News Beat

“I'll answer that part first, that’s the easy one,” explains John Kiriakou, the former CIA intelligence officer who served 30 months in federal prison for exposing the agency’s torture program to the world, when asked whether he’d do it all again despite the personal and professional fallout from his disclosure.

Those are just some of the many profound insights he shared with us during a recent, wide-ranging conversation encompassing everything from the significance of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s recent plea deal with U.S. authorities to the lack of affirmative defense under the WWI-era Espionage Act to his thoughts on Israel’s indefinite detention and alleged torture of Palestinians, the personal toll of truth-telling, ongoing ‘War on Terror,’ and much more.

The occupied, blockaded, walled territories of Palestine have served as an incubator for some of Israel’s deadliest and most intrusive weapons and surveillance systems. Once tested and perfected on the captive population, they’ve been sold to some of the most oppressive, murderous autocracies—and democracies—in the world.
These are some of the many revelations exposed in the latest book by acclaimed journalist, filmmaker, and author Antony Loewenstein: “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation around the World.”
A guest on previous episodes ”Disaster Capitalism” and “Grifter’s Paradise,” Loewenstein joins us once again to discuss the ascent of Israel into one of the largest arms dealers on the planet, its insanely disturbing testing and marketing techniques, the authoritarian regimes that have unleashed these weapons and technologies to crush dissenters and massacre countless people, 9/11’s lasting impact on all this, his warning for the future, and much more.

For links to the book and Loewenstein's work, head over to newsbeat.substack.com.

Like we always do at this time of year, we present an important, alternative look at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, examining how the civil rights icon was so much more than simply the “I Have a Dream” soundbite, which has become known as the cornerstone of his public perception. Along with Pastor Roger C. Williams of the First Baptist Church of Glen Cove, NY, Larry Hamm, of the People's Organization for Progress, Hip Hop artist Silent Knight, and King’s own words, listeners learn of MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign, which he believed would be his true legacy. More than likely, it was this that got him killed.

We follow up our preview episode about South Africa's genocide case against Israel with a breakdown of the two-day hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and discuss President Biden's bombing of Yemen -- seriously escalating the crisis in the Middle East. The joint US-UK operation came the same day, Jan. 11, 2014, when South Africa laid out its case against Israel for its brutal war in Gaza, which has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. Citing the Genocide Convention, South Africa accused Israel of committing four genocidal acts since Hamas' horrific attacks on Oct. 7. “Nowhere and nobody is safe," one of the members of South Africa's contingent declared. South Africa is seeking a provisional measure to prevent further harm to Palestinians. The court said it would make its ruling in a public setting at a future date.