Background Briefing with Ian Masters - podcast cover

Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Background Briefing goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard elsewhere in American media. Background Briefing features international and national news, expert guests, policymakers, and critics offering analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural, and social issues. backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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Episodes

March 31, 2026 - Robert Kuttner | Jon Hoffman | Sidney Blumenthal

Trump Will Either Double Down or Cut and Run Leaving Us, Our Allies and the Iranian People So Much Worse Off | Trump's Strategic Failure In Iran | Trump's War is Holding Him Hostage backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 31, 20261 hr

March 30, 2026 - Stephen Biddle | Dean Baker | Garrett Epps

The Strategic and Moral Danger of Having Adolescent Bullies Running an Ill-considered War of Choice | An Assessment of the Damage Being Done to the US and Global Economy | In Stripping Birthright Citizenship, Trump and Miller Want to Create and Exploitable Class on Non-Citizens backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 30, 20261 hr 1 min

March 29, 2026 - Lance Dodes | Richard Parker | Matt Angle

Dementia on Display at Trump's North Korean-Style Cabinet Meeting Raises the Alarm For VP Vance to Invoke the 25th Amendment | The Political Impact of the Largest Demonstration Against a Sitting President in the History of the United States | Could James Talarico Flip Ruby Red Texas and the US Senate? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 29, 20261 hr 1 min

March 26, 2026 - Jeremi Suri | William Hartung | Frank Dikötter

No Kings and 11 Attempts by Democrats to Fund TSA Blocked by Trump As He Tries To Force His SAVE Act on Senate Republicans | Will Congress Balk at Hegseth's Extra $200 Billion and Trump's Extra $500 Billion on Top of a $Trillion Defense Budget? | Trump Postpones His Summit With Xi While Cutting Off Persian Gulf Oil China Depends On backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 26, 20261 hr 3 min

March 25, 2026 - Aslı Bâli | Kim Lane Scheppele | Tom Freston

Our Reality TV President Unable to Deal With Reality, Makes Up Stories About Negotiating With Iran | Trump and Putin Work Together to Reelect Hungary's Kleptocratic Despot Orban | As Trump-Friendly Billionaires Buy Up the Media, the Former CEO of Viacom Now Owned by the Ellisons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 25, 20261 hr 4 min

March 24, 2026 - Ori Goldberg | Nina Burleigh

Life in Bomb Shelters Under Bombardment in a War 90% of Israelis Support | An Update on the Story Trump Has Waged a War to Distract Us From backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 24, 202658 min

March 23, 2026 - Asher Kaufman | Sarah Leah Whitson | Jamie Court

TACO Trump Now Claims Peace is at Hand But Iran Says No Such Talks Are Taking Place | Crying Foul Over Cluster Bombs as Civilians Are Targeted | Oil Companies and Refiners Are Making Out Like Bandits With California Refiners Gouging a $1.50 Profit Per Gallon at the Pump backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 23, 20261 hr 2 min

March 22, 2026 - Robert Young Pelton | Olga Lautman | Nader Hashemi

Contradictory Signals From Trump to Wind Down the War While Sending in More Marines | The Winner of the Iran War Putin Prepares For a Spring Offensive in Ukraine While His Bootlicking Friend Trump Rewards Him With Extra Revenue | Celebrating the Iranian New Year Under Bombardment From Abroad and Repression at Home backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 22, 20261 hr 4 min

March 19, 2026 - David Hearst | Harrison Mann | Mike Lofgren

The Global Impact of the Trump/Netanyahu War on Iran as Energy Prices Shoot Through the Roof | A Former DIA Intelligence Officer on the Folly of Sending Marines Into the Gulf | Trump is Being Played at We Deplete Expensive Weapons on Cheap Iranian Drones backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 19, 20261 hr 2 min

March 18, 2026 - David Adler | Steven Simon

The Organizer of an International Humanitarian Flotilla Delivering Aid to the Desperate and Starving People of Cuba | Possible Scenarios to End the US/Israeli War on Iran and a More Likely Escalation of Attacks on Oil and Gas Terminals and Storage Facilities backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 18, 20261 hr 2 min

March 17, 2026 - Tom Mockaitis | Christine Fair | Luis Martinez-Fernandez

Today's Blowback and the Historical Record of US Meddling in Iran | The Intensifying War Between Afghanistan's Taliba And Their Former Sponsor Pakistan | Trump's Claim He will Have "The Honor of Taking Cuba" Which is Likely to Fall in a Matter of Weeks backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 17, 20261 hr 1 min

March 16, 2026 - Joshua Shifrinson | Juan Cole | Adele Stan

Although the US Navy Won't Go Into the Gulf, Trump is Demanding Other Navies Escort Tankers Through the Strait of Hormuz | Iran's Strategic Plans For a Long War With Layers of Redundancy in the Ranks of Leadership | The Crackup on the Right Against Trump's War on Iran backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 16, 20261 hr 1 min

March 15, 2026 - Emma Ashford | Dr. Allen Frances | Justin Levitt

Trump's War of Choice Rattles Allies While Rewarding Russia | Our Commander-in-Chief is a Senile Old Man Who is Losing His Mind | Trump's Cynical SAVE America Act Will Not Save Republicans in November backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 15, 20261 hr

March 12, 2026 - William LeoGrande | Mike Lofgren | Karen Hao

After Declaring Victory Over Iran, Trump Vows That Cuba Is Next | What Can Be Done To Reign In If Not Abolish DHS | AI's Sweeping and Growing Impact on Every Aspect of Society backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 12, 20261 hr 1 min

March 11, 2026 - Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse | Jonathan Taplin | Jacob Heilbrunn

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Trump, Epstein and Putin | The Silicon Valley Billionaire Bros Are Determined to Have the Tech-Industrial Complex Replace the Military-Industrial Complex | The Iran War and the Return of the Neocons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 11, 20261 hr 3 min

March 10, 2026 - Jonathan Guyer | Dr. Annelle Sheline | Jennifer Kavanaugh

Trump Reverses Himself on Ending the Iran War After A Call With Putin | Iran's New Supreme Leader Will Likely Reverse His Father's Fatwa Against Nuclear Weapons | A Military Analysis of the Iran War and the Russia/Ukraine War backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 10, 20261 hr 1 min

March 9, 2026 - Nicholas Heras | Kian Tajbakhsh | Oona Hathaway

A War Iran Only Has to Stay in While We Can Only Win At a Price We Are Unlikely to Want to Pay | An Analysis of a Brutal Regime From Which the Iranian People Desperately Want to be Freed But Have No Power to Do So | A Lawless World Trump is Dragging Us Into Based on Force and His Whims backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Mar 09, 20261 hr 4 min

March 8, 2026 - Ken Klippenstein | Paul Pillar | Gabby Birenbaum

How Relying on Regime Decapitation Could Backfire | As Evidence Mounts That the War on Iran Is a Disaster, We Will Look For Some Kind of "Success" | Our Gen Z Reporter on the Texas Senate Race as Republicans Panic Over the Talented Young Talarico backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 08, 20261 hr 1 min

March 5, 2026 - Matthew Petti | Stephen Wertheim | Robert Baer

The U.S. Continues to Resort to Force at Growing Cost in a Region of Diminishing Importance | How Do Iranians Feel About Being Bombed to Become Free as Their Government Increasingly Oppresses Them | A Highly Decorated Former CIA Officer Who Operated Against Iran in Iraq and Lebanon Explains What a Disaster Trump Has Blundered Into backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 05, 20261 hr 2 min

March 4, 2026 - John Nichols | Wladimir van Wilgenburg | Mohsen Milani

Could Kristi Noem be the First in the Trump Kakistocracy's Clown Car Cabinet to be Impeached? | A Report From Iraqi Kurdistan On the CIA Arming Kurdish Iranian Militias | The Anointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's New Supreme Leader backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Mar 04, 20261 hr 3 min

March 1, 2026 - Nader Hashemi | Nina Burleigh | Jessica Gonzlez

Trump's Reality TV War and the Prospect He Will Sell Out The Iranian People Just as He Sold Out the Venezuelan People For Oil | The DoJ Leaks the FBI Reports Bondi Held Back to The Guardian and Breitbart to Discredit Trump's Then 13 Year Old Rape Accuser | Following the Putin-Orban Playbook, Right Wing Trump-Friendly Billionaires Are Buying Up the Mainstream Media backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia l...

Mar 01, 20261 hr 3 min

February 26, 2026 - Anne Nelson | Heather Ann Thompson

With the President of the United States Accused of Raping a 13 Year-Old Girl, the Brazen and Shameless Hypocrisy of Mike Johnson's Christian Nationalists and the MAGA Movement | Sasha Linden Cohen With Heather Ann Thompson on a Crucial Turning Point When Rupert Murdoch Stoked White Rage in the Reagan 80's backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Feb 26, 20261 hr

February 25, 2026 - Rick Wilson | Angela Stent | Nick Schwellenbach

Had All the Democrats Boycotted the State of the Union, Trump Would Have Been Left Insulting Empty Chairs | The Performative Nature of US/Russian Negotiations as Putin Strings Trump Along | The Top 10 Companies Profiting From ICE's Cruelty Host: Ian Masters Producers: Graham FitzGibbon, Asher Price & Sasha Linden Cohen

Feb 25, 20261 hr 3 min

February 22, 2026 - Justin Wolfers | David Cay Johnston | Alexander Cooley

Trump's Tariff Meltdown and What the Supreme Court Ruling Does and Doesn't Do | In a Plea Deal Could Former Prince Andrew Implicate Others Including Trump? | "The Age of Kleptocracy: Geopolitical Power, Private Gain" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Feb 22, 20261 hr 2 min

February 19, 2026 - Toby Miller | Thomas Zeitzoff

Justice With the Arrest of the Former Prince Andrew in the UK But In Contrast, a Coverup by the Consiglieres at DoJ Protecting the Mob Boss in the Oval Office | Will the Environmental Movement Become More Radical as Trump Kills Off Efforts to Curb Global Warming? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Feb 19, 202659 min

February 18, 2026 - Aziz Huq | Lauren Prather | Victor Pickard

The Breathtaking and Brazen Corruption of Trump and His Family As They Shamelessly Monetize the Presidency | Thanks to Trump, Trust In Elections is Cratering As Trump Claims They're Rigged, Unless He Happens to Win | Why the US Media is in Crisis and How to Rescue It backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Feb 18, 202659 min
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