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2013 Program Archive
July 2 - Is Julian Assange Now Speaking for Edward Snowden?; A KGB General on the Standoff in Moscow; Could a Deadly New Virus MERS Spread with the Hajj?
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With Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane from Moscow diverted to Austria on the suspicion that Edward Snowden is aboard, and France and Portugal refusing to allow the Bolivian-bound flight to cross their airspace, we begin with a prominent human rights lawyer who has represented a variety of journalists and whistleblowers. Scott Horton, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing editor at Harpers in legal affairs and national security, joins us. We will discuss the latest twists and turns in the Edward Snowden case and the extent to which Wikileaks founder Julian Assange now appears to speak for him. |  |
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Then we speak with a former KGB General Oleg Kalugin, who was a long time head of KGB operations in the United States and later a critic of the KGB and Vladimir Putin. He joins us to discuss what effect the Snowden case has had on U.S./Russian relations and why Putin appears to be more interested in working with the Obama administration than against it, as Russia’s oil-dependent economy slows and the need for Western investment in Russia’s energy sector grows. |
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Then finally, Dr Ian Lipkin, the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University joins us. He is working with an international team of scientists investigating a deadly new coronavirus, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome or MERS. We discuss the outbreak in Saudi Arabia and whether MERS could be spread worldwide following the upcoming annual pilgrimage to Mecca by millions of Muslims from around the world. |
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July 1 - Obama in Tanzania Where 10,000 Elephants Were Slaughtered Last Year; The Egyptian Military Give Morsi 48 Hours; Putin Welcomes Snowden With a Condition
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We begin with Tanzania, President Obama’s last leg of his Africa trip where he signed an executive order to prevent the slaughter of rhinos and elephants for their horns and tusks. Ginette Hemley, Senior Vice President of Conservation Strategy and Science at the World Wildlife Fund joins us to discuss the conflicting agendas of developing Tanzania’s gas fields and building more roads, that will lead to more poaching, adding to the toll of the 10,000 elephants killed in Tanzania last year. |
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Then we get an update on the deteriorating situation in Egypt where the military have given President Morsi 48 hours to bring together a country that his Muslim Brotherhood government has bitterly divided. Samer Shehata, a professor of Middle East Politics at the University of Oklahoma joins us to discuss the growing protests organized by Tamerod “the rebellion,” whose petition has 22 million signatures calling for Morsi to step down and for fresh election to follow. |
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Then finally, with the American fugitive Edward Snowden having applied for political asylum in Russia, we talk to a prominent whistleblower about how civil liberties and national security can be balanced. Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who pushed for an investigation of the so-called 13th 9/11 hijacker, joins us to discuss Putin’s announcement that if Snowden “wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must cease his work aimed at inflicting damage to our American partners, as strange as it may sound from my lips”. |
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June 30 - A Showdown on the Streets of Egypt; Gouging Students in a Meritocracy; The Punitive and Pork-laden Immigration Bill
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We begin with the showdown on the streets of Egypt between the Islamist supporters of President Morsi and opposition protesters, many of whom fought to topple the military dictator two years ago, only to be shut out of the revolution they brought about. Sheila Carapico, who was recently a visiting professor in political science at American University in Cairo joins us to discuss Egypt’s polarization and paralysis that might lead to the military stepping back into power. |
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Then we examine the reasons behind the doubling of interest rates from 3.4 to 6.8% on federal student loans set to go into effect on Monday, following the failure of the Congress to agree. House Republicans insist on tying the rates to U.S. Treasuries with a cap of 8.5%, while Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to set rates at 0.75%, which is what big banks pay for money from the Federal Reserve, didn’t even make it to the Senate floor. David Halperin, a senior fellow at Republic Report and the founding director of Campus Progress joins us to discuss a dysfunctional government making money off the backs of indentured students. |
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Then finally we get an analysis of the much-heralded Senate Immigration bill passed Thursday with congratulations heaped on the so-called “Gang of 8” whose exercise in bi-partisanship drove an 8 billion dollar bill up to 40 billion for additional border security that one of the bill’s sponsor’s Senator Corker called “overkill”. Antonio Gonzalez, President of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project joins us to examine a punitive and pork-laden bill House Republicans deem dead on arrival. |
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June 27 - The Subtext to Obama's African Trip; A Critique of Obama's Recent Speech on Global Warming; Is Edward Snowden a Whistleblower?
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We begin with the president's trip to Africa where, before heading to Tanzania and on to South Africa on Friday, today in Senegal he visited the departure point for thousands of slaves who were taken to the new world. Deborah Brautigam, the author of The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, joins us to discuss the subtext of Obama's trip in terms of U.S. and Chinese competition on the continent for influence and resources. |
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Then, we speak with David Freeman, an energy insider who is a leading authority on the production, management and delivery of energy to large populations. We discuss President Obama's recent speech on addressing the challenge of climate change where Obama said America would take the lead and redouble its efforts to assault global warming by phasing out coal plants and swtiching to natural gas, which our guest considers is going from bad to bad. |
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Finally, with the president saying that there would be "no wheeling and dealing" to try to extradite Edward Snowden from Russia, we examine the extent to which the former employee with a contractor for the National Security Agency who is on the run fits the definition of a whistleblower. Kathleen McClellan, the National Security and Human Rights Counsel at the Government Accountability Project where she supports national security and intelligence community whistleblowers, joins us to discuss the fugitive American's limited options. |
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June 26 - The Supreme Court Strikes Down DOMA and Prop 8; More Analysis on Today's Supreme Court Rulings; The Renewed Republican War on Women's Reproductive Rights
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We begin with the Supreme Court’s rulings today striking down a key section of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, that will now allow gay married couples to receive federal benefits, and a ruling denying proponents of California’s Prop 8 an appeal, clearing the way for gay marriage in the Golden State. Jane Schacter, a Professor of Law at Stanford University and an expert on sexual orientation law, joins us to discuss today’s rulings. |
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Then we continue the discussion on today's Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8 with Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. |
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Then finally, with the recent passage of a bill in the House restricting abortions and last night’s filibuster in the Texas State House to block the implementation of a bill that would have effectively shut down all abortion clinics in Texas, feminist activist Frances Kissling joins us. She writes a weekly column at Salon.com and blogs at religiondispatches.org and we discuss the renewed war on women’s reproductive rights that Republicans are waging at both the state and federal levels and Texas Senator Wendy Davis’s successful eleven hour stand in pink running shoes, against one of the toughest anti-abortion efforts in the country. |
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