Hello and welcome to another episode of Interregn with Richard Seymour.

A little over a week ago, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan,

speaking at the Atlantic Festival, rattled off a list of positive developments in the Middle East,

which he argued had allowed the Biden administration to focus on issues elsewhere

in the world. Referencing the truth in Yemen, a decline in hostility in the US's relationship

with Iran, and what he characterized as America's stable residual presence in Iraq, he commented

that the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.

On Saturday, Sullivan's comments came back to haunt him, as Hamas carried out an unprecedentedly large-scale breakout from the Gaza Strip and launched attacks on the Israeli military and Israeli

civilians that have claimed over 1,200 lives at the time of recording.

Deaths on the Palestinian side from Israel's predictable assault and Gaza are heading towards

parity, and undoubtedly those numbers will escalate dramatically as Israel continues its air campaign

and prepares to launch a ground assault.

The following interview with Richard was recorded earlier today, and before it became

apparent that a national unity government would be formed in Israel.

The situation is obviously very fast moving and in order to get the episode out as quickly as

possible, it's been more lightly edited than as usual. We'll be doing more episodes on the

conflict with experts on the region in the coming weeks, so do be sure to subscribe to the show.

PTO depends almost entirely on listener support, so if you'd like to support our work,

please do also consider becoming a supporter at patreon.com forward slash poll theory other.

So Richard, we're speaking as Israel gears up to launch a ground invasion of Gaza following Hamas's

unprecedented actions on Saturday in which around 1,200 Israelis are currently believed to have been

killed, though of course those figures are probably subject to future revision and it's unclear

...