January 27 - Team America Shows Up in Saudi Arabia; Argentina's Dark and Dirty Spy Saga; The Koch Brothers' Billion Dollar Bid to Buy the 2016 Election

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with President Obama’s meeting with the new Saudi King Salman along with an huge delegation of high level American officials including the current secretary of state and two former secretaries of state, the current national security adviser and three former national security advisers, as well as Obama’s former 2008 presidential rival John McCain and the current head of the CIA. David Hearst, the Editor of Middle East Eye, who was formerly the chief foreign leader writer of The Guardian, joins us to discuss the apparent healing of the rift between the two countries and a possible payback for Saudi Arabia for lowering the price of oil to hurt Iran, Russia and Venezuela that some analysts suggest is being done at the behest of the U.S.

Part 2

Then we examine the dark and murky political scandal erupting in Argentina with the president dissolving the powerful intelligence agency she is accusing of involvement in the murder of the chief prosecutor who had charged her with covering up Iranian involvement in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing in exchange for Iranian oil. Haley Cohen, joins us from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she is a correspondent for The Economist covering Argentina and Uruguay, to discuss the shady history of Argentina’s Intelligence Secretariat and its recently-fired former J. Edgar Hoover-like head who wiretapped politicians and journalists, and the sudden flight from the country of the journalist who broke the story of the prosecutor’s death, who claims he feared for his life.

Part 3

Then finally we assess the likely impact of the $889 million the Koch Brothers network is poised to spend in the 2016 elections, which is close to what Obama and Romney each spent in the last presidential election and well over what John Kerry and George W. Bush combined spent in the 2004 campaigns. Kenneth Vogel, the Chief Investigative Reporter for Politico who tracks the confluence of money, politics and influence, joins us to discuss the latest Koch Brothers conclave of millionaires and billionaires at which Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz praised the patriotism of the job creators saying the Kochs have “endured vilification” from the Democrats “with equanimity and grace”.