Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the nationwide FBI sting Wednesday that netted the mayor of Charlotte North Carolina, a New York State Assemblyman and a California State Senator Leland Yee. Dan Walters, a political columnist for the Sacramento Bee and co-author of “The Third House: Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento” joins us to discuss the political consequences for the Democrats in California from the arrest of a prominent California lawmaker, who had championed an assault weapons ban, and his political consultant, who were brokering an arms deal for Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a leader of the Triad criminal gang in San Francisco involved in gun-running, murder-for-hire and liquor smuggling.

Part 2

Then we speak with Dr. Sheila Carapico who was recently the Chair of the Political Science Department at the American University in Cairo about the announcement by Egypt’s military chief General Sisi that he is resigning in order to run for president. She joins us to discuss the consolidation of the military’s grip on Egypt with the army taking charge of billions of dollars of development aid from the Saudis and the Gulf states, and the broader strategic alignment of the Egyptian military and the Saudis aimed at confronting Iran and stamping out political Islam, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood.

Part 3

Then finally we get an assessment of the meeting between President Obama and Pope Francis from Christopher Hale, a senior fellow at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good in Washington D.C. He helped lead national Catholic outreach for President Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 and we discuss whether some of the new Pope’s tremendous popularity will rub off on Obama and whether the Catholic Bishops who opposed Obama on the Affordable Care act will turn their condemnation towards prominent Republicans like John Boehner and Paul Ryan who oppose immigration reform which the bishops will highlight when they celebrate mass at the Mexican border on April 1 to commemorate the 6,000 immigrants who have died trying to get into the United States. 

Full Program

Part 1

Part 2

Then we speak with Deborah Brautigam, a professor and Director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University and author of “The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa”. We discuss the new Chinese leader’s visit to Africa and the BRIC’s – that’s Brazil – Russia – India – China and South Africa -  summit he is attending in South Africa and we also examine the extent to which Africa’s honeymoon with China is over.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with the organizer of a recent conference in Paris where the Syrian opposition and representatives of the Kurdish minority met with senior American and French officials to design power-sharing arrangements in a post-Assad Syria. David Phillips, the Director of the Peace-building and Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University joins us to discuss what is being done to close the gap between the political representatives of the Syrian opposition and the various factions of fighters in the field who are now starting to shoot at each other.