Images of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro displayed on a street in Brasilia on September 30, 2026.
(Evaristo Sa / AFP via Getty Images)
As Derek completes the final phase of his vision quest, Alex Jordan of the Always at War podcast fills in once more. In this week’s news: US-Iran talks stall over the order of concessions (1:28); Gulf oil exports return to prewar levels (4:34); Netanyahu uses an attempted seizure of a FlyDubai flight to reinforce his agenda as an election approaches (11:15); in Iraq, the US ends its counter-ISIS mission (16:06); Pete Hegseth launches Project Meridian to study the “future of warfare” (21:35); Trump hosts tech leaders who pledge “tremendous” self-regulation (24:49); British police arrest five men near RAF Fairford amid claims of Iranian involvement (27:23); US intelligence says Saudi Arabia is keeping a nuclear weapons option open (30:06); Russia warns NATO of a nuclear response if Kaliningrad faces a blockade (33:09); Germany’s foreign minister meets Russia’s foreign minister as Russian attacks hit Ukraine’s energy grid (37:27); and Brazil prepares for a presidential election between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro (41:13).
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Daniel Bessner
Daniel Bessner is a historian of US foreign relations and is the author of, among other books, Imperialist Realism.
Derek Davison
Derek 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.
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