Politics

On this week’s media roundtable, we’ll have a conversation with Luke Harding, the Guardian's former Russian correspondent, about his new book Mafia State: How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia. Last February, Harding was deported from Russia after after he reported that leaked US diplomatic cables described Russia as a "virtual mafia state." What do you want to know about Vladimir Putin's Russia? Where did you see the best reporting this week? It’s Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:

Luke Harding, an award-winning foreign correspondent with the Guardian. He has reported from Delhi, Berlin and Moscow and has covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.

Web Resources:

(Sacramento Bee) // Just after it was revealed that California faces a budget deficit of $16 billion, how and when to pay crippling pension costs has become a major public debate. The California Public Employees' Retirement System voted to raise the annual state payment for state worker pensions by $213 million to a total of $3.7 billion, despite Governor Jerry Brown’s recommendation for an even bigger increase to avoid accruing more debt. The decision came as an attempt to diffuse the projected blow of lower investment returns in the upcoming fiscal year...

(San Jose Mercury News) // On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear a case determining whether the State Bar has the authority to allow an undocumented immigrant to practice law. Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant who graduated from Chico State University and a Florida law school, passed the Bar exam in 2009...