Muhammad Sahimi, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California, discusses the newest round of proposed US sanctions on Iran, the odd idea that choking off supplies of refined petroleum will pressure Iran to give up uranium enrichment, how sanctions will effectively impose a gasoline tax on ordinary Iranians and consolidate the power of the Revolutionary Guard, generous concessions made by moderate Iranian presidents that were rebuffed by the Clinton and Bush administrations and the new doubts about Iran’s supposed nuclear “breakout” capability.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:34 — 7.2MB)

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for Inter Press Service, discusses the Obama administration’s inability to negotiate an Afghan peace deal, differing opinions on whether the troop surge will ultimately help or hurt U.S. diplomatic leverage with the Taliban, the possibility a constitutional rewrite will bring back Sharia law and snuff out Afghanistan’s fledgling “democracy”, the high likelihood of renewed civil war even with a U.S.-brokered peace deal and the slightly improved Afghan justice system that allows defense lawyers but rejects acquittals.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:50 — 8.7MB)

Kurt Haskell, Detroit area attorney and passenger on “Christmas bomber” Northwest Airlines flight 253, discusses the change in the official narrative that now acknowledges the “sharply dressed” Indian man who helped bombing suspect Abdulmutallab board the plane in the Netherlands, the official US policy of helping terrorism suspects into the country in order to catch the entire “terror network,” the possibility that the “sharply dressed” man was acting on behalf of the US government and Richard Wolffe’s theory that individuals within US intelligence agencies may have intentionally botched the job.

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This interview was conducted by Antiwar Radio producer Angela Keaton.

Michael Boldin, founder of Tenth Amendment Center, discusses the limitations on federal use of state National Guard members, why the Constitution is a good yardstick to measure the lawlessness of government and how a critical mass of states engaged in nullification can overwhelm the federal government’s ability to enforce bad laws.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:39 — 2.0MB)

Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses the Justice Department’s proposal to keep 50 Guantanamo inmates imprisoned forever without trial, the current 3-tiered justice system that provides the most generous legal forum that still guarantees a conviction, the problem with conferring “prisoner of war” status on Guantanamo detainees and the unaccountable “presidential assassinations” authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:06 — 3.9MB)