February 27 – Avoiding a Cold War-Like Confrontation Over Ukraine; Did the U.S. Get Taken to the Cleaners on Syria; The Makeover in Food Labelling

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the tense situation on the Ukraine/Russia border where Russia is conducting military exercises as clashes are underway in Crimea between supporters of the new government in Kyiv and Russian nationalists who seized government buildings and hoisted the Russian flag. David Speedie, The Director of the U.S. Global Engagement Program at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs joins us to discuss how a conflagration might be avoided and a return to a Cold War-like confrontation avoided.

Part 2

Then we look at the extent to which the U.S. has been taken to the cleaners by Russia and Syria’s Assad regime with a chemical weapons deal that has only yielded 4% of Assad’s arsenal and keeps him in power while he tortures the relatives of rebel negotiators at the Geneva peace talks brokered by the U.S. and Russia. A specialist on Syria, James Gelvin, professor of History at UCLA and author of “The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Should Know” joins us to discuss secret negotiations underway in Switzerland between the U.S, Iran and Syria.

Part 3

Then finally we examine the new labeling on packaged food announced at the White House that would make calorie counts more prominent, focusing on calories over fat. The President of Eat Drink Politics, Michele Simon, a public health lawyer specializing in legal strategies to counter corporate tactics that harm the public’s health, joins us to discuss this first makeover of food labels in 20 years that targets “added sugars.”