Doha Forum

Thanks, great to be here with you.

CounterPoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

Let's get started.

For this episode, we're doing things a bit differently.

And Congresswoman Sara Jacobs from San Diego, thanks for being with us.

Thank you.

CounterPoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

This is the final episode of the season.

With that, thank you both for joining us.

Let me just say CounterPoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

And with that, we can begin.

Let me start off by asking both of you.

Thanks very much.

Appreciate it.

CounterPoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

Our show is produced by Matt Murphy and our production staff includes Rob Sachs.

They're not the only ones.

In 2024, CNN opened a bureau in Education City in Qatar, which was underwritten with state funds and recently co-sponsored Qatar's annual foreign policy juggernaut known as the Doha Forum.

All kinds of human entrails have been there.

CNN's marketing materials for the Global Perspectives Conference promise that, quote, editorial content and news-making interviews from the summit will be featured across CNN platforms, offering Qatar an opportunity to portray itself positively to the Western world.

If it was up to me, I would cut Qatar off from every route of access that it has in politics, society, business, and so on around the world, as well as behind the scenes in Israel, but it's obviously not so simple.

You know who they hosted the Doha Forum last year, do you know?

Dr. Carlson.

And Francesca Albanese, they brought them together, yeah.

They're not the only ones.

In 2024, CNN opened a bureau in Education City in Qatar, which was underwritten with state funds and recently co-sponsored Qatar's annual foreign policy juggernaut known as the Doha Forum.

All kinds of human entrails have been there.

CNN's marketing materials for the Global Perspectives Conference promise that, quote, editorial content and news-making interviews from the summit will be featured across CNN platforms, offering Qatar an opportunity to portray itself positively to the Western world.

It's fascinating to me.

It seems like the Doha Forum is going to go forward.

Formula, whatever it is, is going to go forward.

Happy birthday, America.

Let's start maybe politically.

I remember talking to about a dozen Iranian officials, former officials, experts at the Doha Forum last December.

So this is after the 12-day war that Israel launched against Iran in June of 2025, and the U.S. joined briefly bombing Iran's nuclear facility.

And everyone agreed that Iran was in a state of absolute dead end, politically, economically, socially.

Thank you.

Counterpoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

And with that, let's get started.

[upbeat music] Stuart, since you're representing the pessimistic side of this debate, we are going to, uh, we're gonna continue to turn to you first.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[outro music] Counterpoint is a production of Foreign Policy in partnership with the Doha Forum.

Our show is produced by Matt Murphy, and our production staff includes Rob Sachs.

We can't abandon people to live that way." I was stunned by this.

I saw him recently when both you and I were in Doha at the Doha Forum.

I saw him there, and I stopped him, and I said, "It was extraordinary that I saw this article of yours, that I didn't expect to read that from the former head of the CIA." And he said, "Well, I, I feel I need, I need to write another one.

That was not enough." And he felt like, ah, he still needs to speak up even more.