Welcome to Stand in the Gap Today with your host, the Honorable Sam Rohrer, President of the American Pastors Network, addressing the most pressing issues impacting our economy, our homes, our churches, our culture, and our daily lives from a biblical and constitutional perspective. Stand in the Gap Today, transforming the culture one heart at a time. Well, hello and welcome to this Monday edition of Stand in the Gap today and this historic and long-awaited Monday, Inauguration Day 2025. And as this program begins, since we begin here at five after the hour of noon Eastern time, already has occurred. Joe Biden and his administration has officially returned to civilian status. Donald Trump has officially received the full authority, due to the provisions of our U.S. Constitution, to become the acting, now serving, 47th President of the United States. In a sweeping and comprehensive, the Trump agenda is, including over 200 executive orders to be signed today. undoing, as they say, all Biden executive orders and eliminating massive restrictive regulations, as well as other items such as the initial roundups of illegals to be deported, all theoretically now underway. So was the flurry of bizarre Biden efforts, including granting preemptive pardons to Folks like General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members of the House January 6th Investigative Committee. And while the fact of a new administration is clear, the implications arising out of this new administration, well, frankly, they're quite yet unknown. And while expectations and hopes by many are very high, it's very clear, so are the fears of many. A major transition is in place, that is certain. Certainly regarding the many policies, they are not. Now because of that, so much of what I routinely share on this program concerns Israel. and the Middle East, and because of biblically prophetic emphasis on Israel, the Jewish people, and the covenant city of Jerusalem, I've asked Greg Roman, he's the COO for the Middle East Forum, to be my guest today. It's been a while since Greg's been with me, but he's previously served as the political advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel. and worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. And in the past, I've had numerous contributing fellows of the Forum as guests here on Standing the Gap today on a wide range of geopolitical issues, all of which have had some tie-in with Israel and Middle East Forum's mission, which is to do this, quote, promote American interest in the Middle East and protect Western values from Middle Eastern threats." We'll build that out a little bit here today so you better understand that. But the title I've chosen to frame today's discussion is this, Inauguration Day and its Global Implications. And with that, I welcome to the program Greg Roman. Greg, thanks for being back. Thanks for having me. Greg, as a group, a forum, you're organized as a think tank where you have really developed an entire stable, I'm going to put that way, of fellows who are continually writing and analyzing matters of public policy as they affect the Middle East, but also from the standpoint of your mission, protecting American interest. and the safety of American citizens. You do that, in my opinion, better than anybody that's out there. It's a targeted focus, but you've been able to maintain a consistent position and a perspective, staying above the temptations, I'm going to say, to be owned by one political party or person within a party and still call it the way it is. And I think that's important, particularly in types of things that you deal with. So anyways, I just want to acknowledge that and thank you. Here, let me start right off today. At the Trump inauguration today, you and the Middle East Forum folks raised a high level of concern and it's something by which I fully agree and most people are not even aware. And that is the decision by the Trump team to honor a radical Islamic anti-Israeli imam to pray at the inauguration. Now, who was this imam and what concern does it raise for you and the Forum? So the imam in question is Housham Al-Husseini. He's affiliated with the Karbala Islamic Educational Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Your viewers might have a faint recollection of him being interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News about 18 years ago, actually, when he was on the heels of delivering an invocation at the DNC Winter Meeting in January of 2007. The main quote here that your listeners need to understand why this imam is so problematic is when Hanadi asked the imam, will you believe, quote, will you admit that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, sir? And then the imam tried to avoid the question and said, quote, that is your explanation. And Hanadi followed up. This is a yes or no question. It's Hezbollah, a terror organization. And Houssani replied, no. So we have an organization, Hezbollah, which has murdered hundreds of American servicemen, which is responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths, and even more, the suppression of Christian communities in Lebanon and elsewhere throughout the Middle East. One of their supporters is giving the benediction at today's inauguration. He has a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric, publicly supporting Hezbollah, refusing to condemn it as a terror organization, and I think at the outset, by inviting him to pray at the inauguration, the administration is sending a mixed message regarding extremist ideologies. Now, I don't think that that's their intent, but it does risk undermining the administration and its appointments strong stances against radical Islam and potentially alienating allies that would expect a consistent policy against extremist figures. I couldn't have said any better than you, at least a mixed message. And I know from being in office years ago, I mean, very clearly people can say, well, you know, for political purposes, you need to offer a hand, an olive leaf over here. But when you have somebody that's actually an official part of an inauguration, a one-time event of singular nature where you are saying, this is the time for change and we're going to make change. and then you bring in somebody who is an enemy, it says to me, it raises questions to me, same as what it raises to you. Just out of curiosity, was any question raised by the team, your forum, to the Trump team, and did they come back and say, well, we don't think it's an issue? It was. We didn't receive a response, but I try to be generous here and chalk it up to having to deal with the matters of transitioning government. I think that this is part of a wider issue, which is Republican figures trying to get more votes in swing states and appealing to certain figures, which are messing up the Republican values. But we can talk about that. in the next segment. All right, and with that, Greg Roman, ladies and gentlemen, again, you're just joining us. Theme today, Inauguration Day, it is, and its global implications. My guest, COO, Chief Operating Officer of Middle East Forum, Greg Roman. He'll be back with me in just a moment. Attention Christian school educators, BJU Press now offers a customizable digital learning platform for your students. If you're looking to integrate the latest technology into your classroom along with an academically and spiritually sound curriculum, BJU Press can help. A variety of online options including eWorkText and eTextbooks can be modified to offer the best educational experience for each child and equip you to help struggling students and enhance your teaching strategies. Streaming videos and DVD lessons and BJU's Christian Classroom Online are just a few of the many resources available. All materials offer a biblical worldview, focusing on academic rigor and encouraging critical thinking. 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Rather, God's Word repeatedly highlights the value of all human life. We are created on purpose and for His purposes. Discover more at AmericanPastorsNetwork.net I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. The Red List from Global Christian Relief puts India in spot number one for the highest number of attacks on Christian property over the past two years. Behind much of the persecution is a philosophy known as Hindutva, an effort to cleanse India of all religions other than Hinduism. While other religions are also targeted, Floyd Roy Bell of The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says Christians are attacked more frequently because they don't retaliate. Pray for their courage and find more prayer points at our website. Then, in places where it's most challenging to follow Christ, thoroughly equipped leaders help the church stand. That's why the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, Lebanon, offers training and leadership formation to the Arab church. Lolwa Malouf with ABTS says Valentin was a former atheist-turned-pastor from Syria. An online program with ABTS allowed him to learn remotely without leaving his congregation. Catch the vision for raising leaders alongside ABTS in the full story at our website. Mission Network News is a service of One Way Ministries, I'm Ruth Kramer. You're listening to Stand in the Gap today. For more information visit our website at standinthegapradio.com. Well, Greg, let me get right back into where we were on the other side. You may have had a few additional things to say. If you do, just pick up on that. But I wanted to ask you this question before we moved into this area of implications. You had sent out something that you do with your Middle East Forum, MEF. I'm going to use that, ladies and gentlemen, MEF, Middle East Forum. But you do a dispatch, that you call it. And the recent one from last week, was one that tied into the theme we're doing today. We've got inauguration, a new president coming. and then a potential long list of implications, major things, major issues, some that have been set before this new president, perhaps as pitfalls, but they are challenges, and this administration will be defined by that. But here's my general question here first, just kind of interested in what you think about it, and that is this. Obviously, the Trump administration is a lot different than the Biden administration. personality, if nothing else, but policy, we hope, right? But as you look at this new Trump administration, it would be my question. Could you identify the one most significant, or maybe a couple of that would be there, Trump administration policy differences that we can expect toward Israel, specifically, and the Middle East? You know, anyways, what do you say? I think that the common theme between Biden's presidency and even going back to when he was vice president under Obama was to create equilibrium between America's friends and America's enemies and America's friends' enemies in the Middle East. And that's the area where I think would define the best way to answer this question, wherein Obama tried to scale back Israel's response after October 7th. wherein it tried to create parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where it was trying to cater to Turkish interests in Syria, even before the fall of Assad. I think that what Trump will try to do is to back our allies to the hilt, especially those that are with the U.S. block step in our foreign policy. Now, if you look at the way that Biden treated, for instance, the Iran israel nexus as it related to hamas's attack against israel on october 7th 2023 Biden was always trying to get israel to scale back its response if president trump had been in power at that time I think you would have seen a quicker downfall of the assad regime the evisceration of hezbollah a few weeks after october 7th the ability for israel to actually go in and not Have artificial holdbacks On its dealing with gaza and the west bank and I think the biggest policy difference would have been Trump supporting an Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, considering the fact that they were the main sponsors behind the genocidal attacks that took place on October 7th. But now we have a new challenge which is facing us because of the slow degradation of the Shia crescent. That is Iran's influence from Iran to Iraq, Syria, into Lebanon in the south, and then, excuse me, in the north, and then in the south, its support for the Houthis in Yemen, and also its support for some transnational Islamist movements in Africa. You now have a north to south axis you have to worry about, which is Turkey and its Sunni proxies trying to attack U.S. allies in Northeast Syria, starting to fund efforts to support Hamas, and also looking at its ability to try to unwind influence that our Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt's not in the Gulf, but still a major Sunni ally of the United States, with Turkey potentially replacing Iran as the main actor, an ephema to our allies in the region, even though Turkey is part of NATO. Okay, and I want to go further, ladies and gentlemen, stay with us, because I want to go deeper into this matter of Turkey, because we have to bring that in with what's happening in Syria and so forth. But Greg, let me go back and revisit something that you said at the beginning when I first posed this question. You said that the Biden administration was primarily, their goal was to seek an equilibrium or something of that type, some kind of parity. All right, that's one way to look at it politically. But are you being kind? In other words, is this I am the person who perceives equilibrium. I want to be fair to everybody." That makes it sound really good to Biden. The other is that the Biden administration and that policy was really not one of a positive balance in the middle, but was one that actually favored the enemies of Israel. Right, and I don't think equilibrium, whether it be an intent or result, is a good policy. If your friends in the region are saying that their national security and economic interests are being threatened by forces, whether they be state or non-state actors, that are unhinging the balance of what you consider to be good for America, you better oppose those opposing interests full-throatedly. If you don't, you end up with the Middle East the way it is today, which is a failed region because of President Biden's policies. And I agree with that. I thought that's what you were going to say, but I wanted to make that clear for our listeners who were probably picked up on it, that they didn't get the idea that that's the gold model. Equilibrium is the gold model. To me, it's kind of like the whole political thing in the past was, if you stand in the middle of the road long enough, you're going to get hit by traffic on both sides. Choose what side you're on and then go for it. Anyway, so you're saying is, all right. Now, with that being in mind, let me back into it now. One of the issues that you raised in this last Middle East Forum dispatch regarding implications was this. One of the greatest implications would be, quote, the wars that could define the Donald Trump presidency, end quote. And then you listed a number of them. I'm just going to open that up to you right now. What brewing wars, from Middle East Forum perspective, are the most potentially significant and may well best define what becomes this new Trump administration? So the first is, off the bat, like I said beforehand, Turkey and Syria against the Kurds. We've partnered with Kurdish forces for the past decade and a half in fighting Islamist extremism, both in Iraq and in Syria. And it looks like right now, Turkey is preparing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds, who are currently guarding 30,000 ISIS prisoners in central Syria. If Turkey pushes the button, I think ISIS may have a second resurgence. The second one we have to focus on, Is azerbaijan versus armenia the caucuses? georgia armenia Azerbaijan some of the other stand countries are a natural buffer Between threats that the u.s. Faces in the middle east and threats that the u.s. Face coming from russia And there has to be a steady alignment of interest in those countries But if trump is not able to navigate the differences in U.S. posture towards Russia, Turkey, and Iran. I think that Azerbaijan and Armenia might cause the ability for Iran and Russia to further link up even more than they are right now as it relates to the Ukraine conflict. The other two I think that your listeners may not entirely be aware of is China's proxy wars in Africa. If you look at the billions of dollars that China has invested into African countries that have rare earth minerals, very necessary fossil fuels, In other instances, even if President Biden visited Angola, a country that had not seen a visit by an American president in a long time if ever, I think that Trump has to double down on kicking China out of Africa. And if it doesn't take place, you could find more American bases being ejected from countries like what happened earlier this year in Niger. And lastly, I think that China versus Taiwan, an issue that I'm not an expert on, but it's something where a forceful preemptive U.S. action, perhaps even putting American naval assets in the straits between China and Taiwan, would be a good move, especially if China right now is planning action against the Formosa Strait. Okay, that's a great overview and about a minute and a half left here in this segment. Let me throw this in. In that listing that you gave, that came out of your listing, and so those are all great. Some of them our listeners may not have considered, but they're there now. Conspicuous by its absence, although you mentioned it, was Russia and the involvement with Russia in there. Now, you talked about the Stan nations potentially, if not careful, could tie in and strengthen Russia's hand. But why did you leave Russia out as a single point of concern? I think that Russia absolutely remains a significant factor, especially in areas where it's losing influence and is trying to readjust, for instance, in Chad and Libya, since it's been effectively kicked out of Syria. But the position of the Trump administration vis-à-vis Ukraine or its other influence across the rest of Central Asia is to try to contain Russia now, to not allow it to gain any more territory in Ukraine, but to do so through a diplomatic process. I think that The focus on wars that we elucidated were those not yet fully underway or at a high boil. The Russian war in Ukraine, it's ongoing, it's known, and I think it's the position of this administration to try to end the war as quickly as possible. And in order to do so, I think that Russia's going to end up taking the next four years to lick its wounds and not to pursue another position of aggravation or aggression to continue with outreach. If it does, it will certainly be at the center of this administration's radar. But I think that right now the position is they're trying to end it on their terms, even if that might mean the loss of Ukraine's territorial integrity in the Donbas. Interesting. All right, ladies and gentlemen, again, as perspective, Greg Roman is my guest today. He's the CEO of Middle East Forum. Greg, great insights here thus far. When we come back, ladies and gentlemen, I want to continue on in this global implications consideration. and have a couple more areas to talk further with Greg about. And I do want to go deeper into this matter of the Kurds in particular. He's mentioned it, but who are they? Most people don't really know who they are and why they are so important. When you tune in to Stand in the Gap today, you'll hear relevant, applicable information to help you better understand the cultural issues of our time. The biased liberal media narrative confuses and distorts the truth, but our hosts and guests provide focused analysis by combining personal experience with wisdom taken from God's Word. One of our frequent guests, George Barna, had this to say. We know from the research that I've been doing that churches are not terribly interested these days in helping people understand and know how to think biblically about the issues and the conditions and situations that we face. And so that's one of the things that I love about being on your show, is that I know every time I go on, it's not just going to be an exercise. We're trying to push people closer to biblical truth, and that's worth getting out of bed in the morning for. Tune in to Stand in the Gap today by visiting our website at standinthegapmedia.org. That's standinthegapmedia.org. In First Samuel 30, we read the story about David and his men meeting with the Philistines to broker a partnership agreement. And while gone, their camp is invaded, burned and families kidnapped. David is devastated and realizes his desire to partner with the enemy, cause the people he loved to experience all kinds of evil. God challenges David to begin the task of reclaiming lost things. It's an amazing parallel to the condition of the church in America. For years we partnered with the world attempting to grow our churches and yet we wake up to find the evangelical church empty and in some cases on fire. Yet we must not give up. It's time to reclaim lost things. our new State of the Church Report. Our theme is Reclaiming Lost Things. I identify the present condition of the church and highlight those areas of ministry we need to reclaim. This report is a tool for church leaders to put their finger on areas they need to focus on in their congregations. This report is yours free by going to AmericanPastors.net and click on the State of the Church Report banner. You're listening to Stand in the Gap Today, discussing the pressing issues facing our culture from a biblical and constitutional perspective. Now let's rejoin our host. Well, if you're just joining us today, we're right smack in the middle of the program. Thanks for being a part of it on this Inauguration Day. And obviously, I'm not tuning in. I'm not in Washington right now at the event. I'm not watching it. I'm with you and special guest Greg Roman, who has joined me today from Middle East Forum. And they have a website at meforum.org. A lot of information. They're on a wide range of issues that I think that you would find a valuable item to put into your library of trusted sources to go to. So anyways, I just put that out there. But Greg, let's get back into this. Global implications. And certainly the world has been anticipating, well, anticipated the November election. The world has been anticipating this January 20 many threats of why it may not even happen. Obviously it was moved inside today, blamed on the weather, but the reality was there were many threats for security purposes and the weather I think was a convenient piece of the equation. That's not just my opinion. So there's a lot of change that will happen. now that Joe Biden and his regime is out and the Trump administration is coming in. And at this juncture, I believe, as we speak, ladies and gentlemen, I think there is only one cabinet member that is officially approved and the Senate was going to try and do that for Marco Rubio as Secretary of State because he is one of them. And other than that, the other ones still are yet to occur. So there's a lot of things to happen beyond today. But Greg, if you look at it, and as you consider it from the Middle East Forum perspective, you've noted a number of areas for which this administration and advisors must exercise great caution. We just talked about one of those wars and things that could really detract and pull a Trump administration in a wrong direction. But another one that you identified is this, no repeat of Kabul. the case against a hasty Syrian withdrawal. OK, well, Syria, who expected that really some weeks ago when Assad was forced out? Anyway, I want to get into that. Make the case, Greg, for how Syria could become another Afghanistan. Sure. So if we go back to first look at the Kabul withdrawal, Joe Biden put a process in place by setting an artificial deadline to remove all U.S. forces from Kabul. And if you remember that picture of individuals hanging on to the wheels of a C-130 transport aircraft, literally falling onto the airfield as the last American plane left Afghanistan, not to mention the Marines that died because of an ISIS suicide bombing outside the Kabul International Airport. America essentially surrendered to the Taliban when it left. And I understand the arguments against the amount of money that was spent there. the amount of U.S. lives that were lost there, and the ability to have a steady withdrawal rather than one which was under Biden's watch, precipitous retreat. But the issues that we're facing in the U.S. and Afghanistan are not the same as they face in Syria. In fact, Syria is a much more dangerous place with a lot more national security threats to American interest in the region and its allies. And I think that considering the American force posture, in Syria right now, the presence of a few thousand American soldiers on the Syria-Iraq border at Altinov Base in Jordan, and even with the U.S. peacekeeping mission, which could be on the Golan Heights, you will be able to reduce, if not completely minimize, American casualty counts while still having U.S. skin in the game as it relates to emerging threats to our national security apparatus. The first, as I mentioned in the last segment, is tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners. We do not want to see an ISIS resurgence, and our presence there acts as a backstop to the Kurdish guards that are looking over these extremist individuals. The second is a power vacuum. If Russia, Turkey, and Iran are all ready to fill the void with local allies that they have, if we abandon the Kurds, this would undermine American strategic aims. And I think more than anything else, beyond ISIS, Beyond our strategic position there, there would be a loss of American credibility signaling to the world, not just to the Middle East, that the U.S. is ready to cut and run, hurting trust in American defense commitments from Europe to South America, Southeast Asia. And it's like Lindsey Graham wrote in his foreword to the Afghanistan Inspector General report, it's better for us to have our military forward deployed to make sure that we deal with the battles in the regions where they start and not wait for them to get to American shores. That's why I think it's vital that we maintain a presence in the Euphrates, backing the Kurds and keeping the rest of the region in check until it erupts, leads to the loss of U.S. allies, and then poses a threat to our interests beyond the region. But Greg, isn't it complicated by the fact that it was with U.S. air cover and assistance that both the Al Qaeda with, I believe, some involvement with ISIS, the distinctions are very minor when reality, but they were the ones that were on the ground and helped to bring down Assad. So we've already been helping the enemy. Can you add some clarity to that? Sure. So it was American air cover. that was focused on ISIS elements in the east of Syria. The path that HTS, al-Qaeda, the Turkish-backed forces in the west of the country came down a highway to Damascus, and that was not with U.S. coverage. So you have to really think of Syria as two distinct geographic entities, one in which 30% of the country is controlled by the Kurds, U.S. friends, And the other 70% of the country, which at the time prior to Assad's fall, was split between Sunni, Al Qaeda-empathetic jihadis and Iran's backed forces, which was the Assad government. Now 70% of the country is ruled by jihadis that do not have a favorable opinion of America. And it's better for us to keep that split rather than give Syria and all of its resources, including transportation corridors from the rest of the Middle East, into Turkey and then possibly onto Europe between the Kurds and the Sunnis. If we keep that split, America's having a buffer against a full jihadi control of Syria. Well, all right, I could go so much deeper with you on that, but at least thank you for a little bit of clarification on it. Whenever I travel to Israel, one of the things I hear there is everything here is complicated. Everything here is complicated. Well, what you just described in Syria is doubly complicated by the appearance of it and sounds to me as if it's a balance that's going to be very difficult for anybody to try to maintain. But that being the case, I'd said we'd go this way. I want you to complete this segment. If we need to carry it over, we will. But you've talked about the Kurds. Our listeners are familiar with the Kurds. They've heard about them. But who are the Kurds? Why are they friends of the United States? Why does Israel view them as friends? And why does Turkey now want to commit genocide against them? The Kurds themselves are a distinct ethnic group spanning not just Turkey and Syria, but also Iraq and Iran. They've long sought autonomy or independence from these host countries, but they have been basically shooting themselves in the foot because of internal political disagreements between the four types that are across those four countries. They've supported Western interests. They cooperate with Israel. And they see their shared interest in maintaining regional stability to be in lockstep with U.S. interests. Now, the problem is that Turkey, under the Islamist leadership of Erdogan, views most Kurdish movements in Syria and in Turkey as so-called terrorist threats. Their rhetorical hostility at times borders on genocidal rhetoric. And if you look at Erdogan's vows publicly to eradicate Kurdish fighters, He's made the intent clear that he seeks to wipe all Kurdish power away from where they currently are backing the U.S. in Syria. Now, the Trump administration can maintain a limited but consistent U.S. presence in Kurdish regions, supplying them with defense resources, intelligence, and logistics without being called upon to fight directly for them. And in parallel to that, they can keep up a steady stream of diplomatic pressure against Turkey to avoid direct assaults on Kurdish-held areas. This would prevent a radical power vacuum and, at the same time, address the concern I had made prior by upholding trust with a longstanding ally. If you back the status quo, keeping the Kurds safe in their areas without backing any ambition for them to get independence, I think that's a policy way to get good equilibrium and not to upset the region. Well, effectively, that's the way it's been for a long time, right? I mean, the Kurds have, I think they probably would love to have an independent state, but you're saying that doesn't have to be the case for which they're lobbied, but keeping them in a position where they can continue to defend themselves against Turkish-type people who would like to commit genocide, that seems like the most simple and basic things that we ought to do. Finish some thoughts on that, then we'll go into the break here. Sure. The U.S. does not have to bend the knee to the genocidal machinations of a Turkish dictator in order to maintain a security interest in the region. And you can back the Kurds for their defense needs without giving them political support for independence. It's a strategy that'll work in a way that'll protect our interests and keep the region in check. Ladies and gentlemen, okay, these are just some items, again, implications. These are not small issues, none of them that we've talked about. Middle East Forum folks, Greg Roman, who's with me today, on their website, meforum.org, you have a lot more information. When we come back, I want to go a little bit deeper into Turkey, and then we're going to talk about the peace treaty in Israel. For years, faithful Christians formed non-profit foundations or trusts to preserve their ability to generously give to their favorite causes or ministries, even after their death. The problem? Professional managers, pressure from left-wing agendas, and even family members with opposing views hijacked the original donor intent. This is sad, but true. But this subversion of purpose can be prevented. Hello, I'm Sam Rohrer of the American Pastors Network, and I'm glad to recommend Capstone Legacy Foundation in Wayne, Pennsylvania, an experienced and capable Christian community foundation established to help you set up a ministry. A giving structure guaranteed not to be hijacked? Or a place you can donate cash or non-cash assets like stocks, bonds, or property? Capstone's designed to help you achieve immediate tax savings and give you needed time to decide how to prayerfully allocate your giving. Contact Capstone at 610-688-8890 or visit them at capstonelegacy.org. You're listening to Stand in the Gap today. For more information, visit our website at standinthegapradio.com. Well, Greg, we're going to go into our final segment now. And I have these two questions I want to complete. One, your comment on this peace treaty, quote unquote, between Hamas and Israel. But let's go back to Turkey just a little bit here. You've already given plenty of comment. We've talked on many other programs about how we envisioned, when Saad first left, we set on this program that what we believed would be the case, that we would see Turkey emerge as the stronger entity. And we've talked about how Erdogan views himself as setting up and reinstituting the old Ottoman Empire. He's made his alliances with Hamas replete. He has come out directly against Israel. So, in regard, what is it about Erdogan that makes him and or Turkey such a serious concern, put it that way? And do you envision that in this void coming out of Syria, something as the power base continues to shift, do you see a stronger Turkey, as in stronger than Iran, was before. Do you see Turkey actually supplanting the influence of Iran, or do you see both of them perhaps linking arms together and having a more formidable enemy of Israel than existed before the fall of Assad? Well, first on Erdogan and then on Turkey. Erdogan started his political career in the 1990s, ending his reign, ruling over Istanbul, by going to jail for four months because of his Islamist tendencies and ideology. He's championed Muslim Brotherhood ideology and grown more and more hostile to Israel and also other American allies over the past 23 years since his rise as president of the country. He's trying to overshadow Arab states in his anti-Israel rhetoric. Now, Turkey, the country itself, has a military which is much stronger than Iran. Iran and Turkey have differing agendas, one in which Turkey seeks Sunni supremacy over the Middle East, whereas Iran was seeking Shia supremacy. But they can cooperate tactically against Israel and the Kurds. And you might have a point where Turkey and Iran deepen an alliance and pose a strategic threat to Israel and the rest of the region. The bottom line is, is that Erdogan's ideology and Turkey's Islamist shift can make it a major regional adversary, both against U.S. interests, moving away from NATO alignment, and also going further to try to bridge ties with Tehran to divvy up the Middle East. I'm extremely worried about it, and I think the one thing the U.S. can do is to keep a minimal force presence and a very strong diplomatic posture as it relates to Erdogan's vision to rekindle the Ottoman Empire. I would also assume that's part of Israel's hesitancy about leaving their presence now that they have some presence in southern Syria? Right. And I think that that creates a strategic buffer for Israel to be able to track what's going on in Damascus. And I don't see them leaving that area anytime soon. The other thing to worry about, by the way, is Turkey's proxies' threats against Syria's minorities. Christians, Alawites, Druze. We already mentioned the Kurds. There's a moral imperative there to make sure that Turkey is not able to cleanse these individuals as well. All right, I think that's all a great point. I think I probably need to have you back, Greg, for those things, build those out further in our future program. But let's complete and stop, have you comment on this. I'll get it out here in just a minute. And that is this quote-unquote peace treaty between Hamas and Israel, the one to which Trump said earlier If you do not agree to return the hostages, there will be hell to pay, he said. And so now there's the political thing. Biden says, well, I'm the one who caused this. And Trump said, I'm the one. So there's this political nonsense that's going on who gets credit for it. Is this peace treaty actually something to which Israel, because I've heard some say that really it's not in their best interest. Is it in their best interest? And how long do you think this may last? I would call this more of a hudna, which in Arabic is a temporary ceasefire, rather than any sort of long-term peace. At the end of the day, Israel realizes, and I think you and your listeners realize as well, that Hamas's core ideology is committed to Israel's destruction. This is a few-week reprieve from being able to attempt to stop their fighting against the Jewish state, and it's unlikely to endure. The thing is that Israel will be threatened by this. Hamas will use this lull to rebuild its military, to rearm, to try to find new smuggling routes back into the Gaza Strip. And while Israel might see short-term benefits in terms of retrieving hostages, the deeper conflict will remain and get even more aggressive. I think that the Trump administration's posture is forceful in terms of its rhetoric. But real peace requires Hamas to abandon its ideology, abandon its arms, and to give up on trying to destroy the Jewish state. So this agreement is precarious at best. All right, and that's how I would tend to view it, too, because of the reason that you just said. When they swear their allegiance to Allah that they must exterminate all of Israel and the Jewish people, it does not seem to be any kind of a basis or hope there for any kind of a lasting agreement. That only comes by strength. So, therefore, that's why I said I wondered if it really was truly in the interest of Israel. Now, only a couple minutes left here, but I view Trump as being in a difficult position somewhat of his own doing, perhaps. On one hand, you don't want war. On the other hand, that's all these people understand over there, the enemies of Israel. Anyways, your prognostication for what are we going to see in the months down the road here, particularly as it comes to the Middle East? I think we'll see a realignment of America's allies, both Israel and its Gulf allies, giving Iran an ultimatum. Abandon its nuclear program or face the full wrath Of the us gulf israel alliance against its nuclear sites and potentially even the possibility of selling its regime All of its main pieces on the chessboard have been essentially removed and there is a clear line of sight between israel's air force bases And iran's nuclear facilities without any enemy radar giving iran a heads up to be able to either detect it or after israel's strike against iran back in the fall any anti-air missile systems to defend against it. So Trump will address Iran in the next few months. The way in which he does so, I think, will be with the goal of eliminating its nuclear program. With that, Greg, I think that's a great response. And ladies and gentlemen, I'm just going to throw in, as we complete that, is that you now have Turkey, Sunni, Iran, Shia. You've got this alliance there in the Middle East against Iran. But now you've got Sunni, Turkey, Well, I can see those guys wanting to develop their alliance in a stronger way. Anyway, there's a lot that is yet to happen and unfold as we watch what takes place in the Middle East. So all of us, as we are observing and looking at this Inauguration Day, we need to continue to pray for those who are assuming new positions of authority that they would fear God. fear God and not think that just some political machinations are going to all of a sudden bring peace out of an area where enemies have sworn the death. of Israel and the Jewish people. So there's a lot happening, much to be aware of, much to be prayer of. But Greg, thank you so much for being with me today. Great insight on a lot of things. I appreciate it. And I would love to have you back and some of your team in the weeks ahead. So again, his website, M-E-Forum, M-E-F-O-R-U-M, M-E-Forum.org is the website. A lot of information that's available there. Thanks for being with us today. 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