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

and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news. We'll begin with an

analysis of the leader of the new Syria recently freed after 54 years of brutal oppression

under the Assad clan, Abu Mohammed al-Jalani, the head of HTS, Hayat Tarir al-Sham,

organization for liberating the Levant. Joining us to discuss the regional impact of this major realignment and where it is heading is David Hurst, the editor of Middle East Eye, who was formerly the chief foreign leader-writer of The Guardian and its former associate, foreign editor, European editor, Moscow Bureau Chief, European

correspondent and Ireland correspondent. He recently attended the meeting of Arab-Iranian

and Russian foreign ministers in Doha, and we'll discuss his article at Middle East Eye, Assad

downfall, is the Arab Spring back from the dead.

Then with the endorsement of Kash Patel by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to be the next FBI director,

we'll examine the extraordinary power this manic Trump fanboy will have as the head of the country's most powerful law enforcement agency to go after

Trump's enemies, having already compiled a delusional list of traitors for his Maga Gulag.

Joining us is Jason Wilson, a reporter for The Guardian based in Portland, Oregon.

We'll discuss his latest article at The Guardian,

Cash Patel's profitable links in the non-profit world.

Then finally, we'll go to Georgia,

where pro-EU protesters have been demonstrating for 17 days

against the rigged election that brought in the disputed pro-Russian parliament, which just installed a right-wing footballer as the country's president.

Joining us from Tbilisi is Alex Grivina, the executive director and co-founder of the Democracy Security Institute.

Based in Tbilisi, Georgia, he was previously a fellow at the Eurasia Democratic Security Network

and has worked for a variety of international civil society and media organizations in Europe

and the region, including the BBC, the International Criminal Court, Global Justice Now, and the Transnational Institute.

Before we begin, in the last weeks of this year, as we face the looming prospect of four more ruinous years of Trump, along with Vance,

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