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 resignation of FBI Director Chris Ray, making it easier for Trump to foist Cash Patel on the

nation, along with Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and RFK Jr's daughter-in-law,

Emerilis Fox, as the deputy head of the CIA. With Carrie Lake as the head of

Voice of America, it would seem that Trump's team of shills for Russia will go a long way towards

the United States becoming Putin's America. Joining us is Robert Young Pelton, an author, filmmaker,

journalist and explorer.

He is the publisher of Dangerous magazine and has had a firsthand perspective on the war on terror

from dangerous contacts with the world's most infamous jihadi rebel and insurgent groups.

His books include the world's most dangerous places, come back alive, three worlds gone mad,

licensed to kill, hired guns in the war on terror,

and his autobiography, The Adventurist. And he's working on a documentary about Jared Kushner's

secret deals ahead of the Abraham Accords, which lined Kushner's pockets. Then we're looking

to how Israel and Turkey appear to be the winners with the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, while Russia and

Iran are the losers. Joining us from Doha Kata to assess the changing geopolitical landscape in the

Middle East is Nada Hashemi, the director of the Aloid Center for Muslim Christian Understanding,

and a professor of Middle Eastern Islamic politics at the Admonade School of Foreign

Service at Georgetown University.

A non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World now, he is the author of The People

Reloaded, the Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future, and Sectarianization,

...