Kontext: Chris Hedges on Obama and Days of Destruction

‘With Chris Hedges, Senior fellow at the Nation Institute, former foreign correspondent for the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize in 2002. His latest book is Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt with illustrator Joe Sacco. In this Chris Hedges describes “sacrifice zones” in the U.S. which have been exposed to unlimited economic exploitation: fromer industrial centres like Camden, New Jersey which is one of the poorest and most violent cities in the country or the coal mines of West Virginia where nature and commmunities have been devastated. The liberal institutions such as the Democratic Party have betrayed the American people and sold their interests to corporate capital. The Clinton administration was responsible for the deregulation of financial markets, the hand over of public airwaves to private corporations and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – “the hardest attack on workers’ interests since 1948”. Further revolts like the Occupy movement are to be expected. The attack on civil rights under the Obama adminstration is even worse than under George W. Bush says Chris Hedges. With the escalation of drone attacks and the White House “kill list” American citizens can be killed without trial. The espionage act is used to silence whistleblowers as in the case of former CIA-employee Kiriakou who has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after exposing war crimes. Under the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) citizens can be detained without due process for an infinite time. As the law applies to journalists as well Hedges has sued the Obama adminstration – and was proven right by District Judge Katherine B. Forrest’.

Empire: Iraq to Mali: The changing calculus of war (24 Feb 2013)

‘It has been 10 years since the US-led invasion of Iraq, which marked a turning point in the West’s so-called war on terror. The pretext of the Iraq war was security and freedom, but the bombastic and openly pronounced objective was no less than remaking the greater Middle East region. For the US, Iraq became a quagmire and a humiliation – a strategic and moral failure that the country has spent the last four years trying to forget. But how much has America’s calculus of war really changed? And as Africa becomes the new frontline in the ‘war on terror’, have the Europeans learnt from America’s mistakes? Empire explores the merits, objectives, costs and morality of these wars with our guests: John Nagl, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who co-authored the US army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual; Jean Marie Guehenno, the director of the Center of International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, and former United Nations under secretary general for Peacekeeping Operations; Barbara Bodine, a professor at Princeton University and a former US Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen who also served with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq; and Christopher Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute, former New York Times Middle East bureau chief, and author of several books, including War is a Force That Gives us Meaning and Empire of Illusion’ .

Secretary Kerry Delivers Remarks on Investing in a Strong Foreign Policy

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers his first major public address on investing in a strong foreign policy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA on February 20, 2013.

Moment of Clarity Show, Episode 1: Billionaires

Moment of Clarity is now a full-on show. This is episode one with special guest Greg Palast. This week we look into billionaires. Are they the super heroes we make them out to be? (19 Feb 2013).

CARTA :The Evolution of Human Nutrition

Tracing the evolution of the human diet from our earliest ancestors can lead to a better understanding of human adaptation in the past. It may also offer clues to the origin of many health problems we currently face, such as obesity and chronic disease. This fascinating series of talks focuses on the changing diets of our ancestors and what role these dietary transitions played in the evolution of humans. Leslie C. Aiello (Wenner-Gren Foundation) begins with An Overview of Diet and Evolution, followed by Richard Wrangham (Harvard Univ) on Fire, Starch, Meat, and Honey, Steven Leigh (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Diets and Microbes in Primates. – Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny.

Waco Massacre: 20 Years after

Abby Martin does what she does best, dig up some historical fact to then spin the rhetorical wheel out of proportion: ‘Abby Martin takes a look back at the 1993 Waco massacre, the tactics used by federal agents and the subsequent cover up that remains to this day (15 Feb 2013)’.

The Pope Resigns: Uygur’s Take

‘Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. But once in office, he never shied from charting the Catholic Church on the course he thought it needed — a determination reflected in his stunning announcement Monday that he would be the first pope to resign since 1415 (12 Feb 2013)’.