Friday News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-03-25/friday-news-roundup-hour-2
The U.S. and its allies ramp up the campaign against Libyan forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. Political unrest intensifies in Yemen and Syria. And Japanese officials seek to reassure Tokyo residents about radiation in the city's water supply. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Moises Naim
chief international columnist, El Pais.
Elise Labott
senior State Department producer for CNN.
Daniel Dombey
U.S. diplomatic correspondent, Financial Times.
Comments
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On NPR yesterday I heard that the U.S government had taken control of 32 billion dollars worth of Gadhafi's money resources that are in U.S banks. Is this true and if so, does that mean our government has permanent control over these moneys, will keep these funds and could use them for their own uses?
A week ago, we were constantly hearing from Senators McCain, Kerry, Liebermann, and Graham, goading the president to establish the no-fly zone over Libya. Now that he has done so and is catching flack from all directions, where are these four. Has any one of them spoken in support of the president's action? If so, the press has overlooked it. Talk about the unreliability of the Arab League.
US has not had an end game strategy and goal in wars since the "Korean Conflict." Why should it now?
Frank, San Antonio
In the past, whenever attention has strayed to other parts of the world, the government of North Korea creates some controversy to bring them back to the forefront. They have been surprisingly silent. Is there reason to believe this will change in the near future?
Ryan, Indianapolis
During the first hour of the DR show on Friday (3/25) the future of nuclear power in the US was a topic. In the aftermath of the events that occurred in Japan, there has been a shift in public opinion about the safety of nuclear power plants in the US. A new concern is the adequacy of the 10 mile evacuation zone specified in the emergency plans of US power plants, especially those near high population areas.
I don't believe that the concern about evacuation zones is valid. It argues from a specific case about a unique failure (loss of all power to run cooling pumps) for "six reactor cores" plus their spent fuel pools to a generalization about US sites that typically have "only two active reactor cores" and their spent fuel. The emergency plans for US nuclear facilities are based on detailed analysis of failure modes that include the total quantity of fuel that contributes to both the amount and particular types of fission products (none from plutonium fuel in the US) that can be released in a worst case event. It is unfortunate that nuclear power is so misunderstood by the american public, but it is the role of our regulatory agencies to address these concerns.
Stella on March 25, 2011 @ 10:25 am wrote: "On NPR yesterday I heard that the U.S government had taken control of 32 billion dollars worth of Gadhafi's money resources that are in U.S banks. Is this true and if so, does that mean our government has permanent control over these moneys, will keep these funds and could use them for their own uses?"
No. The U.S. "froze" those funds, which means Libya's government can't access them. We'd only have "permanent control" if we seized those funds. If the Libyan government changes (or at least stops slaughtering its own people) I imagine the funds would be "unfrozen".
garyg on March 25, 2011 @ 1:21 pm wrote: "During the first hour of the DR show. . . . It is unfortunate that nuclear power is so misunderstood by the american public. . . ."
And your comment is a prime example of such misunderstanding. However "rare" the possibility of a nuclear accident may be, the question is: what is a safe distance from the site. The answer depends on the "worst case scenario", not just the most likely one.
For example: if a "dirty bomb" were set off in Times Square, people on Long Island would be pretty safe. However, if a nuclear missile exploded there . . . .
P.S. - Why didn't you post your Comment on the webpage for the first hour?
A question was posed today, the response would have received a big fat "F" for failure to address the question.
Essentially, the comment was that the US media and politicians decry the fatal tactics used by some of the regimes in Africa as if the United States is above resorting to the same, when in fact we have. The examples given were Kent State and Jackson State university, not to mention the civil rights movement as a whole. The panel instantly reframed the question as a history lesson on OTHER regimes who did not resort to a fatal solution.
I guess you can't expect more when you have a columnist refer to a murderer as a "gentleman" as did one of the guest.