June 6 – The NSA’s Blanket Authority to Spy on Americans; Growing Tensions on the Golan Heights; Putin Announces He’s Divorced as Crackdowns Escalate

Full Program

Part 1

Part 2

Then, with Austria now withdrawing its UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after two of its soldiers were wounded, we look into growing tensions between Syria and Israel whose long-standing agreement to keep the peace on this contested border appears to be in tatters. Asher Kaufman, a professor of History and Peace Studies at Notre Dame University and author of “Contested Frontier: Cartography, Sovereignty, and Conflict at the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-border Region” joins us to discuss the widening conflict in Syria.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Nina Khrushcheva, a professor in the Graduate Program of International Affairs at the New School. She joins us to discuss the announcement today by Mr. and Mrs. Putin that their 30 year marriage is over and that the divorce was “civilized”. We also discuss Putin’s escalating crackdown on dissent and the high profile exit of prominent Russians fleeing Putin’s Russia which is becoming more oppressive with the return Soviet-era Stalinist show trials.