November 26 - A Strategic Shift Away From Saudi Arabia; How The P5+1 Deal is Going Down in Iran; The New Pope’s Call for Reforms

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of a possible strategic shift in the Middle East away from Saudi Arabia as the prospects of normalizing relations with Iran improve. Andrew Scott Cooper, the author of “Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East”, joins us to discuss the unusual alliance of Saudi Arabia and Israel both expressing alarm at America’s role in the recent P5+1 deal with Iran.

Part 2

Then we get an assessment of how the new agreement is being received in Iran and speak with Mehdi Semati who is a professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University and the author of “Media, Culture, and Society in Iran: Living with Globalization and the Islamic State”. We discuss how the hardliners are dealing with the rapprochement and how the younger generation, who do not remember the Shah or the hostage crisis, see their country’s role in the world.

Part 3

Then finally we look into a new vision for the Catholic Church offered by Pope Francis in a just-released document that criticizes unbridled global capitalism which he calls the “globalization of indifference”. Internationally acclaimed author and theologian Matthew Fox, who was expelled from the Church by the previous Pope Benedict, joins us to discuss the Pope’s call for reforms in the church to make it more compassionate towards the poor as he castigates the “new idolatry of money”.