Interviews with newsmakers and thought leaders about events and issues affecting the broader Middle East and the world
- Morocco19Apr12 – Host Carol Castiel interviews Mustapha El Khalfi, Minister of Communication and leading member of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) about his government’s first “100 days” as well as challenges ahead in the Kingdom. Download
- The Iran Dilemma - Diplomacy v. Use of Force 03Mar12 – The air is thick with talk of a pre-emptive military strike by Israel against Iran’s alleged nuclear facilities. U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledges the threat posed by Iran, but prefers diplomacy over the use of force if at all possible. Host Carol Castiel and senior VOA news analyst, Gary Thomas, talk with Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council and author of the acclaimed book “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran,” about why diplomacy was initially abandoned by Obama in 2009 and why it must be given another chance.Download
- Bahrain, Yemen - the State of Their Revolutions 26Feb12 – Bahrain and Yemen – two countries of strategic importance for the United States – recently marked anniversaries of their respective democratic uprisings. Danya Greenfield, Deputy Director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and expert on Yemen, and Jean-Francois Seznec, professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University and expert on Bahrain, discuss progress and challenges for both regimes as well as what’s at stake for the region and the United States.Download
- Honor Killings - What's Behind Them 19Feb12 – Omer Taspinar, Director of the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution, and Asra Nomani, professor of journalism and author of “Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam,” engage in a stimulating and frank discussion about the obstacles to and challenges of Muslim communities in the West. The discussion begins with an examination of the phenomenon of “honor killings” based on the high-profile incident in Canada where an Afghan father and mother were accused of killing their daughters to preserve their “honor.”Download
- Limits to Turkey's Regional Influence 05Feb12 – A discussion about Turkey and the limits to its influence in the region with Henri Barkey, Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University and Gonul Tol, Executive Director of the Center for Turkish Studies at the Middle East Institute. Is Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors strategy” unraveling given violence in Syria, tensions with Iran, political turmoil in Iraq, continued stalemate with Israel, and Turkey’s “Kurdish problem?”Download
Carol S. Castiel
Carol S. Castiel is director of Current Affairs Programming for the English Division at the Voice of America. She produces and manages three 25-minute current affairs radio/Internet programs, which are broadcast weekly around the world on VOA’s short and medium wave frequencies. She hosts Press Conference USA, a newsmaker interview program, and Encounter, a news analysis show that elicits opposing perspectives on critical foreign or domestic policy issues. She also oversees the production of Issues in the News, a round-up of the week’s top stories by a panel of distinguished Washington-based journalists.
