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'll begin with the upcoming summit in the UAE between President Trump and

President Putin in the hope we all share of ending Russia's war on Ukraine that many experts

on Russia and Ukraine think is unlikely to happen, given Putin's massive investment

in his war that has changed the nature of Russian society, turning the country into a

garrison state. Joining us is David Salvo, the managing director of the Alliance for Securing

Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. An expert in Russian affairs, his work

analyzes the Kremlin's authoritarian toolkit to undermine democracy at home and abroad.

Previously, he was a foreign service officer in the United States Department of State,

serving most recently as a Deputy Secretary of State's policy advisor for Europe, Eurasia,

and international security issues.

He also advised senior-level State Department negotiators on the protracted conflicts in the South

Caucasus, worked on U.S. policy towards NATO, and the Organization of Security and

Cooperation in Europe, and served overseas in Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Then we'll look into the decades-long efforts by American presidents to woo India away from the

Soviet Union and later Russia, along with forging a strategic partnership with India against

China, which Trump has blown up overnight.

Joining us is Dr. Sumit Ganguly, the director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening

U.S. India Relations at Stanford University.

His books include India since 1980, India, Pakistan and the bomb, debating nuclear stability

in South Asia, the Oxford Handbook of Indian Politics, and more than words,

...