The Shortwave Report June 28, 2024

The Shortwave Report

This week's show begins with an analysis of the plea deal Julian Assange was required to accept, a proposal to create a minimum tax on the world's 3000 richest people, elections in France and the UK, and the UN Secretary-General speaks out against the expanding war in Lebanon. This week's show features stories from Radio Deutsche-Welle, France 24, and Radio Havana Cuba. http://youthspeaksout.net/swr240628.mp3 (29:00) From GERMANY- Julian Assange has been released from a high-security prison in England, made to plead guilty to a single count of espionage, and returned home to Australia. Jameel Jaffer is the executive director of the Knights First Amendment Institute, at Columbia University. He describes the deal that Julian had to agree to for his release. Jameel points out that the ruling will be used as a precedent in cases where a government wants to punish journalists for revealing information that they wish to keep secret- something reporters do frequently. Jameel says that a free press needs to solicit information that can inform the populace of disinformation in, for example, press releases. And journalists do it all the time to the benefit of the public. Jameel says that he worries how future administrations will use the guilty plea to control journalists, human rights defenders, and whistleblowers. From FRANCE- There is a proposal for a 2% minimum tax that would apply to about 3000 of the worlds richest people- the purpose is to balance out the fact that a great many of the wealthiest pay zero or close to zero in taxes because of shell companies and untaxed corporate stocks. The world is full of elections- in the UK Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer debated over tax cuts and dealing with immigration- Labour is expected to win easily ending 14 years of Conservative rule. France is facing snap elections for Parliament this week and next which will determine the Prime Minister who will serve under President Macron- according to latest polls the far-right National Rally is expected to win. Valerie deKamp discusses the environmental threat of a far-right victory in the current election. From CUBA- The aid group Save The Children released statistics about the plight of Palestinian children under siege in Gaza from Israel. Israel is using internationally banned white phosphorous as a weapon in Lebanon, supplied by the US. UN Secretary-General Guterres spoke out against Israel expanding its war into Lebanon, as it could precipitate a much larger regional war. Available in 3 forms- (new) HIGHEST QUALITY (160kb)(33MB), broadcast quality (13MB), and quickdownload or streaming form (6MB) (28:59) Links at outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml PODCAST!!!- https://feed.podbean.com/outFarpress/feed.xml (160kb Highest Quality) Website Page- < http://www.outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml ¡FurthuR! Dan Roberts "In other countries they have histories with revolutions and class movements. In America, people don't like to think of themselves like being in a lower class. They all like to think of themselves as potential millionaires." -Matt Taibbi Dan Roberts Shortwave Report- www.outfarpress.com YouthSpeaksOut!- www.youthspeaksout.net