Friday News Roundup - International
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-02/friday-news-roundup-international
Syrian forces took control of a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs. The government said it would allow relief workers into Homs today following a weeks-long siege. In Afghanistan two more American soldiers were killed over the Koran-burning incident that sparked outrage at the U.S. North Korea agreed to suspend its nuclear program in exchange for food aid. European leaders signed a new debt treaty. Voters in Iran headed to the polls today for parliamentary elections. And Russians go to the polls on Sunday to elect a president. Vladimir Putin is expected to win despite widespread protests against his rule. Shashank Bengali of McClatchy Newspapers, Elise Labott of CNN and Michael Hirsh of National Journal join Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
Michael Hirsh
chief correspondent, National Journal magazine; author of "Capital Offense: How Washington's Wise Men Turned America's Future Over to Wall Street."
Elise Labott
CNN foreign affairs reporter.
Shashank Bengali
national security editor, McClatchy Newspapers.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
I am an American PhD student in Belgium and all my colleagues are from other countries. They follow the Presidential election closely and have commented on some of the candidates positions on topics like bombing Iran or European socialism. One said when he was in the US he noticed the flag waving and the National Anthem sung frequently, he said you call this patriotism but to many in Europe it looks like nationalism. He said nationalism makes us nervous. Another asked if the only Republican candidates to choose from are the ones currently in the race. I said yes and he rolled his eyes.
Question: How are some of the Republican positions on international issues affecting the standing of the US around the world and how can some of these candidates sit down and meet with international leaders if they are elected?
janeshey, if you can find a difference in republican vs. democrat foreign policy in actual practice, do tell ? I would not put much stock in European opinions about how America is run or American patriotism, they have more than enough problems of their own and apparently are much more inclined towards violence.
the fact is that pregnancy is not an illness. this is not a women's rights issue regardless of the spin that feminists put on it.
regarding the stupid joke, should the judge lose his job over it? really? what if he had been a minority passing around a cracker joke?
as far as the caller identifying herself as liberal catholic there is no such thing. you are not catholic, you are episcopalian; you just haven't realized it yet.
***FACTCHECK***
Mr. Hirsh was flat wrong when he stated the Assad regime is the last minority (controlled) regime in the Middle East. It's no wonder that he nor the Washington consensus doesn't want to bring the elephant in the room and our resultant hypocrisy into stark relief. That elephant (the other standing minority regime) is the barbaric, autocratic Bahraini regime (Sunni minority). Our inaction on Bahrain is no better than Russia's regarding Syria. Not surprisingly, like Russia in Syria, we have a massive naval base in Bahrain. Lecturing Russia and China on Syria, when we do nothing to restrain the excesses of Bahraini regime or the excesses of the apartheid regime in Israel, is blatantly absurd.