December 16 - The Pakistan Taliban Retaliate by Slaughtering Children; The Ruble in Freefall as Obama Is Poised to Sign off on Increased Sanctions; The Continuing Hype about the so-Called Islamic State That Has Nothing to Do with Islam

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the massacre of schoolchildren by the Pakistan Taliban and speak with Shuja Nawaz, a native of Pakistan who has worked as a journalist, a television producer, and a political and strategic analyst. He is the Director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States and is the author of “Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army, and the Wars Within” and we discuss the apparent retaliation by the Pakistan Taliban against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that has recently dramatically increased its targeting of the Pakistan Taliban in the tribal regions, including North Waziristan where the previously untouchable Haqqani network have been under attack from government airstrikes.

Part 2

Then, with President Obama about to sign a bill increasing sanctions on Russia, we will look into the freefall of the Russian ruble and desperate intervention by the Russian Central Bank which raised interest rates from 10.5% to 17% while the ruble, having lost half of its value against the dollar this year, fell as low as 79 rubles to the dollar. Barry Eichengreen, a Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California Berkeley, who served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the International Monetary Fund, joins us to discuss the economic crisis Putin is facing from increased sanctions and falling oil prices, none of which is being reported by the Russian media.

Part 3

Then finally Middle East expert Juan Cole joins us in the studio to discuss the latest so-called act of Islamic terrorism in Sydney, Australia that made international news because a demented self-proclaimed imam decided to align himself with the so-called Islamic State by taking hostages, two of whom were killed along with him. We discuss the continuing hype associated with the Islamic State that most Arabs derisively refer to as “Daesh”, since these thugs, rapists and murderers have nothing to do with Islam, but nevertheless any deranged individual can act in the name of the Islamic State and be guaranteed global headlines.