On August 17, in the Bolivian presidential elections, the leftwing candidates lost for the first time in twenty years. Some are calling this a continuation of the US-backed coup there. Just days before the election, the Trump administration announced that it was sending naval destroyers and 4,000 troops to Latin America that could be used in 'targeted strikes' against Venezuela. Clearing the FOG speaks with William Camacaro, a senior analyst for the Council on Hemospheric Affairs and a co-founder of the Venezuela Solidarity Network, about divisions within the left in Bolivia that led to their current demise and how Venezuela is mobilizing millions of civilians to defend their sovereignty against US aggression. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

On August 11, the Trump administration announced the deployment of national guard troops and the federal takeover of the police department in Washington, DC. This follows military troops being deployed to Los Angeles and ICE agents snatching people throughout the country. Last week, the Pentagon also announced the creation of a 600-member national guard unit ready to deploy to cities within an hour when there are protests. Clearing the FOG speaks with Erica Caines of the Black Alliance for Peace about the checkpoints and patrols in DC, how this fits into the long history of policing mainly black and brown communities and how people are organizing community self-defense and mutual aid. She also discusses the demand to disqualify the United States and Israel from FIFA and the Olympic games. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

This past week marked the 80th anniversary of the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Clearing the FOG speaks with Gerry Condon, a past president of Veterans for Peace and a lifelong GI resister, about the myths of the US atomic bombing of Japan and the costs of nuclear weapons, including the environmental contamination from the nuclear chain and testing. Condon warns that the risk of nuclear war is higher than ever. He also speaks about resistance to nuclear weapons and his current work on the anti-nuclear boat, The Golden Rule. And Condon discusses the surge in active duty members who are joining Veterans for Peace in opposition to the genocide in Palestine and the domestic deployment of the military to assist ICE in the detention of immigrants and US citizens. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The Lancet, a renowned medical journal, recently published a groundbreaking report on the number of people who die each year as a result of economic sanctions primarily imposed by the United States. US economic wars have killed more than 560,000 people each year for the past ten years, over half of those killed are children five years of age and younger. This number is higher than the number of people who die in military conflicts. Clearing the FOG speaks with Sara Flounders, a co-founder of the Sanctions Kill campaign, about what sanctions are, how they kill, and why the United States wages economic warfare. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.