July 21 - Putin's Dilemma: Protect his Markets or Protect his Proxies in Ukraine; Will Growing Outrage Over Gaza Change America's Pro-Israel Stance?; The Growing Number of Airliners Shot Down by Missiles

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the apparent dilemma Russia’s president Putin faces where he seems to be trapped between continuing to support his proxies in Eastern Ukraine who he can't sell out along with his "New Russia" project with all of its propaganda momentum that he can hardly reverse, and protecting his markets in Europe, and the fortunes of the oligarchs who are presumably giving him an earful as their billions dwindle. Kathryn Stoner, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Studies and Deputy Director of the Center for Democratic Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, joins us to discuss the internal pressures on Putin and whether, since Russia has leverage over European countries as the main supplier of gas, do Russia’s customers in Europe have leverage over Russia as well?

Part 2

Then we speak with Jennifer Sarin Loewenstein who teaches Middle East Studies at the University of Wisconsin. She spent time living in Palestinian refugee camps and worked for five months in the Gaza Strip at the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City and joins us to discuss whether the growing outrage around the world at the mounting civilian deaths in Gaza will alter the pro-Israel stance taken by America’s politicians and press. And whether, as the decades-long Palestinian issue remains unsettled, in the long term public opinion will shift against Israel, as it has done in Europe.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with an airline pilot who has flown the air corridor over Ukraine where the Malaysian airliner was shot down, to get a sense of what kind of notification airlines get from intelligence services about the dangers from war zones where capabilities on the ground can change rapidly as they have done recently in Ukraine and Iraq, countries civilian airliners routinely fly over. Patrick Smith, an active airline pilot and author of “Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections”, joins us to discuss the growing number of airliners shot down by missiles and his article at The Huffington Post “Malaysia Airlines Crash May Become Seventh Deadliest Disaster in Aviation History”.