Week in Review Discussion on The Critical Hour (5/31/19)

Vault 7 Charges Not Pursued For Assange, But He Still Faces Life For Espionage

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Lee Stranahan, co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik Radio; Daniel Lazare, journalist and author of "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War"; and Jim Kavanagh, editor of The Polemicist. 

The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIA’s most secret spying tools, according to a US official and two other people familiar with the case. So instead, the Justice Department will go after Assange on the one count for allegedly assisting Chelsea Manning and the 17-count Espionage Act indictment. According to Politico, there are no plans to bring any additional indictments prior to his extradition. Is this as big a concession as many believe? 

[My related articles: Avoiding Assange and Swedish Sex Pistol Aimed at Assange]

Massive demonstrations took place across Yemen’s major provinces on Friday to oppose a meeting of leaders of Arab and Islamic countries, who gathered in Saudi Arabia. Demonstrators also rallied against the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — as Friday was also international Quds Day, when protests are held across the world to show solidarity with Palestinians. Are these demonstrations a sign of progress for the cause in Yemen? 

Bloomberg columnist Shira Ovide writes, "[T]he US Department of Justice is preparing to open an investigation into Google’s compliance with antitrust laws. If it goes forward, an investigation will no doubt be broad, lengthy, messy, and impossible for Google and its investors to predict. That should terrify Google and every other big technology company — because there’s no guarantee that the antitrust Klieg light will turn on one company alone." What's going on here, and are these tech companies too large to fail? 

GUESTS:

Lee Stranahan — Co-host of Fault Lines on Sputnik Radio. 

Daniel Lazare — Journalist and author of three books: "The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup" and "America's Undeclared War." 

Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist. 

Elisabeth Myers — Editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia.

Dr. Robert Epstein — Senior research psychologist for the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology.

Listen to "Vault 7 Charges Not Pursued For Assange, But He Still Faces Life For Espionage" on Spreaker.

The Critical Hour is a daily 60-minute news analysis and talk radio program on Radio Sputnik hosted by Dr. Wilmer Leon. Introduction above is theirs, with related articles of mine referenced in brackets.