March 26 – Reading the Supreme Court on Gay Marriage; The BRIC’s Summit in Africa and China’s Honeymoon with Africa; The Gulf Between Political Representatives and Fighters of the Syrian Opposition

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Part 1	We begin with an analysis of today’s arguments before the Supreme Court on the overturning of California’s Proposition 8 by Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court in San Francisco. Elizabeth Wydra, Chief Counsel of the Constitutional Accountability Center, who was in the court today, joins us to discuss what can be interpreted from the blizzard of questions by the Supreme Court justices that might indicate that gay marriage could soon be legalized.
Part 2	Then we speak with Deborah Brautigam, a professor and Director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University and author of “The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa”. We discuss the new Chinese leader’s visit to Africa and the BRIC’s – that’s Brazil – Russia – India – China and South Africa – summit he is attending in South Africa and we also examine the extent to which Africa’s honeymoon with China is over.
Part 3	Then finally we speak with the organizer of a recent conference in Paris where the Syrian opposition and representatives of the Kurdish minority met with senior American and French officials to design power-sharing arrangements in a post-Assad Syria. David Phillips, the Director of the Peace-building and Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University joins us to discuss what is being done to close the gap between the political representatives of the Syrian opposition and the various factions of fighters in the field who are now starting to shoot at each other.