Robert@backgroundbriefing.org (Ian Masters)

Shows

Background Briefing with Ian MastersApril 9, 2025 - Robert Hockett | Matt Gold | Gregory BrewTrump's Amateurism on Display or is He Shorting the Market for His Family and Cronies? | An Assessment of the Amount of Damage Ahead From Trump's Trade War | Today's Drop in Oil To $56 From $72 a Barrel Last Week and What Kind of a Deal Could Emerge Between the US and Iran on Saturday? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-04-091h 03

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMarch 23, 2025 - Fred Turner | Robert SuettingerMusk's Ungoverning Tactic of "Wreck Then Rob" | Inside the PRC's Secretive Internal Leadership Struggles Between Reformers and Reactionaries backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-03-231h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMarch 12, 2025 - Tom Mockaitis | Robert Creamer | Michael SwaineWith Trump Attacking Free Speech on Campuses, Expect Patel and Bongino to Order the FBI to Round Up Trump's Critics and Those on Patel's Enemies List? | The Dilemma Senate Democrats Face Whether to Vote For a Bad Bill or Stand up to Trump and Musk and Risk a Government Shutdown | Trump's Losing Strategy of Wooing Putin Away From Xi and Musk's Outsized Influence Over China Policy backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-03-121h 04

Background Briefing with Ian MastersFebruary 4, 2025 - Robert Kuttner | Ioan Grillo | Van JacksonThe Fatal Combination of a Mentally Ill President and a Mentally Deranged Billionaire Out to Destroy Our Government and Democracy | Stopping the Deadly Fentanyl Trade in Mexico, China and Now India | The Folly of a Trade War With China and a Saner Way To Ease Tensions backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-02-041h 05

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJanuary 14, 2025 - Robert Young Pelton | Rachel VanLandingham | Laurie Levenson | Annelle ShelineRepublican Senators Roll Over the Democrats Determined to Do Trump's Bidding and Confirm a Dangerously Unqualified Ideologue as Secretary of Defense | A Former Female JAG Officer on Hegseth's Disparagement of Women in the Military and Military Justice | Jack Smith's January 6 Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted Had the Case Gone To Trial | Unlike Biden, Trump Uses Leverage to Get a Ceasefire and Hostage Release Deal Between Israel and Hamas backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-01-141h 03

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJanuary 2, 2025 - Robert Pape | Chris McGreal | Stephen WertheimThe Latest on the Investigations Into the New Year's Massacre in New Orleans and the Tesla Cyber Truck Explosion in Front of the Trump Hotel | Contrasting the Divisive Trump With Jimmy Carter Who Tried to Bridge Divides | Could Trump be a Peacemaker Even If He Only Wants to Win a Nobel Prize? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2025-01-021h 10

Background Briefing with Ian MastersDecember 22, 2024 - Robert Hockett | James Thurber | Robert BensonThe Emerging Threat to the US Economy Trump and Musk's Amateurism Poses | An Even More Dysfunctional Congress With Trump and Musk in Charge of Both Houses? | The Foreign Policy Damage Musk is Already Doing backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-12-221h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersDecember 12, 2024 - Robert Young Pelton | Nader Hashemi | Stacy MitchellWill Trump and His Shills For Russia like Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard Turn Us Into Putin's America? | Israel and Turkey Appears to be the Winners in Syria While Russia and Iran are the Losers | How Rising Food Prices Played a Decisive Role in the Election and Efforts to Rein In Food Monopolies Like WalMart backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-12-121h 02

Background Briefing with Ian MastersDecember 1, 2024 - Robert Kuttner | William Arkin | Steven SimonIf the Senate Has Hearings, Hegseth, Gabbard and RFK Jr. Will Not Be Confirmed | Trump's Envoy To Ukraine General Kellogg's Plan to End the War | With Iran and Hezbollah on the Ropes, Syrian Rebels Backed By Turkey Make Surprising Gains backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-12-011h 06

Background Briefing with Ian MastersNovember 14, 2024 - Lisa Graves | Robert Young Pelton | Gregory TrevertonTrump's Choice of an Unqualified and Incompetent Ideologue to Head the DOJ Who Has Be Charged With Sex Trafficking an Underaged Girl Across State Lines | Trump's Choice of a Fox Propagandist, Grifter and Supporter of For-Profit Colleges That Rip off Veterans to be Secretary of Defense | Trump Wants a Member of a Fringe Hindu Cult and Fan of the Syrian and Russian Dictators to be the Next Head of Our Intelligence Agencies backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-11-1459 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersNovember 11, 2024 - Timothy Shenk | Sean Wilentz | Robert BensonWith the Blame Game Underway, the Democrats Need to Focus on Accountability and a Coherent Strategy | The Failure of the Legal System to Bring a Career Criminal to Justice Before he Took Over the World | The Global Implications of the Enormous Power Trump Will Wield backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-11-101h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersSeptember 18, 2024 - Robert Hockett | Robert Baer | Juan ColeHow the Lowering of Interest Rates by the Fed Will Impact the Economy and the Election | Does Netanyahu Have an "October Surprise" in Store for the Harris/Walz Campaign? | Are We at the Beginning Stage of Another War in the Middle East That the US Will be Dragged Into? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-09-1859 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersSeptember 4, 2024 - Robert Creamer | David Hearst | Tom CollinaAnother School Shooting and Can a Progressive Ticket Win the Presidency? | Could the Arsonist Netanyahu Spark a Wider War With Jordan a Powder Keg About to Explode | A New Nuclear Doctrine to Confront Russia, China and North Korea Simultaneously backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-09-041h 01

Background Briefing with Ian MastersAugust 10, 2024 - Dr. Bandy Lee | Robert Young Pelton | Mitchell PlitnickAmericans Are Being Denied the Truth About Trump's Mental Instability and Possible Dementia | How Does the Veteran Community Feel About the Latest Round of Swift-Boating? | Can A Deal For Iran Not to Retaliate in Exchange For A Ceasefire in Gaza be Made? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-08-111h 03

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJuly 14, 2024 - Robert Baer | Sean Wilentz | Jared Yates SextonAssassinations That Changed the World or Might Have Changed the World | America's Historical Legacy of Presidential Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations | The Inciter of Political Violence Now Calls For Unity as He Moves Closer to Joining the Illiberal Club of the World's Despots and Kleptocrats backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-07-141h 03

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJuly 2, 2024 - Robert Hockett | Charles Kupchan | Abner GreeneThe Supreme Court Has Handed the Criminal Trump a Loaded Gun, Might Biden Also Use it? | How the Shift to the Right in Europe Could Impact the War in Ukraine | The Other Alarming SCOTUS Decision Overshadowed by the Ruling to Give Trump a License to Kill backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-07-021h 01

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJune 30, 2024 - Robert Kuttner | Richard Parker | Allan LichtmanIf 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 2024-06-301h 02

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJune 18, 2024 - Robert Johnson | Jessica Melugin | Sung Yoon LeeAmerica'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 2024-06-1815 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMay 30, 2024 - Ryan Cooper | Robert Young PeltonWhy 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 2024-05-3058 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMay 16, 2024 - Orville Schell | Kim Lane Scheppele | James ZirinThe Murky Ties to the Poet and Would-be Assassin of Slovakia's PM Robert Fico | At their 40th Meeting, Xi and Putin Pledge to Deepen Defense and Military Ties | Trump's Lawyer Attacks Michael Cohen as a Liar Even Though Trump's Fixer Lied in the Service of the Liar-in-Chief backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-05-161h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersApril 7, 2024 - Nader Hashemi | Jeff Colgan | Robert HockettIran's vow to Retaliate Against an Israeli Strike Could Lead to a Wider War Biden is Trying to Avoid | With MbS and Trump Talking, What Could They Do to Jack Up Gas Prices to Hurt Biden's Reelection? | Good Economic News as Janet Yellen Tries to Get a Level Playing Field With China backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-04-0759 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMarch 25, 2024 - Robert Young Pelton | Dr. Trita Parsi | Lloyd GreenA 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 2024-03-251h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersMarch 20, 2024 - Dov Waxman | James Zirin | Robert SapolskyWhile 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 2024-03-201h 02

Background Briefing with Ian MastersFebruary 21, 2024 - Amanda Marcotte | Robert Baer | Maxwell StearnsIncreasing 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 2024-02-211h 06

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJanuary 10, 2024 - Robert Leonard | Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera | Charles SchmitzThe Last Days Ahead of Monday's Iowa Caucuses and Tonight's CNN Debate Overshadowed by a Trump Town Hall on Fox | Amid Gang Violence Ecuador Appears to be Close to a Failed State | Asymmetrical Clashes in the Red Sea Between Powerful Navies and Houthi Rebels backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-01-1059 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJanuary 1, 2024 - Stephen Walt | Robert HockettThe Foreign Policy Landscape Ahead in 2024 and the Chance For Peace in a World at War | The Economy in 2023 and What's Ahead in 2024 backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2024-01-011h 00

Background Briefing with Ian MastersDecember 4, 2023 - Chuck Collins | Robert Downen | Timothy CanovaSCOTUS Poised to Kill Any Wealth Tax Before It Even Exists | The Texas GOP Refuses to Ban Contacts With Anti Semites, Pro-Nazi Sympathizers or Holocaust Deniers in Resolution Supporting Israel | An Exploding Sexual Assault Scandal Involving A Threesome With A Founder of "Moms For Liberty" Has DeSantis Asking his Friend, Florida's GOP Chair, to Step Down backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2023-12-051h 01

Background Briefing with Ian MastersNovember 21, 2023 - Robert Baer | Dean Baker | Toby MillerA Brief Pause in Gaza But a Long War to Follow | On Thanksgiving Should We Be Thankful For an Improved Economy? | Lesson For the Democratic Party From Spain Where a Fragmented Left Was Rebuilt to Now Hold Power backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2023-11-2157 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersSeptember 27, 2023 - David Cay Johnston | Robert Kuttner | Sidney BlumenthalAfter Losing His Business License in New York, Trump Could Lose All His Businesses Built on Fraud | Voters Care More About the Economy Than Losing American Democracy | Will Trump's Call to Shut Down the Government Backfire? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2023-09-281h 02

Background Briefing with Ian MastersAugust 16, 2023 - Michael Gerrard | Robert Hockett | Andra GillespieTrump's Racist Response to the Latest Indictments is to Call Black Judges, Prosecutors and Election Workers "RIGGERS" | A Win For Young Environmentalists in Red State Montana | Biden Celebrates the One Year Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2023-08-1759 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJuly 4, 2023 - Aram Shabanian | Robert CrewsThe Strategy Behind the Ukrainian Counteroffensive Many Pundits See as Being Bogged Down | Our Cavalier Disregard of Nuclear Threats From Putin Who Said "We Have No Need For a World Without Russia" backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia 2023-07-0459 min

Background Briefing with Ian MastersJune 25, 2023 - George Beebe | Robert Young Pelton | Scott HortonPutin'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 2023-06-251h 00