As the world's nations come together in New York City for the UN General Assembly, the Guardian is reporting that European intelligence spy agencies are warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning more decisive action against NATO. The newspaper reported that French president Emmanuel Macron summoned all of the contenders in that nation's 2027 presidential elections for an emergency meeting on what Macron believes is the growing threat from Russia which looms as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to intensify.
Meanwhile, the incoherence of US foreign policy is becoming ever more apparent, with Congress passing a sanctions bill that aims to economically pressure Russia to end its war with Ukraine, and the New York Times reporting the Trump administration wants to offer Russia business deals before it stops fighting.
Around the world, armed conflict continues to proliferate as the Trump administration doubles down on dismantling humanitarian agencies like US AID, while expanding US unilateral military action in the Caribbean and in its war of choice with Iran that's stressed both the American military and our domestic economy.
As the world sinks deeper into the throes of the climate crisis, the Peace Research Institute Oslo reports that armed conflicts between the nation states on the planet is at its highest level since World War II. "In total, 65 state based armed conflicts were recorded across 55 countries in 2025--the highest number since records began in 1946," according to the Institute's analysis.
All totaled 245,000 people were killed in battle-related violence last year, up from 188,000 the year before with the UN reporting that its increasingly civilians, as we saw with Israel’s genocide in Gaza, that are paying the price for a world increasingly prone to armed conflict that's rapidly growing in lethality.
We got into this troubling state of the world with our current events panel that includes Larry Hamm, New Jersey social justice activist and founder of the People's Organization for Progress and Dr. Joe Wilson, labor historian and chronicler of the life and times of the A. Philip Randall, the iconic civil rights and labor leader.
We played remarks given by Mayor Zohran Mamdani at the 2026 Urban 20 (U20) Mayors Summit, where municipal leaders from around the nation and the world shared practical solutions to the climate and affordability crisis. Mamdani discussed the dynamic and essential role played by migration throughout history in the socio-economic success of cities like New York City where diversity is actually a source of resilience.
In our B Block, we heard from Mike Decillis, who is running as a Democrat in New York's 11th District, which includes Staten Island and a portion of southern Brooklyn. Decillis expressed concern about Israel's track record in Gaza and the Trump administration's continued arming of Israel. The former EMT, NYPD officer, special education teacher and now attorney, agreed with "Bobby from Flushing"
In our second hour, we checked in with FDNY EMS union leaders on what to make of the latest Mayor's Management Report that shows a further deterioration in response times for medical emergencies and a catastrophic collapse in the percentage of heart attack patients that are surviving, down to just 16 percent from 35 pecent surviving a few years back.
We heard from Robert Kelley, TWU Local 100 VP of Stations about a court win on Friday for the union and subway riders with Justice Nicholas Moynein ruling the MTA and New York City Transit acted unlawfully when they issued a bulletin in January stating that station booths would be left unstaffed as a result of unplanned emergencies—such as an agent calling out sick—would no longer be backfilled on overtime.
Justice Moyne ordered that the practice immediately be stopped and the agencies give 30 days’ notice to Community Boards before holding public hearings on the issue, as required by the Public Authorities Law.
We also got into the essential role TWU Local 100 played in the 9/11 World Trade response and the dangerous clean-up that followed. R. Kelley recalls the heavy price paid by Local 100 members during COVID who died from their exposure to the deadly virus.
