Day: October 15, 2026

Briefings

Background Briefing: October 15, 2026

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With the Saudi/Houthi War Escalating, How Long Will Trump Stay Out As Oil Prices Surge

We begin with the escalating war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with Houthi missile strikes on the kingdom’s main airport in its capital and the executive suite of ARAMCO, the giant Saudi oil company, rattling MbS’s regime. Joining us to discuss how this escalation will impact oil prices and how long the US can stay out of this war is Robert Pape, a Professor of Political Science and the director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism at the University of Chicago specializing in political violence and international security affairs. He is the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, and Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War. His new book is Our Own Worst Enemies: America and the Age of Violent Populism and he blogs at The Escalation Trap on Substack, where his latest article is “Saudi Arabia’s Worst Week Ever: The war has crossed into the Kingdom’s civilian core. One more step would reach your pocket book.”

 

Trump’s Envoy of “Peace” Kushner Used Saudi Money To Buy Stakes in Israeli Weapons Companies and Made a Killing Out of the Gaza War

Then we examine how Jared Kushner got $3 billion in Saudi and Gulf money, some of which he used to invest in an Israeli financial conglomerate with stakes in a number of Israeli defense companies which became very profitable due to the war on Gaza, making Trump’s envoy of “peace” much richer off the blood of Palestinians. Joining us is Sarah Leah Whitson, the former executive director of DAWN, an organization that supports democracy and human rights in the Middle East. She also previously served as executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, where she oversaw the organization’s work in 19 countries. Her latest book, co-authored with Michael Omer-Man, is From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine, and she has an article at Foreign Policy we discuss, “Congress Can Do More to Curb Kushner’s Conflicts of Interest.”

 

Background Briefing’s Anna Leah on the Gen Z Vote Which Swung to the Right in the Last Election But Is Swinging Back to the Left in This One 

Then finally with 19 days until the midterms, there’s a block of increasingly active voters befuddling election forecasters. Young people swung towards Trump in the last presidential election, when almost half of registered Gen Z voters cast a ballot. But a Public Religion Research Institute poll found their affiliation with ‘independent’ or ‘other’ doubling in recent years. The right has seen a rise among young men, while others claim a focus on justice-related issues makes young voters one of America’s most progressive generations. To explore the youth vote, Background Briefing’s Anna Leah speaks with Santiago Mayer – founder and Executive Director of Voters of Tomorrow, which claims to be America’s largest Gen-Z-led organization. They support progressive candidates and agendas with phone- and text-banks, on-campus events, and millions of dollars in funding that comes through their PAC. Mayer immigrated from Mexico as a teen and started the group soon thereafter, citing the Muslim Ban as inspiration.