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Back in 2017, we aired one of our most popular Sporkful episodes ever, about a beloved sandwich shop in Aleppo, Syria. At that time, Syria was reeling from years of civil war, and the country's leader, Bashar Al-Assad, had been brutally targeting his own citizens. Aleppo was especially hard hit. We heard about that sandwich shop and set out to find out what made it special, and whether it was even still there. At the end of last year, when rebel fighters toppled the Assad regime, we heard from so many of you asking for updates. Well, big news — we have a brand new update to share with you. We'll have that for you next week, but ahead of that, we're resharing this two part story. We'll share Part 2 this Friday, then the new update next Monday. Here in Part 1 we'll take you from Aleppo to Austria, from Detroit to New York to Istanbul, all in search of a sandwich.This episode originally aired on November 6, 2017, and was produced by Anne Saini and Dan Pashman. It was edited by Dan Charles, and engineered by Casey Holford. Additional production and editing help from Peter Clowney, Dalia Mortada, Eva Deutsch, Sruthi Pinnamaneni, Zak Rosen, and Dustin Consentino. Special thanks to Adam Davidson and Jen Banbury. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.
On December 8th, 2024, rebels swept into Damascus and ousted Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad. One of the first things they did was open up the prisons. Syrians who disappeared years earlier began to emerge from their grim detention cells. Would missing American journalist Austin Tice be among them?In a new three-part series on The Weekend Intelligence, Middle East correspondent, Gareth Browne investigates what happened to Austin and explores what his story reveals about Assad's Republic of Fear.In episode one, Gareth tells the story of Austin's time in Syria leading up to his capture.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.Music by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic.This podcast transcript is generated by third-party AI. It has not been reviewed prior to publication. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the transcript, its accuracy or its completeness, and we disclaim all liability regarding its receipt, content and use. If you have any concerns about the transcript, please email us at podcasts@economist.com.Read more about how we are using AI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On December 8th, 2024, rebels swept into Damascus and ousted Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad. One of the first things they did was open up the prisons. Syrians who disappeared years earlier began to emerge from their grim detention cells. Would missing American journalist Austin Tice be among them?In a new three-part series on The Weekend Intelligence, Middle East correspondent, Gareth Browne investigates what happened to Austin and explores what his story reveals about Assad's Republic of Fear.In episode one, Gareth tells the story of Austin's time in Syria leading up to his capture.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.Music by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic.This podcast transcript is generated by third-party AI. It has not been reviewed prior to publication. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the transcript, its accuracy or its completeness, and we disclaim all liability regarding its receipt, content and use. If you have any concerns about the transcript, please email us at podcasts@economist.com.Read more about how we are using AI.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, journalist and author of ‘Syria: Civil War to Holy War?' Charlie Glass speaks to Mehdi about the future of Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan
In Italia il destino economico e professionale di una persona dipende in gran parte, ancora, dalla famiglia in cui nasce. La scala sociale è ferma da tempo e lo dimostra anche l'ultimo report di Future Proof Society e del think-tank Tortuga da dove emerge che oltre il 70% delle ricchezze del Belpaese sono in mano agli over 50. Parliamo di questo, del caso Pfizergate e della Siria, un Paese dimenticato dal dopo Assad.
For the final episode of Daniel's canoe rumspringa absence, Matt welcomes Assad Shalhoub from the Habibi House podcast to discuss the great Mamdani college application box-checking cover-up, Jonathan Greenblatt cozying up to a mid-century enthusiast who's not into vintage furniture, and a prick invoking the Merchant of Venice.Please donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/GO SEE MATT IN NORCO, CALIFORNIA! Stand up for Palestine: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-for-plestine-comedy-fundraiser-tickets-1370572622609?aff=oddtdtcreatorHabibi House Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6NpGf7p6PgWeQl59fWLpbW?si=r7J7q6c9SJaO2403P87-zQMenaCreator Club: https://www.instagram.com/menacreatorclubSee Francesca Fiorentini and Matt Lieb!August 1 in Seattle, WA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/comedians-francesca-fiorentini-and-matt-lieb-tickets-1354093864199August 28 in Houston, TX: https://bit.ly/mattfranhtxSubscribe to the Patreon https://www.patreon.com/badhasbaraWhat's The Spin playlist: https://spoti.fi/4kjO9tLSubscribe/listen to Bad Hasbara wherever you get your podcasts.Spotify https://spoti.fi/3HgpxDmApple Podcasts https://apple.co/4kizajtSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/bad-hasbara/donationsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
On June 13, 2025, Israel initiated “Operation Rising Lion,” attacking Iran's ballistic missiles installations, eliminating a significant number of Iran's elite military leadership and nuclear scientists. Then on June 21, 2025, the United States unleashed “Operation Midnight Hammer” and attacked Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Now that the dust has settled, what are the key takeaways from these military operations? During this episode of the Blessors of Israel Podcast, Dr. Matthew Dodd and Pastor Rich Jones discuss the ramifications of both strikes and also provide an assessment of the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.Visit the Blessors of Israel Website: https://www.blessors.org/ Thank you for supporting Blessors of Israel. Donate Online: https://blessors.org/donate/Please Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfbl_rf8O_uwKrfzCh04jgSubscribe to our Spotify Channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blessorsofisrael Subscribe to our Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blessors-of-israedl/id1699662615Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlessorsofIsrael/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlessorsIGettr: https://gettr.com/i/blessorsofisrael Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1670015Thank you for watching. Please like and share this video.We would love to hear your comments.Those who bless Israel will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones Blessors of IsraelMatthew Dodd Blessors of IsraelBlessors of IsraelBlessers of IsraelTags:Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddRich JonesDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones, Blessors of Israel, Rich Jones, Blessers of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessors of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessers of Israel, Blessers of Israel, Blessors of Israel, Two-State Solution, Palestine, Modern Palestinian Problem, Israel, Jesus Christ, Anti-Semitism, Prophecy Update, End Times Prophecy, Latter Days, Bible Prophecy, The Great Tribulation, Hamas, Gaza Strip, Terrorism, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, Persia, Gog and Magog, BRICS, China, CCP, Persia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, Yahya Sinwar, Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Deif, United Nations, Terrorism, Antisemitism, Syria, Bashar al Assad, HTS, Damascus, Mount Hermon, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, Ceasefire, Hostages, al Jolani, al Sharaa, Holocaust Day of Remembrance, China, Egypt, Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump, War, WWIII, Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan, Hamas
Conflicted reaches the final episode of Season 5! We've journeyed from Africa to the historic toppling of the Assad regime in Syria, and now, to bring the season to a close, Thomas is joined once again by Aimen to reassess all the topics we've discussed this season. In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Aimen and Thomas discuss the state of Syria following 14 years of civil war, exploring the new complexities for Al-Sharaa's regime. As with our previous Syria episodes, Aimen then shares a truly moving and tragic story about his nephew, Ibrahim, who, at just 19, traveled to Syria to fight. Aimen reflects on Ibrahim's motivations, the difficult conversations they had, and the profound impact of his nephew's death on him, especially in light of the recent fall of Damascus. The conversation then shifts to the challenges facing President Ahmad Al-Sharaa's new government in Syria. Aimen provides an insider's view on the internal threats and opportunities for stabilisation, highlighting key areas like food security, electricity, and telecommunications infrastructure. Finally, Thomas and Aimen broaden their scope to discuss the wider regional implications - from the war in Gaza, to a survey of Africa's role in the multipolar world. While season 5 has come to a close, if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you'll have to join our Conflicted Community. Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more. All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ And be sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled for Conflicted season 6, coming soon… Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you'd like to find out how we can help get your organisation's message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to hello@messageheard.com! Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On Iran and its Axis of Resistance. Historian Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi talks to Alex about the leadup and aftermath of the so-called "12-Day War between Iran and Israel and the US. Hamas and Hezbollah have been humbled, Assad is gone from Syria – how weakened is Iran? Did the 12-Day War actually happen? What prevented it becoming a wider war? What is the meaning of Israel's maximalist aims of regime change and regional dominance? Why is Iran now leaning into Iranian nationalism, even using pre-revolutionary symbols? Is a nuclear Iran now inevitable? What lessons will it draw? How has the region been reconfigured over the past two years? What about Saudi and the Gulf states? Subscribe to this podcast at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Iran and the ‘Axis of Resistance': A Brief History, Eskandar Sadeghi, Jadaliyya Culmination, Eskandar Sadeghi, Sidecar The Failson and the Flag, Golnar Nikpou & Eskandar Sadeghi
Dr Ido Yahel, a postdoctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, is a historian of modern Syria. An ethnic hodgepodge, was the decades-long stability provided by the brutal Assad regime an exception rather than the rule? Can Syria reinvent itself under the leadership of a reformed (at least partially) radical Islamist? Hear the full episode on Patreon
2024-ųjų gruodį Sirijoje krito daugiau nei penkiasdešimt metų šalį valdęs Assadų šeimos režimas. Sukilėliams užėmus valdžią, šalyje nemažai sumaišties. Iš vienos pusės, į Siriją grįžta pabėgėliai, kuriasi naujos institucijos, o vakarų šalys atšaukinėja sankcijas. Iš kitos pusės, daug nežinios, ar šalis pasuks demokratiniu keliu. Kovo pabaigoje-balandžio pradžioje Sirijos sostinėje Damaske porą savaičių praleido NARA fotožurnalistas Denis Vėjas ir žurnalistė Marie-Line Deleye, pernai praėjusi mūsų jaunųjų žurnalistų programą. Prieš pradedant dalintis jų publikacijomis, įrašėme pokalbį apie situaciją Sirijoje jų akimis. Autorė: Indrė Kiršaitė
Dans le supplément de ce dimanche, en première partie, nous débutons par la Syrie, plus précisément par un reportage dans les régions ouest de la Syrie, littoral de la Méditerranée, ce sont des fiefs de la communauté alaouite, la communauté de l'ex-président Bachar el-Assad réfugié en Russie. La région a connu et connait des vengeance et règlements de compte sanglants entre soutiens des nouvelles autorités et tenants de ce qui fut la terrible dynastie des Assad Bachar et Hafez, avec un fond de dissensions également confessionnelles sunnites alaouites. Bilan : des centaines de morts, dans les gouvernorats de Lattaquié, Tartous, Hama et Homs, le calme n'est toujours pas revenu. En deuxième partie, Louis Seiller revient sur le génocide de Srebrenica, il y a 30 ans. Quelles séquelles, quelles mémoires ? Trois décennies après le massacre de plus de 8 000 Bosniaques musulmans par les Serbes. Syrie : quatre mois après les massacres, la côte alaouite toujours en proie aux violences Aujourd'hui nous voici en Syrie, sur une bande littorale que l'on appelle le réduit alaouite, fief des soutiens à l'ancien régime de Bachar al-Assad. Quatre mois après les massacres dont a été victime principalement cette communauté, (ils ont fait des centaines de morts) violences et exactions persistent dans ces gouvernorats de Lattaquié, Tartous, Hama et Homs. Il y a d'un côté : les factions les plus radicales, en soif de vengeance envers un régime qui a multiplié les crimes et qui s'en prend aujourd'hui à la minorité alaouite. De l'autre, les loyalistes à l'ancien régime. Ils appellent à l'insurrection armée et mènent régulièrement des attaques contre les membres de la sécurité générale. Une commission, initiée par le nouveau gouvernement et chargée d'enquêter sur ces violences, doit rendre ses conclusions dans les prochains jours. Un Grand Reportage de Manon Chapelain qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix. À Srebrenica, à l'ombre du génocide, l'impossible réconciliation Il y a trente ans, du 11 juillet au 17 juillet 1995, plus de 8 000 hommes et adolescents bosniaques musulmans étaient systématiquement assassinés autour de la petite ville de Srebrenica, dans l'est de la Bosnie. Ce massacre a été l'un des points culminants des 3 ans et demi de guerre qui ont opposé les différents peuples de ce pays des Balkans. La justice internationale l'a qualifié de génocide, et elle a condamné à perpétuité ses principaux responsables bosno-serbes. Mais 3 décennies après, la mémoire douloureuse de la guerre et de ce massacre divise toujours Serbes et Bosniaques qui vivent dans la région, le long de la Drina… Un Grand reportage de Louis Seiller qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix.
In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First, Ambassador Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol for the United States, discusses the mission of America250, the start of celebrations on Thursday, and her role as principal media representative. Then, Documentary writer, producer, and correspondent Martin Smith discusses his latest PBS Frontline film: "Syria After Assad." Finally, a discussion with Erin Harkey – CEO of the group Americans for the Arts- on efforts by the Trump Administration to cut federal funding for arts and culture programs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As last year’s rapid descent of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad attests, when a dictator falls, they fall fast. But what are the conditions under which that fall occurs? And how can they be sparked?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Gaza: a Gaza, non si placa l'escalation israeliana. Onu: Israele ha commesso il più crudele genocidio della storia moderna.Influencer americano arrestato in Antartide per volo illegale.Etiopia: completata la diga sul Nilo. Il Cairo parla di “minaccia esistenziale”.Siria: Caccia agli ex uomini forti di Assad: arresti e rastrellamenti nel cuore alawita.La Russia riconosce i talebani. Introduzione al notiziario: dall'Afghanistan a Gaza, il crollo dell'umanitàQuesto e molto altro nel notiziario di Radio Bullets a cura di Barbara Schiavulli
« La Turquie n'est pas en rivalité avec la France en Afrique », affirme le responsable de la diplomatie turque pour l'Afrique. Depuis vingt-cinq ans, la Turquie est en pleine expansion sur le continent africain. On le voit avec ses opérateurs économiques et avec le succès de ses drones sur les champs de bataille. Mais loin de vouloir prendre sa place, la Turquie veut renforcer sa coopération avec la France. C'est ce qu'affirme Volkan Isiksi, directeur général pour l'Afrique au ministère turc des Affaires étrangères. De passage à Paris, il répond aux questions de Christophe Boisbouvier. RFI : Volkan Isikci, bonjour, Volkan Isikci : bonjour RFI : En 2007, la France de Nicolas Sarkozy et l'Allemagne d'Angela Merkel ont dit non à l'entrée de la Turquie dans l'Union européenne. Est-ce que c'est l'une des raisons pour lesquelles votre pays s'est tourné vers le continent africain avec une politique ambitieuse ? En fait, notre politique ambitieuse vers les autres continents, notamment l'Afrique, ça remonte bien avant 2007, donc en 1998. A partir de 2003, les relations de la Turquie avec l'Union africaine, ça s'est développé et on a essayé d'être présent sur le continent africain avec l'ouverture des ambassades. En l'an 2002, on avait douze ambassades. Aujourd'hui, on en a 44 et notre vision est de pouvoir augmenter le nombre de ces ambassades et de pouvoir les augmenter jusqu'à 50 dans les prochaines années, avec les possibilités que l'on va avoir. Tout de même, Monsieur le Directeur général, on remarque que, en 2007 donc, il y a ce refus de la France et de l'Allemagne de faire entrer la Turquie dans l'Union européenne. Et un an plus tard, en 2008, il y a ce premier sommet Turquie-Afrique. Est-ce qu'il n'y a pas un lien de cause à effet ? Non, c'est une coïncidence. Le choix de 2008, c'est indépendamment de la décision que vous avez mentionnée. C'était une feuille de route que l'on avait déjà établie. Donc, en 2008, on a organisé le premier sommet Turquie-Afrique, c'était en Turquie. En 2014, le deuxième, c'était en Guinée équatoriale. En 2021, on a organisé le troisième en Turquie et le quatrième, on va l'organiser l'année prochaine en Libye. Le choix a été ratifié par les organismes concernés de l'Union africaine. Et par les autorités libyennes de Tripoli, puisque ce sera à Tripoli ? Exactement. Depuis 20 ans, Monsieur le Directeur général, le volume d'échanges de votre pays avec l'Afrique a fait un bond très important. Il est passé de 5 milliards à 40 milliards de dollars par an. Qu'est-ce que vous apportez de différent par rapport à l'Europe et la Chine ? Avec nos amis africains, la période de Covid a eu des effets positifs pour que ce volume d'échanges augmente. Comme vous savez, à ce moment-là, il y avait des restrictions du point de vue des visas, du point de vue des vols. Nous, on n'a jamais essayé de rendre la vie difficile à nos amis africains qui voulaient visiter la Turquie. Notre régime de visas était flexible. En plus, les vols de Turkish Airlines n'ont jamais cessé à cette période-là. Nos amis africains, au lieu des destinations classiques qu'ils avaient pour voyager, faire du commerce en Europe ou bien en Asie, ils ont découvert un peu la Turquie. Et dans plusieurs pays africains, ils mentionnent que la continuité, la qualité, le prix et le suivi des produits turcs qu'ils se procurent en Turquie sont nettement plus concurrents que ceux des autres régions du monde. Ils nous disent : « Vous avez des produits de qualité européenne au prix de produits chinois. Alors en effet, certains disent en Afrique que les produits turcs sont moins chers que les produits européens et de meilleure qualité que les produits chinois. Quels produits par exemple ? De tout. Des dentifrices aux tissus, aux chaussures, aux meubles. Surtout dans le secteur de la construction. La plupart du matériel est importé de la Turquie. Évidemment, au lieu d'importer de très loin comme la Chine, le matériel qui est commandé de la Turquie, il parvient à peu près dans un délai d'un mois, un mois et demi, dans le pays concerné. Quand il faut construire un centre de conférence très vite pour un sommet de dans six mois, les Turcs sont là. C'est ça ? Voilà. Donc je ne vais pas citer le pays, mais dans un pays africain, le leader qui avait demandé à une compagnie turque de pouvoir organiser une grande conférence internationale avec la participation des chefs d'Etats, il lui a demandé s'il pouvait construire un centre de conférence en six mois. La compagnie concernée, qui est très active en Afrique, lui a fait la proposition de pouvoir le faire avec un délai de six mois. Evidemment, le prix était très abordable pour ça. La compagnie lui a demandé quelques faveurs : pouvoir amener 4000 ouvriers de Turquie avec six navires et tout le matériel qui serait nécessaire. Donc la commande a été passée au mois de janvier et les portes de cette conférence ont été ouvertes pour accueillir les chefs d'Etat mi-juin. Et donc c'est un succès qui a été réalisé en six mois. Et cet exemple que vous donnez sur six mois, je crois que c'est arrivé dans un pays d'Afrique centrale ? Oui, en Afrique centrale. L'un de vos produits phares en Afrique, Volkan Isikci, c'est le drone de la société Bayraktar. Il a fait ses preuves à Tripoli en 2019, puis dans la guerre Éthiopie -Tigré en 2021. Et du coup, beaucoup de pays africains vous achètent ce produit, comme le Mali, le Tchad. Est-ce que certains pays africains n'ont pas renoncé à la protection des avions de chasse classiques au bénéfice de ces drones, parce que c'est moins cher et parce qu'il y a moins d'abandon de souveraineté ? Je pense qu'il faut voir cette approche dans un contexte technologique et de maniabilité parce que, pour l'utilisation des avions de chasse, il faut déjà des terrains, des pistes d'atterrissage qui sont adéquats. Et ces drones ou ces nouveaux engins depuis quelque temps sont beaucoup plus abordables, maniables et efficaces que les avions de chasse. Que les Mirage 2000 par exemple ? Les avions de chasse demandent beaucoup de dépenses évidemment pour l'achat, pour la maintenance ou le personnel. Les drones, évidemment, ce sont des sociétés privées qui en font, mais l'autorisation d'exportation émane de notre ministère de la Défense. Il faut d'abord un feu vert d'Ankara ? Voilà. Et le suivi de l'utilisation de ces engins est régulé par le ministère de la Défense et d'autres institutions qui travaillent dans ce domaine-là. Est ce qu'on peut parler, de la part de la Turquie en Afrique, d'une diplomatie du drone ? Mais la question du drone se passe seulement dans quelques pays africains pour protéger leur intégrité territoriale. Ce sont des demandes conjoncturelles qui font que la demande des pays est acceptée par la Turquie. Évidemment, les formations que l'on offre, avec un prix abordable et la continuité et la confiance qu'ils ont en la Turquie, tout cela fait que beaucoup plus de pays maintenant recourent à notre technologie dans ce domaine-là. Mais quand vos drones sont utilisés pour frapper des populations civiles, je pense au Mali par exemple, est ce que vous ne craignez pas que cela ternisse l'image de la Turquie ? Évidemment, comme je vous l'ai dit, pour les ventes et l'exportation, il y a une régulation très restreinte. On fait le suivi de ces engins-là dans ces pays-là. Donc, une mauvaise utilisation de vos drones peut conduire à la rupture de la livraison de ces drones ? Voilà, parce que c'est régulé internationalement. Nous, on ne voudrait pas nuire à l'image de la Turquie dans ce sens-là, on ne voudrait pas que ça arrive. Est ce qu'il vous est arrivé, ces dernières années, de dire à un pays africain client de vos drones : « Là, vous avez utilisé ces drones contre des populations civiles, nous ne sommes pas d'accord et nous arrêtons la livraison » ? Après, on n'a pas dit. Mais avant, on dit toujours : « Il ne faut pas les utiliser de façon inappropriée, sinon ça va être la rupture », parce qu'il y a un contrôle continu dans ce sens-là ». Et c'est arrivé qu'il y ait une rupture ? Non, ça n'est pas arrivé, mais on suit de très près pour que ce genre d'évènement n'arrive pas dans ce sens-là. En 2019, la Turquie a soutenu militairement le gouvernement Sarraj à Tripoli contre l'offensive du maréchal Haftar sur la capitale libyenne. Pourquoi avez-vous fait ce choix ? Monsieur Sarraj, c'était le leader de la Libye à ce moment-là, qui était reconnu par les Nations Unies. Du coup, quand il y a eu les actes émanant de l'Est de la Libye vers Tripoli, il a écrit une lettre de demande d'aide d'urgence aux leaders internationaux de cinq pays, y compris la France et la Turquie. Et la Turquie a été le seul pays à pouvoir répondre positivement à son appel à l'aide. Donc notre coopération avec le gouvernement de Tripoli, ça a commencé avec ces démarches de Monsieur Sarraj à ce moment-là et ça continue jusqu'à présent. Et maintenant, on voit que la Libye est en cours de pouvoir solidifier sa démocratie, disons sa gouvernance, avec l'aide qu'on leur a fournie pour que le pays ne tombe pas dans le chaos. Et justement, vous continuez de soutenir Tripoli contre Benghazi ? Le gouvernement Dbeibah contre le maréchal Haftar et ses fils ? Ou est-ce que vous essayez de réconcilier les deux camps ? Non, il n'y a pas de pour et contre. Nous avons des relations avec l'Est aussi. On a ouvert notre Consulat général à Benghazi par exemple. On a des contacts avec Monsieur Haftar et les dirigeants du côté Est. Donc on soutient toutes les parties pour qu'il y ait une entente entre eux pour stabiliser politiquement leur pays. Et je crois que Turkish Airlines atterrit maintenant à Benghazi ? Voilà ! Depuis la chute du régime Assad en Syrie, au mois de décembre dernier, la Russie redéploie ses bateaux et ses avions gros-porteurs vers l'Est de la Libye, notamment Tobrouk et Benghazi. Est-ce que cela vous préoccupe ? Non, pas du tout. Nous, on a toujours des contacts avec la Russie concernant les questions de sécurité et de défense, concernant différentes régions du monde. Donc ça ne nous préoccupe pas. Est que c'est pour apaiser la situation politique au Congo-Brazzaville… Il y a 5 ans, vous avez accepté de soigner dans votre pays, en Turquie, l'opposant Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, qui est donc sorti de sa prison congolaise pendant quelques semaines et qui y est retourné depuis. Voilà 9 ans quand même que cet opposant politique est détenu à Brazzaville. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez de cette situation ? Pour cela, il faut voir la qualité du plateau technique sanitaire que la Turquie offre aux différents demandeurs dans ce sens-là. Les pays africains font beaucoup de demandes pour pouvoir se soigner sur le sol turc. Donc, il faut considérer cette approche du gouvernement du Congo-Brazzaville pour pouvoir soigner l'opposant. La relation qui existe entre les chefs d'Etat et la confiance qui règne entre eux… Je pense que c'est le résultat de ces approches-là qui a fait que cet opposant a pu retrouver la santé et retourner après dans son pays. Donc, c'est le témoignage d'une relation de confiance entre les présidents Sassou-Nguesso et Erdogan ? Voila. Dans votre esprit, c'est plus une approche humanitaire qu'une approche politique ? Humanitaire. Il faut voir ça sous l'optique humanitaire. Autre séjour médical très remarqué dans votre pays, la Turquie, celui évidemment de l'ancien président Alpha Condé de Guinée Conakry. Est-ce à dire que vous pourriez jouer un rôle de facilitateur aujourd'hui entre le général Doumbouya, qui est venu d'ailleurs à Ankara pour la dernière investiture du président Erdogan il y a deux ans, et les opposants guinéens en exil ? Vous savez, la médiation ne se fait pas parce que vous avez le désir d'être médiateur. Ça doit venir des parties concernées. Donc une demande n'a pas été mentionnée. Donc du coup, ça n'a pas été vu dans ce sens-là. Il n'y a pas de médiation turque sur la Guinée Conakry ? Non. On dit souvent, Volkan Isikci, qu'il y a une rivalité entre la Turquie et la France en Afrique. Est-ce que c'est vrai ou pas ? Pas du tout ! Parce que le mot rivalité, c'est quelque chose de négatif. La concurrence, ça existe parce que, dans le monde, les intérêts, ça existe. Avec la France, je pense que le mot concurrence est plus adapté, mais il faut enrichir ça avec une coopération, une collaboration. Avec les relations historiques que la France a avec le continent africain, avec l'expérience de plus en plus aiguë des acteurs turcs sur le continent, je pense qu'avec ces atouts, les deux pays peuvent servir davantage pour pouvoir subvenir aux besoins des pays concernés, pour être à côté de ceux qui en ont besoin. Et dans le cadre d'un partenariat entre les deux pays, quels sont les atouts de la France en Afrique sur lesquels vous, les Turcs, vous aimeriez vous appuyer ? Les deux pays ont des expériences différentes. Évidemment, la connaissance du terrain, la présence linguistique peuvent apporter beaucoup de choses de la part de la France. La Turquie, avec son expérience de plus en plus aiguë depuis les années 2000, peut servir davantage pour pouvoir réaliser de grands investissements dans ce sens. Moi j'aimerais bien mentionner que la zone de confort n'existe pas. Il faut prendre des risques. Il faut être sur le terrain avec un partenaire de confiance. Je pense qu'on peut faire beaucoup de choses. On croit beaucoup à ça et, quel que soit le pays, on n'a jamais essayé de destituer une entité, un pays du continent africain. Vous n'avez jamais voulu chasser la France de certains pays africains ? Pas du tout, pas du tout. On n'a pas cette position. On veut seulement développer davantage et subvenir aux besoins de nos amis africains qui nous font la demande. Vous n'êtes pas dans une démarche de rivalité avec la France, comme peut l'être la Russie par exemple ? Pas du tout, pas du tout. La question de la Russie, je ne suis pas en mesure d'y répondre, mais nous, on ne voit pas la France en tant que rivale sur le continent africain. Volkan Isikci, monsieur le Directeur général, merci. Merci beaucoup À lire aussiEntre l'Afrique et la Turquie, un partenariat qui s'enracine À lire aussiLa Turquie s'apprête à débuter sa mission d'exploration pétrolière en Somalie
Amerika en Israël willen de banden met Syrië verder aanhalen, onder meer door het land bij de Abrahamakkoorden te betrekken. Maar op hetzelfde moment komen er meer berichten over bruut geweld in het land. Volgens Isa Kahraman, buitenlandwoordvoerder van NSC in de Tweede Kamer, heeft Europa de sancties tegen Syrië veel te snel opgeheven. 'Het was te vroeg en naïef ook. Luister ook | Ollongren over NAVO-top: 'Dit was eens, maar nooit weer' Persbureau Reuters heeft uitgezocht dat bij grote geweldsuitbarstingen in maart maar liefst vijftienhonderd Alawitische sjiiten zijn omgekomen. De etnische groep waar ook oud-president Assad toe behoorde. Kahraman ziet ook dat christenen en druzen hier het slachtoffer van zijn. Vanwege zijn afkomst als Arameeër, een bevolkingsgroep uit het zuidoosten van Turkije en Syrië, kent hij veel mensen in de regio. Europa blijft na de onthulling door Reuters oorverdovend stil. Europa-verslaggever Geert Jan Hahn ziet dat Europa worstelt met de mensenrechtensituatie in Syrië in combinatie met het migratievraagstuk. Veel landen zien de Syrische vluchtelingen graag vertrekken uit Europa. Lees ook | Liveblog Oekraïne Oekraïne verder in het nauw De Russische aanvallen op Oekraïne nemen in omvang toe. Het land wordt met honderden raketten en drones bestookt. Daarnaast heeft president Trump besloten om sommige wapenleveranties te pauzeren, en dat terwijl Oekraïne zoveel behoefte heeft aan luchtafweer. Rusland claimt ook meer terreinwinst. Al blijft dat volgens denkt Patrick Bolder van het Den Haag Centrum voor Strategische Studies (HCSS) minimaal. ‘Het gaat met één voetbalveld per dag.’ Wat zorgwekkender is is de Russische oorlogsindustrie: ‘Rusland produceert nu verder en harder dan wat ze afschieten.’ Lees ook | Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill aan zijden draadje bij chaotische stemming in Huis van Afgevaardigden Overuren door de One Big Beautiful Bill | Postma in Amerika Het Amerikaanse Congres staat deze hele week in het teken van Trumps grote wet. De One Big Beautiful Bill, maar dat is ook buiten het Capitool te merken, ziet onze correspondent in Washington, Jan Postma. Luister ook | Amerika PodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today, Martha, Jess, Les, and Amy discuss a notable shift in U.S. foreign policy as the White House lifts most economic sanctions on Syria. For over a decade, those sanctions defined Syria's economy and global isolation, aimed squarely at weakening the Assad regime during the country's brutal civil war. But with Assad's fall late last year and a new interim government under Ahmed al-Shara now in power, the U.S. is signaling support for stabilization and reconstruction, while maintaining targeted restrictions on individuals linked to past atrocities and terrorism.Is this a genuine turning point for Syria—or a risky bet on fragile leadership? What message does this send to allies and adversaries about the durability of U.S. sanctions? And as reconstruction begins, who gains from Syria's reintegration—and who's left behind?Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.Check out the sources that helped shape our Fellows' discussions: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/30/trump-scraps-syria-sanctions-regime-00433633 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-interested-in-expanding-normalization-treaties-to-syria-lebanon-d583d184 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/world/middleeast/gulf-states-invest-syria-iran.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/14/syria-sanctions-caeser-act-sharaa/ Follow our experts on Twitter: @marthamillerdc@lestermunson @NotTVJessJones@amykmitchellLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @faultlines_pod and @masonnatsec on Twitter!We are also on YouTube, and watch today's episode here: https://youtu.be/EX_q4NoqQeQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aujourd'hui nous voici en Syrie, sur une bande littorale que l'on appelle le réduit alaouite, fief des soutiens à l'ancien régime de Bachar al-Assad. Quatre mois après les massacres dont a été victime principalement cette communauté, (ils ont fait des centaines de morts) violences et exactions persistent dans ces gouvernorats de Lattaquié, Tartous, Hama et Homs. Il y a d'un côté : les factions les plus radicales, en soif de vengeance envers un régime qui a multiplié les crimes et qui s'en prend aujourd'hui à la minorité alaouite. De l'autre, les loyalistes à l'ancien régime. Ils appellent à l'insurrection armée et mènent régulièrement des attaques contre les membres de la sécurité générale. Une commission, initiée par le nouveau gouvernement et chargée d'enquêter sur ces violences, doit rendre ses conclusions dans les prochains jours. « Syrie : quatre mois après les massacres, la côte alaouite toujours en proie aux violences », un Grand reportage de Manon Chapelain.
Donald Trump cumplió la promesa que le hizo en mayo al presidente interino de Siria, Ahmed al-Sharaa: a través de un decreto levantó la mayor parte de las sanciones al país. Aún se mantendrán otras que dependen directamente del Congreso estadounidense. Es la primera acción de este tipo en más de 20 años y un gesto que, según Washington, busca dar una oportunidad a la estabilidad en el país. ¿Qué hay detrás del levantamiento de las sanciones a Siria tras el fin del régimen de Bashar al-Assad? ¿Qué papel juega Israel en estas acciones? Para analizar el tema, participan en El Debate dos invitados. - Rafaelle Mauriello, historiador y analista internacional. - Erik Fajardo, consultor político e internacionalista. Leer tambiénTrump oficializa el fin de las sanciones contra Siria: ¿qué viene para este país en posguerra?
En este nuevo episodio de Mentes Literales, nos sumergimos —literalmente— en uno de los casos más intrigantes del Departamento Q: El mensaje que llegó en una botella, del maestro danés del thriller, Jussi Adler-Olsen. ¿Qué ocurre cuando un mensaje olvidado en el fondo del mar cobra vida años después? Hablamos de fe, de sectas, de desapariciones y del impacto del paso del tiempo en los crímenes sin resolver.Comentamos lo más impactante del caso, lo que nos atrapó del ritmo narrativo, y cómo Carl Mørck y su equipo, especialmente Assad y Rose, enfrentan uno de los casos más humanos y desconcertantes hasta ahora. También compartimos nuestras propias teorías, impresiones y algún que otro comentario fuera de guion. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
La reciente guerra entre Irán e Israel ha sorprendido a muchos por como Rusia, un aliado tradicional de Irán, se puso de perfil. Ambos países comparten intereses y sanciones internacionales, lo que ha fortalecido su cooperación en áreas como la militar, la económica y la energética. El año pasado firmaron incluso un pacto estratégico para los próximos 20 años en el que se comprometen a colaborar en el ámbito militar con ejercicios conjuntos. Irán, entretanto, ha estado suministrando a Rusia drones Shahed para la guerra de Ucrania, un arma que al Kremlin le ha resultado muy útil por su bajo precio. Fue, de hecho, la invasión de Ucrania en 2022 lo que consolidó la alianza ruso-iraní. Unos recibían drones y los otros valiosos consejos para evadir las sanciones al crudo. La relación también ha beneficiado a Rusia de forma indirecta. Irán apoya, financia y arma a Hamas, que en octubre de 2023 realizó un gran atentado en el sur de Israel. Esto desvió la atención de Ucrania, complicó a las potencias occidentales e incrementó los precios del petróleo, algo que a los rusos siempre les viene bien. En respuesta a la guerra que se desató en Gaza, Vladimir Putin se ofreció como mediador tras el ataque, recibió a delegaciones de Hamás y de los hutíes, la milicia yemení que controla buena parte de Yemen. A estos últimos les ayudan desde Moscú de forma rutinaria proporcionándoles las coordenadas de los barcos occidentales que navegan por el mar Rojo. Pero en la guerra entre Irán e Israel Rusia se ha mantenido al margen, evitando intervenir directamente. Esta cautela se debe a su limitada capacidad para proyectar poder en Oriente Medio tras años de desgaste, especialmente en Ucrania. Aunque Putin ha condenado los ataques israelíes y ha criticado a Estados Unidos, no ha proporcionado a Irán asistencia militar, algo de lo que el ejército iraní está muy necesitado, especialmente en el aire, donde dependen de aviones de combate obsoletos como el F5 Tiger o el F14 Tomcat, ambos retirados hace décadas en Estados Unidos. La neutralidad rusa responde también a la necesidad de equilibrar relaciones con otras potencias regionales como Irán, Arabia Saudita e Israel. En Rusia saben que Israel no es más que una prolongación de EEUU en Oriente Medio, pero admiran su asertividad y la afición que sus Gobiernos tienen por los hechos consumados. Hay, además, una comunidad de origen ruso muy numerosa viviendo en Israel, lo que refuerza los lazos culturales y políticos entre ambos países. La política rusa en Oriente Medio, iniciada en Siria hace una década tras el repliegue estadounidense, buscaba aprovechar oportunidades. La caída de Bashar al-Assad y la incapacidad rusa para defender a su protegido muestran su debilidad actual. Aunque Irán sigue siendo un aliado importante, Rusia ya fabrica sus propios Shahed y mira con recelo un Irán nuclear o un cambio de régimen pro-occidental en Teherán. La prioridad de Putin es Ucrania y conservar la hegemonía en el espacio postsoviético. Eso implica evitar a toda costa riesgos innecesarios en una región muy volátil donde no puede permitirse el lujo de reemplazar a Estados Unidos como árbitro. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 3:40 Putin no acude al rescate 32:27 Rutte y la OTAN 38:39 Oriente Medio y el derecho internacional 44:55 Las redadas de Trump · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #iran #rusia Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals
Why did the Assad regime fall - after 53 years in power? How should we understand the new regime? Can Syria look forward to a better future?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To help Bebe Cyrus go to:https://www.gofundme.com/f/Bebe-cyrus-needs-your-help-------------------------Chahriar Assad is back on the show to talk about politics, kids, and how to control your reactions in the face of life changing moments. This is part 2 of our conversation.-------------------------To learn more about psychedelic therapy go to my brother Mehran's page at: https://www.mindbodyintegration.ca/ or to https://www.somaretreats.org for his next retreat.***Masty o Rasty is not responsible for, or condone, the views and opinions expressed by our guests ******مستی و راستی هیچگونه مسولیتی در برابر نظرها و عقاید مهمانهای برنامه ندارد.***--------Support the showhttps://paypal.me/raamemamiVenmo + Revolut: @KingRaam Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, its crazy lunatic government will flip out and nuke us all. Watch out for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, those guys are a bunch of maniacal antisemites who want to attack Israelis just because they're Jewish. Oh no, Putin is invading Ukraine completely unprovoked because he's a madman who hates freedom and won't stop until he's conquered all of Europe. China is building up its military because the megalomaniacal Xi Jinping wants to take over the world; all those US military bases surrounding China are just a defensive measure to contain Beijing's insanity. Assad just went nuts one day and started slaughtering his own people out of nowhere. Gaddafi is a sexual sadist who's giving Viagra to his troops to help them commit mass rapes in Libya. Saddam Hussein is so crazy and evil he's trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction to give Americans another 9/11. The North Koreans used to be far too insane to be allowed to have nuclear weapons because they'd nuke San Francisco immediately, but after they obtained nuclear weapons they were miraculously cured of this rare psychological disorder. The stories of the western empire ask us to believe that everyone who finds themselves in the imperial crosshairs is an irrational actor whose loony behavior can only be attributed to some uncontrollable defect within their own minds, or who will soon snap and do something nutty if they are not contained by force. Reading by Tim Foley.
How is Iran adjusting to life after its 12-Day War with Israel, where it suffered the elimination of its top military brass and eleven of its elite nuclear scientists along with the destruction of its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs? During this episode of the Blessors of Israel Podcast, Dr. Matthew Dodd shares insights from Iran's defiant response and what it may mean for the future of Israel. Visit the Blessors of Israel Website: https://www.blessors.org/ Thank you for supporting Blessors of Israel. Donate Online: https://blessors.org/donate/Please Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfbl_rf8O_uwKrfzCh04jgSubscribe to our Spotify Channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blessorsofisrael Subscribe to our Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blessors-of-israedl/id1699662615Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlessorsofIsrael/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlessorsIGettr: https://gettr.com/i/blessorsofisrael Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1670015Thank you for watching. Please like and share this video.We would love to hear your comments.Those who bless Israel will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones Blessors of IsraelMatthew Dodd Blessors of IsraelBlessors of IsraelBlessers of IsraelTags:Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddRich JonesDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones, Blessors of Israel, Rich Jones, Blessers of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessors of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessers of Israel, Blessers of Israel, Blessors of Israel, Two-State Solution, Palestine, Modern Palestinian Problem, Israel, Jesus Christ, Anti-Semitism, Prophecy Update, End Times Prophecy, Latter Days, Bible Prophecy, The Great Tribulation, Hamas, Gaza Strip, Terrorism, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, Persia, Gog and Magog, BRICS, China, CCP, Persia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, Yahya Sinwar, Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Deif, United Nations, Terrorism, Antisemitism, Syria, Bashar al Assad, HTS, Damascus, Mount Hermon, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, Ceasefire, Hostages, al Jolani, al Sharaa, Holocaust Day of Remembrance, China, Egypt, Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump, War, WWIII, Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan
John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, joins guest host Casey Kustin, AJC's Chief Impact and Operations Officer, to break down Israel's high-stakes strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure and the U.S. decision to enter the fight. With Iran's terror proxy network reportedly dismantled and its nuclear program set back by years, Spencer explains how Israel achieved total air superiority, why a wider regional war never materialized, and whether the fragile ceasefire will hold. He also critiques the international media's coverage and warns of the global consequences if Iran's ambitions are left unchecked. Take Action: Take 15 seconds and urge your elected leaders to send a clear, united message: We stand with Israel. Take action now. Resources and Analysis: Israel, Iran, and a Reshaped Middle East: AJC Global Experts on What Comes Next AJC Advocacy Anywhere - U.S. Strikes in Iran and What Comes Next Iranian Regime's War on America: Four Decades of Targeting U.S. Forces and Citizens AJC Global Forum 2025: John Spencer Breaks Down Israel's War and Media Misinformation Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran People of the Pod: Latest Episodes: Iran's Secret Nuclear Program and What Comes Next in the Iranian Regime vs. Israel War Why Israel Had No Choice: Inside the Defensive Strike That Shook Iran's Nuclear Program Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript of the Interview: Casey Kustin: Hi, I'm Casey Kustin, AJC's Chief Impact and Operations Officer, and I have the pleasure of guest hosting this week's episode. As of the start of this recording on Wednesday, June 25, it's been 13 days since Israel launched precision airstrikes aimed at dismantling the Iranian regime's nuclear infrastructure and degrading its ballistic missile capabilities to help us understand what transpired and where we are now, I'm here with John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, co-director of the Urban Warfare Project and Executive Director of the Urban Warfare Institute. John, welcome to People of the Pod. John Spencer: Hey, Casey, it's good to see you again. Casey Kustin: Thanks so much for joining us. John, you described Israel's campaign as one of the most sophisticated preemptive strike campaigns in modern history, and certainly the scope and precision was impressive. What specific operational capabilities enabled Israel to dominate the Iranian airspace so completely? John Spencer: Yeah, that's a great question, and I do believe it basically rewrote the book, much like after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where Israel did the unthinkable, the United States military conducted 27 different studies, and it fundamentally changed the way we fight warfare. It's called Air-Land Battle. I think similarly with Operation Rising Lion, just the opening campaign rewrote what we would call, you know, Shock and Awe, Joint Forcible Entry, things like that. And the capabilities that enabled it, of course, were years of planning and preparation. Just the deep intelligence infiltration that Israel did before the first round was dropped. The Mossad agents texting the high command of the IRGC to have a meeting, all of them believing the texts. And it was a meeting about Israel. They all coming together. And then Israel blew up that meeting and killed, you know, in the opening 72 hours, killed over 25 senior commanders, nine nuclear scientists, all of that before the first bomb was dropped. But even in the opening campaign, Israel put up over 200 aircrafts, almost the entire Israeli air force in the sky over Iran, dominating and immediately achieving what we call air supremacy. Again, through years of work, almost like a science fiction story, infiltrating drone parts and short range missiles into Iran, then having agents put those next to air defense radars and ballistic air defense missile systems. So that as soon as this was about to begin, those drones lost low cost drones and short range missiles attacked Iranian air defense capabilities to give the window for all of the Israeli F-35 Eyes that they've improved for the US military since October 7 and other aircraft. Doing one of the longest operations, seconded only to one other mission that Israel has done in their history, to do this just paralyzing operation in the opening moment, and then they didn't stop. So it was a combination of the infiltration intelligence, the low-tech, like the drones, high-tech, advanced radar, missiles, things like that. And it was all put together and synchronized, right? So this is the really important thing that people kind of miss in military operations, is how hard it is to synchronize every bit of that, right? So the attack on the generals, the attack on the air defenses, all of that synchronized. Hundreds of assets in a matter of minutes, all working together. There's so much chance for error, but this was perfection. Casey Kustin: So this wasn't just an operational success, it was really strategic dominance, and given that Iran failed to down a single Israeli Aircraft or cause any significant damage to any of Israel's assets. What does that tell us about the effectiveness of Iran's military capabilities, their Russian built air defenses that they have touted for so long? John Spencer: Absolutely. And some people say, I over emphasize tactics. But of course, there's some famous sayings about this. At the strategic level, Israel, one, demonstrated their military superiority. A small nation going against a Goliath, a David against a Goliath. It penetrated the Iranian myth of invincibility. And I also failed to mention about how Israel, during this opening of the campaign, weakened Iran's ability to respond. So they targeted ballistic missile launchers and ballistic missile storages, so Iran was really weakened Iran's ability to respond. But you're right, this sent a signal around the Middle East that this paper tiger could be, not just hit, it could be dominated. And from the opening moments of the operation until the ceasefire was agreed to, Israel eventually achieved air supremacy and could dominate the skies, like you said, without losing a single aircraft, with his really historic as well. And hit what they wanted with what they wanted, all the military infrastructure, all the senior leaders. I mean, eventually they assigned a new commander of the IRGC, and Israel found that guy, despite him running around in caves and things. It definitely had a strategic impact on the signal to the world on Israel's capabilities. And this isn't just about aircraft and airstrikes. Israel's complete dominance of Iran and the weakness, like you said. Although Israel also taught the world back when they responded to Iran's attack in April of last year, and in October of last year, is that you probably shouldn't be buying Russian air defense systems like S-300s. But Iran still, that was the backbone of their air defense capabilities, and Israel showed that that's a really bad idea. Casey Kustin: You mentioned the component of this that was not just about going after infrastructure sites, but targeting Iranian military leadership and over 20 senior military and nuclear figures, according to public reporting. This was really a central part of this campaign as well. How does this kind of decapitation strategy alter the regime's military capability now, both in this immediate short term, but also in the long term, when you take out that kind of leadership? John Spencer: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, much like when the United States took out Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force, who had been decades of leadership of the Quds Force, the terror proxies, which I'm sure we'll talk about, overseeing those to include the ones in Iraq, killing my soldiers. It had a ripple effect that was, it's hard to measure, but that's decades of relationships and leadership, and people following them. So there is that aspect of all of these. Now we know over 25 senior IRGC and Iranian basically leadership, because they killed a police chief in Tehran and others. Yet that, of course, will ripple across. It paralyzed the leadership in many ways during the operation, which is the psychological element of this, right? The psychological warfare, to do that on the opening day and then keep it up. That no general could trust, much like Hezbollah, like nobody's volunteering to be the next guy, because Israel finds him and kills him. On the nuclear though, right, which all wars the pursuit of political goals. We can never forget what Israel said the political goals were – to roll back Iran's imminent breakout of a nuclear weapon, which would not only serve to destroy Israel, because that's what they said they wanted to do with it, but it also gives a nuclear umbrella, which is what they want, to their exporting of terrorism, and the Ring of Fire, the proxy networks that have all been defanged thanks to Israel. That's the reason they wanted. So in taking out these scientists.So now it's up to 15 named nuclear scientists. On top of the nuclear infrastructure and all the weaponization components. So it's not just about the three nuclear enrichment sites that we all talked about in the news, you know, Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. It's about that complete, decades-long architecture of the scientists, the senior scientists at each of the factories and things like that, that does send about, and I know we're in right now, as we're talking, they're debating about how far the program was set back. It holistically sets back that definitely the timeline. Just like they destroyed the Tehran clock. I'm sure you've heard this, which was the doomsday clock that Iran had in Tehran, which is the countdown to the destruction of Israel. Israel stopped that clock, both literally and figuratively. Could they find another clock and restart it? Absolutely. But for now, that damage to all those personnel sets everything back. Of course, they'll find new commanders. I argue that you can't find those same level of you know, an Oppenheimer or the Kahn guy in Pakistan. Like some of those guys are irreplaceable. Casey Kustin: So a hallmark of Israeli defense policy has always been that Israel will take care of itself by itself. It never asks the United States to get involved on its behalf. And before President Trump decided to undertake US strikes, there was considerable public discussion, debate as to whether the US should transfer B2s or 30,000 pound bunker busters to Israel. From purely a military perspective, can you help us understand the calculus that would go into why the US would decide to take the action itself, rather than, say, transfer these assets to Israel to take the action? John Spencer: Sure. It's a complex political question, but actually, from the military perspective, it's very straightforward. The B2 stealth fire fighter, one of our most advanced, only long range bomber that can do this mission right, safely under radar, all this stuff. Nobody else has it. Nobody else has a pilot that could do it. So you couldn't just loan this to Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East, and let them do the operation. As well as the bomb. This is the only aircraft with the fuselage capable of carrying this side. Even the B-52 stratomaster doesn't have the ability to carry this one, although it can push big things out the back of it. So just from a logistics perspective, it wouldn't work. And then there's the classification. And there's many issues with, like, the somebody thinking that would have been the easiest, and even if it was possible, there's no way to train an Israeli pilot, all the logistics to it, to do it. The Israel Begin Doctrine about, you know, taking into their own hands like they did in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, is still in full effect, and was shown to be literally, a part of Israel's survival is this ability to, look, I understand that allies are important. And I argue strongly that Israel can never go at it alone, and we should never want it to. The strength of any nation is its allies. And the fact that even during this operation, you saw immense amounts of American military resources pushed into the Middle East to help defend Israel and US bases but Patriot systems on the ground before this operation, THAAD systems on the ground before the system. These are the advanced US army air defense systems that can take down ballistic missiles. You had Jordan knocking down drones. You had the new Assad replacement guy, it's complex, agreeing to shoot things down over their airspace. That is part of Israel's strength, is its allies. I mean, the fact that you have, you know, all the Arab nations that have been helping and defending Israel is, I think, can't be underscored under Israel doesn't, shouldn't need to go it alone, and it will act. And that's the Begin Doctrine like this case. And I do believe that the United States had the only weapon, the only capability to deliver something that the entire world can get behind, which is nuclear proliferation, not, you know, stopping it. So we don't want a terror regime like the Islamic regime, for so many different reasons, to have a nuclear weapon close to breakout. So United States, even the G7, the United Nations, all agree, like, you can't have a nuclear weapon. So the United States doing that limited strike and midnight hammer, I think, was more than just about capabilities. It was about leadership in saying, look, Iran's double play that the economic sanctions, or whatever, the JCPOA agreement, like all these things, have failed. Conclusively, not just the IAEA statement that they're 20 years that now they're in violation of enrichment to all the different intelligence sources. It was not working. So this operation was vital to Israel's survival, but also vital for the world and that too, really won in this operation. Casey Kustin: Vital both in this operation, in the defense of Israel, back in April 2024 when Iran was firing missiles and we saw other countries in the region assist in shooting them down. How vital is Israel's integration into CENTCOM to making that all work? John Spencer: Oh, I mean, it's life saving. And General Carrillo, the CENTCOM Commander, has visited Israel so much in. The last 20 months, you might as well have an apartment in Tel Aviv. It's vital, because, again, Israel is a small nation that does spend exponential amounts of its GDP in its defense. But Iran, you know this, 90 million much greater resources, just with the ballistic missile program. Why that, and why that was so critical to set that back, could overwhelm Israel's air defense systems. Could. There's so much to this, but that coordination. And from a military to military perspective, and this is where I come and get involved, like I know, it's decades long, it's very strong. It's apolitical on purpose. It's hidden. Most people don't know it, but it's vital to the survival of our greatest ally in the Middle East. So it meets American interest, and, of course, meets Israel's interest. Casey Kustin: Can you help us understand the Iranian response targeting Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, because this seemed like a very deliberate way for the regime to save face and then de-escalate. But if the ceasefire falls apart, what are the vulnerabilities for us, troops and assets in the region. How well positioned are our bases in Qatar, Al Dhafra in the UAE, our naval assets in Bahrain, our bases in Iraq? How well positioned are we to absorb and deter a real retaliatory response? John Spencer: Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, first and foremost, you know, there is a bit of active defense. So, of course, all of our US bases are heavily defended. A lot of times, you can see things are about to happen, and you can, just like they did, they moved to naval aircraft that would have been even vulnerable in some of these locations, out to sea, so they can't be touched. Heavily defended. But really, active defense is absolutely important, but really deterrence is the greatest protection. So that has to be demonstrated by the capability, right? So the capability to defend, but also the capability to attack and the willingness to use it. This is why I think that supposedly symbolic to the 14 bunker busters that the United States dropped during Operation Midnight Hammer. Iran sent 14 missiles. President Trump says, thanks for the heads up. You know, all of it was evacuated, very symbolic, clearly, to save face and they had a parade, I guess, to say they won something. It's ludicrous, but sometimes you can't get inside the heads of irrational actors who are just doing things for their own population. Our bases, the force protection is heavy. I mean, there's never 100% just like we saw with all the air defenses of Israel, still about 5% or if not less, of the ballistic missiles got through one one drone out of 1000 got through. You can never be 100% but it is the deterrence, and I think that's what people miss in this operation. It set a new doctrine for everyone, for the United States, that we will use force with limited objectives, to send an immense amount of strength. And when somebody says there's a red line now that you should believe that, like if you would have injured a single American in the Middle East, Iran would have felt immense amount of American power against that, and they were very careful not to so clearly, they're deterred. This also sent a new red line for Israel, like Israel will act just like it did in other cases against even Iran, if they start to rebuild the program. War is the pursuit of political objectives, but you always have to look at the strategic on down. Casey Kustin: On that last point, do you think we have entered a new phase in Israeli military doctrine, where, instead of sort of a more covert shadow war with Iran, we will now see open confrontation going forward, if necessary? John Spencer: Well, you always hope that it will not be necessary, but absolutely this event will create, creates a new doctrine. You can see, see almost everything since October 7, and really there were just things that were unconceivable. Having studied and talked to Israeil senior leaders from the beginning of this. Everybody thought, if you attacked Hezbollah, Iran, was going to attack and cause immense amounts of destruction in Israel. Even when Israel started this operation, their estimates of what the damage they would incur was immense. And that it didn't is a miracle, but it's a miracle built in alliances and friendships with the United States and capabilities built in Israel. Of course, Israel has learned a lot since October 7 that will fundamentally change everything about not just the military doctrine, but also intelligence services and many aspects that are still happening as they're fighting, still to this day in Gaza to achieve the realistic, measurable goal there. Yes, it absolutely has set forth that the old ways of doing things are gone, the you know, having these terror armies, the ring of fire that Israel has defanged, if not for Hamas dismantled and destroyed. It sets a new complete peace in the Middle East. But also a doctrine of, Israel is adapting. I mean, there's still some elements about the reserve forces, the reigning doctrine, that are evolving based on the magnitude of the war since October 7. But absolutely you're right about they will, which has been the doctrine, but now they've demonstrated the capability to do it to any threat, to include the great, you know, myth of Iran. Casey Kustin: So when you talk about this defanging of the Iranian proxy network obviously, Israel undertook significant operations against Hezbollah. Over the last year, they've been in active conflict with the Houthis. How does this operation now alter the way that Iran interacts with those proxies and its capacity to wage war against Israel through these proxies? John Spencer: Yeah, cripples it, right? So Iran's nuclear ambition and its terror campaign are literally in ruins right now, both literally and figuratively. Hezbollah was defanged, the leadership, even taking out Nasrallah was believed to have caused catastrophic consequences, and it didn't. So, absolutely for Iran, also during this operation, is sniffing because all of his proxies were silent. I think the Houthis launched two missiles because thanks to Israel and the United States, the Houthi capabilities that should never have been allowed to amass, you know, this pirate terror empire. They didn't make those greatest shore to sea arsenal out of falafels. It got it straight from Iran, and that pipeline has already been cut off, let alone the capabilities. Same thing with Hezbollah, which relied heavily on pipelines and infrastructure of missiles and everything being fed to it by Iran. That's been cut. The Assad regime being the drug empire, support of Hezbollah to rule basically, in Lebanon, has been cut. Hezbollah couldn't come to the aid of Assad. All of these variables. And of course, Hamas will never be able to do anything again, period. It all causes Iran to have to rethink everything. From, you know, not only their own national defense, right air defense capabilities and all this, but their terror campaign, it isn't just in ruins. There's a new doctrine, like it's not acceptable. Now, of course, that's going to be hard to fully reign in. You have Shia backed groups in Iraq, you have a lot of bad things going on, but the Quds Force, which is its job, it's all shattered. Of course, they'll try to rebuild it. But the fact that these terror proxies were already so weakened by Israel that they couldn't do anything and remain silent. Hezbollah just was silent basically during this, is very significant to the peace going forward. I mean, there, there's still a lot of war here, but Israel and the United States have rewritten the map of the Middle East. Casey Kustin: in the hours days that followed the US deciding to engage here. A lot of the conversation focused on the possibility of triggering now broader regional escalation, but we didn't see that, and it sort of shattered that myth that if Israel or the US were to go after Iran, that it would spiral into a broader Middle East conflict. Why did we not see that happen? Why did this remain so controlled? John Spencer: So many reasons that really go back a few months, if not years? Mean going back to the first the Abraham Accords, President Trump's recent tour of the Gulf states and his story. Turic financial deals Israel's like we talked about with the Arab nations that were part of protecting it, the fact that the so on, that very geopolitical aspect. And we saw Iran turn to Russia, because there's always geopolitical considerations. Iran turned to Russia. Said, you're going to help us out. We signed this security agreement last year. We've been helping you in Ukraine do the awful things you're doing there. And Russia said, No, that's not what we said. And it called called President Trump. President Trump says, how about you worry about mediating a ceasefire in Ukraine? And well, so they turned to China and the fact that there was nobody again, and that all the work that had been done with all the people that also disagree, nation states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, all those others. Those are many of the contributing factors. But war also, I wrote this piece about, this isn't Iraq, this isn't Afghanistan, this isn't Libya. I really hate the lazy comparisons. This was contained and not able to spill out by constant communication from day one of what the goals were. Limited objective to roll back a threat to the world nuclear program and the ballistic program as well. That prevents the ability for even the Islamic regime to say, you know, my survival is at risk, I need to escalate this, right? So, being clear, having strategic clarity from Israel, and when the United States assisted, from the United States. You know, war is a contest of wills, not just between the military is fighting it, but the political element and the population element. So, you know, being able to communicate to the population in Israel and like, what's the goal here? Like, how long are we gonna have to do this? And to the United States. Like, what are our interests? Keeping it the goal limited, which all parties did. And even, in fact, you had the G7 meeting during this and they signed an agreement, we agree Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That is a big part of how you permit the spill out. But it does have many contextual elements of the broader, this isn't black and white between Israel and Iran. It's much bigger than that. And that, and we saw all that work that has been done to show strength through peace, or peace through strength, in all the forms of national power that have been rallied against what is chaos that the Islamic regime wants in the Middle East. Casey Kustin: So now that we've had a few days to begin to assess the impact of both the US and the Israeli strikes based on what's publicly available. I think you wrote that the nuclear timeline has been pushed back years. We saw some reporting in the New York Times yesterday saying it's only set back months. It seems this morning, the US is concurring with the Israeli assessment that it's been set back years. A lot of talk about where certain Where did certain stockpiles of enriched uranium, and how confident can we be at this point in any of these assessments? John Spencer: So yes, as we're talking, people are trying to make it political. This should be a non partisan, non political issue. I'm an objective analyst of war. If you just write down all the things that Israel destroyed, validated by satellite imagery. then the fact that somebody And even the spinning of words where like we saw with that leaked report, which was the preliminary thoughts about something, it isn't comprehensive, right? So one, BDA has never come that fast. Two, we do know, and Iran has validated, like all these scientists dead, all these generals dead, all these components of the nuclear program, damaged or destroyed. The idea that somebody would say, well, you only set it back a couple months to me, it's just anti-intellectual. Look, Natanz, Esfahan, Fordo, we can debate about how much stuff is inside of that mountain that was destroyed, although 14 of the world's best bunker buster munitions, 30,000 pounds punching through. I just think, it's not a silly argument, because this is very serious. And yes, there could be, you know, hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium up there, a certain percentage that got floated around. That's not the, the things that set the timeline of breakout. Breakout included all the components of the knowledge and capability to reach breakout and then weaponization of a nuclear bomb. There's nobody, I think, who can comprehensively, without nuancing the words say that Israel wasn't very effective, and the United States assistance in only what the United States could do, at setting this program back and actually stopping the immediate danger. Of course, Iran is still a danger. The program is still a danger, but I just think it's so political that they're trying to say that, well, you only said it back a couple months. That's like, that's ridiculous. Casey Kustin: So as an objective analyst of war, but also as someone who's really been a voice of moral clarity and has called out the international media over the last 18 months for a lot of this disinformation, misinformation, bias reporting. Before we go, John, what is one consequence of this operation that the international media is just missing? John Spencer: One is that, I think the international media who are debating whether Iran was literally using an opposing opinion against global thought that Iran was close to a nuclear bomb, they missed that completely and tried to politicize it to where, just giving disinformation agents that tidbit of a headline that they need. I do believe in journalistic standards, fact checking, those elements and holding those people accountable. I live in the world of experts. People on the platform X who think they're experts. But when you have national media running headlines for sensationalism, for clicks, for you know, struggling for opposition to just political administration, we should learn to really question a single report as valid when there's overwhelming opposition. I don't know how to put that succinctly, but you think we would learn over the last, you know, 20 months of this lies, disinformation, statistical warfare, the things like that that, yeah, it's just crazy that that somebody would think in any way this wasn't an overwhelming success for the world, that this program was set back and a new doctrine for treating the program was established. Casey Kustin: Finally, John, before we wrap up here, the question on everyone's mind: can the ceasefire really hold? John Spencer: So, you know, I don't do predictions, because I understand wars uncertainty. It's human. It's political. It looks by all signs, because of how Iran was dominated, and how the United States showed that if it isn't contained, then immense amounts of force and of course, Israel's superiority, I believe that the ceasefire will hold. It was normal. And I made some some posts about the historical examples of wars coming to an end, from the Korean War, to the Yom Kippur war, Bosnia War, where you had this transition period where you're rolling back forces and everything. But the by the fact that Iran has said, Yeah, we agreed. We have stopped our operation. All signs for me are saying that this ceasefire will hold, and now the world's in a better place. Casey Kustin: John, thank you so much for the insight, for, as I said, your moral clarity that you bring to this conversation. We appreciate you joining us today on People of the Pod. John Spencer: Thank you so much.
To help Bebe Cyrus go to:https://www.gofundme.com/f/Bebe-cyrus-needs-your-help-------------------------This episode is sponsored by https://WE-PN.com Become your own VPN provider.To get 50% off enter promo code: kingraam50support@we-pn.com-------------------------This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/MASTYORASTY and get on your way to being your best self.-------------------------Chahriar Assad is back on the show to talk about politics, kids, and how to control your reactions in the face of life changing moments. This is part 1 of our conversation.-------------------------To learn more about psychedelic therapy go to my brother Mehran's page at: https://www.mindbodyintegration.ca/ or to https://www.somaretreats.org for his next retreat.***Masty o Rasty is not responsible for, or condone, the views and opinions expressed by our guests ******مستی و راستی هیچگونه مسولیتی در برابر نظرها و عقاید مهمانهای برنامه ندارد.***--------Support the showhttps://paypal.me/raamemamiVenmo + Revolut: @KingRaam Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our penultimate episode of season 5 is here, continuing our journey across Syria to bring you the voices of the revolution and civil war, from all perspectives. In the series so far, we've given you the perspectives of a Kurd from Aleppo and Afrin, we've parachuted you into the siege of Southern Damascus, we've shown you what life was like in Raqqa under ISIS - and now, we bring you another fascinating view of the civil war - that of the Druze from Suwayda, a small city in southern Syria. And it's all told through the story of our guest this week, Nour Salam. Nour is herself a Druze, and also a human rights and women's rights activist whose family are originally from Suwayda, where she has been living since fleeing there in 2013. Through the war she worked as a field coordinator for Syrian civil society groups, and she is also a member of the Syrian Women's Political Movement and many Suwayda-based initiatives supporting women's rights. In this episode, Nour shares her unique perspective as a Druze woman from Suwayda, discussing her identity, the history of the Druze community, and the impact of the Syrian civil war on her life and activism. She reflects on her family's experiences under the Assad regime, and her involvement in the revolution, highlighting the complexities of Druze identity and their relationship with other communities in Syria. Thomas and Nour later explore the arrival of ISIS in Suwayda, and the subsequent rise of factional conflicts from local militias formed to protect against ISIS, who are still controversially playing their part in the ongoing instability of the region, alongside Israel, today. New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you'll have to join our Conflicted Community. Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more. All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Conflicted is proudly made by Message Heard, a full-stack podcast production agency which uses its extensive expertise to make its own shows such as Conflicted, shows for commissioners such as the BBC, Spotify and Al Jazeera, and powerfully effective podcasts for other companies too. If you'd like to find out how we can help get your organisation's message heard, visit messageheard.com or drop an email to hello@messageheard.com! Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
La guitarrista, compositora y cantante Badi Assad firma el disco 'Acústico' con obras suyas ya grabadas anteriormente como 'Ilha das flores' y 'Do silêncio veio o som' junto a canciones de Chico César ('À primeira vista'), Caetano Veloso ('Araçã azul') o Gilberto Gil ('Se eu quiser falar com Deus'). Del disco de Keith Jarrett, 'New Vienna', grabado durante un concierto de piano solo en 2016 en la capital austriaca, 'Part VIII', 'Part II' y 'Somewhere over the rainbow'. Y, en 'Gênesis', la grabación de un concierto de João Bosco y la Orquestra de Ouro Preto con clásicos de Bosco como 'O ronco da cuíca', 'Kid cavaquinho', 'O bêbado e a equilibrista' y 'Papel maché'. Despedida con Marcos Valle y Joyce Moreno compartiendo 'Valeu'. Escuchar audio
On Saturday night, June 22, President Donald Trump's Operation Midnight Hammer sent a message to Tehran, and the world, that can't be ignored. Seven Missouri-based B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting bombs on Iran's Fordow nuclear site, while U.S. Navy vessels launched a barrage of cruise missiles at other strategic nuclear infrastructure. Victor Davis Hanson explains what just happened—and what could come next—on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ [Iran] must know that people are angry. That over 50 years, nearly, they spent a trillion dollars subsidizing the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Assad dynasty. And for what? It's all up in smoke. And then they probably lost another trillion dollars, over 50 years, through sanctions and oil embargoes. For what? It's up in smoke. “ Right now the ball is in the court of Iran. Trump has said to them, you can come back and negotiate. But, what would they negotiate over? Their one card was that we have the specter of a nuclear bomb. So, you better come to us and talk. They don't have that anymore. At least not for the foreseeable future. The only negotiable item is whether they survive or not.” (0:00) Trump's Bold Military Move in the Middle East (0:57) Historical Context of U.S. Actions in the Middle East (2:23) Details of the Recent Military Operation (4:34) Potential Repercussions and Future Speculations (5:55) Iran's Next Move and Global Reactions (6:39) Israel and U.S. Stature Post-Operation
Situación en Medio Oriente
Situación en Medio Oriente
One of the most difficult tests in life is when a person achieves something through effort, wisdom, and strength—and is then told not to attribute the success to himself, but to Hashem. Most people feel proud of their accomplishments, their clever strategies, or their brilliant ideas. But the pasuk reminds us כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל , and the Targum explains, that even our ideas—every single thought that passes through our minds—are gifts from Hashem. It's natural to feel proud after a major achievement, but it is up to each of us to pause and recognize that it was all from Hashem. So often, we fail to see the broader picture—how Hashem orchestrated every detail in advance, setting the stage for us to succeed in a way that appears seamless and "strategic." Recently, the world has witnessed Israel's remarkable military achievements, particularly in the face of Iranian threats. From eliminating key leaders and scientists to achieving aerial dominance, the successes have been astonishing. Add to that America's undetected, precision strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, and one could easily fall into the trap of thinking it's all the result of human intelligence and power. But here, too, we must remember: " לא בחיל ולא בכח כי אם ברוחי אמר ה׳ " —victory does not come through strength or power, but through the spirit of Hashem. All wars are fought and won by Hashem— and only by Hashem . For decades, Israel has known about Iran's nuclear ambitions, yet was unable to act, as Iran lies over a thousand miles away. The logistics of such an operation seemed impossible. Israeli fighter jets could not pass through Jordan, Syria, or Iraq without being shot down. The southern route through Saudi Arabia was blocked, and the northern route through Turkey was a non-starter. But then Hashem changed everything. In December 2024, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, ending his family's 50-year regime. Hashem opened the Syrian skies. Jordan didn't just permit the use of its airspace—it actively helped shoot down Iranian missiles during the April attack, when Iran launched 300 ballistic missiles toward Israel. Iraq no longer has the capabilities to shoot down planes. Every obstacle was removed—by Hashem. Iran had feared this moment. For years, they armed Hezbollah and Hamas so that if Israel ever struck, they could retaliate from multiple fronts. But over the past year, Hashem gave Israel the strength and intelligence to neutralize the missile capabilities of both Hezbollah and Hamas. And when the moment came to strike Iran, there was no one left to respond. We should be proud of Israel's accomplishments—with the clear understanding that they are Hashem's accomplishments . America's support? Also orchestrated by Hashem, as it says: " לב מלכים ביד ה׳ " —the hearts of kings and leaders are in the hands of Hashem. Hashem can eliminate our enemies without a single soldier taking action. We saw this just a year ago, when the president of Iran and other officials were killed in a helicopter crash—without any military involvement. We saw it when a Turkish legislator who was publicly condemning Israel suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack. " ה׳ איש מלחמה " —Hashem is a Man of War. He fights—and wins—our battles. The current operation has been referred to as " כִּלְבִיא יָקוּם " , and the Chatam Sofer once explained the word כִּלְבִיא spells out the passuk : כִּ י לֹ א בְ כֹחַ יִ גְבַּר אִ ישׁ - it is not by human strength that wars are won, but through Hashem alone. May Hashem continue to protect His people and bring the final geulah with Mashiach speedily in our days. Amen.
durée : 00:15:19 - Journal de 8 h - Un attentat suicide a fait au moins 22 morts dimanche, dans une église chrétienne à Damas. Cette attaque est la première de ce type dans la capitale syrienne depuis que des forces dirigées par des islamistes radicaux ont renversé l'ex-président Bachar al-Assad le 8 décembre 2024.
Có it nhất 20 người chết và hơn 50 người khác bị thương khi nhà thờ đang trong buổi lễ sáng Chủ Nhật. Vụ đáng bom làm dấy lên nỗi sợ hãi về tình hình an ninh mong manh của Syria sau thời Assad. Vụ tấn công, được cho là do một chiến binh I-S thực hiện ngay lúc nhà thờ có khoảng 350 tín đồ hiện diện. Vụ nổ gây ra một cảnh tượng tan thương và làm dấy lên câu hỏi về khả năng bảo vệ các nhóm tôn giáo thiểu số của chính phủ mới.
In a first, United States President Donald Trump ordered the military to strike three of Iran's nuclear facilities. During this episode of the Blessors of Israel Podcast, Dr. Matthew Dodd provides an overview of the U.S. surgical strike on Iran along with the updates concerning Iran's response. Visit the Blessors of Israel Website: https://www.blessors.org/ Thank you for supporting Blessors of Israel. Donate Online: https://blessors.org/donate/Please Subscribe and Like our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfbl_rf8O_uwKrfzCh04jgSubscribe to our Spotify Channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blessorsofisrael Subscribe to our Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blessors-of-israedl/id1699662615Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlessorsofIsrael/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlessorsIGettr: https://gettr.com/i/blessorsofisrael Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1670015Thank you for watching. Please like and share this video.We would love to hear your comments.Those who bless Israel will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones Blessors of IsraelMatthew Dodd Blessors of IsraelBlessors of IsraelBlessers of IsraelTags:Pastor Rich JonesPastor Matthew DoddRich JonesDr. Matthew DoddRich Jones, Blessors of Israel, Rich Jones, Blessers of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessors of Israel, Matthew Dodd, Blessers of Israel, Blessers of Israel, Blessors of Israel, Two-State Solution, Palestine, Modern Palestinian Problem, Israel, Jesus Christ, Anti-Semitism, Prophecy Update, End Times Prophecy, Latter Days, Bible Prophecy, The Great Tribulation, Hamas, Gaza Strip, Terrorism, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, Persia, Gog and Magog, BRICS, China, CCP, Persia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, Yahya Sinwar, Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Deif, United Nations, Terrorism, Antisemitism, Syria, Bashar al Assad, HTS, Damascus, Mount Hermon, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, Ceasefire, Hostages, al Jolani, al Sharaa, Holocaust Day of Remembrance, China, Egypt, Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump, WarWWIII, Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan
A suicide bombing at a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus has killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 50, shattering Sunday Mass and reigniting fears over Syria's fragile post-Assad security. The attack, reportedly carried out by an IS militant, struck a congregation of 350 worshippers, leaving scenes of devastation and raising questions about the new government's ability to protect religious minorities.
durée : 00:15:19 - Journal de 8 h - Un attentat suicide a fait au moins 22 morts dimanche, dans une église chrétienne à Damas. Cette attaque est la première de ce type dans la capitale syrienne depuis que des forces dirigées par des islamistes radicaux ont renversé l'ex-président Bachar al-Assad le 8 décembre 2024.
A suicide bombing at a Greek Orthodox church in Damascus has killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 50, shattering Sunday Mass and reigniting fears over Syria's fragile post-Assad security. The attack, reportedly carried out by an I-S militant, struck a congregation of 350 worshippers, leaving scenes of devastation and raising questions about the new government's ability to protect religious minorities. And a warning – some listeners may find this content distressing. Click on play to listen to the interview. Click on play to listen to the report.
durée : 00:15:19 - Journal de 8 h - Un attentat suicide a fait au moins 22 morts dimanche, dans une église chrétienne à Damas. Cette attaque est la première de ce type dans la capitale syrienne depuis que des forces dirigées par des islamistes radicaux ont renversé l'ex-président Bachar al-Assad le 8 décembre 2024.
Trumped pooped the bed at the G7 then waddled away. The internet has theorized the weird bulges in Shitler's suit indicate catheters and leg braces, lol! The leader of Canada played the rambling man-baby offstage at the G7. The Trump administration probably blathered lies when they said he departed the G7 to deal with Israel/ Iran conflict but some news orgs lapped it up like good little bootlickers. Americans were warned to leave Iran. The orange rapist in the White House ripped former Fox's second string anchor Hegseth for the tone of lame military parade. Possibly the worst cabinet member, Assad-sucking Tulsi Gabbard, may get booted. Comedian Dave Smith and former Trump fellator had a miraculous epiphany about Trump's Nazi regime and thinks we should be impressed. Former Fox lode Tucker Carlson took human cosplayer Ted Cruz to task over his ignorance of Iran. The Ambassador to Israel and Relaxium spokesperson Mike Huckabee penned a cringe worthy text to White House Daddy where the former Governor of Arkansas figuratively bent over and presented starfish. CEO of all prophets, MAGAT Hank Kunneman revises his visions. mid-spew.
This week we talk about tit-for-tat warfare, conflict off-ramps, and Israel's renewed attacks on Iran's nuclear program.We also discuss the Iron Dome, the Iran-Iraq War, and regime change.Recommended Book: How Much is Enough? by Robert and Edward SkidelskyTranscriptIn late-October of 2024, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against targets in Iran and Syria. These strikes were code-named Operation Days of Repentance, and it marked the largest such attack on Iran by Israel since the 1980s, during the height of the Iran-Iraq War.Operation Days of Repentance was ostensibly a response to Iran's attack on Israel earlier than same month, that attack code-named Operation True Promise II, which involved the launch of around 200 ballistic missiles against Israeli targets. Operation True Promise II was itself a response to Israel's assassination of the leader of Hamas, the leader of Hezbollah, and the Deputy of Operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard.If you feel like there might be a tit-for-tat pattern here, you're right. Iran and Israel have been at each other's throats since 1979, following the Islamic Revolution when Iran cut off all diplomatic relations with Israel; some backchannel relations continued between the two countries, even through part of the Iran-Iraq War, when Israel often supported Iran in that conflict, but things got tense in the early 1980s when Iran, partnering with the Syrian government, started backing Hezbollah and their effort to boot Israel out of Southern Lebanon, while also partnering with Islamist militants in Iraq and Yemen, including the Houthis, and at times Hamas in Gaza, as well.Most of these attacks have, until recently, been fairly restrained, all things considered. There's long been bravado by politicians on both sides of the mostly cold war-ish conflict, but they've generally told the other side what they would be hitting, and signaled just how far they would be going, telling them the extent of the damage they would cause, and why, which provides the other side ample opportunity to step off the escalatory ladder; everyone has the chance to posture for their constituents and then step back, finding an off-ramp and claiming victory in that specific scuffle.That back-and-forth in late-2024 largely stuck to that larger pattern, and both sides stuck with what typically works for them, in terms of doing damage: Israel flew more than 100 aircraft to just beyond or just inside Iran's borders and struck a bunch of military targets, like air defense batteries and missile production facilities, while Iran launched a few hundred far less-accurate missiles at broad portions of Israel—a type of attack that could conceivably result in a lot of civilian casualties, not just damage to military targets, which would typically be a no-no if you're trying to keep the tit-for-tat strikes regulated and avoid escalation, but because Israel has a fairly effective anti-missile system called the Iron Dome, Iran could be fairly confident that just hurling a large number of missiles in their general direction would be okay, as most of those missiles would be shot down by the Iron Dome, the rest by Israel's allies in the region, and the few that made it through or struck unoccupied land in the general vicinity would make their point.While this conflict has been fairly stable for decades, though, the tenor and tone seems to have changed substantially in 2025, and a recent wave of attacks by Israel is generally being seen as the culmination of several other efforts, and possibly an attempt by the Israeli government to change the nature of this conflict, perhaps permanently.And that's what I'd like to talk about today; Operation Rising Lion, and the implications of Israel's seeming expansion and evolution of their approach to dealing with Iran.—In mid-June of 2025, Israel's military launched early morning strikes against more than a dozen targets across Iran, most of the targets either fundamental to Iran's nuclear program or its military.The strikes were very targeted, and some were assassinations of top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists, like the Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, along with their families, including twenty children, who were presumably collateral damage. Some came from beyond Iran's borders, some were conducted by assets smuggled into Iran earlier: car bombs and drones, things like that.More attacks followed that initial wave, which resulted in the collapse of nuclear sites and airport structures, along with several residential buildings in the country's capitol, Tehran.This attack was ostensibly meant to hobble Iran's nuclear program, which the Iranian government has long claimed is for purely peaceful, energy-generation purposes, but which independent watchdog organizations, and pretty much every other non-Iranian-allied government says is probably dual-purpose, allowing Iran to produce nuclear energy, but also nuclear weapons.There was a deal on the books for a while that had Iran getting some benefits in exchange for allowing international regulators to monitor its nuclear program, but that deal, considered imperfect by many, but also relatively effective compared to having no deal at all, went away under the first Trump administration, and the nuclear program has apparently been chugging along since then with relative success; claims that Iran is just weeks from having enough fissile material to make a nuclear weapon have been common for years, now, but they apparently now have enough nuclear weapons-grade materials to make several bombs, and Israel in particular is quite keen to keep them from building such a weapon, as Iran's leaders, over the years, have said they'd like to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, and nuclear weapons would be a relatively quick and easy way to make that happen.Of course, even without using such a weapon, simply having one or more is a sort of insurance policy against conventionally armed enemies. It ups the stakes in every type of conflict, and allows the nuclear-armed belligerent to persistently raise the specter of nuclear war if anyone threatens them, which is truly terrifying because of how many nuclear-related failsafes are in place around the world: one launch or detonation potentially becoming many, all at once, because of Dr. Strangelove-like automated systems that many militaries have readied, just in case.So the possibility that Iran might be on the brink of actually, really, truly this time making a nuclear weapon is part of the impetus for this new strike by Israel.But this is also probably a continuation of the larger effort to dismantle Iran's influence across the region by the current Israeli government, which, following the sneak attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, has been trying to undermine Iran's proxies, which again, include quite a few militant organizations, the most powerful of which, in recent years, have been the trio of Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, right on Israel's border.Israel's invasion of Gaza, which has led to an absolutely catastrophic humanitarian situation for Gazan civilians, but has also led to the near-total collapse of Hamas as a functioning militant organization in the Strip, could be construed as a successful mission, if you ignore all those civilians casualties and fatalities, and the near-leveling of a good portion of the Strip.Israel was also able to take out a significant portion of Hezbollah's leadership via conventional aerial attacks and ground-assaults, and a bizarrely effective asymmetric attack using bombs installed in the pagers used by the organization, and it's been able to significantly decrease the Houthis' ability to menace ships passing through the Red Sea, using their own military, but also through their relationship with the US, which has significant naval assets in the area.Iran has long projected power in the region through its relationship with these proxies, providing them training and weapons and money in exchange for their flanking of Israel. That flanking was meant to keep Israel perpetually off-balance with the knowledge that if they ever do anything too serious, beyond the bounds of the controllable tit-for-tat, Cold War-style conflict in which they were engaged with Iran, they could suffer significant damage at home, from the north via Lebanon, from their southwestern flank via Gaza, or from a little ways to the south and via their coast from Yemen.Those proxies now largely hobbled, though, Israel found itself suddenly freed-up to do something more significant, and this attack is being seen by analysts as the initial stages of what might be a more substantial, perhaps permanent solution to the Iran problem. Rather than being a show of force or a tit-for-tat play, these might be the beginning days of an assault that's meant to enact not just a dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, but full-on regime change in Iran.And regime change means exactly what it sounds like: Iran's government is Islamist, meaning that it wants to enforce a fairly brutal, repressive version of Islam globally, and it already does so against its people. There have periodically been successful protests against these measures by Iranian citizens, especially by severely repressed women and minority groups in the country, including folks of different religions and LGBTQ identifying folks, among others, almost always these protests, and any other attempts to attain more rights and equality for people who aren't strictly Islamist men, generally result in violence, the black-bagging of protest leaders, extrajudicial killings and lifetime imprisonment and torture; a whole lot of really authoritarian, generally just villain-scale behavior by the Iranian government against anyone who steps out of line.So the Iranian government is pretty monstrous by most modern, democratic standards, and the Israeli government's seeming desire to crush it—to cry false on the regime's projection of strength, and create the circumstances for revolution, if that is indeed what they're doing—could be construed as a fairly noble goal.It perhaps serves the purposes of Israel, as again, Iran has said, over and over, that they want to destroy Israel and would totally do so, given the chance. But it arguably also serves the purpose of democratic-leaning people, and perhaps even more so folks who are suffering under the current Iranian regime, and maybe even other, similar regimes in the region. Which again, in terms of spreading democracy and human rights, sounds pretty good to some ears.That said, Israel is killing a lot of Iranian civilians alongside military targets, and its efforts in Gaza have led to accusations that it's committing genocide in the region. Israeli leaders have themselves been accused of anti-democratic actions, basically doubling-down on the nation's furthest-right, most militant, and most authoritarian and theocratic impulses, which makes any claims of moral superiority a little tricky for them to make, at this point.There's a chance, of course, that all this speculation and analysis ends up being completely off-base, and Israel is really, truly just trying to hobble Iran a bit, taking out some of their missile launchers and missile- and drone-manufacturing capacity, while also pushing back their acquisition of nuclear weapons by some meaningful amount of time; that amount of time currently unknown, as initial reports, at least, indicate that many of the attacks on Iran's most vital nuclear research and development facilities were perhaps not as effective as Israel had hoped. There's a chance that if enough overall damage is done, Iran's government will enthusiastically return to the negotiating table and perhaps be convinced to set their nuclear program aside willingly, but at the moment both Iran and Israel seem committed to hurting each other, physically.On that note, so far, as of the day I'm recording this, Iran has launched around 100 missiles, killed a few dozen Israelis, and injured more than 500 of the same. The Iranian government has said Israel's strikes have killed at least 224 people and wounded more than 1,200; though a human rights group says the death toll in Iran could be quite a bit higher than official government numbers, with more than 400 people killed, around half of them civilians, so far.It's been nearly a week of this, and it looks likely that these strikes will continue for at least another few days, though many analysts are now saying they expect this to go one for at least a few weeks, if indeed Israel is trying to knock out some of Iran's more hardened nuclear program-related targets; several of which are buried deep down in the ground, thus requiring bunker-buster-style missiles to reach and destroy, and Israel doesn't have such weapons in their arsenal.Neutralizing those targets would therefore mean either getting those kinds of weapons from the US or other allies, taking them out via some other means, which would probably take more time and entail more risk, or doing enough damage quickly than Iran's government is forced to the negotiation table.And if that ends up being the case, if Israel is really just gunning for the nuclear program and nothing else, this could be remembered as a significant strike, but one that mostly maintains the current status quo; same Iranian leadership, same perpetual conflict between these two nations, but Israel boasting even more of an upper-hand than before, with less to worry about in terms of serious damage from Iran or its proxies for the next several years, minimum.It does seem like a good moment to undertake regime change in Iran, though, as doing so could help Israel polish up its reputation, at least a little, following the reputational drubbing it has taken because of its actions in Gaza. I doubt people who have really turned on Israel would be convinced, as doing away with an abusive, extremist regime, while doing abusive, extremist regime stuff yourself the homefront, probably won't be an argument that convinces many Palestinian liberation-oriented people; there's a chance some of those people will even take up the cause of Iranian civilians, which is true to a point, as many Iranian civilians are suffering and will continue to suffer under Israel's attacks—though of course that leaves out the part about them also suffering, for much longer, under their current government.That said, taking Iran out of the geopolitical equation would serve a lot of international interests, including those of the US—which has long hated Iran—and Ukraine, the latter of which because Russia has allied itself with the Iranian government, and buys a lot of drones, among other weapons, from Iran. That regime falling could make life more difficult for Russia, at least in the short term, and it would mean another ally lost in the region, following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in late-2024.There's a chance that these same geopolitical variables could pull other players into this conflict, though: Russia could help Iran, for instance, directly or indirectly, by sending supplies, taking out Israeli missiles and drones, maybe, while the US could help Israel (more directly, that is, as it's apparently already helping them by shooting down some of Iran's counterstrike projectiles) by providing bunker-buster weapons, or striking vital military targets from a distance.Such an escalation, on either side, would probably be pretty bad for everyone except possibly Iran, though Israel has said it wants the US to join in on its side, as that would likely result in a much quicker victory and far fewer casualties on its side.The US government is pretty keen to keep out of foreign conflicts right now, though, at least directly, and Russia is pretty bogged down by its invasion of Ukraine; there's a chance other regional powers, even smaller ones, could act as proxies for these larger, outside forces—the Saudis taking the opportunity to score some damage on their long-time rival, Iran, for instance, by helping out Israel—but any such acts would expand the scope of the conflict, and it's seldom politically expedient to do anything that might require your people make any kind of sacrifice, so most everyone will probably stay out of this as long as they can, unless there are serious benefits to doing so.Show Noteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2025_Israeli_strikes_on_Iranhttps://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/06/13/israel-iran-regime-attack-goal-column-00405153https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/real-threat-iran-tehran-most-dangerous-option-responding-israelhttps://www.twz.com/news-features/could-iran-carry-out-its-threat-to-shut-the-strait-of-hormuzhttps://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-857713https://kyivindependent.com/israel-asks-us-to-join-strikes-on-irans-nuclear-sites-officials-told-axios/https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-15-2025/https://www.twz.com/air/israel-escalates-to-attacking-iranian-energy-targets-after-ballistic-missiles-hit-tel-avivhttps://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-strikes-news-06-14-25https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-confirms-irgc-air-force-chief-top-echelon-killed-in-israeli-strike/https://time.com/7294186/israel-warns-tehran-will-burn-deadly-strikes-traded-nuclear-program/https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/14/world/israel-iran-newshttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/opinion/israel-iran-strikes.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/drones-smuggled-israel-iran-ukraine-russia.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/15/world/iran-israel-nuclearhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/15/world/middleeast/iran-military-leaders-killed.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/world/europe/israel-iron-dome-defense.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/israel-iran-missile-attack.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/iran-israel-energy-facility-strikes-tehran.htmlhttps://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-strikes-news-06-15-25https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/was-israel-s-strike-on-iran-a-good-idea--four-questions-to-askhttps://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-missile-attacks-nuclear-news-06-16-2025-c98074e62ce5afd4c3f6d33edaffa069https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/world/middleeast/iran-israel-war-off-ramp.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2024_Iranian_strikes_on_Israelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2024_Israeli_strikes_on_Iranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Resistancehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Lebanon_electronic_device_attacks This is a public episode. 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It's time for Leila Fadel at NPR to receive another award for her reporting. Last December, her stories from Syria after the fall of Assad were essential listening. And, as Rob notes in this episode of Sound School, her writing was top-notch.
The United States and Israel are waging war on Iran, but why? What are their real goals? Ben Norton explains the imperial strategy to impose US hegemony on West Asia (aka the Middle East), destroy the Axis of Resistance, colonize Palestine, destabilize the revolutionary Iranian government, preserve the petrodollar system, prevent de-dollarization, divide BRICS, and break up the Iran-Russia-China partnership. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwH780cEcEQ How Israel's war on Iran was made in USA: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/06/14/israel-war-iran-us-trump-support/ US pressures Saudi Arabia to sell oil in dollars, not Chinese yuan: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/08/10/us-saudi-arabia-sell-oil-dollars-chinese-yuan/ Topics 0:00 US support for Israeli attacks 4:38 Goals of US-Israeli war on Iran 10:13 Israel: outpost of US empire 14:35 US imperial strategy 16:28 Geopolitics of West Asia (Middle East) 17:50 Oil and gas 21:11 Geostrategic chokepoints 24:53 Axis of Resistance 28:33 Syria: Fall of Assad government 31:44 US plan to overthrow 7 countries 33:54 Iranian Revolution 35:53 Anti-colonial movements 39:14 Dedollarization 41:49 Petrodollar and OPEC oil embargo 47:05 Super Imperialism 49:36 Petrodollar challenge 52:43 BRICS 55:55 Shanghai Cooperation Organization 58:53 Iran-Russia-China partnership 1:04:05 US divide-and-conquer strategy 1:06:03 Outro
A London-bound plane carrying 242 people crashed shortly after taking off from the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Officials have confirmed that there was a single survivor. The plane crashed into a hostel that houses medical students, several of whom also died. Also, in Syria, journalists are building a new media landscape in the post-Assad era. And, dinosaur bones found in Mongolia in the 1870s were recently analyzed: turns out, they're from a previously undiscovered species.Listen to today's Music Heard on Air. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
PREVIEW: Key Details of the Rocket Attacks When: Two rockets were fired from Syria into Israel on June 3, 2025, marking the first such attack since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024 The Times of IsraelFDD. Target: The rockets were fired at the Golan Heights, landing in open areas near the community of Ramat Magshimim with no injuries reported Rockets fired from Syria for first time in a year; Israel holds Sharaa responsible | The Times of Israel. Two Terror Groups Responsible Ahmad Sharawi's FDD analysis identifies two distinct groups that claimed responsibility: 1. Mohammed Deif Brigades This group was reportedly founded on May 30, 2025, according to its Telegram channel and is named after the slain Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif, who was killed in July 2024 Syria Archives. The group first surfaced on social media just a few days before the attack Israel says rockets fired from Syria for the first time since Bashar Assad's fall - The Washington Post, with Syrian researcher Ahmed Aba Zeid noting "Until now, it's just a Telegram channel. It's not known if it is a real group" Israel says rockets fired from Syria for the first time since Bashar Assad's fall - The Washington Post. 2. Islamic Resistance Front in Syria - Awli al-Bas This is a militant faction that claims affiliation with Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance and has claimed multiple attacks against Israeli forces operating inside Syrian territory since December 2024 Syria Archives. Its logo mimics the emblem of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)—a raised arm holding an AK-47—indicating alignment with Iran-linked "resistance" groups From Al-Qaeda Commander to Syrian President: Ahmad Al-Sharaa's Ascent. Israeli Response and Syrian Accountability Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa was "directly responsible for every threat and [rocket] fire toward the State of Israel" Rockets fired from Syria for first time in a year; Israel holds Sharaa responsible | The Times of Israel. Israel responded with artillery fire on the source of the rockets and carried out a series of airstrikes throughout southern Syria targeting weapons belonging to the regime Rockets fired from Syria for first time in a year; Israel holds Sharaa responsible | The Times of Israel. Analysis from Ahmad Sharawi Sharawi noted this represents "another testament to Ahmad al-Sharaa's failure to fully control all armed groups and ensure that Syrian territory will not be used as a launching point for attacks against Israel" Sharaa ‘Responsible for Every Threat': Terrorists in Syria Launch Rockets Into Israel. He emphasized that while Sharaa may not yet have full control over all armed actors, Washington should make clear that further cooperation on sanctions relief hinges on Sharaa quietly and fully cooperating with Israel to neutralize any Palestinian factions capable of launching attacks from Syrian soil Rocket Attacks on Israel Underscore Continuing Threat from Syria. The incident highlights ongoing security challenges in post-Assad Syria and the difficulty the new Syrian leadership faces in controlling various militant groups operating within its territory.
Britain, Norway, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have announced they're sanctioning two far-right Israeli ministers for inciting extremist violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. London said an asset freeze and travel ban would take effect immediately against Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. We have an interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who called the sanctions "a shocking decision on the part of countries I consider to be allies".Also in the programme: Greenlanders' dream of international football hits reality; remarkable testimony from the men in Syria whose job it was to enforce the Assad regime of terror; and why a shortage of rice is causing such a stir in Japan.(Photo: Itamar Ben-Gvir (left) and Bezalel Smotrich are key members of PM Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition. Credit: Getty Images)
Nine people have been killed and many injured in a school shooting in the southern Austrian city of Graz. The shooter also killed himself, and has been identified as a former pupil.Also, Donald Trump sends in the Marines as the president's crackdown on undocumented migrants clashes with California's policy as a Sanctuary State, Syria's jailers under President Assad speak to the BBC anonymously about what they did and those who suffered, plus good news for biodiversity and precious coral reefs in the Zanzibar archipelago, as two new Marine Protected Areas are announced.
This week, Scott sat down with Lawfare's Ukraine Fellow Anastasiia Lapatina and Contributing Editors Eric Ciaramella and Alex Zerden to talk through the week's big national security and foreign policy news, including: “The Road to Damascus.” Over the past two weeks, the Trump administration has done an extraordinary about-face on U.S. policy towards Syria, installing almost universal exceptions to most existing sanctions programs and promising to end others. European and other allies seem poised to follow suit, all in an effort to forestall the feared collapse of the post-Assad transitional government being headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, himself a former terrorist leader. But will it be enough to put post-Civil War Syria on the road to recovery? And will this new policy orientation prove sustainable?“No Fly Zone.” Ukraine struck a historic blow deep into Russian territory over the weekend with a daring series of coordinated drone attacks—dubbed “Operation Spider Web”—that may have wiped out as much as a third of Moscow's strategically important long range bombers. But will the attack help drive the costs of the conflict home to Russia, or trigger another round of escalation? And how will it be received by the Trump administration, several senior members of which are skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine?“Double Taxation.” President Trump's aggressive use of tariffs suffered a pair of defeats in federal court last week, as two different courts chose to enjoin them, for two different sets of reasons. While both decisions have since been stayed, it's a discouraging sign for the viability of the legal authorities being relied on by the Trump administration. Yet President Trump has continued to threaten tariffs aggressively, including against Europe. How big a threat are these legal holdings to the Trump administration's policy agenda? And how will they impact its efforts to negotiate new bilateral trade deals, with allies and rivals alike?In Object Lessons, Eric polished off the last of The Rehearsal's Season 2 and was left in awe of the show's ability to actually become a show. Nastya returned from colder climates with a warm endorsement of all things Finland: its history, its icy stare at Russia, and its impressive ability to survive both. Speaking of war, Scott dove sword-first into fantasy, reminded of Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy after the new release of “The Devils.” And Alex kept it historical with a recommendation of “The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two,” by Steve Drummond.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.