DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Subcontinent on the Brink”

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou react to bombings rocking India and Pakistan. Is another war, between two nuclear states, imminent? Meanwhile, IDF soldiers, haunted and guilty, testify to their atrocities in Gaza.

• India Pledges Revenge for Delhi Car Blast: Indian police probe a deadly car explosion near Delhi's iconic Red Fort, killing eight and injuring 20 in the bustling old quarters. Authorities invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, India's stringent anti-terror law, alongside explosives statutes, sealing the site for forensic scrutiny amid shuttered markets and halted Metro services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing crowds in Bhutan “with a heavy heart,” vows relentless pursuit of the conspirators and blames Pakistani-backed terrorists, echoing past crises like the Kashmir attack that sparked nuclear-armed skirmishes.

• Pakistani Capital Also Bombed: A suicide bomber blows himself up outside Islamabad's district court, slaying 12 and wounding 27 in midday chaos, with crowds fleeing as smoke billows and severed remains confirm the attacker's fate. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accuses Indian-backed Afghan proxies tied to the Pakistani Taliban, amid resurgent violence and fragile Afghan ceasefires. Simultaneously, security forces thwart a hostage bid at an army college in Wana, neutralizing five militants in hours-long firefights, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanding swift justice against threats to civilians. Is the South Asia powder keg about to blow?

• E. Jean Carroll Verdict: Donald Trump petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a $5 million jury finding of sexual abuse and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll, decrying "indefensible evidentiary rulings" that admitted testimony from other accusers. His lawyers label the 1996 Bergdorf Goodman allegations a "politically motivated hoax" lacking physical evidence, clashing with Second Circuit affirmations that upheld the verdicts. This escalates Trump's "crusade against Liberal Lawfare," following an $83.3 million defamation add-on and recent fraud penalty reversals. Will this three-decade old he-said she-said case stick?

• Haunted and Guilty, IDF Soldiers Say They Committed War Crimes: Israeli troops testify in an ITV documentary to a "free-for-all" in Gaza, where standard IdF firing protocols evaporated, where commanders told troops to kill civilians on suspicion alone—targeting men aged 20-40 just for walking around. Accounts detail routine human shield tactics, dubbed the "mosquito protocol," forcing Palestinians into tunnels for mapping, and unprovoked shootings at U.S.-backed aid sites, contributing to 944 civilian deaths per UN tallies. Influenced by inflammatory rhetoric from leaders and rabbis deeming all of Gaza a "terrorist infrastructure," soldiers grapple with shame amid a UN genocide finding and 69,000 Palestinian fatalities.