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Nov 13, 2026 · 24:32
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Friday, November 13, 2026, Istanbul The dramatic US midterm election results obscured news of…
Nov 13, 2026 · 54:12
Friday, November 6, 2026, Istanbul Nearly two years after rebels swept through Syria, seized control of Damascus, and ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, the country remains a…
Nov 12, 2026 · 22:23
Thursday, November 12, 2026, Istanbul US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a corrupt oligarch who seems far more engaged with destroying the Iranian economy than repairing the…
Nov 11, 2026 · 37:34
Wednesday, November 11, 2026, Istanbul House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his enforcers are menacing incoming Democratic Party members of congress with threats of…
Nov 10, 2026 · 22:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Tuesday, November 10, 2026, Istanbul Scholar Assal Rad joins badlands host Borzou Daragahi for…
Nov 9, 2026 · 43:30
Monday, November 9, 2026, Istanbul Liberals and progressives were clinking their champagne glasses in celebration after their resounding victory over their Republicans. But in…
Nov 5, 2026 · 30:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Thursday, November 5, 2026, Istanbul Alireza Nader is a former Rand Corporation researcher who…
Nov 4, 2026 · 58:43
Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Istanbul It is election day in the US, even as millions of Americans have already voted because via mail or at pre-election voting centers designed to…
Nov 4, 2026 · 37:18
Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Istanbul In the end, it was even worse for Republicans than the polls predicted. Democrats have seized control of the Senate and House, and the…
Nov 2, 2026 · 39:39
Monday, November 2, 2026, Istanbul Iran’s Supreme Leader has promised to retaliate without any geographic limitations if the US and Israel attack the country. Diplomatic efforts…
Oct 30, 2026 · 47:55
Friday, October 23, 2026, Costa del Sol, Spain Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently described long lines at gas stations inside Iran, while news accounts from the West said…
Oct 30, 2026 · 1:01:40
Friday, October 30, 2026, Paris For years, journalist Leonid Ragozin has tracked the far right across eastern Europe, reporting on fascist and neo-Nazi movements in Russia,…
Oct 29, 2026 · 46:08
Thursday, October 29, 2026, Paris Days before the US midterm elections, Donald Trump seemingly mocked the struggles of ordinary Americans and boasted about how wealthy he is and…
Oct 28, 2026 · 30:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Paris Just a few months ago, it looked as though Saudi Arabia would…
Oct 27, 2026 · 28:35
Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Paris Two Trumpian, MAGA-backed rightwing stalwarts were defeated in recent days in major elections. Serbia’s incumbent Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic…
Oct 26, 2026 · 32:09
Monday, October 26, 2026, Paris A shocking act of violence in a western suburb Paris has further rattled France amid ongoing protests and calls for a general strike. In the…
Oct 23, 2026 · 1:06:14
Friday, October 16, 2026, Paris The war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Ansar Allah has escalated dramatically, undermining the Arabian Peninsula’s financial aspirations and…
Oct 22, 2026 · 21:26
Thursday, October 22, 2026, Gibraltar Right now Gibraltar is known mostly as a sunny getaway for UK pensioners, a British enclave on the Iberian Peninsula with ye olde charm and…
Oct 22, 2026 · 52:19
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Paris Why is the US buying diesel fuel from Russia while supporting Ukraine? Why is the Saudi Arabia hiding images of the damage being inflicted by…
Oct 21, 2026 · 30:52
Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Costa del Sol, Spain The war between Yemen’s Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia continues to rage, with the city of Taiz under siege and dozens of recruits…
Oct 21, 2026 · 1:06:59
Friday, October 9, 2026, Paris Iran continues to execute political dissidents at an unprecedented rate, flouting its laws and international standards in applying the death…
Oct 20, 2026 · 22:17
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, Costa del Sol, Spain Marco Rubio recently gave an interview to the rightwing Breitbart News prompted by his October 7 speech in Athens about the…
Oct 20, 2026 · 52:20
Thursday, October 8, 2026, Paris Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to convince Gulf countries to join the effort to counter Russia’s invasion of his…
Oct 19, 2026 · 21:30
Monday, October 19, 2026, Costa del Sol, Spain A team of Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers sneaks into Las Vegas, competing at the World Championship without drawing any major media…
Oct 19, 2026 · 1:03:46
Friday, October 2, 2026, Istanbul For more than a decade, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has undertaken effort to transform Saudi Arabia from a staid welfare state largely…
Oct 15, 2026 · 25:09
Thursday, October 15, 2026, Paris It appears that Donald Trump is about to face some measure of accountability—or at least comeuppance—for his actions. His party seems set to be…
Oct 14, 2026 · 38:23
Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Paris We’re on the precipice of a major escalation in the Middle East, drawing in numerous regional countries and global powers. In the latest…
Oct 12, 2026 · 33:20
Monday, October 12, 2026, Paris Stu dent protests continue to expand across Europe, shaking France, Spain, and Belgium and revealing the underlying crises that threaten public…
Oct 11, 2026 · 49:02
Thursday, October 1, 2026, Istanbul Tehran tech entrepreneur Hamidreza Ahmadi joins badlands from Tehran to discuss the state of the economy inside Iran. He describes enormous…
Oct 7, 2026 · 23:38
Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Paris Α messy divorce case in Germany led to the discovery of evidence that the country’s former intelligence chief is was allegedly providing state…
Oct 5, 2026 · 33:48
Monday, October 5, 2026, Paris As if the Middle East didn’t have enough troubles, as if energy markets weren’t already constrained, Saudi Arabia declared a fresh military…
Oct 4, 2026 · 55:04
Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Istanbul More and more oil is getting out of the Strait of Hormuz, helping the Trump administration bolster its argument is “winning” its conflict…
Sep 30, 2026 · 50:04
Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Istanbul Most normal people would be relieved when a reports of a possible terrorist attack turns out to be a false alarm. Not so the neocons and…
Sep 28, 2026 · 35:15
Monday, September 28, 2026, Istanbul Turkey is being rocked by one of the worst financial scandals in its history, with some estimated that $19 billion in investor assets have…
Sep 27, 2026 · 50:36
Thursday, September 24, 2026, Istanbul Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that the Middle East will not be safe so…
Sep 25, 2026 · 41:58
Friday, September 25, 2026, Istanbul America has long had adversaries, but it has also communicated with those adversaries. It staffed its embassy in Nazi Germany well into the…
Sep 25, 2026 · 39:41
Tuesday, August 25, 2026, Istanbul US Secretary of State Scott Bessent launched the Trump administration’s “D-Day” sanctions on Iran to much fanfare. In the latest edition of…
Sep 23, 2026 · 54:23
Monday, August 24, 2026, Istanbul After full-throttled war and half-hearted diplomacy, the administration of Donald Trump has settled on sanctions as away of achieving its goals…
Sep 23, 2026 · 21:36
Wednesday, September 23, 2026, Istanbul Donald Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly was filled with lies and bluster. It was in part a campaign speech ahead of…
Sep 22, 2026 · 28:05
Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Istanbul The war between Ukraine and Russia appears locked in a deadly stalemate with few signs of either side gaining major ground. In the latest…
Sep 21, 2026 · 52:02
Monday, September 21, 2026, Istanbul The US is signaling that it could once again escalate its war with Iran, prompted in part by advances by Tehran’s Yemeni allies against Saudi…
Sep 18, 2026 · 46:24
Friday, September 18, 2026, Istanbul America under Donald Trump has become a darker, scarier place. In this edition of badlands, College of DuPage professor David Goldberg joins…
Sep 17, 2026 · 17:44
Thursday, September 17, 2026, Istanbul Several leaks reported in media in recent days showcased just how badly the US has been lying about the impact of the war, and Iran’s…
Sep 16, 2026 · 54:34
Wednesday, September 16, 2026, Istanbul Unintended consequences of the US decision to attack Iran now include the destabilization of the Syrian government as well as crises in…
Sep 14, 2026 · 30:58
Monday, September 14, 2026, Istanbul Yemen’s Ansar Allah seized control over huge swaths of the country, defeating Saudi-backed forces in an extraordinary offensive that appears…
Sep 11, 2026 · 25:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Friday, September 11, 2026, Istanbul It was 25 years ago today that I watched from the Brooklyn…
Sep 10, 2026 · 26:03
Thursday, September 10, 2026, Istanbul For months the US claimed that its war against Iran was a success because it had “degraded” Iran’s military and nuclear program But recent…
Sep 9, 2026 · 26:40
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Istanbul Iran launched dozens of ballistic missiles against US…
Sep 8, 2026 · 34:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Istanbul Canada is finally standing up to America’s abuses and the…
Sep 7, 2026 · 33:33
Monday, September 7, 2026, Istanbul An article in Israel’s Jerusalem Post last week made waves for a provocative suggestion to boost military recruitment numbers to fight the…
Sep 4, 2026 · 26:30
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Friday, September 4, 2026, Istanbul It’s not just Iran and Cuba. The US seems to be waging wars…
Sep 3, 2026 · 23:30
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Thursday, September 3, 2026, Istanbul The US has yet to overcome its hubris about its own…
Sep 2, 2026 · 34:38
Wednesday, September 2, 2026, Istanbul The war between Iran and the US continued to escalate, with the countries trading blows for the sceond day in a row. At least four Iranian…
Sep 1, 2026 · 15:49
Tuesday, September 1, 2026, Istanbul The US appears to be floating the notion that it could manage the crisis in Iran and the Persian Gulf by adopting the Israeli strategy of…
Aug 31, 2026 · 29:14
Monday, August 31, 2026, Istanbul The US claimed it launched attacks on two missile launchers preparing to attack Persian Gulf shipping on Iran’s Larak Island. Iran says two…
Aug 28, 2026 · 45:36
Thursday, August 6, 2026, Chicago Israel continues to hammer away at Lebanon and occupy much of the country’s south, even as the US and Iran appear to be heading toward another…
Aug 28, 2026 · 27:18
Friday, August 28, 2026, Istanbul It’s the six-month anniversary of the Iran war, and the conflict shows no sign of ending soon, even as fighting has momentarily calmed down. It…
Aug 27, 2026 · 46:07
Thursday, August 27, 2026, Istanbul An extraordinary series of images published by Tanker Trackers showed the ship-to-ship transfers being used by the US to get oil across the…
Aug 26, 2026 · 26:18
Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Istanbul Both US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Iran Parliament acknowledged that the US is treading on fragile economic ice with bond yields…
Aug 22, 2026 · 45:14
Tuesday, July 21, 2026, Chicago In the latest edition of badlands, Libya expert Anas el-Gomati and I examine our sympathy for the 2011 uprising that toppled ruler Muammer Gaddafi…
Aug 21, 2026 · 1:02:00
Friday, August 21, 2026, Paris The US has begun to unveil the next phase in its campaign agaisnt Iran, and it looks a bit like previous attempts to pressure the country. US…
Aug 20, 2026 · 34:01
Thursday, August 20, 2026, Paris The New York Times this week published a well-reported piece about how Israel is destroying the economy of the West Bank. In the latest edition…
Aug 19, 2026 · 45:53
Wednesday, August 19, 2026, Paris Iran has been warning for months that it plans to escalate its war against the US unless the Americans take steps that include freezing its…
Aug 18, 2026 · 59:25
Donald Trump plumbs new depths of dishonor and disloyalty by threatening to bomb one ally while throwing another to the nuclear-armed wolves. In the latest episode of badlands, I…
Aug 17, 2026 · 29:43
Monday, August 17, 2026, Paris Lots of threats and bluster by Iranian officials over the weekend, including a warning that Iran would “cut off the legs” of Donald Trump, who…
Aug 14, 2026 · 32:34
Friday, August 15, 2026, Paris One kidnapped innocent people and forced them into concentration camps. Another aired a forced confession live on television. Yet another stole…
Aug 13, 2026 · 20:01
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Thursday, August 13, 2026, Paris Foreign policy podcaster and former US Department of Defense…
Aug 12, 2026 · 16:24
Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Paris Recent comments by US President Donald Trump on Iran show how stuck he is in his Iran failures. In the latest episode of badlands, host Borzou…
Aug 11, 2026 · 12:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, Paris A Syrian court just sentenced former dictator Bashar al-Assad to…
Aug 10, 2026 · 28:23
Monday, August 10, 2026, Paris American defeat over Iran can lead to a smarter, less militaristic, and ultimately more succesful US. Meanwhile, an Islamic Republic victory could…
Aug 8, 2026 · 15:15
Friday, August 7, 2026, Chicago Two major developments in the Middle East this week. The US appears poised to hand over control of the Strait of Hormuz over to the Iranians, even…
Aug 5, 2026 · 23:36
Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Chicago Progressives and sane people celebrated an imporant victory for Senate candidate Abdul el-Sayed, who defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens in…
Aug 5, 2026 · 32:03
Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Chicago It’s not just the Israel lobby. It also the defense lobby. And the insurance, gun, banking, law, pharamaceutical, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates…
Aug 3, 2026 · 30:55
Monday, August 3, 2026, Chicago Donald Trump backed off again from his latest threat to launch a major campaign against Iran, citing a fresh breakthrough in talks between Iran…
Jul 31, 2026 · 26:01
Friday, July 31, 2026, Boston The war continues to escalate as neocons demand the US commit more war crimes. In the latest episode of badlands, I discuss the latest atrocity in…
Jul 30, 2026 · 20:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Thursday, July 30, 2026, Boston Author and intellectual Robin Yassin-Kassab tells badlands the…
Jul 29, 2026 · 23:53
Wednesday, July 29, 2026, Chicago Iranians authorities publicly executed two young men early Tuesday in the city of Isfahan. Abolfazl Sepahi and Amirhossein Safari were…
Jul 27, 2026 · 23:31
Monday, July 27, 2026, Chicago Newly released video excerpts from a documentary movie show the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham giddy about goading the US into a war…
Jul 24, 2026 · 20:00
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit borzou.substack.com Friday, July 24, 2026, Chicago Scholar Nahid Siamdoust joins badlands to disuss her new article…
Jul 23, 2026 · 21:56
Thursday, July 22, 2026, Chicago In the latest edition of badlands, I discuss the Yemeni Houthi’s attacks on Saudi ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, American attacks on…
Jul 22, 2026 · 36:14
Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Istanbul In this edition of badlands, I speak with Chicago-area college professor and activist David Goldberg about rightwing streamer Nicholas J.…
Jul 20, 2026 · 24:49
Monday, July 20, 2026, Chicago The US military completed a ninth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, and Iran reciprocated with missile and drone strikes of its own over the…
Jul 19, 2026 · 46:52
Wednesday, July 15, 2026, Chicago Israel’s wars in Gaza, the West Bank, Iran, and Lebanon have led to ambiguous military outcomes but undoubtedly increased the isolation of the…
Jul 18, 2026 · 32:13
Friday, July 17, 2026, Chicago As the Iran war escalates, Donald Trump rehashes his nonsensical election conspiracy theories. The Democrats come out strongly opposed to the war,…
Jul 16, 2026 · 54:26
Thursday, July 16, 2026, Chicago Libya has often been described as yet another US-led Middle East regime change operations that led to catastrophic results for its people and for…
Jul 14, 2026 · 30:55
Tuesday, July 14, 2026, Chicago US President Donald Trump plans to re-impose the blockade on Iranian ships transiting the Persian Gulf. As for other ships, he claims that not…
Jul 13, 2026 · 36:13
Monday, July 13, 2026, Chicago The US and Iran hammered away at each other over the weekend, with Tehran effectively imposing a closure on the Strait of Hormuz and Washington all…
Jul 10, 2026 · 51:40
Friday, July 10, 2026, Istanbul Israel continues to occupy a huge swath of Lebanon, attacking Lebanese civilians in horrific atrocities taking place regularly. In the latest…
Jul 10, 2026 · 43:04
Thursday, July 9, 2026, Paris Overnight attacks between the US and Iran continued for a second day, with reports that Donald Trump pushed the envelope by hitting two railroad…
Jul 8, 2026 · 20:32
Wednesday, July 8, 2026, Paris The US and Iran traded major military strikes overnight in the most serious threat to the framework ceasefire deal signed last month so far. The…
Jul 7, 2026 · 30:03
Tuesday, July 7, 2026, Paris Is the oil shock finished? Not really. Energy analyst Robin Mills joins the latest edition of badlands for an interview on whether the tentative…
Jul 6, 2026 · 21:56
Monday, July 6, 2026, Paris Millions of people are taking part in ceremonies marking the Feb. 28 death of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, a confounding historical…
Jul 3, 2026 · 57:20
(Photo: AI-generated image posted online to intimidate Trita Parsi).) Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Istanbul Trita Parsi has been among the most measured and well-informed experts on…
Jul 2, 2026 · 18:19
Thursday, July 2, 2026, Istanbul In an interview with Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire network, Vice President JD Vance strongly suggested that the US was playing Iran, replenishing…
Jul 1, 2026 · 26:28
Wednesday, July 1, 2026, Istanbul Israel recently began taking steps to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the horrific massacre of Armenian people at the hands of Ottoman Turks…
Jun 30, 2026 · 44:53
Monday, June 29, 2026, Istanbul Iran was booted from the World Cup, failing to advance to the knockout round after a controversial referee call and a heartbreaking game for…
Jun 30, 2026 · 25:22
The US managed to get Lebanon and Israel to sign on to a peace deal that key constituencies reject. The country’s parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri along with Hezbollah have…
Jun 26, 2026 · 37:39
Friday, June 26, 2026, Istanbul On Thursday, Iran attacked a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, violating a provision of the memorandum of understanding it signed with Iran.…
Jun 25, 2026 · 20:31
Thursday, June 25, 2026, Istanbul Even as Marco Rubio attempts to keep America’s Gulf clients in line, some of them are already finding their own way. In today’s podcast I…
Jun 24, 2026 · 22:04
Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Istanbul Donald Trump keeps making claims about Iran’s agreement to compromise on its nuclear program that Iran keeps swatting down. To make matters…
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