Does Washington have a plan B if the Ukrainian counteroffensive doesn't work out? Kelley and Daniel talk to foreign policy and politics writer James Carden about continued maximalist talk in the Beltway, setting up the Ukraine war for another forever war. He also talks about the "peace conference" in Saudi Arabia last weekend and his disappointment that there is no real diplomatic push on behalf of the major powers. Moreover, how politics in Washington are precluding actual debate on Ukraine, whether it be over the new aid package that the Biden administration now seeks or the lack of a real strategy to end the war.
Kelley and Dan also discuss an emerging plan in the White House to apparently offer security guarantees to Saudi Arabia, along with other goodies, in return for its normalization with Israel.
More from James Carden:
The Coming Battle: Who Lost Ukraine? The American Conservative magazine, 8/7/23
When facts cut through the fog of war, w/ Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Responsible Statecraft, 7/25/23
Now is not the time for Ukraine to Join NATO, w/ Katrina Vanden Heuvel, The Guardian, 7/6/23
James Carden: Saying the quiet part out loud about the Ukrainian counter-offensive