Anne Applebaum

And how do they think about it?

And there are sort of different versions of it.

in the book.

And as I said, it's an easy read, not too long, well-written.

He's not handling it strategically.

He's handling it the way he handles everything.

Namely, when he looks at the problem, he doesn't think, how do I solve this in a way that's good for Americans, that's good for the people of the Middle East, that's good for the people of Iran?

He thinks strategically.

How is this good for me?

How do I emerge from this conflict as the winner?

How do I make sure people don't say I'm just adopting Obama's deal or people don't say X or Y?

He's not thinking about solving the problem on behalf of others.

He's thinking entirely about himself.

And I mean, I think that's why you get these strange zigzags, these strange words.

claims that he's about to do a deal or not to do a deal.

He's trying to create applause.

He's not trying to solve the problem.

So Lebanon is important to Israel because Lebanon is the home of Hezbollah, which is a really important Iranian proxy.

Iran has tried to spread its revolution around the Middle East through the creation of other groups who have Islamic ideologies and who work not necessarily exactly coordinated with Iran, but in the same direction.

And Israel feels that it won't be safe