Biden Town Hall; Taliban Insurgents Control About Half of Afghanistan's District Centers

On this edition of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon discusses Biden's town hall, his false hope of bipartisanship and the messaging that makes a mockery of confronting vaccine disinformation.

Jim Kavanagh, writer at thepolemicist.com and CounterPunch, joins us to talk about President Joe Biden's participation in yesterday's town hall meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Biden claimed vaccines prevent people from getting Covid as positive test results are popping up amongst vaccinated Democratic staff.

Marvin Weinbaum, director for the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley says the Taliban* controls about half of the district centers in Afghanistan and that the insurgents appear to have "strategic momentum" in the United States.

Martin Sieff, senior fellow at the American University in Moscow, joins us to discuss his article in China Daily. Sieff says the decision for Beijing and Moscow to renew the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation is an event of the greatest importance for the maintenance of peace and security across the continent of Asia.

Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of The Velvet Coup, joins us to discuss Ukraine. According to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine seeks stronger security guarantees on Nord Stream 2. Ukraine is strongly against the $11 billion project and showed its disapproval by formally initiating consultations with the European Union and Germany.

James Carey, editor/Co-Owner at Geopoliticsalert.com, and Robert Fantina, journalist, writer and Palestinian activist, joins us to talk about Ben & Jerry's decision to stop selling ice-cream in the occupied Palestinian territories. As Rights groups urge Ben & Jerry's to end all sales in "apartheid Israel," the Israeli President calls the boycotts "a new kind of terrorism."

Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss Iran. In a Responsible Statecraft story that ran today, it was reported that a newly declassified memo shows the Trump administration acknowledged that assassinating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 could have escalated into war with Tehran.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to talk about the increased tensions with the US and Russia as The US and NATO step up military activity in the Black Sea. An antiwar.com article says the US "acts" surprised when Russia, in return, reacts to their presence in the Black Sea.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence, joins us to talk about the interview on RayMcGovern.com entitled, "Put Russia-gate Out of its Misery." 

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*The Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia.