March 6 – Energy as a Weapon in Russia’s War with Ukraine; The Ramifications of the Upcoming Referendum in Crimea; The Senate’s Shameful Act

Full Program

Part 1

We begin and look into the standoff between Russia and the Ukraine in terms of energy being used as a weapon by Russia to squeeze Ukraine and the U.S. in turn retaliating by ramping up exports of natural gas to Ukraine and the E.U. Michael Klare, a Five College professor of peace and world security and author of “Blood and Oil” and “The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources” joins us to discuss his article at The Nation “Petro-machismo” and how much the U.S. “fracking” boom has effected geopolitics.

Part 2

Then we discuss the ramifications of the upcoming referendum in Crimea that will effectively place the Ukrainian territory just occupied by Russian forces under the Kremlin’s control. John Quigley who was a research scholar at Moscow University and has dealt with conflicts between Russia and Ukraine after the breakup of the USSR on behalf of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, joins us to discuss his article at the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law, “Finding a Way Forward for Crimea”.

Part 3

Then finally we examine the shameful vote in the U.S. Senate in which seven Democratic Senators joined the Republicans in blocking the nomination of Debo Adegbile to be assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Will Bunch, an award-winning senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News joins us to discuss the role of Pennsylvania’s Senators, including the Democrat, Senator Bob Casey, in scuttling Obama’s appointment because his nominee represented a client considered a “cop-killer” in Pennsylvania, thus establishing a dangerous precedent that makes attorneys responsible for the acts of the clients they are sworn to defend.