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Congresses and Parliaments

The World Next Week: The Sequester Looms, Pope Benedict XVI Steps Down, and the Academy Awards Does Foreign Policy

<p>Barack Obama discusses the budget cuts scheduled to take effect next week (Larry Downing/Courtesy Reuters).</p>
Barack Obama discusses the budget cuts scheduled to take effect next week (Larry Downing/Courtesy Reuters).

By experts and staff

Published
  • James M. LindsayCFR Expert
    Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy

The World Next Week podcast is up. Bob McMahon and I discussed the sequester, Pope Benedict XVI’s farewell, and the foreign policy-themed films nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.

[audio: https://www.cfr.org/content/publications/media/editorial/2013/20130221_T…]

The highlights:

For more on the topics we discussed in the podcast check out:

The sequester threatens to inflict massive funding cuts: The Washington Post has a comprehensive guide to the sequester, specifics on what programs would be hardest hit, and details on how the Pentagon is responding to potential cuts to the defense budget. Time reports on how the sequestration debate is separating fiscal conservatives from the other wings of the Republican Party.

The pope steps down: BBC News profiles the frontrunners in the search for the next pope. The Washington Post discusses Benedict XVI’s changes to papal election rules and the danger of gridlock. CNN describes conclave voting procedures and measures against fraud. NBC News writes on the influence American cardinals will have in choosing the next pope.

Foreign-policy-themed films get Oscar nominations: The New York Times writes on the conflicted relationship between politics and filmmaking. The Los Angeles Times reports on the controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty’s depiction of torture. The Huffington Post highlights truths and inaccuracies in Zero Dark Thirty and Argo.