Background Briefing: January 6, 2025
Trump’s Orwellian January 6 Victory – Four Years Later Lies Have Won and Truth is Endangered
We begin with the Congress officially certifying Donald Trump’s Electoral College election victory today on this fourth anniversary of the January 6 insurrection and coup attempt by Donald Trump to stay in the White House after having lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Joining us to discuss the Orwellian nature of Republican revisionist history which has turned a group of murderous thugs and vandals into martyrs and heroes who will soon be pardoned by Trump on his first day back in office is Jacob Heilbrunn. He is the Editor at the National Interest, a non-resident senior fellow at The Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a columnist for The Spectator. His books include They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons and America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators, and he has an article at The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune “Trump’s Foreign Policy To-Do List For 2025.”
Today’s Resignation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau After 9 Years in Office
Then we look into today’s resignation by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after 9 years in office and his shutting down of the parliament until March 24th so that his Liberal Party can have time to find a successor. Joining us is Andrew Latham, a professor of international relations at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota specializing in the politics of international conflict and security. He was formerly the Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament Fellow at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and a lecturer at the Canadian Armed Forces School of Aerospace Studies.
The Need to Lift Sanctions on Syria Before Chaos Consumes a Failed State
Then finally we speak with Thanassis Cambanis, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and Director of the Center for International Research and Policy. Until recently, he was worked as a journalist based in Lebanon and his books include A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel, Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story, and most recently, Shia Power Comes of Age: The Transformation of Islamist Politics in Iraq, 2003-2023. We will discuss his article at The Century Foundation, “Lift Sanctions to Give Syria a Chance to Recover.”