International affairs

Writer Michael Ondaatje. His new novel is “Anil’s Ghost” (Knopf), set in Sri Lanka, where Ondaatje was born. The story is about a forensic anthropologist who is working in Sri Lanka during the ethnic wars of the late 1980s and early 90s. This is his first novel since “The English Patient,” which won the Booker Prize. Ondaatje is also a poet. His books of poetry include “The Cinnamon Peeler” and “Handwriting.” He lives in Canada.

We talk more about HIV and AIDS in South Africa with journalist Phillip Van Niekerk (fawn-KNEE-kirk). Recently, the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki (TAH-boh mm-BEK-eh) has become very involved in the AIDs policy in his country. Mr. Mbeki is focusing on a medical theory that states that the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, does not cause AIDS. Many leading scientists have criticized MR. Mbeki for wasting his time on what they see as a discredited theory about AIDS. The International AIDS conference is scheduled to be held in South Africa this summer.

South African journalist and anti-rape activist Charlene Smith. Last year, she was raped, and feared the man who raped her could have given her HIV/AIDS. Smith had a hard time obtaining the drugs that could lessen the potential of her getting HIV. Smith then wrote about her experience and helped spread awareness about rape and HIV in South Africa. Statistics say every 26 seconds, a woman is raped in South Africa-- the country with the fastest growing HIV rate. Smith continues to speak about her experience and is pushing for legal and medical reforms in South Africa.

Journalist Orville Schell talks about his new book Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood (Metropolitan Books). For centuries now, the mountainous and remote nation of Tibet has been the object of Western fascination. Today, Tibet is the subject of movies and Hollywood celebrities have taken on Tibetan Freedom as their cause. Schell talks about Tibet, real and imagined, and takes us through the history of the West’s infatuation. Schell has covered China and Tibet for many years.

We meet Veton Surroi (vi-TON sir-ROY), publisher of the leading independent Albanian newspaper in Kosovo, called Koha Dotire (CO-ha DE TOR-ray). Surroi has just received a democracy award from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US non profit bipartisan organization. During NATO’s bombing of Kosovo, Surroi was in hiding and his newspaper was published underground.
Description (Program)

We talk about the Taliban with Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid. His new book is called Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (Yale University Press). In the mid 1990s, the Taliban Movement gained power in Afghanistan, a country in the wake of a civil war. The Taliban declared they wanted to restore peace and enforce traditional Islamic law. Instead, The Taliban has shown itself to be a troubling development in Islamic radicalism. It has launched a genocidal campaign against Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan. It has sanctioned acts of international terrorism.

The 84 year-old former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet flew home to Chile today, after the British Home Secretary ruled against extraditing him to Spain where he would have faced trial for torture and human rights violations. He was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Pinochet had been under house arrest In England for over a year, as legal efforts were made to hold him accountable for the thousands of people who died or disappeared during his 17-year regime In Chile. We talk with Peter Kornbluh, ("corn-blue") Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive.

Joyce Horman is the widow of Charles Horman, an American living In Chile at the time of Pinochet's 1973 coup which overthrew the Socialist government of Salvador Allende. Horman was executed for his support of the Allende government. His story was told In the 1982 film "Missing" and Is the subject of the book "The Execution of Charles Horman, an American Sacrifice." The U.S. government had denied any complicity In Horman's death, but the recently declassified documents indicate otherwise.

The 84 year-old former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet flew home to Chile today, after the British Home Secretary ruled against extraditing him to Spain where he would have faced trial for torture and human rights violations. He was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Pinochet had been under house arrest In England for over a year, as legal efforts were made to hold him accountable for the thousands of people who died or disappeared during his 17-year regime In Chile. We talk with Peter Kornbluh, ("corn-blue") Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive.

New York Times Reporter Roger Cohen ("Coan") talks about national and international reaction to the far right Freedom party in Austria. Roger Cohen is the Times’ Bureau Chief in Berlin. He has also reported from Bosnia and wrote "Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo" (Random House) about covering the war in Bosnia.