host: michael rubin is our guest from the american enterprise institute to talk about conflict in the middle east. democrats line. go ahead. you are on. caller: yes, briefly, incidentally, apparently this individual rubin, has a better command of the middle eastern chaos, or whatever -- melting pot -- whatever you want to call it -- for heaven sakes, he may better serve america as secretary of state than this john kerry individual. beyond that, some years ago, in florida, i worked for persians, as they like to be referred as rather than iranians, but i was given the impression that within tehran, which is the capital of persia, there is, in fact, a thriving jewish community, and this is so conflicted to the presentation that the media gives to me, as a jew. jew by birth -- my mother was jewish. that is one thing. the other thing i cannot figure is how come they routinely show people purportedly minute -- manipulating radioactive material, and they're were in a fiber-cotton mask to protect themselves -- wearing a fiber-top and -- fiber-cotton mask to protect themselves from nuclear tox

host: michael rubin with the american enterprise institute. martin. kensington, pennsylvania independent line. caller: thank you, c-span. i hope mr. rubin goes further concerning the region. the reconfiguration will take place regardless of the islamic's capabilities. an independent kurdistan is key. the kurdistan regional government does not -- demonstrates self-government. the peshmerga have proved their willingness to sacrifice the independence of their nation. leaders of kurdistan, ranging from [indiscernible] each has contributed -- thousands whose names we will never hear have second fight for their people, their nation. they live there. they continue to be persecuted, oppressed, occupied by militants, and in search for international recognition. there are many in the region that have been relegated to the status of minorities due to the partitioning of the region after dismantling of the ottoman empire, after its defeat in world war i. guest: martin, -- host: martin thank you for the call. we will let our guests respond. guest: martin brings up

i am joined by michael rubin, currently a resident scholar with the american enterprise institute. what george says? it is not is a fairly the nukes but the running influence that is the problem? michael: we tend to look at them as a status quo state but it is an ideological state. when you look at the iranian constitution, it says the purpose of a ron is to export -- iran is to export revolution. they showed with yemen that this is not just empty right or. alix: it puts the u.s. in a conquered it situation. they are joining to fight against islamic states in iraq and fighting against then and yemen. how does the u.s. navigate all of these potential pitfalls? michael: we are rudderless right now. even our adversaries don't seem to believe it. when you look at yemen, they stood outside the capital for a few weeks waiting for a reaction. they entered the capital. they did not overthrow the government for a couple of months because they were waiting for a reaction. at every point it seems everyone is running around blindly. alix: what should the u.s. be doing? michael: the u.s. needs t

and then michael rubin on conflicts in the middle east. also matthew gardner. >> senator harry reid has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2016. he says that he does not want to soak up campaign resources when he can focus on putting democrats back in power. he has two more years in his current term. an accident left senator reid struggling to regain sight in his left eye. he says that that has given him time to think. here is his statement. senator reid: these bruises i have on my face are an inconvenience, but they are nothing compared to some of the bruises i got when i was fighting in the ring. when i was a boy, i dreamed of being an athlete. i listened to those games on the radio, baseball games, and i envisioned me as a man out in center field in yankee stadium or fenway park in boston, but the joy i've gotten with the work that i've done to the people of the state of nevada have been just as the filling as if i had played center field at yankee stadium. the job of minority leader, and the united states senate and is ju

and then michael rubin on conflicts in the middle east. also matthew gardner. >> senator harry reid has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2016. he says that he does not want to soak up campaign resources when he can focus on putting democrats back in power. he has two more years in his current term. an accident left senator reid struggling to regain sight in his left eye. he says that that has given him time to think. here is his statement. senator reid: these bruises i have on my face are an inconvenienc

joining us in a cnbc exclusive, is michaels ceo chuck rubin.joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> now, one of the things that you cited in the earnings report was the rainbow loom toy saying the bloom is coming off of it a little bit. how big a deal is that one item for driving traffic to your stores? >> that item was a really big item, in fact the biggest i it tem that michaels has ever had in its 40-year history. we're on the tail end of it after the first and second quarter of 2015, it continues in the assortment as a really good item but this was a fad that for those of us who remember the cabbage patch kids, of that ill. we have a diversified business so we've been able to balance around the rainbow loom in 2014 and get through it in 2015 just fine. >> we've had scrapbooking, the rainbow loom, are you going fad to fad here when it comes to people who are crafting and wanting to do things with your hands or is there a larger narrative emerging in this digital era where people are doing a lot of crafting digitally as well as physically? >>