The View From Here

With so many progressives winning primary elections, and with the Maine senate race in jeopardy - what can we learn about where the Democratic party is headed? This week, we are re-sharing Jasmine’s conversation with Matt Duss, Vice President of the Center for International Policy, and former foreign policy adviser to Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders. This conversation is from September last year,...

In this solo episode, Jasmine responds to questions from the audience around her time working at the Pentagon and the conflicts and ceasefires in the Middle East. If you want a question answered on future Q and A episodes, please email us at jasmine@viewfromherepod.com and we will make sure to get to it! Episode notes: See The View From Here episode "America in Crisis: Can the Democratic party ris...

What does it look like when a childhood is stolen? A new UN report accuses Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, documenting what it describes as the destruction of childhood through death, injury, displacement and psychological trauma. The report has already become deeply politicised, with supporters and critics fiercely debating its find...

FIFA President Gianni Infantino promised the 2026 World Cup would be the biggest, most inclusive tournament in history. Instead, fans are being priced out, supporters from qualifying nations are barred from entering the US, players have been detained and questioned at the border, and Iran's team is sleeping in Mexico because of restrictions on staying overnight in the country after they play. Amne...

Did Donald Trump change the Republican Party forever, or will he one day be remembered as an exception rather than a transformation? For nearly a decade, Trump has reshaped American politics. But as debates emerge over foreign policy, particularly Israel, Iran, Ukraine, and America's role in the world, questions are growing about what comes next for the Republican Party. Is the MAGA movement evolv...

Can the Democratic Party learn from the mistakes that cost it the last election? For years, conventional wisdom in American politics held that foreign policy doesn’t really move voters. That assumption is being tested. Gaza, Israel, Palestine, America’s role in the world, and questions of morality in foreign policy have become increasingly important to many voters — and they’ve made that clear. Pu...

I went to Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march to hear directly from people attending and left thinking we should engage MORE, not less, with them. Many people disagree, arguing that people who attend a march led by a convicted criminal who has been banned from multiple countries and social media platforms should be shunned or shamed. But my question is, if we don't talk to each other, what is...

President Donald Trump is in China this week for a high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping and the world is watching the relationship that may define this century. For most people, US-China relations can feel abstract. A contest between two great powers, played out through issues like trade and technology. The reality is that this relationship affects almost every aspect of our daily lives: f...

Antisemitism is on the rise, and Jewish communities around the world are ever more fearful for their safety. Meanwhile, the conversations in the media around how to tackle this growing problem are more often than not divisive and oversimplified. So I reached out to Rabbi Daniel Epstein, former Chief Rabbi at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London and now in Australia, to have what we knew wou...

Is the UK-US Special Relationship over, or has it just changed beyond recognition? This week, Britain's own ambassador to Washington admitted the US’s special relationship is "probably Israel." Meanwhile, Trump has rebuked Starmer over Iran, and King Charles flew to Washington on a charm offensive. I sat down with a former senior British diplomat in the United States and former Ambassador to Iran...

Lebanon is a tiny country of almost 6 million people, and it's always found itself being used as a proxy battleground between different states and actors around it. The Palestinian Liberation Organization set up camp there in the 1970s to fight Israel from Lebanese territory. The Syrians for years under the Assad regime had a strong military presence in Lebanon, described as a de facto occupation...

What does the Islamic Republic really want? As the US imposes a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in order to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, the two sides still seem intent on trying to find a way to make negotiations work and to bring an end to this destructive war that's affected so many in the region and worldwide. The question is, who is making the decisions inside of Iran? And what do they r...

In just two days, we've gone from President Donald Trump threatening to destroy all of civilization in Iran, to a ceasefire agreement and vice President JD Vance now headed to Islamabad, Pakistan for negotiations with the Iranians. But in the meantime, Israel is pounding Lebanon. On April 8th, the IDF conducted 100 strikes across Lebanon in 10 minutes scenes of absolute terror and carnage. Iran sa...

Who are the Houthis in Yemen and why did they wait weeks after the war between Israel, Iran, and the US started in order to get involved? How did they originate? Where did they come from? What do they want? Are they really just a proxy that does whatever Iran tells them to? Or are they an organization that has their own objectives and are only allied with Iran when it also suits their own purpose?...

The war between Iran, Israel, and the US doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Despite reports of a flurry of diplomacy this last week, there are also reports of a US military operation and potentially a ground invasion increasingly imminent. Now as these three parties to the conflict continue to play games of brinksmanship, the Arab Gulf States are looking increasingly vulnerable, stuck between...

This week we're talking about Iran and what it means for the slain Supreme Leader's son to be chosen as his successor. Fourteen days into the war, there still doesn't seem to be any kind of off ramp or any kind of vision for how this war ends. And in the meantime, more and more damage is being done to the region, not just to Iran, not just to the US and Israel those are all parties to the conflict...

After the fall of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro at the hands of US forces, President Trump called Colombian president Gustavo Petro a "sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States." Petro responded by accusing Trump of being "an accomplice to genocide" with a "senile brain." Then, suddenly, things changed. The two leaders exchanged a phone call on January 7th and agr...

Jasmine sat down with Mira Awad, a Palestinian Israeli singer and peace activist who has had to grapple with her complex dual identity her whole life. She asked Mira what it was like to live in that in between space and how it’s impacted her life and activism. Mira was also the first, and only, Palestinian Israeli to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2009, despite facing sign...

As Iranians take to the streets in what is now the largest protest movement in recent history, and President Trump says help is on the way, Jasmine spoke to Iranian-American analyst Negah Angah to unpack the latest from Iran. Jasmine and Negah delve into what the current protests mean and how they differ from past movements. Negah highlights the diverse patchwork of religions and ethnicities that...

Following the explosive events of January 3, 2026, when a high-risk U.S. military operation targeted the capital of Venezuela, Caracas and resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, Jasmine goes beyond the headlines to unpack what this all means, politically, socially, and economically: 🎙️ The View from Venezuela: Venezuelan analyst and journalist César Báez describes how ordinary Venezu...

Is the Trump administration betraying our wartime allies by shutting down immigration? On November 26, a 29-year old Afghan man, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, DC, 20 year old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and 24 year old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolf. Sarah died of her injuries. The Trump administration is using this tragic incident to crack down on immigration, and ha...

In part two of the Muslims in America episode, I spoke to local New York historian, City University of New York lecturer and small business owner Asad Dandia, who made history himself when he sued the New York Police Department in 2017 after they sent an informant to spy on his community. In doing so, Asad helped change the course of New York history. We spoke about his journey, as well as his wor...

I sat down with Wael Al Zayat, the CEO of Emgage, an organization working to empower Muslim Americans through civic engagement. We talk about what it means to lead a national organization in this moment—one in which Muslim Americans are becoming more politically active, but also more targeted, as we saw during the mayoral race in New York City recently. Wael walks us through the trends he’s seeing...

I wanted to start this season with a topic that has been severely underreported in the media and under prioritized by governments, and that is Sudan. Sudan has been in the headlines recently after the city of el-Fasher was captured by the RSF, the Rapid Support Forces, one of two parties, the other being the Sudanese Armed Forces, to a conflict that has ravaged the country in unimaginable ways. Mo...

In this solo episode, Jasmine reflects on the key themes and lessons learned from season one: the importance of human security and the responsibility to protect; the role of trust, whether between states or between societies and their governments; why exhibiting empathy in negotiations is not a weakness, but rather, sound strategy; why recognizing and understanding human fear is necessary to break...