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

I'm Ian Masters, and today we're looking into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the cascading fallout from the release of Epstein's emails

and follow up on Epstein's connections to Israeli intelligence

with a reporter who first revealed these clandestine ties in an article in August in Reason magazine

inside Jeffrey Epstein's Spy Industry Connections.

Joining us is Matthew Petty, an assistant editor at Reason, who previously reported for the BBC

in Persian and English, The Intercept, The Daily Beast, New Lines Magazine, responsible

statecraft, Middle East Eye, and the national interest, among other

publications. He covers U.S. National Security Policy and its interactions with American

Society and Domestic Politics. And his latest articles that reason include Jeffrey Epstein's

secret role in Washington's Middle East diplomacy. Then we'll examine the scandal swirling around Zelensky,

whose former partner in his media company is now on the Lamb accused of a $100 million

corruption scheme in the Ukrainian energy sector, which has been under relentless Russian attack.

Joining us is Dr. Louise Shelley, the Omer L. and Nancy Hurst-endowed chair emerita,

and a university professor emerita at George Mason University.

She is the founder of the Terrorism Transnational Crime and Corruption Center

at the Shah School of Policy and Government,

a leading expert on the relationship among terrorism,

organized crime and corruption,

as well as human trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism,

with a particular focus on the former Soviet Union.

...