Just World Podcasts
Just World Podcasts is an innovative podcast series on international affairs. In October 2025, we launched a new series titled "Gaza & the World." This series of public conversations hosted by Just World Ed president Helena Cobban explores the many intersections of the continuing Gaza crisis and the current deep shifts in the global balance.
JWP is run by the non-profit foundation Just World Educational.
Just World Podcasts
The Iran Crisis, #3: Ray McGovern on why Trump is unlikely to initiate war, on the Russian dimension, and more
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In this convo conducted late on February 26, Helena's guest was Ray McGovern, a long-time peace activist, and before that a high-level Soviet-affairs analyst for the CIA.
McGovern shared the reasons why, for some time now, he has thought Pres. Trump is very unlikely to launch the much-touted (and much-feared) aggression against Iran. He also shared his analysis of the role Russian Pres. Putin plays in the background of the Iran crisis, the declining strength of Israeli leverage over Trump, and more.
This conversation was the third in Part 2 of Just World Ed's ongoing "Gaza & the World" project, which is tracking the still-simmering crisis between the United States and Iran. You can learn about the contents of the first two eps, and get the links to their respective video and audio files, here: Elijah Magnier, Bill Quandt.
New eps in this series are being released at 1 pm ET on each of the following days in both video and audio format. Here are the guests who're already confirmed for the coming week:
- March 2 ~ Trita Parsi
- March 4 ~ Amb. Chas Freeman
- March 5 ~ Barbara Slavin
Check back at our website www.justworldeducational.org for information on other upcoming episodes that still await confirmation.