Hello and welcome to background briefing, available 24-7 at background briefing.

I'm me and Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We begin with the fall of the Assad regime in Syria as a serious blow to Putin, who is already

suffering unsustainable losses in Ukraine and appears more vulnerable and paranoid than ever

as the delusional dictator and his inner circle desperately remind Trump that he owes them, while suggesting someone

might assassinate the president-elect who obediently is poised to rescue Putin just when we

could be rid of this menace to Russia and the world. Joining us is Olga Loutman, a non-resident

senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis,

who was also the creator and co-host of the Kremlin File podcast series,

which features expert discussions on the Kremlin's internal affairs, global operations

and tactics used from their hybrid warfare toolkit to destabilize Western democracies.

She has a substack newsletter covering Russia, Ukraine, Eastern and Central Europe a hybrid warfare toolkit to destabilize Western democracies.

She has a Substack newsletter covering Russia, Ukraine, Eastern, and Central Europe with a focus

on Russia's intelligence operations available at Olga Loutman.substack.com, where her latest article

is Elon Musk, shadow president of the United States. Then we'll examine the boiling rage across America at the United States healthcare system,

better described as a sickness profit system,

as law enforcement authorities look for the assassin responsible for the murder of the head

of the country's largest insurer.

Joining us to discuss America's ready access to guns as the last resort of the powerless

is Patrick Blanchfield, a freelance writer and associate faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for

Social Research.

His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, N Plus One,

...