March 14 - What Former Koch Brothers' Operatives Have Brought to the Trump Campaign; Putin's "Mission Accomplished" in Syria; Will Syria Join the Long List of "Frozen Conflicts"?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the implications of the high number of former Koch Brother’s operatives who now make up Donald Trump’s campaign team that is headed by Cory Lewandowski, who for the last seven years worked for the Koch Brothers organizing Tea Party events and get-out-the-vote efforts for Republican candidates for office. Lee Fang, an investigative journalist with The Intercept joins us to discuss his article at The Intercept, “Political Operatives Abandon Koch Network for Donald Trump” and why Trump has been so successful in mobilizing his base of support because the very people who helped organize the Tea Party are now running the billionaire’s campaign with apparently no ties to their former bosses, the billionaire Koch Brothers.  

Part 2

Then we examine Putin’s surprise announcement that Russia is pulling out most of its forces from Syria just as the peace talks in Geneva get underway. James Gelvin, a professor of History at UCLA, who specializes on the Middle East, particularly Greater Syria, joins us to discuss the likelihood that by declaring “mission accomplished” in Syria, Putin is pressuring Assad to be more flexible in the peace talks although what kind of peace is possible remains in doubt as this destroyed and divided country may end up like Somalia on the Mediterranean.

Part 3

Then finally with Syria possibly joining a list of forever wars, we look into a number of the world’s “frozen conflicts” that started with the end of the Korean War and today include Kashmir, Israel-Palestine, Ethiopia and Eritria, FARC and the Colombian government and Russia and Ukraine. John Feffer, the Director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies joins us to discuss how wars may stop but not end and his article at The Huffington Post “To End No Wars: 5 reasons peace in Syria (and elsewhere) is beyond our grasp”.