Defense and Security Correspondent, Economist
Defense and Security Correspondent for the Economist magazine
PROFILE
Anton La Guardia
Guest
FROM Anton La Guardia
To the Point
Is It Possible to Ban Weapons in Space? Ronald Reagan's space-based missile-defense program died with the Cold War, but satellites are now key to America's military superiority, as our Army, Air Force and Navy -- even the Marine Corps -- rely on satellites for communication, surveillance and the targeting of "smart bombs." With space militarized, the big question now is whether it will be "weaponized." Today, at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, Russia and China proposed a treaty banning weapons in outer space. Three years ago, the US stood alone against 160 nations in opposition to such a treaty. Do Russia and China mean it? Is their real target the land-based missile defense proposed by President Bush? Would a race to put weapons in space be counter-productive for all the countries involved or is it inevitable?
Recommended
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.