COP26 & Greenwashing; Migrant Crisis in Belarus; Economic Recovery & Workers

John Ross, author and economist, a senior fellow of the Chongyang Institute at Renmin University of China, joins us to talk about plans coming out of COP26 for funding its climate change goals, where a promotion for private investment has taken the driver’s seat and the conversation around degrowth has been sidelined. We discuss the pledge of $100 billion dollars to finance climate initiatives in developing countries, how institutions like the World Bank will manage them, and the problematic history of these. We also talk about the geopolitics of climate change, and the risk that involving soft-power arms of wealthier nations could perpetuate inequality and have minimal impact on climate change mitigation.

Peter Oliver, journalist and RT correspondent in Berlin, tells us about the ongoing migrant crisis on the Belarus/Poland border, where thousands of immigrants, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, find themselves in limbo and unable to enter the EU. We also talk about how this wave of migration began, the infrastructure of this economy in origin countries, the accusations leveled at Belarus for allegedly weaponizing migrants, the militarization of the border, and the risks for an escalation of tensions between Belarus and the EU.

Dr. Linwood Tauheed, professor of economics at the University of Missouri - Kansas City and former president of the National Economic Association, joins us to talk about reports that the economy is on its way to recovery and how the boon of this recovery has been unequally spread around, benefiting large corporations and the wealthy, while sidestepping middle and working-class communities, and how inflation is negating any gains in income that people have seen as we get out of the pandemic. We also talk about whether we will see more labor organizing in the future after a series of recent strikes have demonstrated that workers are willing to leverage their power.

Cordell Woodland, producer for Fault Lines at Radio Sputnik, talks to us about the controversy surrounding Aaron Rodgers and his anti-vaccine position, how it could affect the team’s performance, and the aftermath of the NBA guiding referees to stop calling fouls on non-basketball related moves.