Middle East politics

It’s Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Ilan Pappe, professor of history at the University of Exeter and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, author of Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic, to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East a year after October 7th, 2...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Adam Hanieh, development studies academic based in the UK, to discuss his recent book Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market. Then, she speaks with Greg Stoker, co-host of the Colonial Outcasts podcast, to dis...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam & Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, they run through updates on Israel’s offensives in Lebanon and Gaza, Iran’s preparations for a retaliatory strike on Israel, tonight’s VP Debate, the devastation (and recovery efforts) in the wake of Hurrica...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma speaks with Jeff Schuhrke, assistant professor in labor studies at SUNY Empire State University, to discuss his recent book Blue-Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade. Then, she speaks with Seamus Malekafzali, freelance...
It’s News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma speak with Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, to discuss the recent results of the Iranian elections. Then, they speak with Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts Magazine, to discuss the surprising results of the 2nd round of Fr...
Happy Memorial Day! The MR Crew is OFF today but check out this interview from late December of last year with Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, author of the Beinart Notebook on SubStack, and professor at the CUNY School of Journalism, on a piece he wrote entitled ”Harvard Is Ig...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma speak with Mehdi Hasan, founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of the new media company Zeteo, to discuss the biggest stories of the week and his new venture. First, Sam & Emma check in on Trump’s trial, where people are concerned about how he keeps falling asleep....
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma speak with Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, to round up the week in news. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s retaliation against Iran, the US veto of UN Membership for Palestine, Trump’s legal woes, the State Department’s ...
It’s News Day Tuesday! But first, Sam and Emma speak with Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, to discuss the events of the past weekend involving Iran & Israel. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Trump’s legal woes, Israel’s ongoing conflicts in...
It’s an EmMajority Report TUESDAY! Sam is out in Las Vegas for the Mass Torts Conference, so Emma is filling in! She speaks with Annelle Sheline, a former staffer with President Biden’s State Department, to discuss the reasoning behind why she left her post, namely the Biden administration’s effo...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Rashid Khalidi, professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, to discuss his 2020 book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, and his views on the Israel-Gaza conflict as it stands now. Firs...
It’s News Day Tuesday! But later in the program Sam and Emma speak with Ofer Cassif, member of the Israeli Knesset representing the Hadash coalition, to discuss the recent failed effort to expel him for Israeli parliament due to his support of the case against Israel that South Africa has brought...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma speak with Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, to round up the week in news.  First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the US public’s opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Medicare drug price negotiations, the Child Tax Credit, a US imm...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Dr. Uche Blackstock, emergency physician and former associate professor of emergency medicine at the New York University, to discuss her recent book Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism In Medicine. Then, she is joined by Ken Klipp...
It’s News Day Tuesday! But first, Sam speaks with Diana Buttu, Palestinian analyst and former legal advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization, to discuss the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s recent ruling in the case South Africa brought against Israel. First, Sam runs through update...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Juliet Hooker, professor of political science at Brown University, to discuss her recent book Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics Of Loss. Then, she speaks with Zachary Foster, proprietor of the website Palestine Nexus, to discuss the...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma speaks with Ussama Makdisi, professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, to discuss the subject matter of his book Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World. Then, she speaks with Rune Moller S...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, to discuss the state of play in Israel/Gaza nearly 3 months after October 7th. Then, they’re joined by Paul Ortiz, professor of history at the University of Florida, to discuss how unions in Flor...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Jonathan Graubart, professor of political science at San Diego State University, to discuss his recent book Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and other Pariahs. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the growing death to...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Blair LM Kelley, director of The Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, to discuss her recent book Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class. First, Emma runs through updates on Biden’s call f...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Ilan Pappe, professor of history at the University of Exeter and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, to discuss the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s continuing bombardment of the peopl...
It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma are joined by Heather Digby Parton, contributing writer at Salon.com and proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo, to round up the week in news. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Gaza, respectively, Jim Jordan’s humiliation streak, Is...
It’s News Day Tuesday! But first, in a prerecorded conversation, Sam and Emma speak with Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, to discuss his recent piece on the escalating situation in Israel and Gaza entitled “Biden refuses to talk ‘ceasefire’ though it could prevent a ...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, to discuss the ongoing situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip. First Sam and Emma run through updates on stalled aid to Gaza, Israel’s ongoing assault, the West’s unconditional support for I...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She hosts David Allen, historian of U.S. foreign relations, to discuss his recent book Every Citizen a Statesman: The Dream of a Democratic Foreign Policy in the American Century. Then, Emma talks to Joshua Craze, writer and researcher specializing in Sudan, to...
Sam hosts Spencer Ackerman, columnist for The Nation and author of the Forever Wars newsletter on Ghost, to discuss his recent piece ”The Unlearned Lessons From the War in Iraq”.  Sam begins by running through updates on the IPCC’s report on catastrophic warming levels, a brand new Fox lawsuit, t...
Sam and Emma host Nahid Siamdoust, Assistant Professor of Middle East and Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the recent political protests in Iran. Then, they are joined by Eli Friedman, professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a...
Sam hosts Suzanne Schneider, Deputy Director and Core Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute, to discuss her recent book The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism, on the evolution of jihad as liberalism took over the world. Schneider begins by helping frame the ...
Sam and Emma host Adam Weinstein, Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute, to explore the status of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and what the region might look like moving forwards. They look into why the Pentagon might want a quick withdrawal now that they are committed to withdrawing at ...
Michael Brooks hosts Djene Bajalan (@djenebajalan), Assistant Professor of Middle East History at Missouri State University, to discuss how Covid-19 is affecting the Middle East and how the virus will leave its mark on geopolitics.
Happy Friday! On today’s show, Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon), host of the Benjamin Dixon Show. Sam and Ben begin their conversation considering the conclusion of the “Clinton Investigation,” which will end in the coming weeks “with no criminal charges or other known impacts,” according to the ...
Happy Thursday, Michael Brooks is joined by Djene Bajalan to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East and the United States’ history of interference in Iran. Starting in 1953, Brooks and Bajalan discuss the CIA’s role in removing Mohammed Mossadegh from power. Mosadegh was a staunch nation...
The New Republic’s Alex Pareene (@pareene) and author/academic Vali Nasr (@vali_nasr) join us to break down the news.
Sam is out today, Michael Brooks hosts Professor Djene Bajalan to discuss the growing protests in Iraq and Iran.
Michael Brooks is joined by two guests this Thursday on the Majority Report: Author and historian Cal Winslow joins the program to discuss his piece about the ongoing protests by Blackjewel Kentucky miners, “No Neutrals in Harlan County.” And Djene Bajalan also joins the program to discuss the Tr...
On today’s show, The Host of the Benjamin Dixon Show, Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon ) and the renowned Andy Kindler (@AndyKindler ). Benjamin Dixon joins Sam to recap the biggest stories of the week including the change in Public Charge laws, the possibility of an economic recession, and Israel...
Good morning, Djene Bajalan joins Michael Brooks to discuss the current state of Turkey and Erdogan’s role in the Middle East. Plus, how might a Democratic president approach diplomatic relations with Erdogan’s government? Michael and Djene kick off their discussion with an assessment of the Demo...
Joining Michael Brooks on today’s Majority Report is Murtaza Hussain to talk about the right wing’s secretive efforts to start a war with Iran and the writings of the fake journalist Heshmat Alavi.
Happy Friday! Sam is out today, Michael Brooks fills in with special guests Ana Kasparian and Corey Pein to discuss the week in news, including the growing tensions with Iran, Joe Biden’s past working relationship with segregationists, and the connection between climate change, UFOs and Posadism.
On today’s show, the MR team discusses Trump’s lonely cabinet, the State Department’s threatening posture towards Iran, the state of Medicare for All’s popularity, and how the Democratic Party is losing its grip on House legislation.
Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) and David Feldman (@David_Feldman_) join us for Casual Friday.
On today’s show, Mehdi Hassan (@mehdirhasan) from the Intercept and Al Jazeera joins Sam to discuss the case to impeach Trump and Film Guy Matthew Weiss (@langdonboom) to give us an update on his eBay store and some film recommendations. Mehdi and Sam begin their conversation talking about Justin...
Sam analyzes yesterday’s Supreme Court verdicts including the 5-4 decision to overrule Nevada v. Hall, a 1979 ruling that allowed an individual to sue a state in another state’s courts. Sam explains why the conservative opinion will be used as precedent to ”make it more difficult for lawyers to r...
Fox’s Brian Kilmeade smears Rep. Ilhan Omar: “You have to wonder if she’s an American first.” Trump says Bibi re-election gives better chance of peace in Middle East. Dianna Buttu explains Palestnians’ position on Israeli elections: “you either choose Trump or you choose Trump.”
Good morning, joining Michael Brooks on today’s show is Mike Hanna to discuss the story behind how the Trump administration approved private nuclear development contracts to the Saudi regime.  Mike Hanna helps explain the Trump administrations role and the players involved in selling nuclear deve...
Good morning and Happy Valentine’s Day! On today’s Majority Report, Michael Brooks is joined by Professor of Middle East History Djene Bajalan to discuss what’s happening at the US-led Middle East (minus Iran) “peace and security” conference in Warsaw. Michael and Djene begin with an autopsy on t...
Joining the Majority Report’s Michael Brooks today to discuss MBS, Trump, and US-Turkey relations is Steven A. Cook,  a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Cook and Brooks look into how the Khashoggi murder has led to a large outpouring of moral o...
Juan Cole  (@jricole), Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, joins us.
The Atlantic’s Steve Clemons explained what was missing in yesterday’s foreign policy debate, how President Obama offers tactical mastery but little strategic vision while Romney has neither tactical mastery or strategy,where President Obama has been a foreign policy success and where he has fall...
Syria and latest on Middle East jockeying with National Security Network Executive Director Heather Hurlburt and Matt Duss, Director of Middle East Progress at Center for American Progress.   Why Turkey must get involved, Russia’s role and the region’s sectarian divide.  Also, talking serious env...