Background Briefing: August 4, 2021

On By gram

 

Biden Revives the Eviction Moratorium with Unspent Money For Tenants and Landlords Already in the Pipeline

We begin with a revival of the CDC’s eviction moratorium via a Presidential Executive Order which apparently was in response to demonstrations on the Capitol steps by Congresswoman Cori Bush and others along with pressure behind the scenes from Speaker Pelosi. Joining us to discuss the new 60 day eviction moratorium following the expiration on Saturday of the original moratorium is Tamara Fucile, the Executive Director of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee who previously served as Associate Director of Legislative Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget and as Deputy Staff Director for Senate Minority Leader Schumer’s Joint Economic Committee. We discuss what is causing the bottleneck that has plenty of unspent money for tenants and landlords in the pipeline making evictions unnecessary and whether Biden’s rental assistance extension will survive court challenges that will determine how long people can stay in their homes and not be on the streets exposed to a new Covid pandemic.

 

The Shadow War Between Iran and Israel is About to Escalate

Then we examine the possibility of the shadow war between Iran and Israel getting out of hand with a number of attacks on tankers off Oman by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps with an explosive-laden drone already having hit an Israeli-owned tanker killing a British security officer and a Romanian sailor. Nader Hashemi, the Director of Middle East Studies at the University of Denver joins us to discuss warnings from Israel’s leaders that Iran is 10 weeks away from having enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb along with Prime Minister Bennett’s warning that Israel “knows how to act alone.”

 

The Soviet Relic in Belarus Crosses Borders to Murder Dissidents

Then finally we look into how the dictator in Belarus seems to be striking out at dissidents abroad following the murder and staged suicide of the head of a Belarusian exile group in Ukraine. Joining us is an expert on Belarus, David Marples, the Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta and author of The Lukashenko Phenomenon: Elections, Propaganda, and the Foundation of Political Authority in Belarus and Understanding Ukraine and Belarus.