Brookings Institution and Center for International Governance and Innovation
Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the Center for International Governance and Innovation in Waterloo, Canada; editor of Global Leadership in Transition: Making The G20 More Effective and Responsive
Greek Brinksmanship, the European Union and the G-20 Summit In Cannes today, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met for two and a half hours with Germany's Angela Merkel and Nicolai Sarkozy of France. Then Papandreou went home and told his parliament he was calling off his controversial referendum on the massive bailout designed to keep Greece part of the European Union. But that's only added to the uncertainty facing the G-20 Summit meeting in Cannes. Nobody knows what Papandreou might do next. Even if there's still support for the bailout, it's unclear where $1.5 trillion will come from, especially with US influence on the wane. Is the EU a safe bet for China? What will China demand in exchange? Is the effort to demonstrate European economic stability now in a shambles?
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.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
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.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.