BACKGROUND BRIEFING: A radio program featuring international and national news, expert guests, policy makers, and critics offering analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural, and social issues. Five days a week, Background Briefing asks knowledgeable…
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The Background Briefing with Ian Masters podcast is an excellent source of intelligent and informative discourse on current events. Ian Masters does a phenomenal job of presenting complex issues in a thoughtful and articulate manner. He brings on accomplished and authoritative commentators from around the world, providing a global perspective on the issues at hand. Compared to other news sources, this podcast stands out as being more comprehensive and insightful during chaotic and historic times. Even when Masters slips into "grumpy grandpa" mode, his incredulous questioning adds value to the discussion. Overall, this podcast has been highly educational and I am grateful for it.
One of the best aspects of The Background Briefing with Ian Masters podcast is the choice of interviewees. Masters consistently brings on knowledgeable experts who provide valuable insights into various topics. The questions and remarks by Ian Masters are insightful and well-informed, creating engaging conversations with his guests. The podcast avoids mindless trends and political bias, presenting a fair and unbiased analysis of current affairs. It's impressive how much thoughtful and timely programming is produced every week, showcasing Masters' dedication to delivering high-quality content.
While The Background Briefing with Ian Masters podcast has many strengths, there are a few potential drawbacks. Some listeners may find that the host's biased perspective leans towards what they would consider "reality." However, others may view this as a positive aspect that separates the show from mainstream media's surrender to radical talking points instead of factual analysis. Additionally, although the interviews are insightful, some individuals may prefer a more balanced range of opinions to form their own judgments.
In conclusion, The Background Briefing with Ian Masters podcast is an exceptional source of commentary and analysis on current events. Listeners can expect intelligent discussions with well-chosen guests that provide deeper analyses and insights into pressing issues. While there may be instances where personal biases come through, overall, this podcast offers valuable information for those seeking thoughtful analysis in today's world. Ian Masters' dedication to presenting critical issues with well-informed guests makes this podcast a gem in the media landscape.
Vance and Rubio Meet With the Foreign Ministers of Denmark and Greenland Amid Mafia-like Threats From Trump | Unconfirmed Reports of an Off Ramp For Trump if Iran Stops the Killings and Delays Executions | The Return of the Fascist Troll Who Bought the Last Election For the Republicans and is About to Buy the Next backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
The DoJ Goes After the Victims Wife While Exonerating the ICE Shooter Who Murdered Renee Good | With Over 3,000 Killed By the Iranian Regime, Will Trump Come to The People's Rescue as Promised? | Can the Europeans and the UN With Its R2P (Responsibility to Protect) Help to Stop the Regime's Killing of Its Own People? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Bondi's Department of Crime Manufactures Trumped Up Charges Against The Fed Chairman | As Violence Escalates Inside Iran, Clashes Between Saudi Arabia and the UAE Intensify | Trump's Assault on America's Election Systems Across Many Fronts backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Trump, Vance, Hegseth and MAGA's Deadly War on "Woke" Women | Is Iran's Cruel and Corrupt Clerical Government About to Fall? | As Trump Effortlessly Destroys America, a New Cold War Emerges backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Trump's Government Goon Executes the Kind of Person MAGA Hates, a Liberal White Woman | Did The Venezuelan Leadership Sacrifice Maduro and His Cuban Protectors in A Secret Deal With Trump and Rubio? | Trying to Make Sense of Trump's Belligerent Bluster Over Greenland backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
One Of Trump and Miller's ICE Thugs Just Executed a 37 Year-Old Woman, a Legal Observer, in Minneapolis | No Tyrant in History Had the Power to Destroy Like Trump Has at His Fingertip | A Former Special Counsel to the DOD's General Counsel on Trump's Great Unravelling of International Law backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Republicans Try to Bury the Truth on the Anniversary of January 6 | Trump Has Already Made Life More Miserable For Venezuelan and There in More Misery to Come | Trump and Miller Espouse Imperialism as American Fascism is on the March backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
A Terrorism and Guerrilla War Expert's Warning That "Venezuela is Primed For Resistance...Far Worse Than Iraq. Chaos is Coming..." | Is Trump, Who Does Not Believe in Democracy, Replacing One Dictator With Another? | In Two Months Trump Will be Erecting Another Monument to Himself backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
A Former JAG on Hegseth and Trump's Murder Spree Which Are Not War Crimes Because We are Not at War | The Supreme Court Just Gave Republicans 30 of the 38 House Seats in Texas Before a Vote is Cast in November | The Harvard Youth Pollster Who Finds 13% of Americans Between 18 and 29 Say the U.S. is Heading in the Right Direction With Only 39% Supporting Capitalism | The Naked Partisanship of John Roberts Should be Clear to All As His Gives Trump Unlimited Power and Moves Us Towards a One-Party State backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
France's Fifth Government in Three Years Collapses as the Far Right in Europe Rises | A Film That Takes You Inside the Battlefield Under Russian Fire as Ukrainian Soldiers Fight and Die Defending Their Land Putin Claims As His | Trump Breaks Records Pardoning Crooked Congressmen, Scammers, Embezzlers, Fraudsters and Fanatics backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Trump and MAGA's Policies and Politics Are Driven By Sadism | Putin Warns of War With Europe After Which There Will Be No One Left to Negotiate With | In Spite Of the Ongoing Agony, A Plan For Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
Secretary of Defense Hegseth Needs to Step Down Now! | Could the Democratic Underdog Win Today in Deep Red Tennessee? | With Affordability the Big Issue, Why Can We Afford Guns and Not Butter? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Trump and His Team Meet on Going to War Against Venezuela | With the House Back in Session, the Fate of Affordable Healthcare Hangs by a Thread | How Much is Melania Mentioned in the Epstein Files Trump is Trying to Suppress? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
An Investigation Into the CIA-Run "Kill Or Capture" Zero Units the D.C. Shooter Worked With | As Trump Blames Biden, Who is Responsible For the Chaotic U.S. Withdrawal of 76,000 Afghans Including the Shooter? | With Many Trump Teams Negotiating While Putin Has No Interest in Peace, What Impact Will the Resignation of Ukraine's Negotiator Yermak Have? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
What We Can Be Thankful For in This Otherwise Bleak Time | Talking Turkey About the Turkey Industry and Its lobbying Clout | How Art in Activism Can Uplift Dissent and Inspire Community Organizing backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Will the Shooting of 2 National Guardsmen in Washington D.C. Provide Trump With an Excuse to Invoke the Insurrection Act For Example? | A Warning to the American Press From the Filmmaker of a Powerful New Feature Documentary About Brave Young Russian Women Reporting the Truth as Putin Shuts Down Independent Media and Criminalizes Journalism backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
Will There Be Further Vindictiveness After the Dismissals of the Revenge Cases Against James Comey and Letitia James? | Bolsonaros Botched Escape Attempt and Possible Collusion With the Trump Administration | Why Are Trump, Hegseth, and Vance So Freaked Out Over the Video by Six Democratic Lawmakers Who Are Veterans backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
America's Morally Bankrupt, Corrupt and Anti-Democratic Power Elite as Revealed in the Epstein Emails | Trump's Treasonous Sellout of Ukraine Is As If Chamberlain Showed Up at Munich With Hitler's "Peace Plan" | Sasha Linden Cohen on How the "Socialist" Handled the "Fascist" backgroundbriefing.org/donate x.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
Trump's Decades-Long Obsession With Getting On the Forbes 400 List and How Much Saudi Money Has Lined His Pockets | Musk's $Trillion Payday and How Billionaires Donated 1 in 13 Dollars Spent in the Last Election, Over 80% of Which Went to Republicans | Trump is Shoving Putin's Wish List Down Zelensky's Throat With a Thursday Deadline to Capitulate backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
A Dangerous and Demented Trump Calls For the Execution of Democratic Senators and Congressmen and Women Who Are Military and Intelligence Veterans | In the Service of His Billionaire Tech Bro Buddies, Trump Doubles Down on Stopping States From Regulating AI | How Ordinary Citizens Witness and Record ICE and CBP's Brutality and Cruelty backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
A Weakened Trump As a Split in MAGA Emerges With Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance Jockeying to Succeed America's Most Corrupt and Disastrous President | Trump's Plan to Gut the Department of Education That Only Congress Has the Legal Right to Do | Trump is Pressuring a Weakened Zelensky to Accept a Sellout Peace Plan That is Putin's Wish List backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia linktr.ee/backgroundbriefing
The Loophole in the Epstein Files Bill Passed by the House Today 427 to 1 That Allows Trump to Classify What He Does Not Want the Public to See | The Former Pariah's Lavish White House Welcome With Trump Dismissing MBS's Murder and Dismemberment of a Critic as "Things Happen" | Meta Wins the Antitrust Case Against the Tech Giant on the Basis Facebook Has Lost So Much Market Share to TikTok and YouTube backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia youtube.com/@ianmastersnet instagram.com/ianmastersmedia
November 17, 2025 - Jonathan Larsen | Mietek Boduszynski | Ben Freeman by Ian Masters
Epstein's Ties to Foreign Leaders and How Much the CIA Has an Epstein Problem | In Targeting an Organization That Does Not Exist, Trump Can Now Target Anyone |Will AI be an Issue in the Next Election? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
One of the First Journalists to Reveal the Email Trove Linking Epstein With Israeli Intelligence | The Damaging Scandal of Zelensky's Former Media Partner on the Lam With $100 Million in Energy Repairs Stolen | Does the U.S. Need Trump's Security Pact With Saudi Arabia? backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
More Damaging Epstein Emails Emerge While the Real "Smoking Gun" Remains Epstein's Ties to Israeli Intelligence | Silicon Valley's Migration to Texas with Musk's Monarcho-Capitalism Embracing the Christian Nationalist of Petrobaptists | A New Poll That Finds GOP Voters See Trump as Tough, Intelligent or a Peacemaker While Democrats and Independents Say He's Destructive, Erratic or Reckless backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
November 11, 2025 - John Sweeney | Michael Mann | Olga Lautman by Ian Masters
November 10, 2025 - Jeet Heer | Joshua Landis | Jennifer Kavanagh by Ian Masters
An Assessment of Air Safety as Air Travel Melts Down | Following Orban's Example, Trump's Announces His Plan to Rig Election So That "We will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose a general election" | A Followup on Mamdani's Victory on How He Will Deal With the Affordability Crisis backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
Mounting Evidence the MAGA Spell Has Been Broken | As a Blue Wave Looms, What Will Trump Do to Rig the Next Election? | Nancy Pelosi's Former Chief of Staff on Her Decision to Retire backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
Having Shunned Mamdani, Will the Democratic Establishment Now Embrace Him? | California Governor Newsom's Warning That Trump Will Do Anything and Everything to Rig the Next Election | The Republicans Are the Real Radicals and They Have a Nazi Problem backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia bsky.app/profile/ianmastersmedia.bsky.social facebook.com/ianmastersmedia
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