Tag: pentagon

Background Briefing: April 11, 2023

 

The Manhattan DA Sues Congressman Jim Jordan and the Pentagon Leaks That Have the IC in a State of Alarm

We begin with the unprecedented lawsuit filed today in Federal Court by the Manhattan DA against Congressman Jim Jordan, the Republican Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, accusing him of a brazen and unconstitutional attack on the DA’s prosecution of Trump, charging that “Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation and obstruction.” Joining us is Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harper’s in legal affairs and national security. He serves on the American branch of the International Law Association, and has represented a variety of journalists and whistleblowers and we discuss Jordan’s plan to bring his clown show circus to Manhattan on April 17 and also investigate the damaging Pentagon leaks that have the US Intelligence Community in a state of alarm.

 

Rumors of Divisions, Russian Moles and Corruption at the Highest Level Inside Ukraine’s Leadership

Then we examine the impact of the leaks on Ukraine’s military preparedness and discuss rumors of divisions, Russian moles and corruption at the highest levels inside Ukraine’s leadership with Alexander Motyl, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, as well as a writer and painter. He previously served as associate director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia, and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires, and theory, he is the author of a number of books including Dilemmas of Independence: Ukraine after Totalitarianism, State, Ethnicity, and Stability in the USSR, and The Turn to the Right: The Ideological Origins and Development of Ukrainian Nationalism, 1919–1929

 

Biden’s Visit to Ireland and a New Book There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History

Then finally we go to Dublin Ireland to speak with Rory Carroll, a veteran journalist who started his career in Northern Ireland. As a foreign correspondent for The Guardian, he reported from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, Latin American, and the United States. His first book, Comandante: Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, was named an Economist Book of the Year and BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He is now based in his native Dublin as the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, and we discuss President Biden’s brief visit to Northern Ireland followed by his three day trip to the Republic of Ireland, his ancestral home from which two of his great-grandparents came. We also discuss Rory’s new book, just out, There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History.