August 4 - More Gains by I.S. Fighters in Iraq; 50 African Heads of State Meet for the First Africa Summit in the U.S.; Is Ukraine About to Go Nuclear Again?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of the latest military gains by the Islamic State in Iraq who have taken three towns from Kurdish pesh merga fighters and are now threatening the Mosul Dam, the main supplier of water and electricity for Iraq. Nicholas Heras, an analyst with the Jamestown Foundation and a Contributing Editor and Analyst with the international affairs journal Fair Observer, joins us to discuss the surprising success of I.S. attacks in the north that include the capture of another oil field and the brutal sectarian nature of the I.S. fanatics who are executing the minority Yazidi sect and blowing up Shiite shrines.

Part 2

Then with 50 African heads of state meeting in Washington for the first Africa summit in the U.S., we speak with Aniedi Okure, the Executive Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, community of advocates for responsible relations with Africa. He joins us to discuss the three day summit and its focus on business opportunities, with a $1 billion package of business deals organized by the Obama Administration, driven largely by the need to play catch-up to the Chinese who have invested hundreds of billions in Africa, as well as the need to build civil society, good governance and fight corruption in Africa.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Dean Rice, a former congressional policy and legislative aid on energy and national defense and Natalie Manayeva, a research assistant at the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Nuclear Security about their article at CNN, “Is Ukraine About to go Nuclear Again”. We examine the possibility that Ukraine, having given up its weapons to Russia, now needs them to be protected from Russia, and we also look into the role of Belarus, which has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia. But with Belarusians indoctrinated by Russian propaganda while its pro-Russian dictator reconsiders his allegiance to Moscow after witnessing the trampling of Ukrainian sovereignty next door, we will explore that disconnect.