UK Prime Minister Theresa May's hopes of selling a draft Brexit agreement to parliament were dealt a serious blow today, when several senior members of her cabinet, including the Brexit Minister, resigned in protest of the deal. The resignations have May's government teetering on collapse, with many arguing that the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn poised to become Britain's next Prime Minister.
Thursday's weekly series "Criminal Injustice" is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defence Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show.
The Saudi-led coalition has ordered a halt in its offensive against the Yemeni port city of Hudaidah in advance of UN-sponsored ceasefire talks, apparently in response to western pressure to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Millions of Yemenis rely on the port for food, water, and medicine and are in grave danger of starvation. Brian and John speak with Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and also co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
The ceasefire in Gaza appears to be holding, even as it may force the Israeli government to collapse. Yesterday's resignation of Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and his party's withdrawal from the ruling coalition, may be enough to force new elections. Still, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who also has appointed himself Defence Minister, Foreign Minister, and Communications Minister, will likely win with an even stronger coalition. Ambassador Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Ambassador to Hungary, joins the show.
The global economy has hit a soft patch, putting the US economy's robust growth at risk if the slowdown persists, according to the Wall Street Journal. Economic output in Germany and Japan slowed in the third quarter, while consumer spending in China hit a five-month low. Daniel Sankey, a financial policy analyst, joins Brian and John.
A new study from Brown University's Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs says that by the end of the 2019 fiscal year, the US will have spent nearly $6 trillion on the so-called War on Terror. This differs wildly from the Pentagon's $1.5 trillion calculation because the Brown study also takes into account veteran care, interest on debt from the wars, and war-related spending from the State Department. Alexander Rubinstein, a Sputnik news analyst and journalist whose work is on Twitter at @RealAlexRubi, joins the show.
New revelations have exposed a key force behind the unrest that rocked Nicaragua this year, leading to hundreds of deaths — the leadership of the Catholic Church. A recently leaked, clandestine recording of Bishop Silvio Báez shows the high-ranking church leader directly coordinating the deadly barricades that were set up across the country. Brian and John speak with Chuck Kaufman, he is the National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice.
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