Pushback with Aaron Mate

Pushback with Aaron Maté
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Nov 17, 2020 • 51min

Key Mueller witness exposes key Russiagate lies

Former Trump 2016 campaign deputy chair Rick Gates was once widely portrayed as the key Mueller witness who would expose Trump-Russia collusion. Gates' testimony ended up seriously undermining the collusion conspiracy theory, but that has done little to undo the media narrative. Gates joins Pushback to debunk several key Russiagate conspiracy theories: that Konstantin Kilimnik is a Russian spy; that Paul Manafort served Russian interests in Ukraine; and that Roger Stone gave the Trump campaign advance notice on Wikileaks' release of stolen Democratic Party emails. Guest: Rick Gates. Former Trump 2016 deputy campaign chairman, cooperating witness in the Mueller investigation, and author of "Wicked Game: An Insider's Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost." Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Nov 15, 2020 • 39min

The real 2020 election scandal: vote theft targeting Black people, youth

President Trump is refusing to concede to Joe Biden over what he claims was widespread electoral fraud. But investigative journalist Greg Palast says that the real 2020 voting scandal is Republican-led voter theft targeting Black and youth voters in key battlegrounds, including Georgia, where Senate control will be decided. Guest: Greg Palast. Veteran investigative journalist and author of several books including "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," and his latest "How Trump Stole 2020." www.GregPalast.com Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Nov 13, 2020 • 44min

As Trump rejects US election, Biden signals continued regime change abroad

As President Trump refuses to concede over baseless allegations of widespread fraud, the Biden team has sent signals that there will be little to no transition away from US regime change abroad. The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal discusses Trump's rejection of democracy at home, and the records of the likely Biden cabinet members who have adopted the same attitude to governments around the world. Guest: Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone and author of "The Management of Savagery." Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Nov 2, 2020 • 28min

UK Labour civil war? Jeremy Corbyn suspended even as report vindicates him on anti-Semitism smears

Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended by his successor, neoliberal Blairite Keir Starmer, even as a new report confirms that claims of a Labour "anti-Semitism crisis" under Corbyn's watch were without merit. Former UK Labour MP Chris Williamson, a Corbyn ally who has denounced the anti-Semitism allegations as a smear campaign, discusses the report and the Blairite wing's ongoing war on the Corbyn movement. Guest: Chris Williamson, former UK Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.
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Oct 29, 2020 • 43min

Remembering Stephen F. Cohen: Katrina vanden Heuvel on life and love with eminent Russia scholar

Stephen F. Cohen, the eminent historian who helped shape the field of Russia studies and bravely exposed the fallacies and dangers of Russiagate and the new Cold War, passed away on September 18, 2020 at the age of 81. Cohen's wife, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine, reflects on his life and legacy. Guest: Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine, and wife of Stephen F. Cohen. Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Oct 25, 2020 • 56min

Roberto Lovato on overcoming US violence in Central America and his new memoir, 'Unforgetting'

In his new memoir "Unforgetting," award-winning Salvadoran American journalist Roberto Lovato explores personal histories, including his own, shaped by decades of murderous U.S. terror wars in Central America that have also fueled the migrant crisis and gang violence. Lovato discusses his new book; the erasure of Central American voices in US media; and the bipartisan cruelty toward Central American migrants displaced as a result of US warfare. Guest: Roberto Lovato. Award-winning journalist and author of the new memoir "Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas." https://robertolovato.com/ Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Oct 23, 2020 • 41min

Blaming Moscow for Hunter Biden's laptop is Russiagate disinformation

Former intelligence officials, Democratic leaders, and media outlets dismissing the Hunter Biden story as "Russian disinformation" are spreading more Russiagate disinformation, ex- CIA officer Ray McGovern says. Media outlets are amplifying the claims of former intelligence officials, including John Brennan and James Clapper, as well as of top Democrats, including Joe Biden and Adam Schiff, that the Hunter Biden laptop revelations are "Russian disinformation." They have done so even though no one from the Biden camp has disputed the authenticity of a single leaked email or document, or denied that the laptop belongs to Hunter Biden. Ray McGovern, a former career CIA officer who served as chief of the CIA’s Soviet analysts division and chaired National Intelligence Estimates, discusses the widespread disinformation about "Russian disinformation," and why it raises new questions about the conduct and claims of the intelligence officials behind Russiagate. Guest: Ray McGovern. Former longtime CIA officer, who served as chief of the CIA’s Soviet analysts division, chaired National Intelligence Estimates, and prepared the President's Daily Brief. He is also the co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Support Pushback at Patreon: www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Oct 20, 2020 • 45min

Chomsky: from nuclear weapons to Iran, Trump's worst threats are dangerously ignored

Noam Chomsky warns that the Trump administration poses a unique threat to humanity, but its most reckless policies are receiving far too little attention. Chomsky discusses the White House's threats to the New START treaty, the last remaining accord limiting the US and Russia's nuclear weapons arsenals; its latest round of crippling sanctions and threats against Iran; the bipartisan US refusal to accept a Middle East Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, which would terminate Israel's nuclear weapons program; and the silencing of former OPCW officials who challenged a cover-up of findings that undermined Trump's 2018 bombing of Syria. Guest: Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist, author and political dissident. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Oct 18, 2020 • 1h 23min

Ex-OPCW chief defends Syria whistleblowers and reveals he was spied on before Iraq war

In a Grayzone exclusive, José Bustani, the former head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, speaks out in support of two veteran OPCW inspectors who challenged a US-backed cover-up of their investigation in Syria. Bustani also reacts to the recent US-UK-France-led effort to prevent his testimony at the UN Security Council about the OPCW's Syria cover-up scandal. And Bustani reveals new details of how he was targeted in the lead-up to the Iraq war, when the Bush administration engineered his ouster for impeding its plans to invade. Bustani discloses for the first time that his office was bugged – and that the OPCW's then-head of security, a U.S. citizen, vanished right after this was discovered. It's a case of history repeating itself, with the world's top superpower once again trying to silence a veteran diplomat from the Global South, whose courage and principle challenges a pro-war deception. Guest: José Bustani, veteran Brazilian diplomat and the first Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate
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Oct 13, 2020 • 29min

Trump's new Iran sanctions hurt civilians and threaten war

Weeks before the U.S. election, the Trump administration has imposed crushing new sanctions that sever Iran from the global financial system and further threaten the import of humanitarian goods. The Israeli government and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a pro-regime change think tank, reportedly lobbied White House officials for the new move. Assal Rad of the National Iranian American Council discusses how the sanctions target Iranian civilians, and threaten an outbreak of military conflict. Guest: Assal Rad, Research Fellow at the National Iranian American Council. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

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