The Republicans who will shortly be taking over the house after the recent elections have pledged to shrink the government and cut spending, but, Vince Warren notes, they seem to have no problem with "Big Government" when it's holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay.

The current flood of torture talk seems to have something to do with the elections as well, Warren says, as it's becoming more and more obvious that accountability for torture is something that only happens in other places. It did happen recently in England, with settlements being agreed upon to several former--and one current--detainees, and Warren discusses all this with Laura.

Before the contested Iranian election of 2009, scholar Hamid Dabashi notes, most people in the U.S. only thought of Iran in terms of geopolitics. But when protesters poured into the streets that summer, he points out, "Suddenly people mattered. People's liberty, and economic and social well-being mattered."

Dabashi has a new book out, Iran, The Green Movement and the USA: The Fox and the Paradox, and he joins Laura in studio for a conversation about geopolitics and internal politics, about the long, tumultuous relationship between the U.S. and Iran, and to discuss the best course of action for peace in the region, with hawks clamoring once again for war.

Then, the financial crisis in Ireland is leading to a political crisis on the heels of a bailout and more “austerity measures.” But there's a familiar story behind the new crisis, and it involves multinational corporations, big banks, and low corporate taxes. Laura has some thoughts.