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2012 Program Archive
August 21 - Akin, Ryan and the Republican Platform; UN Must Act on Syria's Chemical Weapons Threat; What the Keystone XL Pipeline Will Be Carrying
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We begin with the Republican leadership’s breathtaking hypocrisy as they feign indignation over remarks made by Congressman Todd Akin that are identical to the views contained in the Republican platform now being prepared for next week’s convention. Joining us is Jodi Jacobson, the President and Editor-in-Chief of RH Reality Check, where she has an article “As Romney and Ryan Dissemble, RNC Prepares Radical Anti-Choice Platform Based on Personhood”. |
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Then we examine Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal and its possible proliferation or use, which President Obama has warned is a red line that would provoke intervention. Raymond Zilinskas, a former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq who now directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, joins us. He has an article in the National Interest, “Preventing the Use of Syrian Chemical Weapons”. |
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Then finally we speak with David Sassoon, the publisher of Insideclimatenews.org about dilbit, a thick tar that is diluted with chemicals so that it can move through pipelines. He has an article in Tuesday’s New York Times, “Crude, Dirty and Dangerous” and we discuss the hazards associated with transporting up one quarter of our future oil supply across America from the Canadian tar sands to Texas via the Keystone XL pipeline that will be carrying the dirty and dangerous dilbit. |
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August 20 - Todd Akin's Taliban-like Mentality Concerning Rape and Women's Bodies; Motives Behind the President of Ecuador's Asylum for Assange; A Look Inside "The Party" That Rules China.
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We begin with the extraordinary remarks from a Republican congressman running as a Tea Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri. Leila Abolfazli, the Senior Counsel in the Health and Reproductive Rights Program at the National Women’s Law Center joins us to discuss Representative Todd Akin’s Taliban-like mentality when it comes to rape and women’s bodies, and his attempts, together with Paul Ryan, to change the definition of rape in a bill they co-sponsored. |
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Then we look into why the President of Ecuador, who is trampling on press freedom at home, has come out as the champion of a free press in offering asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Anita Isaacs, a Professor of Political Science at Haverford College and author of “Politics of Military Rule and Transition in Ecuador”, joins us. She has an article in Monday’s New York Times, “It’s Not About Assange”. |
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Then finally, with the wife of a senior Chinese Communist Party official avoiding a death sentence, we speak with Richard McGregor, who has been the Bureau Chief for the Financial Times in China for the past ten years. He is the author of a new book, “The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers” and we examine the secretive and powerful elite behind the new economic superpower that is already the world’s second biggest economy. |
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August 19 - Obama's Strong Card Not In Play; The Wikileaks Founder's Fate; How Threats of War Benefit Netanyahu
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We begin with an analysis of President Obama’s apparent strong card in this election, his foreign policy that so far does not seem to be a winning issue in the presidential campaign. James Mann, a former foreign correspondent with Los Angeles Times who is author in residence at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies joins us. He is the author of the new book “The Obamians: The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power”. |
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Then we speak with Tom Hayden, a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society who later served 18 years in the California Legislature. He has been in close contact with Julian Assange’s defense team and we examine the limited legal options open to the Wikileaks founder who addressed the world from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he is holed up, calling on the United States to “end its witch hunt against Wikileaks.” |
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The finally we speak with Dr. Trita Parsi, the co-founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and author of “The Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran”. We discuss the increasing rumors of war coming from Israel that an attack on Iran is immanent, and examine the possible consequences of the targeting of leadership and nuclear and rocket scientists which are contained in an alleged leak of Israeli war plans. |
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August 16 - The Standoff in London over Julian Assange; Debunking Sham "Terrorist Experts"; A New Light Bulb That Could Change the World
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We first go to London and speak with an expert on British extradition law, David Bentley, an associate fellow of International Law at Chatham House. We discuss extradition as it applies to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who has just been granted political asylum by Ecuador and is holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy with the UK police outside waiting to arrest him for extradition to Sweden. |
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Then we look into the hysteria over terrorism that was at fever pitch before the London Olympic Games, leading presidential candidate Mitt Romney to criticize alleged deficiencies in security. Dr John Meuller, who has an article in the latest issue of International Security, “The Terrorism Delusion: America’s Overwrought Response to September 11”, joins us. He is quoted in articles in Foreign Policy and at Salon.com by Glenn Greenwald, debunking sham “terrorist experts” masquerading as objective scholars, shilling for the Terrorism Industrial Complex. |
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Then finally we speak with the inventor of a revolutionary light bulb that uses minimal energy and will last for generations. Daniel Lang joins us. He just unveiled BriteSol Inc’s breakthrough technology at Senator Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas with former president Bill Clinton and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. We discuss how his invention, which will be given way for free to developing countries, is expected to save energy and reverse global warming. |
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August 15 - War Fever on the Rise in Israel; How Iran Views an Israeli Attack; An Analysis of Romney's Taxes From Tax Analysts
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We begin with the roiling rumors of war with Iran in the Israeli press, buttressed by remarks from the outgoing head of Israel’s home front defense who expects a 30 day war on several fronts with only 500 Israeli casualties. A specialist on Israeli military and foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, Natan Sachs, joins us to assess the likelihood of an Israeli attack on Iran before the November elections. |
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Then we get an Iranian perspective on the possibility of a war with Israel that Iranian President Ahmadinejad dismissed with bravado saying, “Israel is too weak to face up to Iran’s military”. Rasool Nafisi, an expert on the Pasdaran, the Guardians of the Revolution, who are the power behind the Supreme Leader, joins us to discuss whether targeting the leadership and the homes of senior figures in nuclear and missile development, scenarios that are contained in a purported leaked Israeli memo, would result in regime change. |
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Then finally, with Ann Romney telling NBC News that two years of taxes are all we are going to get from the Romney’s, we discuss what Mitt Romney might be hiding with Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor to the influential provider of tax news and analysis, Tax Analysts. She just published a report at Tax Analysts, “Your Mitt Romney Tax Issues Cheat Sheet”. |
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