May 28 - Will the FIFA Scandals Undo Russia's 2018 World Cup?; Can FIFA's Monopoly on World Soccer Be Undone; Theocrats in the Republican Presidential Primaries

Full Program

Part 1

We be begin with the geopolitical implications of the indictments of 14 top FIFA officials that has Russia’s President accusing the U.S. of meddling outside of its jurisdiction as Putin defends the embattled head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, who is up for reelection on Friday and is facing calls to resign from world leaders, sponsors and prominent players.  Daniel Treisman, a leading specialist on the politics and economics of post-communist Russia, joins us to discuss the likelihood that as more details about the corruption-riddled soccer organization emerge, that pressure will build to revisit FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia.

Part 2

Then we speak with Andrei Markovits, the author of “Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism” and “Gaming the World: How Sports are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture”. He joins us to discuss FIFA’s monopolistic domination of football as it know in most of the world or soccer as it is called in the United States, and whether the Union of European Football Associations, UEFA could break away, since UEFA’s president Michel Platini told a press conference Thursday that he had already called on the FIFA head to resign but Blatter refused, leaving Platini to fume to reporters “I’m disgusted, I’ve had enough, enough is enough.”

Part 3

Then finally we get an assessment of the religious right’s influence in the Republican primaries with Frederick Clarkson, a Senior Fellow at Political Research Associates and the author of “Eternal Hostility: the Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy”.  With presidential candidate Scott Walker belonging to a church whose members speak in tongues and believe the Apocalypse is imminent, and Ted Cruz’s father and campaign surrogate a practicing Dominionist, we discuss the role of theocrats in the presidential primaries