2020 is taking some odd political turns. Last night in the Alabama primary, former senator and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions lost his comeback attempt handily - 61 to 39 - to former football coach Tommy Tuberville. President Trump complained in a Rose Garden press conference that Joe Biden’s environmental plan to reduce greenhouse gasses would mean that new houses would be built without windows.
The UK has banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its 5G network, reversing a January decision that would have allowed the tech company to have a role in building the country’s super-fast wireless infrastructure. President Trump is claiming that it was he who convinced the British government to take the decision. Meanwhile, Apple won a major EU court victory yesterday when a 2016 decision to force Apple to pay $16 billion in taxes was overturned. Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Week, and Morning Star, joins the show.
President Trump today unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of freeways, power plants, and pipelines. Gutting the 50-year-old law is one of the most significant measures the administration has taken. And to date, Trump has either weakened, suspended, or canceled more than 100 environmental protection laws and regulations. Brian and John speak with Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net.
Armenian and Azerbaijani troops clashed along their border this week, killing an Azeri general and at least 10 other people. Both sides accuse each other of shelling civilians. The fighting is a result of a long-time dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is claimed by both sides. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, negotiated a fragile ceasefire in 1994, but Azeri President Aliyev called any further diplomacy “pointless.” Mark Sleboda, a foreign affairs and security analyst, joins the show.
Wednesday’s weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and put them into perspective. Sputnik news analysts Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek join the show.
Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.
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