'VICE' Season 5: HBO Premiere Centers On 'Assad's Syria' & 'Cost of Climate Change' [VIDEO]
VICE returns for its fifth season Friday night on HBO, featuring two of the most pressing matters of our time.
VICE is back to explore some of the most major issues facing the world in 2017. The first episode, airing tonight, will feature an examination of Syria under the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship as well as the ongoing cost of climate change.
In "Assad's Syria", Isobel Yeung takes VICE viewers inside the war-torn country. "After six years of civil war, Bashar al-Assad, Syria's longtime dictator, is now poised to re-take full control of his country. Backed by Russian forces and a relentless bombing campaign, Assad's army toppled the rebel resistance in Aleppo in late 2016," HBO states.
Yeung explores Syria to determine "how Assad prevailed and find out what might happen next in his crippled country."
In the second segment, "Costs of Climate Change", VICE founder and CEO Shane Smith dives deep into the price that needs to be paid for decades of climate change denial.
"The first effects of climate change are being felt across the U.S., and projections show $40 trillion in potential damage worldwide over the next five decades if action isn't taken," HBO states. "As costs begin to mount, so do allegations that powerful interests in the oil and gas industry, like ExxonMobil, were publicly skeptical of climate science, delaying corrective measures."
As HBO notes, science is now in consensus about climate change, while President Donald Trump and his administration are still seemingly in denial.
VICE season 5 premieres Friday night at 11 p.m. ET/PT on HBO, and is scheduled to last until midnight. If you cannot watch the premiere on television, it will be available on HBO Go and HBO NOW starting right at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The episode will be available to watch after this timer period on both streaming services.
To live tweet and follow along with others watching the premiere of VICE use hashtag #VICE on Twitter.
