France elected a new President a few weeks ago, and its not just a change of faces but a full change of attitude, policies, and direction for the Fifth Republic. Left-of-center, socialist President François Hollande took office on May 15th, and has been on a flurry of global functions ever since, including now hanging out in the US for the G-8 Summit followed by a NATO Summit. The Professor discussed some of the big policy changes that are already occurring due to this political shift from right to left in France, including economic policy favoring spending, Eurobonds, and the pulling out of French troops from Afghanistan, and perhaps NATO leadership too!
Vladimir Putin is back in the saddle of the Russian presidency, and one of his first moves involved a double-diss throw down on the US! He refused to attend the big G-8 Summit being hosted in the US! What is up with that? Plenty my friends, and it’s not all about the US either. Putin’s moves reflect a tilt way from the Team West dominated G-8 and NATO groups, and towards grander relationships with Asia and specifically China. Learn all the details of the double-diss here and the deeper meaning behind them.
9000 US Marines are about to say “so long!” to Okinawa, Japan…from a much-contested US military base that has been a source of friction between these two allies for decades. In this podcast, the Professor sets the Okinawa stage of background for this saga, and more importantly discusses where these 9000 US Marines are likely to be going to—which is signaling a significant shift in priorities for the US military here in the 21st century. So, goodbye Japan, and hello US allies in the South China Sea!
Keywords: Okinawa, Japan, US, military, Marines, Futenma, airbase, Pacific, Asia, Guam, Hawaii, South Korea, South China Sea, Australia, Philippines, WW2, China, Indonesia, Vietnam
The 6th Summit of the Americas just wrapped up in Cartagena, Colombia…and it could not have been more of a debacle for the United States! President Obama went to this grand meeting of the leaders of all the countries of the Americas (minus Cuba!) in order to rebuild bridges and ties after decades of US apathy towards Latin America. He failed. The status of Cuba, the miserable Drug War in the Americas, and even a US Secret Service scandal involving hookers has perhaps widened the gap between the US and the rest of the hemisphere. No bueno!!!
Keywords: Summit of Americas, US, Latin America, OAS, Organization of American States, Drug War, Cuba, legalization, decriminalization, embargo, Secret Service, Colombia
Knock out the nukes! Well, at least the nuke weapons and random nuke materials floating around the planet! That is the new mission of the recently founded Nuclear Security Summit, which just convened it second meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Over 50 leaders of the world’s most powerful states got together to discuss how to make the world more secure from the threat of nuclear terrorism. Listen as the Professor rants about the structure of the NPT, the role of the IAEA, and what/why/how this Nuclear Security Summit will be playing into the future of nuclear nuances around the globe.
Keywords: Nuclear Security Summit, NPT, Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, US, George Schultz, Russia, P5, South Korea, North Korea, Iran, nuclear material, plutonium, uranium, medical isotopes, terrorism
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