Secretary of Defense James Mattis is in Vietnam to discuss the biggest ever US cleanup of contamination left by the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The project will cost $390 million and will begin early next year. A $110 million cleanup at Danang Airport has already been completed.
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.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Ankara today to discuss the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with President Erdogan. A day earlier, Saudi officials categorically denied that they had anything to do with Khashoggi's murder, but Turkish investigators said that the journalist was beaten, drugged, killed, and dismembered within minutes of entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The investigators also said that they had found "toxic substances" inside the consulate, and it had been very recently repainted. The Saudi consul general has fled Turkey for Saudi Arabia. Brian and John speak with Thomas Lippman, an award-winning author and journalist who has written about Middle Eastern affairs and US foreign policy for more than 40 years, specializing in Saudi issues, and is a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
In a tweet last night, President Trump threatened the governments of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador because of a caravan of Honduran migrants heading north toward the US border. Trump said that if the Honduran government did not stop the caravan and turn it around, the US would cut off all aid. He made the same threat later to Guatemala and El Salvador. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.
Canada has become only the second country in the world, behind Uruguay, to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The country is now grappling with how to maintain enough production to meet demand, and the manpower necessary to deal with impaired drivers. Garland Nixon, the co-host of the Sputnik morning show "Fault Lines with Nixon and Stranahan" and a twenty-year law enforcement veteran, joins Brian and John.
A major summit is taking place in Brussels today between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the 27 leaders of the European Union member states to discuss Brexit. Talks on the British withdrawal from the EU have broken down and there is now a real possibility of a British withdrawal absent a deal. Steve Hedley, the senior assistant general secretary of the UK's Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers Union, joins the show.
Venezuela's vice president for economy announced today that the country will cease using the dollar for international transactions and instead will use the euro. Tarrik Al Aissami said that US sanctions have blocked any possibility of using the dollar in international trade. This is part of Venezuela's Recovery and Economic Growth Program. Brian and John speak with Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelaAnalysis.com.
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