Jamie Fly, Executive Director of Foreign Policy Initiative, joins Frank to discuss the latest debt ceiling compromise and to what extent the Defense budget will be cut. Fly notes that in the initial stages the details are few, however, the two phases of the compromise appear to amount close to $1 trillion in cuts, over 10 years. “It hasn’t been defense that has been ballooning over the last few years,” says Fly, rather that the Department has actually been shrinking, in lieu of an expanding domes...
Jamie Fly, Executive Director of Foreign Policy Initiative, joins Frank to discuss the latest debt ceiling compromise and to what extent the Defense budget will be cut. Fly notes that in the initial stages the details are few, however, the two phases of the compromise appear to amount close to $1 trillion in cuts, over 10 years. “It hasn’t been defense that has been ballooning over the last few years,” says Fly, rather that the Department has actually been shrinking, in lieu of an expanding domestic agenda. With an Administration that prefers providing food stamps to providing for the common defense, Fly relates the debate with the determination of what role in the world the U.S. will have in the future.
Then, David Yerushalmi gives his response to a scathing article from the New York Time’s, which names him the “Man Behind the Anti-Shariah Movement.” The Times rebukes Yerushalmi’s attempts to uphold the Constitution by introducing the American Laws for American Courts Act that prohibits the use of International law in the U.S. The paper paints Yerushalmi, who provides General Counsel to the Center for Security Policy, as a fear monger, while dismissing the notion that Shariah poses a threat at all. The Anti-Defamation League also accuses Yerushalmi of “anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry,” while the Times fails even a passing reference to the tenets of Islamic law, which calls for the stoning of homosexuals. These accusations are “par for the course,” says Yerushalmi, who defends his efforts amidst a media narrative that seeks to make the voices against radical Islam appear even more extremist than those Yerushalmi is fighting against.
Next, Roger Noriega, our resident Latin America expert, offers insights into Hugo Chavez and his protégés. Although Chavez recently celebrated his 57th birthday, Noriega, Visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reports that he may not live to see his country’s 2012 elections. Members of the regime are “not a sentimental bunch,” says Noriega, and the Cuban-backed affiliates are quickly posturing for power in the event of Chavez’s death. Noriega also informs on President Rafael Correa’s assault on Ecuador’s free press and other Chavez loyalists in the region.
Finally, Gordon Chang, of Forbes, reports from Sydney, Australia, as that the nation may move away from the U.S. toward China, with whom its economy is closely tied. Back in Washington, Chang gives his take on the Law of the Sea Treaty, concluding that it is not treaties, but the U.S. Navy that insures the peace of international waters. Chang also offers an explanation as to why China is moving to buy Greek debt, in what he describes as terrible economics.
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