CovertAction Bulletin

Julian Assange & the U.S. War on Whistleblowers with John Kiriakou

In this special episode of CovertAction Bulletin, we spent the entire hour with John Kiriakou. A former CIA analyst and field agent, Kiriakou became a whistleblower when he exposed the CIA’s torture program - and became the only person jailed for it. 

We discuss how the ongoing campaign against Julian Assange should inform us about how to view and support the work of other whistleblowers. While Assange remains in prison and under threat of extradition and trial in the US, the threat to journalists, publishers and activists continues to grow. We also talk about a brief history of prosecution of whistleblowers and those who speak against injustice starting with the Espionage Act.

Kiriakou also shares his own story and the stories of other whistleblowers including drone whistleblower Daniel Hale. 

On the Ground Report with Rania Khalek on the International Anti-Fascist Summit in Venezuela - and the Global South Perspective on Ukraine

On today’s show we dive into the big news that Elon Musk spent 44 billion dollars to buy twitter. He claims he will make the algorithms open source, but there’s obviously many doubts about that. What does this development mean for the platform?

We are joined by Rania Khalek, journalist and host of the show dispatches on BreakThrough News to discuss the release of Steven Donzinger after years of confinement in prison, halfway houses and on house arrest. Donzinger is a human rights attorney who was under house arrest for successfully suing Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazonian Indigenous people. What does his case mean for environmental activists pushing back against big oil?

Rania then shares her experience at the recent 3-day meeting in Caracas gathering people across the globe in the fight back against Fascism. We dive into the various perspectives present at the conference on the Ukraine conflict and how the global south is responding to the shifting geopolitics of the moment.

On the Ground Report from Shanghai’s COVID Lockdown. What’s Really Happening?

Is western media coverage of the COVID lockdown in Shanghai completely accurate?

The corporate media has been non-stop talking about the “dystopian” lockdown in Shanghai claiming people are starving in mass. The question “at what cost” pops up in articles across the news cycle questioning China’s lockdown policies. The logistical challenges for Shanghai’s local government to manage a lockdown in response to a mass omicron spread have been significant, but is that the full story?

We are joined by Tings Chak Researcher and art director of Tricontinental: Institute of Social Research and member of Dongsheng collective who is currently on lockdown in Shanghai. Tings shares her perspective on what lockdown has been like, and gives us an overview of scope and achievements of China’s zero COVID policy strategy to this point.

To hear more from Tings, we discussed in-depth her report “Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty” with Tricontinental in our patrons-only video special. We dive deeper into Xi Jinping’s focus on common prosperity and take an overall look at the gains made by the Chinese socialist project. Become a patron at patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine to get this exclusive!

We also discuss the recent article published by Ars Technica claiming that Google has recently changed it’s policies and have actively given higher resolution images of Russian military bases. While this claim was later corrected - this moment exposes the potential of how private aerial surveillance can be used by U.S. intelligence. We dive deeper into this, and into the long history of the CIA’s relationship with Google and the development of this kind of tech.

Finally, we talk about CNN’s clickbait article highlighting the dissatisfaction that Millennials and Generation Z are expressing with Joe Biden’s administration. While media pundits might be left wondering why young people feel this way, we review how recent history has set up this moment.

The Dark Money Attacking Reproductive Rights

The recent case of Liselle Herrera, a 26 year old woman charged with murder for performing a “self-induced abortion” made national news, bringing attention again to the human rights crisis happening in Texas around reproductive rights. What people don’t know is that this crisis is fueled by dark money, corruption, and deeper right-wing capitalist agendas for deregulation. How much money is changing hands and what does this mean for women's rights and LGBTQ rights?



We also talk about the unfolding tragedy in Sunset Park of a mass shooter on the subway. While details are still emerging at the time of recording, we discuss how politicians and the media have already begun using this tragedy to further fuel the militarization of the police. 


April 11 marks the 20th anniversary of the coup attempt of then-president Hugo Chavez in Venezuela that strengthened the resolve of the revolution. We dive into a reflection on the Venezuelan socialist project in the last 20 years, and the impact of sanctions on the nation.



In a shock to no one, the mainstream media had abysmal coverage of the Senate Budget Committee hearing on corporate greed called by Bernie Sanders. 2021 marked the highest record corporate profits reaching almost $3 trillion in U.S. history. We discuss corporate greed and the left's complicated relationship to Sanders as a figure.

US & NATO Block Peace in Ukraine

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday that weapons and other equipment, including anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, Humvees and Puma drones, are being sent to Ukraine and NATO allies at “an unprecedented pace.” At the UN Security Council, in the White House and at NATO briefings, the military officials, politicians and the press only seem to be able to discuss sending more weapons instead of finding a lasting, diplomatic solution to the crisis.

We also highlight two speakers from CovertAction’s April 1 webinar, “The First Casualty of War is Truth.” Chris de Ploeg and Gerald Horne shared knowledge about the history of the run-up to the crisis between NATO and Ukraine.

In addition, we mark the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and what role the US government may have played in his shooting, the missing 457 minutes of Trump’s call logs on January 6, 2021, and more.

Hawaiian People Win Against The US War Machine Poisoning Their Water

In Hawaii thousands of people have been displaced and 93,000 have had their water poisoned by the Red Hill Navy facility. This is after two fuel leaks just last year, and a major fuel leak of 27,000 gallons of fuel in 2014. The Navy sacrifices water for war by refusing to do anything about the facility, which activists demand should be closed and fuel tanks drained immediately.  We are joined by Wayne Chung Tanaka is the director of the Sierra Club of Hawai'i, which has been fighting to shut down the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility for years.

Ding Dong the witch is dead - Madeline Albright’s death prompts a reflection on her history of anti-communism and her role in the destruction of Iraq. We also discuss the unsettling surfacing of deep-fakes of Zelensky telling Ukrainian people to give up arms and the technology’s use in warfare and spycraft. Finally, we talk about the real violence in Hollywood - supported by the CIA and Pentagon.

*Thank you for your patience with our audio this week, we had some serious technical difficulties! All will be fine for next week's episode.

U.S. Hypocrisy: CIA Trains Insurgents in Ukraine

As the US government continues to say it does not want US or NATO forces coming into direct conflict with Russian troops, a recent report in Yahoo News revealed that since 2015, the CIA has been overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces who are trained for insurgency.

What is the real purpose of this CIA program? And what does it actually say about U.S. intentions in the region?

We discuss the history of this decades-long CIA training program in Ukraine, and more. Joining the show is Walter Smolarek, of the podcast The Socialist Program.

We also discuss Ukranian President Voldymyr Zelensky’s speech Sunday night where he denied Ukranian involvement in the Holocaust, the recent disturbing tweet from Secretary Blinken blaming Yemeni people for the ongoing U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen, and the role that U.S. intelligence agencies have played in cyber attacks.

War Propaganda’s Role in Anti-Asian Violence

We are joined on today’s show by Amanda Yee, host of the podcast Radio Free Amanda to discuss the one-year anniversary of the Atlanta Spa shooting. The epidemic of anti-Asian violence has grown exponentially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Asian Americans have always been viewed as “enemy aliens” as the FBI and U.S. government had historically called it. We discuss the CIA launching of the “China Initiative” in 2018 and the new cold war on China, and what all this has to do with the tragedy of Atlanta and the rising hate crimes against Asian Americans.

We also discuss the massive spending bill that Biden signed off on Tuesday, dedicating billions of dollars in what the Pentagon is calling “aid” to Ukraine. Meanwhile sanctions deepen on Russia, pushing everyday Russian people into a deeper crisis. 

Additionally, Clearview AI has been using facial recognition technology in the crisis in Ukraine while big data and analytics company Palantir wants to expand in Europe. What does this mean? We dive deeper into that story and the threats of the surveillance state in time of war.

Lee Camps Talks Cross-Platform Shut Down of RT America and The Censorship of Left Anti-War Media Voices

The information war has heated up, this time with targets on the backs of anti-war journalists and media voices critical to NATO and the U.S. Last week, the offices of RT America were suddenly and abruptly shut down amid the war fever and Russophobia spreading across the country. In addition to banning an entire network, platforms like Twitter and Spotify have also taken steps to discredit individual journalists by removing their content. 

 

In the last week we’ve also seen mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post churn out hit pieces claiming that voices exposing U.S. empire, uplifting black liberation struggles, or speaking out against capitalism are nothing more than Russian propaganda. 

 

Joining the show is Lee Camp, the former host and head writer of the weekly comedy news show Redacted Tonight, which aired on RT America.

 

We are also joined by Jacquie Luqman and Sean Blackmon the hosts of “By Any Means Necessary” on Radio Sputnik. 

Ukraine Crisis Fueled by Decades of Broken Promises by the U.S. and NATO

The outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine did not come out of nowhere. Fundamental to understanding the current moment is the history of NATO expansion in Europe — which the U.S. repeatedly promised Russia would not happen.

We are joined by Richard Becker of the ANSWER Coalition to discuss the events in Ukraine and Russia from 2014 leading up to the current crisis. We ask the question, what should the U.S. anti-war movement demand?

We are also joined by Jeremy Kuzmarov, the Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine to discuss his his article titled, “As U.S. Threatens War with Russia, Biden Administration Unveils Imperial Strategy for Indo-Pacific That Could Lead to War with China” as well as the relationship between Russia and China in this conflict and explore deeper the U.S. and NATO aggression that are the roots of this crisis.