BROADCASTS.com

In our first episode, Jon Alterman sits down with Ambassador Bill Burns about the role of the United States in the Middle East. Amb. Burns is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the former deputy secretary of state, and the author of\xa0The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal. Jon, Will, and Amber also discuss escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, and we finish with a look at how some couples are opting for a new type of gold in their wedding dowries. \n\nJames McAuley, \u201cHezbollah downs Israeli drone in ongoing tension between Iranian-backed groups and Israel,\u201d\xa0Washington Post, September 9, 2019. \n\nDavid Halbfinger, Ben Hubbard, and Ronen Bergman, \u201cThe Israel-Iran shadow war escalates and breaks into the open,\u201d\xa0New York Times,\xa0August 28, 2019. \n\nWilliam Burns and Jake Sullivan, \u201cWe led successful negotiations with Iran. Trump\u2019s approach isn\u2019t working,\u201d\xa0Atlantic, May 16, 2019. \n\nHannah Porter, \u201cFool\u2019s gold?\u201d\xa0CSIS, January 18, 2019.