July 6 – Children are Fleeing Countries We Broke with Military Regimes; Will a President Hillary Clinton Embrace the Neocons?; Indonesia about to Elect a “Pychopath”; Why the South Votes for Politicians Who Lower Their Standard of Living

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an examination into the causes behind the flood of children entering the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and speak with Alexander Main, the Senior Associate for International Policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research about the coincidence that these refugees are coming from countries where the U.S. has supported brutal military regimes and not from neighboring democratic Costa Rica that has no army, or Panama or Nicaragua.

Part 2

Then we assess the likely make-up of a President Hillary Clinton’s national security team which appears destined to be influenced by neoconservative who are making a comeback in spite of their disastrous record in Iraq and the subsequent unraveling of the Middle East that has followed their great “shock and awe” moment. Jacob Heilbrunn, the Editor of The National Interest and author of “They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons” joins us to discuss his article in the New York Times Sunday Review “Are Neocons Getting Ready to Ally with Hillary Clinton?”

Part 3

Then we look into Wednesday’s election in Indonesia where a former general who was military commander under the dictator Suharto and married to the autocrat’s daughter, is closing the gap thanks to a right-wing American spin doctor Rob Allyn, who has smeared the general’s opponent as a foreign imposter and a Christian which does not sit well in a predominately Muslim country. Michael Buehler, a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies joins us to discuss the possibility that the world’s most populous Muslim country could be led by a murderous “psychopath” who, according to his former superior officer, failed a military mental health evaluation.

Part 4

Then finally we examine the recent Census Bureau Report that finds poverty in America is concentrated in the Southern states that are getting poorer while voting for Republican political leaders who for the past decade have been cutting the region’s social safety nets. Stephen Pimpare, the author of “A People’s History of Poverty in America” joins us to discuss why white southerners vote solidly for politicians who are lowering their standard of living.