Background Briefing: July 19, 2022

On By gram

 

The Purge at the Top of Ukraine’s Intelligence and Prosecutor’s Office

We begin with the purging of the top ranks of Ukraine’s Intelligence service the SBU and its Prosecutor General by President Zelensky citing more than 60 officials from the SBU and the prosecutor’s office now working against the country in Russian-occupied territories. Joining us to assess how deep the Russians have penetrated Ukraine’s intelligence service is George Beebe, the Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He served in government for nearly twenty-five years, including as director of Russia analysis at CIA and as a White House adviser on Russia matters for Vice President Dick Cheney. His latest book is The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe.

 

With 75% of Americans Seeing Inflation as Their Top Concern, What Will the White House Do to Stop a Wipeout in November?

Then with a new CNN poll finding 75% of Americans see inflation as their top concern with only 25% approving of Biden’s efforts to curb it, we examine what the White House can do to prevent a wipeout of the Democrats in November and speak with Robert Johnson, the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. He was formerly Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee and the US Senate Budget Committee.  

 

Will American Plutocrats Support Trump Just As German Industrialists Supported Hilter?

Then finally, with Trump all-but announcing he is running again and with the GOP under his control, we look into the likelihood that American plutocrats will support Trump even though many might find him distasteful just as German industrialists found Hitler distasteful but useful in breaking labor unions and making them richer. Joining us is Mike Lofgren, who has spent twenty-eight years working in Congress, the last sixteen as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget committees. He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless and the Middle Class Got Shafted, and we discuss his article at Common Dreams, “The GOP’s Army of Christian Nationalists and White Supremacists Poses a Danger Greater Than You Know.”