Background Briefing has a new home at BackgroundBriefing.org.
Please visit and bookmark the new site. You can search show archives here.
Background Briefing has a new home at BackgroundBriefing.org.
Please visit and bookmark the new site. You can search show archives here.
| LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | ||
| We begin with an analysis of the politics behind the just-concluded U.S./China summit in Palm Springs from Susan Shirk, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. We will discuss Obama and Xi’s “constructive” summit in the context of what the Chinese leader is dealing with at home and what the president has on his plate with revelations about spying on Americans that pale in comparison to the extent that the Chinese government monitors its citizens. |
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Then we get an appraisal of the economic issues discussed between the world’s two biggest economies and the agreement to curb greenhouse gasses causing global warming. Scott Kennedy, the Director of the Research Center on Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University joins us to discuss the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the new Chinese leader’s efforts to break up the monopolies and oligopolies in State-owned enterprises. We also discuss concerns over the theft of intellectual property from U.S. corporations and the cyber-theft of U.S. patents. |
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Then finally, with yet another school shooting involving the tragic intersection of mental illness and easy access to assault weapons, we speak with Paul Helmke, a Professor of Public Policy at Indiana University and the former head of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and John Donohue, a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and author of "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less crime Hypothesis". We discuss how a shooter who had a history of mental illness, wearing full body armor with a handgun and an assault rifle and 1,300 rounds of ammunition, was able to go on a rampage at Santa Monica College that ended up killing four people. |
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Taking listeners deep into the underlying issues and forces that shape our world.
Listen Live on KPFK FM-90.7 - Los Angeles (98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 FM China Lake, 93.7 FM San Diego)
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LA: Background Briefing Monday-Thursday 5pm-6pm and Sundays 11am-12pm
NY: on WBAI 99.5 FM Monday-Friday 5am-6am and rebroadcast at 10am
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