(cc photo: Kurdishstruggle)
This week on CounterSpin: “US withdraws from Syria, in a remarkable betrayal of the Kurds” is a fair characterization of corporate news media’s take on recent events—the only problems being that the US has not withdrawn from Syria, and a US betrayal of the Kurds is not at all remarkable, if by that we mean surprising. World events can be confusing, but they’re made much more so by media coverage that insists, against all evidence, that righteousness is what guides US foreign policy. We talk about Syria and Turkey and the Kurds with Khury Petersen-Smith of the Institute for Policy Studies.
Transcript: ‘This Is the Latest Chapter of a Long History of US Betrayal of Kurds’
Atatiana Jefferson
Also on the show: The Fort Worth police officer who killed Atatiana Jefferson has been arrested (and released on bond) and fired (after he resigned). As with the murder of Botham Jean in his home by a Dallas police officer, Jefferson’s killing is spurring handwringing over what it’s implied is a “corruption” of law enforcement, a turning against its original purpose of community protection and service. This time two years ago, CounterSpin talked about the mythology in that conception with Alex Vitale, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and author of the book The End of Policing. We revisit part of that conversation this week.
Transcript: ‘There Are Noncoercive Solutions to Our Problems’