What? US-NATO Envoy Threatens Military Attack Against Russia?!

Published: Oct. 2, 2018, 11:43 p.m.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.

Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. envoy to NATO made highly provocative comments today threatening to “take out” Russian missiles that the U.S. believes to be in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

Tuesday’s weekly series is False Profits—A Weekly Look at Wall Street and Corporate Capitalism with Daniel Sankey. Financial policy analyst Daniel Sankey joins the show.

Amazon announced today that it will raise its wages for all US employees to $15 an hour, starting November 1. The company has been under increasing pressure from the labor movement and other progressive activists to improve conditions for workers, and its CEO Jeff Bezos is rumored to have political ambitions. Brian speaks with Neal Sweeney, he is the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system.

As the intense battle over the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continues, women and survivors across the country are flooding sexual assault headlines, tweeting about their experiences, and publicly outing their assaulters. We’ll talk about the effect the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have had on sexual assault survivors. Danielle Norwood, a reproductive rights activist and a therapist specializing in treating adult and adolescent survivors of trauma, joins the show.

Protests are continuing today in Argentina against the austerity measures imposed by the government of right-wing president Mauricio Macri. Macri’s government has turned to the IMF to deal with the country’s economic crisis, an institution that is deeply unpopular in the country. Ambassador Cecilia Nahón, the former Argentinian ambassador to the US and a professor at American University who served as Argentina’s Secretary of International Economic Relations and has a Ph.D focusing on external financing and economic development, joins Brian.

Four white supremacists are facing federal charges from events surrounding the August 12, 2017 Unite the Right rally, where anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was run down and murdered, and the torchlight march held the day before at the University of Virginia. They are being charged with inciting a riot targeting anti-racist protesters. Tiernan Low, an organizer in Charlottesville who is involved in the movement against fascism and white supremacy, joins the show.

Huge crowds took to the streets in Catalonia yesterday to mark the one year anniversary of the independence referendum that was brutally repressed by the Spanish central government. Yet again, there was intense repression of civil disobedience actions held by pro-independence activists. Brian speaks with Dick Nichols, the correspondent for Spain and Catalonia for Green Left Weekly.