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Brookings Institution
Director of the project on US relations with the Islamic world at the Brookings Institution and author of The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State
PROFILE
Will McCants
Guest
FROM Will McCants
To the Point
The battle for Mosul and the future of ISIS A conglomerate army of some 30,000 is moving toward Mosul—the last urban stronghold of the Islamic State in Iraq. Turkish warplanes are now part of what’s called a “US led coalition,” which has captured nine villages southeast of the city. At today’s news conference, President Obama said the US has spent as much time on humanitarian planning as it has on military preparations.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Fight Against ISIS No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in Nice. But ISIS has committed or inspired similar attacks in recent months. But reports indicate that the battle against ISIS has the group losing ground. It may even be preparing for a time when it no longer controls any territory when it no longer has a caliphate. Is that making the group more dangerous?
To the Point
Russia Changes the Battleground, at Least for the Moment President Obama said yesterday the US has failed “to change the dynamic inside Syria.” He’s all but conceded that Vladimir Putin has. Russian air strikes are helping two American enemies: Syrian President Assad, and, perhaps indirectly, the Islamic State. Meantime, ISIS is increasingly a threat to Turkey, America’s NATO Ally. Although the US appears to be running out of options, is Putin creating his own quagmire?
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To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
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 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?
To the Point
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.