BACK STORY WITH DANA LEWIS

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story is there a case to be made that D.C. Police knew in advance the threat but allowed it to unravel at The Capitol? Was the riot set in motion and managed from The White House?   President Trump clearly lit the fire for dissent and insurrection. Host Dana Lewis talks to Kellie Carter Jackson, an assistant professor of Africana Studies at Wellesely College and says...

Send us Fan Mail Thousands of companies may have been hacked as well as Gov Agencies in America.  Homeland Security, The FBI and NSA say it's Russia. What was taken?  The hack is still ongoing and went on for months.  Why weren't critical systems better protected? On this Back Story with Dana Lewis we talk to Suzanne Spaulding, Senior adviser for Homeland Security and Director of the Def...

Send us Fan Mail This week in America, The UK, and in Europe record numbers of Covid-19 cases as hospitals struggle to treat the sick. A new vaccine has been approved in The Uk, that makes 3 vaccines not including Russia and China.  But, is this new variant of Covid-19 out pacing the vaccine? We talk to two medical experts about what to expect and the dangers of this pandemic as we race to distrib...

Send us Fan Mail The war on drugs in America is waning. Cannabis  is widely accepted  by adults.   As of now, 36 states have legalized medical cannabis use while 15 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use. Canada was first to legalize cannabis to combat the illegal market, raise tax revenues, and make the use of cannabis regulated and safe.  On This B...

Send us Fan Mail Britain held it's referendum to leave the European Union in 2016.  It has taken years of internal debate and political conflict to determine how to leave.  Because Europe is a vital trading partner of The U.K.    So Britain needs a trade deal or it's economy will be in tatters.  It's close.  Close to crashing out of Europe at the end of 2020 with no deal.  And close...

Send us Fan Mail On this Back Story, Host and creator, Dana Lewis talks digital money.  In Covid19 paperless purchases are accelerated the digital revolution.  China has launched a digital currency saying it will become an alternative to the U.S. dollar.  Crypto Currencies like BitCoin are soaring in value.  Dana talks to a leading digital coin trading Nickel Digital Asset Management , Europes lea...

Send us Fan Mail In November an Iranian top nuclear scientist is assassinated.  Israel is blamed.  Is Iran complying with an International nuclear deal to stop it from obtaining nuclear weapons, or it this smoke and mirrors and deception by Tehran? Should incoming U.S. President Joe Biden re-enter a nuclear agreement, which Former President Trump pulled out of claiming it was horrible deal?  What...

Send us Fan Mail Many experts don't think Corona virus started in The Wuhan Market.  Some think it was a virus that escaped from a lab in Wuhan run now by the military.  Others think it had "natural" origins but broke out months before the end of 2019. And. we need those answers to understand where the next pandemic could start, as well as the increased dangers of a biological attac...

Send us Fan Mail In this edition of Back Story Dana Lewis talks to Fmr. National Security Advisor John Bolton. We talk through what damage has been done to American Democracy by Trump refusing to accept the results of the 2020 Election.  His nasty personality in The White House and how everything was about Trump, over and above The Nation.  On Foreign Policy Amb. Bolton talks to me about Iran, Rus...

Send us Fan Mail This month Elon Musk's SpaceX blasted off to the Int. Space Station with NASA.  SpaceX's first commercial manned flight to the ISS. But, believe it or not the Russians beat America by a decade or so, in offering commercial space exploration.  And, Washington's Jeffrey Manber talks to Back Story's Dana Lewis on the challenges ahead in space and business.  Manber...

Send us Fan Mail Peter Sutcliffe has died. In the late 1970's through 1980  he was the Yorkshire Ripper - killing 13 women and attempting to murder 7 more.    And taunting police to catch him.  Or so it seemed.  The place was Yorkshire England - in towns called Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield. Dana Lewis was a young Toronto, Canada crime reporter, who travelled to England to cover the murders.  An...

Send us Fan Mail Joe Biden may be the most experienced incoming U.S. President ever, when it comes to foreign policy. He has travelled The World as President Obama's point man.  He also served for decades on the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Unlike President Trump, he has a more traditional view of promoting democracy and human rights.  He know's Russia, and Turkey, and China and will...

Send us Fan Mail Saeb Erekat was the recognizable Palestinian voice for decades.   He pushed peace through negotiation.  A two State solution with a Palestinian homeland. He believed in Arab States adopting democracy.  He didn't believe the Israeli Palestinian conflict was religious and recognized Israel and it's right to exist side by side with Palestinians. Saeb passed away this week f...

Send us Fan Mail On This Back Story your local movie theatre is likely to be a casualty of Covid. 70 per cent of cinema's in America will fail say owners.  Malls too are in crisis.  Because movies drive traffic to retail stores.  Dana Lewis talks to Paul Heth of Karo Films, and Rob Arthur from the Big Picture.com  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In France, several terror attacks sparked over the debate of republishing Satirical Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.    For most people in France the cartoons have come to symbolize freedom of speech.   The Government has ordered the arrests of dozens of moslem extremists.  France has been condemned by several Arab leaders and Turkish President Erdogen has lashed out at Macron. ...

Send us Fan Mail We have never seen an election like this.   In the middle of the Pandemic U.S. President Trump attacks opponents and claims The U.S. is rounding a corner. He is lashing out at the media and mocking people who wear masks. This, as American is close to 100 thousand new cases of Corona Virus a day! The political conversation is one of the great democracies couldn't be worse. It&...

Send us Fan Mail Some might say Lithuania punches well above it's weight on International Affairs. It has taken on Belarus, and Russia and demanded The European Union stand up and speak out on human rights,  It has taken in political refugees and let them speak out from Lithuania. It's a Country of only 3 million but speaks like a super power. What can we learn from Lithuania which now w...

Send us Fan Mail The Former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Chris Alexander tells Back Story Host Dana Lewis, there is no point in talking to The Taliban.  The only way to peace are sanctions on Pakistan which directs the violence.  While Afghan Ambassador to The UK,  Said Tayeb Jawad, says The Afghan Government has to talk to The Taliban, but the violence has to stop, and The Taliban has to cu...

Send us Fan Mail In this edition of Back Story Dana Lewis speaks to Olivia Troye.   Troye was a homeland security official. She went on to work in the Office of the Vice President of the United States as the homeland security and counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Pence, serving as an aide to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.  Troye tells Dana Lewis, she (Like Anthony Fauci) has been...

Send us Fan Mail After months of protests by hundreds of thousands demanding free and fair elections, The Interior Ministry of Belarus has now threatened to shoot demonstrators.  And the main opposition leader has announced she is calling on factory workers and people from across The Country to strike, and shut down the system.  Ex President Lukashenko has only jailed more people and remains defia...

Send us Fan Mail The Trump-Biden debate was a disaster. How do we change the formats for future debates to work?  And what is the goal?  Timers, buttons and buzzers to silence arguments? And how should it be hosted? The debates have always been TV shows, but if they are brawls no one will benefit from tuning in.  On Back Story Dana Lewis talks to John Donvan, a former White House reporter who now...

Send us Fan Mail President Trump has undermined Int. efforts to fight Covid 19.  Clearly a Biden Presidency would be much different on the issue of cooperation on the pandemic. What about Biden's policies on Russia? China? Afghanistan?  Would Joe Biden be so different than President Obama was before Trump? On The Paris Climate Accords certainly Trump has withdrawn from them. Biden would rejoi...

Send us Fan Mail Nearly 500 former National Security Officials sign a letter, saying President Trump is unfit for office.  Trump has told militia's to "stand-by" but failed to denounce them.   He has threatened not to allow a peaceful transition of power in November. Critics claim he is someone who may be one of the largest dangers to American Democracy and the rule of law, ever to...

Send us Fan Mail The dispute goes back decades. Azerbaijan and Armenia are fighting over a disputed region called Nagorno-Karabakh and the conflict now threatens to pit Russia against Turkey. America has ceded some of its influence as a super power under the Trump Administration.  And the vacuum is sure to be filled with conflict.  France has now accused Turkey of stirring war.   And it's not...

Send us Fan Mail Over the next few months, the simmering tensions between China and Taiwan could develop into a full fledged armed conflict.  China, say experts, could invade Taiwan during the American election and subsequent inauguration, as it is stirred by new weapons sales from The Trump Administration and official visits to Taiwan by American Diplomats.  Would a Biden Presidency escalate the...