As top diplomats from the United States and Russia meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine and improving relations between Washington and Moscow, Economist Jeffrey Sachs and foreign policy analyst Matt Duss joined Democracy Now! to offer their analysis.
Duss emphasized that Ukrainians have agency and the conflict cannot be reduced to a question of NATO participation. “If there is a workable peace agreement to be had, that’s good,” he says, but attempting to decide Ukraine’s future without Ukrainians at the table is unlikely to be successful or sustainable.
Duss explains:
Putin’s vision for Russia’s role and for the eventual dispensation for Ukraine is that this is something to be worked out between Russia and the United States, between these two great powers. He sees Russia as a rising force. Again, he’s trying to kind of reestablish Russia as a great empire, a great force in global affairs. And his vision of how global affairs should work is that the great powers make decisions, and the lesser powers just have to deal with it. Their concerns are of very little concern. And unfortunately, I think that is something we’ve seen from the Trump administration, too, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s Gaza. It’s that the powerful make decisions, and the weak just deal with it. I don’t think that’s just. And more importantly, I don’t think that’s going to lead to a sustainable peace. So, listen, if they do — if they do come out of these talks with a workable and sustainable and durable peace agreement for Ukraine, one that protects Ukraine’s democracy, one that protects Ukraine’s sovereignty, we should all support that. But without the participation of Ukraine, I’m very, very skeptical that we’re going to get anything like that.
Some additional positive side effects could include reducing the corrosive power on our democracy and foreign affairs of the U.S. military-industrial complex. If NATO countries step up their security commitments, Duss notes, “that could have potential positive consequences for the United States, given the way that the US security architecture in Europe is something that helps buttress our own military-industrial complex & diminishes & really corrupts our own democracy.”
On February 7, Center for International Policy Executive Vice-President Matt Duss joined SiriusXM’s “Mornings With Zerlina” for a discussion of Trump’s proposal to ‘clean out’ the Gaza Strip, the attacks on USAID, the administrative state, and more.
On January 20, Center for International Policy President & CEO Nancy Okail joined ABC News Australia to discuss the ceasefire deal that went into effect on Sunday.
Any pressure for Israel to accept the terms is good, but likely to be accompanied by full-throttle support for West Bank annexation, Security Assistance Technology & Arms Trade Director Ari Tolany tells Voice of America Indonesia:
“I think it is likely that Biden still wants to get some degree of credit for this ceasefire still happening on his watch, even though it does seem from speaking to a range from sources both in Israel, Arab states and Palestinian groups that pressure from the incoming Trump administration was really what moved the needle with the Netanyahu administration.”
“They [the first Trump administration] moved the United States embassy to Jerusalem. They did a lot of inflammatory actions including backing Israel’s annexation of territory in the West Bank. And so, while I think the ceasefire is a good thing and I think Trump’s willingness to use the leverage that he does have with Netanyahu is a good thing, I remain pessimistic for what the Trump administration is going to look like vis-a-vis Palestinian affairs.”
Security Assistance Monitor (SAM) is the first and only public resource to comprehensively collect, organize, and house all available federal data on U.S. weapons sales and transfers in one place, making it easily searchable by year or country on its website.
Matt Duss, EVP of Center for International Policy, joins Wajahat Ali on Chai Talk to discuss what a successful Israel-Gaza policy would look like under a Harris-Walz Administration — one that could finally help regional security, end war crimes, and benefit Democrats politically. Duss offers immediate solutions and long-term course corrections in which the United States could use its immense power and leverage to direct a more sane, just, and peaceful policy in the Middle East.
This Is How Democrats Can Fix Their Failed Israel-Gaza Policy And Hold Netanyahu Accountable by THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali
The Biden Administration’s foreign policy in Israel has enabled Prime Minister Netanyahu to unleash a genocide and escalate the war to Lebanon. How can Democrats course correct?
NPR’s Leila Fadel talks with Matt Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, about Israel’s strategy in the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Find the full interview here.
LEILA FADEL: The fears of all-out war in the Middle East grow as world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly.
ANTONIO GUTERRES: Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world, cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza
LEILA FADEL: UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres spoke to the opening session about the same time that health officials in Lebanon announced more than 550 were killed and 1000s more were wounded in a single 24 hour period, the deadliest day in Lebanon in decades. Thousands of civilians are fleeing Israeli airstrikes searching for safety. What will it take to de escalate to talk about this? Matt Duss is with me in studio this morning. He is the Executive Vice President at the Center for International Policy. It’s a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that’s been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, and the response from the US. Matt, thanks for being here.
MATT DUSS: Very glad to be here, thank you.
LEILA FADEL: So 150 women and children among those killed in the strikes this, of course, after Israel was blamed for turning pagers and handheld radios that Hezbollah uses into little bombs that exploded in civilian areas. Why the dramatic escalation now?
MATT DUSS: Well, I think we should go back and to, you know, the, you know, the attacks of October 7 and the days immediately after, which is when Hezbollah, you know, started launching quite a few rockets into northern Israel, which has caused some 60,000 Israelis to have to flee their homes in northern Israel, in those communities which they’ve not been able to return. That rocket fire has continued as it has increased at certain times.
LEILA FADEL: And that’s for almost a year now.
MATT DUSS: For almost a year now, as this war has gone on, it’s hard to believe we’re almost a year into this, this catastrophic war. But, you know, there have been– A few weeks ago, there was a strike on a playground which killed a number of children in northern Israel–
LEILA FADEL: 12 kids.
MATT DUSS: –to which is Israel responded. But I think what we’re seeing now is, you know, an increase in the Israeli strikes, on, on, on, Lebanon against Hezbollah, because they believe they’ve kind of managed the situation in Gaza — and I hesitate to use that term manage. But I do also think it’s we have to understand that part of what’s driving this is Netanyahu’s belief that his only chance for political survival is to prolong and expand this war. He understands that as soon as this war comes to an end, he is going to face accountability for the failures of October 7, and that is something he would very, very much like to avoid.
LEILA FADEL: Now you point out, tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from their homes. They want to go home, and the Israeli government says this is the way to make it safe. This escalation. Is this the way to do that?
MATT DUSS: It does not seem like it. Just hours ago, we saw a strike on Tel Aviv, which is the farthest south, I believe, that Hezbollah has launched in this in this engagement. Everyone understands that Hezbollah has tens of thousands of rockets and missiles and weapons that they could use if this war were to seriously escalate. But I think the approach that we see from the Israeli military here is, you know, and I hate using this term, but they call it ‘mowing the lawn.’ Where you will have a conflict, a brief conflict, which will buy some buy some time and some space. But this is far worse than we’ve seen, just as the Gaza war is far worse than previous wars. But again, there is really no longer-term strategy here, other than to strike hard at the enemy to kind of do some damage to their capabilities, to their to their weapons stores, and hope that you can buy some normalcy. But again, we see cycle after cycle, time after time, returning to this conflict. It is really intolerable for everyone.
LEILA FADEL: Yeah, that strike toward Tel Aviv was intercepted. So what should Israel do to make it stop.
MATT DUSS: Well, I think this all comes back to Gaza. I mean, Hezbollah has made clear that the rocket fire will stop when the Gaza war stops. There have been, of course, an effort by the Biden administration, starting four months ago, to get a permanent ceasefire. That is US policy as of the end of May was to bring this war to an end, at least that’s Biden’s stated policy. Unfortunately, he’s not been able to get that agreement, and one of the reasons why, as I said, Netanyahu has no interest in ending this war. He has made this clear. It’s been reported. We’ve seen numerous comments by Israeli officials, Israeli security officials, that Netanyahu is the one who continues to undermine these ceasefire negotiations. But unfortunately, President Biden still refuses to apply real pressure and use real leverage in the form of arms sales to really push Netanyahu to to agree to that ceasefire. The United States is the only country in the world that can impose those costs, and unfortunately, President Biden is still unwilling to do that.
LEILA FADEL: Matt Duss is from the Center for International Policy. Thank you, Matt.
In his first public call since leaving the race, President Joe Biden vowed to end the war in Gaza during his final months in office as he is set to meet with Netanyahu this week.
But much of the attention will be on Vice President Kamala Harris. The presumptive Democratic nominee will reportedly have her own face-to-face chat with Netanyahu.
CIP executive vice president Matt Duss joined Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s RN Breakfast to discuss. Listen here.
To understand how progressive foreign policy thinkers are processing these events, POLITICO Magazine spoke with Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy. A former top foreign policy aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Duss has been an outspoken critic of many traditional Democratic Party security policies, including those governing the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Duss tells POLITICO’s Alex Burns:
“On the progressive left, you have a recognition and a respect for the rights of all people to live in security and dignity. That includes Israelis and Palestinians. I think the statements you see from most U.S. officials, including from the White House, are overwhelmingly focused on one side. It is of course quite true that Israel has the right to defend itself. Its people have a right to live in peace and security. The Palestinians have that right as well. The Center for International Policy put out a statement responding to the events of the last few days, making this point — that what Hamas has done is awful. We condemn it unequivocally. We also note that Palestinians have continued to suffer under an occupation and blockade that is decades old. That is absolutely necessary context. That does not excuse what Hamas has done. There is no excuse for that. But there is an important context of understanding where this violence grows from.”
