What in the world is going on? Check out this GPS

I finally found a television program on international matters that is astute, brilliant, clear, *understandable* and can tell you what is really going on in the world. Especially in nations seen as problematic to Western nations.

It's a CNN show called GPS - Global Public Square.

This is exactly the BS, fear and political ideology-free type of information and discussion Americans, and frankly citizens in every country would love to see if they knew about it.

Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria hosts. Unlike other news chat show hosts, Zakaria allows his guests to talk. And talk they do. Openly, freely and knowledgeably. All points of view are represented, but everyone is expected to talk facts, not expound on a political agenda or push any particular ideology.

It airs Sunday at 10 a.m. US Pacific Time where I live.

This is a program I hope becomes the template for other information programs. This is a show that does it the way it should be done. There's not the incessant "we're out of time" message, the inveterate interruptions of a guest as she or he gets more than three words out.

An invited expert actually has time to speak and interact with those who are equally as informed but have another point of view - or who may come from a different nation and in fact agree with things said by other panelists.

Zakaria doesn't get in their way as other hosts of "information" programs do; in fact, he stays out of it. It's almost as if he is there to (gasp!) learn from his esteemed guests, who are encouraged by Zakaria to speak the truth rather than push an agenda.

For example, do you know:

*Al Qeda is no longer recruiting members by using fundamentalist Muslim religious zeal? It no longer works, so they're using anti-US feelings instead, since what is seen as the US occupation of Iraq is an effective recruiting tool.
*Al Qeda is falling apart as a disorganized "organization," but remains potent in the minds of the world because 1) Bin Laden is still not captured, and 2) of its ability to recruit new members based on anti-Western emotions.
*Al Qeda male leaders must do what they really don't want to in order to maintain the organization's reputation as a terrorist threat: work with women. It's now difficult to get men to commit suicide on its behalf, so they must bring in women to do that work or it will disappear.
*Negotiating with enemies is the bedrock of national security - no matter what nation in which you live. Which is why Israel and Syria are now talking. The national security of both nations is at risk, their very survival at stake, as long as they keep increasing their need and the power of weapons to kill one another.
*The vast majority of Iranians are *pro-US.* Iran's "president" Ahmadinejad is considered just this side of a joke by the general Iranian population. Iran's true leader is a top Muslim cleric - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Remember Iran's official name is The Islamic Republic of Iran.

So when politicians in the US spew flaming talk about dealing or not dealing with the president of Iran, the international community and knowledgeable Americans know he's not the one with whom to deal, because we know the guy with the real power is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

These are only a few of the points made by one panel in one segment of GPS.

Zakaria's interview with Henry Kissinger about not only why but "how to negotiate with your enemy" is priceless. Not only on an international basis, but individually as well.

Some GPS interviews are available online - so don't take my word for any of this. I encourage you to check them out for yourself. You'll find a breath of fresh air in a world full of the typical BS, inaccurate, agenda-filled, spun like fine silk US "news," political and information chat shows.