Welcome to the Political Landscape, a weekly podcast where we discuss the news of the day with leading experts and analysts.
Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on American TV to state his belief that Iran is six months away from nuclear weapons capability. Many saw the comments as a strategic attempt during the U.S. presidential election to pressure either President Obama or Mitt Romney into committing to military action against Iran. Currently, the U.S. is focusing on economic sanctions against Iran.
National Journal senior correspondent James Kitfield has written on national security and foreign for more than two decades. He’ll join me to discuss comments made by Romney that revealed just how aligned the presidential candidate is with Netanyahu. In this week’s magazine, Kitfield writes about Romney’s hard line stance on Iran and disavowal of a two-state solution with Israel. This position, Kitfield says, breaks with all presidents of recent history, Democrat or Republican.
Then we’ll speak with Barbara Slavin, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a new website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. Slavin recently returned from Tehran, the capital of Iran, where she saw the impact of U.S. economic sanctions and the state of the Iranian nuclear program.
Check out last week's episode about deceptive super PACs.
Check out all past episodes of the Political Landscape.