FRDH Podcast with Michael Goldfarb
History
About
Host FRDH podcast. Radio essayist and documentarist for the BBC and NPR. Historian and author of Ahmad's War, Ahmad's Peace and Emancipation.
Episodes
- Howard Jacobson: Shattered Illusions and Anti-Semitism post-October 7th
Man Booker-prize winning novelist Howard Jacobson 's new novel is about how the Hamas massacre on October 7th, 2023 shattered illusions for diaspora Jews and enabled anti-Semitism to come out of the shadows. And because it is by Jacobson t…
- How America Looks From the Other Side of the World: with Nick Bryant
How does America look from the other side of the world? Nick Bryant, ex-BBC America correspondent who covered every president from Clinton to Trump joins FRDH podcast host Michaell Goldfarb from his home in Australia to talk about , well,…
- Jan Morris, Traveler, Author, Enigma: A Conversation With Biographer Sara Wheeler
Jan Morris was one of the best known travel writers since World War 2, yet despite her fame she is an engima. The reason is simple. At the height of her success in the early 1970s she transitioned from male to female. The reasons for her g…
- Iran: Why now? What Next? A Diplomat's Long View
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…
- Iran, US, Israel & Lebanon: a Conversation with Kim Ghattas
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 histor…
- FRDH on the BBC: Taxi Driver at 50, New York Then and Now
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.
- Syria Today, Unreported Crisis Brewing
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 poli…
- RISK ANALYSIS 2026: VENEZUELA IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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 reg…
- DAYTON AGREEMENT @30: LESSONS FROM BOSNIA FOR UKRAINE
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 b…
- Britain 2025: Malaise and Unfocused Discontent
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 Goldf…
- Northern Ireland Post-Conflict Briefing with Blue Lights' Creator Declan Lawn
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…
- Shock Troops of Fascism: Lost Boys of the Manosphere
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 o…
- BRIAN KLAAS ON HOW AMERICA WILL MAKE IT TO THE MIDTERMS
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 Lo…
- Lessons from Ancient Greece for the new Sparta: Israel
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 Mini…
- Charlie Kirk's Murder: A Frontline Report From Utah
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 Robinso…
- Washington DC, August 2025, Fear and Loathing and Worse
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 Look…
- Ray Suarez on Snatch Squads, Men In Masks & Trump's War on America's Latinos
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 th…
- SCOTUS & Snatch-Squads: Is This the End of the 14th Amendment?
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…
- US/Israel vs Iran: Unknown Unknowns and Blowback
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…
- Authoritarian Democracy: Erdogan and the Turkish Paradigm
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 followin…
- 21st Century Trade Wars: Is There a Rhyme or a Reason?
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 a…
- The World Is On The Move: Migration By Land and Sea
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 a…
- America's Constitutional Crisis: A Lesson From Medieval English History
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, m…
- FRDH on the BBC, NATO: THEN, NOW, NOW WHAT?
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 interview…
- China: What Now?
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…
- A Historical Era Without Precedent: The US - Russia Alliance
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…
- The American Crisis: Founders' Words 250
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…
- FRDH ON THE BBC: KADDISH, WHY WE PRAY FOR THE DEAD
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…
- Reborn From the Flames: Notre Dame Reopens
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 Fran…
- So Now What? Edward Luce on Trump MKII, the Revenge Tour
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-…
- Pricing Political Risk: Trump and American Imperial Decline
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…
- ELECTION 2024: GEORGIA'S LONG HISTORY OF RIGGING ELECTIONS
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 Gol…
- Why Nasrallah’s Death Is Not the Beginning of the End of Hezbollah
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 t…
- Paris: Love, Loss, Language
"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,…
- October 7th, the Gaza War and the Absence of Truth
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 w…
- Iran and Israel: War or Retaliation?
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 podca…
- Anti-Semitism Without Jews
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 pod…
- The SCOTUS Presidential Immunity Decision and International Law
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 l…
- Elections 2024: France & Macron’s Big Gamble
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…
- Trials, Elections: A Week in Anglo-American Politics 2024
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, rati…
- Presidential Immunity 2024: the Founders vs Trump's Supreme Court
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…
- Israel, Iran, Gaza, Hamas: World War 3?
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 t…
- Why They Still Fight: Ukraine Year 3
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 las…
- Why Everything Matters: Fluke with Brian Klaas
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…
- 2023s Disproportionate Wars: What Lindsey Hilsum Learned Covering Them
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 M…
- Britain 2023: How Has So Much Gone So Wrong?
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…
- 60 Years On: Living Memories of President Kennedy’s Assassination
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 Pa…
- Israel Hamas 2023: Lebanon, Iran & the Region, What Next?
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 t…
- Israel Hamas 2023: Waiting for the Next Phase to Begin
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…
- How Do You Know for Sure? Conspiracy and the Media
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 m…