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2013 Program Archive
May 9 - Could Syria Be Iran's Vietnam?; The Prospect for Peace in Syria; Campaigning Against Corruption in Pakistan
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We begin with an analysis of whether Syria will be Iran’s Vietnam as Tehran’s support for the Assad regime deepens in a civil war that could become a quagmire for “The Axis of Resistance”. Beirut-based journalist Thanassis Cambanis joins us. The author of “A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel”, he has a forthcoming article at Foreign Policy “Syria, Iran’s Vietnam? How the Civil War in Syria is a Quagmire for “The Axis of Resistance”. |
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Then we examine the possibility that the upcoming peace talks Secretary of State Kerry brokered with the Russians might end the bloody standoff in Syria that has cost over 80,000 live and destroyed much of the country. Investigative journalist Robert Dreyfuss, the author of “Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam”, joins us to discuss his article at The Nation, “The First Good News for Syria”. |
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Then finally we assess the likely outcome of Saturday’s elections in Pakistan where the charismatic leader of the new PTI party Imran Khan fell 15 feet from a crane at a rally and is recuperating in hospital. Sameer Dossani, who formerly worked for Amnesty International, joins us to discuss Imran’s Khan’s anti-corruption campaign and how it might effect his chances of joining a coalition government headed by one of the two major parties that are mired in corruption. |
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May 8 - Mother's Day Protest to Close Guantanamo; Cyber-Capture of Our Drones and Missiles; Facebook Founder's Deceptive Political Campaign
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We begin with the co-founder and co-director of CODEPINK, Jodie Evans, and discuss plans that the peace, environment, women’s rights and social justice activist has to celebrate Mother’s Day. We discuss Thursday’s “Close Gitmo Now” rally at the West Los Angeles Federal Building and the continuing stain that America’s gulag at Guantanamo is for the United States overseas, and the perversion of justice it represents as it undermines our values at home. |
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Then we analyze the recently-released report by the Pentagon on China’s military capabilities and discuss the Administration’s public efforts to call out China on its widespread use of cyber-espionage that targets American corporate and government secrets. Alan Paller, the director of research at the SANS Institute who issues the annual “Greatest Risks to Cyber Security” study, joins us to discuss growing concerns that America’s drones and missiles can be captured in cyber attacks and re-directed to targets chosen by our adversaries. |
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Then finally we look into the deceptive political campaign organized by Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and other tech billionaires, that is supposed to be about promoting immigration reform, but has instead financed TV ads that slam Obama’s so-called “Chicago-style politics”, attack Obamacare and promote the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Josh Orton, the Political director at Progressives United, who are leading a coalition of activist groups to pull ads from Facebook, joins us to discuss the social media mogul’s wolf in sheep’s clothing politics. |
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May 7 - No More Rewarding North Korean Bad Behavior; The Worsening Epidemic of Military Rape; The Close Race in South Carolina That Wasn't
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We begin with today’s White House meeting between President Obama and South Korea’s President Park Guen-hye and speak with Sue Mi Terry who was the former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council and Director of Japan, Korea and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council. We discuss what Obama’s remarks, that “the days when North Korea could create a crisis then elicit concessions are over”, means going forward. |
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Then we examine the alarming increase in sexual assaults in the military, up 6% to 26,000 last year according to a report released by the Pentagon today. Jennifer Norris, a former U.S. Air Force Sergeant who was forced into early retirement because of PTSD from sexual trauma joins us. She now volunteers at the Military Rape Crisis Center and we will discuss the irony that the report came out one day after the Air Force’s chief of sexual assault prevention was himself arrested for sexual assault. |
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Then finally we go to South Carolina to get an update on the congressional race between the disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford and Elizabeth Colbert Busch for a seat that has been held by Republicans for over three decades. Corey Hutchins, an award winning reporter with South Carolina’s largest weekly newspaper, the Columbia Free Times, joins us to discuss today’s special election that could be a referendum on the Republican Party’s standing with women and whether redemption for those who have fallen from grace is alive and well in the Palmetto State. |
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May 6 - Who Used Chemical Weapons in Syria?; Growing Pressure on the U.S. to Intervene; Can the SEC Save us From Citizens United?
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We begin with conflicting reports of who used chemical weapons in Syria and speak with veteran foreign correspondent Reese Erlich the author of “Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence and Empire”. We discuss efforts to get irrefutable proof of the use of chemical weapons by the independent UN International Commission of Inquiry that has been repeatedly denied entry into Syria by the Assad regime. |
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Then we look at the regional turmoil following Israeli strikes on Syria that have escalated the proxy war between Iran and Israel. Aram Nerguizian, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and author of “Israel and Syria: The Military Balance and the Prospects for War” joins us to discuss growing pressure on the U.S. to intervene and why neighboring Turkey is increasingly reluctant to get involved in a war they mistakenly calculated would have ended some time ago. |
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Then finally we examine whether an unlikely government agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, will stem the tide of unregulated money flowing into our elections following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School specializing in election law, campaign finance and ethics joins us to discuss her article at the Sacramento Bee “Will the SEC save us from Citizens United?” |
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May 5 - A Syrian Reaction to Israel's Bombing; The Likely Regional Repercussions; What Happens When U.S. Presidents Draw Red Lines
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We begin with an update on today’s pre-dawn strikes by Israel on the Assad regime’s strongholds on Mount Qasioun that overlooks Damascus, where the regime’s Praetorian Guard led by the dictator’s brother Maher Assad was targeted. Syrian-born Middle East specialist at the National Defense University Murhaf Jouejati joins us to discuss what was targeted and how people in the war-torn nation’s capitol might react to the hated enemy Israel bombing the hated Assads. |
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Then we examine the regional implications of Israel’s intervention in a bloody and stalemated civil war that the U.S. is reluctant to get sucked into, although that may be just what Israel is trying to do. Dr Rachel Kleinfeld, the founding President of the Truman National Security Project, who was appointed by Secretary Clinton to the Foreign Affairs Policy Board that advises the State Department, joins us to discuss the likely repercussions of Israel’s entry into this tortured proxy war. |
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Then finally we speak with Daniel Byman about his article in Sunday’s New York Times “Mr. Obama, Don’t Draw That Line”. He is a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the author of “A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism”. We will discuss the trap the president has set for himself by drawing a red line on Syria and what the ramifications are if the U.S’s bluff is called and we don’t act. |
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