Michael Rubin, Iran expert at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, and Gary Thomas, VOA senior news analyst, talk with host Carol Castiel about all aspects of the political crisis in Iran from fissures within the ruling elite and the fate of the opposition movement to implications for US policy.

Airdate: 28 June 2009

Download
Stream

A self-avowed white supremacist and anti-Semite recently breached security at the US Holocaust Museum, killing a young African-American guard. Are hate crimes on the rise in the United States? Host Rick Panataleo talks with former FBI agent Ken Piernick and Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, about this disturbing phenomenon and what can be done to combat it.

Airdate: 21 June 2009

Download
Stream

In his Cairo speech, President Obama underscored the challenge of combating violent extremism. Kristin Lord, Vice President for the Center for a New American Security and co-author of Beyond Bullets, a recent study on the topic, and Jonathan Schanzer, author of Al-Qaeda's Armies and Deputy Director of the Jewish Policy Center, discuss strategies for containing and preventing extremism and the ideology that fuels it with host Carol Castiel.

Airdate: 14 June 2009

Download
Stream

US President Barack Obama strikes a new tone toward the world’s Muslim communities. Ambassador Ted Kattouf, former US ambassador to Syria and the United Arab Emirates, and Edmund Ghareeb, professor of Middle East history and politics at American University, react to and analyze the implications of President Obama's historic message with host Carol Castiel.

  Airdate: 7 June 2009

Download
Stream

President Obama has tapped Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court. Robert Alt, Senior Legal Fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and Jeffrey Rosen, legal affairs editor of the liberal-leaning New Republic Magazine, discuss the political, cultural and legal implications of this historic choice with host Carol Castiel.

  Airdate: 31 May 2009

Download
Stream

US President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney reveal starkly different views on US national security. Will Dobson, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Charles Stimson, Senior Legal Fellow at Heritage Foundation, discuss the differences and the controversy sparked by President Obama’s decision to close Guantanamo Bay detention center.

  Airdate: 24 May 2009

Download
Stream

Heads of state from Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian territories are en route to Washington in the coming days to meet with US President Barack Obama. Rob Satloff, Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and David Newton, scholar at the Middle East Institute and former US Ambassador to Yemen and Iraq, talk with host Carol Castiel about the pros and cons of a fresh US approach to the region's challenges---from resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to containing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

  Airdate: 17 May 2009

Download
Stream

Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow in the Asia Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation and Evelyn Farkas, fellow at the American Security Project, discuss growing instability in Pakistan as fierce fighting ensues between Taliban insurgents and Pakistani security forces. They debate the outcome of recent high-level talks among the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States, as they seek to forge a unified approach to combat the common threat of terrorism from Islamist extremists in the region.

Airdate: 10 May 2009

Download
Stream