This is the audio version of\u00a0The Reason Livestream<\/i><\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0which takes place every Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time.<\/p>\n

“Despite clear interests on almost all sides against a regional war [in the Middle East], all sides are acting in a manner that makes such a war increasingly likely,” writes<\/span> Trita Parsi<\/span><\/a> in an October 15 article<\/span> calling<\/span><\/a> for the Biden administration to push for “de-escalation” between Israel and Hamas. Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a D.C. think tank that promotes a more restrained U.S. foreign policy. He is the former head of the National Iranian American Council and the author of several books, including <\/span>A Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Parsi says that although the Biden administration is “well aware” of “escalation risks” that might lead to a broader regional war, talk of de-escalation remains off-limits. HuffPost <\/em><\/span>reported<\/a> late last week that it has obtained State Department memos<\/span> instructing<\/span> employees to avoid terms like “de-escalation\/ceasefire,” “end to violence\/bloodshed,” and “restoring calm” in press materials and statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is de-escalation feasible after Hamas slaughtered Israeli civilians and continues to hold more than<\/span> 200 hostages<\/span><\/a>? How should Israel respond to the worst terrorist attack in its history? What can U.S. policymakers do to make the prospect of a bigger war less likely?<\/span><\/p>\n

We discussed these questions and more with Parsi. We also revisited the topic of domestic reactions to the Hamas attack, namely the comments of a Cornell professor who claimed to be “exhilirated” by it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sources referenced in this conversation:<\/p>\n

“Biden refuses to talk ‘ceasefire’ even though it could prevent a regional war<\/a>,” by Trita Parsi<\/p>\n

“Stunning State Department Memo Warns Diplomats: No Gaza ‘De-Escalation’ Talk<\/a>,” by\u00a0Akbar Shahid Ahmed<\/span><\/p>\n

“Source: Iran warns Israel through UN against ground offensive in Gaza<\/a>,” by Barak Ravid<\/p>\n

“Iran says ‘preemptive action’ by resistance front expected in coming hours<\/a>,” by Reuters<\/p>\n

“Talks fail to let aid reach Gaza; Israel evacuates Lebanon border<\/a>,” by\u00a0<\/span>Nidal Al-Mughrabi,\u00a0<\/span>Dan Williams\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Yusri Mohamed<\/p>\n

“Biden is expected to request $100 billion for Israel, Ukraine and other crises<\/a>,” by Karoun Demirjian<\/p>\n

The post Trita Parsi: Is De-escalation Feasible in the Middle East?<\/a> appeared first on Reason.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parsi, from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, talks with Zach and Liz about the Israel-Hamas war. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-95584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-policy","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}