Stephen Kinzer, award winning veteran NYT war correspondent, historian and best selling author excoriates the US government’s persecution of journalist Julian Assange and laments the MSM abandoning of the Wikileaks founder and editor. He warns that if Assange is extradited and convicted it will have irreversible and treacherous consequences for the right of free speech and press. Kinzer also discusses his fond admiration for the 19th century Black journalist Ida B Wells. Mr. Kinzer strongly condemns the authoritarian government of Turkey for its sweeping repression of dissent including the arbitrary arrest and detention of his close friend Osman Kavala, the courageous outspoken critic of the Erdogan dictatorship.
In the second half of the interview, Mr Kinzer teaches a crash course on the grim history of US imperialsm and the dark and lurid legacy of the CIA, featuring the sadistic career of crank scientist Sidney Gottlieb—the subject of his latest gripping and chilling biography, Prisoner in Chief.
