Consider This from NPR

Trump is once again threatening NATO allies. What would a reduction of U.S. troops in Germany mean for security and the U.S. military?

Today, about 36-thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, and they’re a key part of the U.S. military ecosystem and the NATO alliance.

Now, President Trump plans to reduce that number.

Trump has grown increasingly and publicly frustrated with NATO allies. 

This time he’s taking it out on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said the U.S. has been humiliated by Iran.

Among the many questions raised by this: What are U.S. troops doing in Germany anyway?

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This episode was produced by Fio Geiran, Tyler Bartlam and Karen Zamora.

It was edited by Sarah Handel and Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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The war with Iran is in a deadlock. Despite a back and forth of peace plans, there is no permanent ceasefire. 

President Trump has oscillated between a willingness to engage in diplomacy and threats to resume the American bombing campaign if he doesn’t get a deal.

All this has complicated negotiations, which the U.S. and Iran are holding through intermediaries.

So, how do leaders try to negotiate with countries they’re in conflict with?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 

Email us at [email protected].

This episode was produced by Henry Larson. 

It was edited by Sarah Robbins and Tinbete Ermyas. 

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. 

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Covering a war isn’t easy and it takes a whole team working both on the air and behind the scenes to bring you accurate, independent reporting from the frontlines. 

For this week’s Reporter’s Notebook we speak with two journalists about the challenges of covering the war in the Middle East. Durrie Bouscaren has been reporting from the Turkish-Iranian border and NPR reporter Kat Lonsdorf has been covering the war in southern Lebanon.

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This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez and Henry Larson. 

It was edited by Adam Raney.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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The Trump administration has paused immigration applications for people from 39 countries, and for those already living in the U.S. the impact has been catastrophic.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of people living in the country were thrown into limbo after the Trump administration paused their immigration applications in recent months.

They were students, engineers, teachers and others living and working legally in the U.S.

The pause affects those who were born in one of 39 countries the U.S. says pose a national security risk. 

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HHS Secretary RFK Jr. thinks he has the answer to addiction treatment. The experts say otherwise.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thinks he’s cracked the code for addiction treatment. 

Kennedy, who used heroin for more than a decade, believes wellness, work and abstinence like the methods practiced in a rural Italian facility are the keys to sobriety. 

But Kennedy is facing new criticism over his proposal to open government-run farm and work camps. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann traveled to Italy to see things up close.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 

Email us at [email protected].

This episode was produced by Kai McNamee and Tyler Bartlam. 

It was edited by Andrea de Leon and Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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