Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor in Economics and Politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss reports that the Michigan Board of Canvassers certified the State's election results. The final vote count gave former Vice President Joe Biden a lead of right around 150,000 votes. Additionally, President Trump has given the federal government the go-ahead to work with the Biden team under pressure from several senior officials in the GOP.
Netfa Freeman, host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, pan-africanist and internationalist organizer joins us to discuss the foundational issues surrounding the ongoing military conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
Gareth Porter, investigative journalist, returns to discuss his recent article "FBI and DOJ Prepared Takedown of 'Iranian' American Herald Tribune Website With Years of Legal Chicanery." Gareth discusses a recent intelligence operation that targeted media websites that originated in Iran. He argues that the FBI's new powers to seize "Iranian" outlets could have severe implications for the fundamental American freedom to publish and access news and opinion.
Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss a recent article about Julian Assange. Poikonen believes that the real threat to democracy in the Assange case is the espionage case used to prosecute him. While the story has some factual errors, it presents a convincing case that utilizing the espionage statute against a legitimate publisher endangers the right of all people to access information that the government wants to hide.
Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of The Velvet Coup, and Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq lend us their expertise in discussing Iranian relations with America in a post-Trump political environment. Does Joe Biden's nomination of notorious warhawks to critical foreign policy positions point to an aggressive stance towards the Middle Eastern Persian alliance, or will cooler heads prevail?
Dan Cohen, filmmaker and writer for the Gray Zone Project, comes on to talk about his recent article at Max Blumenthal's news site The Gray Zone. He says that Biden's likely pick for Secretary of Defense, Michelle Flournoy, and his top foreign policy advisor, Tony Blinken, have played central roles in every war waged by Democratic presidents dating back to the Clinton era.
Nicholas Davies, author of Blood on Our Hands, returns to the Critical Hour to discuss the disastrous coronavirus situation in the Gaza Strip. Due to the lack of ventilators, PPE equipment, and medicine, Gaza officials say that Israel's siege is a "death sentence" for Gaza's coronavirus patients. Additionally, Iran's permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations has expressed concern about the effects of unilateral sanctions on developing countries' fight against the coronavirus outbreak, underlining the need for a coordinated global response.
James Carey, editor and co-owner at Geopoliticsalert.com, joins us to review recent reports that Yemen's Houthis have had another significant military success using hi-tech missiles to attack a Saudi Aramco oil installation. Also, the Trump administration is preparing to designate Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi insurgents as a terrorist organization before leaving office in January. According to several diplomatic sources, this fuels fears the move will disrupt international aid efforts and upend United Nations-brokered peace efforts between the Shiite movement and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
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