Hi guys, it's Monday which of course means it's the Monday Show!
And coming up today...
Egypt has sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, Russia has overrun three
Ukrainian military bases in Crimea, Turkey shoots down a Syrian plane it says was flying
in its airspace, and also in Turkey, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is fighting
corruption charges and behaving very undemocratically.
Plus, as always, we have your comments!
But first, to Egypt where the Arab Spring and arrival of democracy now seem like very,
very distant memories.
Earlier today, an Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood
movement to death for murder and other offences.
According to defence lawyers, this was the biggest mass death sentence ever handed out
in Egypt's modern history.
Things have been heading increasingly downhill in Egypt since the army overthrew the country's
first democratically elected leader, President Mohammed Morsi, back in July 2013.
Morsi himself was affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood movement and since his removal
Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members during protests on
the streets and arrested thousands more.
Most of those sentenced to death in the recent mass trial had been detained during clashes
that erupted in the southern province of Minya, following the forced dispersal of two Muslim
Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on the 14th August last year.
Commentators have expressed doubts that the death sentences will actually be carried out
however.
And now for your comments.
And on our promo video for our upcoming interview with Cenk Uygur from The Young Turks we were
getting quite a bit of hate.
Including this one from Brad Parker: Please wait a moment while I unsubscribe.
This channel is no longer about truth, but about propaganda.
Now, we think it's a massive shame if anyone feels the need to unsubscribe from us because
they don't like one particular interview we're doing.
But there's also some great conversations being had in that comment thread about independent
and mainstream media so we'd recommend you go check it out and go get involved.
And on last week's Monday Show, in which we talked about the Crimean referendum where
residents voted to form a union with Russia, GoddardsFitness said this:
So the referendum is illegal to the EU however an Illegal seize of power in Kiev by the interim
government is perfectly okay?
EU and US hypocrisy at its finest, gotta love democracy.
And now to Crimea where Ukraine has pulled out all of its forces after Russia seized
three Ukrainian military bases in the region in the space of just 48 hours.
This included the Ukrainian naval base at Fedosia where Russian forces reportedly fired
shots and rounded up Ukrainian troops.
Also today, the Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev announced on Twitter that the Russian
rouble is now the official currency in Crimea.
But that the Hryvnia - which is the national currency of Ukraine - will still be in circulation
until the end of 2015.
And last to Turkey where Turkish forces have shot down a Syrian military jet they say was
violating their airspace, near to a border region where the Syrian military is currently
battling opposition groups.
Syria, however, says the plane had been over Syrian territory at the time and is accusing
Turkey of "blatant aggression".
Relations between the Turkish and Syrian governments have been incredibly strained since the outbreak
of civil war in Syria, with Turkey providing support to opposition groups and directly
calling for the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Despite all this, and past skirmishes and confrontations however, commentators say that
neither side is interested in engaging each other in all-out war.
And the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan certainly has enough on his plate
at home at the moment.
In response to continuing corruption allegations against him, Erdogan has been taking his anger
out on social media.
On Thursday he banned Twitter, the site where links to audio recordings of alleged wiretaps
were posted last month, apparently showing Erdogan instructing his son to move millions
in cash out of his house.
You can find out more about the corruption allegations Erdogan is facing by clicking
here: And then on Sunday, he turned his attention
to Facebook and YouTube as well, saying that all three social media platforms run "all
kinds of lies.
Which is all pretty audacious considering that Turkey is supposed to be a democracy.
Well, unfortunately that's all we've got time for this week but as always, you can let us
know your thoughts on all of this, in the comments below, and we'll see you again next
time.