February 23 – Obama Sends His Plan to Close Guantanamo to Congress; What is Behind the Water Crisis in India’s Capitol New Dehli?; Is a Compromise Possible Between Apple and the FBI?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the President’s  plan to close Guantanamo that was sent to the Congress today with Obama asking for a “fair hearing”, adding that Guantanamo is a waste of money, an irritant with allies and a lightning rod for anti-Americanism around the world. Admiral John Hutson, a former Judge Advocate General for the United States Navy and a legal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations who has advised President Obama on closing Guantanamo, joins us to discuss Obama’s uphill battle given that the Republican Congress has already enacted a statute that bars the military from transferring Guantanamo detainees onto domestic soil.

Part 2

Then we look into the water crisis in India’s capitol, New Delhi that has led to violent clashes between the army and the Jats caste of disposed rural farmers who are protesting to be re-categorized as OBC’s, Other Backward Castes, in order to get government jobs. A specialist on South Asia, Christine Fair, who is a Professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, joins us to discuss how the water crisis and the dependence on GMO seeds and fertilizers are driving the Jats off the land into crowded urban slums.  

Part 3

Then finally we speak with Neema Singh Guliani who is a legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office. She joins us to discuss the upcoming showdown between Apple and the FBI in Federal court on Friday that could drag on for months, and whether there is the possibility of a compromise between the demands of the FBI to help in a terrorism investigation and the responsibility that Apple feels it owes its customers to protect their private data.