Friday is Loud & Clear's weekly hour-long segment The Week in Review, about the week in politics, policy, and international affairs. Today they focus on the shutdown, which is now tied for the longest in history, the troop withdrawal from Syria, and the New York Times Manafort story retraction this week.
The US military today said that the troop withdrawal from Syria has already begun, but refused to give a timetable for the pullout. This move comes despite National Security Advisor Bolton's announcement of a series of difficult-to-meet conditions that would need to be met before the withdrawal would happen. Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, and Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, joins the show.
Today is Day 21 of the government shutdown, tied for the longest in history. Approximately 800,000 federal workers continue to be affected by the shutdown, as well as people on Native reservations, national parks, farmers, and many others. President Trump went to the border yesterday, and there have been increasing signs that he may issue a national emergency to fund the wall. Brian speaks with Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a high-profile address in Cairo yesterday, doubling down on the Trump administration's hostile posture towards Iran and pushing the regime change agenda. Pompeo purposely chose to give his speech in the same location as former President Obama's landmark 2009 address. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, joins the show.
Polish authorities arrested a Huawei sales executive, the second Huawei executive arrested in recent months. Meanwhile, trade talks between the US and China have continued all week, which is being interpreted as a positive sign by financial markets. Will there be resolution from the recent trade war? Jude Woodward, the author of the new book "The US vs China: Asia's new Cold War?," joins Brian.
It's Friday! So it's time for the week's worst and most misleading headlines. Brian speaks with Steve Patt, an independent journalist whose critiques of the mainstream media have been a feature of his site Left I on the News and on twitter @leftiblog, and Sputnik producer Nicole Roussell.
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