Mohamad Bazzi, Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses his recent article in Newsweek about the prospects for peace in the Middle East, the peace talks between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights, the Bush administration’s policy of isolating Syria, their close alliance with Iran, Turkey’s role in the Israeli-Syrian talks, the State Department’s recent contact with the Syrian ambassador to the U.S., U.S. involvement in the Middle East, the situation in Lebanon between the Seniora government and Hezbollah and takes questions from callers.

MP3 here. (16:41)

Mohamad Bazzi is Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday. He is currently working on a project about Hezbollah and the Shiite community in Lebanon.

Eric Margolis, foreign correspondent for Canada’s Sun National Media and author of War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet, discusses the new hype about Israel’s bombing of the supposed Syrian/North Korean nuclear facility in September 2007, the North Korean uranium enrichment program which still does not exist and which they still won’t fess up to, Israeli peace negotiations with Syria over the Golan Heights on the eve of further war, the two countries’ relative strength, the insane neocon “the Iranians want to be bombed and taken over by the MEK” theory, new war plans being drawn up, various ways that Iran could strike back, the bogus threat of the “Shi’ite Crescent,” the very real willingness of the Iranians to negotiate and do business with the U.S., the motivations which drive the al Qaeda movement, pro-Americanism in France and the NATO/EU Army question.

MP3 here. (42:17)

Award winning author, columnist, and broadcaster Eric S. Margolis has covered 14 wars and is a leading authority on military affairs, the Middle East, South Asia, and Islamic movements. He is the author of War at the Top of the World. See his website.