Assessments of the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Syrian Refugee Crisis; Salman Rushdie Shares His New Novel

On this week's podcast:

Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, who assessed the Iran nuclear deal in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, shares his views on the pros and cons of the deal, and on the potential long-term implications of President Obama’s Middle East policy.

As the Syrian refugee crisis grows more desperate by the day, advocacy groups in the United States are lobbying Congress and the White House to bring in more refugees. Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) and national chairman of the Syrian American Council discusses efforts being made on behalf of the refugees.

Salman Rushdie has written 12 acclaimed novels, including “Midnight’s Children,” winner of the Booker Prize, and, of course, “The Satanic Verses,” which resulted in accusations of blasphemy and a fatwa issued in 1989 by an Iranian cleric who called for Rushdie to be killed. He joins us to talk about his latest novel, “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,” a comedic fantasy that pits reason against unreason.