Full Program

Part 1

We  begin with the Internet wars going on between the United States and North Korea following the hacking of Sony by North Korea that the president described as cyber-vandalism while vowing to retaliate with a proportional response. We will examine the ethical issues involved with military cyber attacks on civilian targets and since so far cyber attacks have been bloodless without the loss of life, we will assess how this new form of warfare fits into the current definitions and laws of war. Fritz Allhoff, a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University and author of “Binary Bullets: The Ethics of Cyber Warfare” joins us to discuss this largely hidden new military frontier while on the civilian front, tens of thousands of cyber attacks happen every.

Part 2

Then we examine the new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists that finds international journalists were killed at a higher rate in 2014, with the Middle East the most dangerous region. Carlos Lauria, the Senior Americas Program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists joins us to discuss the new CPJ annual report that documents almost half of the journalists killed in 2014 died in the Middle East while more than 40% of journalists killed were targeted for murder with 31% reporting that they received prior death threats. We will also look at the worst jailers of journalists, China and Iran, with Egypt and Turkey playing catch-up.

Part 3

Then finally we discuss the new candidate entering the 2016 presidential race on the Democratic side, in a field that appears to be dominated by Hillary Clinton, and that is the former Virginia Senator Jim Webb. Jacob Heilbrunn, a Senior Editor at the National Interest joins us to discuss his op-ed at The New York Times “The Real Threat to Hillary Clinton: Jim Webb” and the unlikely challenge by Elizabeth Warren compared to the formidable potential of a Jim Webb candidacy. 

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the shooting of two police officers in Brooklyn, New York that has exacerbated divisions in the city between minority residents and the police and between the police and Bill de Blasio the Mayor of New York who was disrespected by the police who turned their backs on him at a press conference at the hospital where the slain policemen were pronounced dead. Obery Hendricks, a Visiting Scholar in Religion and African/American Studies at Columbia University joins us to discuss how the divide can be bridged politically and socially as attention turns from the rash of shootings of young black men by white police officers to the assassination of two police officers by an African/American criminal claiming to be acting in the name of victims of police violence.

Part 2

Then we examine the repercussion of the slaughter of school children at an Army School in Pakistan and how the incident is impacting the already volatile politics of Pakistan where the Army casts a long shadow over civilian government and where state-sponsored terrorism under a nuclear umbrella has been the country’s foreign policy which is now showing signs of backfiring. An expert on Pakistan Chris Fair, a Professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and author of “Fighting to the End: Pakistan’s Way of War”, joins us to discuss mixed signals coming out of Pakistan as the government cracks down on the Pakistan Taliban at the same time releasing from prison, the architect of the Mumbai massacre.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with William LeoGrande, a Latin American specialist at American University and co-author of “Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana” who is just back from Cuba and will discuss the secret back channel that brought about the historic agreement between the United State and Cuba to end the over fifty year-long frozen Cold War relationship and begin to normalize diplomatic and economic relations between the Colossus of the North and the tiny island nation of Cuba 90 miles from Florida.