What To Do In An Age When Crossing the Border is a Crime

"Nobody thought the conflict in Ukraine would last this long," states Scott Ritter, a former Marine intelligence officer and weapons inspector, as the second anniversary of Russia's special military operation is reached. Ritter predicts that the conflict will end within the year, but there are no positive outcomes. He warns that Ukraine will cease to exist, NATO will disband or alter fundamentally and the risk of nuclear war is high. Ritter also discusses the resignation of Victoria Nuland, revelations from the leaked conversation by German military officers and how the façade of US military dominance has been shattered by events in Ukraine and Western Asia. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On February 20 and 21, the High Court in the United Kingdom heard Julian Assange's case for the right to appeal his extradition to the United States. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chip Gibbons, a lawyer and journalist with Defending Rights and Dissent, who attended the hearing. Gibbons describes the intentional efforts by the UK court to prevent media from covering the hearing, which is ironic as the hearing was fundamentally about the attack on press freedom, and what Julian Assange's options are depending on what the court decides. Gibbons makes the point that the United States has given up all pretense of protecting Assange's health and life if he is extradited, even though that admission would be enough to block his extradition, revealing the lack of regard for the law and Assange's human rights that has been evident throughout this prosecution. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH), is currently being tried in New York City for narco-trafficking during his presidency. Activists from the United States and Canada have launched a new campaign to raise awareness of both the US and Canadian governments' complicity in the crimes committed by the JOH administration. Clearing the FOG speaks with Karen Spring, co-coordinator of HondurasNow.org, which is hosting the campaign, about the US-backed coup in Honduras in 2009, the damage done by subsequent administrations that has driven migration of Hondurans north, the efforts of the current Castro government to reverse those damaging policies and ongoing efforts by the US to undermine the Castro government. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

In his new book, ¨Journalists and Their Shadows,¨ Patrick Lawrence describes his experience over decades as an editor and foreign correspondent of watching the media rise and fall in its ability to serve as a force to hold power accountable. Lawrence writes about the shadows, or authentic selves, that most journalists currently sacrifice in order to maintain employment in mainstream media outlets and the detrimental impact this has on public discourse. He also describes the antidote - an independent alternative media - and the current obstacles to creating a much-needed vibrant democratized media system. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Farmers throughout the European Union, from Ireland and France to Poland, Greece and Portugal, are in the streets protesting unsustainable working conditions, namely higher costs of production while the prices for their goods remain stagnant and new environmental regulations are being brutally imposed on them without state support to realize them. Right wing neo-Nazi groups are using the farming crisis to empower themselves, as they were successful in doing in the Netherlands. Clearing the FOG speaks with Morgan Ody, the general coordinator of La Via Campesina - International, about their efforts to resist this rightward turn, struggle to protect small and medium farmers from neoliberal policies, including new corporate trade agreements, and build a just transition to a more resilient, ecological and localized food system. Foe more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

February 2 marked the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, which was the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution. Over the past 25 years, Venezuela has made remarkable gains in reducing poverty, ending illiteracy and building social infrastructure such as housing, health care, education, transportation and more, despite persistent interference by the United States to impose an economic blockade, fund an opposition, attempt coups and assassinations, delegitimize the elections and threaten military attacks. Clearing the FOG speaks with Leo Flores, a Venezuelan activist, about the progress of the revolution, Venezuela's deep democracy and current efforts by the US to stop it. There is much to learn from Venezuelan's struggle for a better life. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On January 7, Adolfo Macias, known as "Fito", a leader of an Ecuadorian drug cartel, escaped from prison, which sparked uprisings across the country. In response, President Daniel Noboa declared a national state of emergency and decreed that the country is in a state of internal conflict, listing 20 gangs as terrorist groups. Clearing the FOG spoke with Alex Main of the Center for Economic Policy and Research about the conditions that have led to growing poverty, insecurity and violence in Ecuador. Main explains how the United States is exploiting the current situation to justify sending US weapons and military personnel to to the country, which has raised concerns about violations of Ecuador's sovereignty and human rights abuses. He also discusses the upcoming elections in Venezuela and the devastating impact of US economic blockades. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Beginning on January 11, the International Court of Justice held two days of testimony regarding the case brought by South Africa against the state of Israel calling on The Court to impose provisional measures to stop Israel from committing acts of genocide against Palestinian people. Clearing the FOG speaks with South African lawyer and activist, Azhar Sakoor, about the significance of the case and other legal efforts aiming to hold all who are complicit with genocide in Palestine accountable. Sakoor also describes the current legal efforts as a 'make or break' moment for international institutions such as the United Nations that will determine whether they continue to exist or are replaced by other institutions and methods of upholding international law. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Major economic shifts are occurring in the world, in part driven by a response to Western imperialist nations' long history of attempting to impose their will through economic and military coercive measures. To understand the current state of globalization and where it is headed, Clearing the FOG speaks with Radhika Desai, the director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba. Desai discusses neoliberalism and how it weakens first world economies as well as alternatives such as the BRICS formation that are starting to have a significant impact in challenging Western hegemony. She also describes the current events in Western Asia as another turning point in the decline of Western power. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On January 11 and 12, the International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, will hear testimony in South Africa's case charging the state of Israel with genocide. Organizations around the world are mobilizing to press their governments to support South Africa publicly and through Declarations of Intervention in the hope that Israel will be held accountable and that effective actions will be taken to protect the rights and lives of people in Palestine. Clearing the FOG speaks with Suzanne Adely, president of the National Lawyers Guild, about the Genocide Convention, the new International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine and the risk of a broader war in Western Asia. For More information, visit PopularResistance.org.