Countries around the world are rising up against increasing income inequality and lack of economic opportunities, especially for young people. What are the economics behind the protests in Haiti, Lebanon, Chile, Ethiopia, Ecuador, and Iraq?
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 situation in Syria, impeachment, the Chicago teachers strike, and more. Sputnik News analysts and producers Walter Smolarek and Nicole Roussell join the show.
The Department of Justice has reportedly decided that the Russiagate probe will become an official criminal investigation. The initial review was begun in May by Attorney General William Barr due to signs of potential misuse or abuse of power by US intelligence agencies. Brian speaks with Ben Norton, a journalist with the Grayzone Project and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast.
Political prisoner Maria Butina has been released today after serving over a year in prison, most of which was in solitary confinement. She was accused of failing to register as a foreign agent and slandered by the corporate media. Her case became a main component of the now-debunked Russiagate narrative. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net whose most recent article is “The Empire Steps Back,” which is at Counterpunch and thepolemicist.net, joins the show.
The Chilean elite is in a state of panic, offering both concessions and violent repression to tamp down the most intense wave of protest since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. But demonstrators are demanding a complete overhaul of the political system and the convocation of a constituent assembly. Journalist Alina Duarte, on Twitter @AlinaDuarte_, joins Brian.
Major developments in the unrest in Hong Kong continue to unfold. This week, the Taiwanese alleged killer whose extradition case from Hong Kong sparked the demonstrations was released from prison, and reports circulated that Chinese central government authorities were planning to oust Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam early next year. K.J. Noh is a long time activist working on global justice issues, writer, teacher, and a member of Veterans for Peace, joins the show.
It’s Friday! So it’s time for the week’s worst and most misleading headlines. Brian speaks 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.
We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com
