September 16 - Last Minute Sweetener for a "No Vote" in Scotland; Another Suicidal Referendum that Will Diminish the U.K. Further; Iraq War III: The Next Big Meal Ticket for Military Contractors

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an apparent outbreak of panic inside David Cameron’s ruling conservative government in the U.K. as Thursday’s referendum on Scottish independence comes down to the wire with Cameron throwing sweetener after sweetener into the mix to lure Scottish voters away from a “Yes” vote. Polly Toynbee, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian and a former BBC Social Affairs Editor and Associate Editor of The Independent, joins us to discuss last-minute efforts by a Tory government that is deeply unpopular in Scotland, to persuade Scottish voters that they are better off with Britain.

Part 2

Then we look further into the fateful vote in Scotland that has tremendous geopolitical implications for the future of the U.K. which will be diminished further if the Scots vote “Yes” because the opposition Labor Party will lose 40 seats to Scotland and will therefore be unlikely to win the next election in Britain, allowing the Tories to proceed with a suicidal referendum Cameron has promised for Britain to leave the E.U., further diminishing the U.K. into irrelevance. One of the world’s leading analysts of popular culture, media and their connections to everyday life, Toby Miller, joins us from the U.K. to discuss the political failures that have led to a resurgence of nationalism.

Part 3

Then finally, following testimony by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs before the Senate Armed Services Committee where General Dempsey said that under certain conditions American boots on the ground might be required in Iraq, we will speak with William Hartung, the director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy and author of “Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War”. We discuss the likelihood that a third U.S. war in Iraq will be the next big meal ticket for military contractors.