August 25 - A Case For Non-violent Revolution; Rick Perry's Posse of Crony Capitalists; The Film Makers of "Freedom"

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 We begin with an analysis that, in spite of the use or arms in Libya, non-violent struggle still may be the most effective way to topple dictators. The director of the Program on Terrorism and Insurgency Research at Weslyan University, Erica Chenoweth, joins us. She has an article at Foreign Policy, “Think Again; Nonviolent Resistance” which compares the violent liberation of Libya that cost an untold number of lives, with the on-going non-violent liberation of Syria that has cost considerably fewer lives.

 

 Erica Chenoweth

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Then, now that Rick Perry is surging ahead of the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls, we get a profile of the Texas Governor from Dave Mann the executive Editor of the Texas Observer, who has been following Perry for years. We try to find out whether this skilful politician is something more than a cynical opportunist who runs a crony capitalist patronage operation, and whether or not Rick Perry has a political ideology.

 Dave Mann

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 Then finally we speak with Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, the film makers of “Freedom” a new feature documentary that makes a powerful case that oil interests have cleverly used public relations and propaganda to undercut public support for Biofuels. Oil companies claim to be in favor of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, but are they in fact making us more dependent and less secure, while discrediting more viable, cheap and less polluting home-grown alternative fuels?

Rebecca Harrel Tickell

Josh Tickell

 

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August 24 - "Game Over" For the Environment; Where's Muammar?; Why Doesn't the Left Support Workers Revolutions in Libya and Syria?

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 We begin with the challenge to President Obama on his doorstep, and that is the continuing protests organized by Bill McKibben at the White House, to dissuade the president from allowing a pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to cross the United States ending up at refineries in Texas. American environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben joins us. While Bill and 69 others spent last weekend in jail, the protests are continuing this week to prevent what NASA chief scientist Jim Hansen calls “game over” for the environment if this pipeline is built.

Part 2

Then a Libyan diplomat and former translator for Qaddafi, Abubaker Saad joins us to discuss where the dictator-on-the-run might be heading.  Will Qaddafi finally hole up for a last stand in his hometown of Sirte, will he head south to friendly tribes and then on to Zimbabwe or Venezuela, or will he evade capture like Saddam Hussein and hide out in the maze tunnels under Tripoli?

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Then finally we speak with Stephen Zunes who was critical of the NATO intervention in Libya at the time when I last interviewed him, so we will get an update on how he sees the current situation with the end of the Qaddafi dictatorship and ask why elements in the European and American left do not support the largely working class revolutions in Libya and Syria.

 

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August 23 - Libyan Endgame and Filling the Political Vacuum; Libya in Ten Years?; Is Syria Next?

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 We begin with the latest news from Libya and speak with Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, chair of the Political Science Department at the University of New England and author of “The Making of Modern Libya”.  We discuss the end game of the revolution that has toppled 42 years of dictatorship leaving many questions unanswered about what will fill the political vacuum in Libya. Ali Ahmida

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 Then, we look further into Libya’s uncertain future and what Libya might look like in ten years. Daniel Serwer, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Scholar at the Middle East Institute joins us. He worked on post-war stability in the Balkans and we discuss the possibility of human rights abuses and retribution as well as who exactly are Libya’s National Transitional Council, and who do they represent. Daniel Serwer
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Part 3		 Then finally Ambassador Marc Ginsberg joins us. He is a former Presidential Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to Morocco and we look into the broader shifting landscape in the Middle East and how the fall of another dictator to the Arab Spring will impact Syria and its neighbors. Marc Ginsberg

 

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August 22 - Robert Baer on Post-Qaddafi Libya; Power in Oil --The Oil Kings by Andrew Scott Cooper

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 Today we look into Libya, and the shifting political sands in the Middle East as the “Arab Spring” claims another dictator. Veteran CIA Middle East operative Robert Baer joins us to analyze the fast and unfolding collapse of the 42 year Qaddafi regime and what kind of regime might replace it, and how this latest domino of falling dictatorships will influence events in Syria, Palestine and Iran.

Part 2

 Then we talk with the author of a groundbreaking book that unveils the secret history of our machinations and deals with oil dictatorships in the Persian Gulf as only a few decades ago, the US suddenly moved from an oil exporter to a country increasingly dependent on Middle East oil. Andrew Scott Cooper, the author of “The Oil Kings: How the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East”, joins us.

 

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Aug 21 - The Sorrows of Empire; As Qaddafi Falls Rebels Split; Manufacturing Hysteria

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We begin with an analysis of how military misadventures, economic downgrading and moral abdication have all combined to diminish America’s role as a world leader. Steve Clemons, the Washington-editor-at-large for the Atlantic joins us. He is just back from Afghanistan, where he witnessed the recent brazen Taliban attack at the heart of our latest Fort Apache Kabul, on the farthest fringe of the American empire.

Then we get an update on Libya, where the western rebels seem poised to take the capitol, Tripoli. Dirk Vandewalle, the author of “A History of Modern Libya” joins us to discuss the fault lines already emerging within the opposition that could spell trouble ahead once Qaddafi is removed, as the fractious rebels vie for power and position.

 

Then finally we look into the on-going battle between civil liberties and state security outlined in the new book by Jay Feldman, “Manufacturing Hysteria; A history of Scapegoating, Surveillance and Secrecy in Modern America”. The author joins us to fill in many shameful black holes in our history, in the hope we can learn from the past rather than repeat it.

 

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