Front Burner

Earlier this month, 30 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the Trump administration with a remarkable request: to publicly acknowledge that Israel has nuclear weapons.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East. But unlike other nuclear powers, Israel has never officially acknowledged its arsenal.

That nuclear policy is known, in Hebrew, as “amimut” or opacity. And for decades the United States has largely gone along with it.

Today, historian Avner Cohen, author of ‘Israel and the Bomb’, joins us to explain how Israel built its nuclear program in secret, and why that silence still matters today.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a new energy agreement that paves the way for a new pipeline to the West Coast. It includes an industrial carbon pricing deal, and is contingent on the approval of the Pathways project— a proposed carbon capture, utilization and storage facility.

The agreement was panned by environmentalists who said, among other things, that the Liberals are sacrificing the climate goals they spent the better part of a decade legislating.

Climate journalist Arno Kopecky writes for publications like The Narwhal and Canada's National Observer. He’s here to talk about whether Mark Carney is betraying his own environmental bona fides and a decade of Liberal groundwork.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Alberta premier Danielle Smith is calling a court ruling “antidemocratic” after judge struck down the petition which hoped to trigger a separatist referendum this fall.

The ruling came in part because it found that the province failed to consult with First Nations whose treaty rights would be affected by a vote to separate. Still, separatist groups and the province are appealing the decision and looking to forge ahead.

But how does Alberta’s separatist movement stack up against other secessionist causes and how should Ottawa handle it? The Globe and Mail’s Andrew Coyne joins us.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In The Cult Queen of Canada from CBC’s Uncover, a tiny Saskatchewan town faces a surreal crisis when a cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned school. As neighbours turn on each other, a retired teacher leads resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world. Hosted by Rachel Browne.

Crime. Investigation. Revelation. Uncover brings you explosive, high-caliber true crime year-round. From CIA mind control to serial abuse, mysterious disappearances to wrongful imprisonment.

More episodes of The Cult Queen of Canada are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CQOCxFB

The ceasefire in Iran has been in place for five weeks, with no clear end in sight to the war. The latest peace negotiations fell apart, with U.S. President Trump saying that the ceasefire is on “life support.” So what happens now? What kind of pain will Iran be able to tolerate? And how can the U.S. get itself out of this quagmire?

The Economist’s Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom joins us to discuss the latest.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts