January 2 – Young Iranians Demonstrate Against Their Corrupt Theocratic Regime; Trumps Attack on What He Calls the “Deep State Justice Dept.; Can North Korea Drive a Wedge Between the US and South Korea?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the demonstrations against the regime that have erupted all over Iran and are likely to result in a brutal crackdown by the Supreme Leader’s Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia. Nader Hashemi, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the School of International Studies at the University of Denver and author of “The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s future”, joins us to discuss the explosion of frustration from young Iranians whose rising expectations based on the promise of reform by President Rouhani have been cynically betrayed by a corrupt theocratic regime that cannot reform itself and depends on outside enemies for its legitimacy. We will examine the expressions of anger by young Iranians at a regime that cares more about the Palestinians and Syria than the future of its own people and the possibility that Rouhani will be sacrificed by the Supreme Leader who will unleash more repression and fill the jails even further.

Part 2

Then, with President Trump calling for the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin and the former head of the FBI he fired James Comey, we will assess whether Trump is trying to intimidate or purge, not just the FBI but the Justice Department, which the president referred to today in a tweet as the “Deep State Justice Dept.” A former United States Attorney and deputy assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, Harry Litman joins us to discuss how dangerous this unprecedented attack on the non-partisanship and independence of the DOJ and the FBI is and whether Trump will succeed in his goal of undermining the investigations into him and the Russians.  

Part 3

Then finally we look into whether North Korea’s Kim Jong-un can successfully drive a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea following his New Year’s offering of peace talks to the South Korean president to create a peaceful environment for the Olympics and the 70th anniversary of the founding of North Korea. Scott Snyder, a Senior Fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations joins us to discuss his article at The Atlantic “Kim Jong Un’s Trap for South Korea”.