Background Briefing: November 8, 2022
Can Persuasion Overcome Delusion in American Politics?
We begin with the possibility that persuasion can overcome delusion in our polarized politics as engaged Democrats vote today alongside enraged Republicans. Joining us is Anand Giridharadas, the author of the international best-seller Winners Take All, The True American, and India Calling. A former foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times for more than a decade, he has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Time, and is the publisher of the newsletter The.Ink. He is an on-air political analyst for MSNBC and we discuss his latest book just out, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy.
An Update on the COP 27 Climate Talks Underway and an Alternative Approach to the Fight Against Climate Change
Then we get an update on the COP 27 climate talks underway at a resort in Egypt and speak with David Victor, a professor and the Center for Global Transformation Endowed Chair in Innovation and Public Policy at the University of California San Diego where he also Co-directs the Deep Decarbonization Initiative. He was a convening lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is the author of a number of books including Natural Gas and Geopolitics and The Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the Struggle to Slow Global Warming. His latest book is Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World and he is the co-author of an article at Foreign Affairs, “The New Way to Fight Climate Change: Small-Scale Cooperation Can Succeed Where Global Diplomacy Has Failed.”
Prigozhin Epitomizes the Takeover of Russia by Thugs and Gangsters
Then finally we get an analysis of the takeover of Russia by thugs and gangsters like Putin’s cook Prigozhin who just admitted the regime is, has and will continue to interfere in American elections. We will also try to understand why Republicans want to help Putin as he and Prigozhin’s mercenaries rape, plunder and destroy neighboring Ukraine while threatening Europe. Joining us is Dr. Louise Shelley, the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair and a University Professor at George Mason University where she directs the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) that she founded. A leading expert on terrorism, organized crime and corruption as well as transnational crime, her research has a particular focus on the former Soviet Union. She also specializes in illicit financial flows and money laundering and is the author of Dirty Entanglements: Corruption, Crime and Terrorism and Dark Commerce: How a New Illicit Economy is Threatening our Future.