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 27, 2023 - Thomas Mockaitis | David Marples | Dr. Tatisana Kulakevich

A Scathing Senate Report "Planned in Plain Sight" Compiles the Failures of the FBI, DHS and Capitol Police to Act on January 6 Warnings | Prigozhin's Fate Now That He is in Belarus Without His Mercenary Army | Did Putin and Lukashenko Set Up a Gangster Style Trap For Prigozhin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 27, 202359 min

June 26, 2023 - Andrew Weiss | Ben Terris

Putin's Angry Address Tries to Drive a Wedge Between Prigozhin and the Rank and File of His Wagner Mercenary Army | How Trump Changed the Culture of Washington With the Influx of Grifters, Con Men, Racists, Creeps and Bottom Feeders backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 26, 202359 min

June 25, 2023 - George Beebe | Robert Young Pelton | Scott Horton

Putin's Brush With Civil War in Nuclear-Armed Russia | A Profile of the Russian Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin | What we Might Learn About Trump's Ties to Putin and Collusion with MBS from the Upcoming Trial backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 25, 20231 hr

June 22, 2023 - Dr. Sumit Ganguly | Leah Litman | Dr. Margot Kushel

India's Controversial Leader Modi Gets the Royal Treatment at the White House But is an Alliance with the US in the Cards? | A Supreme Court Captured by Plutocrats Has Thomas and Alito Serving Their Billionaire Buddies | Homelessness is Caused by Loss of Income and Just $300 a Month Could Keep People Off the Streets backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 22, 202356 min

June 21, 2023 - David Cay Johnston | William Arkin | Jacob Silverman

GOP Show Trials Sputter As 5 Years Later We Have Durham's Nothingburger and Hunter Biden's Misdemeanor Plea Deal | Why Tech Billionaires and Bannon Are Promoting RFK Jr's Primary Challenge of the Biden Presidency | An Update on the Ukraine War and What Russia Has Learned From Past Mistakes backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 21, 20231 hr 3 min

June 20, 2023 - Corey Brettschneider | Lawrence Gostin | Alfred McCoy

Why Were the DOJ's Investigations Into January 6 and the Theft of Documents Delayed For 15 Months? | What is Behind Tech Billionaires Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and David Sacks' Promotion of RFK Jr's Spoiler Campaign? | Will China Play the Leading Role in Ending the Ukraine War? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 20, 20231 hr 1 min

June 19, 2023 - Tanner Mirrlees | Andrew Nathan | David Schultz

Can the GOP Convince American Voters That Biden's Government Has Been Captured by Marxists and Communists? | Blinken and Xi Jinping Agree on the Need to Stabilize US-China Relations | The Scathing DOJ Report on the Minneapolis Police backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 19, 20231 hr

June 18, 2023 - Thom Hartmann | Margaret MacMillan

Why Did Trump Steal Classified Documents? Maybe Because Putin Told Him To | Analogies Between World War I and the War in Ukraine backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 18, 20231 hr 1 min

June 15, 2023 - Thomas Edsall | Jackson Lears

Are We at the Point of No Return With American Democracy at the Crossroads? | A Cultural Historian on "Animal Spirits" and How the Universe is Alive backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 15, 202358 min

June 14, 2023 - Lyle Goldstein | Laura Rodriguez | Alexander Stille

Blinken Sets Out to Try to Repair Dangerously Frayed Relations Between the World's Leading Military Powers | With Florida Trump Country, Can the Democrats Reverse GOP Gains? | Comparisons Between Berlusconi and Trump and the Media Mogul Turned Italian Leader's Close Relationship With Putin backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 14, 20231 hr 1 min

June 13, 2023 - Harry Litman | Lisa Graves | Azamat Junisbai

Arrested and Arraigned Today, Trump is So Lucky to Have Judge Aileen Cannon Preside over His Prosecution | Could Judge Cannon Influence the Jury Pool to Ensure a Hung Jury? | How Did a Ruthless Colonial Power The Soviet Union Get Away With Portraying Itself as the Anti-Colonial Champion? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 13, 20231 hr 1 min

June 12, 2023 - Dr. Allen Frances | Sean Wilentz | Matt Stoller

An Overwhelming Majority of Republicans Think Trump Should Serve as President if Convicted and That the Indictments Are Politically Motivated | At War With the Rule of Law, Trump is Calling For a Right Wing Rebellion | Why the PGA - Saudi LIV Merger Will Not Happen backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 12, 20231 hr

June 11, 2023 - Michael Greenberger | Frederick Baron | Bruce Green

Overwhelming Evidence of Trump's Endangerment of US National Security | Republican Efforts to Portray the Prosecution as Biden Taking Out His Main Rival For the Presidency | Trump's Uncanny Luck at Having His Pliant Judge Who He Appointed Hear the Case backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 11, 20231 hr 4 min

June 8, 2023 - Michael Waldman | Kate Mackintosh | Charles Kupchan

A Surprise Ruling From the Supreme Court Whose Supermajority is Increasingly Out Of Touch With Mainstream America | Is the Breaching of the Dam in Ukraine an Act of Ecocide? | The Impact on European Public Opinion From Revelations Ukrainians Blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 08, 20231 hr

June 7, 2023 - Michael Weiss | Sarah Leah Whitson | Stephen Vladeck

Evidence That it Was Ukraine, Not Russia Behind the Sabotage of the Nord Stream Gas Pipelines | Is the Merger Between the PGA and LIV Golf Tournaments a Way For the Saudis to Pay Off Donald Trump? | The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket Where 99% of Unseen, Unsigned and Unexplained Cases are Decided backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 07, 20231 hr 4 min

June 6, 2023 - Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk | Simon Shuster | Emily Channell-Justice

Flooding From a Breached Dam Delays Any Ukrainian Military Attack From the South Into Crimea | A Reporter's Earlier Conversations With Zelensky About Russia Blowing up the Dam | The Impact on Ukrainian Civilian Infrastructure and New Reporting That Ukraine Was Behind the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 06, 202359 min

June 5, 2023 - Peter Dreier | Tom LoBianco | Jan Kubik

The False Equivalence of the Far-Right House Freedom Caucus and the Democrat's Progressive Caucus | Mike Pence and the Growing Republican Ranks of Hopefuls Challenging Trump | Sunday's Massive Demonstrations in Poland Against Anti-Democratic Authoritarianism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 05, 20231 hr 4 min

June 4, 2023 - James Galbraith | Lauren Kahn | Antony Loewenstein

A Phony Crisis Averted Now a Celebration of Compromise and Bipartisanship | The Next War of Drones and AI Now in Ukraine | Exporting the Technology of Repression and Australia's Trial of the Century backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 04, 20231 hr 4 min

June 1, 2023 - Dennis Aftergut | Richard Parker | Ben Freeman

Trump Eviscerates His Own Defense as Jack Smith Closes in on Indicting Him | The Disconnect Between Biden's Low Poll Numbers and His Many Achievements | How Defense Contractors Influence the Ukraine Debate backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Jun 01, 20231 hr 1 min

May 31, 2023 - Chris McGreal | Daniel Serwer | Jake Grumbach

The Sacklers Get to Keep Most of Their Money After a Million Americans Have Died From Their Drug OxyContin | Serbia's Authoritarian Leader and Russian Provocateurs Are Behind What Lavrov Says is a Big Explosion Looming in the Heart of Europe | The March Towards Authoritarianism in States Taken Over by Republican Supermajorities backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 31, 20231 hr

May 30, 2023 - Jeff Hauser | Paul Pillar | Aaron Stein

The Hazardous Passage of the Debt Ceiling Deal Through Congress | Will Putin Get the Traitor-in-Chief Back in the Oval Office? | Is Erdogan's Victory Also a Victory For Putin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 30, 20231 hr 2 min

May 29, 2023 - Lucian Truscott IV | Julia Gledhill | Scott Shapiro

Remembering an American General Who Would Not Speak of the Glorious Dead on Memorial Day | How Defense Contractors Are Gouging the Taxpayer While Rewarding Shareholders at the Expense of R&D | Is Cybersecurity an Unsolvable Problem? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 29, 20231 hr 6 min

May 28, 2023 - Jeremi Suri | Steven Harper | Branislav Slantchev

The Impeachment of a MAGA Crook by a Far-Right Republican-Dominated House of the Texas Legislature | Ron DeSantis's Alarming Promise to Do To the Nation What He Has Done To Florida | The Ukrainian Counteroffensive and the "Game of Thrones" Power Struggle Inside the Kremlin backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 28, 20231 hr 2 min

May 25, 2023 - David Roth | Steven Greenhouse | Shibley Telhami

The Meltdown of DeSantis's Big Announcement on Elon Musk's Troubled $44 Billion Platform | A Chief Justice Out of Touch With Reality and a Call For Justice Thomas to Resign | Time to Deal With the One State Reality of Israel backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 25, 20231 hr 7 min

May 24, 2023 - E.J. Dionne | Ari Berman | Nina Burleigh

The Continuing Standoff Over the Debt Ceiling as the Congressional Clock Runs Out | As a Red State Turns Blue, New Bills in Texas Target Democratic Voters in Houston | The Shadowy Fixer For the Reverse Altruism of Right Wing Billionaires Who Have Captured Our Courts and Want the Rest backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 24, 20231 hr 2 min

May 23, 2023 - Michael Binder | Whitney Tucker | Kent Harrington

Ron DeSantis Will Announce His Bid For the Presidency in Conversation With Elon Musk on Twitter | Debt Ceiling Negotiations Will Determine How Much Punishment Will Be Inflicted on the Poor to Reward the Rich | Putin Could Be Arrested If He Shows Up For the BRICS Summit in South Africa in August backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 23, 20231 hr 3 min

May 22, 2023 - Alec Bertina | Joshua Shifrinson | Quinn Slobodian

Ukrainian Sabotage Operations Inside Russia as Part of the Upcoming Counteroffensive | Europe Can Provide More Military and Economic Assistance to Ukraine | Free Trade Zones as Capitalist Nirvanas to Unleash the Market From the Tyranny of Government and Bureaucracy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 22, 20231 hr 2 min

May 21, 2023 - Ellis Krauss | Jon Hoffman | Aram Shabanian

Zelensky's Surprise Visit to the G7 in Hiroshima, Japan | MBS Welcomes Assad Back Into the Arab League While Also Welcoming President Zelensky | Russia Warns of Escalation as Biden Allows Ukrainian Pilots to Train on F-16s backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 21, 20231 hr 4 min

May 18, 2023 - Mark Fitzpatrick | Dean Baker | David Dayen

The G7 Summit Underway in Hiroshima, Japan and the Haunting Spectre of Nuclear Weapons | Can the House Radicals Compromise on a Deal Many Democrats Say Biden Should Not Be Negotiating? | The Politics Behind Diane Feinstein's Sad Return to the US Senate backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 18, 20231 hr 5 min

May 17, 2023 - Cleo Paskal | Lloyd Green | Jessica Melugin

How Domestic Turmoil Caused by GOP Radicals Makes the U.S. an Unreliable Partner on the World Stage | What Does Trump Owe Rudy Giuliani and Will he Throw Him Under the Bus? | Regulation of Promising But Potentially Dangerous AI Technology is Necessary But is it Practical or Possible? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

May 17, 20231 hr 3 min