Analysis of Middle East Power Dynamics

and will dominate the Middle East for decades to come, maybe longer.

One is Iran, there's no question about that. And the other is Turkey.

They are not the same.

They are very different people,

very different states with very different histories.

And I spent many years of my life visiting Israel back and forth.

And I tried to tell them on more than one occasion,

you're barking up the wrong tree, as we say.

Your existential threat is not Iran.

Iran, Persian civilization,

the Persian world and Persian culture, those things aren't your enemy.

You've got a real problem further north and to the east, and that's called the

Turks. They're very different.

This is a resolutely martial people,

people of great courage,

who are innately inclined to fight.

These are natural soldiers.

I've seen them, and I had the good fortune to work with the Turks.

I think the world of them militarily, they're great people,

but you do not want to go to war with them.

In Iran, you're dealing with someone who is rational.

Whether they like to think so or not in Israel, they are.

They will coexist with you.

You can talk to them and do business.

But if you provoke the Turks, it's a fight to the finish.

I don't think

President Trump wants to be involved in that, and I don't

want to be involved in that.

The Turks are certainly not looking for the fight at this point,

but if you don't think they're ready to go, you're making a very,

very serious mistake.

Who dominated the Arabian Peninsula? Who dominated the Levant?

Who dominated all the way to Egypt and into North Africa for centuries? We know who.