Danny and Derek unpack the week’s global news, from Iran, Syria, and the DRC to Saudi Arabia, Russia, US-Canada trade, and deep-sea mining.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls on reporters after announcing a new set of sanctions against Iran on August 24, 2026, in Washington, DC.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
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American Prestige brand MREs use Argentinian beef, but don't worry, it's the good kind. In this week’s news: the US launches a new sanctions campaign against Iran (1:35); Iran and Oman negotiate the management of the Strait of Hormuz (5:49); a Haitian gang killing (9:20); the Israeli government takes bids for its E1 settlement (11:52); the US removes Syria from the terrorism sponsors list (14:30); the Syrian Democratic Forces announces its dissolution (15:43); Trump submits the Saudi nuclear deal to Congress (18:31); progress is made in negotiations between the DRC and M23 (23:46); the Ebola outbreak in the DRC continues to expand (26:26); the CIA director visits Russia (28:07); US-Canada trade talks collapse (31:10); and the United States prepares a deep sea mining auction around overseas territories (35:35).
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American Prestige–brand MREs use Argentinian beef, but don’t worry—it’s the good kind. In this week’s news: The US launches a new sanctions campaign against Iran (1:35); Iran and Oman negotiate the management of the Strait of Hormuz (5:49); a Haitian gang kills 47 (9:20); the Israeli government takes bids for its E1 settlement (11:52); the US removes Syria from the terrorism sponsors list (14:30); the Syrian Democratic Forces announces its dissolution (15:43); Trump submits the Saudi nuclear deal to Congress (18:31); progress is made in negotiations between the DRC and M23 (23:46); the Ebola outbreak in the DRC continues to expand (26:26); the CIA director visits Russia (28:07); US-Canada trade talks collapse (31:10); and the United States prepares a deep-sea mining auction around overseas territories (35:35).
Don’t forget Derek’s Substack, Foreign Exchanges.
Enjoy Danny’s new Substack, Imperialist Realism.
Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/subscribe.
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Derek has returned, but he keeps trying to get Danny to go to some seminar led by a charismatic “mentor” he encountered in his travels. In this week’s news: war breaks out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region (0:43); Flavio Bolsonaro wins the first round of Brazil’s presidential election as the right makes major gains (6:46); in Yemen, the government’s counteroffensive against Ansar Allah stalls (9:51), the group attacks airports in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (12:40), and Saudi Arabia seeks outside military support (13:42); the U.S. prepares to resume its war against Iran as the Islamic Republic intensifies attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz (17:44); in Japan, a U.S. Marine’s arrest for alleged murder sparks protests against the American military presence on Okinawa (22:18); Sudan’s military advances in North Kordofan (25:20) and Sudanese military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejects peace talks (28:06); in Mali, Tuareg rebels withdraw from Kidal as government forces retake the town (29:54); the U.S. and the WHO seek information about suspected plague cases at a Russian lab (29:54); Russian attacks across Ukraine kill at least 25 (32:57); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls a snap election (35:00); the U.S. bombs another alleged drug boat in the Caribbean (37:12); and Trump creates a new AI task force called the Super Intelligence Force (38:12).
Note: Since recording, Trump has said that the U.S. will not attack Iran before the November midterm elections.
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Daniel BessnerTwitterDaniel Bessner is a historian of US foreign relations and is the author of, among other books, Imperialist Realism.
Derek DavisonDerek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.