Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined for the first of a two part interview by America’s most famous public intellectual Professor Noam Chomsky. Chomsky talks about the Bernie Sanders campaign, whether a political revolution is on the agenda in the United States, the rise of Donald Trump and why the U.S. political establishment is in crisis.In the second segment, analyst and activist Sukant Chandan talks about whether there can be a united government in Libya, as the country is ravaged by militias and infighting five years after the NATO destruction of the Gaddafi government.Finally, the Republican Party establishment is scrambling to stop Donald Trump from becoming the Party's nominee, but is it possible? Guest Daniel McAdams, political analyst, offers his perspective.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined from Latakia, Syria by independent journalist Steven Sahiounie to discuss the two-week ceasefire that is set to begin in Syria tomorrow. Sahiounie gives an eye witness account of life in Syria over five years of war, how Syrian identity has changed as sectarianism emerged, the role of Turkey in stealing resources from the country, and why many Syrians do not trust the intentions of the U.S as the ceasefire is set to start.In the second segment, activist and author Eugene Puryear explains the role of the corporate media in generating support for Hillary Clinton within the African-American community despite the record of the Bill Clinton administration in expanding a system of mass incarceration, dismantling of social welfare programs, and establishing discriminatory laws and policing strategies that disproportionately affected black Americans. Finally, Iran goes to the polls today. What's at stake? Iranian independent commentator Wahid Azal joins Becker to talk about the elections taking place in today. Why is the western mainstream media paying such close attention to these elections? Is there another attempt to destabilize and overthrow the Iranian government underway?

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker talks with analyst Hafsa Kara Mustapha about the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe in which more than 110,000 refugees have arrived in Europe in just the first two months of 2016. Mustapha analyzes why Greece and Germany were excluded from an Austrian conference on migration yesterday, why racism and Islamophobia are on the rise throughout the continent, and what western powers could do in the Middle East to end the crisis.In the second segment, Becker speaks with NSA whistleblower William Binney about the refusal of Apple to comply with the FBI in unlocking an iPhone that belonged to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre. Apple's CEO Tim Cook has said this would be a "backdoor to the iPhone". Does the government need to hack iPhones to fight terrorism? Or is this Big Brother America on the march again? Finally, activist Sarah Sloan of the ANSWER Coalition joins Becker to talk about why the United States rejected a proposal by North Korea to hold peace talks aimed at finally ending the Korean War. The proposal was turned down by the United States before the Pyongyang says it conducted a hydrogen bomb test on January 6.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined for the full hour by former mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson to discuss why he filed a class action lawsuit against former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and the National Security Agency. Anderson talks about the U.S. was machine in light of the bombing of Libya and Syria, how the NSA engaged in blanket surveillance of Salt Lake City during the 2002 Olympics while he was mayor, why he supported the impeachment of George W. Bush, how he became known as the "greenest" mayor in the U.S. during his eight years in office, what led him to leave the Democratic Party in 2011, and the role of independent third parties in the U.S. political arena.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by Gloria La Riva, 2016 Presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Stewart Alexander, the 2012 Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA, to assess the results of Saturday's Republican primary in South Carolina and Democratic caucus in Nevada.Hillary Clinton's victory over Bernie Sanders in Nevada was helped by a tie breaker in one precinct where a lucky ace was drawn from a deck of cards. Her victory by just four delegates was hailed in the mainstream media as a "big" win despite the close result and the fact that Sanders was down by 25 points in the polls just five weeks ago.Donald Trump scored a major victory on the Republican side, winning South Carolina by ten percentage points over Marco Rubio. Trump's win came after he made some of his most Islamophobic comments to date at a campaign rally on Friday, also referring to waterboarding as "barely torture." Alexander and La Riva address what has contributed to the rise of Donald Trump, whether or not Sanders will actually go after Wall Street, how his campaign is similar and different to Obama's 2008 presidential run, and what the role of both Sanders and social movements can be in the revival of socialism in the United States.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker talks about the rigged political system in the United States. Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 22% in New Hampshire but did not receive more delegates than Clinton because of the role of the establishment's "super-delegates." Why are there "super-delegates" anyway?With eyes on the Democratic caucus in Nevada and Republican primary taking place is South Carolina tomorrow evening, Becker is joined by Kevin Akin, the Secretary of California's Peace & Freedom Party, and Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News.During the one-hour roundtable, they discuss how the electoral system is deliberately structured to stop third party candidates, how the US political system is unusually undemocratic, how independent candidates are excluded from televised debates, exactly how politicians can lose the popular vote and still win the nomination and the election. They also discuss how George W. Bush lost the 2000 election and yet took the White House, the systematic disenfranchisement of Black voters, efforts to suppress voter turnout, why the Electoral College still exists and prevents the direct election of the President and the impact of big money after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision .

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by legendary British parliamentarian and London mayoral candidate George Galloway to talk about why he favors Britain's exit from The European Union. Galloway argues that the EU is now an anti-democratic project of finance capitalism pursuing a policy of neo-liberalism that attacks the living standards of working class people while tying Europe's foreign policy to Washington's imperial designs. A referendum in Britain is likely in June 2016 that will voters the chance to answer the question: should Britain stay or leave the EU?In the second segment, Becker is joined by author and professor Ghada Talhami to discuss why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a French proposal for peace talks with Palestinian leaders "baffling." Talhami dissects Israel's political and military orientation, French motives for this new initiative and the orientation of the Obama Administration.Finally, Becker is joined by Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity, to discuss what's behind the political turmoil in Ukraine nearly two years after the coup that overthrew Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine's new government is in turmoil as politicians and oligarchs turn on each other. With the fighting picking up again in the eastern part of the country and the International Monetary Fund holding billions in funds meant for Ukraine, is Ukraine imploding?

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by political analyst and journalist Hafsa Kara Mustafa to discuss Turkey's direct sabotage of a Syria Peace deal and why the Obama Administration too is focusing on the removal of Assad and denunciation of Russia rather than the defeat of ISIS. Turkey, NATO's eastern flank, is ramping up a bloody war against the Kurds not ISIL or Al-Qaeda in Syria. Although a cease fire was agreed to by international powers in Munich last week Obama's press conference yesterday focused its verbal attack on Russia and the Syrian government. He barely mentioned ISIL or the so-called Islamic State and suggested that they would control a large swath of Syria for a long time to come. In the second segment, civil liberties attorney and constitutional law expert Mara Verheyden-Hilliard joins Becker to talk about what the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia over the weekend means for the future of the highest court in the country. Scalia took particular aim at women's rights, labor unions, immigrants and affirmative action. What comes next in a deeply polarized Washington political establishment? Finally, Becker is joined by analyst Eric Draitser to assess the final day of the U.S-ASEAN Summit that took place in California yesterday. Is the United States deliberately stroking tensions in the region by encouraging countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines in their disputes with China? Where does the "Asia Pivot" lead?

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined for the full hour from Sydney, Australia by prolific filmmaker and journalist John Pilger. The director of more than 50 films, Pilger explains why he believes "extremists" run the political system in the United States and the UK. He talks about why he supports Julian Assange, what whitleblowers mean to society today, and why he feels real change will never come from within mainstream political parties.Pilger also discusses the motivation behind many of his most popular films, including what led him to travel to Iraq to document the effect of sanctions, what Libya was like prior to the NATO bombing of 2011, the state of aborigines in Australia, and the start of his career in 1970 when he documented the resistance of U.S soldiers during the war in Vietnam.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker asks why civil liberties and civil rights in the United States today are under such intense attack. He is joined for the full hour by Heidi Bogoshian, New York attorney and director of the AJ Muste Institute, as well as Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.The government's war against dissenters. The rise of the Surveillance State. What the Snowden revelations prove. Obama's unprecedented campaign against whistle blowers. And the double standard between the government's arrest of 7,000 peaceful Occupy Movement protesters in 2011 and its attitude toward the armed occupation of a federal building by right wing militias in Oregon.They discuss the real conditions and real problems facing people who want to express their first amendment rights to assemble, speak out, and exercise Free Speech -- in other words to do what the Constitutions Bill of Rights says is a fundamental feature of democracy.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker takes an in-depth look at the fundamentals of the virtual "state of war" between the United State and North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of KoreaHe is joined for the full hour by two members of the Korea Policy Institute and the Committee for Democracy and Peace In Korea, Hyun Lee and Gregory Elich.They discuss what's behind North Korea's recent satellite launch and the hysteria from Republican presidential candidates in the U.S. who said they would favor pre-emptive war against the DPRK. They also address why North Korea stopped and the re-started its nuclear weapons program. Where does China really stand? Can there be a Peace Treaty finally ending the Korean War? How does North Korea figure in Obama's "Asia Pivot."

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker discusses the upcoming summit between the Untied States and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Joining Becker is journalist and analyst Eric Draitser, who comments on the significance of the summit taking place on the heels of the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the South China Sea dispute, and North Korea's recent nuclear test.In the second segment, Becker is joined by Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and today a journalist and activist to analyze the decision by NATO to dramatically increase its military capabilities in eastern Europe while the Pentagon plans to quadruple the U.S. military budget for eastern Europe in 2017. What's really behind NATO's expansion?What's behind the new cold war against Russia?Finally, Iranian scholar and and political commentator Wahid Azal joins Becker to talk about the significance of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution 37 years later. Azal discusses the complex landscape of Iran today and what the revolution has meant for the people of country and the region.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by 2016 third party presidential candidates Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation to discuss the surge of Sanders and Trump in the New Hampshire primary.Stein and La Riva discuss why Sanders has been surging among the youth, what has led to the rise of the far-right in the Republican race, Hillary Clinton's role in the Iraq and Libya war, the role of the banks in the US economy and in the Republican and Democratic political parties, Bernie Sanders foreign policy positions, whether Michael Bloomberg will enter the 2016 campaign as an independent candidate, the role of socialist and progressive third parties in 2016 and the role of the mass media in shaping political outcomes.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by Dr. David Wright, the co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program, to talk about North Korea's launch of a satellite over the weekend. While the United Nations Security Council condemned the DPRK, North Korea says its launch of a satellite conformed to international protocol. Meanwhile, some Republican presidential candidates are calling for pre-emptive war against North Korea.In the second segment, host Brian Becker asks what's behind the comments by Turkish President Erdogan that the U.S. must choose between supporting either Turkey or the Kurds he calls "terrorists." He is joined from London by Elif Sarican of the Kurdish Student Union, as well as from New York by journalist and analyst Eric Draitser to discuss Erdogan's comments, as well as the visit of German Chancellor Merkel to Turkey yesterday where she condemned Russia's airstrikes in Syria.Finally, we turn to Haiti and speak to journalist and filmmaker Kim Ives about President Michel Martelly leaving office over the weekend. With elections in late January having been cancelled after widespread street protests and the country currently without a president, what does the future hold for Haiti?

Libya is scheduled to vote today to form a national unity government. In today's episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker, is joined from London by activist and writer Sukant Chandan to discuss how this oil rich North African country is now fragmented and divided following the NATO bombing of 2011 They discuss Hillary Clinton's role in the war against Libya and the rise of ISIL in the country following the destruction of the Gaddafi government.Next, the residents of Flint, Michigan are suing the government in what could be a landmark litigation affecting not only Flint but many other cities throughout the country. Becker discusses the lawsuits with Michigan attorney Julie Hurwitz, who has filed the class action lawsuits on behalf of the people in this predominantly African-American city. How did this happen? A chilling story of heartless politicians, profits and the destruction of basic elements of democracy. Finally, the former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, Rocky Anderson, joins Becker and explains why and how the two party political system does not represent the people. Today, the political system, according to Anderson, is of, by and for the biggest Wall Street Banks and not the people. He assesses the significance of the Bernie Sanders Campaign.