Speaking at the August 17th meeting of the UN Security Council, journalist and geopolitical analyst Danny Haiphong explained the dangers that Western arms flows to Ukraine pose to international peace and stability.
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While President Biden this past week was announcing the formation of a new military alliance between the US, Japan and Korea, very few Americans were aware of the heightened US militarization of Australia. According to labor and community activists, the Australia, UK, US military alliance known as AUCKUS is turning Australia into a military fortress state. Under the AUKUS umbrella, the US is planning to build a major nuclear submarine base in the port of Kembla in Australia.
Shirey Winten is with the Independent and Peaceful Australian Network. She spoke to Pacifica about the way President Biden and a bipartisan Congressional are pushing for war in Asia.
Kevin Bracken, past chair of the Victoria Melbourne Maritime Union of Australia, also spoke to Pacifica about how the US is forcing its junior partner Australia into an expensive military alliance.
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On July 26, the government of Niger was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Presidential Guard commander Abdourahmane Tchiani. The coup leaders declared that they had taken power to end French neocolonialism, and huge crowds have repeatedly filled the streets and the stadium of the country’s capital, Niamey, in support of the coup.
France and the US have tried to prod ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, into invading Niger to put President Mohamed Bazoum back in power, but Bazoum’s election was disputed and he seems to have next to no popular support. Nigeria’s defense chief and its parliament have both opposed an invasion of Niger, and an ECOWAS invasion would be impossible without Niger. Mali and Burkina Faso have also said that they would consider an invasion of Niger like an invasion of their own territory.
Niger’s new prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine, spoke to Deutsche Welle about the prospects for peace.
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Why are red states passing voting restriction laws to disrupt the voting process in blue counties? Texas Senate Bill 1750 would abolish election administration oversight in Harris County, the largest county in Texas, which is majority Black and Brown. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee says that for nearly 100 years, the Texas Constitution has prohibited the state legislature from passing laws applying to only one locale, but the new Texas Senate Bill 1750 would. We hear from Menefee in conversation with former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke on O’Rourke’s Instagram Live webcast, “Front Lines of the Fight for Democracy”.
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According to Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Margaret Kimberley, “The latest Donald Trump indictment is no cause for celebration. The oligarchs still rule, the military industrial complex still gets public money, the criminal justice system he now faces is still constructed to ensnare Black people, and the democracy said to be protected doesn’t really exist.”
Kimberley discussed her article, Trump Indictment Distraction with Dr. Wilmer Leon on Sputnik Radio’s The Critical Hour.
Margaret Kimberley is editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of “Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.”
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by Steve Zeltzer, Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, and Ann Garrison, with support from Freddy Heredia.
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