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2016 Programs
2016 Program Archive
November 18 - Israel and Hamas in the Grip of War; Afghanistan From the Beginning to What End; It's the Footprint Stupid!
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We begin with the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response to missiles launched by Hamas. Former Middle East negotiator, Aaron David Miller, who served six Secretaries of State, joins us to discuss the regional implications of this latest confrontation between these two implacable enemies and what diplomatic moves might be possible to avert further military escalation. |
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Then we go to Northern Afghanistan to speak with author and journalist Robert Young Pelton who has covered the 11 year-long war from the beginning. He filmed the original deployment of Special Forces and the Taliban prisoner breakout in which a CIA officer was killed and the American Taliban John Walker Lindh was captured. We get a perspective on what U.S. presence will remain after 2014 as the remaining troops and contractors build a series of permanent “Fort Apaches” in this hostile and increasingly lawless land. |
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Then finally we hear from Graham Fuller a former CIA Kabul station chief who was the Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. We continue the discussion on Afghanistan and look into the current soap opera surrounding the scandal-plagued former head of the CIA whose testimony made fools out of Republican leaders like John McCain and Fox News who have been grandstanding and beating the drum on Benghazi for months trying to turn a minor tragedy into a major issue. |
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| MUSIC: Edwin Starr - War; Fionn Regan - Shadow of an Empire; Don Henley - Dirty Laundry |
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November 15 - BP gets a Slap on the Wrist; A Silver Lining in a Cloud of Scandal; Fixing our Broken Elections
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We begin with the four billion dollar settlement the Justice Department announced with BP for obstruction of justice and lying to Congress over the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Tyson Slocum, the Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program joins us to discuss this paltry slap on the wrist for BP which will hardly deter criminally negligent behavior of a corporation responsible for 15 deaths in a 2005 refinery explosion and 11 deaths is the 2010 blowout in the Gulf. |
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Then we look into the extent that the downfall of General Petraeus affords President Obama an opportunity to install new civilian leadership at the CIA and in his national security team that has been deferential to, if not dominated by, military officers. Former CIA veteran, Melvin Goodman, a Senior Fellow at the Center For International Policy and author of “Failure of Intelligence: the Decline and Fall of the CIA” joins us to discuss the silver lining in this cloud of scandal. |
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Then finally, as votes are still being counted in Arizona, we get an analysis of our broken electoral system from Steven Hill, the co-founder of Fair Vote. We discuss the overwhelming need to reform the state-by-state hodgepodge of partisan and unprofessionally-run elections that enable both Republicans and Democrats to game and rig results, while stifling the opportunity for third parties to participate on a level playing field. |
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November 14 - Is Netanyahu Starting a War to get Re-Elected; Stoking Egyptian Anger and Further Isolating the Palestinian Authority; Snooping on the Top Spy's Private Emails
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We begin with the Israeli targeted assassination of the military leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and assess the likely retaliation and possible military escalation between Israel and Hamas. MJ Rosenberg, a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America and the former Director of Policy Analysis for the Israel Policy Forum joins us to discuss the motives behind Prime Minister Netanyahu’s apparent provocation. |
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Then we hear from Khaled Elgindy who previously served as an advisor to the Palestinian leadership on permanent status negotiations with Israel. We look into what response might come from the new Egyptian government who are close to Hamas and how the Palestinian Authority will be further isolated and weakened by an escalating confrontation between Israel and Hamas. |
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Then finally we look into the civil liberties and privacy aspects of the government hacking into personal emails and what kind of laws there are to protect citizens from both the government and those who abuse the Internet. Gigi Sohn, the co-founder and president of Public Knowledge, a public interest group working to defend citizen’s rights in the digital age, joins us. We discuss how vulnerable ordinary citizens are if the government can snoop on the nation’s top spy. |
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November 13 - Will Arizona's Old Guard Count the New Latino Voters?; Washington's Scandal Culture in Feeding Frenzy; De-Mythologizing General Petraeus
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We begin with the final countdown of the 2012 election, not in Florida, but in Arizona where final results will not be in until Friday. Jeff Biggers, author of “State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown over the American Dream” joins us. We discuss blatant voter suppression by Arizona’s older white Republican establishment and their brazen attempt to disenfranchise 600,000 new and mostly young Latino voters who were sent to the wrong precincts then issued provisional ballots that are still being counted by these same election officials. |
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Then we examine the culture of scandal consuming Washington with prominent officials becoming objects of salacious media coverage as their careers are ended and judged on sexual peccadilloes rather than on their performance in office. Veteran investigative journalist Mark Feldstein, the author of “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture” joins us to discuss the politics behind this latest sexual soap opera with military groupies fighting over which general they can seduce. |
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Then finally we get a less-than-flattering portrait of General Petraeus from Colonel Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran who, during the Gulf War, led the largest tank battle since World War II. We discuss the so-called “surges” in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether General Petraeus is the heroic figure and battlefield game-changer that the press and politicians have portrayed him as. He has an article at Counterpunch.org, "The Petraeus Saga: Epitaph for a Four Star". |
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| MUSIC: Molotovs - Gimme Power; New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle; Built to Spill - Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss; Joe Jackson - Right and Wrong |
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November 12 - Performance Without Accountability among our Top Brass; The Leadership Vacuum at the CIA; Shuffling the Deck with the Syrian Opposition
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As we observe Veterans Day with the military establishment still stunned by the downfall of General Petraeus, we begin with two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Tom Ricks, whose new book, just out, is “The Generals: American Military Command from World War 11 to Today”. We discuss the gulf between performance and accountability within the highest ranks of the military as the eleventh commander in eleven years takes charge of the current war in Afghanistan. |
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Then, following the abrupt departure of General Petraeus, we look into the leadership shuffle at the CIA with a former 27 year veteran CIA analyst Ray McGovern. We discuss the difficulties the Obama White House have had in establishing an intelligence team, starting with the first Director of the National Intelligence Council Ambassador Chaz Freeman who was ousted on his first day on the job. |
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Then finally, as the Syrian conflict show signs of spreading, with Israeli tanks returning fire against artillery on the Golan Heights, we will examine the newly formed Syria opposition coalition headed by a prominent Sunni imam. James Gelvin, an expert on Syria at UCLA, joins us to describe the make-up of this new coalition that is more likely to receive increased funding and arms as the military stalemate in Syria drags on. |
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| MUSIC: Midnight Oil - When the Generals Talks; Bob Dylan - Masters of War; The National - Start a War |
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