 Friends, welcome to give the people what they want. Today is the 23rd of July, 2021. Yesterday, 22nd of July, the White House delivered bad news for itself, really, because it's embarrassing. This was the fact sheet, Biden-Harris Administration Measures on Cuba. United States, which claims to stand with Cuba and on is perhaps a more accurate use of the English language, decided to prevent Cubans from getting, from sending remittances. Cubans who live outside the island, decided to sanction one member of the Ministry of Defense of Cuba. An extraordinary text put out by the Biden administration. Well, on the 23rd of July, New York Times Page 5 had a long statement under the banner, Let Cuba Live. It's well worth going to the website, letcubalive.com. I should say that I'm one of the signatories of that, so I don't have, you know, I don't have no leg in this question. On the other hand, I'm a pretty honest person, friends. I hope you accept that and I'm honestly and sincerely telling you, I think the American policy regarding Cuba is very inhumane and I think worth taking a look at. This is an important statement coming out of the Biden-Harris Administration. We're going to follow this in the weeks ahead, of course. It says a lot about the issues of whether this is Miami's politics that are defining the politics of the Biden-Harris White House or whether this is their approach to other countries and so on. We've come back to this in some detail. You're not interested in this story, friends. You're interested in the Olympics. It's bread and circuses for you. The real question for Indians, will India win a gold medal in the 10-metre air gun shooting? Will Bindra be going to the Olympics? Who's going to win the 100-metre dash, men and women? My favorite race is friends just as public disclosure, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, sheer endurance plus speed. Who's going to win these, Prashant? Have you been following the Olympics in the way that you love? Well, that's a very good question. The last three words, the last four words being the operative part, the way that you love. Because I think this Olympics, the 32nd one being organized in Tokyo is not... I think most people would agree to the fact that it's not really in consonance with what one would call the Olympic spirit. Now, the Olympics has always been controversial, of course, for a variety of reasons. It doesn't have a great history in terms of equality, in terms of many other issues. It has led to a lot of urban chaos wherever it's organized. Some of the host cities have been really badly affected. It's a classic example, of course, building these huge structures, evicting people. It's caused a wide variety of messes. It has brought us some great moments. We remember Jesse Owens in 1936. We remember the athletes in 1968 who raised their fists in defiance. And there is often a sense, a spirit of endurance, like you talked about, which is really reflected. Tokyo Olympics, though, unfortunately being held at a time when, according to polls, 80% of the people are against it being held. And the reasons are very, very simple because the COVID-19 pandemic is nowhere close to getting over. In fact, I think the number of cases now is much higher than when it was cancelled last year, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. And this is made people ask all sorts of questions, like despite all the protocols put in place, there have been a number of cases inside the Olympic village itself. Athletes included who are getting infected. And so the question really is that in this very high-pressure situation where even athletes cannot perform, where the people, there are no fans, of course, because they're not going to be allowed in, where the community itself is not happy about it, why is it being held? And the answer to that is very simple. It's in the way the Olympic movement is organized right now, if you can call it a movement, which is really finance, which is all about finance, which is all about contracts, sponsorships, big money. And I think it's very important. We have a great article in People's Dispatch from Musclic Sports Correspondent, Leslie Xavier, who points out that the Tokyo Olympics, the contract is framed in such a way that even if the Japanese wanted to withdraw, it would cost them a huge amount of money to be able to do so. The potential losses are catastrophic, $16 billion is something to that effect. So even if in emergency circumstance, they wanted to not hold it until the International Olympic Committee agreed. There would be no scope for doing that. And I think it's very important to note because, I mean, sports is supposed to be something that unites people that brings together all of us that inspires us. But when we see this kind of a naked money graph for lack of better word, then the question that we really need to ask is what kind of an example are we saying, what are we showing people across the world, in the sense that you're putting athletes at risk as well. Because many of the athletes, you can imagine the tension they're going through. There's the pressure of performing in the games on one hand. On the other hand, the knowledge is that the moment you test positive, you know, you're in a difficult position, your calories are in danger, you're going to be going to treatment. So the amount of pressure is immense on them. Everyone's unhappy except the people who make the money. So I think that's a very, it's a very sad situation to hold these Olympics in. Nobody would have minded if it were postponed to a greater bit. Right now, the challenging question is about why isn't the world vaccinated? Why are in countries collaborating to ensure that everyone is vaccinated? And in between, we have this, like you said, bread and circuses. So, you know, a great shout out to all those athletes who, many of whom come from very humble circumstances who spend their lifetimes waiting for this moment, waiting to perform. But nothing good to say about the organizers across the world, you know, especially the International Olympic Committee, which has really failed the Olympic spirit. I must say, I personally enjoy watching the track and field events, but this is a disheartening situation. I feel very much as you say for the athletes, but more than anything, the question on the table right now is why isn't the universal vaccination? That's the question on the table. But on the other hand, you know, I do feel for people who trained all their lives and so on, it's heartbreaking in many ways. But listen, look, there are brutalities involved here, including the fact that the Olympics has become about money and showcasing cities and so on. In Tokyo, 1964, that was a big year and they wanted to show a new Japan. I'm afraid the money involved in this, it's a corruption, it's something to consider. There will be an inauguration in just a few days, not the opening of the Olympics Village and the opening of the Olympic Games, another inauguration, perhaps a more meaningful inauguration. In Lima, Peru, Pedro Castillo is going to enter the house of Pizarro. Zoe, tell us a little bit about the fate of Peru, the emergence of this schoolteacher from the north who's going to be the next president. Well, we have been following this story, of course, for the past couple of months. Pedro Castillo on June 6th won the presidential elections in Peru, the runoff election between him and far-right candidate of the popular force party, Keiko Fujimori. You know, as we followed on this show, I'll give the people what they want, which I encourage everyone to follow and like our page at People's Dispatch. As we've been following at People's Dispatch, since June 6th, when the Peruvian people voted, cast their votes in these elections, one day after it was clear that the trend of Pedro Castillo winning was irreversible. However, following this day, when we see that Pedro Castillo is going to emerge victorious, Keiko Fujimori, along with a team of high-powered lawyers coming from the best law firms in Lima with support internationally, started lodging a series of complaints saying that there was voter fraud. There was, you know, a mass media campaign deployed. All of the major Peruvian outlets were saying that, you know, fraud was committed, that either had to be a recount, that there had to be, you know, all sorts of things, all of these challenges raised in all the different kind of instances of electoral authorities, the jury, et cetera. And finally, this Monday, it was finally Pedro Castillo was declared victorious. And as we've covered on the show, you know, there have been all sorts of levels of collusion. You know, Vijay Yuen Jose Carlos wrote an article about how, you know, one of Alberto Fujimori's, which is, of course, Keiko's father, one of his henchmen, you know, someone who is very crucial in his administration, you know, made calls from prison, trying to get the CIA involved. There have been all sorts of maneuvers to kind of delegitimize the victory of Pedro Castillo. Of course, they were unsuccessful, but I think we have to keep in mind that there was, you know, destabilization efforts made. There has been sort of a subtle undermining of this victory. And so, you know, Pedro Castillo will be sworn in this 28th of July, which is, of course, the bicentenary of Pedro liberating itself from Spanish colonial rule. So, of course, this in itself is also extremely symbolic, very important. But, you know, we have to keep a close eye on Peru. Pedro Castillo is already, you know, there's going to be a meeting between Free Peru Party and Alba de Sepe, which is the regional economic integration platform. I think we're gonna see a lot more cooperation between Peru and other regional actors, other progressive countries that are working in favor of the people, working in favor of the Latin American integration project, and, you know, generally against US intervention at all costs. You know, they've also already expressed solidarity with Cuba, for example. Well, it's going to be pretty impressive. Remember, friends, that it's called the Lima Group for a good reason. This is the group of countries set up by the Canadians and by the United States. Their first meeting was in Lima, Peru, and Pedro Castillo said, well, I might consider disbanding or at least taking the name Lima out of Lima Group. The group set up to overthrow the government in Venezuela. Speaking of overthrowing governments, let's move quickly to Afghanistan. Now, friends, always give the people what they want. Comes to you every week from Globetrotter and from People's Dispatch. Zoe and Prashanta, the editors of People's Dispatch, People'sDispatch.org, the best movement news portal. Now, three years old, last week, three years old. Congratulations, of course. But it's at People's Dispatch that we learn about Peru. It's at People's Dispatch that we get, let's say a slightly sideways glance at the Olympics. It's at People's Dispatch that we follow what's happening in Afghanistan. Now, in Afghanistan, today, the head of the National Reconciliation Council, Abdullah Abdullah, number two in the Kabul government has just met in India with the Indian government, trying to see what India can do to facilitate this post-U.S. period in Afghanistan. United States has moved about 95% of its troops out of the country. Of course, the CIA is going to be there. Other forms of mercenaries will continue. But by and large, U.S. troops have pulled out. Abdullah Abdullah, before he came to talk to Jay Shankar in Delhi, they had the meeting today on Friday. He was in Doha in Qatar, meeting the Taliban, whose main negotiator was spokesperson Suhail Shaheen. And he was sitting down and trying to figure out a way forward. It has to be said that violence in Afghanistan has picked up terribly. There's been great fighting. And in fact, our dear friend, Danish Siddiqi, the photojournalist for Reuters was killed outside Kandahar. And I felt terrible to read this news. I knew Danish Siddiqi. He took some terrific photographs in the unrest in Delhi last year. A very promising photographer, a very promising person. It's awful to hear about his death. We'll come back to something about his death in a minute, I know. Suhail Shaheen, a meeting Abdullah Abdullah in Doha, Qatar has made it, they made it clear that they're trying to find a way forward. They want more international assistance in a way. Yes, the violence has picked up. Yes, it's terrible. I mean, it's very unclear in a way what the end game is. They're jockeying for position on the ground as they jockey for negotiating space in Doha. The United States, meanwhile, has decided to bomb targets in Kandahar. Now, I use the word targets advisedly, friends. I use the word targets advisedly because the United States Air Force and the military, the Pentagon, very rarely reveals what they go after. And this is undemocratic because if you don't know what they're trying to hit, you can't actually verify whether they've hit civilians or what's going on here. So I use the word advisedly, but the United States nonetheless has struck targets in Afghanistan. This is of course, very much annoyed the Taliban and it's very unlikely that the process in Doha is not going to be negatively impacted by this attack by US Air Force. Now, maybe there was some reason that the US had to do this strike. It has not been shared, again, democratically, not only with the people in the United States, but certainly not with the Afghans. This is very important because after all, the key constituency here are the people of Afghanistan. We've got to still wait and see. And I know friends that in this edition of Give the People What They Want, we keep saying we're continuing to cover these stories. Just being honest with you, we just don't know what's going on in Afghanistan. Abdullah Abdullah will leave Delhi. He will return to Kabul. He will meet Ashraf Ghani. They will continue to negotiate in Doha, in Qatar, with the Taliban team there. Very difficult to say what's going to happen as the US continues to pull out of Afghanistan. Now, I mentioned Danish Siddiqi, a very fine young photojournalist killed in Afghanistan. Danish was carrying a telephone with him. This phone and its number was on a list recently released by the Pegasus Project. It's a very, very chilling story. And in fact, we should have spent the whole half hour on this story, Prashant. Tell people what Pegasus is, what NSO is, who are these Israelis that are helping governments spy on journalists, on ordinary people and so on. Right, Vijay. Pegasus is on one level, it's probably the oldest and easiest thing to talk about. On the other hand, I think it's something that is so characteristic of the age we live in right now. So Pegasus is, of course, a spyware, which is, and it's a spyware at a different level altogether because unlike, say, we're all familiar with computer viruses where you click on something or you go to a site and suddenly your laptop is infected or you click on something from your phone and your phone gets infected or whatever. And that is how Pegasus is used to function. Just that the latest versions of Pegasus are so advanced that all they need is to send you a message and your phone gets infected. And of course, the Pegasus Project is a project of 17 media organizations across the world. They have identified or they have received a leak list of 50,000 numbers. And what they say is that these numbers could have been potential targets of interest to their clients. And now Pegasus, of course, is manufactured by the Israeli NSO Group. The thing with the NSO Group is there are two things about it. One, of course, is that many of those associated with the NSO Group have worked with a very notorious unit, 8,200 of Israeli intelligence, which is considered one of its most elite units. And the second part, of course, is that NSO Group claims that its clients are only governments. So what we have is that we have this huge list of numbers and these organizations, journalistic organizations across the world have done some excellent work in actually chronicling, in collecting this list, in talking to these sources. And they've identified a number of names who are, you know, and in fact, they've tested the devices of some of these people. Now, the interesting thing here again is that their timeline is between 2017 and 19, which means a lot of people who are on the list are not using those same phones anymore, which means their phones can't be tested. Some of them are understandably unwilling to come out and talk about it due to security reasons. But even then, what we've got right now is a very, very chilling picture of the extent of global surveillance. And I want to point out a very important thing, which is that I think there's been a lot of emphasis on the leaders who were caught in the scandal, the, say, prime ministers, presidents, who are being tapped. That's important because nobody should be tapped. But I think it's equally important to sort of flag the fact that some of the most vulnerable people here are activists and journalists. Because many of these people, unlike state actors, do not have the resources to actually counter this. You mentioned Dhanesh Siddiqui, number of journalists in India who were anti-government. Of course, the Moroccan journalist Omar Adi, who's now been imprisoned as well. And he was another person who will Morocco, one of the major parties engaged in this surveillance. So what we basically see is this massive network, uncontrolled use of spyware. You know, the company, of course, saying that we have not, you know, denying all these claims, saying that we don't know much about this. Governments happily claiming that, you know, for instance, the Indian government claimed that there was no unauthorized surveillance. Whereas it is not saying that it did not buy Pegasus, which is really the question everyone was asking. So governments across the world, depending on what their position is, you know, either vacillating or denying it or launching inquiries. But I think the underlying issues were much, much more serious. The fact that this kind of mass surveillance is possible. As many have pointed out, your phone becomes a walking spy. Because your phone is completely taken over, your camera, your microphone, all your conversations, your data, everything is taken over. It is very difficult to remove Pegasus from your phone. And you have hardly any other option than throwing it if you find out. Because it really goes into the root and stuff. And I think one of the most, I think dangerous ones, I think, was regarding the Mexican president, Amlo, who's around 50 people in the staff before he was elected were apparently targeted, which means imagine the extent of surveillance when 50 people, including the coach of the amateur basketball team he was playing with, even his number, his number was listed. So I think what this inaugurates is a completely new era of surveillance. And as the list shows, you don't have to be anybody particularly important. You could just know somebody important. For instance, the name of the driver of a prominent Indian politician features in the list. So you could just be around, you know, the loved ones are the friends of people who are prominent, could be leading their own personal lives. Everything about them could potentially be tapped. So I think what we're seeing is an extremely scary moment. And I think the last thing that's important to sort of what do you call flag is that almost every single bit of spyware that is developed by a state agency sooner or later ends up in the private sphere. So we've seen that with the NSA. We've seen that with the CIA. There is absolutely no guarantee that the same will not happen with Pegasus as well as much as they claim that they're secure. All it takes is one person. And that is actually one of the biggest risks we have with us. So there's a call for a global ban on spyware. The US, of course, it has probably tools that are at a level which people don't know about. So I think that's really an agenda that progressives across the world need to push for everyone, especially journalists like us, journalists around the world who are obviously not the kind who would go around facing governance. Well, you know, this show, give the people what they want, which comes to you from Globetrotter and People's Dispatch is every Friday live stream into the Langley headquarters of the CIA. Every CIA analyst watches this show to know what we're saying and to know exactly what's happening in the world. So, you know, high CIA, I would like that to trend on Twitter, high CIA, or high NSO, which is after all, a wing of the Israeli defense establishment and therefore high Mossad and high all of you, distributable people. So there is that. Well, listen, there's good news on the Pegasus front. Carlos Bolsonaro, son of Yair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil was a councilman in Rio de Janeiro, tried to get Pegasus contracts into Brazil and he was stopped by people higher up in the Brazilian government, small mercies, even bigger mercies and maybe even bigger hallelujahs coming from south of Brazil from Argentina. Zoe, amazing things about gender identification taking place in Argentina. Give us the rundown. Well, you know, I feel like on this show I'm always talking about human rights violations, you know, terrible things happening, governments not really taking an interest in people's lives. But, you know, for the first time I want to bring some, well, I guess I talked about the victory in Peru, which is another great thing. But in Argentina, Argentina became the first country to recognize non-binary gender and to have non-binary gender as an official option on legal documents. And this is a really huge victory, I think for, you know, the feminist movement, the LGBTQ movement in Argentina, but also globally. This came, you know, a day after Argentina also recognized maternal care as work and guaranteed, you know, the right to pension for hundreds of thousands of women. So, I mean, this is really, these are really, really important victories. And I think, you know, amid this onslaught of, you know, deep economic recession, you know, the COVID pandemic just like wreaking havoc on people's lives across the world, it's really important that these battles for rights and to make people's lives, you know, a little bit more bearable and easier to live, to transit in the world are really important. And Argentina has really been paving the way for these victories, both with the organized people on the ground, but also now with the presence of the progressive government of Alberto Fernandez, the creation of the Secretary of Women and Gender and Diversity, who is, you know, our comrade Eli Cortagomes, who is, you know, leading that secretary. And I think these are really important victories of when people are taking the demands to the street and then they're being translated into rights. We also saw, of course, the trans travesty and labor quota that was passed a month ago. And these are really, really important victories to giving marginalized populations, populations that have been fighting for their rights, you know, a standing chance. And so, you know, the work being done in Argentina on the streets is really impressive. And, you know, Argentina being the first country to pass the non-binary identity, I'm sure others will be following in their steps. So just wanted to recognize that very important rights victory in the Southern Pone. It's an enormous step forward. And, you know, it's one of these things that it looks like it's easy to do, but it's difficult. We inherit wretched cultural, you know, stereotypes and prejudices from the past and it's hard to overcome them. So yes, incredible, incredible step by the Argentinians. Meanwhile, in a very different kind of context, and I seem to get myself entangled in these stories all the time. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, they're dealing with terrible floods in Germany, also in China. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was there with Joe Biden. They had a very good meeting. At the top of the agenda, at the top of the agenda was the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This is a pipeline that Gasprom and others have been building that goes through the waterways, bringing natural gas from Russia into Europe. Very important development. This is of course, greatly thrown in the air, the geopolitics of the region, because previously the gas used to go through Ukraine, which earned up to $2 billion annually in fees for allowing the transit of natural gas. Now, Nord Stream would circumvent Ukraine. United States put a great deal of pressure on Germany until recently to not allow Nord Stream, which is basically completed, but to not open the tap and allow the natural gas. And the reason the United States was doing this was they're carrying water in a sense for the government in Kiev, wanting to ensure that the eastward expansion of NATO pressure on Russia was all in place. Well, Angela Merkel, God bless her. An incredible poker player decided not to flinch and right till the last minute, because she's leaving office now, came to the White House, looked Biden in the eye and said, we're not moving. And then the United States and Germany made an accord, which essentially gives in to the German position. And on Wednesday, Angela Merkel spoke to Vladimir Putin. They basically agreed that the pipeline is going to be completed and that there would be some so-called guarantees for Ukraine, some guarantees in lieu of $2 billion, a few hundred million dollars would be transferred to Ukraine from Germany and so on. Essentially, this is a major victory for the Russian position and for the German position and a great defeat in a sense for this NATO expansion project. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is about economics, it's about natural gas. Will this help the climate? It's to be seen. What's the situation going to be with reactors? The French government, for instance, has decided not to back down on their reactor policy, on their nuclear policy. Germany has pledged to end nuclear power in Germany. Norway is conservative prime minister. Norway is the only country in the Scandinavian region with a conservative prime minister. She is up for reelection. She has pledged to continue producing oil and natural gas as well. But oil, principally Norway, one of the world's largest producers of oil. They are not moving in a climate direction. So this is a question of geopolitics, also a question of the climate. John Kerry, meanwhile, making loud noises about how China is destroying the earth. You decide, friends. Here we have natural gas coming under the waters to Germany, a solution for the nuclear power in Europe, much better than the oil project of Norway. I don't really know what's going to happen with this, but we know that there are two things involved. There is Europe's great thirst for energy, which will be, to some extent, facilitated by Nord Stream 2. There is then this great contest over the heartland of Eurasia, being confronted between NATO, the Russians, at one flank and the Chinese at the other. This is an ugly conflict, which goes against, in a sense, the need to move the climate conversation forward, to move, in a sense, the conversation about human development forward. You're listening to give the people what they want, coming to you every Friday, every week, same time, same place. You know where to find us, but unfortunately, you've been letting us down because you are most loyal listeners, aren't bringing your family, aren't bringing your friends. We need more of you. We're available as a podcast, we're available on all the, you know, Facebooks and YouTubes and so on. People's Dispatch is three years old, is an extremely significant accomplishment that a web-based news periodical, which covers movement news, is being able to survive and thrive. And we only survive and thrive, that's People's Dispatch and Globe Trotter. We only survive and thrive with your help, with your help in so many ways. We need you, and you don't really know how much we need you. So stick with us, tell people about these stories. Where else will you get a report about Argentina and this significant, significant development? Where else will you get a sadonic take on the Olympics? Now, I hope India wins a gold medal. It's been too many years since India has been satisfied with the solitary bronze. Thanks a lot, see you next week.