The superseding indictment of Julian Assange on violations of the espionage act is sending shockwaves around the world. The panel discusses what this extreme attack on press freedom means for democracy in the United States.
President Trump yesterday gave Attorney General William Barr sweeping powers to review and declassify documents related to how the Russia collusion investigation was conducted. He also ordered the CIA and all of the other 15 intelligence agencies to cooperate in the review. Barr also will seek to determine if the Obama Administration authorized a spying operation against the Trump campaign. The hosts are joined by Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book "The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil."
British Prime Minister Theresa May announced this morning that she was resigning as Prime Minister and as leader of the Conservative Party. She will remain as a member of parliament. The resignation will be effective June 7. May has lost control of her party's backbench and has been unable to push a Brexit agreement through parliament. A succession race already has begun. Lee Stranahan. He's the co-host of Fault Lines and is on the ground in the UK covering the European Parliament election for Sputnik, joins the show.
The Trump Administration is preparing to circumvent Congress to allow the export to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of billions of dollars of weapons and munitions that are currently on hold because of the war against Yemen, reportedly by declaring that an emergency exists with regards to alleged Iranian threats. The weapons are worth about $7 billion. The move already has drawn the ire of Republicans and Democrats alike. Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
Our next guest just got back from a conference in Beijing called Dialogue of Asian Civilizations and its conclusions couldn't have been more different from what has been going on in Washington. A senior State Department officials and former Trump campaign official told a conservative think tank in Washington earlier this month that US competition with China is a result of a "clash of civilizations, cultures, and ideologies." But our guest today is a scholar who pushes back on this dangerous interpretation that poses a serious threat to peace in the world. Emanuel Pastereich. He is a professor and the founder and director of The Asia Institute, a pan-Asian think tank, joins the show.
Again this week we'll look at the worst, most misleading, funniest, and the just plain wrong headlines of the past week. Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News, at lefti.blogspot.com, joins Brian and John.
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