Plea Deal Rumors Swirl as Julian Assange Continues to Be Imprisoned

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Joe Lauria, Editor of Consortium News to discuss the latest in the case of Julian Assange and what to make of rumors that the US may offer him a plea deal, how public pressure is responsible for renewed interest from the Australian government in pressuring the US to drop its persecution of Assange, and how this case could develop as the US heads into the 2024 presidential elections.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Nicolas Davies, researcher for CODEPINK and co-author of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of A Senseless Conflict to discuss the history of CIA Director Bill Burns’ opinions on NATO expansion and how his repeated warnings about Ukraine’s involvement in NATO challenge the assertion that the conflict in Ukraine was unprovoked.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Tina Landis, organizer and author of the book, ‘Climate Solutions: Beyond Capitalism’ to discuss the Supreme Court and the Biden administration rolling back federal protections on wetlands and how that is impacting the climate, how other countries like China respond to rising global temperatures by making substantial changes to urban planning that mitigate the threat of extreme heat, and why a climate movement is needed in the US to demand responses to extreme heat that prioritize people over profit.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie discuss the sentencing of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio to 22 years in prison following his conviction on charges including seditious conspiracy, the recent indictment of Cop City activists on RICO charges and how this case highlights the hollowness of representation-based politics in this system, and reports that France is negotiating with the government of Niger about the withdrawal of French troops from the country.

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