John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute and author of "Battlefield America: The War on the American People," joins us to discuss the current perilous situation in the US. In his latest article, Whitehead argues that America has been reduced to "a violent mob. A nation on the brink of martial law. A populace under house arrest. A techno-corporate state wielding its power to immobilize huge swaths of the country. And a Constitution in tatters."
Marjorie Cohn, professor of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, and a former president of the National Lawyers Guild, joins us to discuss the state of the impeachment moves in Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is caught between a cadre of angry donors and a base that still supports US President Donald Trump. McConnell released a public statement Wednesday in which he said, “While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.”
Jim Kavanagh, writer at The Polemicist and CounterPunch, joins us to discuss the actions of big tech companies after last week's Capitol protests. The last week has been a demonstration of the incredible power of such firms. While these companies argue that they are protecting American democracy, we recall that in 2009 Twitter postponed scheduled platform maintenance so that its platform would be available to protesters in Iran that were using it to coordinate actions to destabilize the government.
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, returns to discuss a report that Iran is producing equipment at a facility in Isfahan aimed at creating uranium metal. This is now being presented as a proliferation threat, with the Wall Street Journal arguing that “uranium metal can be used to construct the core of a nuclear weapon.” However, the uranium metal that the facility would produce would only be 20% enriched. In order to create a weapon, Iran would have to further enrich that uranium to 90% purity.
Julie Hurwitz, civil rights attorney and partner at the law firm Goodman, Hurwitz and James, joins us to discuss the latest on the Flint water crisis. Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty for his role in the crisis that polluted Flint's water with lead. These charges come "in the wake of a report indicating Snyder was aware of a Legionnaires' disease outbreak linked to the emergency months before he acknowledged it in public," Common Dreams reported Thursday.
Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to talk about Israel's opposition to a reinstatement of the Iran nuclear deal. Israeli Likud Minister Tzachi Hanegbi stated on Wednesday that he does not expect Trump to impose military action on Iran. He also said that Israel may initiate military strikes against the Islamic Republic if US President-elect Joe Biden elects to return to the nuclear deal. Also, Israel has increased military strikes against Syria, killing scores of Syrian personnel over the last few days.
Chris Sorensen joins us to discuss his latest book, "Understanding the War Industry." We also discuss how Wall Street profits from war, and how censorship from big tech corporations in the aftermath of the Capitol riot is the height of hypocrisy because those corporations profit by selling to the most violent institution, the US military.
Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "The Velvet Coup," joins us to discuss the nomination of Samantha Power to head the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Biden's selection of a number of notorious war hawks for his administration, including Power, Antony Blinken and Avril Haines, has many international security analysts concerned that a major military conflict may be in the offing. Additionally, Kurt Campbell, a key architect of former US President Barack Obama’s Asia “pivot,” will become the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council as a deputy to Jake Sullivan, Biden’s pick for national security adviser.
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