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Between the Lines
"Between the Lines" is a national, half-hour program that provides a platform for individuals and spokespersons from progressive organizations generally ignored or marginalized by the mainstream media.
“Greece’s people have had six years of austerity through the EU, the ECB – European Central Bank – and the IMF, the debt ratio has actually increased to more than 180 percent of GDP and they’ve seen dramatic reductions in income per capita.”
– Henry S. James, economist and senior fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable International Investment, on the Greek people’s overwhelming rejection of continuing EU-mandated austerity measures
Listen to the entire program using these links, or to individual interviews via the links appearing prior to each segment description below.
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Greeks Say No to More EU Austerity, Yes to Dignity
Interview with James S. Henry, senior fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable International Investment, conducted by Scott Harris
In the face of imminent default on its $320 billion debt and enormous pressure to reach an agreement with its European Union creditors, the Greek people overwhelmingly rejected the imposition of new austerity measures in a historic July 5 referendum. The 61.3 percent of Greeks who cast ballots for a ‘No’ vote confirmed majority national support for the governing Syriza party’s pledge to challenge harsh Eurozone austerity measures when it won power in last January. Story continues
Despite $18.7 Billion BP Gulf Oil Spill Settlement, Concerns Remain How Money will be Spent
Interview with Raleigh Hoke, campaign director of the Gulf Restoration Network, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
On July 2, a little over five years after an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, British Petroleum, the company largely found responsible, agreed to a $18.7 billion settlement for all federal, state and local environmental damage claims against it. Although this is the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history, the company, had it not decided to settle, could have faced claims amounting to twice as much. Story continues
Former U.S. Diplomat Celebrates Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations
Interview with Wayne Smith, former U.S. State Department diplomat, conducted by Scott Harris
Last December, President Obama announced his administration’s historic decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba’s communist government. The breakthrough, negotiated with the help of Pope Francis over 18 months, ended the Cold War in the Caribbean 23 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. For decades, Washington’s hardline policy toward Cuba had been rejected by the entire Latin America continent and the world. In October 2014, the United Nations General Assembly voted for the 23rd year in a row to condemn America’s economic embargo against Cuba, with only Israel voting with the U.S. Story continues
This week’s summary of under-reported news
Compiled by Bob Nixon
- The BBC reports numerous schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok northern Nigeria by the Boko Haram terrorist group in April 2014, have been forcibly recruited into the radical Islamist insurgency, with some committing atrocities against non-Muslims. (“Chibok girls ‘forced to join Nigeria’s Boko Haram’,” Associated Press, June 29, 2015)
- More than 25 years after the Velvet Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, many former Soviet states in Eastern Europe are reconsidering their alliance with the European Union. Ondrej Soukup, a Czech journalist argues that, “the West isn’t the same place it once was, when the EU was smaller and less politically entwined and NATO had more relevance.” (“Caught in the middle,” Christian Science Monitor, June 7, 2015)
- The Republican majority in North Carolina’s state legislature has overturned GOP Governor Pat McCrory’s veto of the so-called ag-gag law that criminalizes people who blow the whistle on animal abuse, labor violations or pollution on factory farms. (“Ag-gag laws: the less you know the better,” In These Times, June 19, 2015)
