John Major

Sir David Frost

Every week, Sir David Frost, one of the most celebrated broadcasters, offers you a programme which takes its stories and guests from every part of the globe.

 

The world’s news makers will be interviewed with Sir David’s incisive style.

 

Sir David will get behind the headlines and examine the decisions and policies which shape global politics today.

 

 

Coming up this week on Frost over the World:

 

John Major was the British prime minister from 1990 to 1997

Leaders of the 27 member states of the European Union have met in Brussels in an attempt to form a new treaty to replace the constitution thrown out by the voters of France and the Netherlands in 2005.

 

John Major, the former British prime minister, joins Sir David Frost to discuss which way Europe is going to go.

 

As well as talking about the EU and why it is in need of some institutional changes, Major talks about the invasion of Iraq, the first Gulf war and the economic progress of some countries in the Middle East.

 

If the West deals with the situation wisely, current events in Gaza and the West Bank could, he suggests, lead to a long-term improvement in the region.

 

He also talks about his new book, More than a Game, and why he believes that cricket has been almost as potent an export as the English language.

 

The Other Russia

Eduard Limonov, the leader of Russia’s National Boshevik party

Democracy appears to be struggling these days in Russia with reports of demonstrations being violently broken up by police and independent journalists hounded.

 

The only thing that seems certain to continue is the admiration the majority of Russians feel for Vladimir Putin, their president.

Meanwhile, Russia’s opposition has united under the umbrella of The Other Russia – a coalition of groups with widely differing views.

 

Eduard Limonov, a member of The Other Russia and the leader of the National Boshevik party, joins the show to discuss the circumstances that have made such a coalition necessary.

 

Putin’s supposed popularity – some polls place his popularity rating at 80 per cent – is, he says, a myth.

Finding forgiveness

South African actor and playwright, John Karni

John Kani is recognised throughout the world as one of South Africa’s greatest actors and playwrights.

 

His latest play Nothing but the Truth – his first as a sole writer – considers the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.

 

John Kani joins the show to discuss South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the inspiration for the play, the personal questions the play tackled and how, after he watched the first performance of it, he was finally able to find the power of forgiveness within himself.

 

 

Christopher Hitchens, the author of God is not Great

Many have fallen victim to the criticisms of Christopher Hitchens over the years – most notably Mother Teresa and Bill Clinton. In his new book it is God’s turn.

 

In God is not Great he argues that religion is violent, irrational, intolerant and aligned to racism.

 

It is now number one in the New York Times bestseller list as well as in at least three other countries.

Christopher Hitchens talks to Sir David Frost about his views on religion and why the book is so popular in the US – a country where religion is supposedly valued so highly.

 

He also discusses his continued support for the Iraq war despite what he calls “the unpardonable mismanagement of the affair”.

 

 

Karen Kwiatkowski, a former Pentagon desk officer

After two decades in the US airforce Karen Kwiatkowski knew her career at the Pentagon was coming to an end when, in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, she started to question the US motives for the war and the intelligence that was being presented by the government.

 

The former Pentagon desk officer has become one of the strongest critics of the war and she writes extensively on her time at the Pentagon.

 

She tells Frost Over The World that the intelligence presented by the Office of Special Plans, which was formed in the summer of 2002, varied a great deal from the truth and that she regularly heard George Bush, the US president, present false information in his speeches.

Sir David Frost asks her if she believes Bush was a victim of this process, whether he mandated it or whether he was also misled.

 

 

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