Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 247 at background briefing.

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

We begin with the phone call Trump had with five European leaders and Zelensky after his call with Putin yesterday that left them feeling surprised and shocked at Trump's

deference to Putin and his failure to call for a ceasefire or impose penalties on Putin for

refusing to do so.

Joining us to discuss whether Trump is faking a negotiation and is planning on walking away

and selling out Ukraine while making a separate deal with Putin to restore U.S. ties is

Alexander Motel, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, a specialist on Ukraine,

Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolution, empires and theory. He's the author of 10

books of nonfiction, including Imperial Ends, The Decay, Collapse and Revival of Empires,

and Why Empires Reemerge, Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective. Then with the UK, France, and imperial revival in comparative perspective.

Then with the UK, France and Canada condemning Netanahu's ground invasion of Gaza while it starves the enclave's women and children,

we speak with Asha Kauffman, Director of the Crock Institute for International Peace Studies,

and a professor of history and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Prior to that, he taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was a research fellow at the

Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, where he headed its Middle East

unit. And he has an article at the conversation. Trump heads to the Gulf aiming to bolter trade ties, but side talks on Tehran and Gaza could

drive a wedge between the U.S. and Israel.

Then finally we'll go to South Africa ahead of tomorrow's White House visit by its president

Ramaphosa and speak with Patrick Bond, distinguished professor of sociology, a political economist, political

ecologist and scholar of social mobilization at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

His books include Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and anti-capitalist critique,

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