In the News: Will there be a Biden foreign policy pivot? China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and Cuba
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2020
⏱️ 93 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 1 of The Socialist Program! In our inaugural "In the News" roundtable discussion, Brian Becker, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss Biden's cabinet picks so far and what they indicate about his administration's political orientation, especially regarding foreign policy and U.S. empire.
PLUS: Joel Northam, Eliza Lucero and Lillian House -- the three Denver anti-racist organizers facing decades in prison on false charges -- join the show! They discuss the repression they have been the targets of and the ongoing struggle for justice for Elijah McClain.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the very first episode of In The News, our Tuesday show on the Socialist program with Brian Becker. |
| 0:07.3 | This is an in-depth look at the biggest stories in the news right now, today, and this week. |
| 0:12.7 | We look beyond the headlines and expose the distortions in the corporate-owned media. |
| 0:18.0 | We need a new system. We need a new society. |
| 0:22.1 | We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not |
| 0:27.3 | only realizable, but an imperative necessity. |
| 0:57.3 | Yeah. I'm Nicole Roussel, and I'm here with Walter Smalerick and our host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:13.2 | We'll be going in-depth on Biden's cabinet picks today, and then we have an interview with the anti-racist organizers in Denver who are fighting for justice for Elijah McLean and have been retaliated against with serious felony charges and are now facing 48 years in prison. But first, we'll go over some of today's biggest headlines. |
| 1:17.7 | This week saw the first wave of major appointments to the incoming Biden administration. |
| 1:22.7 | Longtime Biden aide Anthony Blinken was tapped to serve as Secretary of State. Blinken was a high-ranking |
| 1:28.9 | State Department official in the Obama administration, where he supported the war on Libya, |
| 1:33.4 | bombing Syria, and was a supporter of the JCPOA-Iran nuclear deal. Janet Yellen will receive |
| 1:40.2 | the nomination to head the Treasury Department. Yelan previously served in various capacities at the Federal Reserve, including as its chair, |
| 1:48.0 | during a period generally characterized by accommodative monetary policy favored by Wall Street. |
| 1:54.7 | Alejandro Mayorkas will be nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security. |
| 1:59.2 | He led United States citizenship and immigration services and later was Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. He led United States citizenship and immigration services, |
| 2:02.4 | and later was Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, |
| 2:07.4 | which carried out historic levels of deportations far exceeding the Trump administration. |
| 2:13.0 | Other picks include Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor. |
| 2:18.1 | Let me actually... Other picks include Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor. Other picks include Jake Sullivan as National Security and John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy on Climate. |
| 2:28.0 | The coronavirus is continuing to spread rapidly with well over 100,000 new cases per day nationwide for 20 days in a row. |
| 2:38.3 | At the height of the July boom, the highest number of new cases registered in a single day was 73,000, |
... |
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