Zelensky Will Visit Washington Next Week; UAW Strikes in US

Ukrainian President Zelensky will visit Washington next week in order to drum up support for the US's support for Ukraine and The United Auto Workers began striking against Big Three automakers today over wage benefits and work schedules.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington next week. Dr. Radhika Desai, author and professor in the Department of Political Studies and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba in Canada, joins us to discuss this upcoming visit. Dr. Desai says the visit is really a staged event in order to drum up support for the US's support for Ukraine. Dr. Desai says the support for Ukraine is waning in the US for two reasons. She says the first reason is that the ordinary American is asking why we are giving billions and billions of dollars to Ukraine for an unclear rationale and at a time where there are so many needs in the United States. The second reason, she says, is because members of Congress are now questioning the aid as they are going into an election year, will be questioned on the aid and don't see Ukraine making gains despite the almost 50 billion dollars that the US has given to them.

UAW Strikes begin in the US against the country's Big Three Automakers in the country over wages benefits and work schedules after weeks of acrimonious talks. Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of Economics and Politics at St. Mary's College in California, says the last negotiations were a disaster in 2019 because of unethical actions of the unions. He says the unions now have new leadership and will be fighting for more for the workers since the automobile companies are now flush, giving their CEO's 40% raises.

The Dominican Republic shut all land, air and sea borders with Haiti today in a dispute over Haiti’s plans to construct a canal in Haiti that shares the Massacre River with the Dominican Republic. Kim Ives, an editor and investigative journalist at Haïti Liberté, says that this action happened when there was less than one hundred feet left to finish the project. He says Dominican President Luis Abinader is trying to posture as an ultra-nationalist before the upcoming elections. Kim says this is a brutal, unjustified wall that President Abinader is putting up in addition to the concrete wall already constructed.

Ajamu Baraka, former VP Candidate of the Green Party, and Dr. Jemima Pierre, Professor at the Institute for the Study of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, and an editor of the "Black Agenda Review," segment of the Black Agenda Report, join us to discuss Haiti. The US military has resumed drone crewed aircraft operations in Niger more than a month after the coup halted these activities. Dr. Jemima Pierre says we have to remember that the US never declared this a coup d'etat in the first place and that behind the scenes discussions between the US and the Haitian military government never stopped. She says it should also make us wonder about France's relationship with the US. Ajamu Baraka agreed, saying that the stakes are so high for the US that there is a real possibility that if it comes down to a question of protecting US interests vs. a united front with the French against the Africans, the US will advance its own interests.

Jim Kavanagh, whose work can be found at Jim' Kavanagh's Substack, thepolemicist.net, and Steve Poikonen, host of AM WakeUp & SlowNewsDay live on Rokfin & Rumble,come together to discuss Ukraine. Ukrainian armed forces speaker Sarah Ashton-Cirillo said Ukraine would hunt down and kill Russian journalists in the name of "God, freedom and total liberation." Jim Kavanagh says the video looks and feels like a Saturday Night Live skit, that it's bizarre, and that Ashton-Cirillo seems to be making a specific threat to a specific journalist of assasination. He says the Ukranians are no longer ashamed of these actions and that Americans should not underestimate the well-thought fascism that is being played out in a country we support. Steve Poikonen says the underlying implications of the video shows the Ukrainian government is going to continue to stalk and murder journalists who cover the conflict and that this action is not OK.

The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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