Ali Al-Ahmed on the sentencing to death of a Palestinian poet by Saudi court
Gareth Porter on the real reason Turkey shot down a Russian jet
More about this week’s guests:
Ali Al-Ahmed is director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, which just released a report on “The Saudi government school in Paris and the content of its schoolbooks that promote terrorism and hatred.” Background: Reuters reports: “A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for apostasy, abandoning his Muslim faith, according to trial documents seen by Human Rights Watch, its Middle East researcher Adam Coogle said on Friday. Ashraf Fayadh was detained by the country’s religious police in 2013 in Abha, in southwest Saudi Arabia, and then rearrested and tried in early 2014. Middle East Eye reports: “The exact charges under which Fayadh was initially held were not made clear, although some have suggested that his arrest was linked to his publication of a video showing religious police in Abha beating a young man in public. … Saudi Arabia has put to death nearly 150 people so far this year, the highest figure in two decades. Most people are executed by beheading with a sword, a method Saudi authorities say is more humane than other alternatives.”
GarethPorter is an independent investigative journalist and historian who specializes in U.S. national security policy. He is the author of several books, including Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, Porter just wrote the piece, “The real reason for Turkey’s shoot-down of the Russian jet,” for Middle East Eye. He has published investigative articles on Salon.com, the Nation, the American Prospect, Truthout and The Raw Story. His blogs have been published on Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Counterpunch and many other websites. Porter was Saigon bureau chief of Dispatch News Service International in 1971 and later reported on trips to Southeast Asia for The Guardian, Asian Wall Street Journal and Pacific News Service. He is the author of four books on the Vietnam War and the political system of Vietnam. Historian Andrew Bacevich called his latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War , published by University of California Press in 2005, without a doubt, the most important contribution to the history of U.S. national security policy to appear in the past decade. He has taught Southeast Asian politics and international studies at American University, City College of New York and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
As American jobs are sent abroad and candidates grandstand on the topic, we talk with Civil Rights attorney James Otto about a lawsuit he filed against Disney “Whose Preference For Foreign Workers Over U.S. Workers Resulted In Over 700 Competent U.S Workers Forced To Train Incompetent Foreign Workers”
The US has started to use manned airstrikes from a base in Turkey against ISIS forces in Syria. At the same time, the country’s leading Kurdish politician accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of ‘supporting ISIS’ in the past. He said that Erdogan wants early elections as part of a strategy of ‘attacking the Kurdish movement’ and reversing its recent political gains.” We discuss the background with Kani Xulam
More about this week’s guests:
James A. Otto, a former Marine Corps officer in the 1970s, is an attorney based in Northridge, CA. He served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corp. from 1976 to 1980. From 1996 to 2002, he worked for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing prosecuting violators of California’s civil rights laws in both employment and housing. Presently, he is developing new legal theories to protect American workers and green card holders from national origin discrimination.
The following is extracted from a press release by Otto:
“Civil Rights Attorney James Otto says that “an unholy alliance of lawyers and craven corporation practices have installed surreptitious strategies to illegally discriminate against the American workforce. The result is the betrayal of the American dream of “fairness to all”. Otto states that “Disney Corporation authorized a NO U.S. WORKER EMPLOYMENT POLICY firing over 700 competent U.S. workers in Florida, Anaheim and Burbank, California, as well as, New York. Disney required them to train their foreign imported replacements in order to be paid. Disney executives told employees “Get used to it. You need to learn to wear a sari [Indian dress] because that is the only place you will ever get a job.”
The result is an inequality that is rapidly undermining democracy. Like an odorless gas, every corner of our country is being sapped of its strength. The evidence of the economic pollution is everywhere. As Bob Dole once said” The poor don’t contribute to campaign funds.” Our government is consistently favoring the rich. This is the sad source of the problem.
WHERE DO SOME OF OUR POTENTIAL PRESIDENTS STAND?
Hillary Clinton supports importing more foreign workers to replace and fire competent U.S. workers. As Secretary of State, she authorized the U.S. Embassy in India to break federal law by accepting and processing EVERY VISA IN EXCESS OF 60,000 TO REPLACE American workers. Clinton spent over 40 million tax-payer’s dollars to build and educate foreigners to be imported and replace American workers
Donald Trump supports firing competent American workers to replace them with incompetent imported foreign workers. Carly Fiorina brags that she fired Americans and replaced them with foreign workers.”
Kani Xulam is director of the American Kurdish Information Network and a native of Kurdistan.He studied International Relations at the University of Toronto, holds a BA in history from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MA in the International Service program at American University. At the University of Toronto, he represented Kurdistan at the Model United Nations, which passed a nonbinding resolution recognizing the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination.At the University of California Santa Barbara, he was part of a group of peace activists who protested the first Gulf War by taking part in a sit-in at Chancellor’s office in January 1991. Everyone was arrested. Mr. Xulam pled not guilty, defended himself, and was sentenced to 18 hours of community service to plant saplings in Santa Barbara. In 1993, at the urging of Kurdish community leaders in America, he left his family business in Santa Barbara, California to establish the American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) in the nation’s capital. AKIN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering Kurdish-American understanding and friendship.
In 1997, he took part in a hunger strike on the steps of the Capitol urging members of Congress to use their good offices on behalf of their imprisoned Kurdish colleagues. 153 members signed a letter urging President Clinton to intervene on the matter. Mr. Xulam, on the advice of his physician, ended his fast on the 32nd day.
Quote: “The U.S. use of bases in Turkey follows Ankara breaking a three-year truce with the Kurds — and the U.S. government is not stopping that. This is in line with prior U.S. government policy. Three years ago, the U.S. provided Turkey with ‘actionable intelligence,’ which resulted in the death of 34 Kurdish villagers. While Kurdish forces have been quite effective in fighting ISIS in Syria, the Turkish government has turned its back to ISIS fighters crossing its borders. This is partly driven by an incredible animosity toward [Syrian President] As’ad — partly out of an anti-Alawite sectarianism. With elections coming up and with Erdogan restarting a low-intensity conflict in Turkey, the ongoing war in Syria and Iraq could easily spread to Turkey.”
Former Soldier and current Peace Activist Ellen Barfield on her transformation and the activism of Resisting Drones
Writer, Academic, Activist, and Commentator Yasmin Nair on The Supreme Court same-sex ruling and “The Secret History of Gay Marriage”
More about this week’s guests:
Ellen Barfield grew up in Texas. Like so many, she joined the Army to get the money to
finish college. While in the army she was stationed in Germany and Korea. She served in the U.S. Army from 1977-1981. She has been a full-time peace and justice activist for nearly thirty years. In addition to being on the board of the War Resisters League, Ellen is the coordinator of the Veterans for Peace Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter, and works on national committees of VFP, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and School of the Americas Watch.
Since 2010 Hancock has been the home of the 174th Attack Wing of the NY National Guard – an MQ9 Reaper drone hub piloting weaponized drones 24/7 over Afghanistan and likely elsewhere. Also since 2010 Hancock has been the scene of twice-monthly anti-drone demonstrations outside its main gate as well as occasional larger demonstrations and scrupulously nonviolent civil resistance organized by Upstate Drone Action, a grassroots coalition. These have led to over 160 arrests, and numerous trials in DeWitt as well as $375 fines, Orders of Protection, and numerous incarcerations. Read more about anti-drone actions www.upstatedroneaction.org
EllenBarfield was among 31 arrested in the driveway to Hancock’s main gate on East Molloy Rd on April 28, 2013 for “dieing-in” with bloody shrouds or for attempting to read aloud to the military personnel behind Hancock’s barbed wire fence a list of children killed by U.S. drones. The activists said they sought to “prick the conscience” of base personnel and the chain of command responsible for the war crime originating there.
On June 27th, after deliberating a couple hours, a six-person jury found four of those arrested, including Ellen, not guilty of obstructing government administration (OGA) at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse, New York, but guilty of trespass, a violation carrying a maximum 15-day imprisonment.
Yasmin Nair is a co-founder and member of the editorial collective Against Equality; she contributed essays on gay marriage, hate crime legislation, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to their book, Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion. She is also a member of the Chicago grassroots organisation Gender JUST (Justice United for Societal Transformation) and serves as its Policy Director (a volunteer position). Nair was, from 1999-2003, a member of the now-defunct Queer to the Left. Her activist work includes gentrification, immigration, public education, and youth at risk. Her recent article is called “The Secret History of Gay Marriage“
Ali Al-Ahmed is director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, which just released a report on “The Saudi government school in Paris and the content of its schoolbooks that promote 
The Monitor 