Last week, an attack in the Indian-controlled Kashmir led to heightened tensions between Pakistan and India. Now, the two nuclear powers are on the brink of a major armed conflict.

The deadly attack on April 22 in the disputed region of Kashmir, which killed 26 Indian citizens, was quickly attributed by the Indian government to its rivals in Pakistan. In response, both countries have engaged in a mass mobilization of troops on both sides of the border, as the two nuclear-armed countries trade threats. Now, some are worried that the heightened tensions could lead to a serious armed confrontation.

India and Pakistan have shared a tumultuous history ever since their founding following the collapse of the old British Raj. Today, both nations are engaged in a fierce proxy war, not just in Kashmir, but also in the embattled Pakistani province of Balochistan. The risk of a major war, including nuclear escalation, is small but significant, as tempers continue to flare and demands for vengeance grow following the most recent attack.

To discuss the present situation and recent history, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Ahsan Butt, an Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and expert on nationalism and political conflict in South Asia.

Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts.

As Israel continues its unrelenting air strikes against the Palestinians of Gaza, the images emerging from the enclave are horrifying. It has been nearly two months since Israel imposed a full spectrum blockage on Gaza and no food, medicine, or other supplies have entered. The World Food Program announced last weekend that it “has depleted all its food stocks for families in Gaza.”

While tens of thousands face starvation, Israel has rejected a proposal put forward by Hamas for a long term five-to-seven year truce. The movement has publicly stated that it will relinquish governance of Gaza, release all Israeli captives, and support the establishment of an independent Palestinian committee to take control of Gaza. Israel, however, has said it will only consider a short-term ceasefire and has demanded the demilitarization of the entire Gaza Strip. Hamas has said this is “a million red lines,” and that disarmament of Palestinians would equate abandoning the right to self defense and self determination.

Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill speaks with journalist Mohammad Alsaafin, an Executive Producer at Al Jazeera’s AJ+. Alsaafin, who is originally from Gaza, analyzes the current status of the ceasefire talks and the role of Egypt, Qatar and the Trump administration. They also discuss the lives and legacies of Yahya Sinwar, the late political leader of Hamas, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of its armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades.

In an extraordinary legal application submitted last week in London, Hamas argued that the British government should remove its designation of the group as a proscribed terror organization and recognize its legitimate role as a Palestinian resistance movement engaged in a struggle for self-determination and liberation. In a legal brief submitted to the British Home Secretary, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk rejected allegations that the movement is an anti-semitic terror organization, asserted that Hamas poses no threat to Western nations, and argued that the political organization has never engaged in an armed operation outside the boundaries of historic Palestine.

Hamas enlisted a team of British lawyers to represent its appeal to the British Home Secretary and to challenge the movement’s terror designation. In the new episode of Drop Site Newsroom, Jeremy Scahill speaks with barrister Franck Magennis, one of the lawyers arguing the case on behalf of Hamas. Magennis is also involved with the legal effort to bring war crimes charges against ten British citizens who served in the Israeli military in Gaza. A 240-page dossier the attorneys delivered to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit alleges the Brits participated in targeted killing of civilians and aid workers and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals and other war crimes.

President Donald Trump once said that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” Now he seems intent on testing that thesis, erecting some of the most massive trade barriers in recent world history. The tariffs are already reshaping the global economy. But they will have the most strongest impact on the U.S. relationship with China, which now faces the most extreme tariff barriers of any country—a true declaration of economic war against Beijing. Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the think tank the Bourse and Bazaar Foundation, to discuss.

Investigative journalists Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim are joined by Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed to discuss the devastating events unfolding in Gaza since the resumption of Israel’s genocide. With a focus on the toll this crisis is taking on children and families, they unpack the situation on the ground, the humanitarian emergency, and the role of the media in shaping public perception.

Since taking power on January 20, the Trump administration has engaged in an all-out assault on First Amendment rights and due process. It is attacking judges in the U.S. that have issued rulings that cite serious constitutional concerns. It has embarked on a sweeping campaign to force colleges and universities to hand over private records of students that have engaged in protests against the U.S.-facilitated Israeli war against the Palestinians of Gaza. It announced a sweeping program to deport students because of their activism, including those with Legal Permanent Residency status, or Green Cards—as in the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.

The position of this administration is that the First Amendment does not really apply to criticism of Israel or of zionism. Trump’s administration is trying to circumvent the Constitution and to criminalize clearly protected speech in the service of a genocidal government whose weapons and political support overwhelmingly come from the U.S.

The tactics the Trump administration is employing are firmly in line with a longstanding German policy of putting support for Israel, no matter how heinous its crimes, above the basic free speech rights of its citizens. At the heart of Germany’s policies is a doctrine referred to as Staatsräson, or Reason of State. In Germany it is official policy that the defense of the Israeli state is a non-negotiable principle of the nation.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Alexander Gorski, a Berlin-based criminal defense and migration lawyer, speaks with Jeremy Scahill about out how Germany has weaponized the concept of antisemitism to stifle dissent and to suppress speech. Gorski, who is representing defendants in high-profile deportation cases in Germany, is a partner with the European Legal Support Center.

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza resumed in full force on March 18 with a full scale aerial and ground assault killing over 1,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, while its total siege and reimposed policy of forced starvation is close to entering its second month. In one of the most horrific attacks, Israeli troops executed fifteen medics and emergency workers conducting rescue operations in southern Gaza and buried their bodies in a mass grave.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is engaged in one of the heaviest bombing campaigns of Yemen in U.S. history, continuing an aerial assault that began on March 15, primarily in the capital of Sana’a and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north, that has killed over 60 people. President Trump has also threatened to bomb Iran unless it reaches a new agreement with the U.S. over its nuclear program. Back at home, the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices is ramping up, with mass deportations of students, while elite universities, like Columbia and Harvard, capitulate to White House threats to cut off federal funding.

Drop Site journalists Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss all of this and more in an in-depth live broadcast.

This month, the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech related to Israel-Palestine dramatically escalated when Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil is currently detained in an ICE jail in Louisiana, facing potential deportation. Khalil’s arrest is part of a broader crackdown now unfolding, with more arrests by the Trump administration sending a chilling message to others speaking out about the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on Gaza.

After years of complaints by conservatives about “safe spaces,” “cancel culture,” and attacks on free speech, the Trump administration is now engaging in brute legal measures and accusations of discrimination on campus to silence free speech entirely.

To discuss this topic, Drop Site’s Murtaza Hussain is joined by Jenin Younes, a civil liberties attorney and expert in First Amendment issues.

Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It has been 11 days since Department of Homeland Security agents working under the direction of the Trump White House detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, handcuffing him in the lobby of his apartment building. Khalil is a legal U.S. permanent resident and green card holder, and his wife, who is eight months pregnant, is a U.S. citizen. DHS quickly shipped him to Louisiana—a significantly less favorable jurisdiction. On Wednesday, a federal judge rebuked the Trump administration, ruling it could not move Khalil's case to Louisiana and sending it back to New Jersey.

One of the central tactics the Trump administration is deploying in its crusade against speech opposing Israel’s wars has been to cancel or withhold federal funding to Columbia and dozens of other colleges and universities. On March 7, the Trump administration announced it had canceled approximately $400M in federal grants to Columbia saying it had failed to “protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.” The next day, Khalil was arrested.

After his detention, Khalil and several other anonymous students filed a federal lawsuit to block Columbia University and Barnard College from handing over private disciplinary records to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. On Wednesday, Khalil’s legal team is filing an amended complaint, expanding that suit to name Attorney General Pam Bondi, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and others.

Jeremy Scahill speaks to Amy Greer, Khalil's attorney, about new developments in his case and the expansion of their lawsuit to more members of the Trump administration.

Mercenary groups were a major part of premodern history, before being largely replaced by standing national armies. But in the past few decades, armed mercenary companies have again become major players in conflicts around the world. The U.S. employed Blackwater mercenaries to carry out operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the United Arab Emirates used paid mercenaries to carry out assassinations in Yemen.

But in recent years, the most powerful example of a mercenary group has been Russia’s Wagner Group. Wagner fighters have conducted operations in Syria, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, and other parts of the world, leaving a trail of atrocities. As Drop Site News’s Murtaza Hussain says, Wagner is an example of how war may be organized in a globalized future characterized by weak states and ruthless capitalism.

Hussain is joined this week by John Lechner, a journalist and author of “Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare.” Hussain and Lechner discuss the history of mercenaries, the Wagner Group, and the operations they take part in around the world.

Listen above or on the Drop Site News channel on Apple, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you get your podcasts.