A mini-documentary on how the middle east crisis is spiraling away from the control of the big power nations that are playing out a great game of power and control at the expense of million of lives. We discuss the crucial role of the United Nations with journalist Ian Williams and explore the relationship between Israel and United States at a critical time. The roots of racial and ethnic hate are poisoning politics world wide. Explore the untold truth of Islam and the west’s “holy war” against this ancient and peaceful faith.
Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi is now admittedly murdered by “rogue people” in the Saudi embassy in IStanbul. With huge arm contracts at stake how will Trump respond? We speak with Human Rights Watch director Michael Page. And the war in Yemen grinds on. Millions of refugees on the move, children dying by the thousands. WIl the war continue and where will it all end up? These are the stories on The Torch.
The winds are blowing towards South Carolina where the Palmetto state’s former governor Nikki Haley resigns from her job as the United States ambassador to the United Nations. The questions have been growing since the only woman who is with a powerful job near the president announced her decision. It was just days after the bitter confirmation spectacle of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A conflict centered on the intersection of the #MeToo movement and the Trump administration’s attitude towards women, especially those who who claim they’re been sexually abused by men.
Ian Williams has been following the United Nations for decades. He’s the author of Untold: the real story of the UN in peace and war. He says the UN is an arm of the foreign policy establishment of its member countries and is therefore wedded to political realism. Yes, he adds, under the Trump regime the world body has apparently become increasingly divorced from reality. He says the main reason Nikki Haley resigned as ambassador maybe her own Ambition.
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There is one issue were president Trump has remained strikingly consistent in the first half of his term, his dislike of Islam and Muslims.
University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole has just published a book, it’s titled Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires
Cole’s book argues that Islam is a religion that advocates peaceful resolution of conflict. Cole adds the climate of hate being fostered in Washington is reminiscent of another time of intolerance in America more than half a century ago. The McCarthy era.
Since Trump took office there’s been a startling jump in violence and hateful incidents against Muslims and other religious minorities across the country.
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Michael Page is the Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa for Human Rights Watch.
The mystery over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi deepened with the release of videos that show him entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul from which he was never seen exiting. The story being told is that agents of the Saudi government entered Turkey by private jet, leaving hours later. A Turkish source told the Associated Press that one of the men was an “autopsy expert.”
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The civil war in Yemen continues to generate stories of suffering and bloodshed. Up to 50,000 children have died of starvation in the brutal conflict, three million displaced and thousands dead from cholera and other preventable diseases.
Sally Jones is chair of Peace Action fund of New York State. She says there are things Americans can do to help bring the war to an end.