Pushback with Aaron Mate

Syria and its allies prevented regime change, but the US and its allies are continuing to squeeze Syria's population with crippling sanctions on all aspects of civilian life and a US military occupation in Syria's northeast breadbasket. Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, analyzes the state of the Syria proxy war and the ongoing propaganda campaign to whitewash it. Guest: Peter Ford, veteran British diplomat who served as the UK Ambassador to Syria from 2003-2006.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson assesses Biden's "national security" picks, including Gen. Lloyd Austin for Secretary of Defense and Anthony Blinken for Secretary of State. "I don't see a different kind of administration being formed," Wilkerson says. "And it disturbs me because it just means more of the same -- a little more calmness, a little more serenity, which lulls everyone into thinking that things are better, when in fact they're not." Guest: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell. Currently a distinguished professor at the College of William and Mary. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Israel's assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist is the latest act of aggression in the Trump-Netanyahu campaign to undermine the Iran nuclear deal. Although President-elect Joe Biden has voiced support for returning to the JCPOA, longstanding US-Israel hostility to Iranian sovereignty will continue under his watch. Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter debunks the myths about Iran's nuclear program and discusses the next phase of the US and Israeli campaign against Iran under Biden. Guest: Scott Ritter, former UN Weapons Inspector, former Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, and author of Dealbreaker: Donald Trump and the Unmaking of the Iran Nuclear Deal. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, discusses the connections between the global US empire and the record US death toll during the coronavirus pandemic. "We're really not doing anything very well or right, and that's a consequence in part at least of our fascination with an attempt to maintain and even expand this empire that we've created since 1945," Wilkerson says. He also discusses the breakdown of US-Russia talks on expanding a key nuclear weapons treaty, and new revelations about the Bush administration's drive to invade Iraq. Guest: Col. Lawrence Wilkerson. Former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; currently a distinguished professor at the College of William and Mary. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

In a new article for Foreign Affairs, scholar Joshua Landis and former Obama administration official Steve Simon write that US sanctions on Syria "further immiserates the Syrian people, blocks reconstruction efforts, and strangles the economy that sustains a desperate population during Syria’s growing humanitarian and public health crises." Landis, a leading expert on Syria, joins Pushback. Guest: Joshua Landis, Sandra Mackey Professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

In his new book "A Case for the American People," former House Judiciary Committee attorney Norman Eisen tells the inside story of the Democrats' impeachment efforts against President Trump. Eisen joins Aaron Maté to debate and discuss the Mueller probe, Ukrainegate, and Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Guest: Norman Eisen, former special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, including for the impeachment and trial of President Trump. Previously served under President Obama as ethics czar and ambassador to the Czech Republic. His new book is "A Case for the American People: The United States v. Donald J. Trump." https://www.normaneisen.com/ Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

At the funeral for John Lewis, former president Bill Clinton disparaged Stokely Carmichael's (later Kwame Ture) leadership role in the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. "There were two or three years there where the movement went a little bit too far towards Stokely," Clinton said, "But in the end, John Lewis prevailed." Dr. Peniel Joseph, professor at University of Texas at Austin and author of "Stokely: A Life", responds to Clinton's comments and discusses Carmichael/Ture's legacy as a black power revolutionary. "Bill Clinton was a terrible president for black people," Dr. Jospeh says. "So the disparaging of Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael is really just another example of this kind of racism and patronizing attitude coming from the forces of political reaction that people like Bill Clinton represent." Carmichael meanwhile "exposed the depths of state-sanctioned violence against black bodies in the context of the 1960s, and exposed the moral and political hypocrisy of American democracy and fantasies of American exceptionalism." Guest: Dr. Peniel Joseph, Barbara Jordan chair in ethics and political values at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Author of "Stokely: A Life" and his latest, "The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr." https://lbj.utexas.edu/joseph-peniel Dr. Joseph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PenielJoseph Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

The catastrophic explosion in Beirut followed years of ignored warnings by government officials about the ammonium nitrate stored at the port. Lecturer and activist Rania Masri says that the disaster is the product of a corrupt, sectarian political system maintained by foreign powers. Guest: Rania Masri, lecturer and activist. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

A long-awaited UK government report finds no evidence of Russian meddling in British domestic politics, including the 2016 Brexit vote. But that hasn't stopped the fear-mongering: the report claims the UK government didn't find evidence because it didn't look for it, and backs increased powers for intelligence agencies and media censorship as a result. Afshin Rattansi, a British journalist and host of RT's "Going Underground", responds. Guest: Afshin Rattansi, British journalist and host of RT's "Going Underground." Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is being challenged on the November ballot by democratic socialist Shahid Buttar, who is running on a staunch progressive platform for Pelosi's Congressional seat in California. Buttar joins Pushback to discuss his campaign against the country's most powerful Democrat. Guest: Shahid Buttar, Congressional candidate challenging Nancy Pelosi in CA-12. https://shahidforchange.us/ Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

A new open letter signed by prominent pundits and intellectuals warns of a growing problem with cancel culture. The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal discusses how many of its prominent signatories have spent their careers trying to silence dissenting voices on critical issues such as Israel-Palestine and Syria. They are also part of a growing establishment "hyper-liberal" cancel culture that elevates identitarian issues at the expense of class ones; promotes reactionary projects like Russiagate by co-opting righteous causes; and supports the cancelation of foreign countries via aggressive U.S. foreign policy. Guest: Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone and author of "The Management of Savagery."

Multiple US outlets, citing anonymous intelligence officials, are claiming that Russia offered bounties to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan and that President Trump has taken no action. The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal breaks down the story's flaws and how it continues a Russiagate-era push of the Democratic Party to the right. "The constant flow of Russiagate disinformation into the bloodstream of the Democratic Party and its base is moving that party constantly to the right, while pushing the US deeper into this Cold War," Blumenthal says. Guest: Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone and author of several books, including his latest "The Management of Savagery." Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set a date of July 1st to begin Israel's annexation of major parts of the Occupied West Bank. A group of 47 independent UN legal experts call the annexation plan "a vision of a 21st century apartheid." Author and scholar Norman Finkelstein argues that Netanyahu is exploiting a brief window of opportunity under Trump and will use the deadline to swallow up valuable West Bank while pretending to be making a compromise because he does not seize the entire territory. "If there were an an Oscar for Best Dramatic Performance by a Nation-State, Israel would win hands down every year," Finkelstein says. "And so they will manage to turn this illegal annexation, which will enable Israel to appropriate some of the best farmland, agricultural land in the Occupied Territories, that will preclude the possibility of a Palestinian state — they’ll manage to turn it into another agonizing, gut-wrenching compromise. I could write the script." Guest: Norman Finkelstein, author and scholar. His latest book is "I Accuse! : Herewith A Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt That ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda Whitewashed Israel." www.normanfinkelstein.com Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Veteran civil rights activist Larry Hamm discusses the national uprising against systemic racism and police violence as well as his primary challenge to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. "The challenge that faces us is to develop strategies and tactics that will sustain our movement over the long haul," Hamm says. Guest: Larry Hamm, chair of the People's Organization for Progress and candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination in New Jersey.

As Syria tries to recover from a nearly decade-long conflict, the US has imposed crippling new sanctions that explicitly target reconstruction. "For Syrians, sanctions on reconstruction and on oil and gas are likely to be felt most acutely," the Washington Post reports. "The Caesar Act will probably limit the government’s ability to procure oil, further hurting the already low quality of life." The new sanctions follow earlier coercive measures that had already hurt Syrian civilians, compounding the destruction of a lengthy proxy war fueled and funded by the US and its allies. Guest: Elijah Magnier, veteran war correspondent who has covered the Middle East for more than three decades. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

The families of black victims of police violence are calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council to open an investigation of what they call an "unfolding grave human rights crisis" in the United States. Relatives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and Michael Brown urge the UN to probe the killings of their loved ones and the government crackdowns on anti-racism protests. The letter's co-drafter, Gay McDougall, a legal scholar and former UN expert on racial discrimination, joins Pushback. Guest: Gay McDougall. Former member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; the UN's first Independent Expert on Minority Issues; and former member of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission. Currently a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Leitner Center on International Law and Justice at Fordham University Law School. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

Historian and author Gerald Horne discusses the US uprisings against police brutality and systemic racism sparked by George Floyd's killing; the devastating impact of the US government's decades-old war on the black freedom struggle; the ongoing "Russia-baiting" of the protests; and how, amidst the suffering and repression at home, the U.S. government, in bipartisan fashion, continues to attempt to impose its will on countries abroad, from China to Venezuela. 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 the forthcoming The Dawning of the Apocalypse. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

The Trump administration continues to undermine global arms control and increase the threat of a nuclear weapons race with Russia and China. The U.S. has announced plans to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows participants to launch joint surveillance flights in a bid to avert military conflict. Trump officials have also rejected talks on renewing New START and reportedly discussed conducting the first US nuclear test since 1992. All this comes as Trump's arms control envoy said that Trump can outspend Russia and China on nuclear weapons "into oblivion." Guest: Daryl Kimball, Director of the Arms Control Association. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

In his latest Grayzone exposé, Max Blumenthal reveals how the US surveilled and targeted Wikileaks founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador’s London embassy, all while working with Trump mega-donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s security team and a Spanish company that had initially been hired to protect the embassy. Drawing on court testimony and internal documents, Blumenthal details how the CIA sabotaged an asylum plan for Assange; installed software that allowed it to directly monitor him; and harassed and monitored Assange’s attorneys, friends, family, and journalist colleagues. Guest: Max Blumenthal, Editor of The Grayzone and author of The Management of Savagery. Max Blumenthal's article: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/american-sheldon-adelsons-us-spy-julian-assange/

Crowdstrike, the firm that accused Russia of stealing DNC emails in 2016, has made a bombshell admission. In newly released Congressional testimony, Crowdstrike president Shawn Henry said that "we did not have concrete evidence" that alleged Russian hackers actually took the emails from DNC servers. "There's circumstantial evidence, but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated," Henry said. Aaron Maté breaks down Henry's testimony and why it adds new doubt about the core allegation at the heart of Russiagate.

Noam Chomsky joins Aaron Maté to discuss the May Day workers' strikes; how Donald Trump's ineptitude and neoliberal capitalism fueled the COVID-19 crisis; US attacks on China and the WHO; Trump's overlooked escalation of the nuclear arms race with Russia; the question of "lesser evil voting" in the Biden-Trump race; and what the targets of US empire can teach us about resiliency and resistance. Guest: Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist, author and political dissident.

The bipartisan US establishment has coalesced around increased hostility to China in response to the coronavirus pandemic. China has faced numerous allegations including that it covered up the pandemic at the world's expense, developed the virus in a lab, and has spread disinformation. Journalist and attorney Ajit Singh debunks some of the most widespread claims lodged against China and analyzes the parallels between the current climate and Russiagate. Guest: Ajit Singh, Attorney and Journalist.

An internal investigation has found that top Labour Party officials sabotaged Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, including by trying to lose the 2017 UK election. The report also suggests that the same people who tried to undermine Corbyn were themselves the ones who were slow to respond to allegations of anti-Semitism -- another weapon that was used against Corbyn's leadership. Guest: Asa Winstanley, journalist with The Electronic Intifada. Links: Asa Winstanley: https://electronicintifada.net/people/asa-winstanley Al Jazeera's "The Lobby" (UK): https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/thelobby/ Al Jazeera's "The Lobby - USA": https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876

Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling is a double whistleblower: as an African-American, he challenged racism from superior officers; he also voiced concerns about a deeply flawed CIA effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. government retaliated by accusing him, without evidence, of leaking classified information. Sterling joins Pushback to discuss his ordeal. Guest: Jeffrey Sterling, author of "Unwanted Spy: The Persecution of an American Whistleblower." Special thanks to the Allard Prize for International Integrity for arranging this interview.

Amazon workers have staged walkouts to protest a lack of protective gear and a failure to properly sanitize their workplace. Chris Smalls, an assistant warehouse manager, was fired after organizing the walkout at Amazon's Staten Island facility. Smalls says that Amazon managers failed to inform workers about coronavirus cases in the building and rejected safety demands. Guest: Chris Smalls, former Amazon employee who was fired after organizing a walkout over unsafe conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump administration has unveiled a so-called 'democratic transition' plan that demands the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for a five-person "Council of State," and threatens "increased" sanctions if Venezuela does not comply. Latin America policy analyst Leonard Flores says that the plan is a non-starter and the latest US effort to starve Venezuelans into submission. Guest: Leonardo Flores, Latin American policy expert and campaigner with CODEPINK. Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate

The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of US workers without a job and the healthcare that comes with it. Economist Pavlina Tcherneva discusses how the Congressional bailout prioritizes corporate profits instead of building on the successful legacy of the New Deal. Guest: Pavlina Tcherneva, Associate Professor at Bard College and author of "The Case for a Job Guarantee."

As Iran struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions that further weaken the Iranian economy and health system. Assal Rad of the National Iranian American Council discusses the sanctions' toll on Iran and how the Trump administration's regime change agenda could lead to bigger catastrophe. Guest: Assal Rad, Research Fellow at the National Iranian American Council.

Iran has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, and new US sanctions are making it worse. Alfred de Zayas, a former UN Special Rapporteur, says that intensified US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela during the crisis are "insane", and possibly genocidal. Guest: Alfred de Zayas, former UN Special Rapporteur and law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy.

With Bernie Sanders poised for a big Super Tuesday, Krystal Ball discusses the Democratic establishment's panic, Elizabeth Warren's attacks on Sanders, and whether DNC elites are once again alienating the working class voters they lost in 2016. Guest: Krystal Ball, co-host of Rising and co-author of the best-selling new book, "The Populist's Guide to 2020." Support Pushback at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aaronmate