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Serbia-Hungary Border Crisis a Challenge for the EU

Mstyslav Chernov
A line of Syrian refugees crossing the border of Hungary and Austria on their way to Germany. Hungary, Central Europe, 6 September 2015

The crisis at the Serbia-Hungary border continues, as the Hungarian government closes the border, leaving hundreds of refugees and migrants stranded.

On this politics day edition of River to River, political experts Jim McCormick and Wayne Moyer talk with Ben Kieffer about the migrant crisis.

"This is really a human tragedy, and the international system hasn't been very willing to act promptly," says McCormick. "I'm kind of surprised that the United Nations hasn't been a little bit more involved in this, but this is really a challenge for the European Union. They supposedly have this system of the European Commission and Council of Ministers where they can coordinate and make decisions across national boundaries, but this has really fragmented the union."

McCormick and Moyer also discuss Russian military aid to Syria, the Republicans’ last attempt to block the Iran Nuclear deal, and North Korea’s restarting of its nuclear bomb fuel plants.

And, as 11 candidates prepare for tonight’s main GOP debate, each political expert gives their prediction on how the debate will go and how each candidate will fare.

"If it turns into kind of a food fight without any order to it, I think that will turn off people," says McCormick. "I'm not sure that that's going to be an advantage to any of the candidates, except maybe Trump because that's sort of been his style, not to delve into issues, but to attack others and dominate the scene."

Since Trump has been dominating the scene recently, Moyer expects some heated discussion at tonight's debate.

"Bush, Rubio, and Kasich are so far back, so far down that they almost have to come after Trump, Fiorina as well," Moyer says. "So I think there will be strong incentive to make it into a food fight."

Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River