Background Briefing with Ian Masters

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

August 14, 2025 - Harold Meyerson | Julie Roginsky | Robert Stern

August 14, 2025 • 62 mins
Trump's Performative Takeover of the Street of Washington DC as Its Residents Cry "Fascists", "Pigs" and "Go Home" | What Can Democrats Do To Be Proactive, Not Reactive to Trump | California Governor Newsom's Announcement of a November 4 Special Election to Counter the Texas Gerrymander backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 13, 2025 - Tamar Jacoby | Simon Shuster | Steven Simon

August 13, 2025 • 59 mins
How Ukrainians Feel About the Upcoming Summit to Which They Are Not Invited | The 31 Years-Long Dictatorship That Served as a Backchannel For the Putin/Trump Summit | Trump and Hegseth Have Captured the Generals Who Will Show Loyalty Over Legality and Not Rescue us From Trump as Milley, Mattis and Kelly Did Last Time backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.co...
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August 12, 2025 - Sarah Leah Whitson | George Beebe | Lucian Truscott IV

August 12, 2025 • 61 mins
The UN's Palestinian Representative's Call For a UN Peacekeeping Protection Force in Gaza | What a Peace Plan to End Russia's War on Ukraine Could Look Like | Trump Moves to Use the Military for Domestic Law Enforcement as the Pentagon Plans For Rapid Reaction Forces to Put Down Civil Dissent backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 11, 2025 - Adele Stan | Dr. Guy Ziv | Dr. Trita Parsi

August 11, 2025 • 64 mins
Like a Tinpot Dictator, Trump Takes Over the Nation's Capital, Sending Troops Into the Streets as a Show of Force | The Growing Rift Between IDF Generals and Netanyahu as More of Israel's Allies Call For a Palestinian State | The Possibility of a New War Erupting Soon Between Israel and Iran backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 10, 2025 - Anders Aslund | Olga Lautman | Renée DiResta

August 9, 2025 • 59 mins
Yet Another Sellout by Trump to His Handler Putin | Since Zelensky Will Have to Reject Trump's Phony Peace Deal, Will That Be Trump's Excuse to Abandon Ukraine? | Gabbard's Ridiculous Revisionist History Aimed to Please the Liar-in-Chief backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 7, 2025 - David Salvo | Dr. Sumit Ganguly | David Bell

August 7, 2025 • 62 mins
Low Expectations Among Experts For the Upcoming Putin/Trump Summit in the UAE | Decades of US Efforts to Woo India Away From Russia and Forge a Strategic Partnership Against China Blown Up Overnight By Trump | The Dark Side of A.I. as Silicon Valley Techno-Utopians Oversell Their Products Again backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 6, 2025 - John Nichols | Alexander Motyl | Matthew Klein

August 6, 2025 • 61 mins
Will the Lawless Trump Regime Have the FBI Arrest the Democratic Lawmakers Who Fled Texas to Stop Trump's Power Grab? | As Trump Tries to Persuade Putin Ahead of Friday's Deadline, Can Putin End His War on Ukraine? | An Authoritative Analysis on the Economy and Where Trump is Taking it backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 5, 2025 - Jacob Heilbrunn | Steven Harper | Chris Hedges

August 5, 2025 • 61 mins
The House Subpoenas the Epstein Files and Laura Loomer is Back in the Oval Office | The Dirty Deal Already Made Between Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell | As Netanyahu Plans to Reoccupy Gaza, Speaker Johnson Meets Settlers Telling Them They Are the "Rightful Owners" of Palestinian Territory backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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August 4, 2025 - David Daley | Lloyd Green | Paul Pillar

August 4, 2025 • 59 mins
Texas Democrats Try to Stop the Trump/Abbott Power Grab to Win the House in the Midterms Before a Vote Has Been Cast | With Signs of Stagflation and Recession Emerging, It's Time For the Democrats to Hammer Trump on the Economy | How Will Trump Respond to the Letter From 600 Top Israeli Officials Asking Him to Get Netanyahu to Stop the Killing in Gaza? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianma...
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August 3, 2025 - Matt Gold | Scott Horton | Charles Derber

August 3, 2025 • 63 mins
Trump's Tariff Spree and Shooting the Messenger With the Bad Jobs Report | Trump Accuses Obama of "Treason" As He Tries to Rewrite History Based on Forgeries by Russian Intelligence | American Sociocide in the Misanthropic Era of a Malevolent Sociopath backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 31, 2025 - Melinda St. Louis | Michael Gerrard | Dean Baker

July 31, 2025 • 61 mins
50% Tariffs Slapped on Brazil To Force Lula To Drop Charges Against Trump's Fellow Fascist Bolsonaro | Time To Rename the Environmental Protection Agency the Environmental Destruction Agency | In Spite of Trump's Bullying, the Fed Chair Holds Steady on Interest Rates backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 30, 2025 - Erwin Chemerinsky | Stephen Wertheim | Sidney Blumenthal

July 30, 2025 • 61 mins
The Trump-controlled US Senate Elevates Bove as the Law is Weaponized to Keep Unqualified Ideologues On As US Attorneys | The Good and the Bad of Having a Foreign Policy Amateur in the Oval Office | The Senate Tries To Make the Epstein Files Public as the Republicans Stonewall Protecting Their "Dear Leader" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmaster...
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July 29, 2025 - Robert Kuttner | Daniel Treisman | Mitchell Plitnick

July 29, 2025 • 61 mins
Trump's Announce First- Details Later Trade Deal With the EU and "Air Farce One: When Gift Becomes Grift" | Trump's New Ultimatum To Putin Seen as a Step Towards War | Trump Rebukes Netanyahu Over Starving Children But OK's Plan to Annex Gaza backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 28, 2025 - Katherine Stewart | Aziz Huq | Peter Loge

July 28, 2025 • 63 mins
As Trump Appears More Bonkers, We Look Into the "Intellectual" Gloss J.D. Vance Puts on the Administration's Racist and Cruel Policies | What the Supreme Court's Liberals Are Trying to Tell the American People | The Pathetically Thin-Skinned Most Powerful Man in the World Demands "Dear Leader" Worship While Suing Media Outlets That Tell the Truth About Him backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/i...
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July 27, 2025 - Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan | Matt Angle | Nina Burleigh

July 27, 2025 • 63 mins
Why Thailand and Cambodia Are Fighting Over Their Border and What Should Stop It | Trump's Brazen Plan to Gerrymander the Already Gerrymandered State of Texas to Have 80% of the Power With Only 55% of the Vote | Trump and His Law Firm the DoJ Make Nice With a Convicted Sex Trafficker of Underage Girls as MAGA Media Portrays Maxwell as a Victim to Justify Trump's Pardon of Her backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedi...
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July 24, 2025 - Omar Shakir | Jared Abbott | Andrew Hartman

July 24, 2025 • 64 mins
International Outrage at Deliberate Starvation in Gaza Grows | An Analysis of Working Class Social and Economic Attitudes For the Democratic Party to Consider | A New Books Karl Marx in America as Young Americans Embrace Socialism While Trump Calls Democrats Marxist Lunatics backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 23, 2025 - James Thurber | Christopher Bing | Alex De Wall

July 23, 2025 • 59 mins
The Bipartisan Discharge Petition Working Around Speaker Johnson's Protection of Trump and Epstein | The Weaponization of Confidential IRS Data Now Being Handed Over to ICE and DHS | The Deliberate Starvation of Children in Gaza With Over 1,000 Palestinian Aid-Seekers Killed Since May backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 22, 2025 - Mike Lofgren | Tim Weiner

July 22, 2025 • 61 mins
The Good Christian Mike Johnson Shuts Down the House to Protect the Best Friend of a Pedophile and Child Sex Trafficker | The Decline of the Intelligence Community Trying to Survive an Anti-Intellectual Regime backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 21, 2025 - James Zirin | Jacques Berlinerblau | Sidney Blumenthal

July 21, 2025 • 62 mins
Is Trump Suing Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal to Find Out Who the Leaker Is? | Cancelling Comedians to Muzzle the American Tradition of Political Satire | The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse Driving Us Into a Hellscape: Trump, Miller and Vought backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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July 20, 2025 - Nancy Gertner | Sean Wilentz | Richard Parker

July 20, 2025 • 60 mins
With the Upcoming Senate Confirmation Vote on Emil Bove, Will Trump Get His "Roy Cohn" on the Supreme Court? | We Are Past a Constitutional Crisis and Should be Working on Restoring Our Democracy and Reviving the Constitution | A Way Out of America's Descent Into Authoritarianism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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