Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the offhand remark by Secretary of State John Kerry that the Assad regime could avoid an American strike if they handed over their chemical weapons arsenal to the international community in the next week, a suggestion the Russians have run with that the Syrian Foreign Minister quickly endorsed. Edward Luttwak, a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies joins us to discuss this sudden turn of events and his recent article in The New York Times “In Syria, America Loses if Either Side Wins”.

Part 2

Then we speak with award-winning investigative journalist Max Blumenthal who is in Ramallah, Palestine, having just visited the vast Syrian refugee camp in Jordan. We discuss the appalling conditions the traumatized refugees live under and the fate of the many thousands more Syrian refugees just across the border who are prevented from entering Jordan. An opponent of U.S. intervention, Max Blumenthal was repeatedly told by the refugees that they want America to bomb Assad even if it costs them their homes and livelihoods.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Todd O’Boyle, the Program Director at the Media and Democracy Reform Initiative at Common Cause who was in the conservative-dominated U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit today as judges heard an appeal by Verizon that challenges the FCC’s statutory authority and their open Internet rules in a critical case that will decide the future of net neutrality in America.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the type of delivery systems used in the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed over 1400 people including 426 children. Theodore Postol, an expert on rockets and missiles at MIT, joins us to discuss his findings that indicate a much greater quantity of Sarin gas, up to fifty times more than was previously estimated, were delivered per rocket, thus explaining a greater number of victims than there were from previous chemical attacks

Part 2

Then, with much of the world’s attention on Syria, we discuss what is on the agenda at the G-20 summit underway in St Petersburg, Russia, where the host Vladimir Putin began the meeting by announcing that Syria was not on the agenda focused on reviving the global economy, but he did allow that some talk about Syria may happen over dinner. Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research joins us to discuss what can be done to reverse the global downturn, with the engine of the global economy, the United States hamstrung by Republican obstructionists likely soon to again hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States.

Part 3

Then finally we discuss Saturday’s elections in Australia, the outcome of which media baron Rupert Murdoch, who owns over 60% of the country’s newspapers, is shaping to make sure the Tea Party-like right wing party he is backing wins. Salvatore Babones, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney joins us to discuss the tabloid trashing of the incumbent Labor Party by the ex-Australian kingmaker who already tried to put his man in the White House when he attempted to recruit General Petraeus to run against Barack Obama in the last election.