PROGRAM NOTES 06/23/17- This weeks show features stories from RADIO HAVANA CUBA, SPUTNIK RADIO, and NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN.

From CUBA A Viewpoint on the Trump plan to reverse the normalization of relations between the US and Cuba- this explores the role of Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Mario Diaz-Balart with the support of anti-Castro extremists in Florida. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega condemned the posture of the Organization of American States against Venezuela. The US military shot down a Syrian jet on a mission against Daesh terrorists, leading Russian military to say that US aircraft could be targeted.

From RUSSIA- On his program Going Underground, Afshin Rattansi begins with reports on the US shooting of a Syrian jet and the Australian government decision to ground the aircraft it has in the coalition. Afshin then interviewed Paul Craig Roberts, economic journalist, formerly with the Wall Street Journal and the Treasury department. Roberts asserts that the shooting down of the Syrian warplane was done by deep state operatives in the military to prevent Donald Trump from normalizing relations with Russia. He says that Russia must remain an enemy to guarantee the US military's trillion dollar budget. And that the Russians have perpetuated the war by pulling back when they were at the brink of ending it.

From JAPAN- The Syrian Foreign Minister accused the US of prolonging the war in his country. UN Secretary General Guterres expressed worries about the Trump administration withdrawing from international relations. North Korea reiterated its stance on developing nuclear weapons, while the US says it will increase pressure on them. The new South Korean President has vowed to move away from nuclear power. Atomic bomb survivors spoke at the the UN conference on banning nuclear weapons. The UN Refugee Agency says a record number of people were forcibly displaced in 2016.

"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."
--Mary Catherine Bateson