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 murder of the leader of the opposition in Russia, Alexei Navalny,

who Putin's FSB almost killed with a nerve agent in 2020,

then had him incarcerated in gulags on trumped-up charges.

Joining us as a close friend of Boris Nemtsov, the former leader of the Russian opposition, who preceded Navalny.

He was assassinated just outside the Kremlin on Putin's orders, and we will speak with Dr. Ariel Cohen,

a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,

a recognized authority on international security and energy policy, and a leading expert on

Russia, Eurasia and the Middle East. He is also a senior fellow at the International Tax and

Investment Center, where he heads the energy growth and security program. The author of

six books, his latest is, Our of Truth,

the conflict in Ukraine implications for Europe's energy security and the lessons for the US Army.

Then we're looking to speak of Mike Johnson's move to shut down the government for a month

to avoid congressional action on the Pfizer renewal and aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan,

just as the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.

Joining us to discuss why Christian nationalists like Johnson admire Putin is James Reisen,

a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author whose investigative reporting has triggered a series of political firestorms,

in particular for revealing unwarranted NSA wiretaps.

Among his best-selling books are State of War, The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush administration,

and Pay Any Price, Greed, Power and Endless War.

The Senior National Security correspondent at the Intercept and a former

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