“Trump is Netanyahu’s poodle, he plays him like a fiddle”: Avi Shlaim

Israeli professor of history and international relations Avi Shlaim says that Donald Trump is “Netanyahu’s poodle”, adding that Netanyahu “plays him like a fiddle”. Prof. Shlaim says that Donald Trump is the only American President who is gullible enough to become part of Netanyahu’s plan for regime change in Iran. However, Prof. Shlaim believes that regime change is almost impossible to achieve from the air and what is far more likely is that the regime will survive and if Mojtaba Khamenei remains the supreme leader he is likely to be more ruthless and a hardliner. Prof. Shlaim also believes that the regime only needs to survive to, in effect, win, whereas America if it doesn’t win has, in effect, lost.