Avoiding Future Battles Between the 1st and 3rd Worlds

"If a dozen years ago you had asked an ecologist uninterested in politics to name the countries with the most fragile environments, the most urgent public health problems and the most severe overpopulation (measured against available resources), " says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond, "the answer would have included Afghanistan, Burundi, Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, Rwanda, Somalia, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe. The close match between that list and the list of the world's political hot spots today is no accident." Jared Diamond argues that if the U.S. wants to avoid another September 11th, it needs to use direct aid to improve the public health systems, the environments and the family planning programs of troubled countries. This hour: Jared Diamond on preventing another 9/11.

Guests:

Jared Diamond, professor of physiology and public health at UCLA

author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies"