Jerusalem Studio Special

In light of the successful Operation Rising Lion by the State of Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran, during the course of which Israel has managed to degrade much of Iran's capabilities, there are significant implications expected not only throughout the region, but also beyond, since Iran was part of a broader axis—from Russia, China, to North Korea, Venezuela, and others. And now, of course, we are also talking—well, there is a NATO summit in the Netherlands, in The Hague—where there is much discussion about the latest events throughout the Middle East, but also concerns about what may evolve out of the fragile situation at hand.

The geostrategic interplay between great powers on the world stage. Our team of experts will offer their thoughts and analysis on how these events will shape the near and long term future of our planet and specifically what it will all mean for Israel.

Officially, there are only five great powers in the post-World War Two world - the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, who are also declared Nuclear weapon states. But in reality, there are other powers with a legitimate claim or aspirations to greatness, at least by some measures, such as Germany, Japan and India. There are no longer blocks headed by two Superpowers. Rather, there is a mix of confrontation, cooperation and mostly competition, as evident by the bitterness shown by France following the American-British Nuclear propulsion deal for Australian submarines. So what is the state of play in great power competition

Some one hundred hours into this week’s crisis, with over 1,700 rockets launched indiscriminately by Islamist militants toward Israel’s civilian communities – while (in tandem) Israel is primarily engaged in weakening the military capabilities of Hamas and its allies by means of aerial and artillery bombardments – destroying over a thousand strategic and tactical targets. Separately, chaos has plagued the state of Israel – with hundreds of violent riots devastating towns and cities where either mixed Arab-Israeli or predominately’ Arab populations reside.

The results of the US elections are still contested, as we speak, and may well be for the next several days or even weeks. So what we aim to do now is similar to the vote count, a temporary accounting, a freeze-frame if you will, with an effort to probe the possible meaning of what is happening in and around Washington, especially as it pertains to the Middle East. We will of course deal with this topic on more solid ground in later broadcasts, as the results - and the consequences - become clearer.