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October 30 - Assad Warns the Region Will Burn; Glenn Greenwald on our Two-Tiered Justice System
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We begin with an update on Syria where the Assad dictatorship has just warned that the region will go up in flames if the regime is threatened by what it calls Western interference. A specialist on Syria, James Gelvin joins us to assess where the real opposition, the Syrian people, are heading in terms of armed resistance supplanting peaceful protest since thousands of unarmed citizens have been killed by a regime that is prepared to cling to power at any cost. |
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Then we are joined by former constitutional and civil rights litigator and contributing writer to Salon, Glenn Greenwald, the author of “With Liberty and Justice for Some; How the Law is Used to Destroy and Protect the Powerful”. We discuss the two-tiered system of justice in this country that protects the powerful and punishes the powerless, and how the uprising by the 99% is the first step in reversing a complete takeover of America by oligarchs. |
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| Music: Syrian Protesters - Bashar Must Go; Built to Spill - Stab; Modest Mouse - Beach Side Property; Shabazz Palaces - Yeah You |
October 27 - It's Official From the CBO - The 1% Have Won; The New Frontier of Crime and Your Computer
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We begin with an analysis of the recent report by the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office that finds the income of America’s top 1% more than tripled in the last few decades while middle class incomes grew by less than 40%. Harvard Economist Richard Parker, author of “The Myth of the Middle Class” joins us to explain how these latest figures confirm what a lot of Americans already knew, while validating the Occupy Wall Street Movement’s stark comparison of the 1% at the top versus the 99% at the bottom. |
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Then we look into the rise and fall of a criminal website “Darkmarket”, the title of a new book by BBC investigative journalist Misha Glenny, “Darkmarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You”. The author of the bestseller “McMafia” that explored global multinational networks of organized crime, Misha Glenny turns his attention to this new frontier of crime and warfare that is essential reading for anyone who owns a computer. |
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| Music: Fionn Regan - Campaign Button, Arcade Fire - Intervention, Yacht - We Have All We Ever Wanted, Aphex Twin - Flim |
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October 26 - War Without Boots on the Ground; The Return of "It Can't Happen Here"; Inside the Saudi Gerontocracy
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We begin with what appears to be a new Obama military/intelligence doctrine emerging that builds upon the Libyan example of intervention without boots on the ground. The founder and editor of Somaliareport.com, Robert Young Pelton joins us to discuss a new war going on in Somalia that employs U.S. naval and air assets, including drones, but uses Kenyan and Ugandan boots on the ground to fight the Islamist al Shebab militia. |
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Then we talk about the national revival of Sinclair Lewis’ novel and play “It Can’t Happen Here”, a prophetic warning from the 1930’s of how fascism could take over in the United States, opening now in performances and readings across the country. The organizer of this political and literary awakening, author, actor and comedian Darryl Henriques joins us along with Professor Joel Schechter who teaches dramatic literature, criticism and theatre history. We discuss similarities between today’s economic hard times and political extremism, and the era in which “It Can’t Happen Here” was written and performed by actors who actually worked for the United States Government under the WPA, the Works Progress Administration.
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Then finally we speak with British historian and author Robert Lacey, the author of “Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia”. As the Cold War between the Saudis and the Iranians heats up, we discuss the paradox that as rebellious Arab youth drive the region towards liberalism and reform, the ruling gerentocracy in Saudi Arabia appear to be heading in the opposite direction. |
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| Music: Babyshambles - Piracy, M. Ward - It Won't Happen Twice, Digable Planets - Dog It, The Libertines - The Man Who Would Be King |
October 25 - The Arab Spring Bears Fruit in Tunisia; Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
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We begin with the elections in Tunisia that could be a harbinger of democratic change as the Arab Spring bears fruit in the country where the revolutions sweeping the Middle East began. Veteran BBC journalist Roger Hardy joins us. He has been a Middle East and Islamic Affairs analyst with the BBC World Service for 20 years and is the author of “The Muslim Revolt; a Journey Through Political Islam”. As well as the regional implications, we discuss the victory of the Islamists in Tunisia and whether they will keep their promise to respect the secular traditions of this comparatively liberal North African country. |
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Then we talk about our neighbor to the south, Mexico, with Ioan Grillo, the author of a new book “El Narco; Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency”. We discuss the increasingly violent and grisly criminal insurgency that poses the greatest armed threat to Mexico since the 1910 revolution, an insurgency which so far has resulted in 40,000 murders south of the border in a failed war on drugs that is fueled by money and guns from the U.S. |
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October 24 - Succession in Saudi Arabia: The US Ambassador is Pulled Out of Syria; The Ultimate in Corporate Greed
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We begin with the succession this week in Saudi Arabia of a new crown prince likely to be Prince Nayef, who is a hardliner close to the Wahabbi religious establishment. Saudi expert Gregory Gause joins us to discuss what influence the current Interior Minister will have on the political future of an absolute monarchy that finds itself increasingly isolated by the Arab Spring unfolding in the Middle East and increasingly drawn into a conflict with Iran, following recent accusations that Iranian agents planned to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington. |
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Then we discuss the departure of the US Ambassador to Syria, who has been pulled out because of threats from the Assad regime who are unhappy with the Ambassador’s support for the Syrian opposition. Murhaf Joujati, a Syrian-born expert on the Middle East who teaches at the National Defense University joins us to assess the impact of this escalation between the US and Syria and whether the downfall of Qaddafi will lead the Syrian opposition to take up arms. |
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Then finally we discuss the mother of all corporate scandals, outlined in a new book “Retirement Heist; How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers". The author, former Wall Street Journal Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Ellen Schultz joins us to explain the obvious brazen contempt the top one percent have for the bottom 99% whose pensions are being robbed blind to enrich the already lavish retirements of overpaid CEO’s |
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