Israel’s leaders have finally found a United States president “stupid enough and reckless enough” to join them in a war against Iran, argues US Senator Chris Van Hollen.

Van Hollen, a Democrat, tells host Steve Clemons that the US capacity to degrade the Iranian military has never been in question. “The question is to what end, both in lives and treasure,” he says.

On the attempts by Israeli and US officials to frame the war as a holy quest, Van Hollen argues that “The last thing the world needs is a religious war.”

A weekly take on US politics and policies and how they affect the world.

The Bottom Line

US Senator Van Hollen: Trump ‘has no idea where this war is going’ | The Bottom Line

Even though the joint United States-Israeli war on Iran is in its early days, “we already are in a scenario where the US has lost control of this war,” argues Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Nasr tells host Steve Clemons that Iran is the weaker party, but it “has the capability to create a much longer mayhem” than envisioned by the US and Israel.

US goals for this war may be unclear, but “Israel’s goal is to arrive at a point where it’s the supreme power in the Mideast”, says Nasr.

Iran war: Redrawing the map of the Middle East, Israeli style? | The Bottom Line

US President Donald Trump is falling into the same trap as his predecessor, Joe Biden, when he tries to convince Americans that they’re better off financially, argues YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.

Cohen and Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, join host Steve Clemons to dissect Trump’s State of the Union address and vision for the United States.

One of Trump’s strengths is the weakness of his main opposition, the Democratic Party, argues Cohen, as the party acts “in a way that's completely untethered to how the vast majority of Democrats actually feel”.

Do Americans agree that Trump has made the US ‘better, richer’? | The Bottom Line

At its peak, the BRICS coalition of economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was seen as a serious attempt to move away from the United States dollar and the domination of Western economic institutions like the World Bank, Group of Seven (G7), and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But BRICS members have different political agendas, and new forces are at play, argues economist Jim O’Neill, a member of Britain's House of Lords.

O’Neill, who coined the term "BRIC" 25 years ago, tells host Steve Clemons that the US's economic policies may be the driver of its own decline, coupled with the economic rise of China and India.

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US Senator Van Hollen: Trump ‘has no idea where this war is going’ | The Bottom Line

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