Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the intensifying crisis in Ukraine where the Russian military is overtly intervening and the Ukrainian military is suffering setbacks. Roger Morris, who served on the National Security Council under presidents Johnson and Nixon and is the author of “Kindred Rivals: America, Russia and their Failed Ideals”, joins us for a strategic analysis of the forces at play between the “New Russia” asserted by Vladimir Putin and the old NATO meeting in Wales this week with President Obama and the other European heads of state in attendance. We discuss the failure of the West to understand Putin and a recent essay by Henry Kissinger that argues America’s principles “need to be paired with recognition of the reality of other regions’ histories, cultures and views of their security”.

Part 2

Then we look into the political crisis in Pakistan caused by street protests headed by the cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan and an obscure Canadian Sufi cleric that has the beleaguered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif turning to the army who are likely behind the chaos that they are stirring up. Christine Fair, a professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and the author of the new book “Fighting to the End: Pakistan’s Way of War”, joins us to discuss this latest orchestrated coup by Pakistan’s army to assert its control over foreign policy and perpetuate their disproportionate share of the economic pie in a country that does not so much have and army, as an army that has a country.  

Part 3

Then finally we speak with an expert on the Arab media about how ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, use the media in a way that recruits fighters from the West while intimidating its enemies and promoting its claim of a caliphate. Marwan Kraidy, the Anthony Shadid Chair of Global Media, Politics & Culture and Director of the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, joins us to discuss the symbolism of beheading Americans in orange jumpsuits and how the black flag of ISIS has expropriated the universal message of Islam that resonates among Muslims worldwide

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the notion of economic patriotism and whether corporate America can be shamed into keeping their headquarters in the U.S. rather than resorting to the increasingly popular practice of corporate inversion where they move overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. One of the country’s leading expert on taxes, David Cay Johnston, a professor of law at Syracuse University and editor of the new anthology “Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality”, joins us to discuss whether the White House can work around Congress to block the corporate tax flight, and the extent to which falling wages in the U.S. are hurting companies like McDonalds and Wal-Mart that cater to low-income consumers.

Part 2

Then we speak with James Marten, a historian at Marquette University and the editor of the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth. We look into the phenomenon of “boomerang kids” of the millennial generation who are returning home to live with their parents because they are burdened with student debt and can’t find suitable jobs. We also discuss the relatively recent history of such a thing as childhood, since not long ago, children were primarily seen as economic assets meant to work, not be nurtured and indulged.

Part 3

Then finally we examine how our elite system of higher education is exacerbating inequality, retarding social mobility, perpetuating privilege, and creating an elite that is isolated from the society that it is supposed to lead.William Deresiewicz, a contributing writer for The Nation and contributing editor at The New Republic and The American Scholar, and author of the new book “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life”, joins us to discuss how institutions of elite education have become temples of mercenary mediocrity.