Trump & Allies Launch Coup Effort Against Venezuelan Government

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by from Caracas by Lucas Koerner, an activist and writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, and from Merida, Venezuela, by Paul Dobson, a writer for VenezuelAnalysis.com, and in studio by Sputnik news analyst and producer Walter Smolarek.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido has declared himself the country's president and was immediately recognized as such by the U.S. government. Huge numbers of government supporters have taken to the streets to fight back against this coup effort.

Wednesday's regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

Wednesday's weekly series, In the News, is where the hosts look at the most important ongoing developments of the week and puts them into perspective, including the ongoing government shutdown, which is in Day 33, the successfully ended LA teacher strike, the indefinite detaining of journalist Marzieh Hashemi, and the news that Julian Assange is now working to have his US charges unsealed. Brian and John speak with Jacqueline Luqman, the co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation, which hosts a livestream every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. on Facebook, and Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

The six-day Los Angeles teachers strike ended yesterday as teachers and staff threw their support behind a new agreement negotiated with the school board. The agreement, which garnered the votes of a super-majority of union members, calls for a six percent pay raise, a gradual decrease in class sizes, and the hiring of more librarians, nurses, and counselors. Cecily Myart-Cruz, a teacher in the LA Unified School District for 23 years and the Vice President of United Teachers Los Angeles/National Education Association, the teachers union, joins the show.

Turkish President Erdogan is in Moscow today to meet with Russian President Putin on Syria. The two will discuss coordination in Syria, where they've been on opposing sides. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has floated the possibility of a retaliatory strike against Israel if it carries out another attack on the Damascus airport. Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, and Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, joins Brian and John.

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