WTH Is Going On In Lebanon? Ambassador David Hale Explains.
What the Hell Is Going On
AEI Podcasts
4.4 • 633 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
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Summary
On the eve of talks in Washington between leaders in Lebanon and Israel, Beirut has signaled a push to extend the 10-day, U.S.-mediated ceasefire set to expire this Sunday. The ongoing conflict with Iran has put its proxies’ regional struggles into the limelight, as flashpoints continue to emerge, Lebanon chief among them. As a platform for Hezbollah, Lebanon is in a unique political position, balancing an adversary at home while aligning itself more closely with the West amid regional confrontation. Donald Trump has a historic opportunity to rid the Middle East of the Iranian regime if he is willing to commit to the persistence and patience needed to see this operation through. For Israel and Lebanon, is now the time?
Ambassador David Hale is a Career Ambassador and Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute. He also currently serves as a Distinguished Fellow with the Wilson Center. Ambassador Hale previously served as US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; US Ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon, and Jordan; and Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. He is the author of American Diplomacy Toward Lebanon: Lessons in Foreign Policy and the Middle East, published by Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris in February 2024.
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| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by the American Enterprise Institute. |
| 0:03.1 | If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, review, and share. |
| 0:07.1 | Thanks for listening. Here's our show. |
| 0:08.7 | What the hell is going on? |
| 0:10.5 | What's really going on? |
| 0:12.0 | We said, what the hell happened? |
| 0:13.5 | You don't have to know what the hell is on it. |
| 0:15.6 | They see what's going on. |
| 0:16.7 | I don't know what's going on. |
| 0:18.0 | What is going on? |
| 0:20.0 | We must find out what's going on. What is going on? We must find out what is going on. |
| 0:30.8 | Hi, I'm Danielle Pletka. |
| 0:32.5 | And I'm Mark Tiesin. |
| 0:33.7 | Welcome to our podcast. |
| 0:35.1 | What the hell is going on? |
| 0:37.1 | Mark, what the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? Mark, what the hell is going on? |
| 0:39.4 | What the hell is going on is there are negotiations taking place or not or about to be taking place or perhaps taking place between Iran and the United States. The ceasefire has been extended as we record this. Trump says for three to five days, apparently. |
| 0:56.5 | And so everybody's waiting to see what happens in Iran. |
| 1:00.3 | And while the combat in Iran is taking place, |
| 1:04.5 | there's also been combat in Lebanon because Israel, |
| 1:08.7 | Hezbollah, the terrorist group that is based in Lebanon, joined Iran in its retaliation against Israel. |
| 1:17.4 | And so Israel took the opportunity to say, hey, let's clean this mess up as well. |
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