Hey, everyone.

It's Andrew Claven with this week's interview with Michael Duran.

Whenever I listen to people discussing foreign policy,

the one thing that seems to be missing is actually a sense of realism. Everyone's got a position

on right and wrong and ideals, and those are, of course, very useful things to talk about,

but you can't accomplish the impossible and trying to accomplish the impossible. It usually makes things worse, no matter what your ideals are.

After the 9-11 terrorist attacks by Islamists, for example, George W. Bush wanted to

transform the Middle East into a bastion of democracy to stem the rise of Islamist violence,

which was a great idea, as long as you didn't actually

try to do it or think you could do it. I would like to transform myself into a Yankees

center fielder, but I think it would just cause a lot more trouble than it would help anybody,

especially the Yankees. Mike Duran is a realist. This is why I always like talking to him about

the Middle East. He is a senior fellow and director of I always like talking to him about the Middle East.

He is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute.

He specializes in Middle East Security. And ever since the horrible attacks of October 7th, he has been really one of the common sense, not common sense, the uncommon sense voices out there.

All he cares about are American interests, and all he wants to know is where American interests lie and who we can work with to accomplish them.

Mike, it's always good to see you.

Thank you for coming on.

It's great to be here, and great to hear you have to say all those nice things about me.

Yeah, it's not like real life.

This is not like real life.

Yeah.

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