BACK STORY WITH DANA LEWIS

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story Host Dana Lewis talks to Alexander Vindman, the former Lt. Col. who testified against former President Trump, in his House impeachment.  Vindman talks of Trumps corrupt White House, the insurrection at the Capitol, and even Ukraine and Russia, predicting war is likely in Europe because Putin will likely not be deterred by President Bidens warnings of economic sa...

Send us Fan Mail This week President Biden is said to have told Russia leader Vladimir Putin that the U.S. is prepared to use "nuclear economic sanctions" if Russia invades Ukraine further.  Do sanctions work?  And what are these sanctions Biden says have never been used? On Back Story Host Dana Lewis talks to former U.S. Treasury expert Brian O'Toole, now with the Atlantic Council,...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story understanding the Russia conflict with Ukraine, as Russian troops appear ready to mount a large scale attack on Ukraine, again.  Host Dana Lewis talks to International  Crisis Group’s Program Director for Europe and Central Asia, Olga Oliker who says if the fighting starts NATO be drawn into a conflict with Russia as one or more of its members support Ukraine.  ...

Send us Fan Mail 27 people died this week trying to cross the English Channel from France to England.  The British Government showed little sympathy, and blamed France for not doing more to stop the refugees from making a perilous crossing. France said it's stopped 20 thousand people already this year and cancelled a high level meeting with the British Gov't in protest. France says Brita...

Send us Fan Mail This week a House Republican law maker was censured for releasing a video animation of a murder of a fellow  lawmaker, and promoting violence against other Democrats including the U.S. President.  A defiant (R)Paul Gosar reacted by reposting the offensive video.   A couple of days earlierTrump advisor Steve Bannon was brought before the courts on contempt charges, for refusing to...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story Host Dana Lewis talks to Project Dynamo organizer Bryan Stern.  This is a volunteer/charity mission to rescue those left behind in Afghanistan. And, Belarus is trying to use migrants as a weapon against Europe say Western leaders, and Russian President Putin may be behind it all.  I talk to the former Foreign Minister of Lithuania on a deepening crisis. Support...

Send us Fan Mail A mixed podcast this week as we tackle some of the biggest International Stories of the week. On Climate and the summit in Glasgow COP26, we speak to UCL's Professor Mark Maslin. The bloody attack on a Kabul, Afghanistan hospital has Western counter terror experts trying to navigate threats from ISIS-K while avoiding working with the Taliban. We speak to the Soufan's Col...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story as the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow is expected to fail to deliver real climate temperature targets to save the planet. The looming climate catastrophe changes the discussion in security circles as Intelligence agencies and even armies have to anticipate unrest and disruption and even war over climate issues. Environmental disasters will pit nations again...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story the murder of British Member of Parliament David Amess, who was stabbed to death while meeting local constituents in a local church.  The man, now charged with murder, has connections to islamic extremism and is being investigated by anti terror police. How much of this murder is linked to angry public discourse on the internet and elsewhere?  It is the second m...

Send us Fan Mail The 8 year war with Russia in Eastern Ukraine appears to be getting worse.  On this Back Story American Acting Ambassador to the OSCE Mission, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires  Courtney Austrian describes how Russia daily violates the cease fire while pretending to monitor it.  And, in part two 'Cold War Correspondents' a book by Dina Fainberg, on Correspondents- Soviet and Americ...

Send us Fan Mail This week a former facebook employee gave compelling testimony to a Senate Committee charging Facebooks "advertising-based business model needs to keep people on its platforms for as long as possible, and the company exploits negative emotions to achieve that". On this Back Story will the revelations achieve change at Facebook and Instagram or are the hurdles to great to...

Send us Fan Mail In this Back Story Host Dana Lewis talks to Uk Rear Admiral (Ret) John Gower who warns nuclear proliferation is a by product of the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between the U.S., U.K. and Australia. And in Part 2  - the UN has been warned the global supply chain is threatened bringing us shortages of goods, and increased prices for just about everything.  An interview with  Patrik...

Send us Fan Mail On this BACK STORY host Dana Lewis talks to Rose Gottemoeller, who as a former Deputy Head of NATO and former Chief negotiator  of the New START  nuclear arms Treaty with Russia, says American President Joe Biden must rethink a deal which cuts out France and gives highly enriched uranium in nuclear powered submarines to Australia.  And in part two, we speak to Paul Niland of Lifel...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story Dana Lewis talks to former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander, who is demanding the International Community treat Pakistan as an invasion force. And alarm bells are ringing in a new report on Global Warming. We discuss alarming predictions of disappearing crops and climate change disasters, with UCL's Prof. Ilan Kelman. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail With kids going back to school, big decisions are being made on vaccines for under 16 yr olds.   A British Government vaccine advisory board has refused to recommend vaccines for 12 to 15 yr olds, while in the U.S. and Israel and elsewhere vaccines are being given to children. On this Back Story host Dana Lewis talks to Prof. of  Health Paul Hunter from U.K.'s Exeter Univ., w...

Send us Fan Mail In this Back Story both Host Dana Lewis and his guest, Journalist Peter Baker were among the first to cross into Afghanistan after 9/11, 20 years ago. And three U.S. army vets talk about the mission, coming home, and how the collapse of Afghanistan is effecting those who fought the war, more than 800 thousand Americans. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Afghanistan is in tatters.  The Taliban have taken over and the Government and the Afghan Army is no more.  They ran in the face of an America withdrawal many now say was ill timed and ill advised. On this Back Story with Dana Lewis, Ret. Lt. General Ben Hodges who says Pakistan was pulling the Taliban strings and pretended to be an American ally. And Pashtani Durani who ran an ai...

Send us Fan Mail Bagram air base looted? Taliban fighters rapidly taking 1/3 of Afghanistan from Government troops now in retreat, and some estimates suggest Afghanistan could erupt into full civil war with the Taliban retaking power in 6 months. On this Back Story Dana Lewis who has reported from Afghanistan since 2001, talks to former Canadian Ambassador Chris Alexander who points the finger of...

Send us Fan Mail This week China aggressively marked 100 years of Communism and its leader warned the World against threatening China.  But China has threatened Taiwan, and rolled back human rights in Hong Kong and elsewhere.  China is to many other nations becoming a risk, and there are concerns about a showdown with America.  On  this Back Story Dana Lewis discusses leadership of China under Xi...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story the vulnerable West and cyber warfare. How hackers, some of them foreign intelligence agents, have held companies ransom, shut down pipelines and other critical infrastructure, and influenced elections. What is the worst case scenario?  And did U.S. President Biden's message to Russian President Putin to stop, resonate inside the Kremlin? Host Dana Lewis in...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story with Dana Lewis we speak to former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov about the future of Russia and political repressions under President Putin.  As we did the interview Kasyanov's political party had just received notice it had to stop all activity before the upcoming elections in Russia. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story Iran. President Biden is attempting to bring Iran back to allow IAEA inspections of nuclear sites, with a view to lifting sanctions if Iran abandons nuclear weapons development. It's a long story which evolves year by year, and Iran becomes more, not less dangerous. In this Back Story the upcoming Presidential election in Iran will bring a hardliner to powe...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story a lot of mixed messages out there on where we are in this pandemic.   The UK and U.S. are rushing back to opening schools and economies because of vaccines, while most of the World is experiencing waves of new illness because of emerging variants.  Even in Britain outbreaks of India variant is threatening progress on vaccines. On this edition of Back Story Dana...

Send us Fan Mail Dictator and thug leader of ex Soviet Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has arrested tens of thousands of his own citizens protesting the results of last years Presidential election, which by all accounts he lost.  Now he has highjacked a plane, to arrest a journalist who helped organize protests against him. Europe is outraged and has banned flights over Belarus and threatened to tig...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story with Dana Lewis, we talk to Yossi Beilin, the architect of the OSLO Peace accords on where does Israel go from here? Beilin predicts either peace or a unilateral Israeli withdrawl from the West Bank.  And, Jerusalem Post Military Affairs reporter Anna Ahronheim who talks about military goals in Gaza and was it a victory over Hamas? Support the show