February 9 - The Racist Who Lit the Olympic Flame; Russia Moves East; "The End of Snow?"

Full Program
 

Part 1

We begin with the Sochi Winter Olympics underway and examine international political support for Putin on display with most Western leaders not in attendance except for Holland and Italy.Nina Khrushcheva, a Professor in the Graduate Program of International Affairs at The New School joins us to provide an analysis of how Russia’s big showcase event is playing at home and abroad, with national pride on display while international censure continues, inflamed by the lighting of the Olympic torch by a racist member of Russia’s parliament who tweeted a doctored picture of President Obama likening him to a monkey being offered a banana.

Part 2

Then we examine further the international politics at play in and around Russia’s Winter Olympics, as Asian leaders of China and Japan hope their visits bolster relations with Moscow and may help resolve the long-standing territorial dispute Japan has with Russia over some islands that have prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty officially ending World War 11. Daniel Treisman, a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a leading specialist on the politics and economics of post-Communist Russia, joins us to discuss Russia’s move towards the East as its relations with the West sour.

Part 3

Then finally we look into “The End of Snow”, the title of an article in Sunday’s New York Times and speak with Elizabeth Burakowski, a post-doctoral researcher with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado and co-author of a report commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Climate Impacts on the Winter Tourism Economy in the United States.” We discuss how climate change has impacted 10 of the last 19 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics, previous venues that are now running out of snow and by mid-century will not be cold enough to host the winter games again.