Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 24-7 at Background Briefing.

I'm Ian Masters and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the unfortunate fact that much of the world blames the United States

for the violence in the Middle East that is poised to escalate. But at the same time,

we appear helpless as Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu is in the driver's seat, and Biden

and Harris appear to be reluctant passengers.

Joining us is Andrew Miller, a senior fellow focused on the Middle East in the National

Security and International Policy Department of the Center for American Progress.

He most recently served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau

of Near Eastern Affairs at the United States Department of State from 2022 to 2024. He previously

served as a senior policy advisor to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield,

covering the Middle East and North Africa, and also served as the Director for Egypt and Israel military issues

on President Barack Obama's National Security Council,

as well as at the United States Department of State,

in a variety of intelligence and policy roles.

We will discuss his article at Foreign Affairs.

America needs a new strategy to avert even greater catastrophe in the Middle East.

Shuttle diplomacy must be backed by meaningful pressure.

Then we'll examine how, with Lebanon under attack by Israel and Iran about to be attacked,

Netanyahu's promise that he will be liberating Iranians from their terrible government is a fantasy

as the opposite is happening in both countries as the population rallies around the flag when attacked

by a foreign power. Joining us is Paul Pillar, who served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA,

...