Author: Sasha Cohen

Senate Democrats Defect to Open the Government on Republican Terms With Empty Promises

We begin with eight Senate Democrats and one Independent caving to end the government shutdown with little apparent gain in their strategy to hold out on funding the government for continued subsidies for the ACA to avert skyrocketing healthcare premiums which the Republicans compromised on, allowing for a vote on funding the subsidies in December that they are likely to vote down. Joining us is Jeet Heer, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms” and we will discuss his latest article at The Nation, “After This Shutdown Surrender, Chuck Schumer Needs to Go.”

Can Trump Overcome Supporters of Israel in Congress to End US Sanctions and Stabilize Syria?

Then we look into today’s White House meeting with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa who only a year ago had a US bounty of $10 million on his head but is now getting the golden handshake in the Oval Office. Joining us to assess what kind of a deal the former jihadi is getting is Joshua Landis, the Sandra Mackey Chair and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and the Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma. The past president of the Syria Studies Association, he is a fellow at the Quincy Institute and writes “Syria Comment,” a daily newsletter and blog on Syrian politics.

Hegseth Wants Defense Contractors on a “Wartime Footing” as He Plans to Attack Venezuela

Then finally, we assess Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s meeting with defense contractors on Friday at which he called for streamlined procurement and quicker delivery of weapons on a “wartime footing” and speak with Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow & director of military analysis at Defense Priorities where her research focuses on U.S. military strategy, force structure and defense budgeting, the defense industrial base, and U.S. military deployments and interventions. Previously, she was a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and she has an article at Responsible Statecraft we will discuss, “Hegseth dropped big Venezuela easter egg into Quantico speech.”