President Obama just announced a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with PJ O'Brien, of Votevets.org about why American veterans of the Afghanistan war are so strongly supportive of the president's new, not just military, approach to the region. Can it really prevent another Vietnam?

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Proponents of nuclear power always point to France, where about 80% of electricity comes from atomic fission. But not all is well in the land of wine and cheese. Onthis edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen talks with  Linda Gunter, co-founder of Beyond Nuclear about significant radiological and other environmental damage in France. On this, the 30th anniversary of Three Mile Island.

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The new depression is shaking everything up. Some on the left say they've been right all along. And that Adam Smith is now officially dead and that Marx is resurrected. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with socialist author Ashley Smith who argues that Marx's ideas are more relevant today than ever.

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In the face of an ever-deepening and widening recession, the debate about spreading the wealth, which began in the 2008 campaign, promises to escalate. The disparity in wealth has never been greater and there's a new push to actually address this long-term, systemic problem.  On this edition of Portside Burt Cohen talks with Lew Daly, co-author of "Unjust Deserts: How the Rich are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take it Back."

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Might there actually be some benefits to come from America's new depression?  On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Benjamin Barber, whose lead story in a recent issue of The Nation suggests now may be a moment in history when we start to rethink the dominance of the market over the public good. Could this be the time when we start to shake off our national dependence on massive mindless consumerism and create a more sustainable economic system?

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It was an all out war in Gaza. Not all Jews, in America or in Israel, support Israel's hawkishness. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Rabbi Hersh Lowenthal, spokesperson for Jews Against Zionism, who argues the State of Israel has no connection with Jews or Judaism. In fact, these ultra-conservative Jews see Zionism as harmful to Jews around the world.

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It's here in America! Be very very afraid. It's called European SOCIALISM!! Are you scared yet? On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen looks at what it is the Republicans are trying to make you so afraid of. Burt's guest is John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. European Socialism: what is it?

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Who was the greatest American president? Everyone knows it was Abraham Lincoln whose 200th birthday we celebrated in February 2009. But in this edition of  Portside, Burt Cohen talks with Thomas DiLorenzo, author of The Real Lincoln about the more controversial aspects of our 16th president: was the war against the South really necessary? Why was it so crucial to save the union? Did Lincoln change the very nature of America's government?

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It used to be only the most extreme in Israel advocated expulsion of its Arab citizens from their homes. On this edition of Portside, Burt Cohen talks with University of California foreign policy analyst Conn Hallinan about the new, more widely accepted racism in the Zionist state.

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