Georgetown University / New America / Foreign Policy
Professor of Law at Georgetown University, senior fellow at New America and a columnist at Foreign Policy; author of How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon; former counselor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; former senior advisor at the US State Department
How war and peace became just war Rosa Brooks is the child of anti-war parents who protested against the Gulf War before she became a lawyer, married a soldier and served for two years as one of the highest-ranking civilian officials in the Pentagon. She visited war zones, was threatened by anti-American rebels, watched flight operations from the bridge of an aircraft carrier during a hurricane. And — law professor that she is -- she sat in on discussions that shook her faith in this country's adherence to international order, including the Geneva Conventions. Those are just a few of the experiences she's written about in How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon .
Donald Trump and the Russian connection The embarrassing leak of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails came from WikiLeaks, but there's some evidence that it originated with Russian hackers. Vladimir Putin has already been injected into the presidential campaign because of Donald Trump's public comments. The Republican presidential nominee has criticized NATO and the sanctions imposed against Russia after it annexed Crimea. He's praised Vladimir Putin. His campaign manager and other advisors have deep ties to the Kremlin — and Trump's son says there's Russian money in the family business. Russian state media are bullish on Trump's campaign, and Trump has said that, if Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee, it should do the same to Hillary Clinton. Is Trump calling for another "re-set with Russia?" Does Putin want Trump to win?
Does ISIS Want a War with the West? Authorities now agree that Friday's assault on Paris was directed by ISIS in Syria, and it's widely expected that ISIS will strike again. It's not clear if a bold, new international offensive is under way or if ISIS is a losing movement trying to make itself relevant to the rest of the world. The danger is real either way, but there's dispute about how to respond — and how to prevent attacks in the future. The options include open warfare, invasive surveillance and diplomacy by Western powers and, more importantly, Syria's neighbors in the Middle East.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
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.
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
