International Episodes

Dec. 17, 2021

Chile on the Brink: the Presidential Runoff Election. Talking to John Bartlett, The Guardian foreign correspondent in Santiago, Chile.

Chile faces a hotly contested and polarized runoff election Sunday, December 19, pitting the extreme right and left against each other. The country has not faced such a stark choice since the 1970 election of Marxist Salvador...
May 27, 2021

The Israel Hamas Conflict. A conversation with Professor Ron Hassner, UC Berkeley.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has entered an uneasy stand off with an Egyptian brokered cease fire. The US, EU and other countries have pledged billions in aid to re-build, but will the underlying tensions change ? Pr...
May 7, 2021

How will Putin test Biden ? A conversation with Professor Andrei Tsygankov, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, San Francisco State University.

There is a history of Russian leaders sizing up new American Presidents, starting with Krushchev and JFK, Gorbachev and Reagan and now Putin and Biden. But are they off on the wrong foot ? Biden sees Putin as a killer. Can th...
March 2, 2021

Brexit: The Establishment Civil War. A Conversation with author Josh Hamilton.

The 2016 vote by 52% of the UK electorate to leave the European Union came at the end of a contentious campaign where Social Media dominated. Targeted micro marketing crafted by firms like Cambridge Analytica foreshadowed eve...
Guest: Josh Hamilton
Feb. 25, 2021

Is the Iran Nuclear Deal back on ? A conversation with Bill Boerum

The Biden Administration is seeking to revive negotiations with Iran on the 2015 Obama Administration deal. The Trump Administration abrogated the agreement in 2018. And since then Iran's foes in the Persian Gulf - Dubai, Bah...
Jan. 10, 2021

San Francisco and Bangalore: Is India the new China ?

Air India initiated a new nonstop flight from San Francisco to Bangalore - 17 hours nonstop - over the North Pole. The crew was all female, Captain, First Officer, Navigator. The new flight will link San Francisco's Silicon V...
Guest: Jim Herlihy
April 16, 2020

California versus France: a tale of two re-openings.

As California and France appear to have passed the peak of C-19 infection rates, when and how will society get back to normal, the economy start running again and shelter in place be lifted. --- This episode is sponsored by ·...
Guest: Jim Herlihy