Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We begin with the US naval blockade of the Strait of Amuz and assess how much the

escalation trap Trump set for himself by starting this war is deepening with his desperate

attempt to end the war becoming an increasingly dangerous entanglement that could result in the use

of a tactical nuclear weapon.

Joining us is Robert Pape, a professor of political science and the director of the Chicago

Project on Security and Terrorism at the University of Chicago, specializing in political

violence and international security affairs.

He is the author of Dying to Win, the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,

and Bombing to Win, Airpower and Coercion in War.

He blogs at the Escalation Trap on Substack,

where his latest article is,

The World's Economy will change abruptly in the next 10 days,

and he has an article at the New York Times, we will discuss,

The War is Turning Iran into a major world power.

Then with Trump depicting himself as Jesus in a post he has taken down,

along with attacking Pope Leo, while taking credit for an American Pope being chosen

because of Trump. We'll look into Trump's disrespect shown to Pope Leo and by extension, Trump's

insult to 1.4 billion Catholics. Joining us is James Carroll, the author of many books about

religion, politics and history.

His memoir of the Vietnam War, an American Requiem, won the National Book Award.

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