Robert Dreyfuss, author of The Dreyfuss Report blog for The Nation, discusses why the U.S. is scared of Moqtada al-Sadr's participation in an Iraqi coalition government, how the prolonged political stalemate threatens to fracture Iraqi society and why the U.S. must use long-neglected diplomatic skills and play nice with Pakistan and Iran to achieve peaceful resolutions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Robert Dreyfuss, author of The Dreyfuss Report blog for The Nation, discusses the conflict between Obama and Gen. Petraeus over an Afghanistan withdrawal timetable, why a left-right alliance is unlikely because of intransigence on domestic issues and disinterest in foreign policy, the shifting Iraqi political coalitions that may indicate another poor electoral showing for Shiite religious parties and why the shut-out of US oil companies vying for Iraqi oil contracts lessens the incentive for...

Robert Dreyfuss, author of Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, discusses the discontent in Iran's business community with sanctions and an unstable pariah government, the possibility Iranian political opposition leaders may soon be arrested (or worse), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's inextricable association with Ahmedinejad and the shift in U.S. war and propaganda effort from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Robert Dreyfuss, author of Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, discusses the Obama administration's Iraq withdrawal plan, the survivability of Iraq's central government without U.S. support, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran and why the doctrine of preventive war left town with the Bush administration.

Robert Dreyfuss, author of Devil’s Game, discusses the coming pitfalls for the Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, the prospects for full withdrawal in the face of renewed 'facts on the ground' decision-making rhetoric, the many possible meanings of 'residual forces,' the political power struggles among the many Iraqi factions, the influence of foreign policy think tank agitators in the Obama administration, the tendency of U.S. diplomats to deliberately fail in 'peace talks' to create a pretense...

Robert Dreyfuss, author of The Dreyfuss Report blog for The Nation, discusses the policy of 'hot pursuit' across international boundaries against anyone deemed an enemy, an increased military budget that encourages greater use of special forces, the prospect of a renewed UN mandate replacing a failed Iraq SOFA agreement and how it could effect the incoming U.S. administration, Iran’s decision to reduce confrontation with the U.S., how the Israeli election result will impact prospects for peace...

Robert Dreyfuss, reporter for The Nation, discusses the Iraqi resistance, the myth of the surge's responsibility for the reduction in violence, Iran's brokering of Sadr's cease-fire, Maliki's tightrope act in needing the U.S. to back him now, but leave soon, the problem of Kirkuk and Russia's role in the changing Mideast dynamic.

Robert Dreyfuss discusses the failures of American intervention and it's recent promotion by Barack Obama, what an Obama presidency might look like including the possibility of keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, the dynamics of the American struggle for strategic global dominance, how American power as an example rather than a threat works much better for building international relations and his belief that chances of war with Iran are quite low despite all the recent hype.