Friday Focus: Trump’s graft in the Gulf States and Bibi’s war drags on
Friday Focus: Trump’s graft in the Gulf States and Bibi’s war drags on
On this week’s Friday Focus episode Janice joins Rudyard from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Trump made his first state visit since taking office in January. Trump’s next stop was to Qatar which came with news of a gift to the President from the small oil rich country: a $400 million dollar private jet for Air Force One, which comes on the heels of Eric Trump’s $5.5 billion dollar development deal with Qatar (this is the same country that has been funding Hamas to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars). Next up on Trump’s tour was the United Arab Emirates, which announced it will be using up to $2 billion in Trump’s meme coin to fund a crypto exchange. The graft and bribery on display is like nothing we have witnessed before. As Janice points out, this is how Kleptocracies are born. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to Israel and the release this week of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Janice believes Netanyahu is dragging on the war in Gaza to serve his own political interests even though 75% of Israelis want the war to end. It is becoming apparent that Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff are losing patience with Bibi and in the next few weeks we could see them force Netanyahu’s hand to agree to a ceasefire.
You may also like
August 7, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Carney considers concessions to Trump as U.S. Power wanes abroad
July 24, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Trump doubles down on the Iran war and tariffs, and an AI model escapes the lab
July 31, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Canada’s two competing priorities and the new U.S. Fed Chair signals compliance with Trump
August 21, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: how far is Carney willing to bend for Trump?
July 3, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: the American experiment at 250 and Canada’s pipeline gamble
August 14, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: the Canada-US trade deadline looms and Iran calls Trump’s bluff
August 28, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Is Canada prepared for the long fight?
June 23, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Trump loses his bargaining power and has Mark Carney’s “elbows up” promise delivered?
July 17, 2026
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Trump undermines his own party and the crisis of Canadian conservatism
August 25, 2026
– Listen
Special Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Carney walks away from Trump and turns his Davos speech into action
July 10, 2026