🌍 Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar joins Dialogue Works to decode the latest global flashpoints shaking U.S. dominance.
🚀 From Yemen’s powerful retaliation to China’s strategic messaging, Iran’s unwavering resolve, and Russia’s long game — this episode lays out the multi-front pressure building against the West.
🔍 Highlights include:
Why Yemen’s attacks are more than symbolic
China’s calculated response to global escalation
Iran’s quiet but firm defiance amid rising tensions
Russia’s multi-dimensional strategy as Ukraine fatigue grows
How the U.S. is reacting behind the scenes
📺 Watch now for a fearless breakdown of the forces shaping the new global order.
#PepeEscobar #YemenRetaliates #ChinaStrategy #IranNews
#RussiaStrategy #Geopolitics #DialogueWorks #GlobalPowerShift
#MiddleEastCrisis #USOnAlert #IranVsUS #RussiaUkraineWar
#YemenStrikes #MultipolarWorld #BRICS #ChinaIranRussia
#ForbiddenNews #WorldNews #RTVoices #DeepAnalysis
🚀 From Yemen’s powerful retaliation to China’s strategic messaging, Iran’s unwavering resolve, and Russia’s long game — this episode lays out the multi-front pressure building against the West.
🔍 Highlights include:
Why Yemen’s attacks are more than symbolic
China’s calculated response to global escalation
Iran’s quiet but firm defiance amid rising tensions
Russia’s multi-dimensional strategy as Ukraine fatigue grows
How the U.S. is reacting behind the scenes
📺 Watch now for a fearless breakdown of the forces shaping the new global order.
#PepeEscobar #YemenRetaliates #ChinaStrategy #IranNews
#RussiaStrategy #Geopolitics #DialogueWorks #GlobalPowerShift
#MiddleEastCrisis #USOnAlert #IranVsUS #RussiaUkraineWar
#YemenStrikes #MultipolarWorld #BRICS #ChinaIranRussia
#ForbiddenNews #WorldNews #RTVoices #DeepAnalysis
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00hi everybody today's wednesday april 30th 2025 and our friend peppy scovar is back
00:12welcome back
00:13ciao nema how are you good to be with you
00:18when we talk about the situation in the middle east we have to understand the new decision of the
00:43trump administration in terms of fighting yemen when you look at the situation right now
00:50with the mq9 reapers and then two f-18s and the way that donald trump it doesn't seem that they're
01:01trying to change their policy toward yemen do you think that they're gonna be there for just
01:08fighting for the sake of fighting and not knowing what would be the end of this fight
01:13well i would say uh there is not even a whiff of strategy in this whole operation to start with
01:24the absurdity of it all when you see a president of united states authorizing an illi absolutely
01:33illegal war okay but this is the empire the empire specializing illegal wars like unilateral illegal
01:40no consultation with anybody against um just because yemen is fighting against the genocide in gaza
01:51so essentially the rationale of this war is to protect a genocidal regime in itself this is already
01:59absurd to compound the absurdity we have this so-called uh most spectacular army in the history of all the
02:09galaxies combined being humiliated by the yemeni armed forces practically on a daily basis 22 mk9 reapers if i'm not
02:21mistaken and counting right and the latest story which is it's a beauty no screenplay in hollywood would
02:33come up with something remotely similar and if he did everybody would say but you're lying this is
02:40completely absurd no it actually happens according to the centcom pentagon version you have an aircraft
02:50carrier which as you all know is a monster practicing i would say a sort of formula one maneuver in the
03:02middle of the red sea like a sharp turn of 90 degrees or something like that full speed theoretically to
03:13protect itself from incoming yemeni fire ballistic missiles and drones and in the middle of this
03:24this maneuver we have an f18 probably in a sign of protest of disgust plunging into the red sea just like
03:33that so this is the story that they are selling to all of us the whole thing is it's the mind boggles
03:41right so it's humiliation after humiliation in opposite and there's no sign of stopping because the men in
03:51charge of this operation secretary of defense hagg said an islamophobe as all of you know very very well
03:59is absolutely uncontrolled and trump obviously gave hagg says uh green light to do whatever he wants
04:07vis-a-vis em so there's no uh strategic objective there is no strategic mission there's no way to
04:18achieve even if there was a strategic objective how to achieve it they have not managed to exercise
04:27between commas in their own terminology freedom of navigation in the red sea
04:33um the yemeni armed forces ansarallah they still control the bab al-mandeb and the red sea
04:41and they are being humiliated by the yemenis non-stop so so what's the whole rationale about the
04:50hossein doesn't exist obviously the whole global south season for what it is uh a self-inflicted
04:59humiliation by sent com and the pentagon this is this is now being seen graphically from latin america
05:07to africa to africa to all across eurasia and the most incredible thing is that the united states
05:15government is willing to pay this price and support this cloud these clouds of humiliation just to defend
05:27what israel is doing in palestine it's it's it's it's unscriptable something like this but it's
05:37actually happening in front of us
05:38in your opinion
05:44how it seems that many people are in the united states are concerned about the talks between iran
05:52and the united states they are yesterday i talked with colin wilkerson he said that
05:58he he doesn't agree with pete hexett but he feels that the people who are behind
06:06some sort of movement to remove him from power from pentagon they want a war with iran and they
06:14know that pete hexett is somehow closer to donald trump in terms of going to war with iran
06:21how do you see the situation on the other hand we know that they're just advancing in terms of
06:28negotiations technical teams are communicating how do you see the situation between iran and the
06:35united states and we know that net you know wants a war he mentioned recently in a video he said we
06:40want we don't need iran to to enrich uranium they can get it from other countries but they cannot produce
06:49it in iran
06:51well it it starts with the absurdity of the war criminal leader of a genocidal government
07:00dictating terms to the white house and to the american system well all of us know that this is what
07:10always happens now but now it's an in your face process he goes out in his megaphone and he dictates
07:19terms
07:20he goes out in front of the white house in front of the white house in front of a global audience
07:25uh hexett is not the problem per se
07:29or even the pentagon the pentagon has a all of us we know that the pentagon has gained
07:35every possible scenario in a war against iran and the u.s loses in all of them and this for i would
07:44not even say years decades since the times that rumsfeld was on that rumsfeld mccain and all these idios
07:49they were on a bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb iran dementia very very well i followed that very very closely and at the
07:58time i went to iran twice in the middle of the 2000s i went in 2005 and 2006 when the bomb iran
08:02dementia was at you know up there the problem is all those silos in the beltway uh inside the cia inside the
08:21pentagon as well inside the industrial military complex very well implanted the industrial military
08:28complex and the think tanks academia media everywhere uh this hasn't changed
08:36uh this hasn't changed there are slight fluctuations for the past 40 years but the mentality is still
08:43the same regime change in iran whatever it takes and any excuse is a good one the nuclear program
08:52has always been an excuse and and this was even during the negotiations in vienna in 2015 this was
09:02obvious because the americans they were not essentially thinking about a solution for the nuclear
09:09program they were talking about iranian missiles all the time and this zarif told us at the time
09:16and the iranian delegation who was briefing us at the time in vienna they were telling us all the time
09:21look this thing is not advancing very fast because they want to introduce missiles
09:25and now once again the same thing this there are no leaks about it but
09:32anybody can bet that in the middle of the negotiations with arakshi the americans are insisting on missiles
09:42and this does not come necessarily from
09:48i would say american sources it's sionist axis sources implanted inside the industrial military complex
09:57in the u.s and they run the show and they run most of the show we all we all know that
10:03and that's an enormous danger now there's even it's being floated around
10:12but this is spin nema very very important that trump himself doesn't want a war against iran he wants a
10:21deal we don't have any hard evidence supporting this but we do have our hard evidence that's the zionist
10:30axis and tel aviv they want a war and they are forcing this war on a new american presidency
10:36and that's why it's so dangerous first of all is uh three four five meetings in oman and eventually
10:48another one in europe etc enough for the running leadership to restore i would say one percent degree
10:56of confidence uh in an american administration it's not um the rational actors in iran know that
11:06even if donald trump signs a jcpoa 2.0 he can tear it up after a few months
11:13there's absolutely no guarantee that us would respect a new deal even if it is a let's say a trump
11:22imposed deal and it if it is a trump imposed deal iran won't accept it it's simple as that
11:30so uh at least uh we can imagine at the moment the leaks are not um detailed about uh the negotiations
11:43in in nomad but maybe with coffee starting to get a little bit of the picture in terms of
11:50iranian requirements uh iranian rights uh which are uh enshrined in u.n resolutions and we're enshrined
12:05after the signature of the original jcpoa and then with cough goes back to washington and explains that
12:14to trump assuming that trump will understand it and that's another story right so the coup
12:19the the the the whole uh mechanism is so complex and the important details that in this case they
12:27matter a lot they can uh lay by the by the you know under the carpet somewhere you know will never be
12:37found again it's very it's a very very dangerous negotiation no question especially considering that the
12:45only way out for this genocidal regime in tel aviv is an expanded war they're expanding the war in uh
12:55palestine they're expanding water the west bank and they want to gobble up the whole of the west bank
13:01they were not going to respect the ceasefire with lebanon which which they are not by the way they're
13:06breaking the ceasefire with lebanon all the time uh there's not much they can do against the
13:11hutis because of it's very far away and they assume that the americans will take care of it and they
13:16are not uh syria they continue to gobble up syrian territory occupy syrian territory and they'll keep
13:24advancing as much as they want and now they are sure because they have the former head shopper now with
13:31the hugo boss uh suit is their asset and he's saying we're not going to threaten israel openly you know
13:41so the big big prize continues to be a war against iran which they assuming there would be the horrifying
13:50scenario that there will be an attack there they simply cannot understand that the iranian response
13:59is going to be devastating and iran just so far they only gave a few hints of what it might be
14:10and still because these people are once again they are fanatics nema we all know that
14:15they are apocalyptic genocidal psychopathological old testament fanatics obviously you cannot have a
14:22reasonable diplomatic uh enlightened conversation with them and obviously and they are on a delirium of
14:31annexation of annexation and perpetual war and uh oiling their killing machine to keep
14:40spreading their perpetual war so there's all these variables there are so
14:45so so dangerous essentially so and we are relying on the essentially now on the capability of arakshi and his team
14:57to prove to the american interlocutors how rational they are and basically asking okay
15:06let's have some good faith on your side do you really want to deal prove it to us that you want to deal
15:12we haven't changed our positions since the original gcpoa we're not going to abandon our nuclear program
15:20our nuclear our civilian nuclear program is legitimate recognized by everybody by the european
15:26partners by russia and china everybody recognized and we're not going to abandon our missile program
15:32because this is self-defense this is defense of our nation so let's go you want a nuclear deal let's
15:40try to re-establish a nuclear deal like we did 10 years ago but will trump understand this message that's
15:49the big question
15:52lavrov yesterday said that we are willing to improve the relationship between
15:58russia and the united states but we are not going to sacrifice our partners for the sake of a better
16:05relationship with the united states he's a very impressive yes yes and especially because it was
16:13in the framework of the brics foreign ministers meeting in rio which was i would say it was quite
16:20productive in a sense you know uh well lavrov was the superstar before during and after but that's obvious
16:28that's wrong and what he said before the start of the meeting in rio was excellent in every aspect from
16:37the proxy war in ukraine to what the brics are discussing to even talking about the famous brics currency
16:45and he had to go once again straight to the point and said look once we establish all the mechanisms that
16:52we are studying and testing alternative payments settlements etc then we can restart
17:02a discussion about the possible brics currency in the future so he set the priorities right so
17:10especially the western media will at least make an effort to understand right very very important
17:15and on the efforts on the mediating efforts between let's say the us and
17:27iran russia can be extremely extremely crucial
17:32if trump is willing to listen to russia as he says he is we don't know this could be another narrative
17:41and he can change his mind in five minutes obviously russia because they were in vienna 10 years ago before
17:49they were part of the negotiation of the official the original gcpoa they can explain to trump look we
17:56have a strategic partnership with iran we signed a very close partnership we are partners uh we're not
18:04going to let them down we understand what they're doing and we're really to explain to you if you need
18:10extra explanation extra help so you can clinch a new deal with them assuming that you're going to respect
18:17the only ones who can do this are the russians much more than the chinese even though the chinese
18:23were also in vienna in 2015 but the russians in 2015 they had a i remember lavrov was a top uh
18:31interlocutor in vienna it was not only kerry and zarif kerry and zarif were the main interlocutors
18:38the most important one after them was lavrov was not those stupid europeans definitely not
18:43so uh and russia at the same time is also trying to mediate between india and pakistan
18:54and this is all interlinked because these are all sco members and we have two sco members threatening
19:04war against each other because of of that very very dodgy thing that happened in cashmere so what
19:11happened these past few days russia called both ambassadors in moscow in pakistan sat down with
19:18both of them separately and told them look get your act together and we are willing to mediate
19:26after all this is something that could be done inside the sco is maybe it would be too bureaucratic
19:33the russians took the initiative to do it them by themselves and because they have excellent
19:39relations with both they can do it so uh the role of russia as mediator in big big conflicts now it's
19:47open to and everybody knows that and they can deliver because all actors respect russia essential
19:59let's see if the americans take up the offer of russia help to finally find a solution
20:06uh vis-a-vis the iranian nuclear program
20:12yeah peppy if if you put yourself in the shoes of donald trump you see it's impossible he's the ruler of
20:24the world and he wants to be pope we are just a bunch of bumps compared to him no
20:30yeah i don't know if you if you you've watched the video he was he was asked what's your take on the
20:39next pope he said i would be the the best option can imagine that today was uh uh he's gonna turn the
20:51sistine chapel into the michelangelo trump tower resort and casino spend a night with michelangelo you know
21:00and have a trump breakfast the next morning so you know there are no limits to his megalomania
21:08literally and it gets worse by the day literally he actually said i rule the world in this interview
21:17on the 100 days before he said that he wants to be pope so soon he wants to be uh you know a mix of
21:25luke skywalker and darth vader rule over all the galaxies you know meanwhile the real ruler mr c
21:37is you know progressing there he visited the ndb in shanghai yesterday he talked to dilma he visited the
21:46young ai experts in shanghai he doesn't need these big proclamations you know he's going to where it
21:55really matters oh this is so i wanted to show you this um nima this is uh soviet old school soviet union
22:05chinese papier-mâché of uh you know how things were when the international proletariat was
22:13uh at hand you still find them around around shanghai i found beautiful ones they are replicas of course
22:24they are but based on the ones that were circulating still in the 50s
22:30um because this there's a lot of terminology from maoist times that is uh resurfacing now in china i found
22:40that absolutely fascinating the the day i arrived in shanghai the next day i was already listening to
22:47united front paper tiger this is mao starting in the 50s especially in the 60s you know but now
22:55applied to the tariff war absolutely fascinating and and now uh a further stage is the artificial
23:07intelligence war for instance why xi jinping was visiting ai new talents yesterday in shanghai he went to a
23:18a super high-tech pole slightly outside of shanghai to visit to see what they're doing to to talk to this
23:28very young technicians and all that because this is the new front where sooner rather than later
23:35china is going to overtake the us yeah it's the dream island by the way exactly it's the theme of my
23:44column that came out yesterday a lucky coincidence the the column was published the day that c was in
23:51shanghai talking to ai experts and the sources for my column are people from huawei that i talked to two
24:00weeks ago and they gave me more or less the breakdown of the new chips what they are doing what they plan
24:08to do how they are basically conquering the the chinese market and soon they will conquer the supply
24:16lines in ai all across the global south and all that so this is the new frontier and
24:23very very important it's part of made in china 2025 and we are arriving at 2025 now as many of you know
24:35our audience china already leads seven of ten high-tech fields soon eighth and in the next year or so
24:43two years of two weeks ago i was i was people were telling me in shanghai no it's gonna take us two or
24:49three years to catch up with the americans from for the past two days or so they started to talk about
24:57one year so this means that we'll catch up with the americas in the next few months and this is something
25:05that all those so-called it experts in the us were saying never they are incapable of fabricating
25:14seven nanometer chips five nanometer chips three nanometer chips no the chinese are already at five
25:21and soon three and they're developing uh technologies new technologies including a guy who was
25:31the top engineer the top technician at uh asml in holland is back in china so you know they're the best
25:40technicians from europe to silicon valley they are all working in china many of them working for huawei and
25:49they are all into this new drive towards ai supremacy so this is reality nema it's not somebody bragging that
26:02he wants to be pope or be or be the ruler of the world it's reality show and reality
26:09there you go there you go or uh you have a pentagon or a centcom that's think of look let's send a message
26:19to those barbarians in yemi we throw a few bombs and they're gonna be cowering look what's happening
26:26what's happening once again reality show and reality and this empire is very very very lousy at dealing
26:37with reality especially with the president that the only things that he understands is
26:43is a succession of reality shows where he is the main star
26:50in my opinion what's killing in the united states is the old policies of the cold war and those sort
26:57of mindset they don't just let them go the world has changed you have to have new policies
27:05it doesn't seem that would be the case for that establishment in the united states even though you
27:09have donald trump in office and it doesn't change anything you look look at ukraine you look at the
27:16middle east the same sort of mindset yeah it's impossible nema because it's ingrained and much has
27:24to do with the fact that for 75 almost 80 years they have been they they were the undisputed number one
27:32the unilateral moment especially after the fall of soviet union even after 9 11 they still thought
27:41that they were number one and this was going to be the new american century they were only 25 years ago
27:50they were convinced that this would be the new american center so it's ingrained
27:54and when you are in washington which is a very provincial place and you talk to these people from
28:00different agencies you go to a dinner in one of the good restaurants in washington everybody's
28:05sitting on that table who works for the government for an agency for the industrial military complex
28:12etc now so it's a bubble so they only talk to themselves uh they don't they simply don't pay
28:20attention to foreigners they don't listen to foreigners and they think that foreigners by
28:25definition are inferior how can they learn how can they learn that the cold war is over it's still
28:33going on in their minds it doesn't matter that if not against the communists it's again uh an autocratic
28:39dictator or it's against the communists in china or it's against the mullahs in iran or whatever
28:47all those stupid um cliches that they use all the time so it's their incapacity to get out of the
28:56bubble to start looking at at the world out outside of their little window and that explains why the
29:04cold war still lives and and then when you have a first class diplomat telling them like lavrov or like
29:12wang yi they get mad they don't even understand why a top class diplomat is telling them look
29:22try to get rid of your cold war mentality it's going to be much better for you
29:26it's impossible for them to understand
29:33you look at the situation in ukraine today and russia i don't know if you saw the interview
29:41that lavrov did with global news i did by the way excellent it was a written written responses and
29:48you could see that the the responses were carefully calibrated the question is what else donald trump
29:57need to understand the position of russia they're just out there everything is out there to everything
30:03is out there explicitly that detailed uh carefully argued explained and re-explained not only by lavrov
30:14by everybody in the foreign ministry by um putting himself you know the the the four last year and the
30:23four of this year as well it's uh it you hit our an iron wall all the time yeah so um in practical terms
30:37um they were here and that's the question if they did it that's why avοι who kind of
30:47a statement um did you know advice she came from comments openly as you know the second class
30:48you know needs to be thankful for에서는-free and the final class of mrems and all of this
30:54well consider Oliver and never came from Matthew.
30:57and review notes of do you find a statement that over there just helped made the life of
31:02Can you imagine if Kellogg was the guy in charge instead of Witkoff?
31:08We'll be on the brink of two wars.
31:11A renewed war against Russia and a new war against Iran.
31:19That's why I think that Witkoff somehow can be helpful in the process of negotiation.
31:28Because he's different. He doesn't have those...
31:32And at least he's willing to listen, Nima. He's willing to listen, apparently.
31:37Considering all the leaks, apparently he's willing to listen.
31:41And he respects Putin a lot. That's very, very important.
31:45We don't know about his relationship with Arakshi.
31:48I would love to answer this question in Iran, assuming we can get an answer.
31:54How do they view the relationship between Witkoff and Arakshi?
31:59Because you need to create mutual trust in a negotiation at this high level.
32:05For instance, with all their faults, with all their problems,
32:10the relationship between Zarif and Kerry was quite decent.
32:16It was quite decent. And it helped.
32:19Because they...
32:21It came a time when they noticed that they actually understand each other.
32:26And that created mutual respect. It was very, very helpful.
32:30So if something like this happens between Arakshi and Witkoff,
32:35that would be a plus.
32:37Yeah.
32:38The problem is that they didn't talk directly to each other so far.
32:43Exactly. They're not even sitting at the same table.
32:48God.
32:50But, Pepe, just to wrap up this session, we know that you're going to be in Iran soon.
33:00I'm really looking forward.
33:02What you're going to do in Iran?
33:05And I was going to be...
33:06Well, very...
33:07Yes.
33:08...with you.
33:09I wish you would be there, Nima, really.
33:12But a lot of people couldn't go.
33:15It's not your case, of course.
33:18But the Americans...
33:20I was in touch with some of them.
33:22Mearsheimer, The Judge, Jeffrey Sachs.
33:27And obviously, they have...
33:29Some have commitments and some said,
33:31Look, at the moment, it's...
33:33For us, it's very dangerous to go to Europe.
33:36It's a very complicated time.
33:37It's true.
33:39But I have a list of stuff that I want to do,
33:43which listen in Tehran, especially...
33:48I want to listen to diplomats and academics at the highest level.
33:53I have a lot of questions.
33:56We're going to go to the University of Tehran,
33:59so I want to listen to the students at the University of Tehran.
34:02They usually ask excellent questions.
34:05And I want to travel.
34:07I think to go to...
34:09Return to Koma in Isfahan would be okay.
34:12But I want to go to the port of Chavahar
34:15because I would like to do a story
34:17about the International North-South Transportation Corridor.
34:20And also go to the Caspian.
34:22Caspian, I think, could be possible.
34:25Chavahar, after what happened in Bandar Abbas,
34:27was going to be complicated.
34:29So I hope in two weeks I can have a much better picture
34:33of the domestic situation in Iran.
34:36And, of course, all those very complicated dossiers
34:42in the international arena that they are involved at the same time.
34:46And I want to know more about their position inside BRICS,
34:52inside the SCO,
34:55the strategic partnerships with both Russia and China.
34:59So it's a list of...
35:02It's a lot of tasks, you know.
35:05But if this trip is successful,
35:08it's going to be essential to understand
35:10how Iran is positioned
35:13practically at the crossroads of the big chess board at the moment.
35:18And, of course, the possibilities ahead.
35:21And, of course, some important details.
35:26For instance, between us and between us and our audience,
35:33I'm not convinced that what happened in Bandar Abbas
35:36was an accident due to negligence.
35:40I'm not convinced at all.
35:42And I already think that some members of the Majlis
35:47are thinking the same thing.
35:50So you cannot have an investigation
35:53that in less than 48 hours concludes,
35:55ah, it was an accident due to negligence.
35:58Really?
35:59No.
36:01So...
36:03But this is going to be a very tricky issue to discuss,
36:08especially with us foreigners.
36:11So I'll try to find some alternative sources
36:16and listen to their...
36:18How do they ponder the situation
36:20and if they have any sort of partial evidence
36:24showing that this was not just an accident.
36:28Because the timing...
36:30And an attack on a port like that
36:35is an attack on the International North-South Transportation Corridor.
36:39And if we look at the actors who don't want the corridor to be a success,
36:45we may be on our way, right?
36:49The same thing, what happened in Kashmir.
36:53Who profits from pitting India against Pakistan?
36:57Very easy question, right?
37:00And we know that they tried this before and they will continue to try it again.
37:04And in the overall picture,
37:08it's what I have described as the war against the BRICS.
37:12The war against the BRICS is on
37:16and it's picking up speed very, very fast.
37:21Don't forget, India, part of BRICS.
37:24China, part of BRICS.
37:26China is involved in what happened in Kashmir indirectly.
37:29Iran, part of BRICS.
37:32So, I think we are just in the beginning
37:37and things can become even more volatile and incendiary, you know.
37:44Yesterday I talked with...
37:46Go ahead, go ahead.
37:47No, go ahead, go ahead, Nima.
37:49Yesterday I talked with Scott Rader and Colin Wilkerson.
37:55Both of them suggested that Israel could be behind
38:00what has happened in Iran.
38:03I agree with them.
38:05Even without evidence,
38:07I would suggest that this is a lie for a serious investigation.
38:12No question.
38:13No preconditions, no previous conclusions.
38:16But yes, this should be investigated thoroughly.
38:20And especially the timing.
38:25The timing and the connection with the transportation corridor.
38:30Which from the point of view of the US and Israel is a disaster.
38:35Because this corridor is the alternative to Swiss.
38:39And it involves street BRICS.
38:42This means that everybody around, across Eurasia, would want to be part of it.
38:48If they find something related to Israel during the investigation process.
38:55I would wonder if Donald Trump would consider that as somehow Israel acting against his policy with Iran.
39:06Do you think that would be the case for Donald Trump?
39:09He knows that how important.
39:11You mentioned Bandar Abbas and how important is that for the north-south corridor.
39:17Yeah.
39:18He wants to choose this policy of confrontation and these terrorist acts.
39:26Or he wants to support some sort of dialogue as he's trying to do with Russia and Iran.
39:32You know.
39:33We don't know Nima.
39:34We don't know because he's a fabricator of narratives.
39:39Because of the megalomania, ruler of the world, Pope, etc.
39:44We don't know.
39:45It could be a fantasy.
39:47He could mean what he says.
39:50Or maybe he could not mean what he says.
39:53He could be just playing around.
39:55In my latest column, I found an absolutely brilliant Chinese essay.
40:08Introducing Trump into the whole universe of Alice in Wonderland.
40:12And basically the essay was arguing that Trump is all those characters in Alice in Wonderland.
40:20He's the Cheshire Cat.
40:22He's the Mad Hatter.
40:23He's the Queen of Hearts.
40:25He's the White Rabbit.
40:27And I loved it.
40:31Especially because it comes from a Chinese intellectual.
40:34So that in itself is already brilliant.
40:37A Chinese intellectual that reads Lewis Carroll totally gets it and reinterpreters Lewis Carroll in a postmodernist way.
40:49I absolutely love it.
40:52So Trump is...
40:54One minute he is Humpty Dumpty.
40:57And the next minute he is like the Queen of Hearts.
41:01Off with their heads!
41:04And this applies to everybody.
41:06Because he's the ruler of the world.
41:08So he's like a fictional character posing as the ruler of the world.
41:13Impersonating a lot of characters.
41:16And changing meaning and narrative all the time.
41:22For instance, Lewis Carroll.
41:25We can say that Lewis Carroll started postmodernism already with Alice in Wonderland.
41:32When he says that the meaning of a world is that meaning because I say so.
41:39And that's Donald Trump.
41:42This is the portrait of Donald Trump.
41:44If he says I will be the Pope, that's it because I want to be.
41:50If I say that I'm the ruler of the world, it's because I am.
41:53So if we're talking in terms of rational diplomacy, geopolitical decisions, etc.
42:05How can we trust a shape-shifting character like this who wants to be all characters at the same time?
42:14And this is what I think our Chinese friend, he captured brilliantly.
42:19And that's where we are.
42:24If we could trust what 5% of what Trump says.
42:32But we never know what we can trust because he's shape-shifting all the time.
42:37So we can come to a point where everything that he says is meaningless.
42:43And that's very, very worrying when you have the ruler of the world as a running discourse on meaninglessness.
42:56It's very, very dangerous.
42:58It's very, very dangerous.
43:00And I would say this is the apex of postmodernism.
43:04We have a political ruler that took postmodernism to the galaxies.
43:08Yeah.
43:09By the way, it's going to be so much difficult for the leaders in Russia, China, and Iran to deal with.
43:18Because they don't know.
43:19It's because they're rational, Nima.
43:21You know.
43:22The leadership in Iran, in Russia, in China, they are very, very rational.
43:27They are precise.
43:28They don't, you know, they don't open their mouths to say whatever comes to them.
43:36No.
43:37They measure their interventions.
43:40They never announce stuff that they will do or they won't be able to do.
43:46And they're dealing with this shape-shifting blob.
43:52It's very complicated.
43:54It is.
43:55Yeah.
43:56Thank you so much, Pepe.
44:00Enormous pleasure.
44:01Como sempre.
44:02And next, our next conversation will be from Iran.
44:08This is going to be a killer.
44:09Yes.
44:10Yeah, exactly.
44:11That would be amazing.
44:12Yeah.
44:13That would be amazing.
44:15Thank you, Nima.
44:16And thanks all of you, our audience, everywhere.