saudi arabia. he needs to compensate for that in some way. he is flexing his muscles, using iran as the baggie man has always been a go-to play for many arab leaders. and he s doing the same. yes, the trump administration signed off on it. you know what, each if they hadn t he would have done the same anyways. my take. bobby, thank you for joining us today. bobby gouache, general expert on all things in the world. developing news in the united states. governments continue fight to isolate north korea. the trust department issued new sanctions the day after the country labeled the country a state sponsor of terror. joining me, a person who understands these things better than most of us. agar, what do you make it of. tillerson said yesterday these sanctions are going to matter actually probably more than the declaration of north korea as a
the white house. one of the main focuses of their talks was the future of syria and supporting the u.n.-led geneva process to peacefully resolve the syrian civil war. president trump spoke about the call moments ago. we had a great call with president putin. we are talking about peace in syria. very important. we are talking about north korea. we had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half. we just put out a release on the call. but we re talking very strongly about bringing peace to syria. we are talking very strongly about north korea and ukraine. i want to break this down with my old friend bobby gouache, the former editor in chief with the hindu stan times. one of the smartest guys i know on these things. let s put aside that some people believe that trump is too colonel conciliatory with vladimir putin. vladimir putin met with assad in
his ear, apparently enjoying his trust. if you are the president of the philippines, how much are you supposed to make of jared kushner? the guy doesn t know a great deal about foreign policy. one part of you is saying okay this guy is the president s son-in-law. the president clearly listens to him, so this is a good conduit by which to pass on a message. but in diplomacy the conduit has to be somebody who understands all the issues so that the subtleties are appreciated and passed along. i don t know and nobody knows if jared kushner can do that. sooner or later professionals have to come in to take on the work that needs professional attention. eleanor roosevelt with her husband in wheelchair running world war ii used to go out and say in effectually be my husband s legs and his eyes and ears. a relationship not quite what you re describing there. bobby intends to share with us his list of the adults that are
the washington post version while a second cast doubt that s what the meeting was about. a senior administration official called the suggestion of a trump-putin back channel ridiculous. white house press secretary sean spicer told us late this even, quote, we are not aware of any meetings and eric prince had no role in the transition. we also learned late tonight that president trump spoke with vladimir putin in the wake of today s deadly subway explosion in st. petersburg. let s bring in our panel to kick off the night and the week. bobby gouache is here, former world editor for time magazine, now editor in chief of behind hindustan times. ashley parker who has a pair of human hands affixing a microphone and earpiece to her as we speak is by day a reporter for the washington post. our thanks to ashley and the friendly technician who made it possible for her to hear us and to speak to us. and michael crowley, senior
they didn t talk about human rights with this visit. he doesn t seem to care about these issues and that is a historic change in the administration. bobby, a lot of americans followed very closely the arab spring. we saw the mixture of joy and brutality on live television. and then their attention still piqued on egypt. they remember elements like the muslim brotherhood. but then the world got confusing. bring us up to date. and who is this guy? he s a pretty common or garden variety geral sort of in the spectrum of arab tyrants. very much in the middle of that spectrum. he is a he is highly behold to saudi arabia, which underwrites the egyptian economy. if trump is going to embrace a tyrant, and this is not the first time an american president will have for strictly sort of