globalresearch – Details, episodes & analysis

Politics has been called a rigged game, with elites using money and organizational resources to pull the puppet strings of most candidates for high office. However, the entrance into the race for US president of candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump who both reject funding from Wall Street threatens to challenge that truism.

This week’s Global Research News Hour attempts to cut through the propaganda and jargon and assess what real options are out there for making substantive and humane political change.

William Blum is a long-time critic of US foreign policy. He has authored five books including his most recent, America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy – The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else. He also publishes the “Anti-Empire Report” on his site www dot williamblum dot org. In this interview, Blum outlines his reservations about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the problematic media coverage of the campaign, and the astonishing view that Trump may actually be the less objectionable in certain respects than both Sanders and Clinton.

Mark Robinowitz is publisher of oilempire dot us, a political map to connect the dots.  He has been a writer, political activist, ecological campaigner and permaculture practitioner for over three decades.  He is also author of the forthcoming Peak Choice: cooperation or collapse, an uncensored guide to Earth, energy and money. In this interview, Robinowitz equates the choice between the Democrats and the Republicans to one between death by lethal injection and death by the electric chair. He outlines the mechanisms employed to stop any threat to the establishment from ever becoming elected president. He also explains how the energy and economic decline is becoming reflected in the politics of the Trump campaign.

The first interview is with Linda Pentz Gunter, international specialist for the environmental advocacy group ‘Beyond Nuclear.’ In this conversation, Gunter addresses the question of whether nuclear is being seriously explored as an alternative to the climate-ravaging fossil fuel industry. She also outlines aspects of the Fukushima cover-up, and why international bodies and media are failing to hold nuclear and government agencies to account.

In the final half hour, Portland-based Mimi German, Earth activist and founder of Radcast.org, speaks more about the cover-up, the nuclear situation in the U.S. and the consequences for society and all life on earth.

Continuing with coverage of Ukraine on the anniversary of the May 2, 2014 Odessa massacre, we hear an interview with Anatoly Sharij, a high profile Ukrainian journalist forced to flee the country in 2012 and now based in Lithuania. He has found himself targetted for his success in posting critical videos of the Ukrainian government line, and exposing the lies put out by the Ukrainian media. In this exclusive interview, conducted with the assistance of Winnipeg-based Russian-Canadian Konstantin Goulich, we hear about the extent to which true journalism in Ukraine has been suppressed and replaced by pure propaganda, the reasons why skepticism, even of some critical voices of the Kiev regime is needed, and echoes of a past repressive period in history of the region.

This interview is followed by a clip from a recent presentation by Robert Parry of Consortium News about the unprecedented Media Group Think that is afflicting coverage of the Ukraine situation. Credits: Interviews by Michael Welch Translation services, research assistance, and outreach provided by Konstantin Goulich Audio of Talk by Robert Parry obtained under Fair USe rules from footage of the public event US-RUSSIA Forum based in Washington DC from March 26, 2015. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8IL4SvBVxk)

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Odessa Massacre, this week's Global Research News Hour returns to the Ukraine crisis with two vital interviews. Author, blogger and radio journalist Stephen Lendman recently edited a collection of essays on the Ukraine Crisis. He talks about his essay on the Odessa Massacre and about the broader concerns around surrounding a pwderkeg which he thinks could expand into a world war.  Roger Annis, trade unionist, writer and editor of the website newcoldwar.org also returns to the program after visiting the Donbass region and compares his observations with what has been said in the Mainstream commercial media abut who is responsible for violating the Ceasefire accord and what the prosects for peace may be.

On this week's Global Research News Hour, we mark Earth Day with two interviews related to the urgent call to defend the planet from environmental damage. First, we hear from Michael J Murphy, director/producer of the films "What in the World are the Spraying" and "Why in the World are they Spraying". He discusses the clear and present threats associated with Geo-Engineering including so-called 'chemtrails' and speculates on who benefits and who does not from efforts to control the weather. Carrie Saxifrage is a sustainability reporter for the Vancouver Observer and the author of the book "The Big Swim: Coming Ashore in a World Adrift". She discusses how popular action can more easily be mobilized by changing the narrative and the way we approach the dilemma of climate collapse and other environmental hazards.

This week's feature guest is Author, blogger and radio journalist Stephen Lendman. He discusses American Presidential politics, his lack of faith in the system, the US-backed agendas in Cuba, Venezuela, Yemen, Syria, Iran and Ukraine, and his fears of another major war being triggered in coming months.

Changing the Way Money Works: The Steady State Economy and Sharing LawDescription: With the current economic framework centered around greed, the result has been environmental desolation and social interactions that set human beings against each other.The mandate for everlasting economic growth has pushed the Earth to its natural limits.This week's Global Research News Hour focuses on the need to change economics as usual. Is it possible?Our guests include James Magnus-Johnston, the Canadian Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, and Janelle Orsi, co-founder and executive director of The Sustainable Economies Law Center in the San Francisco Bay Area.

On this Holiday edition of the Global Research News Hour, we hear speeches from a public event in support of American Iraq War Deserter Joshua Key. The event was held at the University of Winnipeg on March 29, 2015. Michelle Robidoux of the War Resisters Support Campaign updated the audience on the actions taken against Americans in Canada who sought sanctuary from the Iraq War. She is followed by Joshua Key' s legal representative. Then Joshua tells the story of how he went to Iraq, what he saw and why he ultimately deserted, and then his efforts to live in peace in Canada.

This week's Global Research News Hour analyses the results of the recent Israeli elections and evaluates resistance tools such as Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) especially in the face of opposition from political figures like Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. Interview guest James Petras explains how Netanyahu managed to secure the support of a plurality of Israeli voters, and what that portends for the future of Israeli relations in the region and worldwide.Bruce Katz of Palestinian and Jewish Unity is up next with a review of efforts to implement BDS in Canada and the obstacles solidarity activists face.JEff Halper talks about the abuses of Palestinians he has witnessed, about the potential for BDS and about why media can't get the message right.

This installment of the Global Research News Hour features coverage of the ongoing efforts by the Canadian government to put in place anti-terrorism legislation which undermines Canadian freedoms at the expense of privacy and other Rights we take for granted.First we hear from the Director of the acclaimed film `The Secret Trial 5, a film about 5 people detained cumulatively for 30 years without conviction in the name of National Security. We hear a speech from Canadian Green Party leader about Bill C51. and we conclude the show with Naomi Wolf, author of the book `THe End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young patriot.`Wolf`s book documents how authoritarian powers have consistently applied ten measures when shutting down democracies around the world.