In his first major speech since becoming Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo demanded that Iran withdraw its troops from Syria and end support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad if it expects to see any tangible improvement in relations with the US. Pompeo also said that the US would not renegotiate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran sanctions deal.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won a second six-year term yesterday in a popular election. Meanwhile, President Trump is considering an oil embargo on Venezuela, a move that would sink the country into economic chaos. Carlos Ron, the Charge d'Affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, joins the show.
The online news site The Intercept reported over the weekend that an FBI informant who had allegedly infiltrated the Trump campaign in 2016 is the same person who oversaw a CIA operation in 1980 to infiltrate the Jimmy Carter campaign. He reportedly did so at the urging of former CIA Director George H. W. Bush. How is all of this legal? And is Donald Trump right when he says the FBI was spying on him? Brian and John speak with Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist whose work is at www.rall.com.
At least ten prominent women's rights activists were arrested in Saudi Arabia over the weekend and today, just six weeks before the kingdom was supposed to lift its ban on women driving. Two men also were arrested. The women have been outspoken in their support of a woman's right to drive and in their opposition to the male guardianship system, where a women may travel only with the permission of her father, husband, or brother. The arrested men are known for having created a literary salon that allows both men and women to attend. The government said that the activists had "formed a cell that threatened Saudi security." Ali al-Ahmed, the Director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, joins the show.
Monday's regular segment "Education for Liberation with Bill Ayers" looks at the state of education across the country. What's happening in our schools, colleges, and universities, and what impact does it have on the world around us? Today focuses on the dangers of privatizing education. The hosts speak with Bill Ayers, an activist, educator and the author of the book "Demand the Impossible: A Radical Manifesto."
Today is the first installment of a new weekly segment called Connected Lives, Private Profits with Chris Garaffa. Chris will help the hosts look at technological issues that shape our world and how we can fight to maintain our civil rights and civil liberties in the face of increasingly advanced, and sometimes hostile, technology. Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa joins the show.
Kyrill Vyshinsky, a reporter for RIA Novosti Ukraine, the Ukrainian bureau of the Russian news agency, was arrested in Kiev last week and charged with high treason. The Ukrainian government accuses Vyshinsky of "subversion by means of information." The NGO Reporters Without Borders says that it is deeply worried about the journalist and is calling on the Ukrainian government to release him without delay. Brian and John speak with Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst.
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