WEBVTT - Single Best Idea with Tom Keene: Richard Haass & Robert D. Kaplan

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Single best idea and a single best idea. It has

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<v Speaker 2>been a team effort for the last seventy two hours

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<v Speaker 2>into this military action by the United States of America.

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<v Speaker 2>Our special show yesterday, and of course we advanced forward today.

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<v Speaker 2>We started with a gentleman who pulled the consul and

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<v Speaker 2>foreign relations into the modern age now with Centerview Partners,

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<v Speaker 2>here is Richard Haass.

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<v Speaker 1>And the President had the authority like all of his predecessors.

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<v Speaker 1>If you look at the history of a modern American

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<v Speaker 1>foreign policy initiative, and foreign policy has decidedly passed to

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<v Speaker 1>the executive. I mean, Tom, what was it sixty years ago?

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<v Speaker 1>Author Schlesinger Junior wrote his essay book about the impurial presidency.

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<v Speaker 1>This is not new. Congress virtually, never ever fulfills its

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<v Speaker 1>constitutional obligation to declare war, and we have used military

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<v Speaker 1>force hundreds of times in the absence of anything so formal.

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<v Speaker 1>So I just flat out disagree with that kind of

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<v Speaker 1>a narrow legalist interpretation. That said, if I had been

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<v Speaker 1>advising President Trump, I would have said, take a page

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<v Speaker 1>out of the book of President Bush, the father Bush

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<v Speaker 1>forty one, do things with the internationally, with building on

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<v Speaker 1>the International Atomic Energy Agency Skating report of Iran, do

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<v Speaker 1>things with the Congress, do things with the American public.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're going to use military force, people should come

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<v Speaker 1>to conclude that you tried to do diplomacy and at

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the day you reluctantly had to use it.

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<v Speaker 1>And also, by the way, would have helped this president

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<v Speaker 1>with his magabase. So I think he should have gone

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<v Speaker 1>about this differently. But did he under American political tradition?

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<v Speaker 1>Did he possess the authority to do what he did? Absolutely?

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<v Speaker 2>Richard Hass can't say enough about the works he's put out.

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<v Speaker 2>One of my books of the summer years ago, The

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<v Speaker 2>World with Richard Haws and of course Bill of Obligation

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<v Speaker 2>out there now on citizenship in America. Robert Kaplan came

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<v Speaker 2>by with a new book, Wasteland, my book of the

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<v Speaker 2>year I think two years ago, The Loom of Time,

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<v Speaker 2>the reach of the Arab world from Morocco over to Persia.

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<v Speaker 2>Robert Kaplan on this moment for America and Persia.

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<v Speaker 3>People who were saying that this could this could lead

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<v Speaker 3>to another you know, forever forever war, Middle East quagmire.

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<v Speaker 3>They're making a mistake of category. Iraq is was in

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<v Speaker 3>a different category than Iran. Iraq was in the category

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<v Speaker 3>of Vietnam and Afghanistan in Korea in the sense that

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<v Speaker 3>it involved tens of thousands of ground troops which got

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<v Speaker 3>stuck literally in a quagmire. Here, we're dealing with just

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<v Speaker 3>air and naval assets. The war could go in a

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<v Speaker 3>number of ways. There could be blowback, but as long

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<v Speaker 3>as we stick with air and naval assets, there's not

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<v Speaker 3>going to be a quagmire. There's going to be something different.

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<v Speaker 3>It may be something bad, but it will simply exist

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<v Speaker 3>in a category different from those four forever wars Korea, Vietnam, Iraq,

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<v Speaker 3>and Afghanistan.

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<v Speaker 2>Robert D. Kaplan, The new book is The Wasteland. Thank

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<v Speaker 2>you so much again to our team for a concerted

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<v Speaker 2>effort on our fractured geo politics, huge sets of economic data.

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<v Speaker 2>This week we'll be covering all that into the domestic

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<v Speaker 2>legislative debate in Washington as well. On your commute across

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<v Speaker 2>the nation, don't forget Android Auto Apple CarPlay Serious XM

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<v Speaker 2>Channel one twenty one on YouTube. We're out at Bloomberg Podcasts.

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<v Speaker 2>Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts and on YouTube podcasts. This is

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<v Speaker 2>single best idea