June 24, 2009, 11:56 am
In 2002 a military coup occurred in Venezuela to depose the left wing government of Hugo Chavez. Later it was discovered that the United States, clearly backing the coup ideologically, was also involved in it’s financing.
Just recently documents have come to light that show that the US has been spending millions of dollars a year on programs in Bolivia to undermine the government of indigenous president Evo Morales.
Eva Golinger was instrumental in uncovering the US connection with the 2002 coup against Chavez and was one of those who discovered the documents concerning US involvement in Bolivia.
Julia spoke to Eva earlier this week and started by asking her about the US attitude towards the Morales government.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 24th of June.
June 17, 2009, 11:02 am
The bankruptcy of huge corporations like General Motors in the US is a sure sign that the global financial crisis has some real teeth.
President Obama’s bailout of the financial sector and some large manufacturers has been reported in such a way as to hide the harsh consequences imposed on the American working class as a result of these bankruptcies.
Julia spoke to Greg Palast, a freelance journalist from the US who has been keeping a keen eye on the way autoworkers have been treated in the wake of GM’s collapse. You can see Greg’s personal website here . She started by asking Greg about the extent of the situation, how many workers were involved and what happened to GM’s assets.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 17th of June.
June 11, 2009, 1:58 pm
Iceland was recently hit hard by the global financial crisis, suffering the collapse of all of its major banks whose combined debt was many times greater than the country’s GDP. During the initial stage of the economic crisis there was great political unrest culminating in a number of large protests in the country’s capital, Reykjavik. Emergency elections were held giving the Social Democrat/Left Green coalition 34 seats in the 63-seat parliament.
Julia spoke to Jordan Shilton, a commentator at World Socialist Web Site about the recent political and economic situation. She started by asking Jordan about how the policies of the new coalition compare to the previous government.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 10th of June.
June 11, 2009, 1:52 pm
Recently a discussion has surfaced about whether population control schemes could feature in the policy aims of the Australian Climate Change movement.
Simon Butler is an analyst and contributor to Green Left Weekly who argues that the proponents of population control schemes completely miss the underlying causes of climate change.
Julia started by asking Simon about the history of such schemes and the lessons we can learn about their previous implementations.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 10th of June.
June 11, 2009, 1:40 pm
“Taxation is theft” or the equivalent is echoed around the American mass media as if it were a founding principle of the nation. However, this is completely apt when it comes to the Obama administration’s bailout policy.
Andy Kroll is an analyst and regular contributer to Tom Dispatch who has written about the way taxpayers are being deceived.
Julia started by asking Andy just how big the bailout has blown out to.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 10th of June.
June 3, 2009, 12:41 pm
Global military spending annually amounts to $1.2 trillion.
Military spending has been continuously on the rise. Leading the way is the US who accounts for nearly half of the world’s total, distantly followed by the UK, China, France and Japan each with 4 to 5% share.
Julia spoke to Anup Shah who is a political, economic and environmental commentator who runs the website Global Issues
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 3rd of June.
June 3, 2009, 12:29 pm
Despite the uncertainty in the global economy today, China has no external debt, billions of dollars on US assets and three of the top five banks on the world.
Catching up with the United States has long been China’s aspiration and Beijing is putting a huge amount of energy, money and manpower into doing just that.
China is aiming to become a superpower in every sense: In culture, economics and technology.
Julia interviewed Dilip Hiro, a contributing journalist to The New York Times, The Guardian and The Washington Post about the rise of China and the perception of its rise in the west.
This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 3rd of June.
