December 10 - Iran from an Enemy to an Ally?; Mark Danner on "Rumsfeld's War and its Consequences Now; The Volker Rule and the $300 Trillion Domestic Derivatives Market

Full Program

Part 1

We begin and go to the U.K. to speak with David Patrickarakos, a journalist and a fellow at the Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews.  We discuss the possibility of reintegrating Iran into the international fold and a strategic realignment in the Middle East following the nuclear deal with the P5+1, as well as David Patrikarakos’ recent article in The New York Times “Iran, From Enemy to Ally”.

Part 2

Then we speak with writer, journalist and professor, Mark Danner, about his provocative and widely-read article in the New York Review of Books, “Rumsfeld’s War and Its Consequences Now” and the new film about Rumsfeld by Errol Morris.  Mark Danner teaches at the University of California Berkeley and at Bard College and is the author of “The Secret Way to War: The Downing Street Memo and the Iraq War’s Buried History” and “Torture and Truth: America’s Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror”.

Part 3

Then finally, after months of unnecessary delay, financial regulators today voted to finalize the Volcker rule, a key provision required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Micah Hauptman, the Financial Policy Counsel at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division joins us to discuss the Volker rule’s implementation after fierce lobbying by the banks and whether or not the five big banks who dominate the $300 trillion domestic derivatives market, will be reined in or find ways around the new law.