Day: May 10, 2026

As Trump Desperately Tries to Make a Deal With Iran, Will Israel Be the Spoiler?

We begin with Iran taking its time to respond to a desperate Trump’s peace proposal while reports from Israel indicate its military and intelligence establishment consider the deal on the table a disaster for Israel allowing Iran to rush to get a nuke with billions made available under the deal to do so. Joining us from Israel is Ori Goldberg, an Israeli author, academic, and political commentator. A former university professor who has written extensively on Iran, Israel and the relationship between religion and politics in the Middle East, he is currently an independent Israeli political analyst.

Pressure on Trump From the Saudis and Gulf States to Make a Deal With Iran

Then we examine pressure coming from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States on Trump to make a deal with Iran and pause his “Operation Freedom” effort to open the Strait of Hormuz. Joining us is Firmesk Rahim who is currently a Fulbright Scholar pursuing a doctorate in Global Governance and Human Security at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and has taught at the University of Garmian and as a Project Coordinator at the American University of Iraq. From 2018 to 2019, she worked as a Political Assistant in the Office of the Presidency of Iraq and we discuss her article at The Conversation, “Gulf state cooperation has long been shaped by the threat of Iran − but shows of unity belie division.”

Russia’s Descent Into Madness and Murder Under Putin

Then finally with Putin using Saturday’s Victory Day parade in Red Square to equate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany with his current “special military operation” in Ukraine as a war against NATO, we speak with Marc Bennetts, a foreign correspondent for The Times and The Sunday Times. He reported from Russia for the newspaper until he was forced to leave in May 2022, three months after the invasion of Ukraine and following his arrest at an anti-war protest in Moscow. He had lived in Russia for 25 years and, since leaving, has reported extensively on the war in Ukraine. He is the author of Kicking the Kremlin, a portrait of opposition figures in Russia, and his new book, just out, is The Descent: Witnessing Russia’s Spiral Into Madness Under Putin.