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

I'm me and Masters, and today will examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We will begin with the elections in Russia and Sunday's noon against Putin protests

organized by Navalny as if reaching out from the grave when citizens in the main city showed up

in long lines in spite of massive repression against the mildest form of protest.

Joining us to discuss Putin's plans for another term and for stoking division

in an already divided United States is Alexander Cooley,

the former director of Columbia University's Harriman Institute

for the study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe,

and the Claire Toee professor in political science

at Barnard College of Columbia University. His books include Great Games, Local Rules,

the new Great Power Contest in Central Asia, Dictators Without Borders, Power and Money in Central Asia,

and most recently Exit from Hegemony, the unraveling of the American

Global Order. Then we'll look into the increasingly visible role of Vice President Harris

in the campaign underway in which she has taken up the abortion issue head-on, call for

the decriminalization of marijuana, a ceasefire in Gaza, and met with the leader of the opposition in Israel.

Joining us is Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University,

whose recent books include Burning Down the House, Newt Gingrich, The Fall of the Speaker and the Rise

of the New Republican Party, Myth America, historians take on the biggest legends and lies

about our past, and the presidency of Donald J. Trump, a first historical assessment. The co-host

of the Politics and Polls podcast and a CNN political analyst, we'll discuss his latest article at CNN.

It's time for Kamala Harris to shine.

...