Pushback with Aaron Mate

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Ian Henderson, a veteran OPCW inspector who challenged a cover-up of his organization's investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, recently testified before the United Nations Security Council. At the meeting, Henderson was both attacked and ignored by U.S., UK, and French diplomats whose governments bombed Syria over allegations that Henderson's censored investigation undermined. At another UNSC gathering one week later, the U.S. and its allies continued their censorship campaign by voting to block the testimony of the OPCW's former chief, José Bustani, who had come to speak out in support of the whistleblowers. Pushback host Aaron Maté recaps the extraordinary events with excerpts of Henderson and Bustani's comments, as well as those of the Western ambassadors who tried to silence them. Read/watch José Bustani's full statement for the UN Security Council: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/10/05/ex-opcw-chief-jose-bustani-reads-syria-testimony-that-us-uk-blocked-at-un/ Aaron Maté's UNSC remarks: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/29/grayzones-aaron-mate-testifies-at-un-on-opcw-syria-cover-up/

A trove of leaked UK government documents exposes a massive propaganda network used to shape the media narrative during the Syrian proxy war. Western government-funded intelligence cutouts trained Syrian opposition leaders, planted stories in media outlets, ran a cadre of journalists, and whitewashed the jihadist militants armed, trained and supported by the US, UK, Turkey and Gulf monarchies. "Every very single aspect of the [Syrian] opposition was micromanaged by these western government contractors,” says The Grayzone’s Ben Norton. "It's probably the largest propaganda war that's ever been waged in history." Guest: Ben Norton, Assistant Editor of The Grayzone. https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/23/syria-leaks-uk-contractors-opposition-media/ Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Facing Palestinian-led criticism, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has cancelled an appearance at an event honoring the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin played a personal role in the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine; ordered Israeli forces to brutalize Palestinian protesters during the 1st Intifada; and oversaw a so-called Oslo "peace process" that cemented continued occupation and illegal settlement expansion. "This is a man who never expressed any regret for his crimes dating back to 1948, was never held to account, was never brought to justice," says Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada. "So the very least we can do now is make sure that his crimes are not forgotten, and make sure that the lives he destroyed are not erased from history, and make sure that he is not falsely portrayed as a peacemaker -- let alone someone on a mission for peace and justice." Guest: Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate The Trump administration is running out the clock on talks with Russia over renewing New START, the last treaty limiting the nuclear weapons arsenals of both countries. Russia has proposed an unconditional extension, but the US has stalled the talks and demanded new conditions -- even issuing an ultimatum that the "price of admission" will go up after the November U.S. election. "This is very dangerous," says Tom Collina, Director of Policy of the Ploughshares Fund. "If we don't get the treaty extended, if we let it expire, both sides could then expand their nuclear forces, make the world less safe, increase the risk of nuclear war, and potentially cause both countries to spend trillions of dollars more on expanding their nuclear arsenal." “Unfortunately what we're seeing right now is the Trump administration is simply not serious about extending the treaty — they're playing games with it. The Trump administration is saying to Russia, ‘agree to our terms before the election so we can get a political bump out of this. And if you don't agree to our terms — which by the way are unreasonable — if you don't agree to our terms the price will go up after the election.' So it's kind of an extortion racket — it's not a serious way to conduct international negotiations.” Guest: Tom Collina, Director of Policy of the Ploughshares Fund and co-author of the book, "The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump," with former US Secretary of Defense William Perry.

As the UAE and Bahrain reach a US-backed agreement with Israel, author and scholar Norman Finkelstein discusses the confluence of powerful forces that have sold out the Palestinian cause: Gulf monarchies, Palestinian Authority leaders, and U.S. liberals who have found common cause with far-right evangelicals and neocons in backing the Israeli occupation. Finkelstein contrasts their legacies on Palestine with that of the late Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said. Guest: Norman Finkelstein, author and scholar. His latest book is "I Accuse!". Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Historian and author Gerald Horne on Trump's proposed "1776 Commission"; leftist criticism of the 1619 Project; William Barr's attacks on Black Lives Matter; and the significance of NBA players' recent walkout over racism and police violence. Guest: Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. Author of more than three dozen books, including his latest The Dawning of the Apocalypse. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

The Senate Intelligence Committee's final report on alleged Russian interference focuses on "a wide range of Russian efforts to influence the Trump Campaign and the 2016 election." Does the report advance our understanding of the Trump-Russia story? Mattathias Schwartz, contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, joins Pushback. Guest: Mattathias Schwartz, contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Claims that Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has been poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok are threatening a new standoff between Russia and NATO states, with calls for punitive measures against Moscow, including cancelling the Nordstream 2 German-Russia pipeline. Navalny's opposition activism is "marginal in Russian politics -- it's not currently a threat to the Kremlin," says Fred Weir, a veteran Moscow correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. "Navalny is little more than a nuisance [to the Kremlin]. And I can't believe that Putin would rocket him to the top of the world political agenda through a botched attempt to assassinate him, or even an effective one. It just does not make sense to me." Weir also discusses the flaws of Russia coverage in Western media, including the recent case where Russians were accused of staging a fake left-wing website to deceive U.S. audiences. Guest: Fred Weir, veteran Moscow correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

David West, a retired two-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA Champion, discusses the NBA walkout over racist police violence; the challenges of activism in pro sports; his involvement in a new league challenging the NCAA's exploitation of young players; the neocon attacks on the NBA over China, and more. Guest: David West. Retired 15-year NBA player; two-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA Champion; and chief operating officer of the Professional Collegiate League. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Attorney and writer Malaika Jabali reports from Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a 17-year old right-wing white militant killed two people during the protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. "I think the problem is that we live in a right-wing country," Jabali says. "There will always be ways to justify gun violence. But if you go anywhere else in the world, it's absurd that you can have an armed vigilante just walking around with an assault rifle willy-nilly in public spaces like this. It's absurd that we have police officers who just take out their guns for mild indiscretions or small furtive movements... [that] they will kill black people specifically for." Guest: Malaika Jabali. Attorney, writer, and Guardian columnist Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate