Rss Feed
Tweeter button
Facebook button
Myspace button
Digg button
Flickr button

Posts Tagged Politics

Progressive News Radio presents “The Truman Report”: Nathan Gonzalez – The Threat from Iran [program #3]

by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio

RUNNING TIME – 25:41

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [25:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Iran has been a major player in the news for some time, but more so lately as Congress has given the thumbs up to more sanctions against the Middle-Eastern powerhouse. The constant threat of an Iranian nuclear program, capable of building a nuclear bomb has played a major role in the concerns of the world. Recently, that country refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the country. Equipment has allegedly been removed from one of the scientific sites.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recently refused to address the notion of having to contain a nuclear armed Iran, saying that the efforts of the United States were aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring atomic weapons. According to Secretary Gates “a military strike against Iran remains on the table”.

(Nathan Gonzalez)

On this edition of  Progressive News Radio presents “The Truman Report” we speak with Nathan Gonzalez, a fellow The Truman National Security Project to talk about and explain this precarious position of the U.S. and the World.

Nathan Gonzalez Bio:
Nathan Gonzalez is a fellow at The Truman National Security Project. He is the author of “Engaging Iran: The Rise of a Middle East Powerhouse and America’s Strategic Choice” (published by Praeger) and his latest book “The Sunni-Shia Conflict: Understanding Sectarian Violence in the Middle East” (published by Nortia Press). A veteran of several political campaigns, Nathan contributes regular commentary on elections and foreign policy at The Huffington Post; Foreign Policy in Focus and other online publications. In 2002, he received a prize from the University of California, Los Angeles, for his research on Iraq, through which he predicted that a U.S. invasion would bring about massive sectarian violence, pervasive anti-Americanism in Iraq, and a stronger Iran. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in political science at UCLA.

Nathan Gonzalez’s website is HERE

You can purchase either of Nathan’s books from Amazon.com: (links below)

“Engaging Iran: The Rise of a Middle East Powerhouse and America’s Strategic Choice”

“The Sunni-Shia Conflict: Understanding Sectarian Violence in the Middle East”

Tags: , , , , , , ,

SPECIAL GUEST: Alexandra Bell – The Truman National Security Project

by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio/
with special thanks to Frankie Sturm
at The Truman Project

RUNNING TIME – 15:05

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [15:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

President Obama recently signed a treaty with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to reduce the amount of nuclear warheads held by both countries.

The President was also the host of the Nuclear Security Summit held during the week of April 12, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
The purpose was to get all the countries together that possessed nuclear materials to make sure they are secure and to work toward efforts that keep nuclear bomb making materials out of the hands of terrorists.

We were honored recently to speak with Alexandra Bell, a Fellow at The Truman National Security Project in Washington.
Alexandra is a Project Manager at the Ploughshares Fund. During the 2008 election, Bell worked on arms control and nonproliferation issues for the Obama campaign. Bell was previously a Research Assistant for Nuclear Policy at the Center for American Progress. She has worked with the Study Group on the Economics of Security and was an international reporter for ATV News in Hong Kong. From 2001-2003, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southwest Jamaica. Bell received a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the New School and a Bachelor’s degree in Peace, War and Defense and U.S. History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Read Alexandra’s article from April 15, 2010 on The Hill.com HERE

Read more about The Truman National Security Project HERE

Tags: , , , , , ,

“Washington Inside & Out” with Ben Armbruster

by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio

RUNNING TIME – 8:00

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [8:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week’s discussion includes information on Republican Senator John Kyl’s attempt to, once again, stall the extension of unemployment benefits to MILLIONS. His reason? He says people on unemployment have no incentive to go look for a job!

Also, another attempt to make a citizen’s arrest on Karl Rove. **

Ben Armbruster, our weekly guest from The Center for American Progress and Think Progress.org helps us dissect this week’s politics and make a better understand of topics that mean a lot to all of us.

As always, great thanks to Ben for his continued participation on Progressive News Radio.

** How To Make A Citizen’s Arrest

Tags: , , , , ,

Special Guest Interview with Grit TV’s Laura Flanders

by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio

RUNNING TIME – 27:35

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [27:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We were very honored to have Laura Flanders as a recent guest on Progressive News Radio. In this interview, Laura and I cover the recent announcement by President Obama to open up oil drilling off the East Coast, the vitriolic and incendiary political rhetoric from the far-right, as well as same-sex marriage and other topics.

Laura is the host of “GRITtv“, the daily news-discussion and take action program seen on Free Speech TV (Dish Network ch. 9415) and online at the popular blog site Firedoglake.com as well as at GRITtv.org. She also serves as the host of RadioNation, the nationally-syndicated weekly radio program of the Nation Magazine. In election year, 2008, she hosted a five-part series of live, town-hall events in five different states in the run up to the General Election, Live from Main Street with Laura Flanders was produced by the Media Consortium with GRITtv.

Our heartfelt thanks to Laura and her staff for taking the time from their extremely busy schedule to speak with us. We are very honored.

RELATED LINKS:
Grit TV
Laura’s book “Blue Grit” (Amazon.com)
The Nation Magazine

Tags: , , , , ,

“Washington Inside & Out” with Ben Armbruster (podcast)

by Jim Swanson
Progressive News Radio

RUNNING TIME: 5:41

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [5:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ben Armbruster

According to a recent survey, 47% of Americans want health care reform repealed. Yet, Republicans admit that repealing is absolutely impossible. So why are the Republicans going to use these numbers as a platform? And why is CNN still taking these polls?

Also, recent F.E.C. filing show the RNC spent nearly $10,000 dollars on a trip to L.A.’s 4 Seasons Hotel as well as nearly $2,000 dollars on a bondage themed lesbian nightclub. There’s your Republican platform.

Progressive News Radio’s political analyst Ben Armbruster from The Center for American Progress and Think Progress.org gives us some answers.

Tags: , , ,

Washington Inside & Out with Ben Armbruster

by Jim Swanson

Progressive News Radio

Ben Armbruster

We’re SO glad we’re back on track after being unceremoniously taken down via a hacker, who destroyed out site a few weeks ago. It was a little rough going rebuilding everything from Brick #1, but we’re back and chomping at the bit to point the guilty finger at Republicans.

And helping to get us back on track is our weekly visit with Ben Armbruster from The Center for American Progress and Think Progress.org.  Ben has been gracious enough to lend us some of his busy schedule each week to catch us up on the latest shenanigans in Washington D.C.

This week we’ll chat about Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his possible run at being Governor of Arizona. He says he’s not being egotistical, but I’ve always said, “If you have to tell people your NOT egotistical, you’re egotistical.

Also the latest count on Democratic votes in the House of Representatives to pass Health Care Reform. Apparently the public option we were promised by candidate Obama ain’t gonna happen. Enjoy.

RUNNING TIME – 8:32

 
icon for podpress  Standard Podcast [8:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,