Send us Fan Mail

Saudi airports getting hit by cruise missiles should shatter a lot of comforting stories about “stability” in the Middle East. We sit down with Eric Sproling of Just Foreign Policy to connect the dots between the long Saudi-led war in Yemen, the way the Houthis built real missile and drone capabilities, and how US support over multiple administrations helped shape the battlefield we’re watching now.

We get specific about what people forget: the Obama-era backing for the Saudi campaign, the catastrophic humanitarian crisis created by bombing and blockade, and the stalled 2022 ceasefire that never turned into a final peace deal. From there, we talk about why the Iran war and the Gaza fallout raise the temperature across the region, and why the biggest threat to US partners may be the simple math of modern warfare: cheap drones versus expensive interceptors, plus dwindling missile defense stockpiles.

Then we widen the lens to Israel’s regional strategy, normalization politics, and the split inside pro-Israel circles over force versus a managed “two-state” rebrand. Finally, we shift to Pakistan: Imran Khan’s removal, the military-backed government’s tightening authoritarian control, and why Washington appears more comfortable with repression than with a strategically independent democracy.

If you care about Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, US foreign policy, the Iran war, Israel normalization, and Pakistan’s political crisis, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Support the show