Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the harsh sentencing on trumped up charges of three Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt who were arrested for essentially doing their jobs. An expert on the Arab media and politics, Marwan Kraidy, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania joins us to discuss the international media’s reaction to the Egyptian military’s kangaroo court’s verdicts that came down one day after Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egypt’s new leader General Sisi who apparently ignored Kerry’s pleas on behalf of freedom of the press, but nevertheless was promised a reward of $1.3 billion dollars in military aid from the U.S. taxpayer.  

Part 2

Then we speak with Andrew Michta, a Professor of International Relations at Rhodes College and author of several books on European security and transatlantic relations, the latest of which is “The Limits of Alliance: The United States, NATO and the EU in North and Central Europe”, about the erupting political scandal in Poland following the publication of secretly-recorded private conversations among top politicians. We discuss who might have recorded the candid alcohol-fueled conversations that disparage U.S/Polish relations and examine recent charges from the former Danish Prime Minister and head of NATO that the Russian intelligence services are covertly funding European environmental NGO’s who are protesting “fracking” for natural gas.

Part 3

Then finally we look into the health of Pope Francis and the extent that his recent remarks in Calabria excommunicating members of the Mafia might put a target on his back from a criminal gang whose annual revenues are $75 billion or 3.5% of Italy’s GDP. Paul Vallely, a Professor in Public Ethics and Media at the University of Chester in the UK and author of “Pope Francis – Untying the Knots”, joins us to discuss the bold and apparently fearless new Pope who is making dangerous enemies as he fights corruption and tries to reform the Vatican.

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the announcement by President Obama that the U.S. "will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it", emphasizing that "the U.S. will not seek military action that will support one sect over another", and "above all, Iraqi leaders must rise above their differences and come together around a political plan for Iraq's future."  Imad Khadduri, an Iraqi nuclear Scientist who worked with the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission from 1968 to 1998 and is the author of “Iraq’s Nuclear Mirage: Memoirs and Delusions” joins us to discuss the General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries, the Sunni umbrella group he asserts is really directing the military operation that is being attributed to ISIS, and what his contacts inside that group are telling him as the Sunni rebels, having reached the outskirts of Baghdad, are poised to attack the city.

Part 2

Then, as Russia resumes its military build-up near Ukraine’s eastern border, we speak with Bennett Ramberg, who was a foreign policy analyst in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs at the Department of State during the George H.W. Bush administration. He has and article at The National Interest “What If Russia Invades Ukraine?” and we discuss what can be learned from the history of U.S. confrontations with Russia and the USSR and the extent to which Putin’s use of armed surrogates who are destabilizing Ukraine’s eastern provinces, is being sufficiently successful that further Russian military involvement may not be necessary.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Matthew Rothschild, the senior editor of The Progressive magazine published in Madison, Wisconsin about newly-released court documents from prosecutors that allege Governor Scott Walker engaged in a “criminal scheme” to violate state election law by improperly coordinating campaign activities with outsides groups. We discuss an email from Governor Walker to Karl Rove that was released by the appeals court in which Walker appears to brag about his involvement and the role of R.J. Johnson, the director of Wisconsin’s Club For Growth, saying, “bottom line R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin…we are running 9 recall elections and it will be like running 9 Congressional markets in every market in the state including the twin cities”.