Summary: Relevant Reading: The Uber Disruptor Dee Smith The Unintended Consequences of the U.S.-Turkey Deal Dov Friedman Good evening, listeners! This week host Richard Aldous invites two excellent guests to the show. First, Gordon Dee Smith speaks with Richard about car-hailing app Ubers travails in Europe, and then we welcome Dov Friedman to discuss the recent deal to bring Turkey into the anti-ISIS coalition. First, Gordon Dee Smith, founder and CEO of the private intelligence agency Strategic Insight Group (SIG) and the current President of the Board of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations (DCFR), points out that the debate over Uber has taken on larger dimensions in Europe. He says that while we might be specifically talking about an on-demand taxi service, more broadly the discussion is about the long-term struggle between disruptive innovators and those comfortable with the status quo. He looks at Ubers recent efforts to reshape its image and seek more solid political ground, and at how the matter of regulating new tech startups is straining the relationship between member states and the central EU bureaucracy. Then, Dov Friedman, an independent analyst specializing in Turkey and Kurdistan, joins us to discuss the recent dispatch of six F-16 fighters to Turkey as part of a deal with Ankara to increase strikes on ISIS. He takes us through the broad outlines of that deal and what both the U.S. and Turkey are hoping to gain from it, and explains how recent Turkish elections earlier this year affected the negotiation of this agreement. Finally, he takes a look at the broader consequences of the arrangement for the region and for the fight against ISIS. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and follow our host Richard Aldous @RJAldous and Dov Friedman @DovSFriedman on Twitter.
