UN Ends War Crimes Probe in Yemen; CIA Pivots to China; Cybersecurity and Pipelines

CIA opens a new mission center targeting China. What can be done to put the brakes on escalating tensions?

Kathy Kelly, American peace activist and author, joins us to talk about the news that the U.N. Human Rights Council is ending its investigation into war crimes in the conflict in Yemen, in a controversial vote that hints at a rebuke to Western nations. We talk about the significance of this investigation, what it means to be abruptly ended, whether there was any horse-trading in the vote, and what Saudi Arabia gains from this.

K.J. Noh, a global justice activist, writer, teacher, and a member of Veterans for Peace, joins us to discuss how the CIA is pivoting to the Asia Pacific theater with the opening of a new mission center that would focus on China, what this means for escalating tensions with the U.S. on the heels of weapons sales to Australia, whether this means that terrorism is no longer the main designated threat for the U.S., and the impact this will have on trade and climate negotiations.

Bill Mew, leading digital ethics campaigner and CEO of cyber incident firm The Crisis Team, talks to us about new efforts by the US government to protect pipelines and rail transit systems from cyber attacks, which includes issuing and promising new industry regulations intended to strengthen cyber defense in those industries. We talk about whether these proposed regulations will be enough to stave off a cyberattack on energy infrastructure, and the pushback from the industries themselves. We also talk about the TSA imposing new regulations on high risk railroad and rail transit systems, and what these regulations might be.

Mitchell Plitnick, political analyst, writer and president of ReThinking Foreign Policy, joins hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber to talk about the Facebook leaks and whistleblower testimony, which revealed a bit of Facebook’s role in US foreign policy, and why a private business would align itself with the US government, as well as CIA interests and talking points. We also talk about the public political fight that unfolded over the Iron Dome funding and whether this represents a significant step forward for the Palestinian rights movement.

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