Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We begin with the wars in Gaza and Ukraine that have become political burdens for Biden as they drag on,

with the two most destructive and despicable figures on the world stage, Netanyahu and Putin,

wanting to prolong the wars to help Trump return to the presidency to do their bidding.

Joining us is Lincoln Mitchell, a professor of political science at Columbia University,

where he also serves as an associate scholar in the Salzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.

He's the author of numerous books on the former Soviet states, baseball and democracy,

the latest of which is The Giants and their City, Major League Baseball in San Francisco,

1976 to 1992.

We'll discuss his article at lincolnmitchell.substack.com.

Biden's reelection hopes are increasingly in Netanyahu's hands.

Then we'll go to Jordan to speak with Omar Shakir, who serves as the Israel and Palestine

director at Human Rights Watch, where he investigates human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank

and Gaza, and has authored several major reports, including a 2021 report comprehensively documenting how Israeli authorities

are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians.

As a result of his advocacy, the Israeli government deported Omar in November of 2019.

He is the co-author of a new report at Human Rights Watch, which we will discuss.

Israel is starving Gaza civilians as a method of warfare. Then finally, we'll look into how

Trump, Governor Abbott and the Republicans are demagoguing the crisis at the southern border

without offering workable policies, having stymied earlier efforts for a comprehensive solution,

as 200,000 immigrants a month continue to show up.

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