Background Briefing: April 22, 2021

On By gram

 

Putin Warns the U.S. About Red Lines as He Puts the Squeeze on Belarus

We begin with Russian President Putin’s warnings to the U.S. not to cross red lines and his claim in an address to the Russian parliament that the CIA had tried to assassinate the dictator of Belarus who is meeting with Putin in Moscow today.  With Russian troops pulling back to their bases in Crimea while leaving their equipment at the front lines, we will assess the military standoff with Ukraine following the address to the nation by its president who announced that they don’t want war with Russia but are prepared for it. David Marples, the Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta, Canada who is the president of the North American Association of Belarusian Studies and is the author of Understanding Ukraine and Belarus, joins us to discuss the possibility that a weakened dictator in Belarus will allow Putin to deploy Russian military forces in his country further encircling Ukraine.

 

How Will Erdogan Respond to Biden Recognizing the Armenian Genocide?

Then we look into the likely reaction from Turkey’s dictator Erdogan to the expected announcement on Saturday by President Biden that the U.S. will finally recognized the 1916 Armenian genocide which could threaten U.S. access to an important NATO airbase in Turkey where the U.S. has deployed nuclear weapons. David Phillips, the Director of the Peace-building and Rights Program at Columbia University who chaired the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission and is the author of Unsilencing the Past and Diplomatic History: The Turkey-Armenian Protocols, joins us to discuss his article at The National Interest “How Human Rights Should Drive Biden’s Relationship With Turkey.”

 

Earth Day’s Virtual Summit on Climate Change and the Author of Overheated

Then finally, on this Earth Day with President Biden hosting world leaders in a virtual summit to deal with global warming and climate change, we speak with Kate Aronoff, a staff writer at The New Republic and the author of a new book just out, Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet–And How We Fight Back. She joins us to discuss her article at The New York Times, “Let’s All Agree That A Global Climate Summit Won’t Save the Planet: There’s only one way for the Biden administration to make good on its emissions commitments.”