America Abroad Media

America in the Middle East: What Lies Ahead

 

Host: Ray Suarez
Length: 51 min
Originial Airdate: Jan 2012

“Make no mistake, our strong presence in the Middle East endures, and the United States will never waver in defense of our allies, our partners, or our interests.”

That was President Obama this past December, announcing the end of the Iraq war.

But with the US economy lagging, and Americans focused on domestic issues, some of America's closest allies in the Middle East are worried about America's commitment to their defense.

From Iraq and Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan, we’ll examine what America's influence and intervention in the Middle East in the past can tell us about America's involvement in the region in the future.

Throughout the hour, Ray Suarez speaks with Ken Pollack and Michael Doran about the future of American policy in the Middle East. Ken Pollack is the Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and Michael Doran is a senior fellow also at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.

 

Europe In Crisis

Host: Ray Suarez
Length: 51 min
Originial Airdate: Dec 2011

“This isn’t just about our pocketbooks...this is about history, it is about war and peace, it’s about Europe’s place on the global stage.”
–Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service

The creation of the EU brought along with it peace and affluence. And for a time, Europe appeared destined to become ever more integrated and prosperous. But today, the European debt crisis has made possible what was once inconceivable – the collapse of the euro, and even the unraveling of the European Union itself. We head to front lines of the crisis – Italy and Greece – to ask, ‘How did we get here?’ and what needs to change to bring Europe back from the precipice?