Zack, Jenn, and Alex dissect the looming crisis in Idlib, the last big rebel stronghold in Syria, which will soon be the target of a vicious Assad regime offensive. The roughly three million people in the region, many of whom were displaced from previous rounds of fighting, are in dire straits — and it’s not clear what the United States, or the rest of the world, plans to do about any of this. On Elsewhere, they examine former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's improbably woke Twitter account. Zack discusses the intricacies of Soviet propaganda, Jenn tells Trump to call Putin, and Alex invokes the time-honored “whoa if true” maxim. References! We draw on Alex’s reporting for a lot of the first segment. For more, read The looming fight for Idlib, Syria’s last main rebel stronghold, explained. Zack talked about the “siege, starve, surrender” approach. He also mentioned that starvation as a method of warfare is a war crime. A few times over the course of the episode, Alex mentioned the humanitarian crisis brewing in Idlib. He dives into that in his piece, but also recommends this story from the Atlantic. For more on the difficulties that humanitarian groups have faced trying to bring aid to the region, check out this story from Al Jazeera. Alex also referenced the 2017 chemical weapons attack on Khan Shaykhun. Zack drew some comparisons with Libya. To read about that situation in more depth, he recommends this piece. Jenn described President Trump’s interview with the Daily Caller, but you can also read a full transcript. https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/05/full-transcript-trump-daily-caller-interview/ She also mentioned the Putin-Trump press conference in Helsinki. Alex briefly summarized Turkey’s position, but if you want to read further, he recommends this article. For Elsewhere, the team discussed this piece by Vox’s Alexia Underwood about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Twitter. The SNL digital short Iran So Far is well worth watching. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices