Biden's Anti-Corruption Plan; Iran Nuclear Negotiations; Winter Olympics Boycott

Biden touts an ambitious plan to fight corruption globally. How the US's very own institutional corruption problem undermines this proposal.

Laith Marouf, international affairs analyst and media law consultant, joins us to discuss the White House’s new U.S. Government Strategy on Countering Corruption, which has been billed as the first of its kind and a commitment to supporting good governance around the world. We talk about how these claims fall flat in the face of the reality of institutionalized corruption with the U.S. government itself, with the public service to private industry pipeline, which sees politicians enter lobbying firms once they quit Congress, the outsized influence of wealthy donors in elections after the Citizens United decision, gerrymandering, voter suppression, the way the U.S. supports and influences other governments that engage in corrupt practices, and how soft power institutions like the NED and USAID end up cementing U.S. corporate interests abroad with no regard to democratic practices. We also talk about the meeting between Biden and Putin, the growing tensions in Ukraine and threats of further sanctions on Russia.

Ted Rall, award-winning political cartoonist, columnist, and author, his latest book is "The Stringer", and co-host of the DMZ America podcast, joins hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber to talk about the “democratization” of drone use in conflict zones around the world, that has seen fighters and militants take advantage of the technology which is increasingly easier to acquire. We also talk about a United Kingdom senior desk officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office who is now being called a whistleblower after speaking out on the UK Foreign Office’s handling of the Afghan evacuation, and reports of US officials using vaccine donations for political favors abroad after accusing other countries of engaging in similar practices.

Justin Williams, co-host of Redspin Sports, talks to us about the Biden administration formally announcing that the US will enact a diplomatic boycott of the games as a protest against the alleged human rights violations of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang by the Chinese government, whether we will see a full boycott of the Games, and what this means for increasing tensions between China and the U.S.

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