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

Episodes

June 30, 2024 - Robert Kuttner | Richard Parker | Allan Lichtman

If Biden is Lucky to Be Running Against Trump and Not a Younger Candidate, Does That Mean The Republicans Would be Worse Off Against a Younger Democratic Candidate? | The Impact of Biden's Disastrous Debate on the Democratic Down-Ticket | "Foolhardy Nonsense" Coming From Pundits, the Press, and Anxious Democrats Clutching Their Pearls backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 30, 20241 hr 2 min

June 27, 2024 - Aaron Rupar | John Ganz | Thomas Zeitzoff

Why Do More Americans in Swing States Think Trump is Better For Democracy? The Answer Might be the Local Influence of Sinclair Broadcast Group | How We Arrived at a Moment Where a Reality TV Right Wing Populist Captured One of America's Two Major Political Parties | The Author of Nasty Politics: The Logic of Insults, Threats, and Incitement backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 27, 20241 hr

June 25, 2024 - James Risen | Bob Shrum | Thanassis Cambanis

A Journalist Who Faced Jail Under the Espionage Act on Assange's Plea Deal | Presidential Debate Prep and How to Fact-Check Trump From a Former Democratic Strategist | War Between Israel and Hezbollah Appears Increasingly Likely backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 25, 20241 hr 1 min

June 24, 2024 - William Snowden | Corey Brettschneider | Mike Lofgren

Trump's Open Declaration of War Against the Rule of Law | The US is Running Out of Ammo While Spending Trillions of Gold-Plated Turkeys As Enemies Have Plenty of Ammunition and Allies Make Better Ships Much Cheaper | Trump Follows the Far-Right Culture Warrior Governor of Louisiana's Call for the Ten Commandments to be Displayed in Schools backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 24, 20241 hr

June 23, 2024 - Jeff Goodell | Tad DeLay | Sue Mi Terry

The Heatwave Baking the Planet and the Contrast Between Biden's Understanding of Global Warming and Trump's Denial | The Sources of Climate Change Denial and a Future Beyond Denial | Is the Putin/Kim Jong Un Pact Alarming or Pathetic as Two Murderous Pariah's Resume Their Love Affair With Trump? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 23, 20241 hr 1 min

June 20, 2024 - Paul Waldman | Lawrence Lessig

Secret Recordings of Trump's Dirty Trickster Reveals Plans to Steal the Next Election | How the Next Election Can Be Stolen and What to Do About It backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 20, 20241 hr 3 min

June 19, 2024 - Melanye Price | Sidney Blumenthal | Edwin Lyman

Juneteenth and the Legacy of Racism in Texas | The Wholesale Self-abasement, Humiliation and Degradation in the Recent Groveling of GOP Lawmakers Before the Insurrectionist Who Directed the Attack on Their Capitol Workplace | The Senate Votes 88 to 2 to Boost Nuclear Power Based on "New" Reactor Technology That is Old and Less Safe backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 19, 20241 hr 2 min

June 18, 2024 - Robert Johnson | Jessica Melugin | Sung Yoon Lee

America's Plutocrats Believe the Threat to Capitalism From Democrats is Worse Than the Threat to Democracy From Trump | A Critique of the Surgeon General's Call for Warning Labels on Social Media Platforms | Putin Meets to Make Weapons Deals With His "Comrade-in-Arms" Kim Jong Un backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 18, 202416 min

June 17, 2024 - Asher Kaufman | Bob Dreyfuss | Rachel Schmalz

Netanyahu Dissolves the War Cabinet as Tensions on Israel's Border With Lebanon Intensify | Trump's Gaza Policy Would Be So Much Worse Given Who He Put in Charge of Israeli/Palestinian Issues During His Presidency | The U.S., the U.K. and Canada Warn Putin is Actively Sabotaging Upcoming Elections in Moldova backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 17, 202457 min

June 16, 2024 - Lisa Graves | Jane Kirtley | David Vine

How to Reign in a Supreme Court Even More Out of Step With the American People | The Message Versus the Messenger Conundrum Following Revelations in the Alito Tapes | With Peace Talks Underway, Ukraine's Future and the U.S. Military Industrial Complex backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 16, 20241 hr 1 min

June 13, 2024 - Casey Michel | Paul Pillar | Alexander Stille

The Senate Launches a Probe Into Jared Kushner's $2 billion Payoff From Saudi Arabia's MbS | The Saudi/Israel Security Pact Biden is Doggedly Pursuing | Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni Hosts the G-7 Summit With Glamour Amidst "Dead Men Walking" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 13, 20241 hr 2 min

June 12, 2024 - Marcy Wheeler | Peter Goodman | Melissa Jacoby

The Hunter Biden Trial as a Political Hit Job With More Humiliation of the Troubled Son Coming in the September Trial | How We Got Hooked On Globalism and a System in Which Corporations Win While Everybody Else Loses | How Our Bankruptcy System Makes America More Unequal backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 12, 20241 hr 3 min

June 16, 2024 - Lauren Windsor | Joshua Horwitz | Philippe Marlière

The Undercover Activist Who Captured the Real Justice Alito as a Christian Nationalist | The Hypocrisy of MAGA Republicans Celebrating Hunter Biden's Convictions on Gun Laws They Violently Oppose | President Macron's Call For a Snap Election Already Appears to be Backfiring backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 11, 20241 hr

June 10, 2024 - Haggai Matar | R. Daniel Kelemen | Michael Kimmage

Israel's Opposition Leader Quits the War Cabinet But Netanyahu Will Continue the War Through the US Elections to Hurt Biden and Help Trump | An Analysis of the Results of the EU Elections and the Right Wing Sweep That Did Not Materialize | A Historical Analysis of Whether We Are in 1938 With Putin's War on Ukraine backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 10, 202459 min

June 9, 2024 - Gregory Treverton | Nick Bryant

Already Governing, Trump Has His Puppet Mike Johnson Appoint Two Clowns to Cripple the House Intel Committee | The Inevitability of Trump 250 Years in the Making With the U.S. Captive to Its Contentious Past backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 09, 20241 hr

June 6, 2024 - Michel Paradis | Lindsay Owens | Jacob Hacker

The 80th Anniversary of D-Day and Today's Struggle Against Tyranny | How Corporate Power and Technology Have Combined to Gouge Consumers | As Billionaires and Corporations Back Trump to Continue Tax Cuts For the Rich, Biden Needs to Make it Clear We Have a Revenue Not a Spending Problem and Make Them Pay

Jun 06, 20241 hr 2 min

June 5, 2024 - Aaron Reichlin-Melnick | Mark Hannah | Dr. Sumit Ganguly | Andrew Latham

Legal Challenges to Biden's EO on Closing the Border | Agreements and Disagreements Between Americans and Europeans on China, the Wars in Ukraine and Gaza and European Security | An Assessment of the Results of the Elections in India | India's Foreign Policy Choices as Russia and China Grow Closer backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 05, 202459 min

June 4, 2024 - Margaret Hu | Justin Bulcher | Michael Brenes

Will Biden's Executive Order to Close the Border Win or Lose Votes? | Although Trump and Biden are Raising Billions, Money Will Have Little Effect on the Presidential Race | Following the CIA, The Pentagon Falls For Silicon Valley's Promise of AI Miracle Weapons backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 04, 20241 hr

June 3, 2024 - Chuck Collins | Aram Shabanian | Emiliano Polo

The Oligarch's Lining Up to Line Trump's Pockets | The Upcoming Ukraine Peace Conference China Won't Attend Because Russia Won't Go and Now Saudi Arabia Won't Attend Because China Isn't Going | Will Scheinbaum's and Morena's Blowout Victory Lead to an Institutional Collapse in Mexico? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 03, 20241 hr 1 min

June 2, 2024 - Sophia Rosenfeld | Jennifer Loewenstein | Laura Carlsen

After Getting MAGA World and the Trump GOP to Believe He Won the Last Election, Now Trump Has Them Believing the Trial That Convicted Him 34 Times Was Rigged | Are Biden and Netanyahu on the Same Page With the Gaza Ceasefire Plan? | Today's Elections in Mexico Will Result in a Woman as President For the First Time backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 02, 20241 hr 2 min

May 30, 2024 - Ryan Cooper | Robert Young Pelton

Why We Should Care About the Trump Trial and, With the Tail Wagging the Dog, Biden Has to End the Gaza War Which Netanyahu Plans to Continue for 7 Months | The War in Ukraine Has Gone From a Proxy War to a NATO Conflict backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 30, 202459 min

May 29, 2024 - Stephen Biddle | Zach Carter| Dr. Steven Nabieu Rogers

Complaints From Ukraine's Front Lines That Big Ticket U.S. Weapons Don't Work, Get Jammed or are Unsuitable | A Possible Trade War with China or a Necessary Stimulus For the Next Green Economy? | Today's Election in South Africa as a Referendum on the ANC Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Evan Green

May 29, 20241 hr 1 min

May 28, 2024 - Kai Bird | Andrew Cockburn | James Gray

The Ghost of Roy Cohn Hangs Over Trump's Hush Money Trail as Closing Arguments Were Heard Today | Bibi and MbS Have Biden in a Trap and the Pentagon and the CIA Have Drunk the Silicon Valley Kool-Aid | The Libertarians Boo Trump and Quickly Reject RFK Jr backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 28, 20241 hr 3 min

May 27, 2024 - Lucian Truscott IV | Stephan Schwartz

On Memorial Day Those Who Serve America vs Those Who Want to Tear it Apart | Consciousness, Authoritarianism and Political Violence backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 27, 20241 hr

May 26, 2024 - David Austin Walsh | Alexander Reid Ross | David Phillips

Many Staffers in Trump's GOP are White Nationalists Who Casually Use Nazi Terms Like "Unified Reich" Because That is Their Milieu and Mindset | The Political Grifters Who Co Opt Leftist Issues and Repackage Them in MAGA-Friendly Terms | As Armenia and Iran Come Together and Israel and Azerbaijan Grow Closer, There are Now 73 Israeli Bases in Azerbaijan Aimed at Iran backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 26, 20241 hr 3 min

May 23, 2024 - Toby Miller | Eleanor Cooney | Frederick Clarkson

Right Wing Leaders Gathered in Madrid to Declare War on Socialism | Republicans Are Dusting Off the 1873 Comstock Act to Ban Abortion Pills and Even Birth Control Pills | Justice Alito's display of Christo-Fascist Allegiance backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 23, 202459 min

May 22, 2024 - Samuel Moyn | Jacob Heilbrunn | Joshua Douglas

Norway, Spain and Ireland Recognize a Palestinian State as the ICC is Poised to Issue Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and 3 Hamas Leaders | The Leading Candidates For Top Positions in a Possible Trump Second Term | How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Elections as the GOP Cheats Rather Than Competes backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 22, 20241 hr

May 21, 2024 - Daniel Benjamin | David Ignatius

Finally we are Learning More About Saudi State Involvement Behind the 9/11 Attacks | An Investigation Into What Sadly Appears to be the Next Frontier of Warfare, Space backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 21, 202454 min

May 20, 2024 - Nader Hashemi | Jacob Silverman | Terry O'Rourke

Does the Death of Iran's President Open a Path for the Son of Ayatollah Khamenei to Succeed His Ailing Father? | Netanyahu Has Biden Torn Between Supporting Israel and Not Losing the Youth Vote | The Unholy Trinity of Far-Right Texas Leadership; Abbott, Patrick and Paxton backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 20, 202459 min