Featured Guests:
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of CODEPINK and organizer of Capitol Hill antiwar advocacy. For the past few months, Medea and a group of 20-40 peace activists have gone from one congressional office to the next advocating for a ceasefire and lifting of the siege on Gaza and no more weapons for israel. Benjamin will share her insights on what she heard from members of Congress on how we can break through the bubble of disinformation and big money that envelopes them.
Moataz Salim is a Palestinian-American residing in Washington D.C., who is currently completing his doctoral studies in clinical psychology. Moataz’s father grew up in the Shujaiya refugee camp in the north of Gaza. Currently, the vast majority of Salim’s family on his father’s side, cousins, aunts, and uncles, are living in Gaza, where they have been displaced on several occasions. Tragically, the relentless onslaught against Gaza has claimed the lives of many of Salim’s family members. Motaz has joined CODEDPINK’s Capitol Hill delegation to tell lawmakers, “This genocide must stop.”
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst of Russia’s relations with the US, China, & Europe, who briefed Presidential Lyndon Johnson on a daily basis. A founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, McGovern has written extensively about both Ukraine and Gaza, asserting that Israel used the October 7 attack as a pretext for the preexisting master plan to get rid of the Palestinians whose presence blocks the establishment of Greater Israel with sovereign control over the West Bank and at least portions of Gaza. Fearing that media brainwashing is deceiving people into seeing war with Russia and slaughter in Gaza as necessary, Ray and VIPS rely on facts to expose the lying.
Nicolai N. Petro is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island. As a Council on Foreign Relations Fellow (1989-1990), he served as special assistant for policy toward the Soviet Union in the U.S. Department of State. His books include: The Tragedy of Ukraine (2023), Ukraine in Crisis (2017), Crafting Democracy (2004), The Rebirth of Russian Democracy (1995), and Russian Foreign Policy (1997). He has also written for Asia Times, American Interest, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian (UK), The Nation, The National Interest, New York Times, and the Wilson Quarterly.
