Illusion and Reality in the Middle East

At this recent New America event, Flynt Leverett, former National Security Council Senior Director of Middle East affairs and Middle East expert with the current Administration's Policy Planning Staff, outlined a compelling vision for a U.S. recovery strategy for the region in this special event with American Strategy Program Director Steven Clemons.

The discussion elaborated on Leverett's cover story for The American Prospect, which makes a cogent case for the return of a realist-based foreign policy that would empower Middle East moderates and marginalize radicals through diplomatic means. Leverett argues that the U.S. must directly engage with Syria and Iran sooner rather than later by aiming to re-establish U.S.-Syrian cooperation on strategic regional issues and by pursuing a “grand bargain” with Iran, and must articulate a more substantive vision for a solution to the Palestine question.

Michael Tomasky, Senior Editor for The American Prospect, provided introductory comments, New America's Steven Clemons moderated.

Participants

• Flynt Leverett
  Senior Fellow and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
  
• Michael Tomasky
  Senior Editor, The American Prospect
• Steven Clemons
  Senior Fellow and Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; Publisher, www.TheWashingtonNote.com