Podcasts about Yemen

How has the media distorted Israel's response to the October 7 Hamas attacks? In this powerful conversation from AJC Global Forum 2025, award-winning journalist and former AP correspondent Matti Friedman breaks down the media bias, misinformation, and double standards shaping global coverage of Israel. Moderated by AJC Chief Communications and Strategy Officer Belle Etra Yoeli, this episode explores how skewed narratives have taken hold in the media, in a climate of activist journalism. A must-listen for anyone concerned with truth in journalism, Israel advocacy, and combating disinformation in today's media landscape. Take Action: Take 15 seconds and urge your elected leaders to send a clear, united message: We stand with Israel. Take action now. Resources: Global Forum 2025 session with Matti Friedman:: Watch the full video. 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:  John Spencer's Key Takeaways After the 12-Day War: Air Supremacy, Intelligence, and Deterrence 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: Manya Brachear Pashman: I've had the privilege of interviewing journalism colleague Matti Friedman: twice on this podcast. In 2022, Matti took listeners behind the scenes of Jerusalem's AP bureau where he had worked between 2006 and 2011 and shared some insight on what happens when news outlets try to oversimplify the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then in 2023, I got to sit down with Matti in Jerusalem to talk about his latest book on Leonard Cohen and how the 1973 Yom Kippur War was a turning point both for the singer and for Israel.  Earlier this year, Matti came to New York for AJC Global Forum 2025, and sat down with Belle Yoeli, AJC Chief Strategy and Communications Officer. They rehashed some of what we discussed before, but against an entirely different backdrop: post-October 7. For this week's episode, we bring you a portion of that conversation.  Belle Yoeli:   Hi, everyone. Great to see all of you. Thank you so much for being here. Matti, thank you for being here.  Matti Friedman:   Thanks for having me.  Belle Yoeli:   As you can tell by zero empty seats in this room, you have a lot of fans, and unless you want to open with anything, I'm going to jump right in. Okay, great.  So for those of you who don't know, in September 2024 Matti wrote a piece in The Free Press that is a really great foundation for today's discussion. In When We Started to Lie, Matti, you reflect on two pieces that you had written in 2015 about issues of media coverage of Israel during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. And this piece basically talked about the conclusions you drew and how they've evolved since October 7. We're gonna get to those conclusions, but first, I'm hoping you can describe for everyone what were the issues of media coverage of Israel that you first identified based on the experience in 2014? Matti Friedman:   First of all, thanks so much for having me here, and thanks for all of the amazing work that you guys are doing. So it's a real honor for me. I was a reporter for the AP, between 2006 and the very end of 2011, in Jerusalem. I was a reporter and editor. The AP, of course, as you know, is the American news agency. It's the world's largest news organization, according to the AP, according to Reuters, it's Reuters. One of them is probably right, but it's a big deal in the news world.  And I had an inside view inside one of the biggest AP bureaus. In fact, the AP's biggest International Bureau, which was in Jerusalem. So I can try to sketch the problems that I saw as a reporter there. It would take me seven or eight hours, and apparently we only have four or five hours for this lunch, so I have to keep it short. But I would say there are two main problems. We often get very involved. When we talk about problems with coverage of Israel. We get involved with very micro issues like, you call it a settlement. I call it a neighborhood. Rockets, you know, the Nakba, issues of terminology. But in fact, there are two major problems that are much bigger, and because they're bigger, they're often harder to see. One of the things that I noticed at the Bureau was the scale of coverage of Israel. So at the time that I was at the AP, again, between 2006 and the very end of 2011 we had about 40 full time staffers covering Israel. That's print reporters like me, stills photographers, TV crews. Israel, as most of you probably know, is a very small country. As a percentage of the world's surface, Israel is 1/100 of 1% of the surface of the world, and as a percentage of the land mass of the Arab world, Israel is 1/5 of 1%. 0.2%.  And we had 40 people covering it.  And just as a point of comparison, that was dramatically more people than we had at the time covering China. There are about 10 million people today in Israel proper, in China, there are 1.3 billion. We had more people in Israel than we had in China. We had more people in Israel than we had in India, which is another country of about 1.3 billion people. We had more people in Israel than we had in all of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. That's 50 something countries. So we had more people in Israel than we had in all of those countries combined. And sometimes I say that to Jews, I say we covered Israel more than we covered China, and people just stare at me blankly, because it's Israel. So of course, that makes perfect sense.  I happen to think Israel is the most important country in the world because I live there. But if the news is meant to be a rational analysis of events on planet Earth, you cannot cover Israel more than you cover the continent of Africa. It just doesn't make any sense. So one of the things that first jumped out at me– actually, that's making me sound smarter than I am. It didn't jump out at me at first. It took a couple of years. And I just started realizing that it was very strange that the world's largest organization had its largest international bureau in the State of Israel, which is a very small country, very small conflict in numeric terms. And yet there was this intense global focus on it that made people think that it was the most important story in the world. And it definitely occupies a place in the American political imagination that is not comparable to any other international conflict.  So that's one part of the problem. That was the scope, the other part was the context. And it took me a while to figure this out, but the coverage of Israel is framed as an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict is defined in those terms, the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and everyone in this room has heard it discussed in those terms. Sometimes we discuss it in those terms, and that is because the news folks have framed the conflict in those terms. So at the AP bureau in Jerusalem, every single day, we had to write a story that was called, in the jargon of the Bureau, Is-Pals, Israelis, Palestinians. And it was the daily wrap of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. So what Netanyahu said, what Abbas said, rockets, settlers, Hamas, you know, whatever, the problem is that there isn't an Israeli=Palestinian conflict. And I know that sounds crazy, because everyone thinks there is.  And of course, we're seeing conflicts play out in the most tragic way right now in Gaza. But most of Israel's wars have not been fought against Palestinians. Israel has unfortunately fought wars against Egyptians and Jordanians and Lebanese and Iraqis. And Israel's most important enemy at the moment, is Iran, right? The Iranians are not Palestinian. The Iranians are not Arab. They're Muslim, but they're not Arab. So clearly, there is a broader regional conflict that's going on that is not an Israeli Palestinian conflict, and we've seen it in the past year. If we had a satellite in space looking down and just following the paths of ballistic missiles and rockets fired at Israel. Like a photograph of these red trails of rockets fired at Israel. You'd see rockets being fired from Iraq and from Yemen and from Lebanon and from Gaza and from Iran. You'd see the contours of a regional conflict.  And if you understand it's a regional conflict, then you understand the way Israelis see it. There are in the Arab world, 300 million people, almost all of them Muslim. And in one corner of that world, there are 7 million Jews, who are Israelis. And if we zoom out even farther to the level of the Islamic world, we'll see that there are 2 billion people in the Islamic world. There's some argument about the numbers, but it's roughly a quarter of the world's population. And in one corner of that world there, there are 7 million Israeli Jews. The entire Jewish population on planet Earth is a lot smaller than the population of Cairo.  So the idea that this is an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where Israelis are the stronger side, where Israelis are the dominant actor, and where Israelis are, let's face it, the bad guy in the story, that's a fictional presentation of a story that actually works in a completely different way. So if you take a small story and make it seem big. If you take a complicated regional story and you make it seem like a very small local story involving only Israelis and Palestinians, then you get the highly simplified but very emotive narrative that everyone is being subjected to now. And you get this portrayal of a villainous country called Israel that really looms in the liberal imagination of the West as an embodiment of the worst possible qualities of the age. Belle Yoeli:   Wow. So already you were seeing these issues when you were reporter, earlier on. But like this, some of this was before and since, since productive edge. This is over 10 years ago, and here we are. So October 7 happens. You already know these issues exist. You've identified them. How would you describe because obviously we have a lot of feelings about this, but like, strictly as a journalist, how would you describe the coverage that you've seen since during October 7, in its aftermath? Is it just these issues? Have they? Have they expanded? Are there new issues in play? What's your analysis? Matti Friedman:   The coverage has been great. I really have very I have no criticism of it. I think it's very accurate. I think that I, in a way, I was lucky to have been through what I went through 10 or 15 years ago, and I wasn't blindsided on October 7, as many people were, many people, quite naturally, don't pay close attention to this. And even people who are sympathetic to Israel, I think, were not necessarily convinced that my argument about the press was right. And I think many people thought it was overstated.  And you can read those articles from 2014 one was in tablet and one was in the Atlantic, but it's basically the two chapters of the same argument. And unfortunately, I think that those the essays, they stand up. In fact, if you don't really look at the date of the essays, they kind of seem that they could have been written in the past year and a half. And I'm not happy about that. I think that's and I certainly wrote them in hopes that they would somehow make things better. But the issues that I saw in the press 15 years ago have only been exacerbated since then. And October seven didn't invent the wheel. The issues were pre existing, but it took everything that I saw and kind of supercharged it.  So if I talked about ideological conformity in the bureaus that has been that has become much more extreme. A guy like me, I was hired in 2006 at the AP. I'm an Israeli of center left political leanings. Hiring me was not a problem in 22,006 by the time I left the AP, at the end of 2011 I'm pretty sure someone like me would not have been hired because my views, which are again, very centrist Israeli views, were really beyond the pale by the time that I left the AP, and certainly, and certainly today, the thing has really moved what I saw happening at the AP. And I hate picking on the AP because they were just unfortunate enough to hire me. That was their only error, but what I'm saying about them is true of a whole new. Was heard. It's true of the Times and CNN and the BBC, the news industry really works kind of as a it has a herd mentality. What happened was that news decisions were increasingly being made by people who are not interested in explanatory journalism. They were activists. Activists had moved into the key positions in the Bureau, and they had a very different idea of what press coverage was supposed to do. I would say, and I tried to explain it in that article for the free press, when I approach a news story, when I approach the profession of journalism, the question that I'm asking is, what's going on? That's the question I think you're supposed to ask, what's going on? How can I explain it in a way that's as accurate as as possible? The question that was increasingly being asked was not what's going on. The question was, who does this serve? That's an activist question. So when you look at a story, you don't ask, is it true, or is it not true? You ask, who's it going to help? Is it going to help the good guys, or is it going to help the bad guys?  So if Israel in the story is the villain, then a story that makes Israel seem reasonable, reasonable or rational or sympathetic needs to be played down to the extent possible or made to disappear. And I can give you an example from my own experience.  At the very end of 2008 two reporters in my bureau, people who I know, learned of a very dramatic peace offer that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had made to the Palestinians. So Olmert, who was the prime minister at the time, had made a very far reaching offer that was supposed to see a Palestinian state in all of Gaza, most of the West Bank, with land swaps for territory that Israel was going to retain, and a very far reaching international consortium agreement to run the Old City of Jerusalem. Was a very dramatic. It was so far reaching, I think that Israelis probably wouldn't have supported it. But it was offered to the Palestinian side, and the Palestinians rejected it as insufficient. And two of our reporters knew about this, and they'd seen a map of the offer. And this was obviously a pretty big story for a bureau that had as the thrust of its coverage the peace process.  The two reporters who had the story were ordered to drop it, they were not allowed to cover the story. And there were different explanations. And they didn't, by the way, AP did not publish the story at the time, even though we were the first to have it. Eventually, it kind of came out and in other ways, through other news organizations. But we knew at first. Why were we not allowed to cover it? Because it would have made the Israelis who we were trying to villainize and demonize, it would have made Israel seem like it was trying to solve the conflict on kind of reasonable lines, which, of course, was true at that time. So that story would have upended the thrust of our news coverage. So it had to be made to go away, even though it was true, it would have helped the wrong people. And that question of who does this serve has destroyed, I want to say all, but much, of what used to be mainstream news coverage, and it's not just where Israel is concerned.  You can look at a story like the mental health of President Biden, right. Something's going on with Biden at the end of his term. It's a huge global news story, and the press, by and large, won't touch it, because why? I mean, it's true, right? We're all seeing that it's true, but why can't you touch it? Because it would help the wrong people. It would help the Republicans who in the press are the people who you are not supposed to help.  The origins of COVID, right? We heard one story about that. The true story seems to be a different story. And there are many other examples of stories that are reported because they help the right people, or not reported because they would help the wrong people. And I saw this thinking really come into action in Israel 10 or 15 years ago, and unfortunately, it's really spread to include the whole mainstream press scene and really kill it.  I mean, essentially, anyone interested in trying to get a solid sense of what's going on, we have very few options. There's not a lot, there's not a lot out there. So that's the broader conclusion that I drew from what I thought at the time was just a very small malfunction involving Israel coverage. But Israel coverage ends up being a symptom of something much bigger, as Jews often are the symptom of something much bigger that's going on.  So my problems in the AP bureau 15 years ago were really a kind of maybe a canary in the coal mine, or a whiff of something much bigger that we were all going to see happen, which is the transformation of the important liberal institutions of the west into kind of activist arms of a very radical ideology that has as its goal the transformation of the west into something else. And that's true of the press, and it's true of NGO world, places like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which were one thing 30 years ago and are something very different today. And it's also true of big parts of the academy. It's true of places like Columbia and places like Harvard, they still have the logo, they still have the name, but they serve a different purpose, and I just happen to be on the ground floor of it as a reporter. Belle Yoeli:   So obviously, this concept of who does this serve, and this activist journalism is deeply concerning, and you actually mentioned a couple other areas, academia, obviously we're in that a lot right now in terms of what's going on campus. So I guess a couple of questions on that. First of all, think about this very practically, tachlis, in the day to day.  I'm a journalist, and I go to write about what's happening in Gaza. What would you say is, if you had to throw out a percentage, are all of them aware of this activist journalist tendency? Or you think it's like, like intentional for many of them, or it's sort of they've been educated that way, and it's their worldview in such a way that they don't even know that they're not reporting the news in a very biased way. Does that make sense? Matti Friedman:   Totally. I think that many people in the journalism world today view their job as not as explaining a complicated situation, but as swaying people toward the correct political conclusion. Journalism is power, and the power has to be wielded in support of justice. Now, justice is very slippery, and, you know, choosing who's in the right is very, very slippery, and that's how journalism gets into a lot of trouble. Instead of just trying to explain what's going on and then leave, you're supposed to leave the politics and the activism to other people. Politics and activism are very important.  But unless everyone can agree on what is going on, it's impossible to choose the kind of act, the kind of activism that would be useful. So when the journalists become activists, then no one can understand what's what's going on, because the story itself is fake, and there are many, many examples of it. But you know, returning to what you asked about, about October 7, and reporting post October 7, you can really see it happen. The massacres of October 7 were very problematic for the ideological strain that now controls a lot of the press, because it's counterintuitive. You're not supposed to sympathize with Israelis.  And yet, there were a few weeks after October 7 when they were forced to because the nature of the atrocities were so heinous that they could not be ignored. So you had the press covering what happened on October 7, but you could feel it. As someone who knows that scene, you could feel there was a lot of discomfort. There was a lot of discomfort. It wasn't their comfort zone, and you knew that within a few weeks, maybe a month, it was gonna snap back at the first opportunity.  When did it snap back? In the story of the Al Ahli hospital strike. If you remember that a few weeks in, there's a massive global story that Israel has rocketed Hospital in Gaza and killed about 500 people and and then you can see the kind of the comfort the comfort zone return, because the story that the press is primed to cover is a story about villainous Israelis victimizing innocent Palestinians, and now, now we're back. Okay. Now Israel's rocketing hospital. The problem was that it hadn't happened, and it was that a lot of stories don't happen, and they're allowed to stand.  But this story was so far from the truth that even the people involved couldn't make it work, and it had to be retracted, but it was basically too late. And then as soon as the Israeli ground offensive got into swing in Gaza, then the story really becomes the same old story, which is a story of Israel victimizing Palestinians for no reason. And you'll never see Hamas militants in uniform in Gaza. You just see dead civilians, and you'll see the aftermath of a rocket strike when the, you know, when an Israeli F16 takes out the launcher, but you will never see the strike. Which is the way it's worked in Gaza since the very end of 2008 which is when the first really bad round of violence in Gaza happens, which is when I'm at the AP.  As far as I know, I was the first staffer to erase information from the story, because we were threatened by Hamas, which happened at the very end of 2008. We had a great reporter in Gaza, a Palestinian who had always been really an excellent reporter. We had a detail in a story. The detail was a crucial one. It was that Hamas fighters were dressed as civilians and were being counted as civilians in the death toll, an important thing to know, that went out in an AP story. The reporter called me a few hours later. It was clear that someone had spoken to him, and he told me, I was on the desk in Jerusalem, so I was kind of writing the story from the main bureau in Jerusalem. And he said, Matti, you have to take that detail out of the story. And it was clear that someone had threatened him. I took the detail out of the story. I suggested to our editors that we note in an Editor's Note that we were now complying with Hamas censorship. I was overruled, and from that point in time, the AP, like all of its sister organizations, collaborates with Hamas censorship in Gaza.  What does that mean? You'll see a lot of dead civilians, and you won't see dead militants. You won't have a clear idea of what the Hamas military strategy is. And this is the kicker, the center of the coverage will be a number, a casualty number, that is provided to the press by something called the Gaza health ministry, which is Hamas. And we've been doing that since 2008, and it's a way of basically settling the story before you get into any other information. Because when you put, you know, when you say 50 Palestinians were killed, and one Israeli on a given day, it doesn't matter what else you say. The numbers kind of tell their own story, and it's a way of settling the story with something that sounds like a concrete statistic. And the statistic is being, you know, given to us by one of the combatant sides. But because the reporters sympathize with that side, they're happy to play along. So since 2008, certainly since 2014 when we had another serious war in Gaza, the press has not been covering Gaza, the press has been essentially an amplifier for one of the most poisonous ideologies on Earth. Hamas has figured out how to make the press amplify its messaging rather than covering Hamas. There are no Western reporters in Gaza. All of the reporters in Gaza are Palestinians, and those people fall into three categories. Some of them identify with Hamas. Some of them are intimidated by Hamas and won't cross Hamas, which makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't want to cross Hamas either. So either. And the third category is people who actually belong to Hamas. That's where the information from Gaza is coming from. And if you're credulous, then of course, you're going to get a story that makes Israel look pretty bad. Belle Yoeli:   So this is very depressing. That's okay. It's very helpful, very depressing. But on that note, I would ask you so whether, because you spoke about this problem in terms, of, of course, the coverage of Israel, but that it's it's also more widespread you talk, you spoke about President Biden in your article, you name other examples of how this sort of activist journalism is affecting everything we read. So what should everyone in this room be reading, truly, from your opinion. This is Matti's opinion. But if you want to you want to get information from our news and not activist journalism, obviously The Free Press, perhaps. But are there other sites or outlets that you think are getting this more down the line, or at least better than some, some better than others?  Matti Friedman:   No, it's just The Free Press. No. I mean, it's a question that I also wrestle with. I haven't given up on everyone, and even in publications that have, I think, largely lost the plot, you'll still find good stuff on occasion. So I try to keep my eye on certain reporters whose name I know. I often ask not just on Israel, but on anything, does this reporter speak the language of the country that they're covering? You'd be shocked at how rare that is for Americans. A lot of the people covering Ukraine have no idea what language they speak in Ukraine, and just as someone who covers Israel, I'm aware of the low level of knowledge that many of the Western reporters have. You'll find really good stuff still in the Atlantic. The Atlantic has managed, against steep odds, to maintain its equilibrium amid all this. The New Yorker, unfortunately, less so, but you'll still see, on occasion, things that are good. And there are certain reporters who are, you know, you can trust. Isabel Kirchner, who writes for The New York Times, is an old colleague of mine from the Jerusalem report. She's excellent, and they're just people who are doing their job. But by and large, you have to be very, very suspicious of absolutely everything that you read and see. And I'm not saying that as someone who I'm not happy to say that, and I certainly don't identify with, you know, the term fake news, as it has been pushed by President Trump.  I think that fake news is, you know, for those guys, is an attempt to avoid scrutiny. They're trying to, you know, neuter the watchdog so that they can get away with whatever they want. I don't think that crowd is interested in good press coverage. Unfortunately, the term fake news sticks because it's true. That's why it has worked. And the press, instead of helping people navigate the blizzard of disinformation that we're all in, they've joined it. People who are confused about what's going on, should be able to open up the New York Times or go to the AP and figure out what's going on, but because, and I saw it happen, instead of covering the circus, the reporters became dancing bears in the circus. So no one can make heads or tails of anything. So we need to be very careful.  Most headlines that are out there are out there to generate outrage, because that's the most predictable generator of clicks, which is the, we're in a click economy. So I actually think that the less time you spend following headlines and daily news, the better off you'll be. Because you can follow the daily news for a year, and by the end of the year, you'll just be deranged. You'll just be crazy and very angry.  If you take that time and use it to read books about, you know, bitten by people who are knowledgeable, or read longer form essays that are, you know, that are obviously less likely to be very simplistic, although not, you know, it's not completely impossible that they will be. I think that's time, that's time better spent. Unfortunately, much of the industry is kind of gone. And we're in an interesting kind of interim moment where it's clear that the old news industry is basically dead and that something new has to happen. And those new things are happening. I mean, The Free Press is part of a new thing that's happening. It's not big enough to really move the needle in a dramatic way yet, but it might be, and I think we all have to hope that new institutions emerge to fill the vacuum.  The old institutions, and I say this with sorrow, and I think that this also might be true of a lot of the academic institutions. They can't be saved. They can't be saved. So if people think that writing an editor, a letter to the editor of the New York Times is going to help. It's not going to help. Sometimes people say, Why don't we just get the top people in the news industry and bring them to Israel and show them the truth? Doesn't help. It's not about knowing or not knowing. They define the profession differently.  So it's not about a lack of information. The institutions have changed, and it's kind of irrevocable at this point, and we need new institutions, and one of them is The Free Press, and it's a great model of what to do when faced with fading institutions. By the way, the greatest model of all time in that regard is Zionism. That's what Zionism is. There's a guy in Vienna in 1890 something, and his moment is incredibly contemporary. There's an amazing biography of Herzl called Herzl by Amos Elon. It's an amazing book. If you haven't read it, you should read it, because his moment in cosmopolitan Vienna sounds exactly like now. It's shockingly current. He's in this friendly city. He's a reporter for the New York Times, basically of the Austro Hungarian empire, and he's assimilated, and he's got a Christmas tree in his house, and his son isn't circumcised, and he thinks everything is basically great. And then the light changes.  He notices that something has changed in Vienna, and the discourse about Jews changes, and like in a Hollywood movie, the light changes. And he doesn't try to he doesn't start a campaign against antisemitism. He doesn't get on social media and kind of rail against unfair coverage. He sits down in a hotel room in Paris and he writes this pamphlet called the Jewish state, and I literally flew from that state yesterday. So there's a Zionist model where you look at a failing world and you think about radical solutions that involve creation. And I think we're there. And I think Herzl's model is a good one at a dark time you need real creativity. Belle Yoeli:   Thank God you found the inspiration there, because I was really, I was really starting to worry. No, in all seriousness, Matti, the saying that these institutions can't be saved. I mean the consequences of this, not just for us as pro-Israel, pro-Jewish advocates, but for our country, for the world, the countries that we come from are tremendous.  And the way we've been dealing with this issue and thinking about how, how can you change hearts and minds of individuals about Israel, about the Jewish people, if everything that they're reading is so damaging and most of what they're reading is so damaging and basically saying there's very little that we can do about that. So I am going to push you to dream big with us. We're an advocacy organization. AJC is an advocacy organization. So if you had unlimited resources, right, if you really wanted to make change in this area, to me, it sounds like you're saying we basically need 15 Free Presses or the new institutions to really take on this way. What would you do? What would you do to try to make it so that news media were more like the old days? Matti Friedman:   Anyone who wants unlimited resources should not go into journalism. I have found that my resources remain limited. I'll give you an answer that is probably not what you're expecting or not what you want here. I think that the fight can't be won. I think that antisemitism can't be defeated. And I think that resources that are poured into it are resources wasted. And of course, I think that people need legal protection, and they need, you know, lawyers who can protect people from discrimination and from defamation. That's very important. But I know that when people are presented with a problem like antisemitism, which is so disturbing and it's really rocking the world of everyone in this room, and certainly, you know, children and grandchildren, you have a problem and you want to address it, right? You have a really bad rash on your arm. You want the rash to go away, and you're willing to do almost anything to make it go away. This has always been with us. It's always been with us.  And you know, we recently celebrated the Seder, and we read in the Seder, in the Haggadah, l'chol dor vador, omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu. Which is, in every generation, they come at us to destroy us. And it's an incredibly depressing worldview. Okay, it's not the way I wanted to see the world when I grew up in Toronto in the 1990s. But in our tradition, we have this idea that this is always gonna be around. And the question is, what do you do? Do you let other people define you? Do you make your identity the fight against the people who hate you? And I think that's a dead end.  This crisis is hitting the Jewish people at a moment when many of us don't know who we are, and I think that's why it's hitting so hard. For my grandfather, who was a standard New York Jew, garment industry, Lower East Side, poor union guy. This would not have shaken him, because he just assumed that this was the world like this. The term Jewish identity was not one he ever heard, because it wasn't an issue or something that had to be taught. So if I had unlimited resources, what I would do is I would make sure that young Jewish people have access to the riches of Jewish civilization, I would, you know, institute a program that would allow any young Jewish person to be fluent in Hebrew by the time they finish college. Why is that so important? Why is that such an amazing key?  Because if you're fluent in Hebrew, you can open a Tanakh, or you can open a prayer book if you want. Or you can watch Fauda or you can get on a plane to Israel and hit on Israeli guys. Hebrew is the key to Jewish life, and if you have it, a whole world will open up. And it's not one that antisemites can interfere with. It does not depend on the goodwill of our neighbors. It's all about us and what we're doing with ourselves. And I think that if you're rooted in Jewish tradition, and I'm not saying becoming religious, I'm just saying, diving into the riches of Jewish tradition, whether it's history or gemara or Israel, or whatever, if you're if you're deep in there enough, then the other stuff doesn't go away, but it becomes less important.  It won't be solved because it can't be solved, but it will fade into the background. And if we make the center of identity the fight against antisemitism, they've won. Why should they be the center of our identity? For a young person who's looking for some way of living or some deep kind of guide to life, the fight against antisemitism is not going to do it, and philanthropy is not going to do it. We come from the wisest and one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and many of us don't know how to open the door to that civilization, and that's in our hands. And if we're not doing it, it's not the fault of the antisemites. It's our own fault. So if I had unlimited resources, which, again, it's not, it's not going to happen unless I make a career change, that's where I would be putting my effort. Internally and not externally.  Belle Yoeli:   You did find the inspiration, though, again, by pushing Jewish identity, and we appreciate that. It's come up a lot in this conversation, this question about how we fight antisemitism, investing in Jewish identity and who we are, and at the same time, what do we do about it? And I think all of you heard Ted in a different context last night, say, we can hold two things, two thoughts at the same time, right? Two things can be true at the same time. And I think for me, what I took out of this, in addition to your excellent insights, is that that's exactly what we have to be doing.  At AJC, we have to be engaging in this advocacy to stand up for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. But that's not the only piece of the puzzle. Of course, we have to be investing in Jewish identity. That's why we bring so many young people to this conference. Of course, we need to be investing in Jewish education. That's not necessarily what AJC is doing, the bulk of our work, but it's a lot of what the Jewish community is doing, and these pieces have to go together. And I want to thank you for raising that up for us, and again, for everything that you said. Thank you all so much for being here. Thank you. Manya Brachear Pashman: If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in as John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, breaks down Israel's high-stakes strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure and the U.S. decision to enter the fight. 

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he breaks down today's biggest stories shaping America and the world. Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Clears the Senate, Faces House Backlash President Trump's sweeping Triple B spending bill advances after VP JD Vance casts the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. The bill includes tax relief on Social Security, expanded chipmaker credits, Medicaid reform with new work requirements, and $150 billion for immigration enforcement. Elon Musk blasts the bill's price tag and threatens to fund primary challengers to GOP supporters. White House Accelerates Deportations and Denaturalization Efforts Trump authorizes National Guard lawyers to serve as immigration judges at Florida's new “Alligator Alcatraz” facility. Deportations could hit 3,000 per day. Meanwhile, the DOJ launches a top-priority initiative to investigate and strip citizenship from naturalized Americans found to have lied during the process or committed serious offenses after becoming citizens. Supreme Court Fallout Reshapes Transgender Policy Nationwide In the wake of a major Supreme Court ruling, lower courts in several states must reconsider pro-transgender rulings. The Trump administration is also preparing to block Medicaid funds for hospitals providing trans care, and UPenn agrees to revoke Lia Thomas's medals and bar men from competing in women's sports. China's Spy Network Exposed in U.S. Navy Recruitment Effort Two Chinese nationals are arrested for trying to recruit Navy personnel to spy for China. They gained access to naval bases and recruitment centers. Bryan calls for a spy swap to bring home the remains of CIA officer Douglas Mackiernan, the first agent killed in the line of duty. Pentagon Still Dependent on Chinese Military Suppliers A new report shows that 10 percent of the Pentagon's top-tier contractors still rely on Chinese suppliers for critical components, including rare earth magnets. U.S. stockpiles of key munitions are running low due to support for Ukraine, Israel, and operations in Yemen. Medical Breakthrough: Cough Syrup May Help Fight Parkinson's Dementia A London-based study finds that Ambroxol, a common cough syrup ingredient, may protect against cognitive decline in Parkinson's patients. Though not yet approved in the U.S., the drug shows promise in stabilizing psychiatric symptoms and brain damage. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." – John 8:32

Alex Traiman, CEO of Jewish News Syndicate, calls in live from Israel to talk about the potential ceasefire in Gaza despite the ongoing hostage situation involving around 50 hostages, with 20 believed to be alive. Traiman discusses the missile threats from Yemen, possible Israeli and US military actions against the Houthis, and the role of Hamas and Hezbollah as Iran's other terror proxies. Alex also considers the implications of a possible permanent ceasefire and the future governance of Gaza post-conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yemen is a country that gets little attention despite being at the centre of one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world, as declared by the UNHCR in 2025. There is not space enough here to describe all the events that have led to such a crisis, including civil war, an overthrow of the government and in 2015 a Saudi-led mass bombing of the country, but the results have seen a catastrophic collapse in living standards, large-scale hunger and instability.In other words, not the kind of environment parents would want their children to grow up in. This was the view of Khaled's parents in 2015, as missiles rained down in their neighbourhood, destroying many buildings around them, and this was the first step to Khaled coming to Tasmania.Coming to Hobart to study a Business and Finance degree, Khaled could scarcely have come to a more contrasting environment. A place that was peaceful and quiet, even a bit too quiet, and it took Khaled a while also to adjust to western culture. Despite this, he has truly made a lot of his opportunity to develop his skills, creative pursuits and character.Of course, it goes without saying, that the situation in Yemen is still very unstable, and in this episode, Khaled speaks of the fears for family still living back home.

Your daily news in under three minutes. At Al Jazeera Podcasts, we want to hear from you, our listeners. So, please head to https://www.aljazeera.com/survey and tell us your thoughts about this show and other Al Jazeera podcasts. It only takes a few minutes! Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube.

In this thought-provoking Market Mondays clip, the hosts Rashad Bilal, Ian Dunlap, and Troy Millings dive into the intersection of war, technology, and market resilience. They start by breaking down the “war index” — highlighting major players like Palantir, Anderil, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta — and reveal how data and algorithms are the new battlegrounds alongside traditional military might. Discover why having user data on 3.4 billion people gives Meta unprecendented influence, and how information (and propaganda) shape global conflict just as much as firepower.The conversation pivots to current geopolitical flashpoints, including Yemen's bold entry into the fray, the critical importance of waterways like the Strait of Hormuz, and the complex dance between America, Israel, Iran, China, and Russia. Does long-term regime change trigger more instability? Rashad explores lessons from history, the risks of forced changes, and what global players want for Iran's future.But it's not all global tension! The clip also covers how the markets respond to conflict, why “the market is literally rigged to stay up,” and tactical investment tips on stocks like Palantir and Meta, especially as they break new all-time highs.Crypto fans, this one's for you too—debate heats up over Bitcoin, Jack Dorsey versus Michael Saylor, and the ever-polarizing XRP. Rashad opens up about his fraught relationship with the XRP crowd and pushes Ian and Troy to weigh in: will XRP ever hit $10,000, or will institutional power always win out?Plus, hear exclusive details about Invest Fest, including a raffle for an all-expenses-paid trip to Ghana and special appearances from the likes of Jack Dorsey and past panelists like Cathie Wood.

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

Tehlikeli projelerden biri devrede. Bu proje, Sünnî dünya ile Şiî'leri karşı karşıya getirmek! Yani Türkiye ile İran'ı kapıştırmak! Neden Türkiye? Çünkü bin yıldır Ehl-i Sünnet Omurga'nın kurucusu ve koruyucusu biziz. Ama bir sorun var: Türkiye tarihî olarak Sünniliğin temsilcisi ama resmen müslüman değil, laik bir devlet. Oysa İran, laik bir devlet değil. Şia'nın devleti var ama Ehl-i Sünnet'in temsilcisi konumunda olacak bir devleti yok. Buradaki tezgâha dikkatinizi özellikle çekmek isterim. İki asırdır Türkiye de modernleşiyor İran da. İran modernleşmesi ile Türk modernleşmesi arasında çok önemli bir fark var. İran'ı modernleştirdiler ama Şii İslâmi eğitim sistemine ve alfabesine dokunmadılar.Türkiye'de bir modernleşme sürecine girdirildi ama bu ülkede hem alfabe yok edildi hem de İslâmî Sünnî eğitim modelinden iz bile bırakılmadı! İran'da sözümona İslâmî bir devrim yapılmasına izin verildi ve İran'ın, bütün İslâm dünyasını istila etmesinin önü açıldı. Türkiye'yi laikleşme sürecine sürükleyerek İslâmî köklerinden ve medeniyet iddialarından uzaklaştırdılar; böylelikle önlerindeki en büyük, bin yıllık engeli ortadan kaldırmış oldular. İkinci olarak da, Sünnî dünyada değil, Şii İran'da sözümona bir İslâm devleti kurdurdular, önünü açtılar, Irak'tan Yemen'e kadar İslâm dünyasını adım adım işgal ettiriyorlar! Her yeri işgal ettirdiler, nükleer teknolojiyi, kontrollü de olsa, ürettirdiler ve Türkiye'ye musallat etmek için çırpınıyorlar! Bunun tek yolu var. Türkiye'nin prangalarından kurtulması ve dünyanın şiddetle ihtiyaç hissettiği medeniyet iddialarına yeniden sahip çıkması. Türkiye, hem İran'ın Türkiye'yi kuşatmasına izin vermeyecek hem de Türkiye ya medeniyet iddialarını kuşanarak yeni bir tarihî yürüyüşü başlatacak ya da prangaları tarafından boğulacak, tarihten kovulacak. Allâh muhafaza.(Yusuf Kaplan, Yeni Şafak, 2024)

The same Democrats who turned a blind eye when Obama dropped 26,000 bombs in a single year are now clutching their pearls over Trump's targeted strike on Iran. Hanson breaks this down on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “  Barack Obama, in the single year, 2016, he dropped 26,000 bombs. And it wasn't just in Syria. It wasn't just in Iraq. It wasn't just in Afghanistan. He dropped them in Libya. He dropped them in Somalia. He dropped them in Yemen. 26,000 bombs. And they all had one thing in common. He didn't think he had to go to the Congress to ask permission. “ All they're doing is saying, 'If Donald Trump does something, we are going to be irate. We're going to use pornography. We're going to use smuddy language. And we're going to oppose him. And now, we're going to impeach him.' And some people in that party said, 'This is so unhinged. It's so contradictory. It's so paradoxical. It's so hypocritical.'”

Although Israel's founding was made possible through the 1948 Independence War, it is the 1967 Six Day War that reordered the Middle East and framed Israel's identity in 2025. And yet, Israel's 12-day war against Iran may have outdone its achievements during the Six Day War on multiple fronts. But any jubilation becomes immediately tempered when you understand how high the level of hatred against the Jews and Israel has been turned up. That's the memo.“We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.” Psalm 79:4 (KJB)On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, Iran is a nation that has spent billions in various proxy wars waged against Israel through Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza, with their crowning achievement being the October 7th attack by Hamas which they funded. Israel has finally struck Iran directly, and it was so overwhelming that the whole thing was done in 12 days. Time to celebrate, right? Not so fast. Antisemitism and anti-Israel fervor is about to hit a fever pitch not seen since WWII, with no end in sight. Perhaps you've met some of these people in your own life, they like to say stupid things like “I am not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist”, and “I don't hate the Jews, just the illegal state of Israel”. Hopefully that level of jackassical ignorance didn't come out of your mouth, no Bible believer would ever talk like that about Israel. On this episode, we get you up to speed with a completely changed Middle East, and what that means when it comes to Bible prophecy. Tick-tock, goes the end times clock.

Send us a textThe Maladjusted Misfits watch and report back to you as Chandler moves to Yemen to avoid Janice, Monica flips her switch over an electric…switch and REDROSS plays a little rugby.The One to Follow Misfits on Facebook: The One Where We Talk About FriendsThe One to Visit Misfits on Instagram: The One Where We Talk About FriendsThe One to Email The Misfits: themaladjustedmisfits@gmail.comBuzzSprout- Subscription: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2250163/supportTeePublic shop: http://tee.pub/lic/NvrkWcFWyI8Support the show

  Jim recently attended a mini JFK conference in San Francisco with notables like Peter Dale Scott, Bill Simpich, etc.. Jim spoke about JFK and his policies regarding the Middle East at the well exclusive JFK mini conference. What is currently happening in the Middle East is very relevant. JFK assassination research continues to be VERY relevant. Jim feels Nasser has been the most influential Arab leader in the Middle East during the 20th century, perhaps ever. Nasser was not an Islamic fundamentalist, he was a Socialist. Nasser was not a monarchist he was a Pan-Arabist. Saudi Arabia did not like Nasser. Nasser believed all of the oil in the Middle East belonged to all of the Arabs. Nasser wanted funds from the oil bearing nations to create highways, schools, hospitals & development of the Middle East. Nasser felt that all of the countries in the middle east should be in a confederation, protecting their joint interests. Saudi Arabia was a monarchist country and Islamic state, inevitably the royalist families would come to blows with Nasser. For a short time Syria was united with Egypt, known as the United Arab Republic. There was a war of succession in 1963 in Yemen that Nasser got involved in. Followers of Nasser in Yemen faced off with the royalist family. Saudi Arabia backed the royalist family to weaken Nasser. Israel very much feared Nasser, believing he was the one Arab leader who could unify the Middle East against Israel. Israel tried twice to destabilize Nasser, in 1954 with the Lavon Affair & in 1956 with the Suez crisis. The Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic troops for Saudi Arabia tried to assassinate Nasser twice, once in 1954 and 1965. A perceptive Kennedy saw Nasser as opposition to the medieval Saudi Arabia and a balancing point to Israel. When questioned about he feelings regarding JFK, Sirhan expressed deep respect, as JFK was standing up for Palestine. Sirhan loved JFK. He admired that JFK was putting pressure on Israel to let the Palestinian people to return to their homes. JFK promised Arab leaders he would do his best to make Israel comply with the 1948 United Nations resolution. All of JFK's efforts for peace in the Middle East ended with his assassination. The 1948 UN resolution has been ignored. How did JFK's influence in the Middle East effect the Arab people? What were JFK's goals? JFK and Nasser started a long letter writing campaign to each other that lasted until JFK was murdered. Gamal Abdel Nasser, 2nd President of Egypt, died unexpectedly Sept 28, 1970 at only 52 years of age. Kennedy had felt that John Foster Dulles had made a big mistake turning on Nasser and supporting Saudi Arabia. When Kennedy was murdered, Nasser couldn't sleep Nasser ordered JFK's funeral to be aired 3 times as he fell into a depression. Did Nasser understand that JFK's assassination was the beginning of the end? When Nasser died, 6 million people poured into Cairo to watch Nasser's funeral. Watch Video Here 46 people were killed and 80 injured in the stampede of people. RFK wanted the American Zionist Council to register as an Foreign lobby. Nicholas Kazenbach, after JFK's death & RFK resigned, ended enforcement against the AZC. Now look where we're at. Johnson gave the AZC tax break backdated back to 1956. This became the creation of AIPAC. The conflict in the Middle East and Israel was Atomic weapons. Atomic weapons is the cause of the current situation with Iran!  

Nestled in the Horn of Africa on the easternmost part of the African continent is a small country called Djibouti. It's bordered by three other countries: Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia to the west, and Somalia to the south. Djibouti's eastern border abuts the busy shipping lanes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. These bodies of water are connected by the Bab al-Mandab Strait which serves as an essential gateway between the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. Directly across that narrow body of water from Djibouti is Yemen. You can imagine the geopolitical significance of this particular part of the world. You might be thinking of issues pertaining to global trade, to international peace, to development and humanitarian assistance. And you might not be surprised to know that there is a United States military presence in Djibouti. But you might be surprised to learn that the only Catholic priest currently serving in the US military for the entire continent of Africa is living there in Djibouti. You might also be surprised to learn that this priest is a Jesuit, one who just a few months ago was teaching theology and neuroscience to undergraduates at Creighton University. Now, Fr. Chris Krall is serving as a chaplain, having been called up from his reserve status at the end of the 2024 fall semester. Instead of grading papers, he's traveling by helicopter to remote bases across Africa to bring the sacraments and a listening ear. Fr. Chris is our guest today calling in all the way from east Africa. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a priest ministering to folks in the military, this conversation is for you. We talk about how Chris' current mission fits into his Jesuit vocation of being available to go where God's people need him. We wrestle with some of the possible tensions inherent in being a priest in the military. And we reflect on the surprising similarities between ministering to colleges students and ministering to women and men in uniform. A note: This conversation was recorded in late May.

Nick and Angela greet good friends who love to travel on two wheels. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman bring their passion for adventure to Dish following the release of their latest TV show, Long Way Home. Their fourth motorcycle trip together sees them plot a path through 17 European countries on two vintage bikes. The Long Way series began in 2004 when the pair embarked on an epic route from London to New York, via Asia, in Long Way Round. Each trip they take is characterised by beautiful landscapes, chance encounters, good (and not so good) food and Charley and Ewan's close friendship.  Ewan McGregor has been on our screens since his acting debut in 1993. His hugely successful career includes unforgettable roles in Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Star Wars, Salmon FIshing in the Yemen and Moulin Rouge!. Charley, who met Ewan on a film set in 1997, is well known for his TV adventures, including By Any Means, which saw him travel from Ireland to Australia using any modes of transport he could find. He has also participated in the Dakar Rally, known to be one of the world's toughest and most dangerous motorsport competitions. There's not a lot of room to spare on this week's table, with a feast of food and drink to tempt our guests. At Ewan's request, Angela serves a slice of nostalgia in the form of Melba toast with chicken liver pâté, smoked mackerel pâté and pâté de campagne, before bringing out the haggis bon-bons. Drinks are negronis, tweaked by Charley, who suggests switching the gin for tequila, and a Pentire coastal spritz for Ewan. This is followed by an epic tomahawk steak with spicy dipping sauce and fries, paired with a glass of Journey's End Sir Lowry Cabernet Sauvignon. After arriving on motorbikes (a Dish first), Charley and Ewan quickly settle at the Dish table, where chat moves from boiled egg banter to bagpipes and classic Mongolian hospitality. Charley shares one of his favourite recipes and Ewan reminisces on an unforgettable meeting with Delia Smith. The episode finishes with Nick and Angela checking out the bikes, a moment you can watch on our YouTube channel as part of the full episode.   You can watch Long Way Home on Apple TV+ now. All recipes from this podcast can be found at waitrose.com/dishrecipes A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish We can't all have a Michelin star chef in the kitchen, but you can ask Angela for help.  Send your dilemmas to dish@waitrose.co.uk and she'll try to answer them in a future episode. Dish from Waitrose is made by Cold Glass Productions.

Israel's conflict with Iran has wiped out dozens of top military leaders and scientists and inflicted major damage on critical facilities, yet the regime has survived.The Iranian people have not risen up; to the contrary, they have rallied around the flag amid a surge in anti-Western sentiment. However, the regime will need to embark on serious reforms to keep the people on its side, says Iranian American academic Vali NasrSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SummaryGlobally, hundreds of millions of people experience hunger, and the majority of those are found in armed conflict zones like Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza. A problem this size can make us feel powerless, but there are many reasons to engage and feel hope. In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Middleton, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer of World Food Program USA. She tells us about the UN World Food Programme, which delivers aid to places no one else can reach. She explains how U.S. food assistance serves as powerful diplomacy and discusses practical ways to combat hunger through advocacy and support. We also learn about her career going from a Congressional staffer, to lobbying, and on to a vocation in hunger advocacy that was providentially guided. We also address how to help fight hunger while managing empathy fatigue in our suffering-saturated world.About Our GuestRebecca Middleton is the Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer for World Food Program USA, where she and her team work to educate Members of Congress and their staff on the importance of U.S. government support for the U.N. World Food Program. She brings more than 25 years of experience in policy, advocacy, and strategy to the role.Rebecca began her career in Washington, DC, in 1997 as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Congressman Frank Wolf. Five years later she joined the public affairs firm Cassidy & Associates and quickly became Vice President, managing federal lobbying strategy and tactics for a variety of clients including Fortune 500 companies and organizations in the technology, health care, and defense industries.Rebecca combined her advocacy and management expertise with her longstanding passion for eradicating hunger in 2013 when she joined the Alliance to End Hunger as its COO; she became its Executive Director in 2016. Rebecca joined World Food Program USA in July of 2020.Rebecca holds a BA in political science and English from Mary Washington College. She serves on several boards including as treasurer of the Alliance to End Hunger.Useful LinksAbout Rebecca Middleton: https://www.wfpusa.org/people/rebecca-middleton/World Food Program USA: https://www.wfpusa.orgUN World Food Programme: https://www.wfp.orgAlliance to End Hunger: http://www.alliancetoendhunger.orgWrite to Congress about Global Food Aid: https://wfpusa.quorum.us/campaign/2505_RES_ERT_Advocacy_Web/2024 Global Report on Food Crises: https://www.wfp.org/publications/global-report-food-crises-grfcPleasant Pictures MusicJoin the Pleasant Pictures Music Club to get unlimited access to high-quality, royalty-free music for all of your projects. Use the discount code HOWTOHELP15 for 15% off your first year.

De forma inesperada Donald Trump anunció este lunes un alto el fuego en la guerra entre Israel e Irán. Se tomó incluso la licencia de bautizarla como guerra de los 12 Días. Y ha sido eso mismo, 12 días lo que ha durado. El conflicto comenzó el 13 de junio con un ataque sorpresa de Israel que destruyó las defensas antiaéreas y varios objetivos del programa nuclear. Nueve días después EEUU intervino con la operación Martillo de Medianoche, que consistió en una única misión aeronaval muy elaborada que dejó caer 14 bombas antibúnkeres y 30 misiles contra las instalaciones subterráneas del programa nuclear iraní. Irán respondió en la tarde del lunes con un ataque simbólico de 14 misiles contra una base estadounidense en Catar, un ataque previamente notificado, y que fue inútil porque ninguno de los misiles alcanzó su objetivo. Trump negoció el armisticio primero con Israel y luego con Irán a través de intermediarios cataríes, consiguiendo así un cese de hostilidades que estabilizó en el acto el mercado: la Bolsa subió y el petróleo cayó. Pero ni Israel ni Irán han confirmado formalmente un acuerdo definitivo. El vicepresidente JD Vance aseguró en televisión que los ataques destruyeron las reservas de uranio enriquecido de Irán, aunque por ahora Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica desconoce el paradero de 400 kg de uranio al 60% de pureza, suficiente para diez bombas si se enriquece al 90%. El alto el fuego plantea algunos interrogantes como cuánto durará, la posibilidad de un acuerdo formal y el impacto en la estabilidad de Oriente Medio. Irán, debilitado militarmente y con un régimen muy impopular, quiere evitar una confrontación directa con EEUU. En Israel lo ven de forma muy distinta. Tras cumplir la mayor parte de sus objetivos, puede declararse victoriosos. Para Trump también es una victoria. Se presenta como un mediador que ha conseguido la paz a través de la fuerza. El programa nuclear iraní, hoy gravemente dañado, podría reconstruirse en secreto si el líder supremo, Alí Jamenei, decide que así sea. Recordemos que, antes del ataque, Irán estaba a semanas de una bomba nuclear. Tendrán que empezar desde muy atrás, cierto es, pero la experiencia ya la tienen. La estabilidad regional depende de si Irán decide tomar el camino opuesto, abandona su programa nuclear y el apoyo que prestan a milicias en el Líbano y Yemen. La república islámica, humillada tras 12 días de ataques que no ha conseguido contrarrestar, no atraviesa su mejor momento. La guerra ha expuesto su debilidad militar mientras en paralelo la crisis económica y la represión política alimentan el descontento. Aunque no se ha producido levantamiento alguno, la presión sobre Jamenei, de 86 años y con problemas de salud, podría derivar en un golpe de Estado o su reemplazo de forma pacífica. Netanyahu no forzará un cambio de régimen, pero ya ha advertido que atacará de forma preventiva si Irán reconstruye su programa. Como vemos, este episodio, aunque histórico para Israel, no garantiza una paz duradera mientras persistan las tensiones con el régimen de los ayatolás. En La ContraRéplica: 0:00 Introducción 3:41 12 días y 14 misiles 33:44 Emprende con Santander 34:24 ¿Violó EEUU el derecho internacional? 41:18 El acuerdo de Gibraltar 49:42 La importancia de la prensa libre Gracias a Banco Santander puedes emprender hoy con una cuenta de negocios, TPV y asesoramiento legal con Legalitas durante 3 meses a partir de 0€: https://online.bancosantander.es/landings/cuentas/cuenta-autonomos/ | El momento de emprender es hoy. Santander te lo pone fácil. · 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 #israel Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

GAZA, LEBANON, YEMEN; THE TEHRAN AGENTS, DAVID DAOUD, BILL ROGGIO,FDD 1959 CHE IN GAZA

The ayatollahs who have ruled Iran since 1979 have long promised to destroy the Jewish state, and had even set a deadline for it. While arming proxies to fight Israel—Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and more—Iran is believed to have sought to develop nuclear weapons for itself. “The big question about Iran was always: how significant is its apocalyptic theology?” Yossi Klein Halevi explains to David Remnick. “How central is that end-times vision to the Iranian regime? And is there a possibility that the regime would see a nuclear weapon as the way of furthering their messianic vision?” Halevi is a journalist and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and he co-hosts the podcast “For Heaven's Sake.” He is a fierce critic of Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “I have no doubt that he is capable of starting a war for his own political needs.” And yet Netanyahu was right to strike Iran, no matter the consequences, Halevi asserts. “The Israeli perspective is not . . . the American war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's our own experience.”New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This will be the first CG episode to get the complete audio upgrade and revision to achieve the cleanest sound ever for the podcast series I have completed the CG catalog for 2025 (Episodes 058-067) and will replace those this weekend. Let me know what you think. With Western conflict now inevitable in Yemen and Iran, I discuss the vagaries and verities of mountain warfare. The recent American involvement in direct military intervention in Iran hanged the temper and nature of the war inevitably. I assess how the RMAs rapidly displacing centuries-old conflict norms are going to look for the remainder of the century. Buppert's Law of Military Topography: “Mountainous terrain held by riflemen who know what they are about cannot be militarily defeated.” With an area of 1,648,195 square km (636,372 sq mi), Iran ranks seventeenth in size among the countries of the world. Iran shares its northern borders with several post-Soviet states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. References: Points of Resistance and Departure: An interview with James C. Scott Lester Grau and Charles J. Bartles Mountain Warfare and Other Lofty Problems: Foreign mountain combat veterans discuss movement and maneuver, training and resupply (Helion Studies in Military History) Lester Grau The Bear Went Over The Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics In Afghanistan [Illustrated Edition] Lester Grau The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War Mark Thompson The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 James C. Scott The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia Sun Tzu The Art of War Carl von Clausewitz On War Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy H. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO's Contribution to Warfare Christian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America Email at cgpodcast@pm.me.

As tensions simmer in the Middle East, our foreign affairs and defence experts unpack what the US really wants – and needs – from Australia. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton, Stephanie Coombes and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

O Hello my dear Today is GREAT Subscribe & Enjoy watch https://www.youtube.com/live/QzPK60XU3vg?si=IaSq6JYirzNFDqEP Get Now all our 430+ Global Empowerment Benefits for you as We work very hard daily to empower you with our greatest Global Peace Ambassadors franchise - Interfaith, Spirituality, Futurology GPBNet Association for Peace -Most Powerful Daily Peace Actions for Ultimate Global #Peace2025 JUST ACT NOW: REGISTER

O Hello my dear Today is GREAT Subscribe & Enjoy watch https://www.youtube.com/live/QzPK60XU3vg?si=IaSq6JYirzNFDqEP Get Now all our 430+ Global Empowerment Benefits for you as We work very hard daily to empower you with our greatest Global Peace Ambassadors franchise - Interfaith, Spirituality, Futurology GPBNet Association for Peace -Most Powerful Daily Peace Actions for Ultimate Global #Peace2025 JUST ACT NOW: REGISTER

O Hello my dear Today is GREAT Subscribe & Enjoy watch https://www.youtube.com/live/QzPK60XU3vg?si=IaSq6JYirzNFDqEP Get Now all our 430+ Global Empowerment Benefits for you as We work very hard daily to empower you with our greatest Global Peace Ambassadors franchise - Interfaith, Spirituality, Futurology GPBNet Association for Peace -Most Powerful Daily Peace Actions for Ultimate Global #Peace2025 JUST ACT NOW: REGISTER

Incendios en Tecate arrasan más de 8 mil hectáreas en BC  Israel recupera cuerpos de tres rehenes muertos durante ataque de HamásMás información en nuestro podcast

Your Nightly Prayer

The United States says it decimated Iran’s nuclear capabilities in an aerial attack. Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan unpacks what it means for the Middle East. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Kristen Amiet, and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our regular host is Claire Harvey and our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton, Stephanie Coombes and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

O Hello my dear Today is GREAT Subscribe & Enjoy watch https://www.youtube.com/live/QzPK60XU3vg?si=IaSq6JYirzNFDqEP Get Now all our 430+ Global Empowerment Benefits for you as We work very hard daily to empower you with our greatest Global Peace Ambassadors franchise - Interfaith, Spirituality, Futurology GPBNet Association for Peace -Most Powerful Daily Peace Actions for Ultimate Global #Peace2025 JUST ACT NOW: REGISTER

The Ayatollahs who have ruled Iran since 1979 have long promised to destroy the Jewish state, and even set a deadline for it.  While arming proxies to fight Israel—Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and more—Iran is believed to have sought to develop nuclear weapons for itself. “The big question about Iran was always how significant is its apocalyptic theology,” Yossi Klein Halevi explains to David Remnick. “How central is that end-times vision to the Iranian regime? And is there a possibility that the regime would see a nuclear weapon as the way of furthering their messianic vision?” Halevi is a journalist and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and he co-hosts the podcast “For Heaven's Sake.” He is a fierce critic of Benjamin Netanyahu, saying “I have no doubt that he is capable of starting a war for his own political needs.” And yet Netanyahu was right to strike Iran, Halevi asserts, no matter the consequences.  “The Israeli perspective is not … the American war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's our own experience.” 

The Middle East is on fire. Again. What began as Israel's retaliation against Hamas after the October 7 attacks has now exploded into a multi-front conflict involving Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and now Iran. In this episode of In Our Defence, veteran journalist and national security expert Sandeep Unnithan joins host Dev Goswami to break down how the war escalated so dramatical, and what it means for the region and the world. The two look at Iran's underestimated military, its dual-army structure, and the massive blow dealt to its leadership in just the first week of fighting. Why does Israel seem so unbending, even at the cost of global condemnation and regional chaos? And could any of this be happening without backing from the US? Dev and Sandeep also explore the philosophical irony behind Western nations - especially the US - dictating nuclear rules to countries like Iran, even as they maintain massive arsenals themselves. Is this another chapter in global double standards? And finally, the two unpack a surprising development: Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir's meeting with Donald Trump during his US visit. Could this signal a renewed American effort to position Pakistan as a behind-the-scenes player in the Israel-Iran war? Produced by Garvit Srivastava Sound mixed by Rohan Bharti

Sam Dalrymple joins me for a powerful conversation about his book Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, where he unpacks how India went through multiple partitions, not just the 1947 split.We explore the Partition of Bengal, the Partition of Punjab, the role of the Muslim League, and the mass migrations that followed. From the politics of Jinnah, Nehru, Gandhi, and Mountbatten to the creation of Pakistan and the eventual liberation of Bangladesh, this episode dives deep into the people, borders, and decisions that shaped the subcontinent and so much more.Sam argues that 1947 was just one moment in a much longer story of borders being drawn, redrawn, and broken apart.Each event, from the partition of Burma to other lesser known divisions, has left lasting scars. We discuss the historical context and consequences of these partitions, including the 1937 separation of Burma, the forgotten detachment of the Gulf states and Yemen, and how princely state politics quietly shaped much of today's India Pakistan border.We also dive into the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, which Sam calls the real moment the modern map of South Asia was made.What makes this episode special is how personal and human the history feels. Sam shares stories from Project Dastaan, the emotional process of reconnecting families across divided lands, and how even nationalist narratives often unravel when you ask someone about their childhood best friend from “the other side.”This is history through memory, migration, and moments that still shape the region today.Watch the full conversation and let me know in the comments: Which partition do you think left the deepest mark?

[01:00:42:18 – 01:01:16:12] — Show Introduction and OverviewGardner Goldsmith opens the David Knight Show, previewing topics like Trump's deception on Iran, Zelensky's money demands, immigration, and a Supreme Court case in Tennessee. [01:08:37:28 – 01:11:08:23] — US Meddling and Iran War FearsCritique of Trump's false claim that the US no longer meddles abroad, citing unconstitutional bombing of Yemen and indirect US support for Israel's attacks on Iran.[01:14:50:15 – 01:15:35:22] — Trump and Tulsi on Iran's Nuclear ProgramTrump dismisses Tulsi Gabbard's statements as his advisor that Iran isn't building nuclear weapons, echoing Iraq WMD deception rhetoric.[01:16:13:17 – 01:17:12:16] — Mike Huckabee's Message to TrumpMockery and analysis of Huckabee's religiously charged Truth Social message urging Trump to act on Israel's behalf, implying divine mission and justification for nuking Iran.[01:23:22:08 – 01:24:12:09] — Ted Cruz Embarrassed by Basic Iran QuestionsTucker Carlson humiliates Ted Cruz by revealing his ignorance about Iran's basic demographics and culture while Cruz advocates war.[02:00:25:11 – 02:03:43:23] — Rick Steves Reflects on Visiting IranRick Steves explains why he visited Iran to humanize its people, debunk “death to America” slogans, and contextualize Iranian resentment through historical trauma.[02:10:14:06 – 02:14:59:17] — Max Blumenthal Exposes Israeli Influence and Ted Cruz's Ignorance Blumenthal and Napolitano expose Israeli media bombings, Mossad activity, and Cruz's ignorance on Iran. Accusations of Israeli control over US foreign policy through advisors like Omri Ceren. [03:00:39:18 – 03:04:10:10] — BRICS and Economic Shift from the WestTony Arterburn outlines the decline of US economic power, BRICS alternatives to SWIFT, global de-dollarization, and the failure of pro-war economic policies. [03:19:11:02 – 03:22:37:18] — Byron Allen Lawsuit Against McDonald'sGardner critiques the legal basis of Byron Allen's discrimination lawsuit over ad spending, tying it to the erosion of property rights via public accommodation laws. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHT Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.comIf you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

[01:00:42:18 – 01:01:16:12] — Show Introduction and OverviewGardner Goldsmith opens the David Knight Show, previewing topics like Trump's deception on Iran, Zelensky's money demands, immigration, and a Supreme Court case in Tennessee. [01:08:37:28 – 01:11:08:23] — US Meddling and Iran War FearsCritique of Trump's false claim that the US no longer meddles abroad, citing unconstitutional bombing of Yemen and indirect US support for Israel's attacks on Iran.[01:14:50:15 – 01:15:35:22] — Trump and Tulsi on Iran's Nuclear ProgramTrump dismisses Tulsi Gabbard's statements as his advisor that Iran isn't building nuclear weapons, echoing Iraq WMD deception rhetoric.[01:16:13:17 – 01:17:12:16] — Mike Huckabee's Message to TrumpMockery and analysis of Huckabee's religiously charged Truth Social message urging Trump to act on Israel's behalf, implying divine mission and justification for nuking Iran.[01:23:22:08 – 01:24:12:09] — Ted Cruz Embarrassed by Basic Iran QuestionsTucker Carlson humiliates Ted Cruz by revealing his ignorance about Iran's basic demographics and culture while Cruz advocates war.[02:00:25:11 – 02:03:43:23] — Rick Steves Reflects on Visiting IranRick Steves explains why he visited Iran to humanize its people, debunk “death to America” slogans, and contextualize Iranian resentment through historical trauma.[02:10:14:06 – 02:14:59:17] — Max Blumenthal Exposes Israeli Influence and Ted Cruz's Ignorance Blumenthal and Napolitano expose Israeli media bombings, Mossad activity, and Cruz's ignorance on Iran. Accusations of Israeli control over US foreign policy through advisors like Omri Ceren. [03:00:39:18 – 03:04:10:10] — BRICS and Economic Shift from the WestTony Arterburn outlines the decline of US economic power, BRICS alternatives to SWIFT, global de-dollarization, and the failure of pro-war economic policies. [03:19:11:02 – 03:22:37:18] — Byron Allen Lawsuit Against McDonald'sGardner critiques the legal basis of Byron Allen's discrimination lawsuit over ad spending, tying it to the erosion of property rights via public accommodation laws. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHT Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.comIf you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.

Iran-Israel crisis: UN rights office issues appeal for urgent de-escalationNearly one in two Yemenis facing acute hungerGlobal support for refugees holding firm

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. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Gaza health system close to disaster: WHOUkrainians suffer another night of heavy Russian bombingAfghanistan and Yemen are worst in world for gender, says UN Women

As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the ‘Indian Empire', or more simply as the Raj. Sam Dalrymple was kind enough to speak with me about his new book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, and how this enormous entity was divided, before and after British rule came to an end. Order Shattered Lands here: https://lnkfi.re/9482xG?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY:   1/4: THe Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies.

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 2/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. 1930

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 3/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. AUGUST 1942

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 4/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. 1953

In this explosive episode, George Galloway dive into the global fallout surrounding Israel's actions in Gaza, with sharp insights from Prof. Seyed Marandi, Garland Nixon, and Gayatri. From Tel Aviv under fire to the collapse of the Iron Dome, we explore why critics are calling this a turning point. Topics include Trump's MAGA ties, the BRICS challenge to Western power, Germany's controversial stance, and Jordan's monarchy under scrutiny. Is the Israeli regime facing its Amalek moment? It features a hard-hitting analysis of Netanyahu, Musk, Qatar, and the regional shifts from Beirut to Yemen and North Korea.Featuring:Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi: Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran Garland Nixon: Radio Talk Show Host and Political Analyst

As civil war erupted in Yemen, Mokhtar Alkhanshali found himself imprisoned, with $5,000 stuffed in his underwear and his coffee samples confiscated. To get those samples to the biggest specialty coffee expo in North America, he'd have to survive more than one near-death experience. Would his coffee be worth the risk?This is the second half of our two-part episode about Mokhtar Alkhanshali. If you haven't listened to Part 1 from last week, please start there. This episode originally aired on October 10th, 2022, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. Editing help from Devon DiComo. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Giulia Leo, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.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.

We're only six months into Trump 2.0 and things are getting bad fast. He was looking for a fight. And he found it. Unrest in Los Angeles has been met with a mobilization of troops that few predicted. But your host, Paul Rieckhoff, did.  For five years we've been sounding the alarm. Thinking the unthinkable—that has often come true. From COVID, to Trump refusing to leave office, to the January 6th insurrection, to armed violence and now troops in the streets—-this is one episode you can't afford to miss. And in times like these you need to hear from voices of experience, voices of calm, and voices of reason. Barbara Starr is all that and more and she joins Paul for a no bullshit look at where we are—and where we are going. She's a renowned journalist, an Emmy award winning producer, and a former CNN Pentagon correspondent. She spent 21 years reporting from hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, the Horn of Africa and the Chinese-North Korean border and is one of the most recognizable faces in conflict reporting. She's reported extensively on fallen and wounded troops, as well as the plight of homeless veterans. She's seen and covered it all. She's one of the best in the business and there isn't anybody else we'd rather talk to about all of it. So as the world turns increasingly chaotic and dangerous, take a couple minutes to listen to this conversation, get yourself smarter and get ready for what comes next. Buckle up. And welcome to Independent Americans, Episode 338. Every episode is the truth beyond the headlines–and light to contrast the heat of other politics and news shows. It's content for the 51% of Americans that proudly call themselves independent. And delivers the Righteous Media 5 Is: independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. Independent Americans is your trusted place for independent news, politics, inspiration and hope.  -Watch Barbara's previous appearance in episode 308. -Learn more about Independent Veterans of America and all of the IVA candidates.  -WATCH video of Paul and Barbara's conversation. -NEW! Watch video of the full episode. -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -Check the hashtag #LookForTheHelpers. And share yours.  -Find us on social media or www.IndependentAmericans.us. And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch.  -Check out other Righteous podcasts like The Firefighters Podcast with Rob Serra, Uncle Montel - The OG of Weed and B Dorm.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. Ways to listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F1lzdRbTB0XYen8kyEqXe Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff/id1457899667 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/49a684c3-68e1-4a85-8d93-d95027a8ec64/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff Ways to watch: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@independentamericans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Social channels: X/Twitter: https://x.com/indy_americans BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/indyamericans.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles 'Chuck' Ritter is a Retired U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Major Green Beret. Having served multiple combat deployments - 17 in total - to areas including Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, & Syria, Chuck has an extensive military career spanning over 27 years in service, primarily with the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was blown up by an IED in 2008, shot three times by a PKM in 2013, and caught another bullet in his right hand in 2014, earning him the unofficial title of 'bullet magnet', and he has received numerous awards for his valor including the Silver Star, Bronze Star for Valor, and three Purple Heart Medals. Recently, Chuck completed his tenure as the Deputy Commandant for the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School's (USAJFKSWCS) Non-Commissioned Officer Academy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He founded Lycos Group LLC, a leadership consulting company and also co-hosted the podcast 'Pineland Underground' for the Special Warfare Center and School. Since then, he's co-founded Objective Arete, an organization focused on personal excellence and self-efficacy, where he also co-produces 'The Objective Arete Podcast.' Subscribe to the Mike Drop Patreon Page to see Ad-Free Episodes Early + Bonus Content at https://www.patreon.com/mikedrop ---------- Support Chuck Ritter - Check out Chuck's Podcast, The Objective Arete Podcast, at https://objectivearete.com/category/podcast/ Objective Arete - https://objectivearete.com/ Website - https://chuckritter.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckritter/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chuck.p.ritter X - https://x.com/Chuck_Ritter92 ---------- Sponsors: C. Crane When the internet goes dark, radio still works! Order Your C. Crane CC Radio 3 today when you call C. Crane's U.S. based Customer Service at 800-522-8863 or visit https://ccrane.com/drop and use code DROP at checkout for 10% off orders over $75! ---------- TEAM DOG FOOD, TREATS & SUPPLEMENTS Be Your Dog's Hero: Veteran-owned by a former Navy SEAL and Special Operations K9 Trainer, Team Dog provides a complete diet of science-backed premium dog food, treats, and supplements to optimize your dog's health, forged from rigorous standards and real-world expertise. https://www.teamdog.shop TEAM DOG ONLINE TRAINING Mike Ritland – a former Navy SEAL & Special Operations K9 trainer – shares his simple and effective dog training program to build trust and control with your dog. Based on Mike's bestselling book “Team Dog, Train the Navy SEAL Way”, join tens of thousands of families that successfully trained their way to a better dog. https://www.teamdog.pet SHOP ALL THE MIKE RITLAND BRANDS Get all your Mike Ritland branded gear - Mike Drop | Trikos | Team Dog https://shop.mikeritland.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John talks about the continued ICE Protests and overreach from Trump. As 700 Marines enter Los Angeles, a federal judge has blocked Gov. Gavin Newsom's emergency motion to stop Trump's deployment of thousands of national guardsmen. He also discusses RFK Jr. who fired the entire CDC panel tasked with providing vaccine guidance, calling the move a necessary step to restore trust in American medicine. Then he interviews Phyllis A. Coven who served as the seventh Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) from 2021-2023. Previously, Ms. Coven served as District Director for the two largest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) District Offices located in New York and Los Angeles. She also served as Director of the Office of International Affairs under the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where she was responsible for the operations of the INS's overseas offices and refugee and asylum divisions. Next, John speaks with the Executive Director of the Muslim Community Network - Husein Yatabarry on Donald Trump's latest travel ban. Twelve nations now face full travel bans for their citizens: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. And finally, Comedy Daddy Keith Price jokes with John and listeners on Trump's latest mishigas.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and political reporter Tal Schneider join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Israel Katz agreed on Israel’s response to Hamas’s counter-offer to a US proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal at their meeting yesterday, Army Radio reports. The response has been forwarded to mediators, the report says. Officials are now awaiting the terror group’s response, but in the meantime, fighting continues on the ground in Gaza. Fabian fills us in. In a first, Israeli Navy missile boats on Tuesday morning launched strikes against infrastructure at the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida in western Yemen. Fabian explains the pros and cons of using the naval forces instead of the air force for similar future attacks. The UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday that they would freeze assets and bar the entry of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for having “incited extremist violence” against Palestinians in the West Bank. Schneider weighs in on all the various diplomatic efforts on the table designed to pressure Israel to stop the Gaza war, including the upcoming conference in New York co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia on the topic of the two-state solution. Leaders of opposition parties decided this morning to submit a private bill to dissolve the Knesset, starting the process of four votes that may -- or may not -- lead to new elections. Schneider dives into the thorny topic and explains the forces pulling strings behind the scenes. Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Palestinians say 20 killed near aid site; IDF says troops fired at Gazans who posed threat Israeli Navy carries out Yemen strikes for 1st time, targeting Houthi port IDF shoots down Yemen missile; multiple interceptors launched as it breaks up UK, Canada and 3 other nations sanction Ben Gvir and Smotrich over settler violence Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. IMAGE: Illustrative: An LRAD missile is launched from the Sa’ar 6-class corvette INS Magen during a test in November 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday's Mark Levin Show, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a so-called ‘Maryland dad' was sent to an El Salvador prison and brought back to the U.S. today by AG Pam Bondi to face criminal charges. Despite evidence of his crimes, including human trafficking and domestic violence, Democrats, media, and some judges defended him, claiming Trump acted dictatorially and that Garcia lacked due process. They lied; he got due process with an immigration judge and an immigration board. Senators Chris Van Hollen and his Democrats still publicly supported him. How will we ever get this country under control given that the Democrat Party hates America?  Rep Jamie Raskin argues that even under the Alien Enemies Act, due process is necessary, referencing a D.C. Circuit judge who noted that Nazi saboteurs in the U.S. during World War II received due process hearings as a historical precedent for legal fairness. This is the example that Raskin uses? The Nazis had a trial and were executed in less than 3 months.  Also, the FBI and DHS are highlighting threats to Jewish and Israeli communities. It's interesting all the violence goes one way. You don't see Jews trying to kill Palestinians. This is what open borders and the Democrat party gets you. Afterward, there's a hit piece out on the Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor. The piece claims that Gor influenced Trump to withdraw Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA administrator, allegedly to target Elon Musk, who recommended Isaacman. However, the withdrawal stemmed from Isaacman's donations to Democrats, including $100,000 to a Schumer-aligned PAC, $50,000 to Josh Shapiro's campaign, and other Democratic contributions, with no support for Trump until after the election. This background made Isaacman unsuitable for a key role in a Republican administration.  Later, Iran reportedly ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile components from China, potentially enabling the production of around 800 missiles. Iran is stalling nuclear negotiations with the U.S. while bolstering its missile capabilities and supplying groups like the Houthis in Yemen.  These actions, supported by China, are efforts to undermine Israel and Western interests.  Finally, Mark honors the 81st anniversary of D-Day. If we had lost on D-Day we would have lost WW2. The casualties were enormous, yet these brave young men put their lives on the line, many knowing they would die. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mokhtar Alkhanshali was a doorman in San Francisco when he saw a statue that changed his life. The statue was of an Arab man holding a cup of coffee, and it led Mokhtar to learn about the origins of coffee, in Yemen, where his family is from. While coffee's roots in Yemen run deep, Mokhtar learned that present-day Yemeni coffee was hard to source, and the quality was inconsistent. But when it was good, some experts said it was the best they had ever tasted. Mokhtar saw an opportunity to start his own coffee company, and help Yemeni farmers in the process. But just as he was getting started, war broke out in Yemen, and Mokhtar found himself stranded there.This episode originally aired on October 3, 2022, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. Editing help from Devon DiComo. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.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.