Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / What Trump's Reflecting Pool renovation project and the Iran war have in common

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What Trump's Reflecting Pool renovation project and the Iran war have in common · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: There are times when two unrelated things tell or strongly
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  Speaker 1: suggest one unified story. The reflecting Pool in Washington and
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  Speaker 1: the US war with Iran have nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: one another, but both have similarities worth reflecting upon. Did
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  Speaker 1: the Reflecting Pool need an overhaul? Did the US and
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  Speaker 1: Israel need to attack Iran? In late February? The Reflecting
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  Speaker 1: Pool was in no obvious distress. US intelligence shows Iran
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  Speaker 1: did not have a nuclear weapon, and international monitors and
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  Speaker 1: experts said it had not seriously resumed efforts to build
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  Speaker 1: one after US and Israeli strike severely damaged key nuclear
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  Speaker 1: facilities last summer. There was no urgency then to launch
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  Speaker 1: either project. Both or President Trump's initiative his choice. Did
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  Speaker 1: President Trump over promise on the Reflecting Pool and the
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  Speaker 1: war with Iran? The simple answer to both is yes.
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  Speaker 1: Trump promised an algae free, miraculously clean, inexpensive, and American
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  Speaker 1: flag blue reflecting pool redo. What he and the country
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  Speaker 1: now have is an algae clumped mess, greenish and cluttered,
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  Speaker 1: with workers vacuuming bioslime and generators pumping furiously to fight
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  Speaker 1: the microbes. Oh yes, and two no bid contracts much
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  Speaker 1: more expensive than the original cost projections beneath the algae.
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  Speaker 1: The blue sealer coat is already in some parts. Detaching.
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  Speaker 1: Experts on Reddit, and yes, I did kind of a
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  Speaker 1: Reddit rabbit hole on this, say the cause is almost
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  Speaker 1: certainly poor prep work and a rushed refilling of the pool.
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  Speaker 1: When the war began with Iran, Trump said the goal
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  Speaker 1: was Iran's surrender. He told Iranians, under the bloody thumb
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  Speaker 1: of its theocratic regime that quote help is on the way.
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  Speaker 1: Iran has not surrendered. No US help ever came for
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  Speaker 1: Iranian civilians. Talk to end iran pursuit of a nuclear
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  Speaker 1: weapon are now so tenuous the talks to start, those
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  Speaker 1: talks scheduled to begin today in Switzerland have been postponed.
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  Speaker 1: This is not a commentary on intentions or capabilities. The
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  Speaker 1: intentions may have been valid, the capabilities may certainly have
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  Speaker 1: been sufficient. It's about decision made once things were set
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  Speaker 1: in motion, and when problems arose. Trump rushed to reflecting
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  Speaker 1: pool redo in his image to be ready for the
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  Speaker 1: two hundredth anniversary of America, the celebration he has made
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  Speaker 1: abundantly clear must be in his image and on his terms.
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  Speaker 1: Now there's scurrying to fix what's gone wrong. The war
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  Speaker 1: with Iran was launched to drive a perceived week Iran
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  Speaker 1: over the cliff and remake the entire region, possibly with
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  Speaker 1: Iran's death to America and death to Israel. Cadre of
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  Speaker 1: leaders gone for good. But Iran remains at the leadership
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  Speaker 1: level as it was weakened. Militarily, yes, but still there now.
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  Speaker 1: Trump says he sees no limits on his power and
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  Speaker 1: Israel must do as he says. Lots of promises, lots
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  Speaker 1: of boasting, but we are left with a reflecting pool
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  Speaker 1: and a region riven still by familiar, predictable problems at
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  Speaker 1: the surface and much deeper. One of the biggest problems
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  Speaker 1: with the Iran War Lebanon and Israel and has belaws
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  Speaker 1: continued fighting. This poses a genuine threat not just to
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  Speaker 1: the cease fire, but interestingly to the state of US
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  Speaker 1: and Israeli relations, which suddenly look as murky as the
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  Speaker 1: reflecting pool here in Washington. For more on Lebanon, we
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  Speaker 1: turn to MTS Taiab in Tel Aviv. MTS take it away.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Nator, I got to say, you had me gripped
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  Speaker 2: out your monologue there. I mean the parallels that you're drawing,
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  Speaker 2: and it really begs the question as to what we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing here in Lebanon. It is, in short, and this
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  Speaker 2: is not a scientific term, but a mess, and some
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  Speaker 2: have argued a very predictable mess. Now what we have
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  Speaker 2: right now in Lebanon is a ceasefire. It came out
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  Speaker 2: of nowhere. I'll be honest with you. When it was announced,
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  Speaker 2: we were all caught off guard by it.
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  Speaker 3: If anything, we thought the fighting in southern Lebanon was
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  Speaker 3: only going to intensify, far more than what we saw
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  Speaker 3: overnight when Israel targeted one hundred and fifty separate sites
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  Speaker 3: in southern Lebanon. We understand that eighteen people were killed
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  Speaker 3: in Lebanon according to the Ministry of Health there, and
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  Speaker 3: we also understand that four Israeli soldiers were killed. We
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  Speaker 3: had a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister saying that
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  Speaker 3: the fighting would continue, and now we have this ceasefire.
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  Speaker 3: How did the seaspark come into place? Well, I think
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  Speaker 3: we only have to look at sixteen hundred Pensylvania Avenue
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  Speaker 3: and the President himself, no doubt putting a lot of
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  Speaker 3: pressure on Israel. We've had those extraordinary statements, not just
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  Speaker 3: from him, but also from the Vice President jd Events
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  Speaker 3: criticizing Israel in ways that we very rarely ever hear
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  Speaker 3: from the US president. And so now we have this ceasefire,
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  Speaker 3: but it is a very brittle one major.
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  Speaker 1: Mts I want to have our control. Will bring up
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  Speaker 1: graphic that sort of summarizes what's happened in Lebanon and
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  Speaker 1: what Iran requires that it says it must have a
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  Speaker 1: ceasefire or talks with the US won't continue. But I
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  Speaker 1: want to bring the audience's attention to these numbers. You
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  Speaker 1: see inside Lebanon three nine hundred and twelve people killed
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  Speaker 1: since March second. Inside Israel, thirty two soldiers for civilians killed,
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  Speaker 1: death on both sides, But the numbers speak to much
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  Speaker 1: more death inside Lebanon. Not only that, but this so
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  Speaker 1: called security perimeter that Israel wants to exact inside southern
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  Speaker 1: Lebanon has been growing, has it not?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? It has.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, Israel just tonight releasing a number of maps
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  Speaker 3: pointing out to what it describes as this buffer zone.
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  Speaker 3: Now to give you a sense of it, if we're
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  Speaker 3: looking at it, it is about six point two miles wide,
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  Speaker 3: which stretches north from its Internationally recognized border with Lebanon,
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  Speaker 3: deep into Lebanese territory as far as the city of Nebta.
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  Speaker 3: Nebutia is probably the largest city in southern Lebanon. It
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  Speaker 3: is the commercial hub there and many people also see
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  Speaker 3: it as a has Bulla's stronghold. And really this has
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  Speaker 3: been a place of conflict going back all the way
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  Speaker 3: to nineteen seventy eight. We've seen round and round of
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  Speaker 3: violence there. Now this ceasefire is in place, but what
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  Speaker 3: does it actually look like. It looks like Israeli soldiers
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  Speaker 3: still on the ground inside Lebanon. Now for Hasbula, that
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  Speaker 3: is a redline for the Iranians that appears to be
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  Speaker 3: something that they will tolerate in order to get to
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  Speaker 3: these negotiations, which while the clock is ticking, it hasn't
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  Speaker 3: actually started yet, and that is a big question here.
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  Speaker 3: Will these talks actually begin to handle the far more
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  Speaker 3: thornier issues like e Run's nuclear program and many other issues.
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  Speaker 3: Major and just great stuff.
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  Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate it. Thank you.