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Missing from the Debate: US Troops in Syria an Illegal Occupying Force

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement.
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Political and military elites are in an uproar over the surprise move by the Trump administration to withdraw, or at least partially withdraw, US troops from Syria. Mainstream media have been filled with wall-to-wall condemnation of the move, and Democratic and Republican politicians alike are united in their demand to continue the illegal US presence in Syria.

The new Supreme Court term started this week, and today the highest court in the country is hearing three cases about workplace discrimination against LGBTQ people. Also on the docket in this new session is a challenge to the court’s historic case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973 but has been under attack since then. Julie Hurwitz, civil rights attorney and partner at the law firm Goodman, Hurwitz and James, joins the show.

The Trump administration today directed US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland not to testify before the House of Representatives today, according to Sondland’s lawyers. President Trump says that Sondland has previously stated there was no quid pro quo and therefore has no need to testify. Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award winning journalist and editorial cartoonist whose work is at www.rall.com.

After a third day of anti-austerity protests in Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno’s government fled from the nation’s capital, Quito, to Guayaquil, a right-wing stronghold. The austerity measures are due to a $4.2 billion deal that the country signed with the International Monetary Fund in March. Independent journalist, writer and researcher Denis Rogatyuk joins the show.

Juan Guaido’s US-backed coup attempt in Venezuela has become little more than a farce as his so-called government loses international standing and is beset by corruption scandals. Nevertheless, the US government still stands by its policy of attempting to install him as the country’s leader and is waging increasingly devastating economic warfare to do so. Anya Parampil, a journalist for The Grayzone who’s the author of two recent pieces on the crisis in Venezuela: “How Venezuela defeated Washington’s coup attempt at the United Nations” and Hausmann hypocrisy: Guaido coup official raked in dollars from dictators and banking behemoths while promoting ‘democracy’ for Venezuela,” joins Brian and John.

Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits — A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Brian and John speak with financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey.

Today’s regular segment that airs every Tuesday is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

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