Deep Background on Ukraine and Russia

Posted inForeign Policy, politics

This week, Russia invaded the Ukraine sparking the largest land assault on the European continent since World War Two. The markets went into turmoil. The price of oil and gas went up. Political and media establishments scrambled to act on what’s next.  Biden moved 7000 US troops to the Polish-Ukrainian border and NATO is expected to send more troops. In cities across Russia, antiwar protestors took to the streets to protest Vladimir Putin’s war with over 2000 being arrested. Finally, the Biden administration and allies have begun a sanctions war against Russia’s people, it’s elite institutions and Putin himself.

Listen in: https://apple.co/3sn9w4T

In our latest episode, we go deep into the history of the Ukraine-Russian conflict and the bipartisan involvement by the U.S. ruling class.  We discuss the break up of the Soviet Union, the expansion of the North American Treaty Organization (NATO), the role of the 1999 war in Kosovo in all of this and the Russian invasion of the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2008. Most importantly, we talk about how U.S. foreign policy has sought to contain Russia and wield economic and political influence over Europe and the former Soviet republics.

The Capital Riot and the Persistence of the Old Regime

Posted inpolitics

A year ago, former President Donald Trump (the guy that LOST the election by 7 million votes) screamed and cried about a stolen election. At a giant rally on the Washington D.C. mall on January 6th, Trump encouraged the crowds to join a pre-organized attack on the Capital and try to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election.

Listen in: https://apple.co/3JQwesS

You’ve seen the images of Trump supporters attacking Capital and DC police, trashing the building and hunting Vice-President Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, AOC and others. Five people (including a cop) were killed and millions of dollars of damage were incurred to the building.

80,000,000 Bombs in Laos: A Conversation with Sera Koulabdara of “Legacies of War”

Posted inForeign Policy, Peoples' History, Uncategorized

In this episode, Bob had a conversation with Executive Director Sera Koulabdara (@SeraKoulabdara) of “Legacies of War” about the 50+ year crisis of unexploded ordnance (UXOs) in Laos.  Scott was away on assignment.

Listen: https://bit.ly/LegaciesGandR

At the same time as it was attacking Vietnam, the U.S. conducted a “secret war” against Laos through the air, dropping 2 million tons of bombs as part of its “sideshow” to the main war against the Vietnamese Revolution.   Included in that massive campaign were 270,000,000 cluster bombs, smaller bombs–about baseball-sized–or “bomblets” that often did not detonate.  So today, decades after the war ended, about 80,000,000 bombs remain in Laos.

The Limits of Trump’s Power and the Left’s failure to respond to i‪t‬.

Posted inUncategorized

In this episode, we offer a postmortem on Trump’s presidency and the limits of his power.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/LimitsTrumpGandR

The “opposition” gave Trump powers that he never had.  He was never popular, his positions never had close to majority approval, his own judges and GOP officials rebuked him, and, as we’ve talked about plenty, the

Impeachment: The Democrats Botch it Again

Posted inUncategorized

cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable

By Bob Buzzanco

Five Dead. Lighting-fast trial. Dems rely on Republicans to “have spine.” No witnesses called. GOP on the ropes but given new life.

Donald Trump incited a violent crowd to storm the capitol, with dozens of police injured and five people killed. Large majorities of Americans believed he was responsible for the assault and the damages.  He was quickly impeached and now he’s been, predictably, acquitted by Senate Republicans who really didn’t even need to try to make up any good reasons for their vote.

Everyone has seen this played out before, several times.  Trump commits some heinous deed and gets off the hook.  Liberals and the Left ramp up their outrage and hatred of Trump, and he doubles down, ultimately to the point of inspiring people to violently attack the Capitol and the “blue lives” they claim to cherish.

Perhaps instead of always blaming Trump, the Democrats should look elsewhere, like inward, to analyze these situations.

Post-Mortem on Donald Trump: “He was more limited in power than we imagined.”

Posted inUncategorized

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 1, 2021
Contact: Professor Robert Buzzanco, buzzanco@yahoo.com or text at 713.269.1508. Available for interviews, podcasts, etc.

Post-Mortem on Donald Trump: “He was more limited in power than we imagined.”

Donald Trump and his MAGA-Movement are still in the eye of the storm. He’s facing impeachment and struggling to find lawyers, yet the GOP continues to cling to him and support him and new acolytes like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene are filling the hard-right conspiratorial space he lived in the past four years.

Donald Trump instilled cult-like loyalty among his supporters and deep dread and anxiety in political enemies.  It gave them all the image than he possessed great power, controlled the state, and could dominate American life.

Choosing Democracy with Direct Action Organizer Eileen Flanagan

Posted inUncategorized

In our latest episode, we have a lively discussion with Eileen Flanagan (@eileenflanagan) of Choose Democracy about mass organizing efforts to defend democracy from Trump.

Listen here: https://bit.ly/DemocracyGandR

We discuss their efforts to recruit and prepare thousands to hit the streets, taking advantage of “cracks” in ruling class institutions, like Wall Street and the military, and turning anxiety about Trump remaining in power into action.  We also discussed longer term organizing efforts around climate justice and challenging white supremacy.

Andrew Bacevich on the Military and Trump, the current crisis, and what to expect from Biden’s foreign policy

Posted inUncategorized

In  this episode, Bob interviews Professor Andrew Bacevich (@AndrewBacevich) about the extraordinary involvement in electoral  politics by Trump and the military, the military public repudiation of  the president, racial and hate group problems in the armed forces,  civil-military relations, the appoint of General Lloyd Austin as Defense  Secretary, what to expect from Biden’s foreign policy team–essentially  putting the Obama band back together–the nuclear deal with Iran, the  insane attacks on Cuba, and a new Cold War between the U.S. and China.

Listen in: https://bit.ly/MilitaryTrumpGandR

Andrew Bacevich is an emeritus  professor at Boston University and President of the Quincy Institute for  Responsible Statecraft.  He’s also the author of several books on U.S.  foreign policy and one of the foremost critics of America’s war and  interventionism for decades now.  He is also a retired colonel in the  U.S. Army, armored cavalry.  And he’s a frequent columnist in The  Nation, as well as many other publications.

Capitol Hill Riots and The Ruling Class

Posted inUncategorized

And we thought 2020 was bumpy. In this fresh episode, we talk about the shocks happening in the liberal democratic capitalist system–How the ruling class is destabilized by Trump and the far right actions at Capitol Hill this week, and how they are responding to maintain order and their own power as quickly as possible.  It’s an analysis you won’t find in many other place, if anywhere.

Listen: https://bit.ly/RiotsRulingClassGandR

This Is Not a Coup

Posted inUncategorized

cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable

The Treachery of (Words and) Images

Wednesday’s events were horrible, dangerous, infuriating, and predictable.  People with weapons easily breached the Capitol, gallows were hung (perhaps performative, perhaps not), and people were attacked and some died.  The country was stunned, and both establishment and social media have been deeming this Trump’s “coup” or an “insurrection” from the first.  It’s hard to talk about this. Trump is horrid, detestable, and dangerous, and any time you try to reel the rhetoric back, you can be accused of being an apologist for a cruel, racist, inhuman bigot who happens to be president—which all makes sense. But doing awful things doesn’t mean we have fascism, and vandals and thugs breaking into a sacred public building doesn’t mean we’ve had a coup. There’s no saving grace to any of this, but it needs to be viewed clearheaded and coldblooded.