Author Archives: Maria

Forgotten History of the US War on Korea

Told by veteran Utah Phillips, journalists and historians, with a 3 min. update from Democracy Now On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Joe Biden pledged to deploy nuclear armed submarines to South Korea for the first time in 40 years. The US would involve officials from South Korea in nuclear planning operations targeting North Korea.
How has it come to this, what is the experience of people on the ground in North and South Korea. And why do we know so little about the US War on Korea, that began 70 years ago, and never ended in a peace agreement.
I had the moving experience to record one of the few living veterans of that war. The great late folk [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Daniel Ellsberg on Freedom of the Press, Julian Assange, and the Risk of Nuclear War

Of course Ellsberg is best known for the release of the Pentagon Papers, a top secret study of the decision-making of the U.S. government in relation to the war in Vietnam, how long it had been planned for, and how – like in the bombing of Iraq – lies were used to actually begin the war in Vietnam. Less known is his support of whistle-blowers and his anti-nuclear work.
Daniel Ellsberg has used his experience to defend Julian Assange and other whistleblowers – even up to current days – when it has become known that he received a cancer diagnosis that gives him only a few more months to live.
Frank Barat spoke with Daniel Ellsberg on Jan 19, 2023. He is [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers – TUC Radio Archives – TWO of TWO

His encouragement to others to disclose government lies – and his response to the accusation of treason
This is the second part of a talk by Daniel Ellsberg that he gave on December 18, 2007 in downtown San Francisco to a small group of members of the Republican Roundtable.
Those were the George W Bush years and it was well known that Ellsberg campaigned against the threats of war on Iran. I had permission to film the event and was concerned about a possible confrontation. Half-way through this 29 minute segment Ellsberg responds to a statement that he was advocating treason – to which he gives a legally and historically brilliant response that still applies today, to Julian Assange, Chelsea [ . . . ]

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Yanis Varoufakis: Why we should “let the banks burn”

Marc Lamont Hill speaks to Varoufakis on UpFront on Al Jazeera on March 31, 2023 This interview – plus the original article by Varoufakis: “Let the Banks Burn”, published in Project Syndicate on March 24, 2023, generated over a quarter million entries on search engines in only ten days. They may be one of the most unorthodox but also well thought out solutions to the current banking crisis.
The interviewer, Marc Lamont Hill, is an American author, activist, and professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is host of UpFront on Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera is the international news conglomerate, based in Doha and financed by the Qatari government.
Yanis Varoufakis is [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Britain will send Depleted Uranium munitions to Ukraine

Annabelle Goldie, the British minister of state for defense, made this announcement last week, on March 20, 2023
Britain already has sent the first Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and the Depleted Uranium munitions are designed to be fired from these tanks. This announcement came just two days after the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war, where DU ammunitions were used on a large scale.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has attacked the UK’s decision. Kate Hudson, its General Secretary, said: “CND has repeatedly called for the UK government to place an immediate moratorium on the use of Depleted Uranium…”
DU munitions were used by the US and Britain in the Gulf war in 1991 and in Iraq in [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Professor Richard Wolff: Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Crisis

Jordan Chariton asks Prof. Wolff – Is this crisis contained – or will it spread?
They spoke on March 15 – when the news broke that the Silicon Valley Bank was to receive a bailout.
Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show Economic Update. Jordan Chariton is an investigative reporting news producer with Status Coup News. They feature in-field and investigative reporting, and aim to cover what corporate media covers up.
Find the interview from March 15, 2023 on YouTube under the title: Professor Richard Wolff: Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Crisis.
Credit: Jordan Chariton, Status Coup News
Date: 2023/03/15

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Feminist Theology and Women in the Muslim World (TWO of TWO) Archive

Special for International Women’s Month
This is the conclusion of Dr. Riffat Hassan’s extraordinary feminist lecture on the story of Adam and Eve, a story that forms the basis for the oppression of women in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Plus my interview with her about her radical re-interpretation of the significance of Eve’s acceptance of the apple.

Dr. Riffat Hassan is a Muslim theologian from Pakistan who opposes the Islamic view of the inferiority of women. She says that since anti women legislation and custom are enacted in the name of theology, it is necessary to study the Koran and critique the source.
In the original text, says Hassan, women are neither inferior nor sinful. Adam is not a man’s name – it [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 39.8MB)