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Background Briefing with Ian Masters

News & Politics Podcasts

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

Location:

United States

Description:

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

Language:

English

Contact:

213 422 0537


Episodes
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January 4, 2026 - David Smilde | Francisco Mondaldi | Nader Hashemi

1/4/2026
Trump's Monroe Doctrine: Threaten Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil But Support Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador Whose Authoritarian Leaders Like Him and Keep on Maduro's VP While Spurning the Nobel Prize-Winning Leader of Venezuela's Opposition | Trump's Venezuela Oil Grab to Recover "Stolen" U.S. Oil and Then Pump Baby Pump |"Locked And Loaded": Trump Vows to Rescue Iranian Demonstrators From a Brutal Government Whose Economy is Cratering From U.S. Sanctions backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:02:28

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January 1, 2026 - Richard Parker | John Nichols

1/1/2026
A Hopeful Welcome to 2026 | Could 2026 Be the Beginning of the End of Trump’s Reign of Ruin? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:00:58:12

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December 31, 2025 - Lisa Graves | Aram Shabanian

12/30/2025
An Interview on the Increasing Power of the Unrepresentative Supreme Court | The Ongoing War in Ukraine As It Evolved This Year backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:01:27

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December 30, 2025 - Olga Lautman | Luke Goldstein | Anand Giridharadas

12/30/2025
Evidence That Putin Owns Trump is Staring Us in the Face | How Google and Big Tech Are Trying to Stop States From Regulating AI | The Enduring Scandal That Above All His Other Outrages, Might Bring Trump Down backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:04:39

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December 29, 2025 - Nina Burleigh | Robert Young Pelton | Rachel VanLandingham

12/29/2025
We continue to look back on 2025 by reviewing some of our favorite interviews from November and early December: More Damaging Epstein Emails Emerge While the Real Smoking Gun Remains Epsteins Ties to Israeli Intelligence | An Investigation Into the CIA-Run Kill Or Capture Zero Units the D.C. Shooter Worked With | A Former JAG on Hegseth and Trumps Murder Spree Which Are Not War Crimes Because We are Not at War backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:07:59

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December 28, 2025 - Sean Wilentz | David Adler | Ken Klippenstein

12/28/2025
A 2025 Retrospective - We Are Past a Constitutional Crisis and Should be Working on Restoring Our Democracy and Reviving the Constitution | An Activist on a Boat in a Flotilla Heading to Gaza That the Israelis Have Attacked With Drones | Trump and Miller’s National Security Directive NSPM-7 Outlaws the Common Beliefs of Over Half of the Country backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:00:53

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December 25, 2025 - James Carroll | Steven Simon | Barbara Walter

12/25/2025
A Christmas Message | A 2025 Retrospective -The New Hegemon in the Middle East: Israel | Trump’s Dual Strategies of Scaring Off Protests and Instigating Provocations to Enact Fascism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:02:10

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December 24, 2025 - Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis | Gil Duran | Brooke Harrington

12/24/2025
Christmas Eve | A Look Back at 2025 Starting In January - A Manifesto to Stand Up in the Face Of Trump’s Firehose of Reactionary Initiatives | Since Musk’s Assault on the Federal Workforce is Only Saving a Pittance, the Real Intention Then Must Be To Cripple the US Government backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:00:59:54

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December 23, 2025 - Sidney Blumenthal | Jasper Nathaniel

12/23/2025
The Latest Dump of the Epstein Files and Susie Wiles' Expose of the Rot at the Top of the U.S. Government | A Reporter Whose Video of a West Bank Settler Beating An Elderly Palestinian Woman Went Viral Leading to a Rare Arrest backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:00:59:30

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December 22, 2025 - Lincoln Mitchell | Ben Armbruster | Ariel Dorfman

12/22/2025
The Relationship Between Antisemitism and Criticism of Israel | The CBS News Editor Appointed by the Ellisons Spikes a 60 Minutes Segment to Re Edit a More Trump-Friendly Version | Ariel Dorfman From Chile on the Election of a Far-Right President Who Will Free Pinochet's Murderers, Torturers and Kidnappers backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:02:28

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December 21, 2025 - Moira Donegan | James Zirin | Samuel Moyn

12/21/2025
Trump's Deteriorating Mental and Physical Health| Trump's DoJ Releases 10% of the Heavily Redacted Epstein Files Trying to Shift the Focus From Trump to Clinton | Ending the Oligarch-Friendly Illegitimate Rule of the Supreme Court backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:00:58:46

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December 18, 2025 - Mike Lofgren | Francisco Rodríguez | Tim Wu

12/18/2025
Trump's Mad, Fact-Free Diatribe to the Nation Telling Us How Bad Biden Was and How Great He Is | A Tanker Blockade and the Venezuelan Navy Going Up Against the U.S. Navy: What Could Go Wrong? | The Former White House Tech and Competition Czar on How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:01:45

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December 17, 2025 - Greg Sargent | Sven Beckert

12/17/2025
A Profile of the Dark Force Behind the Indiscriminate Roundup of Immigrants and the Revival of the Political Paranoia of the "Red Scare" | With Young Americans Rejecting Capitalism, a Deep Dive Into the History of Capitalism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:00:58:06

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December 16, 2025 - Jennifer Kavanagh | Karen Greenberg | Henry Giroux

12/17/2025
Is Peace on the Horizon as Ukraine Agrees to Drop Hopes of Joining NATO? | Doubts of Putin's Interest in Peace in a Europe Rattled by Trump's National Security Strategy | Higher Education in a Time of Fascists and Autocrats Taking Over the World ackgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:00:01

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December 15, 2025 - Jordan Baker | Jonathan Alter | Victoria Hui

12/15/2025
The Hanukkah Terror Attack in Australia | Trump's Disgusting Reaction to the Murders of Rob Reiner and His Wife | Today's Conviction of the Hong Kong Freedom Activist Jimmy Lai backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:02:38

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December 14, 2025 - Charles Kupchan | Sam Rosenthal | Jaz Brisack

12/14/2025
An Assessment of Trump's New National Security Strategy | Why Democrats Lost the Last Election and What They Must Do to Win the Next One | A Gen Z Union Organizer on Standing Up For a Better Workplace backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:02:08

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December 11, 2025 - David Smilde | Harold Meyerson | Dalia Dassa Kaye

12/11/2025
Trump Targets Venezuela's Oil, Intensifying Pressure on Maduro | Why Are Trump and Vance Trashing a "Decaying" Europe When They Have a Better Quality of Life Than We Do? | The Vexed Relationship Between the U.S. and Iran With a Hostility That Has Lasted Longer Than the Cold War backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:01:41

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December 10, 2025 - John Judis | Deb Otis | Nina Burleigh

12/10/2025
Will the Anti-Capitalist Gen Z Left Which Has Energized the Democrats Dominate American Politics in the Future? | The Bill Introduced Today for Rank Choice Voting in House and Senate Primaries and General Elections | Will the Release of Records From Maxwell and Epstein Trials Bring Us Closer to Justice For the Victims? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing

Duration:01:00:20

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December 9, 2025 - William LeoGrande | Victor Pickard | Mike Pepi

12/9/2025
Trump Says Maduro's Days Are Numbered at War Against Venezuela Could Break Out at Any Time | The Ellison's Have Promised Trump They Will Revamp CNN to Trump's Liking | Australia's Social Media Ban and How the "Tech Left" Can Mobilize Against Techno-Utopianism backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:01:49

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December 8, 2025 - William Cohan | Aram Shabanian | Ari Berman

12/8/2025
Trump's Billionaire Buddy Launches a Hostile Takeover To Create a Trump-Friendly Media Giant | Zelensky Meets with Europe's Leaders Alarmed by Trump's New National Security Strategy | How Do the Democrats Take Back the House in the Face of a Partisan Supreme Court, a Serial Coup-Plotter and a Craven GOP Willing to Sell Out American Democracy? backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Duration:01:01:58