John Fortier, resident scholar at the America Enterprise Institute and Jim Kessler, executive vice president for Policy at Third Way, talk with host Carol Castiel about the fallout from a violent assault on the US Capitol by supporters of US President Donald Trump as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s electoral victory; the results of Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections which gave Democrats effective control of the Senate and the legislative agenda of the new 117th Congress.

JFrom the coronavirus pandemic to the US elections, Linda Feldmann, Washington Bureau Chief for the Christian Science Monitor and Emily Tamkin, US editor of the “New Statesman,” discuss the top stories and themes of 2020 with host Carol Castiel on this edition of Encounter.

On this year-end edition of Encounter, host Carol Castiel presents excerpts from our most memorable programs in 2020. From the politics of the coronavirus pandemic to protests against excessive police violence to US election results, we present key highlights from 2020.

What is the relationship between Washington’s formal recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of the Western Sahara and Rabat’s agreement to normalize relations with Israel? Host Carol Castiel talks with North Africa expert William Lawrence, professor of international affairs at American University, and Rob Satloff, Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, about the implications of this US-brokered deal for the parties to the Western Sahara dispute and for the Middle East peace process.

On this Latin American edition of Encounter, host Carol Castiel talks with Eric Farnsworth, Vice President of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society, and Ryan Berg, research fellow specializing in Latin America at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), about the results and ramifications of the December 6 Venezuelan legislative elections, widely viewed as fraudulent by the United States, Europe and the majority of Latin American countries.