Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the worsening situation in Venezuela following the electoral coup by the unpopular Maduro government which has defied the will of the majority in a power grab that has shut down the opposition, arrested its leaders and exposed divisions within the ranks of the military. Alejandro Velasco, a historian of modern Latin America at New York University and author of “Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela” joins us to discuss whether in a country racked by crime and awash with guns, the opposition will turn to armed resistance. We will also assess the likelihood of a split within the military between junior officers who want to re-establish constitutional order and the top leadership whose loyalty to the government has been ensured by Maduro who has lavished generals with economic spoils and allowed their active participation in the lucrative drug trade.

Part 2

Then we look into the unusual unity on the U.N. Security Council in their unanimous condemnation of North Korea as the world body ramped up sanctions on the isolated country whose exports of coal, seafood, iron ore, lead and cheap labor are now blocked. Kyung Moon Hwang, a professor of history at the University of Southern California and author of “Rationalizing Korea: The Rise of the Modern State”, joins us to discuss the possibility of imaginative diplomacy ending the stalemate if the U.S. were to offer the North a peace treaty and refuse to be the enemy anymore, thus removing the glue that holds the Kim regime in power.    

Part 3

Then finally we investigate the real reasons behind the opioid crisis in America and why the epidemic is not being dealt with effectively. Stephan Schwartz, the editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net joins us to discuss his article in the journal Explore, “America’s Deadly Opioid Epidemic From Which Everyone But the Users Profits”. 

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the release of the transcripts of Donald Trump’s calls to foreign leaders early in his Administration that indicate a woeful ignorance of world affairs, a delusional obsession with the greatness of his campaign and election victory, and a child-like temperament when confronted with facts and reality. We speak with two prominent American historians of the presidency and begin with Sean Wilentz, Professor of American History at Princeton University whose latest book is “The Politicians and the Egalitarians”. He joins us to provide an historical context on how much Trump has lowered the bar to the point where comparisons with prior presidents does a disservice to our history since Trump is such a disastrous aberration to the point that no matter how much his predecessors have faced the harsh judgement of history and are held in low esteem, it does a disservice to them and to our history to compare them to Trump.

Part 2

Then we speak with the American political historian who teaches at American University, Allan Lichtman. He is the author of “The Keys to the White House: A Surefire Way to Predicting the Next President”, a system that has correctly predicted the outcomes of all US presidential elections since 1984 including the last election when, against all odds, he predicted a Trump victory. His latest book is “The Case For Impeachment” and we discuss whether Trump’s alarming lack of qualification for the job of president that the transcripts reveal, could be considered grounds for his impeachment.

Part 3

Then finally we are joined in the studio by Bryan Fogel, the director of the new Netflix documentary opening nationwide “Icarus”. He sought to investigate the Lance Armstrong story of doping in sports and the science of cheating the tests for doping. But instead, he uncovered a brazen scheme of state-sponsored cheating that resulted in the hero of the film, a brave Russian whistleblower, having to escape Kremlin death threats by taking his family into witness protection, while the villain behind the cheating scandal was promoted by Putin to be his Deputy Prime Minister.