Dr. Colin Campbell, a Washington, DC, news correspondent, joins us to discuss the second impeachment trial of former US President Donald Trump. Trump's legal team has indicated they intend to employ the strategy of posing big constitutional questions. The attorneys will argue that the impeachment procedures are unconstitutional because the former president is no longer in office, and that the speech he made on January 6th was protected under the First Amendment.
Steve Poikonen, a national organizer for the Action 4 Assange group, joins us to discuss the plight of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A coalition of organizations, headlined by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, sent a letter to the US Department of Justice requesting they drop all charges and stop the attempt to extradite the beleaguered journalist to the US. Parker Higgins, who serves as the advocacy director at Freedom of the Press Foundation, has called the charges against Assange "among the most disastrous press freedom issues in the country."
Wyatt Reed, a Sputnik News analyst and producer for Radio Sputnik’s By Any Means Necessary, joins us to discuss the Ecuador elections. Anti-IMF candidate Andrés Arauz won the top spot in the first round of the Ecuadorian elections by a wide margin, as other candidates scramble to see who won a tight second-place finish. Also, a long history of illegal coups and election meddling has many in the global south concerned the US and its European allies may try to tilt the process towards the neoliberal challengers.
Taylor Hudak, editor of Activism Munich and co-founder of Action 4 Assange, joins us to discuss a new social media platform that is in the making. In light of the recent increase of online censorship, a consortium of advocates and technical experts have come together to create a social media platform called "panquake" that will be minimally censored. The project will use blockchain technology and will strive to minimize intrusion into the experience of users.
Dr. Yolandra Hancock, a board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist, joins us to discuss the World Health Organization's investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus. An ongoing investigation has so far determined that "the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific targeted research.” The Trump administration had long claimed that China was at fault and implied that COVID-19 was either the result of an intentional act or gross negligence.
Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, joins us to discuss the Biden administration's latest foreign policy maneuvers. The Biden team has taken dramatic steps which appear to increase the chance of an act of intentional human extinction. The Pentagon has moved strategic bombers to Norway in an act that is intended to threaten Russia with a nuclear attack. Meanwhile, the head of US strategic command has stated that a nuclear confrontation with China, an act that would almost assuredly end nearly all life on earth, is a distinct possibility.
Laith Marouf, a broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss US policy in Syria. Multiple outlets are reporting that the US is sending more troops to Syria, as the Pentagon argues troops in the oil-producing regions of Syria are not there to "protect" the oil. Also, in a continuation of the Trump administration's policy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has endorsed Israel's illegal occupation of the Golan Heights region of Syria, arguing it is necessary for Israel's security.
Dan Kovalik, a labor and human rights lawyer, professor, and author, joins us to discuss Iran. The Biden foreign policy team is continuing the foreign policies of the Trump administration regarding the Iran nuclear deal. While Iran's position that the US left the deal and has the responsibility to re-enter it without changes is hard to dispute, the US is moving further away from that stance and seems to be realigned with the Iran policies of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Elliott Abrams, who served as Trump’s special representative for Iran and Venezuela.
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