News - U.S. Kidnaps Maduro, Israel Escalation, Yemen Separatist Collapse

American Prestige

Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

History, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek return from their holiday retreat at Bohemian Grove to bring you news from around the world. This week: Delcy Rodríguez assumes Venezuela’s presidency following Nicolás Maduro’s U.S. rendition (1:31), as questions mount over the indictment (3:51) and Washington moves toward de facto control of Venezuelan oil exports (6:36); Saudi-backed forces push back Southern Transitional Council gains in southern Yemen, with STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fleeing to the UAE and facing treason charges (11:10); Israel bans 37 humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (15:33), and advances the E-1 settlement project in the West Bank (17:49); protests spread across Iran amid currency collapse and renewed sanctions (21:05); Thailand and Cambodia’s December ceasefire largely holds despite a reported accidental mortar incident (25:33); U.S. airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria raise questions about targets and objectives (27:52); Israel becomes the first country to recognize Somaliland, prompting regional backlash and speculation about military basing and Gaza resettlement plans (30:44); European leaders discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as part of potential peace negotiations with Russia (36:00); Trump escalates rhetoric and planning around annexing or purchasing Greenland (37:54); the Trump administration pushes for a $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget (42:12); and Trump orders a U.S. withdrawal from dozens of UN and international institutions, particularly those related to climate governance (44:30). Don't miss ⁠our re-posted episode on American policing with Stuart Schrader⁠. Also check out ⁠our episode on Venezuela with Greg Grandin⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to American Prestige.
0:02.7	To listen ad-free, you can subscribe at Americanprostagepod.com.
0:08.3	Find the link in our show notes.
0:13.0	That's kind of conversation to your soul.
0:18.7	That's conversation.
0:21.6	To your soul. And then I'm a nice. next conversation. Hello, Prestige Heads and welcome to American Prestige. I'm Danny Bessner, here as always with my friend and comrade, Derek Davison,
0:39.9	and we are excited to bring you the news.
0:41.4	But before we do, obviously this has been a very disturbing week in U.S. history
0:46.0	with the killing of an innocent woman in Minneapolis.
0:51.1	And I just wanted to point people to an episode that we had been paywold,
0:58.2	but that we released for free that we did with the historian Stuart Schrader, who is a great
1:03.4	historian of American policing that we sent to your feed that discusses these issues in a global
1:09.6	context. And I think that it is important to understand
1:14.2	the relationship between ICE and what the United States does abroad. The sort of on the nose thing
1:22.1	is that in March 2003, two things happened. When ICE came into being and Iraq was invaded. And there's a very
1:29.1	clear connection between U.S. Imperial overreach abroad and the type of violence that we see at home.
1:34.6	So I just wanted to point people to that episode. Well, Derek, I think let's jump into the news.
1:43.3	And let's start with Venezuela. And let's start with Venezuela.
1:45.1	And let's start with Rodriguez taking office.
1:49.7	Right.
1:50.1	So Delcy Rodriguez, who was serving as vice president under Nicholas Maduro and was left in
1:56.0	place, of course, by the Trump administration, when to kidnap Maduro over the weekend,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.