March 5 – The Death of a Revolutionary; Filling the Political Vacuum in Venezuela; Should Israel be Exempt from Sequester Cuts?

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Part 1	We begin with the death today of Venezuela’s President, Hugo Chavez, at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. Javier Corrales, the author of “Dragon of the Tropics: Hugo Chavez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela” joins us to discuss the regional impact of the leader of the Bolivarian revolution Hugo Chavez, whose mentor Fidel Castro credits with saving the Cuban Revolution.
Part 2	Then we look further into the legacy of Hugo Chavez with Jennifer McCoy the director of the Carter Center’s America’s Program. She previously directed the Carter Center’s project on Mediation and Monitoring in Venezuela and we discuss the emotional and political vacuum left in Venezuela following the death of their larger-than-life leader whose successors are not likely to fill the void but nevertheless will carry on with the Bolivarian revolution.
Part 3	Then finally we discuss the AIPAC convention underway in Washington DC where incredibly the pro-Israel lobby is seeking to make military aid to Israel exempt from the sequester cuts, even though Israel’s economy is in better shape than America’s and its latest military technology like Iron Dome, partly subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, is more advanced than ours. MJ Rosenberg who served as Director of Policy Analysis for the Israel Policy Forum and previously was editor of Near East Report, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC’s) bi-weekly publication on Middle East policy, joins us.