is if the, uh-- we just-- we have to continue to exert pressure to the point where the Iranians surrender on one front, whether it be their threats of, of setting up toll booths in the Strait of Hormuz, you know, whether they're, they're saying that they, they will never back down to the United States.

None of that matters i-i-if w-we can continue to pressure to do what we want.

But, uh, the president's displeasure with NATO has already been, um, has been expressed more than once.

Um, uh, th-this seems to put the, the world balance out of balance a bit, and, and are we looking at, at, at something new on the horizon in terms of how the world is organized? Now, does this change relationships fundamentally?

First of all, certainly President Trump has made it very clear that he was hoping and perhaps expecting our NATO allies to be much more actively involved, uh, i-in, in, in the, in the, the theater.

I think there's another thing at play.

I think that the, the media, a lot-- U.S. media outlets that aren't traditionally, uh, supportive of the Trump administration have exaggerated the various instances where our planes were not allowed to land to refuel or whatever to stir the pot to make it seem that the U.S. is doing this unilaterally and without any support.

I mean, the, the bottom line is u-U.S. planes have, for example, continued to use the, uh, Royal Air Force bases in the UK.

Uh, in, in the case of Italy, it sounds like, uh, what happened wasThe procedure is that the, the I- Italian parliament has to okay, um, uh, the overflight clearance, and apparently in that case, our planes took off and sent the plan- the flight plan too late.

So one could argue that that was a technicality that, well, of course the defense minister could have let it happen, but, but I think there's a slight exaggeration in terms of, uh, the fact that we're all, all alone here.

It's supposed to be about mutual defense, not we're defended by the big behemoth.

Um, uh, th-this seems to put th-the world balance out of balance a bit, and, and are we looking at, at, at something new on the horizon in terms of how the world is organized? Now, does this change relationships fundamentally?

First of all, certainly President Trump has made it very clear that he was hoping and perhaps expecting our NATO allies to be much more actively involved, uh, i-in, in, in the, in the, the theater.

I think there's another thing at play.

I think that the, the media, a lot-- U.S. media outlets that aren't traditionally, uh, supportive of the Trump administration, have exaggerated the various instances where our planes were not allowed to land to refuel or whatever to stir the pot, to make it seem that the U.S. is doing this unilaterally and without any support.

I mean, the, the bottom line is U-U.S. planes have, for example, continued to use the, uh, Royal Air Force bases in the UK.

Uh, in, in the case of Italy, it sounds like, uh, what happened was the procedure is that the, the I-Italian parliament has to okay, um, uh, the overflight clearance, and apparently in that case, our planes took off and sent the plan-- the flight plan too late.

So one could argue that that was a technicality that, well, of course, the defense minister could have let it happen.

It's supposed to be about mutual defense, not we're defended by the big behemoth.