For The Real News, I speak to Canadian journalist and doctoral student, Anthony Fenton, about the reality of Saudi – Canada relations.
Despite all the bluster being directed by the Saudi autocracy at the Trudeau government, Canada’s government remains, and has long been, an enthusiastic supporter of Saudi Arabia’s monstrous war on Yemen.
My conversation with Anthony can be seen and heard here:
Turkey is currently embroiled in a major economic crisis. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserts that that crisis has resulted from an “economic war” being waged on Turkey by the Trump administration.
For The Real News Network, I spoke to German economist Heiner Flassbeck and Turkish political analyst Ekrem Ekici. They both argue that Turkey’s economic crisis has deeper roots and has not resulted solely from sanctions imposed on Turkey by the U.S. government.
Our conversation can be seen and heard here:
https://therealnews.com/stories/turkeys-president-erdogan-vows-to-win-economic-war-with-u-
Last week, after being kidnapped by Israel’s navy in international waters and spending six days in an Israeli prison, Canadian human rights defender John Turnbull was released from Israel’s Givon prison and then deported to France.
During the past two months, John has travelled from Scandinavia to the waters off of Gaza as a crew member of the Freedom Flotilla. During the final leg of this humanitarian expedition, John served as the captain of The Freedom, one of the two Freedom Flotilla vessels confiscated by Israel’s navy on the high seas.
For the Real News, I spoke to John yesterday about the hijacking of The Freedom, the incarceration of its passengers and crew, and the devastating conditions in Gaza.
According to John, the Canadian government of Justin Trudeau is enthusiastically supporting a rogue Israeli regime that is committing a “slow genocide” in Gaza.
My conversation with John can be seen and heard here:
For The Real News, I speak to Greek filmmaker and journalist Aris Chatzistefanou about austerity’s role in the devastation caused by wildfires near Athens last month.
According to Aris, the Syriza-led government of Alexis Tsipras is downplaying austerity’s degradation of Greece’s ability to manage catastrophes.
My conversation with Aris can be seen here:
Several days ago, indigenous activist Larry Commodore, who is from British Columbia, returned to Canada after being deported from Israel. Larry was a participant in the Freedom Flotilla, whose lead vessel, Al Awda, was hijacked in international waters on July 29. Larry and the other passengers and crew of Al Awda were violently attacked by Israeli commandos and then forced to enter Israel, where they spent several days in an Israeli jail before deportation.
For the Real News, I spoke to Larry on the day after his return to Canada about his ordeal. Larry describes how he was injured by Israeli soldiers and denied timely medical treatment. He also recounts that the Israeli commando who led the assault on Al Awda identified himself to Larry as “Field Marshal Rommel.”
Larry and I were joined in our discussion by Professor David Heap of Western University, the media coordinator of the Freedom Flotilla. In 2011, Professor Heap was himself kidnapped by Israeli forces in international waters, during a prior humanitarian mission to break Israel’s suffocating blockade of Gaza. Professor Heap says that, under the government of Justin Trudeau, Canadian consular officials have become “more aggressively tools of the Israeli state and the Israeli occupation.” He also reveals that a Canadian consular official told Larry that Israel’s blockade of Gaza – a cruel act of collective punishment against 2 million trapped Palestinians, one-half of whom are children – is ‘legal’, and that Larry had violated Israeli law by attempting peacefully to break this blockade.
Our discussion can be seen and heard here:
For the Real News, I spoke this week to renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about the extraordinary heat and heat-related fatalities we have seen this summer in Greece, Quebec, California, Sweden and elsewhere.
According to Professor Mann, unless we drastically curb our fossil fuels consumption, one-third of the planet could be rendered uninhabitable by extreme heat.
The affected areas would include some of the most heavily populated regions on earth, such as the north China plain.
This would precipitate an unprecedented displacement of climate refugees and a national security crisis unlike any we have experienced in the modern era.
My discussion with Professor Mann can be watched here:
https://therealnews.com/stories/extreme-heat-could-make-one-third-of-planet-uninhabitable
Yesterday, after Israeli forces hijacked Al Awda in international waters and assaulted some of its peaceful activists, I spoke by satellite phone to Canadian human rights activist John Turnbull, the captain of The Freedom.
The Freedom is a Swedish-flagged sailboat that was a few hundred miles behind Al Awda and is now approaching Gaza.
In my discussion with John, he talked about the current mood of the passengers and crew on The Freedom and their unwavering determination to ‘keep banging on the Palestinians’ prison door.’
Our discussion can be heard here:
https://therealnews.com/stories/captain-john-turnbull-aboard-the-freedom-flotilla-headed-for-gaza
