When the New York Times reported last month that Wal-Mart had brazenly been bribing government officials in Mexico, the public responded with anger. According to the Washington Post, the outcry forced the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to slow its campaign to water down the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the 1977 law that bars payoffs to foreign decision-makers in exchange for business. The agitation also led to a 5 percent drop in the price of Wal-Mart stock.

As Silicon Valley hones its political agenda, Marvin Ammori has become the go-to First Amendment guy--as evidenced in January, when he helped destroy PIPA and SOPA. His method: "You're only going to win if you have better ideas, better persuasion, and better ability to organize people."

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The meaning of Russian President Vladimir Putin's third term and updates on immigration policy and trends are topics for discussion in this week’s podcast.  Host Pamela Chan is joined by Schwartz Fellows Steve Levine and Tamar Jacoby.  

To learn more about today’s topics, check out:

Steve’s blog, The Oil and the Glory (http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/ ) and book, Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia (http://www.amazon.com/Putins-Labyrinth-Spies-Murder-Russia/dp/0812978412)

“That’s just not an option,” according to Liza Mundy, the author of a biography of Michelle Obama as well as a more recent book called “The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love, and Family.” “Women don’t expect to marry up and can’t marry up. Now that we have more college education than men, marrying up is laughable, and even women marrying laterally is becoming more difficult.”

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