Zero Diversity of Opinion: Diane Rehm Gives Free Air Time to NATO Apologists

Mission of NATO

(Comments I send to the Programming Department at WAMU, which produces the Diane Rehm Show)

I am disappointed and frankly horrified at the poor quality of the second half of Diane Rehm Show program on this date.  I don't know what she and your producers were thinking by inviting on three individuals who are all apologists for NATO and its member governments.  There are many and strong alternative points of view that do not have a place at the table today.  You have deprived your listeners of the expert knowledge and opinions that could be presented by alternate guests.  The reasonable discussion of the issues that results from a panel that gives a fair representation of the spectrum of opinion was impossible.

I hope that you will follow up with a program with three guests representing the following points of view not represented formally today: (1) the problematic modern history of NATO and reasons for its abolishment; (2) the historical and current problems caused by militarism and colonialism by Europe and the United States, and; (3) the unwise, illegal, and immoral nature of the continued occupation and war in Afghanistan.

Nathan Ruggles
Cincinnati, Ohio

*********

(I recognize that the Diane Rehm Show is not formally an NPR program.  However, it does appear on many of the same public radio stations.)