Nation in the News | The Nation

Dennis Rodman, the tattooed NBA Hall of Famer, just paid a visit to North Korea—and no, that’s not an Onion headline. What does this mean for US–North Korean relations? “It’s a dangerous moment,” The Nation’s Dave Zirin says, “so if Dennis Rodman, with his clownish antics, or what have you, can even provide the slightest speck of daylight where we’re talking about this country in terms other than demonizing them, he has actually done more than a lot of diplomats have.” Zirin joins ESPN’s Outside the Lines to discuss the meaning and precedent of Rodman’s visit.

—James Cersonsky

Congress’s budgetary mess is “stoked by a group of players who operate within the Republican Party,” The Nation’s John Nichols says. “What we desperately need right now is, frankly, a Ronald Reagan or a Barry Goldwater or a William F. Buckley—somebody who will stand up to the irrational section of that party.” Nichols joins Hardball with Chris Matthews to forecast the showdown between the Obama administration and the Party of Boehner. 

—James Cersonsky

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires districts with a history of disenfranchising people of color to get federal approval before changing their voting procedures, is currently under review by the Supreme Court. As Nation writer Ari Berman argues, the petition against Section 5 is part of a growing movement to suppress the minority vote. “You’ve had a concerted effort to pour a lot of money into groups whose express goal and purpose is to challenge laws like the Voting Rights Act,” he says. Appearing on Washington Journal, Berman goes head-to-head with the Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky to debate how far the United States has come since 1965. 

Bahrain feels like a “nation under occupation” following the second anniversary of the start of the uprising there, as mercenary police hassle drivers at checkpoints and fill the air with tear gas, reports Sharif Abdel Kouddous, a fellow at the Nation Institute.

After a policeman shot and killed a teenager at close range last week, thousands of people attended his funeral, chanting “Down with Hamad,” the country’s US-backed ruler, and “I’m the next martyr,” he told Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on Democracy Now!