On this episode of "By Any Means Necessary" hosts Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon are joined by Sputnik News Analyst Walter Smolarek to talk about the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange which opens in London today, why the trial seems to have been stacked against Assange from the outset, and how the prosecution of Assange speaks to the climate of fear and persecution directed towards journalists seen as challenging staus quo narratives.
In the second segment, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Coleen Rowley, an FBI whistle-blower who in 2002 was named Time Magazine person of the year, to talk about Bernie Sanders' dominant performance in the Nevada caucus on Saturday, why the news that unnamed Russians are supposedly interfering on his campaign's behalf was released the day before the caucus, how this third iteration of Russiagate hysteria is now being weaponized against some of its most public adherents, why mainstream media is now walking back the original allegations and admitting intelligence did not indicate that Moscow had a preferred candidate for US President, why Sanders' lead in the democratic nomination process keeps resulting in media personalities comparing the candidate (a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors) with Hitler, and what it says about the perspective of our ruling elites when they liken the prospect of social democracy to the Third Reich.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Daniel Dixon, an organizer with Wet'suwet'en Solidarity DC, to talk about the blockades and resistance actions shutting down Canada in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en people's struggle against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, the news that Ontario Provincial Police are arresting land defenders blockading a railway in Tyendinaga Mohawk territory, the ways ongoing violent repression by the Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police undercuts Canada's international brand as US' kinder, gentler northern neighbor and how the ongoing struggle to resist the pipeline ties into the broader 500-year ongoing struggle against colonization and settler-colonialism.
In the fourth segment, Jacquie and Sean are joined by international affairs and security analyst Mark Sleboda to talk about the new attacks by the Israeli Defense Force on the Gaza Strip and Damascus, why the various combat forces in Syria are currently vying for strategic positions in advance of a seemingly-imminent return to violent military conflict, whether the emerging political dynamic in Syria may lead to a realignment of Kurdish populations towards Russian and Syrian forces, the ways in which Russian forces may be taking advantage of the relative pause in hostilities, and why Trump's boast that he is successfully stealing Syrian oil constitutes a war crime even if the US refuses to submit to international law.
Later in the show, Jacquie and Sean are joined by Kristine Hendrix, President to the University City School Board, Junior Bayard Rustin Fellow with the Fellowship for Reconciliation and contributor to the Truth-Telling Project and "We Stay Woke" podcast, to talk about film mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted on charges of rape and sexual assault, whether his conviction will put to rest the perception that only black men face justice for sex crimes and the instinct to defend figures like R. Kelly and Bill Cosby, how the establishment's deployment of Russiagate conspiracy on the Bernie Sanders campaign reveals a degree of desperation, whether James Clyburn's endorsement of Joe Biden will be enough to seal the deal in South Carolina, whether the Democratic party can take Bloomberg's money and maintain their ideological independence from the billionaire, why Pete Buttigieg seems to represent the Democratic Party's last "Great White Hope" and why he's contesting the results in Nevada, why Chris Matthew's observation that "maybe [moderate Democrats would] rather wait four years and put in a Democrat that they like" than support Sanders rings surprisingly true, whether Sanders can be moved on his foreign policy stances and if Elizabeth Warren's reversal on her previous promise not to accept SuperPAC money should give her supporters pause.
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