International Affairs

We look at the state of human rights in the region--particularly in Iraq before the start of the Gulf War--as well as elsewhere around the world. Kenneth Roth, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch, shares his insights.

We talk about United States' newest Middle East ally's involvement in the international drug trade with Philadelphia Inquirer reporter David Zucchino. Zucchino covers the drug war for the paper, and has spent two years in the Middle East. He also won a Pulitzer for his coverage of South Africa.

Milton Viorst is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker who's written extensively about the Middle East. He talks with Fresh Air producer Pat Ford about the relationship between the U.S. and Jordan under the leadership of King Hussein.

We look at international law with Alfred Rubin, a professor at Tufts University. He'll look at whether the recent bombing that killed hundreds in Iraq was a legal action, and the treatment of POWs in the Gulf War.

Economics writer Robert Kuttner returns to discuss his new book, "The End of Laissez Faire." In it, he proposes that the United States give up its roles as world policeman and focus on the type of governmental economic planning that has benefited the Japanese and Germans.

Fred Halliday, professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, discusses some possible motives for the Soviet Union's attempt to find an end to the Gulf War -- including how these negotiations could affect relations with the United States. He'll also give us a primer on the history of the Soviet Union's relations with Iraq.

Venclova's outspoken comments cost him his Soviet citizenship. After leaving his home in Lithuania, he's spent the the past 14 years in the U.S, and now teaches at Yale University.

Amichai is one of his country's leading poets. Born in Europe, he fought in the Israeli army through many of the country's conflicts. He contemplates war in his new collection of poetry, "Even a Fist was Once an Open Palm with Fingers."

Terry talks again to Sir Michael Howard, professor of military and naval history at Yale. He'll discuss the Allied military strategy in the Gulf and how it compares to past wars throughout history.

We talk with Gerd Leipold of the the Free Seas Campaign of Greenpeace. Leipold's group is calling for another Geneva Convention, this one to establish environmental rules for war.

Joe Stork discusses how the region's political powers have shifted since conflict in Iraq has ended.

Jodi Jacobson is senior researcher at the World Watch Institute. Her report, "The Global Politics of Abortion," examines how various countries handle the issue of reproductive rights, and the affect that can have on the global scale. She's discovered that more restrictive policies did nothing to curtail abortion -- in fact, they increased the chance of maternal death.

In the 1970s, both Sitkovetsky and his mother emigrated to the U.S. In 1988, he became the first post-war Soviet emigre musician to be invited back to USSR to perform. He comes from a family of accomplished musicians; his mother is pianist Bella Davidovich, and his father is Julian Sitkovetsky.

Joe Davidson is a Black American reporter who has been covering the recent apartheid reforms for the Wall Street Journal. He shares his take on the situation on the ground, and describes some of the discrimination he's faced.

Richard Mkhondo is a black South African who reports on his home country. He says the government's recent legislation to roll back apartheid will have minimal impact on blacks, and does nothing to to address the issue of restitution.

James Fallows, the Washington editor for "The Atlantic Monthly." Fallows will discuss the ways America is still punishing Vietnam through economic means, despite the end of hostilities between the two countries.

McPherson is currently working on a new book about the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution. An excerpt of the book recently appeared in the literary magazine, "Granta."

Travel and adventure writer Eric Hansen. His new book, "Motoring with Mohammed," is a first-person account of Hansen's attempt to recover the dairies he buried on the coast of Yemen a decade before, after being ship wrecked there.

The second of a two-part interview with the writer and political economist. Today, Reich discusses how the U.S. can improve its economic health in light of a shifting global landscape.

Galeano wrote the trilogy, "Memory of Fire," a surrealistic history of the Americas. Galeano comes from Urugua; he fled to Argentina when the dictatorship took over, and later fled Spain. His new book is "The Book of Embraces," and draw from his own life.