All posts tagged: Obama

Chase Madar on the US’s growing state security apparatus

Published by podmeister

George Miller’s guest on Le Monde diplomatique‘s October 2012 podcast is New York-based human rights lawyer Chase Madar. His article in this month’s edition of the paper is entitled “Land of the Ever Less Free”, and it looks at how America’s security state apparatus has  been significantly augmented under President Obama – contrary to election promises. So today the federal government employs 30,000 Americans to monitor the phone conversations of their fellow citizens, and in 2011 alone Washington classified 92m documents, almost double the number made secret just two years before. Chase Madar explores some of the causes and effects of a bloated security state in this interview. To listen to the interview, click here.

Le Monde diplomatique podcast – Obama and “smart power”

Published by podmeister

My guest in this first Le Monde diplomatique podcast of 2010 is Michael Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. In his article in the January edition of the paper, “US turns persuader not policeman”, Professor Klare asks whether disappointment with the first year of Obama’s foreign policy is the right reaction, or whether we ought instead to see “smart power” as a pragmatic response to the US’s diminished role as world superpower – “assertiveness in the face of decline”. In the interview we talk about the challenge posed by Iran to US smart power and also its implications for the domestic political landscape in the US. To listen to the interview, click here.