FRDH Podcast with Michael Goldfarb

As Trump's war on Iran enters its third week with the Strait of Hormuz blocked and the world economy facing a shock, Rob Macaire, British Ambassador to Iran 2018-2021 offers a diplomat's view of the how, why and what next to get out of the mess the President has created. In this wide ranging conversation, FRDH host Michael Goldfarb and Macaire look at the problems the US faces in achieving any of its ever-changing war aims and how diplomacy might rescue the situation -- but without Trump. Give us 46:22 to help you understand

Iran, the US and Israel have been in conflict for more than 40 years and too often the battles are fought in Lebanon. In this FRDH podcast journalist, author and Beirut native Kim Ghattas provides a snampshot of the current news and historical context of this war without end. We also talk about whether the current fighting will end things once and for all. Give us 28:55 to explain things

In this BBC radio documentary for the 50th anniversary of Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver, FRDH host Michael Goldfarb's look at New York as it was then , when Travis Bickle drove the night-shift, and as it is now.

In the maelstrom created by Trump's return to the presidency, events in Syria building to a crisis have gone unreported . Why? In this FRDH podcast, Carne Ross, former British diplomat who resigned over the Iraq War explains how Trump policies have yet again created a crisis -- this one involving the release of 100s, perhaps 1000s of ISIS jihadists from Syrian jails. He also talks about the threat to the remarkable experiment in local democracy the mainly Kurdish region of Syria has been conducting. Give Ross and FRDH host Michael Goldfarb 48:43 to explain to you.

2026 promises to be a year of peril and risk and the US attack on Venezuela is only just the beginning. Lingering conflicts in Ukraine, civil unrest in Iran and the US authoritarian turn combined with off the charts corruption of Trump regime makes the prospect of 2026 one to be treated with alarm. In this FRDH podcast, recorded as the news of the American operation in Venezuela to seize its president Nicolas Maduro broke. veteran geo-political risk analyst Michael Moran talks us through that event and other possible flash points that could convulse the world in 2026. Give us 55:55 to explain.

30 years after the Dayton Agreement ended the war in Bosnia are there lessons for ending the war in Ukraine? In this far-reaching and deeply personal podcast FRDH host Michael Goldfarb and documentary filmmaker Fiona Lloyd-Davies who has been reporting on and off from Bosnia since the start of the war in 1992, look back at the conflict, the diplomacy that stopped the killing, and discuss how the Ukraine war can reach a negotiated end. Give them 56 minutes to explore the increasingly forgotten history of the Bosnian War and its relevance for today.

Britain in 2025 is in the grip of a malaise that has no single focus. What is behind it? Things have been much worse economically and politically but the mood in the country is sour edging towards bitter. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb looks at the malaise and Britain's deep discontent with former BBC news presenter Robin Lustig. They discuss recent history, the effect the growing together of the MAGA movement and Britain's hard right in media and politics and can the BBC survive? Give them 50 minutes to explain what is -- and is not -- happening.

27 years after the Good Friday Agreement what is Northern Ireland like, how much conflict still exists? In this wide ranging conversation, Declan Lawn who grew up during the Troubles, became a BBC news reporter and now is the co-creator of the internationally popular series, Blue Lights, briefs Michael Goldfarb on where Northern Ireland is in its post-conflict phase. Lawn also explains how he works on Blue Lights, keeping the show authentic to its Belfast setting.

Across Western society, the hot topic of conversation is how young men -- boys, really -- seem lost, caught up in something called the manosphere where resentments are stoked against women and the existing political order. No wonder many of them vote for neo-fascists like Donald Trump. James Bloodworth, is a writer who practices immersive journalism. Bloodworth submerged himself in the manosphere beginning in 2018 and stayed in it for years. Now he has written a book called: Lost Boys: a Personal Journey Through the Manosphere. He talks to a very perplexed FRDH host Michael Goldfarb about the manosphere and those it ensnares and how easily it leads them to embrace a fascist world view.

Professor Brian Klaas , who has already written three books on the Trump epoch, wonders how America will make it to the midterms a year from now and what condition it will be in. Klaas, Professor of Global Politics at University College London and columnist for the Atlantic Magazine, and FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb discuss the current situation in America. Will the midterms be free and fair? Will the results be accepted by the MAGA Republican party? Will the midterms even be held? Give us 56:41 to talk it out.

After nearly two years of Israel's war of revenge in Gaza are there any lessons to be learned that might end the bloodshed? Professor Yehuda Halper thinks there are and in this FRDH podcast he shares them. The key is for Israeli Prime Minister to stop speaking about Israel as the new Sparta. After all, Sparta lost the battle of Thermopylae and left virtually no trace of its civilization. Plus other lessons from ancient Greece and Biblical history that modern Israelis and the global jewish diaspora would do well to remember. Give us 41:17 to explain.

Charlie Kirk was murdered in Utah and the best way to find out more about it is to talk to a journalist from Utah who has been on the frontline reporting on the event. In this FRDH podcast, Schott discusses the arraignment of Tyler Robinson, who has confessed to killing Kirk as well as the impact of the shooting in Utah and its Church of Latter Day Saints community. Give us 33:04 to explain it to you.

A summary of the mood of fear in Washington DC as August 2025 comes to an end. It is even worse than it was more than a decade ago when political scientist Norman Ornstein published (with co-author Thomas Mann) It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism. In this wide ranging conversation Ornstein and FRDH host Michael Goldfarb analyze the current situation, discuss whether the 2026 Midterm elections will be free and fair and what can be done right now to push back on the radical path Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to force America down. Give us 58:39 to explain.

Veteran journalist and author Ray Suarez has some thoughts on the intense campaign being waged by Donald Trump and his officials on America's Latino population. Nearly 60,000 allegedly illegal "criminal" immigrants were detained in less than five months since Trump took office, the overwhelming majority have no criminal record. Suarez explains to FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb how this has overwhelmed America's large and complex Latino community -- 65 million + strong -- and analyzes what the political fallout will be for Trump and his MAGA Republican Party in the future. Give us 43:41 to explain

The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution enshrines citizenship by birthright, but a combination of a SCOTUS decision endorsing Trump's executive order that has led to snatch-squads dragging mostly Hispanic immigrants to prison without due process calls the Amendment's survival into question. This conversation with Damon Silvers, law professor and veteran of many Capitol Hill crises, looks at all the ramifications of SCOTUS' 6-3 decision in Trump v CASA and casts a cool eye over the prospects for snatch-squad fascism becoming a way of life in the US. Like having a private tutorial for 34:38.

The US attack on Iran's nuclear sites June 21st brings to mind the last of Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous unknowns at the start of the Iraq War the "unknown unknowns" aka blowback. What is it possible to know about what will happen next, or is everything an unknown? In this hour-long FRDH podcast special, recorded the day after the US joined Israel in a war on Iran, Professor Roxane Farmanfarmaian of the University of Cambridge, and Ned Temko, a columnist for the Christian Science Monitor. who have been writing about Iran since the Iranian revolution in 1979 parse through what might happen next and what the blowback will be.

We are in an age of authoritarian democracy, and Turkey and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is its paradigm. Erdogan has been in power more than 2 decades and created the template men like Victor Orban and Bibi Netanyahu have been followingin using democracy's tools to become authoritarian leaders. And now there's Donald Trump. Veteran journalist Andrew Finkel who has been reporting from the country for decades explains the process. You can hear parallels to what is unfolding in the US. Give us 39:30 to explain.

Does Donald Trump have a rhyme or reason for starting the 21st century's first major trade war? The Financial Times' Martin Sandbu isn't sure but he has some ideas and also helpful hints about how to interpret Trump's "deals" that aren't anything of the sort. He gives FRDH podcast host a 44 minute long tutorial in the rhyme and reason behind Trump's actions and how the rest of the world is likely to react.

All over the world people are on the move, fleeing from war and environmental catastrophe caused by climate change. Many take insane risks to reach Britain in hope of safety and a chance at a better life. Author Horatio Clare has written about this migration in We Came By Sea: Stories of a Greater Britain. In the book, Clare goes to the human stories beyond the headlines on the migration "crisis" to write about the human beings trying to get in and the surprisingly large number of Britons who do their best for them when they finally struggle ashore. In this FRDH podcast he talks about why the world is on the move and how the press and government are failing to explain to people what is really happening. Give us 46:49 to explain.

America is in the midst of a constitutional crisis with a President who clearly wants to be king no matter what the Constitution says and ironically the constitution says nothing about what to do in this kind of crisis. Dr. Helen Castor, medieval historian, sees in America's current situation echoes of a constitutional crisis six hundred years ago in England when King Richard the Second put himself above the law and defied anyone to do anything about it. Give us 44:43 to explain it to you.

In this FRDH podcast first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, host Michael Goldfarb looks at the history of NATO since its founding in 1949 and asks Now What? Can NATO survive the second coming of the Trump regime. Using archive sound and interviews with former NATO ambassadors and national security and defense experts he tells the Alliance's story, goes on patrol with American soldiers on a NATO mission in the Balkans and looks at whether European nations will ever be able to breakaway from US dominance of the organization. A long listen.

China: now what? Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on China but even before that news the country was watching and waiting for the US to make mistakes in the international arena. What happens now that Trump has made so many in such a short time? What is the China of today compared to ten, twenty or even thirty years ago? In this FRDH podcast, Mary Kay Magistad, who lived in China and southeast for more than twenty years as a public radio journalist provides deeper perspective on the country and next few years of competition between it and the United States. Give us 50 minutes to talk it out.

The last week has seen the dramatic beginning of a new historical era based on a US and Russia alliance. Donald Trump has thrown in with Vladimir Putin and thrown Ukraine and 80 years of the Transatlantic Alliance under a bus. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb speaks with Charles Hecker, who has lived an worked in Moscow for the last thirty years. His new book Zero Sum looks at the lessons learned -- and not learned by Western businessmen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They also talk about what ithis new era might mean for the future of global democracy with the US clearly taking giant steps towards embracing the autocratic ruler of Russia.

As the 250th anniversary of the start of the American revolution approaches and with America in crisis it's time to return to the Founders' Words. In the first of an occasional feature, FRDH podcast host reads through Tom Paine's pamphlet Common Sense for words of wisdom to help guide people through Trump and Musk's destructive takeover of the American government. You should listen because as Paine wrote 250 years ago, "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."

The mourner's Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for the dead. In this program, originally broadcast on the BBC World Service, he looks at the origins of Kaddish, its changing use over the years and into the present and discusses saying Kaddish for Jewish dead at Auschwitz on the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation.

The cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris nearly burned to the ground five years ago, now, fully restored it is about to re-open. It is a remarkable rebirth. Agnes Poirier, native Parisienne, journalis and author of Notre Dame: the Soul of France, talks to FRDH host Michael Goldfarb about the fire, the restoration and the deep meaning of the cathedral being re-born for contemporary France. Give them 30:34 to tell you about it.

Since November 5th, 2024 the question on many lips is, So now what?, and the Financial Times' Edward Luce has some thoughts on Trump's second term, aka the Revenge Tour. Trump has promised retribution, will he follow through? In this wide-ranging conversation Luce and FRDH host Michael Goldfarb look at his cabinet appointments, his courtiers, and the likely trajectory of American history in the next four years and global history for the next century. Give us 38:56 to explain.

How do you price the political risk of the second Trump term and America's imperial decline from democracy to autocracy? In this podcast, Michael Moran, veteran foreign correspondent turned political risk consultant, takes a realistic look at what the second Trump term will mean for America's relations with the world. He also discusses the greatest source of instability and risk at the present moment. Give us 45 minutes to explain.

Georgia will be as important to Election 2024 as it was in 2020 when Donald Trump accused official of rigging the vote. This laid the foundation for his mendacious and deadly claim that the vote was stolen. IN this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb speaks with University of Georgia professor of History James Cobb about the state's inglorious tradition of using rules to thwart the will of the people.

The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is not the beginning of the end for the terror group. That's the view of journalist Mitchell Prothero, who has spent much of the last two decades covering the Middle East based in Beirut. In this FRDH podcast he provides a turorial on the beginnings of Hezbollah, the end of its leader, and why this will not stop the group from continuing to be a threat to Israel.

"We’ll Always have Paris," Rick tells Elsa in Casablanca but what happens when the place where you knew love is lost and with it the language you have to express that feeling? Author Scott Carpenter learned the answer when his wife, Anne, was diagnosed with dementia. In this FRDH podcast he talks about his new book which with great good humor and insight looks at why people fall in love with the city (and fall in love in it), what happens when memories of the place disappear, and how to rebuild a life after great tragedy. Give us 41:43 to tell you about it. It's almost -- but not quite -- like going to Paris for the weekend.

The fact that the Gaza War caused by the pogrom of October 7th is still going on underlines the absence of truth in the search for peace. Telling the truth about what peace will really mean and the compromises on both sides needed to end war, is something very few people are willing to do. Brown University professor Omer Bartov is one of the truth tellers on the Israeli side. A veteran of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and a renowned scholar of the Germany Army's role in the Holocaust, in this FRDH podcast Bartov speaks truth about his native country and its futile quest for security by violent occupation. Give us 53:35 to explore what Hamas's October 7th outrage has revealed about the truth of Israeli politics and society.

The world is waiting for the next round in the Iran, Israel conflict: will it be all out war or ritual -- and ineffectual -- retaliation for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran July 31st? In this FRDH podcast two veteran Middle East reporters, Liz Sly, former Middle East Bureau Chief of the Washington Post and Catherine Philp, World Affairs Editor of the Times, discuss the current situation, which way the conflict is heading and how it will affect people in Israel and, if it is all out war, Lebanon, home to Iran's proxy army, Hezbollah.

Anti-Semitism in places without Jews is a strange historical phenomenon in Poland where most of the deaths in the Holocaust took place. It is a tale of History vs Nationalism the story of how Poles deal with the Holocaust. In this FRDH podcast Professor Jan Grabowski, author of, Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland, and host Michael Goldfarb explore anti-Semitism without Jews in the country where before the war more than 3 million Jews lived and where today the Jewish population is a mere four thousand.

The SCOTUS decision on Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity in the various indictments against him for the January 6th events has ramifications not just in American but also international law. In this podcast, noted human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, author of the award-winning best seller East West Street looks at how the concept of "absolute immunity" outlined in the decision works in relation to laws enacted to punish crimes against humanity and genocide. Give us 35 minutes to explain.

2024 was always going to be a year of elections globally but not in France, now President Emanuel Macron has taken a huge gamble and called a snap general election for the French parliament. Why did Macron risk the final three years of his presidency? What are the chances of his big gamble paying off? Author Agnes Poirier and former BBC present Gavin Esler look at France, the EU elections and Britain's upcoming general election and try to figure out Macron's odds.

The last week of May 2024 in Anglo-American politics saw a verdict in the trial of Donald J Trump and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have his electoral parade rained on. In these surreal times FRDH turns to Robin Lustig to calmly, rationally analyze the verdict in the Trump Trial and the curious local disinterest in the UK's elections.

The US Supreme Court is considering what Presidential immunity means in 2024 in the case of Donald J. Trump. In this wide-ranging conversation with constitutional law professor Frank Bowman FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb discusses the case, its merits, where political considerations enter Supreme Court discussions and whether Trump is just another guy, in the legal sense.

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has expanded as Hamas’s overseers Iran entered the fray with a massive launch of airborne ordnance at Israel. The internet is alive with fevered speculation that the Iran-Israel confrontation will touch off World War 3. In this FRDH podcast Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations provides a calm analysis of the situation.

The Ukraine war is now in year 3 and its people still want to fight. Why? We are witnessing the birth of a political nation. In this conversation with journalist and author Vladislav Davidzon who has lived in Ukraine on and off for the last 14 years, FRDH podcast host Michael Goldfarb looks at the tensions attending this birth to find the explanation for why, after 3 years of bloody, destructive conflict Ukrainians still fight.

Brian Klaas on why everything we do matters and nothing is really a fluke. Klaas is a political scientist specializing in the study of corruption and how authoritarian's gain power but in Fluke he turns his mind to what isn't random in our world even if it seems like it. A fast paced far reaching 43 minute long conversation.

2023 was marked by two terrible wars of disproportion in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine and Channel 4 News's International Editor Lindsey Hilsum spent most of the year on one frontline or the other. In this FRDH podcast she talks with host Michael Goldfarb about what she learned covering Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza and Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion. Hilsum learned a lot particularly covering Israel's war with Hamas. Give us 45 minutes to tell you about it.

Britain in 2023 is a country where much has gone wrong and it is not a happy place. Gavin Esler, former BBC news presenter, has noticed and written a book, Britain is Better Than This, about how so much went wrong. In this FRDH podcast he explains why to host Michael Goldfarb.

On the sixtieth anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination, two people who lived through that day share their memories of Kennedy's assassination and the days and decade that followed. FRDH host Michael Goldfarb talks with Richard Parker, former professor at Harvard, and co-founder of Mother Jones magazine about what might have been had JFK lived and the meanning of the President's assassination today.

As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, what are the prospects of the conflict spreading to Lebanon, Iran and the entire Middle East region? A special FRDH podcast with Kim Ghattas in Beirut and Robin Lustig, who has reported from the region for forty years. Give us an hour to explore how Hamas's October 7th sneak attack has changed the calculus in Lebanon and Iran and where the crisis might be headed.

The war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023 with a terror attack that killed 1400 Israelis and now the world is waiting for the next phase, an expected israeli invasion of Gaza. In the lull before the assault begins FRDH host Michael Goldfarb speaks with two veteran journalists who have been living the story and reporting on it for nearly 50 years. What can be done and how far will Israel be allowed to go by the US in its aim of eradicating Hamas? What are the prospects for gettting nearly 200 Israelis held hostage by Hamas safely returned?

In a world of conspiracy theories presented as facts in new media how can you be sure of what you know? In this FRDH podcast Dr. Matthew Sweet, cultural historian and BBC presenter who has spent more time than you or I investigating this murky world, explains how knowledge is intentionally corrupted by conspiracy friendly media and why people embrace these ideas.

A half-century after the Chilean coup of 1973 an eyewitness and participant in that traumatic history remembers. Marc Cooper, then an American in his early twenties, was the President of Chile Salvador Allende's translator. In this podcast he remembers what he saw before, during and after the coup; his narrow escape; and the US role in Allende's overthrow. Eyewitness testimony on an important but neglected moment in history.