Topic: Foreign Policy-U.S.

If you’ve been following the crisis in Ukraine and the fight for Crimea, do you have unanswered questions about why Russia is so invested? We do, and we wanted to get a better understanding of the historical context of the conflict. Kathryn Stoner, a political scientist who is a Senior Fellow at the Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford, has prepared a reading list that she says go a long way in explaining the Russian perspective.

Continue reading to find her reading list and descriptions of the books and their authors.

The Russian government recently instituted a controversial ban on adoptions to the United States. Outcry from both families in the middle of the adoption process with Russia and families who have previously adopted from the country has been harsh.

Ananda Rose, Ph.D., Poet; Journalist

Host: David Inge
 

Every day, people from Mexico risk their lives to enter the United States. Many become lost in the desert. A few Americans have taken steps to help these undocumented people who would otherwise die of exposure, but that puts them in direct conflict with their fellow citizens and with the U.S. government. Poet and journalist Ananda Rose traveled to the Southwest to talk with people on both sides of the issue, those motivated by compassion and those by law. She’ll tell us what she learned. It’s all in her book "Showdown in the Sonoran Desert."

Dwight Eisenhower’s most famous speech was his last as president. We look back to that speech warning of the power of the military industrial complex.  The guest in this program from the archives is James Ledbetter, author of "Unwarranted Influence." His book charts the connections between the government, military contractors and the overall economy. While military spending may have brought some benefits, there are also questions. Does our massive military establishment really make us safer?

This is a repeat broadcast from Monday, January 24, 2011, 10 am

With Jonathan Hafetz, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law)

With Steven Solomon (Journalist)

With Peter Bergen (Print and Television Journalist; Director of the National Securities Studies Program, the New America Foundation; a Research Fellow, New York University's Center on Law and Security; CNN National Security Analyst)