July 15 - A BRICS Alternative to the IMF and World Bank; Putin's Calibrated Destabilization of Ukraine; Will Obama Succeed in Reigning in the Predatory For-Profit College Racket

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the sixth BRICS summit underway in Brazil, following the World Cup, where the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are meeting to forge an economic development alternative to the U.S. and European-led World Bank and IMF. Peter Hakim, the President Emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue joins us to discuss whether a proposed new BRICS development bank with starting capital of $50 billion is the beginning of a new economic bloc emerging on the world financial stage that was shaken by the Wall Street crash of 2008, leading vulnerable nations to challenge the post World War 11 Bretton Woods global finance regime long-dominated by the United States.

Part 2

Then we examine the apparently calibrated military responses to Ukrainian offensives against pro-Russian rebels in the East that suggest Russia’s President Putin is using a combination of military force, covert operations and disinformation in continuing his destabilization of the new government in Kyiv, short of provoking a Western response that would increase sanctions. Alexander Motyl, a Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University who is a specialist on Russia and Ukraine, joins us to discuss how, while Putin’s strategy is still popular in Russia, his use of Russian and Ukrainian thugs and criminals as proxies, has turned the Ukrainian people against him.

Part 3

Then finally, as a sign that decency might be prevailing over criminality, we discuss the collapse of a leading for-profit college Corinthian, and the just-announced investigation of the University of Phoenix with David Halperin, a senior fellow at Republic Report and the founding director of Campus Progress. We assess the fate of President Obama’s latest effort to reign in the abuses of a $32 billion a year predatory industry that is subsidized almost entirely by taxpayer money, used to bilk young Americans and veterans into taking on crippling student debt while providing worthless diplomas and scant prospects of employment.