Background Briefing: March 2, 2023

On By gram

 

With Biden’s First Veto of a Culture War Absurdity “Woke Capitalism” Which Does Not Exist, Is Ron DeSantis Setting the Republican Agenda?

We begin with the latest absurdity in the Republican culture wars with the first veto Biden is poised to exercise now that the House and Senate have passed a resolution overturning a Labor Department ruling on ESG, Environmental Social Governance being considered by managers of Wall Street retirement funds which Ron DeSantis and the GOP have seized on as “woke capitalism.” Joining us to discuss the extent to which Florida Governor DeSantis is setting the Republican agenda with his racist dog whistle attacks on the “woke” and “woke capitalism” which does not exist, is Michael Binder, a professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of North Florida whose research interests include voter decision-making, direct democracy, American politics and public opinion. He is the faculty director for the Public Opinion Research Laboratory at the University of North Florida.

 

Is There Any Possibility of a Peaceful Solution to the War in Ukraine?

Then we look into whether there is any possibility of a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine in which Russia appears to want to outlast the Ukrainians while their country is incrementally destroyed. Joining us to discuss the need for a peaceful solution and also comment of the Sy Hersh article that has found traction on the American left is William Arkin, a Senior Editor at Newsweek and one of America’s premier military experts whose investigative work has appeared on the front pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He served in Army intelligence in West Berlin during the Cold War and has been a consultant to wide-ranging organizations, including the US Air Force, the United Nations Secretary General, Human Rights Watch, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The bestselling author of more than a dozen books, including and The Generals Have No Clothes: The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars, his latest book is On That Day: The Definitive Timeline of 9/11.

 

As Putin Spreads Alarm About “Nazi” Terrorist Attacks Inside Russia, Is He Setting the Stage For a False Flag Act to Justify Martial Law?

Then finally we assess whether Putin appearance on state TV today and his convening of Russia’s National Security Council tomorrow to address so-called terrorist acts on Russian soil is Olga Lautman, a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis who is also the creator and co-host of the Kremlin File podcast series, which features expert discussions on the Kremlin’s internal affairs, global operations, and tactics used from their hybrid warfare toolkit to destabilize Western democracies. Olga’s research focuses on the cross-section of organized crime and intelligence operations in Russia and Ukraine, their impact on the West, and the monitoring of active measures campaigns conducted by the Kremlin to destabilize democratic practices and influence foreign elections. We discuss whether the incident Putin is alarmed about actually happened and that the so-called “Nazis” behind it are working for the Ukrainians which is clearly the last thing Ukraine needs, could be a prelude for a false flag operation to be carried out by the Kremlin so that Putin can impose martial law.