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December 16 - The Bloodless Political Assasination of General Petraeus; How Syria is being Destroyed; A Survivor of America's Worst Gun Massacre Speaks Out
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We begin with a veteran CIA officer who served in the Middle East, Robert Baer, and discuss the endgame of the Syrian civil war that is likely to intensify, as well as comment on the revival of the issue of the use of torture depicted in the new movie “Zero Dark Thirty”. We also examine the real reasons behind General Petraeus’s ignominious departure as head of the CIA in what amounts to a bloodless political assassination. |
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Then we continue our examination of the Syrian tragedy as not just lives. but a country is being destroyed, with Charles Glass who was ABC News’ chief Middle East correspondent and is the author of “Tribes and Flags: Adventure and Kidnap in Greater Syria”. We discuss his article at the New York Review of Books “Aleppo: How Syria is Being Destroyed”. |
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Then finally, in the aftermath of the worst mass killing in America since the Virginia Tech massacre, we speak with Colin Goddard who was shot four times and was one out of seven of a class of seventeen to survive the Virginia Tech shooting, with three of the four bullets still in his body. With calls to revive the assault weapons ban, we discuss the NRA’s continuing role in preventing law enforcement authorities from correlating data on those with mental illness and those who are able to purchase military-style firearms. |
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December 13 - Rethinking our 30 Year-Long Failed Iran Policy; The Senate's Rejectionist Block of Isolationist Ignoramuses; Closing Offshore Tax Loopholes for U.S. Corporations
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We begin with the forthcoming P5+1 talks with Iran which many see as a last chance for the U.N. Security Council plus Germany to make a deal with Iran before their elections begin. Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, co-authors of the new book “Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran” join us to discuss the need for the U.S. to rethink its 30 year-long failed policy towards Iran. |
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Then we speak with former New York Times U.N. correspondent Barbara Crossette who now covers the U.N. for The Nation where she has an article “Once Again, Senate Republicans Reject Human Rights”. We discuss the growing number of treaties on the rights of children, women and the disabled that the U.S. has signed but failed to ratify due to the rejectionist block of ignorant and isolationist Republican senators who see U.N. treaties as a plot by foreigners to impose a vast gay, feminist, socialist conspiracy on American life. |
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Then finally we speak with Eric LeCompte, the director of the Jubilee USA Network which focuses on development in relation to the international debt crisis. We discuss the need to close corporate offshore tax loopholes that deny the U.S. Treasury $150 billion a year which is a lot more than the automatic spending cuts that will take place in 2013 if Congress fails to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff”. |
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December 12 - The Day After for Labor and the Democrats in Michigan; Why China Protects North Korea's Ruling Dynasty; A General on Why We Should Cut the Defense Budget
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We begin with a post-mortem on the defeat for labor and the Democrats as the state of Michigan, the birthplace of the labor movement, became the 24th state to adopt the anti-union right to work law. A specialist on labor at U.C. Berkeley, Dr. Harley Shaiken joins us to examine how the Republicans snookered Labor and the Democrats and what can be done to reverse the situation. |
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Then we look into the latest successful missile test by North Korea that has boosted the prestige of the emperor-like boy-leader whose subjects are dancing with joy in the streets. Sue Mi Terry joins us. She was the deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council and the Director of Japan, Korea and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council. While China has appealed for calm, we discuss the reasons why China protects the family dynasty that rules this erratic failed state on its border. |
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Then finally we speak with a general who wants to cut the Pentagon budget that has been largely exempt from alarm over the so-called “fiscal cliff”. General Robert Gard, the Chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation and a former executive assistant to two secretaries of defense joins us to discuss the low-hanging fruit that could be easily cut from the bloated defense budget and would improve the nation’s national security and economic health. |
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December 11- Is the HSBC Bank too Big to Indict?; The Increasingly Bitter Republican Civil War; The Bad News in the Global Trends 2030 Report
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We begin with the two billion dollar fine the Justice Department settled for with the international British bank HSBC for money laundering and other charges. Russell Mokhiber, the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter joins us to discuss the double standard in American justice where ordinary citizens can go to jail for petty offenses but Wall Street criminals get off with fines because their banks are too big to indict. |
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Then we look into the increasingly bitter civil war between Republican power brokers and opinion makers with Jacob Heilbrun, a senior editor at the National Interest where he has an article, “Does the GOP Need a New William F Buckley Jr.?” We discuss the bind that Speaker Boehner is in, caught between the warring factions of the moderates and the pragmatists on one side who want to make a deal, and the Tea Party radicals who want to bring down the government. |
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Then finally we examine the new global forecast by the National Intelligence Council on what the world will look like in 2030. We focus on the Global Trends 2030 report’s warning of 15 countries with a high risk of state failure, in particular Pakistan, and the possibility of a nuclear showdown between Pakistan and India. Michael Krepon, the founder and president emeritus of the Henry L. Stimson Center who specializes in South Asia and arms control, joins us. |
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December 10 - The Right to Work for Less Money: Succession in Venezuela; Europe Gets a Nobel Prize (not for economics)
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We begin with the president’s speech today in Michigan where the Republican governor is about to sign a bill to make Michigan the 24th right to work state, prompting the president to remark that the bill amounts to “the right to work for less”. Zack Pohl, the Executive Director of Progress Michigan joins us to discuss how and why the Republicans are making gains in a state that voted overwhelmingly Democrat in the last election. |
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Then we examine the latest indication that Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez is gravely ill, forcing him to name his foreign minister as a successor. Javier Corralles, a professor of political science at Amherst College joins us. He is the author of “Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chavez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela.” We discuss Venezuela’s foreign policy that is unpopular at home for its support of Qaddafi, Ahmadinejad and the Assad regime in Syria. |
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Then finally we examine the award of the Nobel Peace prize to the European Union and speak with Steven Hill the author of “Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope for an Insecure World”. We discuss how in spite of a faltering economy, most Europeans enjoy a higher standard of living and quality of life than their American counterparts whose very limited social safety net is likely to be cut soon in the name of reducing the deficit to avoid the “fiscal cliff”. |
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