INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

FRONTLINE WORLD: STORIES FROM A SMALL PLANET

VCR No. 4119, 2003, 52 mins.

Nigeria, the Road North - What the Miss World riots in Nigeria reveal about a divided country. FRONTLINE/World reporter and producer Alexis Bloom and co-producer Cassandra Herrman land in Nigeria just as the Miss World contest gets under way. A riot breaks out, hundreds die and the beauty contestants flee. In the aftermath, the plight of Amina Lawal, a woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery, seems all the more telling.

North Korea, Suspicious Minds - Traveling in North Korea as tourists, BBC reporter Ben Anderson and cinematographer Wills Daws peek past the sights planned for them on their guided tour and develop surprising rapport with their ideologically pure official minders.

Iceland: the Future of Sound – A hunt to find some of the most innovative pop music on the planet.

FRONTLINE: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

VCR No. 4021, 2003, 60 mins.

Investigates the roots of the Islamic terrorist network, and the anti-American hatred that feeds it, and traces how the trajectories of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri met in the mountains of Afghanistan. The roots of the hatred are not found in Afghanistan but in the lands of two crucial U.S/. allies in the Islamic world: Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Although this documentary was produced approximately a year ago (2001), the background material and assessment by government and congressional officials of intelligence failings are valid today.

MEDIA AND SOCIETY SEMINARS: THE MILITARY AND THE NEWS MEDIA
VCR Nos. 3365-H - 3368-H, 1984-1991, var. lengths

In this series of four seminars conducted by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, panelists discuss the relationship between the military and the news media. They use hypothetical situations but face real issues and draw on their own personal experience. Participants include former General Alexander Haig, John Chancellor, Ben Bradlee, Jody Powell, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Meg Greenfield, James Schlessinger, Admiral James Service and Senator William Cohen.

CORRESPONDENTS UNDER FIRE (VCR No. 3365-H, 1984, 59 mins.)
Harvard Law Professor Arthur Miller conducts this session on the press' role in reporting military operations and its interactions with U.S. military personnel and political leaders.

A QUESTION OF ACCESS (VCR No. 3366-H, 1984, 59 mins.)
Moderated by Benno D. Schmidt, this session examines the issues surrounding the U.S. invasion of Grenada by using a scenario where the U.S. is involved in a planned invasion of a hypothetical Central American country.

A MATTER OF INTELLIGENCE (VCR No. 3367-H, 1984, 59 mins.)
Charles Nesson leads the discussion of this hypothetical case study which illustrates the hard choices involved in keeping secrets in an open society. It explores the issue of military security versus the public's right to a free press.

THE AGONY OF DECISION (VCR No. 3368-H, 1991, 88 mins.)
Former U.S. Representative to the UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense and Energy, and other panelists discuss what news should and should not report about a military campaign, how TV news changes perceptions about war, and other issues.

NIXON’S CHINA GAME

The American Experience Series

VCR No. 4081, 2000, 60 mins.

It stunned and shocked America, its allies, and its enemies -- a secret White House initiative, spearheaded by Henry Kissinger, that led to a diplomatic breakthrough. Watch history unfold as President Richard Nixon embarks in February 1972 for Beijing and an encounter with Mao Tse-tung. See this momentous event through the testimony of key witnesses and recently declassified records.

RACE FOR THE SUPERBOMB

The American Experience Series

VCR No. 4079, 1999, 120 mins.

Action, adventure, chills and thrills keep you on the edge of your seat as you witness first-hand the race to build a mass destroyer. In this spy-thriller Cold War epic, you travel back in time to August 1945, when the Cold War was just beginning. Caught in a web of destruction, scientists at home and in the Soviet Union are racing to build the hydrogen bomb. Edward Teller, the inventor, is defending the bomb as a deterrent to a Soviet attack.

UNDER ORDERS, UNDER FIRE
Ethics in America series
VCR No. 3173-H, 1987, 2 pts., 58 mins. each

Part I: How do modern armies wage war when the enemy dresses as civilians and children throw bombs? Generals William Westmoreland, David Jones and Brent Scowcroft, correspondents Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace, and others question the duty to follow orders and a commander's obligation to protect soldiers.
Part II: The carnage at My Lai, during the Vietnam War, raises the issue of confidentiality between a soldier, his religious confessor, and military justice. Generals and chaplains debate the issues.

THE MIDDLE EAST

BEHIND THE HATRED

VCR No. 4026-4028, 2003, 50 mins. each.

Understand the long history of terrorism in the Middle East and the historic role America has played in negotiating for peace in this thorough examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Co-produced with BBC News, New York Times Television and NBC News, this program offers a fresh perspective on the history, politics and social issues behind the conflict, including suicide bombings. Through expert interviews, archival footage, and in-depth historical studies, learn why cooperation has been so elusive and what barriers still exist to peace. 3 epsiodes on 3 videos, 50 minutes each.

THE ROOTS OF CONFLICT (VCR No. 4026)
Through interviews with renowned historians, key historical figures and archival footage, uncover the roots of conflict in the Middle East, noting the parallels between past and present. Understand the role America has played in the peace process and the challenges of negotiation.

MORTAL ENEMIES (VCR No. 4027)
Through the interwoven life stories of Sharon and Arafat, examine the current chaos in Israel and the West Bank through the lens of two men's antagonism: their shared experiences, their ambitions, betrayals and moments of triumph. In original interviews, the closest comrades-in-arms and the fiercest of enemies paint vivid portraits of these two extraordinary figures.

MIDDLE EAST: THE FIGHT FOR PEACE (VCR No. 4028)
Peace in the Middle East has long seemed an unattainable goal. Delve into the Middle East peace initiatives from the Oslo Accords in 1993 to the present to see how a stumbling peace process has dashed the hopes of both peoples. Examine the apparently immutable obstacles to peace, from land to borders to security to refugees.

BEHIND THE HEADLINES: THE REAL SADDAM

VCR No. 4025, 2003, 52 mins.

Meet Saddam Hussein, the world's most oppressive leader. Born on April 28, 1937 on the Tigris River with no running water, no electricity and apparently no hope for the future, Hussein was the product of dirt-poor uneducated peasants in a destitute tribal village. He grew up at a time of radical upheavals in Iraq and throughout the world.
Hussein's father was absent from birth, leaving his mother and abusive stepfather to raise him. He learned early to trust only his true family and their tribal values, a belief system that still colors his worldview.
Now, take a glimpse at a rarely seen side of Saddam Hussein...His favorite movie is The Godfather and his favorite book, "The Old Man and the Sea”. He's a Stalin buff yet considers himself sentimental and cries easily! And the more conceivable - he moves around constantly and secretly, sleeps only in brief snatches and has his food tested for poison.
Catch the documentary that attempts to explain how Saddam acquired and continues to use the power he so brutally wields.

BEHIND THE HEADLINES: UNDERSTANDING IRAQ

VCR No. 4030, 2003, 52 mins.

Examine Iraq's tumultuous history through the eyes and voice of veteran network correspondent Forrest Sawyer. His unique perspective helps unravel the cutthroat politics that have shaped Saddam Hussein and the tribal rivalries of Iraq's Kurds and the Sunni Shi'ia Muslims.
During the Persian Gulf crisis, Sawyer spent eight months in the Middle East - from the early days of the confrontation through the post-war aftermath in Kurdestan - reporting from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Jordan. Sawyer currently serves as an anchor and contributor for NBC and MSNBC.
This program explores and documents America's tortured relationship with Iraq and grapples with the question of what might happen to Iraq if Saddam is forced out of office. Plus, peer into the Iraqi people, who are surprisingly westernized and secular, yet living in poverty.

FIRE AND WATER

VCR No. 4024, 2003, 56 mins.

The story of Dr. Hussain Shahristani, once Saddam Hussein’s Chief Nuclear Scientist and now one of his foremost dissidents, and his remarkable family. While Dr. Shahristani served eleven years of a life sentence in an Iraqi Prison for refusing to build Saddam a nuclear bomb, his Canadian wife Bernie Holtom stood by his side and raised their children. During the Gulf War he and his family escaped to freedom, and they now run an organization to monitor the ongoing human rights abuses in Iraq.

FRONTLINE: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

VCR No. 4021, 2003, 60 mins.

FRONTLINE: MUSLIMS

VCR No. 4117, 2003, 120 mins.

This portrait of ordinary Muslims in six countries around the world shows the diversity in how their faith intertwines with their lives, identities and politics.

Egypt - a country threatened by severe social and economic pressures, scholars of Islam like Sheik Muawith Mabrook Abbas steadfastly counsel Muslims to abide by the tenets and practices of their faith.

Nigeria - Attorney Muzzammil Sani Hanga defends the harsh penal code of Islamic (Sharia) law. He explains why tens of thousands of Nigerians support its reimplementation.

America – Two different Muslim-American stories: a young New York City professional woman who, after Sept. 11, acted to confront anti-Muslim prejudice, and an African-American convert to Islam who tries to resolve tensions within the Muslim community, as well as between Muslims and non-Muslim.

Malaysia - stories of two activist women who are challenging traditional interpretations of Islamic text which discriminate against women.

Turkey - the government has banned the wearing of the hijab, the headscarf, in public. What do university women say about this restriction on how they may practice their religion, and why does the government fear the hijab?

Iran - a glimpse of the daily life of one of Iran’s 300 ayatollahs, providing a paradox of an Iran turning toward modernity and change, while still locked in strict traditional Islam.

operations.

“I AM JOSEPH YOUR BROTHER”
VCR No. 4113, 2001, 59 mins.

A documentary film broadcast on ABC-TV, which follows the dramatic changes in the relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people over the past half century, culminating in the pilgrimage of Pop John II to Israel in the year 2000.

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN REPORTING: SEARCHING FOR THE ROOTS OF 9/11

VCR No. 4029, 2003, 52 mins.

Join three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman as he tries to answer two of the most puzzling questions to come out of 9/11: What drove 19 young, middle-class Muslim men to give up their lives to murder almost 3,000 people? And - perhaps more important - why does their violent act elicit so much support from millions of ordinary Muslims throughout the world?

The answers lie deep in the Middle East, where the contradictory feelings of so many Muslims are laid bare: deep admiration for America's freedom and standard of living, combined with profound anger at what they see as our arrogant behavior in that part of the world. Travel to Indonesia and Qatar where Muslim students bristle at the notion of increased U.S. support for Israeli violence against Palestinians, and yet gleefully express their eagerness to enroll in American universities. Watch as Friedman - who boasts 25 years of experience reporting on the Muslim world - debates a radical Palestinian on Al Jazeera television, then takes viewers on a grim walk through the streets of the very same Cairo neighborhood that produced Mohammad Atta - the leader of the September 11 attacks. And, yet, change is afoot. Journey to the tiny Arab nation of Bahrain where a free, parliamentary election is underway - complete with women candidates - and meet the editors of an independent newspaper that's free from government censorship. Friedman's investigative work reveals that there is a true and undeniable yearning for freedom in the Muslim world. Could it be that the most profound effects of 9/11 will be felt - not in America - but in the Middle East, where the shock waves released since those two towers went down have jump started an urgent conversation about reconciling Islam with democracy?

Updated: February þ2008