Carnegie Connects

As 2025 draws to a close, the fate of the Trump administration’s twenty point plan to end the war in Gaza, disarming Hamas and withdrawing Israeli forces, and facilitate good governance, security and reconstruction, has run headlong into harsh Middle Eastern realities. The administration is promising a transition to phase two by the end of the year, but the status of the International Stabilization Force and an on the ground Palestinian governing structure seem more theoretical than real. What are the chances of implementation of the Trump plan, particularly on security? What, or who, will actually govern Gaza? And what of the other U.S. efforts in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran? Join Aaron David Miller as he addresses these issues and others with Carnegie’s Marwan Muasher, Israel Policy Forum’s Nimrod Novik, and former Palestinian Authority adviser Manal Zeidan, on the next Carnegie Connects. 

It’s no coincidence that the framers—reflecting the importance of the legislative branch—laid out the responsibilities and powers of Congress in Article I, with the executive second, and the judiciary third. And yet as 2025 draws to a close, the role of Congress seems overshadowed by the other branches.What’s happened to skew the balance of power the founders intended? Does Congress still matter when it comes to shaping domestic policy and constraining the aggrandizement of presidential power? And on foreign policy, traditionally the purview of the executive branch, what role can, and should, Congress play? Join Aaron David Miller as he engages Senator Chris Van Hollen, who sits on the Budget, Appropriations, and Foreign Relations Committees, on the next Carnegie Connects.

Perhaps no country in the Middle East has attracted more interest of the Trump administration than Saudi Arabia. President Trump took his first foreign trip there during his first term and he remains focused on the possibility of Israeli-Saudi normalization as part of a regional peace agreement in pursuit of a Nobel Peace prize. The visit of Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (MBS) to the White House on November 18 has focused even more attention on the U.S.-Saudi relationship.What are realistic expectations for the visit? What are the upsides, and down, of a reportedly discussed U.S.-Saudi defense pact? And what is Saudi Arabia prepared to do to facilitate the president’s plan for Gaza and to tackle the broader challenge of regional peace? Join Aaron David Miller as he engages Michael Ratney, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, on the MBS visit to Washington and the road ahead for U.S.-Saudi relations on the next Carnegie Connects. 

From covering the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and South Sudan, to examining America’s evolving status on the global stage, to mounting concerns about American democracy under the Trump Administration, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof has had plenty to cover throughout 2025. Kristof’s columns always inspire discussion and debate about the most pressing issues of our time.  Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with Kristof for one such discussion on the next Carnegie Connects, as they take a grand tour of the state and fate of the American Republic at home and abroad.

As President Donald Trump prepares for his upcoming trip to South Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be on the agenda. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung first suggested the meeting during his recent trip to Washington. Trump and Kim seem open to the possibility, with one major caveat: Kim has stated publicly that discussions of denuclearization are off the table. Whether or not that meeting occurs, North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal and deepening relationships with Russia and China are a persistent challenge for Washington.How should the second Trump administration alter, or maintain, its approach to North Korea?  Is Washington reading Kim and the internal politics of Pyongyang correctly? And what role should China and South Korea play in U.S. strategy?Join Aaron David Miller as he engages Jean H. Lee, the presidential chair of the East-West Center, and Joel S. Wit, a distinguished fellow in Asian and Security Studies at the Stimson Center, on these and other issues. 

As we enter the third year of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Trump administration has offered up a plan to end the war in Gaza. But can it be implemented? The goals of the Netanyahu government and Hamas seem all but irreconcilable. Meanwhile, the hostages and the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza continue to endure horrific conditions. How does the war end? What does the future hold for the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prospects for a lasting solution? And what role is there for the Trump Administration and key Arab states moving forward?  Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research Center’s Khalil Shikaki and the Middle East Institute’s Natan Sachs to discuss these and other issues on the next Carnegie Connects. 

Nearly two years into the Israel-Hamas war, the two-state solution is back in the news with the United Nations General Assembly voting in support. Unlike in years past, October 7 and the drawn-out conflict in Gaza has led to a wider and much more polarized conversation.  European nations, Arab states, and much of the international community are advocating for Palestinian statehood, while the Trump administration and Israel continue to push back.  Was the two-state solution ever a serious possibility? What roles did the United States, Palestinian Liberation Organization, Israel, and key Arab states play? And if not two states, what solution if any, is possible?  Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with Robert Malley, former Middle East adviser in three presidential administrations and co-author of the new book Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine, to discuss these and other issues.

In a world defined by seemingly intractable conflicts, great power competition, and rising challenges posed by climate change, nuclear proliferation, and economic uncertainty, the United States often seems like a modern-day Gulliver tied up and constrained by powers large and small and at times by its own politics and illusions.   How does the United States advance its national interests in the face of these challenges, particularly against the backdrop of bitter divisions and polarization at home?   Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with William J. Burns, former director of the CIA and former president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as he looks back on decades of national security challenges and ahead to what defines effective U.S. leadership in such a complex and fast-paced world. 

Presidential summits can be useful in opening serious negotiations or closing them with an agreement. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming summit in Alaska is the latest attempt by the United States to advance peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine—now three and a half years into the war. The outcome of the summit may foreshadow the direction of future negotiations and, ultimately, whether a durable solution is possible.  What is the Trump administration’sstrategy for the summit? What can realistically be achieved in this dialogue between Trump and Putin, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy excluded? And how will Russia, Ukraine, and the United States proceed in its wake?  Join Aaron David Miller in conversation with Andrew S. Weiss and Eric Ciaramella, two of Carnegie’s foremost Russia and Ukraine analysts, to unpack the summit’s outcomes, what comes next for the war, and other issues on the next Carnegie Connects.  

The United States took unprecedented action, striking three nuclear sites on June 22, following an ongoing campaign of Israeli attacks on Iranian leadership, nuclear, and energy targets. Iran responded to Israel with a barrage of ballistic missile strikes, but following the latest U.S. bombing, Tehran attacked with a reportedly well-telegraphed symbolic strike on American assets in Qatar.  For now, it seems the dangerous escalatory cycle has been diffused, but how long will this uneasy status quo endure without a negotiated set of arrangements that satisfies all three parties in this explosive triangle?  Are Israeli and U.S. interests aligned? What kind of concessions is Iran prepared to make on their nuclear program? Is a diplomatic solution possible and, if not, what kind of conflict lies ahead? Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with Amos Yadlin, president and founder of MIND and former head of IDF Intelligence, and the Carnegie Endowment’s Karim Sadjadpour to discuss these and other issues on the next Carnegie Connects.