September 6 - Independence for Scotland has Westminster Panicked; Syria's Tangled Web of Opposition Factions: The Punditry Versus the Presidency on ISIS

Full Program

Part 1

We begin and go to Scotland to discuss the upcoming referendum on independence from Britain that is turning into a nail-biter as both the “yes” and “no” sides ramp up their campaigns a week away from the fateful vote. William Walker, a Professor of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews joins us to discuss how British Prime Minister Cameron’s efforts to persuade Scots to stick with the U.K. seem to have backfired, and why the Labor Party is deeply invested in a “no” vote against succession, as well as William Walker’s article at International Affairs, “International Reactions to the Scottish Referendum”.

Part 2

Then we examine the patchwork of factions in Syria fighting the Assad regime and amongst themselves, as President Obama is poised to ask Congress for an additional $500 million in arms and training for the Syrian opposition. An expert on the various opposition factions in Syria, Nicholas Heras, an analyst with extensive field work in Syria at the Washington D.C. think tank, The Jamestown Foundation, joins us to ascertain whether there are any reliable secular or moderate factions within the Syrian opposition who the U.S. could train and arm without ending up losing the arms to Islamists or having the arms used to slaughter religious minorities allied with the Assad regime.

Part 3

Then finally, ahead of the President’s address to the nation on his strategy to combat the Islamic State, we speak with Michael Cohen, a fellow at the Century Foundation and a columnist for the Boston Globe and the UK Guardian. He is a former speechwriter for the U.S. Representative at the U.N. and we discuss his recent article in the New York Daily News “The Punditry Versus the Presidency: How the Constant Chorus of “Do Something” Obama Foreign Policy Critics Gets it Wrong” and now that John McCain is badgering the President to bomb ISIS, we will discuss his praise earlier this year thanking the Saudis for arming ISIS, quoting John McCain…“thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar and for our Qatari friends”.