Pushback with Aaron Mate

While Joe Biden has faced some mild Congressional pushback for bombing the Iraq-Syria border, Tulsi Gabbard says her former colleagues are ignoring the larger issue: the ongoing US dirty war on Syria. After a decade of proxy warfare that empowered Al Qaeda and ISIS, the US is now occupying one-third of Syria and imposing crippling sanctions that are crushing Syria's economy and preventing reconstruction. While Gabbard has been vilified for her stance on Syria, many top White House officials -- including Joe Biden himself -- have already acknowledged the same facts that she has called out. Aaron Maté plays clips of Biden and some of his most senior aides admitting to the horrific realities of the US dirty war on Syria, and argues that Gabbard only stands apart in being wiling to criticize it. Featuring clips from: Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congressmember; President Joe Biden; Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa; Martin Dempsey, former Joint Chiefs chairman; Rob Malley, Special Envoy for Iran; John Kerry, Special Envoy for Climate & former Secretary of State; former President Donald Trump; Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on Sanctions; Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East; Vice President Kamala Harris.

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Anne Sacoolas, a State Department official who fled the UK after killing British teen Harry Dunn in a car crash, is actually a US intelligence officer. An attorney for Sacoolas made the explosive admission to a Virginia court, where Dunn's family has brought a wrongful death lawsuit. Radd Seiger, a spokesperson for the Dunn family, says that the revelation that Sacoolas is a spy raises new doubts about the US government's claim that she has diplomatic immunity. Guest: Radd Seiger, spokesperson for Harry Dunn’s family.

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate​ After The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal reported on newly leaked documents exposing a massive UK government propaganda campaign against Russia, Twitter added an unprecedented warning label that the material "may have been obtained through hacking." Although Twitter may have intended to restrict the article, the warning had the opposite effect: it quickly went viral. Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté discuss the suppression effort and the damning UK government leaks at the heart of it. After years of fear-mongering about Russian interference in Western democracies, these UK government files expose a sprawling propaganda effort that explicitly aims to "weaken" Russia. The documents reveal that this propaganda campaign has also enlisted major media outlets Reuters and the BBC, as well as the NATO member state-funded website Bellingcat. Guest: Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone and author of "The Management of Savagery."

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate As a senior House Intel investigator and Trump administration official, Kash Patel helped unearth critical misconduct by the intelligence officials who carried out the Trump-Russia probe. In his first extended interview since leaving government, Patel tells Aaron Maté that still-classified documents expose more malpractice, as well as major evidentiary holes in the pivotal -- and largely unquestioned -- claims of a sweeping Russian interference campaign to elect Trump in 2016. According to Patel, the release of these critical documents was "continuously impeded." "I think there were people at the heads of certain intelligence agencies who did not want their tradecraft called out, even though it was during a former administration, because it doesn't look good on the agency itself," Patel says. Among the tradecraft that Patel criticizes is the hastily produced and highly consequential "Intelligence Community Assessment" of January 2017, as well as the FBI's reliance on Crowdstrike -- the DNC contractor that generated the Russian hacking allegations despite later admitting, behind closed doors, that it lacked concrete evidence. Patel also discusses other aspects of his time in the Trump White House: a secret mission to Syria; Trump's record on foreign wars; and the January 6th riot at the Capitol. Guest: Kash Patel. Former senior government official in the Trump administration, where he served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, and chief of staff to the acting Secretary of Defense. Previously, Patel served as a top investigator on the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee, where he was instrumental in exposing US intelligence misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate Haitian president Jovenel Moïse has cracked down on a wave of popular protest as he tries to cling to power. While tens of thousands of Haitians have taken to the streets in the face of government repression, the Biden administration is backing Moïse's effort to remain in office for at least another year. Haitian activist and radio host Dahoud Andre discusses the background to Moïse's power grab; the continued US deportations to Haiti; the enduring popularity of Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- twice overthrown in US-backed coups; and how the Biden administration's support for Moïse continues a long legacy of US attacks on Haiti's popular movements and backing of right-wing autocrats. Guest: Dahoud Andre. Radio host and activist with the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti.

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate​ In a landmark ruling, the International Criminal Court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to investigate Israel for war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. However, scholar and author Norman Finkelstein warns that the ICC decision, while historic, is unlikely to deliver justice. According to Finkelstein, the Palestinian Authority's capitulation in the Oslo accords gives Israel room to flout the court's jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the reality of Israel today -- what the Israeli group B'Tselem recently called a "regime of Jewish supremacy" -- undermines any notion of a separate Palestinian state. Guest: Norman Finkelstein. Author, scholar, and leading expert on Israel-Palestine. His latest book is "I Accuse!". http://normanfinkelstein.com/ B'Tselem statement: "A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid" https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate​ The imprisoned Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny has been held up in the West as the poster child of the Russian opposition. Two Russian leftists, Katya Kazbek and Alexey Sakhnin discuss why they don't see Navalny as a genuine alternative to Vladimir Putin, and instead as a representative of a different faction of the ruling Russian elite -- one more willing to cater to Western counterparts. Guests: Katya Kazbek. Writer, translator and the editor-in-chief of arts and culture magazine Supamodu.com. Alexey Sakhnin. Russian activist and a member of the Left Front. He was one of the leaders of the anti-Putin protest movement from 2011 to 2013.

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate President Biden has taken important steps to reduce the US role in the war on Yemen, while still leaving room to continue supporting the Saudi-led campaign and imposing its terms on the Yemeni people. Isa Blumi, associate professor at Stockholm University and author of "Destroying Yemen", discusses Biden's change of course and whether it's enough to end the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Guest: Isa Blumi. Associate Professor at Stockholm University and author of "Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World."

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate As Donald Trump faces an impeachment trial for allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, critical questions remain over how the sprawling US national security state failed to stop it. Newsweek reporter William Arkin discuses the lingering issues surrounding one of the biggest domestic intelligence and security failures in US history. Guest: William Arkin. Award-winning reporter for Newsweek and author of a dozen books on national security policy. Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/2021/01/08/exclusive-how-officials-fear-donald-trump-paralyzed-intelligence-agencies-led-capitol-riot-1563221.html

Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate In his first major foreign policy move, President Biden has committed to renewing the New START treaty, which imposes the last remaining limits on the US-Russian nuclear weapons arsenals. The treaty was just days away from expiring -- and possibly setting off a new arms race -- after the Trump administration refused to renew it, and stalled negotiations. While saying that it will renew New START, the Biden White House also announced that it will conduct an intelligence assessment of various allegations against Russia -- including the SolarWinds hack, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and the debunked "Russian Bounties" in Afghanistan -- and respond with punitive measures if necessary. That pledge signals that despite Biden's nuclear diplomacy with Russia, more conflict could be ahead. Guest: William Arkin. Award-winning reporter for Newsweek and author of a dozen books on national security policy.