DSR Daily March 17: Assassinations and Resignations Shake Up Iran War

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1:28Sign up at the DSR Networking.com. That's coded DSR 26 at the DSR Networking.com slash bye. Thank you and enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the DSR Daily. I'm David Rothkoff. I'm joined by Riley Fessler and Minestine. Riley's going to kick us off today. What do you got? Ali Larajani, Iran's top security official, and a vital bridge between the country's military and political factions has been killed in an Israeli air strike. Larajani was considered a relative pragmatist who balanced hardline interests with the potential for internal consensus. His death likely clears the path for the military to tighten its grip on power under the new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba Kameni, further radicalizing the ruling system.

2:29Experts suggest that this elite-thinning strategy may backfire by removing the specific leaders capable of showing the flexibility needed to negotiate and end to the ongoing conflict. Yeah, that last point, no one has ever decapitated a regime and produced regime changes by bombing people. And this is not going to work. And in fact, it looks like it's putting more hardbinders in place, producing more resentment, anger, giving the military more clout. And you just got to ask yourself, do you think we're better off with a military regime running Iran rather than a theocratic regime running Iran? Now, this may seem like a pretty bad choice. But I would suggest that sound war planners would have asked themselves this question, and whether or not this was an outcome

3:30that advanced our interests. Because we are far, far away from achieving any goal that is useful to the United States here. And indeed, with rising energy prices, instability in the region, benefits going to Russia, strengthening resentment in Iran, no plan for not only the rise of alternative voices there, but actually greater likelihood that they will be put down more violently in the future. This has taken a bad situation and made it worse. Which, as we have said here before, is the reason why for 50 years of animosity between our countries, we didn't do this before. But history, understanding, strategic planning, planning of any sort, expert advice means nothing to the big guy in charge here in the U.S. right now, minute.

4:32Gregory Bavino, a top U.S. border patrol official, is planning to retire at the end of March after a long career in the agency, sources say. His departure follows controversy, justified surrounding operations in Minneapolis, including fatal shootings that drew public backlash and investigations. The move marks the exit of a prominent and polarizing figure in the Trump administration's immigration enforcement office. Yeah, don't let the door hit you on the ass, Greg. Terrible job, terrible person should have been out before, shouldn't have had this influence that you had. Hope we never see again, tata for now. There was, however, another departure from the administration, which is a little more newsworthy and a lot more complicated, Riley will give you a perspective on that. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the ongoing war in Iran.

5:36And a public letter to the Special Forces and CIA veteran claimed that Iran posed no imminent threat and that the conflict was initiated due to pressure from Israel and its lobby. Kent further alleged that misinformation from high-ranking Israeli officials and U.S. journalists deceived the president into undermining his America-first platform. While urging the administration to reverse course, the former official highlighted his personal perspective as a gold star, widower, and that the White House has yet to comment on the resignation. Yeah, I mean, look, you know, your first reaction, maybe, oh, good, somebody's resigning from the administration, and indeed, you know, good, somebody's resigning in protest of the war. But I had real qualms about whether or not even to promote this story, because this guy is a bad guy, and he is a known anti-Semite. And so rather than blaming Trump for this, he resigned by saying the Israelis forced us to do this, the Israeli lobby forced us to do this.

6:39Now, you can have all the complaints you want with Israel and the Israeli lobby. I got plenty myself. But this guy throughout his career has been a conspiracy nut and an anti-Semite, and it's very clear to see what he is doing and how he is trying to spin this for the right wing in his party, which is not to say, hey, Don, you screwed up, but to say, those damn Jews, and it's ugly. And, you know, there was a good post by Amy Spitalnik on this on Blue Sky, which said, you may be inclined to amplify Joe Kent right now because of concerns over the Iran War. Don't. He's an extremist with deep ties to Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers who never should have been in the role in the first place. Sadly, one of many in this administration. So sometimes things are not what they appear to be,

7:47or perhaps they are what they appear to be, but we let our other feelings get in the way of appreciating what's wrong with this. Pose the war, but also oppose Nazi sympathizers like Joe Kent, oppose the actions of the Israeli government. But recognize that the president of the United States has agency. The president of the United States is the one who caused the fiasco. The president of the United States is the one who could end this fiasco. The president of the United States is the one who could stop supplying arms to the Israelis. The president of the United States has much more power than any lobby group in the United States. And that the ulterior motive in framing this this way is just more hate and racism from the right. A deadly strike on a hospital in Kabul left hundreds feared dead with Afghan officials blaming Pakistan, which denied targeting civilians

8:53and said it struck militant sites. The attack, which reportedly killed around 400 people and injured hundreds more, occurred amid escalating conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, including cross-border fighting and repeated airstrikes. As violence intensifies and displaces thousands international figures have urged restraint while diplomatic efforts to ease tensions have so far failed. And yeah, you know, I have to say this is one of those issues where there's really only one country in the world that can stop this. And unlike what you may remember from your youth, it's not the US. It's not Russia. It's not a country in the EU. The only country with the clout to get this under control is China. China's largest embassy is in Pakistan. China has made a strategic play to be close to Pakistan in order to counterbalance India. China has relations with

9:56both countries that are important because it sees them both as corridors towards the transmittal of oil and other vital assets of national security resources to China. So this could get much uglier. And I think if people wanted to end, they're going to have to apply to China and seek China's assistance in turning off the heat here. The Kennedy Center's Board of Directors has voted to shutter operations for two years following this summer's July 4th celebrations. A move President Trump officially attributes to necessary structural repairs. But we all know the real reason amidst this transition to the what's the real reason, Riley? Nobody wants to perform there. Why? Because they don't want to have

10:57anything to do with Trump. Right. I miss this transition. The Board appointed facilities expert Matt Flokka as the new CEO to replace Trump ally at Richard Grinnell, whose controversial tenure included renaming the facility, the Trump Kennedy Center, and oversaw a period of significant financial and legal friction. The administration's heavy-handed influence prompted a mass exodus of high-profile artists and consultants, such as Issa Rae and Ben Folds, who withdrew in protest of the venue's shift toward Trump-friendly programming. While the vote was unanimous, the meeting was marked by a legal standoff with Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who successfully sued to attend the White House hosted session, despite being denied a vote. Where to begin? First of all, Richard Grinnell failed with the Kennedy Center just like he failed as ambassador to Germany, just like he failed as a special envoy. Richard Grinnell is a Trump totey and election denier. He wanted to be Secretary of State. This was a lousy consolation prize and he even screwed this up. What has happened in the Kennedy Center

12:06is obscene and it's a national treasure, and it has been squandered because Trump sought to politicize it and make it all about him as he does with everything else. I should add that the renovation that he is undertaking at the Kennedy Center, which he says will cost $200 million, comes after a $250 million renovation a couple of years ago. They expanded the Kennedy Center, they expanded the facilities, they upgraded the facilities. It's just an excuse to shut it down, as Riley says, and the reason it's an excuse is it has become like almost everything else Trump has undertaken during this term. A black eye for the administration, a failed policy, and so he's going to punish artists and punish theater goers and punish music lovers and punish the country by running roughshod over this administration. As you drive by it, as you look at

13:07pictures of it, though, as you see on the front, it says Trump Kennedy Center. Don't call it that, that's not its name. The Kennedy Center was named by an act of Congress. The board of directors, which has sought to change the name, all of, you know, a board, which is, you know, handpicked by Trump, doesn't have the power to change the name. They've illegally changed the labeling on the outside of the building. This is just like everything else Trump does. Ugly, damaging, self-obsessed, corrupt, and gross, and it's sad for those of us who live in Washington, for those who visit Washington, it's just sad. Anyway, that's it for today. We've got more coming your way each and every day this week, and we look forward to joining you then as we follow all these stories onward. Until then,

14:08thanks, Robert. Thanks a minute. Thanks, everybody. Bye-bye.