Month: August 2021

Briefings

Background Briefing: August 15, 2021

On By gram

 

The Democrats Are Running Out of Time to Stop Massive GOP Voter Suppression

We begin with the possibility that time will run out for the Democrats before they pass laws to stop the enormous and comprehensive campaign of voter suppression underway by the Republicans who appear to be working towards permanent one-party rule in the United States. Joining us is John Nichols, The Nation magazine’s Washington Correspondent whose latest book is The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics. We discuss his latest articles at The Nation, “Democrats Need to Vote Like Democrats” and “The Next Gerrymandering Nightmare Has Begun” and we assess whether some version of the For the People Act will be passed before Republican state legislatures lock in their gerrymandered voting districts to ensure they will win back the House before one vote is cast in 2022.

 

The Taliban Now Entering Kabul

Then with the Taliban now entering Kabul and and President Ghani having fled the country, we speak with Shuja Nawaz, a Distinguished Fellow at the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council and author of The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter U.S. Friendship and a Tough Neighborhood. He joins us to discuss the scramble underway to evacuate Westerners and whether the Taliban will slaughter their captives, not to mention those who worked for the U.S.

 

Biden Should Have Known and Got Those Who Helped the U.S. Out

Then finally we speak with Christine Fair who served as a political officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul who speaks and reads Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. She joins us to discuss how Biden undercut the Afghan government and should have known this collapse would occur and have made arrangements to get Afghans who worked for the Americans out of the country before they faced the prospect of being slaughtered.