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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
June 9 - A Political Analysis of the U.S./China Summit; An Economic Analysis of the U.S./China Summit; Again the Tragic Intersection of Mental Illness and Easy Access to Assault Weapons
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We begin with an analysis of the politics behind the just-concluded U.S./China summit in Palm Springs from Susan Shirk, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. We will discuss Obama and Xi’s “constructive” summit in the context of what the Chinese leader is dealing with at home and what the president has on his plate with revelations about spying on Americans that pale in comparison to the extent that the Chinese government monitors its citizens. |
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Then we get an appraisal of the economic issues discussed between the world’s two biggest economies and the agreement to curb greenhouse gasses causing global warming. Scott Kennedy, the Director of the Research Center on Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University joins us to discuss the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the new Chinese leader’s efforts to break up the monopolies and oligopolies in State-owned enterprises. We also discuss concerns over the theft of intellectual property from U.S. corporations and the cyber-theft of U.S. patents. |
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Then finally, with yet another school shooting involving the tragic intersection of mental illness and easy access to assault weapons, we speak with Paul Helmke, a Professor of Public Policy at Indiana University and the former head of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and John Donohue, a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and author of "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less crime Hypothesis". We discuss how a shooter who had a history of mental illness, wearing full body armor with a handgun and an assault rifle and 1,300 rounds of ammunition, was able to go on a rampage at Santa Monica College that ended up killing four people. |
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June 6 - The NSA's Blanket Authority to Spy on Americans; Growing Tensions on the Golan Heights; Putin Announces He's Divorced as Crackdowns Escalate
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We begin with revelations in the UK Guardian that a government secret order issued in April gave the National Security Agency blanket authority to collect phone records on Americans in a continuing surveillance regime that has been going on for the last seven years. Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office joins us to discuss the nature and scope of this activity and its implication for our civil liberties. |
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Then, with Austria now withdrawing its UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after two of its soldiers were wounded, we look into growing tensions between Syria and Israel whose long-standing agreement to keep the peace on this contested border appears to be in tatters. Asher Kaufman, a professor of History and Peace Studies at Notre Dame University and author of “Contested Frontier: Cartography, Sovereignty, and Conflict at the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-border Region” joins us to discuss the widening conflict in Syria. |
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Then finally we speak with Nina Khrushcheva, a professor in the Graduate Program of International Affairs at the New School. She joins us to discuss the announcement today by Mr. and Mrs. Putin that their 30 year marriage is over and that the divorce was “civilized”. We also discuss Putin’s escalating crackdown on dissent and the high profile exit of prominent Russians fleeing Putin’s Russia which is becoming more oppressive with the return Soviet-era Stalinist show trials. |
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June 5 - Wolfowitz, Not Bradley Manning Should Be on Trial; Obama's Appointment of Susan Rice to the NSC and Samantha Power to the U.N.; A Syrian Opposition Leader on Battlefield Losses
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We begin with more evidence that the wrong people are on trial for the Iraq war and that Paul Wolfowitz, not Bradley Manning should be in the dock. A 17 year veteran of the CIA, Phil Giraldi joins us to discuss the latest scandal he has uncovered about how the neocons were conned and Iran played Uncle Sam for Uncle Sucker. Phil Giraldi’s latest article at The American Conservative is “Paul Wolfowitz’s Iran Connection: Was the architect of the Iraq War getting advice from an agent of the Islamic Republic?” |
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Then, with the President’s announcement today that he is appointing Susan Rice to be his next National Security Advisor and that she will be replaced as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. by Samantha Power, we speak with David Rothkopf, the CEO and Editor-at-large of Foreign Policy Magazine and author of “Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power”. We discuss Obama’s defiance of his Republican critics who have trumped up charges against Susan Rice over the phony Benghazi scandal and assess what changes she will bring to U.S. foreign policy. |
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Then finally an important member of the Syrian opposition Radwan Ziadeh joins us to discuss the loss of a key strategic town to Hezbollah and what that means for the Free Syrian Army in their long struggle to defeat the Assad regime whose fight for survival appears to be improving as the tide of battle turns in their favor. We also discuss the difference between Assad’s backers, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah and the lack of support the out-gunned rebels are getting from the U.S. and the EU. |
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June 4 - Who Should be on Trial with Bradley Manning?; The Story Behind the Wikileaks Whistleblower; Obama Introduces Three Judges the Republicans will Filibuster
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On the second day of the trial of the Wikileaks leaker, we begin with a retired CIA officer turned political activist Ray McGovern, and discuss who should be on trial with Private Bradley Manning. One of the driving forces behind the creation of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, formed to expose the falsification of intelligence to justify the Iraq war, Ray McGovern has an article at antiwar.com “The Moral Imperative of Bradley Manning”. |
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Then we speak with Chase Madar, the author of a new book “The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story Behind the Wikileaks Whistleblower”, and look into who Bradley Manning is, and why he did what he did, as well as discuss the government’s treatment of the Army Private who has been held without trial for three years, often in unusually harsh conditions. We also discuss Chase Madar’s article at The Nation “Seven Myths about Bradley Manning”. |
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Then finally, following today’s introduction in the Rose Garden by President Obama of three judges the Republicans are likely to filibuster, we speak with a long-time Democratic strategist, Carrie Wofford, who recently served Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, running an in-house think tank for Democratic Senators. We discuss why it has taken so long for the Democrats to push back against the usurpation of power by the Republican’s consistent use of the filibuster and whether majority rule will return to the Senate. |
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June 3 - Turkish Media Blackout of Demonstrations; Did China Win the Iraq War?; Finally Push Back Against Republican Obstructionism
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We begin with a report from Gezi Park in Istanbul, the scene of the original demonstration by environmentalists that was brutally put down and has since morphed into the biggest protest against the ten year rule of Turkey’s Islamist government. Independent journalist Fabien Tepper joins us from the scene of the continuing protests for an update and an analysis of this massive political upheaval that most of the Turkish press is not covering. |
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Then we look into the irony that the United States, having made enormous sacrifices with the loss of thousands of lives at a cost of trillions in taxpayer money, lost out to China, now the winner of the Iraq war in terms of access to the oil that the U.S. “liberated”. An expert on oil monarchies and the Gulf States, Gregory Gause, the department chair and professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont, joins us to discuss the changing global oil market. |
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Then finally, with the Republicans set to gain another seat in the Senate following the death of Senator Lautenberg, we examine the unprecedented use of the filibuster by the Republicans that has become routine and is now finally being challenged by the White House. Douglas Daniels, a former staff reporter for Campaigns & Elections joins us to discuss the public’s frustration with gridlock that the media blames on both sides, although the Republicans are clearly the obstructionists. |
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