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Blast Kills US Troops in Syria: Will it Be Used to Stop Pullout Plans?

Blast Kills US Troops in Syria: Will it Be Used to Stop Pullout Plans?
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On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

Wednesday's weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective. Today they talk about the government shutdown, confirmation hearings for Trump's Attorney General nominee, and more.

Wednesday's regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

Several U.S. troops have reportedly been killed in northern Syria in a bomb blast claimed by ISIS. Opponents of a U.S. withdrawal from the country, something long demanded by Syria's sovereign government, seized on this development to try to derail the pullout. Brian speaks with Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

Marzieh Hashemi, an American journalist, was arrested on Sunday and is still being held without charge by the FBI. Hashemi works for the Iranian outlet Press TV, and many are speculating that her detention is yet another move in the Trump administration's effort to ramp up pressure on Iran and journalists. Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, joins the show.

Mainstream media outlets across the country are in a frenzy over Donald Trump's decision to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin without keeping official records; Brian puts this issue into context. Meanwhile, new developments in the ongoing struggle between the FBI and the White House have emerged, involving former FBI general counsel James Baker. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins Brian and John.

Purdue pharmaceutical corporation play a major role fueling the opioid crisis, an epidemic that has made the Sackler family who owns the company fabulously wealthy. Now, new internal documents reveal the direct involvement of the Sacklers in an ad campaign seeking to shift the blame for the crisis. Dr. Margaret Flowers, the co-coordinator of the news site Popular Resistance, at popularresistance.org, joins the show.

A top aid to imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testified in court today that El Chapo paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. While this is yet to be verified, the claim highlights the endemic corruption among the country's political elites and newly-elected progressive president Obrador's effort to end it. Brian speaks with Dr. John Ackerman, professor of Constitutional Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), researcher at the Legal Research Institute of UNAM, and editorial director of the Mexican Law Review, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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