March 30 - The Impromtu Kerry / Lavrov Summit in Paris; Russia's Fascist and Anti-Semetic Problem; The Emerging Republican Vote-Suppression Strategy

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the impromptu summit underway in Paris between Secretary of State Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov which was initiated by a phone call on Friday from Russia’s President Putin to President Obama.  Former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, the President of the Brookings Institution, joins us to examine the meaning behind Lavrov’s call for neutrality in Ukraine and a new constitution “providing for a federal structure” and whether his pledge that “we have absolutely no intent or interest in, crossing Ukraine’s borders” ends speculation about the next move of the battle-ready Russian army massed on the border. We also look into the issue of Trans-Dnistria the Russians have raised which could be the next flash-point.

Part 2

Then John Feffer, the co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, where he has an article “Brown is the New Black in Russia”, joins us to discuss the continuing insistence by Putin and Lavrov that fascists and anti-Semites have taken power in Ukraine and that its new government consists of “armed radicals”. We look into the whether the pot is calling the kettle black, given the extent to which ugly right-wing nationalism bubbles beneath the surface in Russia.

Part 3

Then finally we examine an emerging Republican strategy to limit Democratic votes in pivotal swing states in the upcoming mid-term election. A nationally-recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, Richard Hasen, the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine joins us to discuss the lead article in Sunday’s New York Times “New GOP Bid to Limit Voting in Swing States” and new bills, laws and administrative rules in Ohio, Wisconsin and North Carolina aimed at suppressing the Democratic vote that might inspire Democrats to turn out in November.