Terror Ties (and AI Guys)

Dear Colleagues,

Leigh Sloan and Tom Beckett of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) were with us at Springfield headquarters last week. They represent IISS in the United States.

IISS, whose research includes work on the Eastern Mediterranean, convenes each year a regional conference in Bahrain known as the Manama Dialogue. Current IISS Director Bastian Giegerich is a professional friend. We’re looking for ways to cooperate.

With offices around the world, Bastian’s outfit has strong ties in important political and defense communities. The first IISS president in 1958 was former Labour prime minister Clement Atlee.

This week Brent Bozell III, President Trump’s pick to lead the United States Agency for Global Media, comes to Springfield. Brent is founder of the Media Research Center. He and I had dinner last week. Brent is keen to get fuller briefings on our work.

Your work attracts interest and deserves widest support.

I’ve been meeting with the Senate and House Appropriations Committees on MBN funding. We await news about a budget next month. We’re working on dates for key staffers Katherine Bowles and John Muscolini to visit us. MBN has matchless talent and a compelling story of ever-increasing efficiency and impact. We’ll keep telling this story to funders and influentials, at home and abroad.

Michael Werz will visit MBN headquarters. Michael is the U.S. representative for the Munich Security Conference. This year’s annual gathering, the 61st, will take place February 14-16 at the Hotel Bayrischer Hof in Munich. Cabinet officials and political leaders from around the world will attend. Our issues will be on the agenda. We’re working closely with RFE/RL on coverage.

We’ll keep building relationships and exploring partnerships. Our colleague Fadi Izzaldin was with Bill McCarren of the National Press Club at the Club in DC last week. Bill was with us two weeks ago. Fadi and Bill are cooking something up for MBN.

Make time tomorrow for a virtual discussion with Matt Kaminski at 2 pm. With his considerable experience with the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico — and now MBN — we’ve asked Matt to speak to the dramatic changes in our industry and unique opportunities for our company. I’ve asked Leila Bazzi to moderate. My apologies to our colleagues across the region for the late hour.

If you’re based here in the U.S., meet Stuart Jones who joins us at MBN headquarters this Wednesday. Stu is a former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan and Iraq. He’s the new president of the DC-based Middle East Institute.

Next Guests — Our Issues, Fuller Context

We’ll keep relying on first-rate experts to help us sort what can seem like a disorienting moment. We’ve invited Peter Skerry of Boston College to speak to join us for a virtual discussion of the American immigration debate. Martha Bayles, film and culture critic for National Review — Martha teaches at BC as well — will join us to speak about the free speech debate in America. She’s writing a book on the topic. We’re working on dates for Peter and Martha.

We do live in disruptive, disorienting times. A majority of Gen-Z (52 percent) in Britain believe the United Kingdom would be off if it were governed by a strong leader “who does not have to bother with parliament and elections”. A third, according to the same recent poll, want the military in charge.

I’m writing to Peter Mandelson this week. I know Peter from my time in London. He’s the new UK Ambassador to the United States and an interesting conversation partner for us. Peter can speak with us about a number of things pertaining to our region. British foreign secretary David Lammy was in Sudan last week. Lammy visited the Chadian border town hosting more than 230,000 Sudanese refugees.

Otherwise across Europe, the political center keeps shrinking. At the end of last week, Norway’s eurosceptic Centre Party dropped out of the government in a dispute over the adoption of European Union energy policies. The news means Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere is deprived of his only coalition partner — and eight of the 20 members of his cabinet, including defense, finance and justice ministers.

Writer-podcaster Mathilde Fasting in Oslo is available on the subject. See me for details. And if you’ve not seen it, watch the Norwegian political thriller available called Occupied. In the near future, turmoil in the Middle East and a U.S. withdrawal from NATO trigger an energy crisis — and a Russian takeover of Norwegian oil supplies.

Immigration and energy, ties to Russia and the United States are on the minds of German voters. Germans go to the polls on February 23. The country’s mainstream parties have been struggling for some time now. Elites are turning inward. Absorbed by domestic turmoil, the EU as a whole is paying less attention to the Middle East and North Africa.

Ana Palacio has something to say about these things. I’ll see Spain’s former foreign minister in Washington this week. We serve together on the board of the Paris-based Tocqueville Conversations. I’m signing Ana up for an MBN talk.

Our Work: Terror Ties, Strategic Competition (plus MBN’s AI Guys) 

Our U.S. political coverage gets sharper; our human rights reporting across our region, more robust. It’s heartening to see increasing press pickups by other news outlets, including Arabic language media, international business publications, and wire services like Reuters. Our digital team keeps stepping up thanks to Abdalrahim (Abed) Abdallah, Thaer Soukar, Nevine Karass, and colleagues.

Last week, we discussed the new administration’s developing policy toward Saudi Arabia and reported on U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Riyad.

We have fabulous colleagues covering Lebanon, including in-country, of course. Tip of hat to Mona Saliba, Clara Geha, Paul Zgheib, Sarah Elhansa, and Mirna Gharzouzi. Iran is financing the military reconstitution of Lebanese Hezbollah. As we reported last month, Lebanese airport security forces searched an Iranian Mahan Air flight in Beirut on suspicion of transporting funds to Hezbollah in early January. Twenty-eight branches of al Qard al Hassan—one of Hezbollah’s main banking and financial arms—have resumed operations.

Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) leader Ahmad al Shara has been preventing Iranian civilian and military flights from transiting Syrian airspace. Loss of access to Syrian airspace would severely limit Iran’s ability to rearm Hezbollah. Syria’s interim president is making his first trip abroad today to Saudi Arabia, very possibly a signal in a Damascus shift away from Iran. We’ll keep an eye on Turkish-Iranian cooperation.

I’m grateful to colleague Andres Ilves who’s pushing us on Iran. Andres will represent MBN as a speaker at this year’s “Airlie Dialogue” conference. The conference will take place on Wednesday February 12 at the University Club in Washington, DC. Our friend Ilan Berman and his American Foreign Policy Council are organizing the event.

I’m grateful to our associate Alina Niamtsu for pushing us on Russia in MENA — and in Moscow’s evolving cooperation with Tehran and Beijing. Of course, our superb investigative team led by Hussein Elrazzaz has been on to such matters for some time. Our show Al Youm just discussed signs that Russia and China are forming a strategic alliance in artificial intelligence.

Try the sample podcast series Alina is working up. You can listen here. American adversaries are tenacious and they keep adapting. The podcast is hosted by AI avatars Frank Rizzo and Leila Bashkir over a cup of imaginary coffee.

My thanks to Billy Sabatini for advancing our AI products. As you know, my weekly letter is available as an AI podcast. Billy and Chams Eddin will have for us soon our AI spokesperson highlighting top MBN each week for our audiences and stakeholders. For inside the company, Alina is starting an AI podcast series on the hidden talents and hobbies of MBN employees. Why not? We have musicians, painters, poets, chefs, scuba divers, sailors, and motorcyclists in our ranks.

My sincerest thanks to each and every one of you across the company. I’ve never seen an organization facing unparalleled challenges with such character, grace, determination, and resilience. Stick with me. We’re fighting for you.

My very best, Jeff