Great respect for this very knowledgeable woman. She made this very complicated subject easy to understand.
On another note: there is an article in the Guardian this morning where some Israeli minister has the nerve to call out Iran for bombing an Israeli hospital! How is that different from what Israel has been doing - and is continuing to do - in Gaza with their ceaseless bombings not only of hospitals, but civilian housing, point blank shootings of first aid workers, food banks, etc.?
Although I am very much pro-Jewish, I have become very much anti-Israeli government and its voters, who continue to kill Palestinians on the West Bank to steal their land and all the other horrors perpetrated by them.
Israel built underground wards in their hospitals, in order to protect their own civilians. Hamas built bases under hospitals in Gaza in order to protect their terrorists and use their civilians as human shields, as has been copiously documented, for example here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/us/politics/gaza-hospital-hamas.html
Iran sponsors Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other terrorist organizations) and arms Russia in its illegal invasion of Ukraine). They deliberately target civilians with no military in the area. However awful Netanyahu and his toxic coalition partners are, however you disagree with how the war in Gaza or the situation in the West Bank is being handled, there is no bothsidesing-this with a country that has spent 46 years using their terrorist proxies to attack Israelis and Americans (starting with the 1983 Beirut Bombings--241 dead),.
So you are saying Israel is not doing anything wrong and it is perfectly alright for them to kill as many innocent civilians as possible.
Israel prides itself on its commandos' capability to get any job done. So why not root out the underground tunnels, etc.? Is it because they want to continue using that excuse to commit genocide in Gaza and against all Palestinians?
I am not bothsiding this and I am deffinitely nor pro-Iran, I am pointing out the fallacy in Israel's continuous war mongering to keep the truly criminal Netanyahoo in power. And I will continue to be anti-Israel as long as they continue their genocide of anything Palestinian.
Hugely important to be reminded that it is Obama who commissioned the "bunker bombs" as integral to his "coercive diplomacy" with the Iran agreement. This is what happens when Rs politicize foreign policy and put Americans very much in harms way.
Also hugely important to be reminded that when Obama negotiated the Iran agreement Iran's "bad nuclear material" was at 3%. Because of the Rs abandonment of Obama's Iran agreement those materials has grown to 60%.
This really scary potential Middle East war is all on the Rs.
Great questions, Jen! Wendy Sherman possesses such a high level of knowledge, deep insight into the history of issues, and forethought into the complexities involved, she is truly amazing!! Her equanimity, measured words, and diplomacy uniquely suited to decision-making in such volatile situations. Having a time-bomb president who changes his mind on a whim, and is surrounded by sycophants is incredibly unsettling.
It is the worst situation possible. We have a corrupt and inept President, with absolutely no comprehension of what is really happening. To make matters worse he has a completely inexperienced, unskilled, and quite frankly, idiotic staff in place who will not be giving accurate or timely information for any kind of decision making. Hegseth, Rubio, and Gabbard are basically the three stooges here. Congress is doing nothing per usual. We are about to witness a feckless decision made by Trump that will have permanent and far-reaching consequences for Iran, Israel, the US and Europe. At this point I don't see a good outcome for anyone.
Jen asks such a good question. If the "bunker bomb" is deployed, could Iran simply start again to rebuild its nuclear program? Answer by Secretary Sherman, yes, because you can't bomb knowledge out of existence.
Are there any competent people that Trump is listening to? I'm not aware of any. He is ignoring Tulsi Gabbard, who I also do not trust. I'm not sure Trump is capable of following clear and logical reasoning, or listening to expert opinion, or that he even cares. Steve Witkoff is a fucking moron.
But does that kind of expert opinion even get to Trump through the idiotic filters he has around him? He's a fat dipshit, but even a good president needs intelligence and expert input into the process.
Trump has no process at all I can see. He might be checking polls or reading twitter posts.
Good discussion on regime change. Fantastical. Good reminder from Jen about importance of soft power which is why shutting down Voice of America was so stupid.
Does the use of the bunker busting equipment at Fordow require American personnel? Israelis have highly skilled military/technology and all the hardware the United States provides/has provided is run by Israelis, as far as I know.
Intelligence is building a picture of what they think is going on. Makes sense. But of course the American public is skittish after "intelligence building" got it so wrong - still a question of whether on purpose - in the Iraq war.
As monumental as this crisis of Trump's own making is, I need healthcare right now. My animals need healthcare. Americans have actual immediate priorities other than how well our president gets his genitals stroked by being in the news.
Donald's only real plan is framed in his mind as a kind of season finale, or episode cliffhanger, or something very Reality TV.
He yearns to piggyback on what he perceives to be a spectacularly successful military foray by Israel (the reviews aren't all in, but so far, militarily, many analysts say it's been effective as far as it goes) in order to steal a little glory and a little thunder from Bibi by pretending it was his own Big Boy idea all along.
If Israel's attack were going badly, Donald would never have heard of Israel. "Bibi who?" he'd ask. And he'd say that "lots of people are saying that if only Israel had listened to him, we wouldn't even be having this war." Gosh, he's already established that if he'd been running the country instead of Abraham Lincoln, we coulda had a Civil War without all those casualties, plus the right side woulda won.
But so far, from one perspective, it's going well enough that Donald wants to steal the credit for it, in hopes of boosting his poll numbers or distracting the public from the contents of his Big Beautiful Bill, or whipping up a military fever as he prepares to deploy troops to Chicago, New York, and other Democratic cities.
Great respect for this very knowledgeable woman. She made this very complicated subject easy to understand.
On another note: there is an article in the Guardian this morning where some Israeli minister has the nerve to call out Iran for bombing an Israeli hospital! How is that different from what Israel has been doing - and is continuing to do - in Gaza with their ceaseless bombings not only of hospitals, but civilian housing, point blank shootings of first aid workers, food banks, etc.?
Although I am very much pro-Jewish, I have become very much anti-Israeli government and its voters, who continue to kill Palestinians on the West Bank to steal their land and all the other horrors perpetrated by them.
Israel built underground wards in their hospitals, in order to protect their own civilians. Hamas built bases under hospitals in Gaza in order to protect their terrorists and use their civilians as human shields, as has been copiously documented, for example here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/us/politics/gaza-hospital-hamas.html
and here: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/12/20/hamas-member-admits-it-uses-hospital-as-command-center/
Their use of civilian housing to hide tunnels and rocket launchers has also been well documented, for example here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/world/middleeast/hamas-gaza-israel-fighting.html
and here: https://time.com/6693896/hamas-tunnels-gaza-home-ruin/
Iran sponsors Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other terrorist organizations) and arms Russia in its illegal invasion of Ukraine). They deliberately target civilians with no military in the area. However awful Netanyahu and his toxic coalition partners are, however you disagree with how the war in Gaza or the situation in the West Bank is being handled, there is no bothsidesing-this with a country that has spent 46 years using their terrorist proxies to attack Israelis and Americans (starting with the 1983 Beirut Bombings--241 dead),.
So you are saying Israel is not doing anything wrong and it is perfectly alright for them to kill as many innocent civilians as possible.
Israel prides itself on its commandos' capability to get any job done. So why not root out the underground tunnels, etc.? Is it because they want to continue using that excuse to commit genocide in Gaza and against all Palestinians?
I am not bothsiding this and I am deffinitely nor pro-Iran, I am pointing out the fallacy in Israel's continuous war mongering to keep the truly criminal Netanyahoo in power. And I will continue to be anti-Israel as long as they continue their genocide of anything Palestinian.
Thank you, Cecelia, for providing this information. I also dislike the "bothsidesing".
Ditto, ditto, ditto!
Hugely important to be reminded that it is Obama who commissioned the "bunker bombs" as integral to his "coercive diplomacy" with the Iran agreement. This is what happens when Rs politicize foreign policy and put Americans very much in harms way.
Also hugely important to be reminded that when Obama negotiated the Iran agreement Iran's "bad nuclear material" was at 3%. Because of the Rs abandonment of Obama's Iran agreement those materials has grown to 60%.
This really scary potential Middle East war is all on the Rs.
Great questions, Jen! Wendy Sherman possesses such a high level of knowledge, deep insight into the history of issues, and forethought into the complexities involved, she is truly amazing!! Her equanimity, measured words, and diplomacy uniquely suited to decision-making in such volatile situations. Having a time-bomb president who changes his mind on a whim, and is surrounded by sycophants is incredibly unsettling.
It is the worst situation possible. We have a corrupt and inept President, with absolutely no comprehension of what is really happening. To make matters worse he has a completely inexperienced, unskilled, and quite frankly, idiotic staff in place who will not be giving accurate or timely information for any kind of decision making. Hegseth, Rubio, and Gabbard are basically the three stooges here. Congress is doing nothing per usual. We are about to witness a feckless decision made by Trump that will have permanent and far-reaching consequences for Iran, Israel, the US and Europe. At this point I don't see a good outcome for anyone.
Jen asks such a good question. If the "bunker bomb" is deployed, could Iran simply start again to rebuild its nuclear program? Answer by Secretary Sherman, yes, because you can't bomb knowledge out of existence.
Are there any competent people that Trump is listening to? I'm not aware of any. He is ignoring Tulsi Gabbard, who I also do not trust. I'm not sure Trump is capable of following clear and logical reasoning, or listening to expert opinion, or that he even cares. Steve Witkoff is a fucking moron.
But does that kind of expert opinion even get to Trump through the idiotic filters he has around him? He's a fat dipshit, but even a good president needs intelligence and expert input into the process.
Trump has no process at all I can see. He might be checking polls or reading twitter posts.
Thank you for your insights, Ms Sherman. We need trusted information.
Good discussion on regime change. Fantastical. Good reminder from Jen about importance of soft power which is why shutting down Voice of America was so stupid.
Please, please, please Congress take advantage of diplomatic "off ramp" that might result from meetings between Ioreign ministers of Iran and Europe.
I'll add this information to my calls to my Senators. NO WAR!
Does the use of the bunker busting equipment at Fordow require American personnel? Israelis have highly skilled military/technology and all the hardware the United States provides/has provided is run by Israelis, as far as I know.
Intelligence is building a picture of what they think is going on. Makes sense. But of course the American public is skittish after "intelligence building" got it so wrong - still a question of whether on purpose - in the Iraq war.
As monumental as this crisis of Trump's own making is, I need healthcare right now. My animals need healthcare. Americans have actual immediate priorities other than how well our president gets his genitals stroked by being in the news.
He is, indeed, the penis-in-chief... expecting a "standing" ovation.
It's so impressive to see how many contacts that Ms. Rubin can draw upon, always the right person at the right time.
Donald's only real plan is framed in his mind as a kind of season finale, or episode cliffhanger, or something very Reality TV.
He yearns to piggyback on what he perceives to be a spectacularly successful military foray by Israel (the reviews aren't all in, but so far, militarily, many analysts say it's been effective as far as it goes) in order to steal a little glory and a little thunder from Bibi by pretending it was his own Big Boy idea all along.
If Israel's attack were going badly, Donald would never have heard of Israel. "Bibi who?" he'd ask. And he'd say that "lots of people are saying that if only Israel had listened to him, we wouldn't even be having this war." Gosh, he's already established that if he'd been running the country instead of Abraham Lincoln, we coulda had a Civil War without all those casualties, plus the right side woulda won.
But so far, from one perspective, it's going well enough that Donald wants to steal the credit for it, in hopes of boosting his poll numbers or distracting the public from the contents of his Big Beautiful Bill, or whipping up a military fever as he prepares to deploy troops to Chicago, New York, and other Democratic cities.
Given the, at best, lax, cavalier way in which the Trump regime handles security, why should any nation share their information & insights with us?
What a great interview! The best questions and solid answers. Jen and Wendy would both make excellent intelligence agency officers!