Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the bombing at a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand that is a popular tourist site, which resulted in 20 killed and over 120 injured. Gerald Fry, a distinguished professor of international and intercultural education at the University of Minnesota who wrote the definitive book on Thailand, “A Historical Dictionary of Thailand” and has a forthcoming book “The Thais: The Bamboo and the Lotus” joins us. We will discuss the military government’s charge that the bombers “targeted foreigners to damage tourism and the economy” and examine whether the bombing is a result of the country’s deep political rivalry between the red shirts and the yellow shirts, as well as speculate if and when Thailand will emerge from its destructive pattern of polarized civilian governments interspersed between military coups.

Part 2

Then we speak with Mark Feldstein, a professor and the Chair of Journalism at the University of Maryland and author of “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture.” We examine why Hillary Clinton can’t seem to get out from under the constant media refrain of real and manufactured scandals that dog her campaign, while the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, brushes off career-ending scandals that roll off him like water off a duck’s back.  

Part 3

Then finally we get an analysis of The New York Times’ investigative article on employment and work practices at the country’s most valuable retailer Amazon, and speak with Barbara Garson, the author of “The Electronic Sweatshop: How Computers are Transforming the Office of the Future” and “Down the Up Escalator: How the 99% Live in the Great Recession”. We will discuss how the country’s fifth richest person, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, has imposed a work culture of “purposeful Darwinism” that encourages workers to snitch on each other as they strive long hours in a corporate game of musical chairs to avoid being fired in the annual culling of the workforce.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the growing possibility that a war between Russia and Ukraine will be re-ignited as Russian-backed rebels increase their bombardment of Ukrainian positions in Eastern Ukraine. Kathryn Stoner, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Studies and Deputy Director of the Center for Democratic Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University joins us. We discuss the European Union’s warning that the spirit and the letter of the Minsk ceasefire Agreement is being violated and whether fragments of a Russian Buk missile found by Dutch investigators at the crash site of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine could establish definitive  proof of Russian culpability for the downing of the passenger jet that claimed all 298 on board.

Part 2

Then, as the latest polls in New Hampshire show Bernie Sanders ahead of Hillary Clinton, we look into whether Bernie Sanders could actually become president and discuss what kind of president Bernie would be. Joining us is Jay Parini, a poet and novelist who teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont who has an article at CNN, “Could a President Bernie Sanders Deliver?” We examine some of the positions Bernie Sanders has taken on major issues and assess the extent to which Wall Street money will likely pour in to defeat Sanders if his surge in popularity continues and he begins to appear threatening to the 1%.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Lt. General Robert Gard who was a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and is one of 3 dozen other retired generals and admirals who signed a letter on Tuesday supporting the Iran nuclear deal and urging Congress to do the same.