Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, professor of English literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran, joins us to discuss new sanctions against Iran that were announced Thursday. The Trump administration announced new sanctions on the last 18 banks in the country that were not yet subject to secondary sanctions. The Treasury Department explained that it had “sanctioned sixteen Iranian banks for operating in Iran’s financial sector and one bank for being owned or controlled by a sanctioned Iranian bank. Additionally, today’s action includes the designation of an Iranian military-affiliated bank under Treasury’s counter-proliferation authority.” It also warns of penalties for banks doing certain kinds of business with these Iranian banks - which, of course, European countries will be scrutinizing. The move basically blacklists Iran’s entire financial industry, cutting it off from the international finance system.
Our next guest Mohamed Elmaazi, journalist and editor of the Interregnum, joins us to recap the extradition hearing of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange and what lies ahead for him. Assange’s hearing has concluded and now barristers for the prosecution and defense have one month to submit closing arguments in writing to Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who will render her verdict on January 4. The United States worked with its friends Britain, Sweden and Ecuador to stand against their enemy Assange. And what exactly did the US do with its friends? They violated Assange’s right to a fair trial, destroyed his health, assassinated his character and worked to imprison him in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.
Alan MacLeod, author, journalist, media analyst and member of the Glasgow University Media Group, joins us to discuss a BuzzFeed News story this week that said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have begun implementing a new, fast-track deportation policy that will allow them to arrest and deport many more undocumented people without even allowing them a hearing in front of a judge. We'll also discuss a few stories by MacLeod titled "Following US Pressure, Aid to Yemen Falls to Just 25 Cents Per Day" and "Flint-Linked Veolia Merger Brings Water Privatization Closer to 'Global Reality,'" as well as a pair of Bloomberg stories titled "The 50 Richest Americans Are Worth as Much as the Poorest 165 Million" and "Museums Sell Picasso and Warhol, Embrace Diversity to Survive."
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