President Trump’s May 19 phone call with Vladimir Putin does not appear to be two hours well-spent. According to readouts, the Russian ruler agreed to continue talking about talking.

Around the same time, Putin launched a massive drone strike against Ukrainian soldiers defending their country and civilians attempting to survive the long war waged against them by an enemy seeking to destroy their freedom and identity.

Despite President Trump’s multiple threats to impose “devastating” sanctions on Russia if Putin continues to refuse even a temporary ceasefire — to which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed — Putin does not appear to be taking Trump’s threats seriously.

If Trump isn’t bluffing, a new FDD Memo details exactly how the president can exert significant economic pain on Russia to give Putin pause — and maybe even pause the missiles strikes.

Joining host Cliff May to discuss are memo co-author John Hardie and FDD’s RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, who just returned from the frontline in Ukraine.

Following the Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel and the pogrom carried out by terrorists from Hamas and affiliated Islamist organizations, and some Gazan civilians as well, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opined that the attack “did not happen in a vacuum.”

Well, he’s correct just not in the way he intended.

Hebron is an ancient city 20 miles south of Jerusalem in Judea, now more usually referred to as the West Bank.

Hebron is the burial place of Abraham, and Jews and Muslims lived there mostly peacefully for centuries until the morning of Aug. 24, 1929 when 67 Jewish men, women, and children were slaughtered by their Arab neighbors.

It was one of the worst pogroms ever perpetrated outside of Europe, where many pogroms were perpetrated over many years.

“Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict” is a meticulously researched and beautifully written account of this pivotal event by the eminent journalist Yardena Schwartz, combining historical analysis with contemporary insights.

She joins host Cliff May to discuss the Hebron massacre and the long history of Arab-Israeli conflict.

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author.

Her weekly column currently appears in The Times of London. She’s a regular panelist on BBC Radio’s The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.

Her best-selling book, “Londonistan,” about the British establishment’s capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006. She followed this in 2010 with “The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.” She has a new book: “The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West – and Why Only They Can Save it.”

She joins host Cliff May to discuss her work's pertinence in the context of Israel's defensive war in Gaza and rising global anti-Semitism.