We started with a detailed discussion of the state of the agreement between the “Iraq security agreement” between the USA and Iraq. We move on to discussion of calls for diplomacy with Iran. We progress to examine Obama’s appointments, so far, dealing with foreign policy and economics. The original audio contains some digital artifacts at points, due to being recorded on Skype, but is suitable for broadcast.

Update: I was still uploading at Radio.indymedia when I first posted, so neglected to include links to the audio. Well, here you go:

ACE 2008-11-27 on radio.indymedia.org (mp3) and the linking page

Also available on Audioport.

• We start, as usual, with the Panos Institute news bulletin.
• Ecuador is in the process of putting in place a ban on foreign military bases
• Chevron using the US Trade Representative to put pressure on Ecuador and resist an environmental lawsuit. The money quote? We Can’t Let Little Countries Screw Around With Big Companies
• Disputes in Bolivia about attempts to reform constitution. Rich, white provinces (illegally) undertake ‘autonomy’ referendums to protect their privilege.
• Venezuela’s Citgo to offer Venezuelan coffee at their service stations. Post-air update: this is currently a pilot program in Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia, and Citgo will expand it if there is interest.
• AIPAC-backed Congressional resolution calling for blockade of Iran losing steam. Four original sponsors have now revoked their support.
• Ultimatum on ‘Freeze for Freeze’ proposal coming up this weekend.
• Possibilities of a US ‘interests section’ in Iran.
• Prof. Francis Boyle of Illinois says Iran should sue the USA in the International Court of Justice. We discuss the positive normative and diplomatic aspects of such a move. A video interview with Prof. Boyle is available on YouTube.
• US still negotiating ‘security agreement’ with Iraq – have now missed their original deadline. We discuss the issue of ‘permanent’ and ‘enduring’ bases.
• Iraqi government supports Obama’s call for a timetable on withdrawal.
• Increased opposition to calls for more troops being sent to Afghanistan – even Thomas Friedman has criticized Obama’s calls for more troops.

8 May, 15 May, 22 May, 29 May, 12 June.

We’ve fallen a little behind in posting shows to the site (I’ve concentrated on getting them onto Audioport during some recent travels). I plan to clear the backlog and get them up soon, probably as a combined post.

And some advance notice: next week we’ll be interviewing author Allison Hantschel about her book “Special Plans” and neo-con Douglas Feith, whose memoir is due out shortly. Send us an email with any questions you want to ask her.

Notes and resources:On last night’s show I made mention of an online graphic demonstrating the relative wealth of US presidential candidates. That graphic is available at this post with the large version here showing just what the disparities are. While I’m at it, I misremembered some of the details – Obama is ‘only’ at between $2 and $3 million, while Clinton is up over $34 million and Edwards is over $50 million. Richardson is over $6m while Kucinich is somewhere around $200k. On the Republican side, Huckabee’s personal worth is something under $1m, while all the other contenders listed are over $1m – Thompson at $8m, McCain at $40m, Giuliani at over $50m, and Romney at $350m, though this is believed to be a significant under-estimate.As is noted in the accompanying article, Kucinich is the one with a worth closest to the ‘average’ American, though $200k still puts him well above the median – in 2004 US households had a net worth of just over $100k. I’m not one to attack candidates purely on account of their wealth – as we pointed on during the show, it’s the policies that matter, and criticisms of, for example, Edwards for raising issues of poverty, are cynical and ill-founded. It’s significant, though to note the correlation between wealth and being perceived as a ‘viable’ candidate. Note too that the 2004 CNN figures I reference above show just 6.4m US households with net worth over $1m (excluding primary residence) and around 500k households with net worth over $5m. There are around 100m households in the US (the census’s 2004 estimate was around 107m) which puts Obama firmly in the top 6% of households by wealth (assuming his reported wealth is his household wealth – if not, he’s even more firmly up there). All of the other remaining candidates (now that Kucinich is out) with the exception of Huckabee are firmly in the top half-percent of households by wealth.Bob also referenced a San Francisco Chronicle article criticizing the court decision allowing the exclusion of Kucinich from the Nevada debate.