Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the elections today in Canada that will decide whether incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper will get a fourth term or whether Justin Trudeau, the son of a former prime minister will lead his Liberal Party to victory ending a ten year stretch of conservative rule in Canada. Cleo Paskal, a Visiting Trudeau Fellow at the University of Montreal’s Center for International Studies joins us to discuss why the Canadian left and center left are split between the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, thus giving the conservatives an easy electoral advantage.

Part 2

Then, on the day that the U.S. Congress returns to work, we speak with Edward Kleinbard, a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University who served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. Since the government will run out of money in early November, we discuss Ed’s article “Our Debt Ceiling Nightmare” and look into the much more serious implications of a debt-ceiling crisis as opposed to a government shutdown that calls into question our ability to govern ourselves, because when our government dishonors its financial obligations, a global financial and economic crisis is triggered, inflicting permanent damage on the dollar as a global reserve currency.

Part 3

Then finally we examine the foiled attempt by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime to get countries to consider decriminalizing the possession and use of all drugs, a proposal that was withdrawn after pressure from a powerful member nation, likely the United States. Steve Rolles, a Senio5r Policy Analyst at the Transform Drug Policy Foundation in the U.K., joins us to discuss efforts to change government drug policies ahead of a meeting on the “World Drug Problem” at the U.N. General Assembly next April. 

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with America’s longest war getting longer following the president’s announcement that close to 10,000 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan longer than previously planned since recent Taliban offensives in Kunduz and across the country have exposed the many weaknesses of the Afghan army and police. The Obama Administration’s former Senior Adviser to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Vali Nasr, who is now the Dean of the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, joins us to discuss when and if the Afghan army will be able to defend the country and whether Pakistan is still acting as the spoiler destabilizing Afghanistan.

Part 2

Then we go to Israel to speak with the former Speaker of the Knesset, Avraham Burg, about the lack of political leadership on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides as events appear to be spiraling out of control in Jerusalem with many analysts warning that a third intifada is about to erupt. While Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right wing coalition continues to expand settlements but will not state what their endgame with the Palestinians is, we discuss why successive Israeli governments have been unable to reach a deal with the Palestinians who remain divided and despite their suffering, appear unwilling to compromise.

Part 3

Then finally we look into what arrangements Israel might have made with Russia in a recent meeting in Moscow between Putin and Netanyahu that preceded Russia’s deployment of warplanes and troops in Syria, which left the impression that Russia was more concerned about crossing a red line with Israel than it was with confronting the United States. Asher Kaufman, a Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the author of “Contested Frontiers: Cartography, Sovereignty, and Conflict at the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-Border Region”, joins us to discuss Israel’s possible strategy in Syria and its lack of strategy with the Palestinians as a third intifada brews.