Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Ian Masters

About

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.
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995 episodes

April 1, 2024 - Michael Weiss | Marci Shore | Steven Hahn

New evidence on "Havana Syndrome" Links the GRU's Assassination Unit 29155 to Mysterious Attacks on U.S. Officials and Their Families | A Scholar Just Back From Ukraine on the Heroism of Ukraine and the Nihilism of Mike Johnson | Trump's Illiberalism is Not a Departure But a Recurring Theme in American History backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Apr 01
March 31, 2024 - Annelle Sheline | Peter Pomerantsev | Martin Sixsmith

The State Department Officer With Feds United for Peace Who Resigned to Protest US Complicity in Israel's War on Gaza | The Success of Propaganda as a Third of Americans Now Believe Trump's Big Lie | Putin's Evolution From Democrat to Despot backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 3m
Mar 31
March 27, 2024 - Jacob Silverman | Fred Turner | Brian Concannon

Plutocrats Are Backing Trump, Not Because They Like Him, But to Extend Trump's Tax Cuts For the Ultra-Rich | RFK Jr's Pick For His Running Mate Has Deep Pockets But a Shallow Resume | Guns and Ammo From the US Fuel Anarchy in Haiti backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 1m
Mar 27
March 26, 2024 - Jon Hoffman | Michele Goodwin | Jay Ritter

Is Israel Becoming a Strategic Liability For the United States? | Today's Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court on a Nationwide Ban of a Medication Abortion Drug | After Today's Trading, Trump's Essentially Worthless Company is Suddenly Worth $15 Billion? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

56m
Mar 26
March 25, 2024 - Robert Young Pelton | Dr. Trita Parsi | Lloyd Green

A Look at the Islamic State's Global Terrorist Franchises While Putin Tries to Shift the Blame Onto Ukraine | Will The US Help Implement the UN Ceasefire Resolution Which For the First Time It Did Not Veto? | Today's Lifeline Thrown to Trump Reducing His Bond Down From $454 Million to $175 Million backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 25
March 24, 2024 - James Thurber | James Henry | Alec Bertina

The Do-Nothing Congress Descends Into the Chaos Congress | Could Billions Made Out of Nothing Pumped Into Truth Social Rescue Trump Tomorrow? | While Putin Has His Security Services Going After Gays and Lesbians He Prioritizes as Terrorists, Real Terrorists Strike Host: Ian Masters Producer: Graham FitzGibbon Assistant Producer: Evan Green

1h 5m
Mar 24
March 21, 2024 - Nathan Schneider | Thomas Mockaitis | Dr. Lance Dodes

Can the Public Own Giant Tech Companies Who Operate as Monopolies? | In a Major Shift, the US Drafts a UN Resolution For an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza and a Hostage Deal | The Ethical Obligation to Warn the Public About Trump's Dementia backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 21
March 20, 2024 - Dov Waxman | James Zirin | Robert Sapolsky

While Kushner's Callous Remarks on the Value of Beachfront Property as a Million Gazans Starve Resonate, Netanyahu Talks to Republican Senators and the House Speaker | AG Garland and Justice Cardoza's Warning That Criminals "Go Free Because the Constable Has Blundered" | Trump Attacks Biden But Avoids His Own Family's History of Dementia backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 2m
Mar 20
March 19, 2024 - Scott Horton | Barbara Walter | Victoria Hui

Who Will Come up With the Billion Dollars Trump Needs as he Faces the Prospect of His Assets Being Seized? | Trump's Call For a Civil War Just as he Called For the January 6 Insurrection | China Ends Freedom of Speech Now That Anyone in Hong Kong Communicating With Anyone Abroad is Guilty of "External Interference" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

57m
Mar 19
March 18, 2024 - Stanley Greenberg | Michael Gorham | David Satter

An Alarming Poll on the Rise of the "Duel Haters" Who Want Neither Trump or Biden | The Fate of the Russian Opposition Now That Putin Has Awarded Himself a Blowout Election Victory | Concerns Inside the Intelligence Community Over Trump's Bromance With Putin and Orban backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 2m
Mar 18
March 17, 2024 - Alexander Cooley | Julian Zelizer | Jonathan Weiler

The Russian Elections and Putin's Plans to Stoke Divisions in an Already-Divided America | The Increasingly Visible Role of Vice President Harris in the Campaign Underway | Trump's GOP Keeps Lowering the Bar With Greater Ignorance, Vitriol, Clownishness and Vulgarity backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 2m
Mar 17
March 14, 2024 - Marcy Wheeler | William McGee | Asher Kaufman

More Evidence Emerges About the Source of Disinformation on Hunter Biden | More Problems For An Already Troubled Boeing Whose Disastrous CEO is Still on the Job | Senator Schumer's Public Break With Netanyahu backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 1m
Mar 14
March 13, 2024 - Omar Shakir | David Faris | David Cay Johnston

As Gazans Starve, Will Netanyahu Cross Biden's "Red Line" and Invade Rafah? | 3rd Party Spoilers Already Have 17% of the Vote and Will Hurt Biden More Than Trump | Will Money From Malign Foreign Dictators Bail Out Trump? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 13
March 12, 2024 - Lindsay Koshgarian | Will Bunch | William Cohan

Of the $1.6 Trillion in Discretionary Spending in Biden's 2025 Budget, a Trillion Goes to the Military and $499 Billion For Everything Else | Trump's Mafia-Like Extortion of Corporate America | In Hedging its Bet on Biden, Wall Street is Telling Itself Trump is Not That Bad Even Though They Know Better backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

58m
Mar 12
March 10, 2024 - Harold Meyerson | Moira Donegan | Michael Kimmage

Biden Turns the Tide Against the Press and Pollsters Who Have Written Him Off As Too Old and Losing Badly to Trump | Biden Confronts the Reactionary Supreme Court Over Women's Rights | The State of War and Rumors of Peace Between Ukraine and Russia backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 10
March 7, 2024 - Simon Rosenberg | Anne Nelson | Paul Pillar

What Biden Might, Should and Will Say in Tonight's State of the Union Address | Will Biden Take Off the Gloves and Confront the House MAGA Republicans' Pro-Putin Caucus? | Belatedly Biden Appears to be Using the Enormous Leverage the US Has Over Netanyahu backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

59m
Mar 07
March 6, 2024 - David Schultz | Geoffry Kabaservice | Sharon Weiner

Can Biden Pick up Haley's Voters While Placating the Uncommitted Young Democrats? | The Challenge the "Uncommitted" Vote in Minnesota Poses to Biden | With $2 Trillion Being Spent on "Nuclear Modernization" of Dangerous and Unnecessary Weapons, Where is the Guns and Butter Argument? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

59m
Mar 06
March 5, 2024 - Dr. Guy Ziv | Lawrence Douglas | Jim Small

VP Harris's Clear Rebuke of Netanyahu Calling For a Ceasefire and What Amounts to Regime Change | The Role of the Right Wing Supreme Court as it Goes Out of Its Way to Protect Trump | Sinema Quits the Senate But Rewards From Big Pharma and Hedge Funds Likely Await Her backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 05
March 4, 2024 - Allan Lichtman | Brian Concannon | Sasha Abramsky

A Unanimous Supreme Court Ruling to Keep Trump on the Ballot Ignores the Constitution | Haiti's Descent Into Anarchy as Gangs Attack Police and Free 3,700 Prisoners | The Cynical Political Strategy of Choosing the Opponent You Want to Run Against backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Mar 04
March 3, 2024 - Rashid Khalidi | Tom Burgis | Natalie Melnyczuk

Following the Massacre of Desperate Gazans Storming Food Trucks, Ceasefire Talks Are Underway | How Plutocrats Use Their Power to Own the Truth | With the U.S. AWOL, Growing Resolve Within NATO backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 3m
Mar 03
February 29, 2024 - Caroline Fredrickson | Corey Brettschneider | Hamilton Nolan

The Naked Partisanship of the Supreme Court's Right Wing Majority | The History of Supreme Courts That Have Served the Political Interests of Some of Our Worst Presidents | A Revival of Labor with Organizing Wins at Starbucks and Mercedes backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Feb 29
February 28, 2024 - John Nichols | Ben Jacobs | Adele Stan

The Michigan Vote as an Indicator of How the Gaza War Threatens Biden's Reelection | Senator McConnell Steps Down From Leadership of a GOP He is Out Of Step With | The Embrace of Fascism by Trump's Government in Waiting at CPAC backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

58m
Feb 28
The Embrace of Fascism by Trump's Government in Waiting at CPAC

The Embrace of Fascism by Trump's Government in Waiting at CPAC by Ian Masters

20m
Feb 28
February 27, 2024 - Mike Lofgren | Jim Manley | Lisa Graves

The President and Congressional Leaders Meet to Prevent Another Government Shutdown | Schumer Describes an "Intense" Meeting as Everybody in the Oval Office Piled on Johnson to Get Aid to Ukraine Done | An Update on the Many Trials Trump Faces As He Tries to Run Out the Clock backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

58m
Feb 27
February 26, 2024 - Katherine Stewart | Jonathan Taplin | Sevag Kechichian

The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Dominionism and the New Apostolic Reformation Movements | The Supreme Court Appears Open To Giving Tech Giants Immunity From Content on Their Social Media Platforms | Powerful Leaders, Investors and Celebrities Suck Up to MbS's Sovereign Wealth Fund backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

59m
Feb 26
February 25, 2024 - Tom LoBianco | Paul Waldman | Christine Abely

A Lackluster CPAC and the VP Auditions In Spite Of Trump Trying to Have His Last VP Killed | The GOP Gets a Free Pass With the Rural Vote While Doing Nothing to Help and a Lot to Harm Rural Folk | The Latest Round of Sanctions While China, India and Brazil Buy Discounted and Smuggled Russian Oil backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 2m
Feb 25
February 22, 2024 - Lincoln Mitchell | Mitchell Plitnick | Maria Snegovaya

RFK Junior's Role as a Spoiler Since His Campaign's Biggest Donor is Also Trump's Biggest Donor | An Update on Diplomatic Efforts Underway For a Ceasefire in the Gaza War | What is Behind the Rise of Illiberal and Right Wing Politics in Europe backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Feb 22
February 21, 2024 - Amanda Marcotte | Robert Baer | Maxwell Stearns

Increasing Signs That Christian Nationalists Plan to Impose an American Theocracy | Evidence That The Source For the "Biden Crime Family" Case is a Dissembler Working for Russian Intelligence | A Plan to Reinvent Our Polarized and Dysfunctional Government backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 6m
Feb 21
February 20, 2024 - Wendy Pearlman | Jacob Heilbrunn | Justin Vaughn

The US Again Gives Israel Cover Vetoing a UN Resolution For an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza | The American Right's 100-Year Romance With Foreign Dictators | The Latest American Historians' Survey That Has Donald Trump Dead Last in 45th Place backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

59m
Feb 20
February 19, 2024 - Daniel Treisman | Anna Massoglia | Jonathan Metzl

Navalny Wanted to See "The Beautiful Russia of the Future" While Putin is Fixated on Historical Delusions of Reviving Russian Imperialism | Do Mike Johnson's Financial Ties Explain Why He is Cutting Off Aid to Ukraine? | A Country Held Hostage by Gun Violence backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

1h 0m
Feb 19