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 possible fallout from the Islamist takeover of Syria and statements

about annexing the West Bank from Israeli leaders and calls for establishing Judea and Samaria

from their Christian Zionist supporters in the United States, like Trump's

new ambassador to Israel, his nominee for Secretary of Defense, and his National Security

Advisor, along with Senator Tom Cotton, and even former President Bill Clinton.

Joining us is Annel She-Line, a research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute

for Responsible

Statecraft. She previously served as a foreign affairs officer at the United States Department

of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Office of Near Eastern Affairs

before resigning in March of 2024 in protest over the Biden administration's unconditional support

for Israel's military operations in Gaza. We will discuss her article at Responsible Statecraft,

Jordan braces as Israeli annexation of West Bank looms. Then with simmering rage across the country at the so-called healthcare industry,

we will look into the alternative to our broken system

that does not waste trillions while delaying and denying care.

Joining us is Matt Brunig, the founder and president of People's Policy Project.

He previously worked as a lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board and as a policy analyst at the Demos think tank.

His prior work primarily focused on inequality, poverty, and welfare systems.

And we will discuss his article at people's policyproject.org.

Healthcare administration wastes half a trillion dollars every year.

Then finally, we'll examine the collapse of the German government and the likely impact of

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