Loud & Clear

Latest Episodes:

Theater of the Absurd: The Politics of Another Gov’t Shutdown Feb 12, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Juan Carlos Ruiz, cofounder of the New Sanctuary Movement.
President Trump held a rally in El Paso, Texas yesterday that was meant to pressure congressional negotiators into funding his border wall. But things didn’t work out the way he had expected. First, negotiators came to an agreement in principle to fund the government beyond Friday without any input from the president and without money for a wall. And then his rally was dwarfed in size by a competing rally across town held by possibly Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
Ilhan Omar is a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota. She’s one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and is the body’s first Somali-American and first refugee. She’s a strong supporter of self-determination for the Palestinian people. And last week she tweeted light-heartedly that much US support for Israel is a result of money injected into politics by AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee. The condemnation was swift and strong. Omar apologized immediately. But what did she say that was wrong? Dan Cohen, a journalist and a documentary filmmaker, most recently of the film “Killing Gaza,” joins the show.
The Defense Department announced this morning that US fighter jets attacked a mosque in eastern Syria that was being used as an ISIS control center as American-allied Syrian forces battled the extremists in their last stronghold in the country. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria.
A regular Tuesday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, the author of six books, and the host of a nationally-aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, joins the show.
A dozen leaders of Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid have gone on trial in Madrid on charges that include rebellion and sedition. Several of them face up to 25 years in prison. The semi-autonomous region held an independence referendum on October 1, 2017 and declared its independence from Spain weeks later. Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek, join Brian and John.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly, and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Brian and John speak with financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey.

Trump & Democrats Push “Fake News” About Venezuela Feb 11, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, and Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com.
The Trump Administration succeeded last week in advancing its overthrow of the Venezuelan government and in controlling the public relations agenda. A false narrative that President Nicolas Maduro blocked a food and aid convoy was all over the mainstream media. Former Vice President Joe Biden jumped on the bandwagon to endorse puppet figure Juan Guaido, and the US moved to cripple CITGO, the US-based retail branch of the Venezuelan national oil company.
Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.
Negotiators clashed on Sunday over whether to limit the number of migrants whom authorities can detain at the border, creating a new hurdle as the two sides try to strike a compromise before the government shuts down--again--on Friday. Brian and John speak with Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition.
Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins the show.
What is a stock buyback? It’s a common way for companies to prop up their stock prices and create wealth for shareholders. The company uses cash on hand to buy its own stock on the open market, thus propping up the price regardless of what the economy is doing. But is that necessarily a good thing? Couldn’t the money be put to better use if it’s spent on innovation or on workers? Dr. Jack Rasmus, a professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of “Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression” whose work is at www.jackrasmus.com, joins Brian and John.
The US and South Korea struck a last-minute deal over the weekend on the cost of the US military presence there. South Korea will pay $890 million a year for the US military to occupy its country, an 8.2 percent increase over the previous five-year deal. South Korea already was paying 50 percent of the cost of the US military presence, but the US had sought at least $1 billion per year. Author and professor Tim Beal whose most recent book is “Crisis in Korea,” joins the show.
President Trump refused to abide by a legal mandate to tell Congress by Friday whether the White House thinks Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was responsible for the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. A senior Administration official said, “The president maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate.” Brian and John speak with Ariel Gold, a peace activist and the national co-director of Code Pink.

Targeting Immigrants & “Socialism,” Trump Signals 2020 Campaign Themes Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Jodi Dean, a professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges whose latest book is “Crowds and Party.”
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the implosion of the Democratic Party leadership in Virginia, why Donald Trump has declared the war against socialism inside the United States to be central to his ongoing political campaign effort, new exposees about the Trump-led coup in Venezuela, the war against women’s rights and the block from the Supreme Court on a stringent anti-abortion law in Louisiana, and much more.
In an explosive tell-all blog posted yesterday, Amazon founder and world’s richest man Jeff Bezos accused the publisher of the National Enquirer of trying to blackmail him. The post on the blogging platform Medium revealed what Bezos said were the full texts of emails his representatives received from executives at the National Enquirer’s parent company threatening to publish nude photos that Bezos apparently had sent to his girlfriend. In exchange, the Enquirer wanted Bezos to announce that he had no reason to believe that the Enquirer’s reporting was politically motivated or influenced by political forces. Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com, joins the show.
A diplomatic row between France and Italy deepened yesterday as France recalled its ambassador to Italy after populist Italian deputy Prime Minister Luigi de Maio met with Yellow Vest leaders in central Paris. The media is calling the development the worst crisis between the two countries since the end of the Second World War. Italy has not been shy in criticizing French President Emmanuel Macron on issues from immigration and trade to the Yellow Vests. Brian and John speak with Gilbert Mercier, Editor in Chief of News Junkie Post and the author of “The Orwellian Empire.”
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York and Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, yesterday sponsored a massive bill that they are calling the Green New Deal. It is a massive policy package that would reshape the entire US economy and, in the end, eliminate all carbon emissions. In doing so, it aims to boost the economy and create millions of jobs. Dr. Margaret Flowers, a medical doctor and the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance at www.popularresistance.org, joins the show.
In the midst of the political turmoil in Washington and the changes in trade policy worldwide, more and more american farmers are facing bankruptcies. Kathy Schmitt, Bureau Director, Farm and Agribusiness Services, and Frank Friar, Economic Specialist: Financial Consulting & Farm Succession Planning, both at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, join Brian and John.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

"Multilateral Coalitions" as a Fig Leaf for U.S. Imperial Intervention Feb 07, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran; Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist; Kim Ives, an editor of the newspaper Haiti Liberte; and producer Walter Smolarek.
The United States makes a practice of touting international coalitions as a means to achieve a military or foreign policy goal. Just think of the coalition to defeat ISIS, the Coalition of the Willing that was the Iraq War, the coalition that overthrew the Libyan government, the Lima Group, and others. But these international coalitions are really just a myth. They serve as a cover for US intervention around the world in the absence of a United Nations Security Council Resolution or other international approval for military action.
Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.
An international conference of neutral countries will be held today in Uruguay to jumpstart a dialogue between Venezuelans seeking a way out of the current crisis sparked by the U.S.-orchestrated effort to install Juan Guiadó as Venezuela’s president. Spokesmen for the governments of Uruguay and Mexico said they expect at least 10 countries to be represented at the talks today in Montevideo. Brian and John speak with Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek
The Virginia Democratic Party is in a state of collapse. Senior Democrats around the country are calling for Governor Ralph Northam to resign after allegations that he appeared in blackface and with a friend dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman in college. Attorney General Mark Herring also admitted to appearing in blackface while in college. And Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is being accused of sexually assaulting a woman. If all three are forced to resign, as appears increasingly likely, the Republican House Speaker would become governor. He became speaker after an election was decided by drawing lots from a hat. Rebecca Keel, a Richmond community organizer and a member of Southerners on New Ground, joins the show.
Veterans for Peace is Thursday’s regular segment about the contemporary issues of war and peace that affect veterans, their families, and the country as a whole. Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who refused orders to deploy to Vietnam and lived in exile in Canada and Sweden for 6 years, organizing with other U.S. military deserters and draft resisters against the Vietnam war, and for amnesty for U.S. war resisters, joins the show. He has been a peace and solidarity activist for almost 50 years and has served on the Board of Veterans For Peace for the last 6 years, currently as national president. This week, Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek also joins the show.
Jill Abramson, the former Executive Editor of the New York Times, is being accused of plagiarising portions of her new book, “Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts,” which purports to be an expose of Vice News. Abramson told Fox News yesterday that she had no comment, other than to deny plagiarism. But Vice News released a carefully-annotated side-by-side comparison of the book along with passages from Time Out and The New Yorker magazines and the Columbia Journalism Review that show uncanny similarities. Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at www.rall.com, joins the show.
Israel’s Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, who now co-chairs a new political party called “The New Right,” recently posted a tweet accusing the Israeli right wing party Likud of being left. That’s a common put-down right now in Israel. But what it really means is the accused is weak and unwilling to kill Palestinians. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

Trump Lashes out at Venezuela, Russia and Iran in State of the Union Feb 06, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective, including immigrant rights, economic inequality, US military presence around the world, and the Democratic response.
The US Senate yesterday voted 77-23 to allow states to penalize businesses that participate in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel. The bill, which also includes measures aiming to prolong U.S. troop presence in Syria and Afghanistan, goes to the House of Representatives for consideration today. Even though the bill had broad support in the Senate, several senators, including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Kentucky’s Rand Paul, opined that the measure was likely unconstitutional and would be overturned. Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of the book “The Battle for Justice in Palestine,” and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek, join the show.
A report published this morning by the human rights group Amnesty International concludes that the United Arab Emirates is illegally supplying advanced American weaponry to Yemeni militias and other factions there. The report describes how the UAE has become what Amnesty International calls “a major conduit” for armored vehicles, mortar systems, and guns to groups accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. A parallel CNN investigation found that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia were transferring US weapons to al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in Yemen. Brian and John speak with Dr. May Darwich, an assistant professor in International Relations of the Middle East in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

"Our Rights are Under Attack!": The Real State of the Union for Women Feb 05, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly, and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society, and today focuses on the the state of the union for women, including health care, immigration, abortion access, and more.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
President Trump this evening will deliver his second State of the Union address. The president is expected to focus on immigration and on his demands for a border wall and his threats to declare a national emergency to build the border wall, as well as the opioid crisis, the economy, and sentencing reform. Will the American people see the so-called presidential Donald Trump of last year’s State of the Union? Or will we see the angry Donald Trump of Twitter? Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist. You can check out his work at www.rall.com.
The US envoy to the Korean peace talks Stephen Biegun will meet with high-level officials in North Korea tomorrow as preparations for the second Kim-Trump summit go down to the wire. There is also anticipation that crucial new details about the summit will be announced by President Trump during tonight’s state of the union address. Hyun Lee, a member of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea and writer for Zoominkorea.org, joins the show.
Senior Afghan officials, including former president Hamid Karzai, met with Taliban representatives in Moscow today weeks after the insurgents met with US representatives to discuss an end to the war. Again, however, no Afghan government officials were present. And President Ashraf Ghani strongly criticized the talks as undermining his government. Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, the Scholar-in-Residence and director of the Middle East Institute’s Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies, joins Brian and John.
President Trump announced on Twitter yesterday that he will nominate acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to formally take over the job from former Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned two months ago under an ethics cloud. Bernhardt is a former oil and agriculture industry lobbyist, who Congressman Raul Grijalva, the chairman of the House Interior Committee, described as “everything that’s wrong with this administration.” Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and the co-author of “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism” and “Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation” from Monthly Review Press, joins the show.
A regular Tuesday segment deals with the ongoing militarization of space. As the US continues to withdraw from international arms treaties, will the weaponization and militarization of space bring the world closer to catastrophe? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, the author of six books, and the host of a nationally-aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues.

Trump’s Comments Enrage Iraqis: What’s the Real Role of US Troops? Feb 04, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.
President Trump caused consternation in Baghdad over the weekend when he said that he may leave US troops in Iraq to “watch” Iran. Those US troops had been in Iraq fighting ISIS. The problem is that the president never asked the Iraqi government’s permission to leave those troops, and now there is legislation in the Iraqi parliament to evict US troops from the country.
Monday’s regular segment Technology Rules with Chris Garaffa is a weekly guide on how monopoly corporations and the national surveillance state are threatening cherished freedoms, civil rights and civil liberties. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.
Venezuelans are being forced to consider the possibility of civil war as major European Union countries today recognized Juan Guaidó as president and huge street mobilizations both in favor of and opposed to the government of President Nicolás Maduro took place. Brian and John speak with Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com.
Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard formally announced her candidacy for president on Saturday. Her campaign is off to a rough start because of internal dissent, but her problem may be bigger than that. Is there room for an anti-war Democrat in the presidential race? Garland Nixon, the cohost of Sputnik News’s Fault Lines, on air every day between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. eastern time, who was on the ground covering the campaign announcement this weekend, joins the show.
Monday’s segment “Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers” is where Bill helps us look at the state of education across the country. What’s happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Today Bill discusses education in Venezuela, along with several teacher strikes in the US. Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book “Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto,” joins Brian and John.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to call for a national referendum to reduce the size of government in an effort to stem increasingly large yellow vest protests across the country. That would take place in May, at the same time as elections for the European Parliament. At the same time, however, Macron has authorized police to fire rubber bullets at unarmed protestors, causing serious injuries and inflaming still more would-be protestors. Yellow vest leaders have called an assembly of assemblies, that is, Yellow Vest leaders from around the country, to discuss next steps. Gilbert Mercier, editor in chief of News Junkie Post and the author of “The Orwellian Empire,” joins the show.
The truce in the US trade war with China ends on March 2, when additional sanctions will go into effect absent a new trade agreement. President Trump says that a “great deal” is in the works, but he may have to fight anti-China hawks in his own cabinet to come to such an agreement. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

While Homeless Freeze in US, Senate Focuses on Keeping Troops Abroad Feb 01, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which livestreams every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik News analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.
Friday is Loud & Clear’s weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the polar vortex’s effect on the homeless and all people (while some fearmonger about Russia instead); the candidates for the 2020 presidential race including recently declared Cory Booker and Tulsi Gabbard, who will declare tomorrow; and a new court decision about Julian Assange.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this morning that the United States would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a major arms control treaty with Russia, ending a cornerstone Cold War agreement by claiming that Russia has already violated it. The withdrawal takes effect in six months, and threatens to set off a global arms race. Greg Mello, the Executive Director of the Los Alamos Study Group, joins the show.
The Senate voted 68-23 yesterday to approve an amendment expressing strong opposition to President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria and to draw down the American presence in Afghanistan. The vote is veto-proof and is a direct challenge to the president’s decision to bring the troops home. Brian and John speak with Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and journalist whose son Casey was killed during the Iraq War.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials admitted yesterday that they have been force-feeding six detained immigrants who went on a hunger strike to protest conditions at the Texas detention center where they are being held. A total of 15 immigrants are on hunger strikes, and most complain that they are being brutalized by ICE officers. Juan Carlos Ruiz, cofounder of the New Sanctuary Movement, joins the show.
As preparations are underway for a historic second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un later this month, the United States may be softening its negotiating position in the hopes of reaching a deal. Meanwhile, the country’s top intelligence officials told Congress earlier this week that North Korea likely will not give up its nuclear capabilities in an attempt to undermine these crucial upcoming talks. Tim Shorrock, a Washington-based investigative journalist who grew up in Japan and South Korea and who is the author of “SPIES FOR HIRE: The Secret World of Outsourced Intelligence,” joins Brian and John.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian and John speak with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.

US Seeks to Plunder, Loot & Pillage Venezuela’s Vast Oil Wealth Jan 30, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Today they discuss the Venezuelan coup attempt and Kamala Harris’s near-immediate walkback of Medicare for all.
Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Walter Smolarek, join the show.
Former presidential advisor Roger Stone entered not guilty pleas on seven felony counts in a federal court in Washington, DC yesterday and then immediately took to the airwaves to proclaim his innocence, to repeat that he will not testify against the president, and to warn the president that the Mueller investigation could mean the end of his presidency. Brian and John speak with Dr. Jerome Corsi, an author and political commentator who was close to Roger Stone and who wrote the book, “Silent No More: How I Became a Political Prisoner of Mueller’s Witch Hunt.”
Large-scale protests are taking place in Venezuela both for and against the government today after the Supreme Court moved to freeze U.S.-backed self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó’s bank accounts and to impose a travel ban on him. Guaidó responded by calling on the military to side with him and he asked the United States to send weapons and advisors to help him overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, joins the show.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and FBI Director Christopher Wray delivered their annual intelligence threat assessment yesterday in an open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Notably, they contradicted Donald Trump on nearly every major issue: the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, ISIS, and China. Kevin Zeese, the co-coordinator of Popular Resistance, which is at popularresistance.org, joins Brian and John.
The US and China met today to try to dig out from a damaging trade war with a new round of high-level talks aimed at bridging deep differences over China’s intellectual property and technology transfer policies. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer represented the United States, while the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Premier Liu He. The deadline for an agreement is March 1. Jude Woodward, the author of the new book “The US vs China: Asia's new Cold War?,” joins the show.
The British Parliament yesterday narrowly failed to approve an amendment giving it the power to instruct Prime Minister Theresa May to seek a delay to avoid a disorderly and possibly chaotic exit from the European Union on March 29. May later lost a nonbinding amendment that said the UK should not leave the EU without a Brexit deal. With chaos deepening, Prime Minister May today held a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party. Brian and John speak with Steve Hedley, the senior assistant general secretary of the the UK’s Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers Union.

Racism and Islamophobia: The Politics of the U.S. War Machine Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Nazia Kazi, an activist and professor of Anthropology at Stockton University.
Dr. Nazia Kazi has a new book out called “Islamophobia, Race and Global Politics.” It’s published by Rowman & Littlefield and is an introduction to the scope of Islamophobia in the US. Dr. Kazi draws connections between Islamophobia and racism more broadly to US military interventions around the world and to empire-building.
Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.
Former Trump advisor and Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone was arraigned in federal court in Washington today. He pled not guilty to seven felonies, including obstruction of a federal proceeding, witness tampering, and five counts of making false statements. He is free on $250,000 bond. Brian and John speak with Daniel Lazare. He is a journalist and author of three books—“The Frozen Republic,” “The Velvet Coup,” and “America's Undeclared War.”
President Trump yesterday approved sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company, the parent company of the US-based Citgo, in an effort to further cripple the economy. Meanwhile, National Security Advisor John Bolton was filmed yesterday holding a notepad on which he had written “5000 troops to Colombia.” It is not known whether exposure of the notepad was an accident or if it was meant to put psychological pressure on the Maduro government. Dan Cohen, a journalist and author of the new article “The Making of Juan Guaidó: How the US Regime Change Laboratory Created Venezuela’s Coup Leader,” at grayzoneproject.com, joins the show.
The Justice Department yesterday unsealed a host of criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and its Chief Operating Officer, Meng Wanzhou. Meng has been held in custody in Canada for more than a month, pending extradition to the United States in a move that has deepened the diplomatic crisis between China and the U.S.. The charges against Meng and Huawei include bank fraud, obstruction of justice, and theft of technology. John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute, Renmin University of China, and an award-winning resident columnist with several Chinese media organizations, joins Brian and John.
Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly, joins the show.
President Trump has promised to be “far worse than anybody, if need be,” by developing space weapons technology faster than any country in the world. This would require withdrawing from existing treaties that forbid the development of space weapons. And will it even make the United States any safer, or do these policies increase the likelihood of a devastating conflict? Brian and John speak with Prof. Karl Grossman, a full professor of journalism at the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, the host of a nationally aired television program focused on environmental, energy, and space issues, and the author of the new article on CounterPunch, “Darth Trump: From Space Force to Star Wars.”

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