September 20 - Fury at the UN Over the Bombing of a UN Aid Convoy; Dealing With the Record 65.3 Million Refugee Crisis; What Happened in Wisconsin Will be Repeated in Washington if the Republicans Capture All Branches of Government

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the fury and indignation expressed today at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly by the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who condemned the bombing of a U.N. aid convoy in Syria saying “Just when we think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower. The humanitarians delivering lifesaving aid were heroes, those who bombed them were cowards”. Joshua Landis, the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma who writes the daily newsletter and blog on Syrian politics “Syria Comment”, joins us to discuss the end of the brief ceasefire and the anger that the Russians and the Syria regime recently expressed over the mistaken bombing of regime soldiers and the growing frustration the U.S. and Secretary of State Kerry have with the Russians who they blame for the bombing of 18 U.N. aid trucks that killed over a dozen mostly Syrian Red Crescent drivers.

Part 2

Then we look into Monday’s U.N. Summit of the global refugee crisis as well as Tuesday’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees convened by President Obama to deal with the record number of refugees estimated by the UNHCR to be 65.3 million people who have been displaced from their homes by conflict or persecution in 2015. Jana Mason, a Senior Advisor for Government Relations and External Affairs at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees who acts as a liaison for the UNHCR to the State Department and the Congress, joins us to discuss how small countries like Lebanon are coping with a quarter of their population refugees, while in the United States Donald Trump is calling for the door to be shut on all Muslims while his son is likening refugees to a bowl of Skittles in which a few of the candies will kill you.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with The Nation magazine’s Washington correspondent John Nichols about the danger of a Republican takeover of all branches of government in Washington, given what happened in Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker was able to control the legislature and the courts to push through a reactionary, anti-labor, anti-environment and anti-education agenda that, if it happened on a national scale, would be the end of labor, the environment, education and the perpetuation of a one-party rule that would permanently weaken any democratic opposition.