{"id":57639,"date":"2026-02-17T16:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=57639"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:25:17","slug":"the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-kelley-vlahos-does-trumps-iran-policy-serve-america-or-a-foreign-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/17\/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-kelley-vlahos-does-trumps-iran-policy-serve-america-or-a-foreign-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kyle Anzalone Show [GUEST] Kelley Vlahos : Does Trump\u2019s Iran Policy Serve America or a Foreign Nation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Headlines shifted by the hour, but the stakes stayed high. We start with the last U.S.-Russia arms control guardrail, New START, and ask a simple question with massive consequences: extend the treaty and keep limits plus inspections alive, or gamble everything on a brand-new deal that tries to rope in China. We break down why a percentage-based framework is the only way Beijing would ever talk, and why tearing up what remains of verification invites a quiet arms race and louder miscalculation.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"[GUEST] Kelley Vlahos : Does Trump\u2019s Iran Policy Serve America or a Foreign Nation?\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MJISfA3IWRQ\" width=\"1076\" height=\"605\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Then the ground moves under Washington\u2019s feet. The Epstein emails aren\u2019t just lurid; they expose how influence launders reputations and how elites normalize the indefensible. We talk names, patterns, and the corrosive effects of a culture that treats accountability as optional when a donor or fixer is involved. Trust in institutions doesn\u2019t recover on its own; it\u2019s rebuilt with transparency and consequences, not curated outrage.<\/p>\n<p>Media independence is next on the line. A push to refit Stars and Stripes into a Pentagon PR vehicle would smother the reporting that actually helps service members: unsafe housing, contaminated water, VA gaps, recruitment realities. When oversight is replaced by messaging, readiness suffers. Troops and families deserve facts, not slogans.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the drumbeat around Iran grows louder. Talks relocate, terms shift, and a regional buildup accelerates. We run the numbers on cost asymmetry\u2014a $20,000 drone versus a $2 million missile\u2014and ask who benefits from demands designed to be rejected. If goalposts keep moving from nuclear limits to missiles to proxies, we\u2019re not negotiating; we\u2019re staging a lane to escalation. The smarter path is clear: lock in New START, protect independent reporting, treat the Epstein disclosures as a mandate for real accountability, and put disciplined diplomacy ahead of theatrics.<\/p>\n<p>If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with your take: extend New START or start over\u2014what\u2019s the wiser move right now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Headlines shifted by the hour, but the stakes stayed high. We start with the last U.S.-Russia arms control guardrail, New START, and ask a simple question with massive consequences: extend the treaty and keep limits plus inspections alive, or gamble everything on a brand-new deal that tries to rope in China. We break down why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":436,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[746],"class_list":["post-57639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57642,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57639\/revisions\/57642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57639"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=57639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}