Background Briefing: August 9, 2023

 

A Resounding Defeat of an Anti-Abortion Power Grab in Ohio

We begin with the resounding 57% to 43% defeat of a Republican power grab in Ohio to block an anti-abortion referendum that is bound to win as others have recently in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, California and Vermont. Joining us is Carol Sanger, professor of Law at Columbia University Law School who is an award-winning teacher and influential scholar of reproductive rights who writes and teaches courses on contracts, family law, the legal profession, and law and gender. Her most recent book, About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in the 21st Century, addresses the regulation of abortion and maternal conduct, surrogacy, and the law’s relation to culture. We will discuss how the overturning of Roe by the Supreme Court appears to be motivating Democratic voters as well as Republicans and Independents to show up in huge numbers and vote even if Republican lawmakers are trying to make it harder for them to do so.”

 

What Genuine Peace Efforts Can be Taken Following Revelations in the NY Times That An American Peace Group Appears to be Shilling for the Chinese Communist Party

Then we explore what can be done to reverse the collision course towards war that many see the US and China on and explore what genuine peace efforts can be taken, unlike recent revelations in The New York Times that American  peace groups like Code Pink appear to be shilling for the Chinese Communist Party. Joining us is Orville Schell, who was formerly the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and currently is the Arthur Ross Director of the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations. His books include Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China’s Leaders, Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century, and most recently My Old Home: A Novel of Exile.

 

An Examination of the Chinese Government’s Global Influence Campaigns

Then finally we examine the Chinese government’s global influence campaigns and speak with Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations who was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and sharp power, including state-backed media and information efforts and other components of soft and sharp power. He is the author, most recently, of Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign To Influence Asia and the World.