Full Program

Part 1

Then we examine the escalating tensions in the East Pacific between China, Japan and Taiwan over a territorial dispute that has been simmering for over a century. The Washington editor-at-large of The Atlantic, Steve Clemons joins us. He co-founded, with Chalmers Johnson, the Japan Policy Research Institute and we discuss how both Japan and China are raising the stakes, with Japan nationalizing the Senkaku Islands and China seeking UN support to expand its continental shelf claim to include the islands.

Then finally, we speak with a veteran political professional Steven Hill who has been working to reform America’s broken election systems for decades. He has an article at The Nation, “The Blue-State Strategy for Progressive Change” that argues the Democrats should focus on making voting easier in states where they control the governorships and legislatures, instead of whining about aggressive efforts on the part of Republicans to suppress Democratic votes in states that they control.

Full Program

Part 1

Part 2

Then we speak with Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston about his new book “The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind”. And since David has been called “the de-facto chief tax enforcement officer of the United States”, we also discuss Mitt Romney’s latest tax return and the ones he has refused to release, in particular 2009.

Part 3

Then finally with Obama telling the U.N. that the U.S. would “do what we must” to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons, and Ahmadinejad calling Israel “a fake regime” that would be “eliminated”, we examine the gradual elimination of policy options to avoid war between the United State and Iran. Dr Trita Parsi, the President of the National Iranian American Council, joins us to discuss the three ways a war could begin. He has an article at Opendemocracy.net “The U.S. and Iran on a Dead End Path to War?”