The U.S. Empire and Ukraine w/ Prof. Clinton Fernandes

Posted inForeign Policy, politics

Our latest episode on the Ukraine is a wide-ranging conversation with our good friend Prof. Clinton Fernandes on the U.S. empire and Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. We discuss Russia and Putin’s adventures in Georgia and Ukraine to the lack of strategic empathy from the West (particularly the U.S.). We break down the motives of the U.S. drive to expand NATO and encircle Russia, and the effect it has on global politics.

Listen to part one here: https://apple.co/3I9zY6v

Listen to Part Two Here: https://apple.co/3JlgYn7

We discuss the tensions in the South China Sea and the impact of the Ukraine conflict on Australia’s coming election. Finally, we get an update on Clinton’s law suit trying to get the Australian government to release documents showing intelligence agencies supporting Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973.

War Pigs: Ukraine and the History of the Military-Industrial Complex

Posted inForeign Policy, Peoples' History

Recently, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes reported to his shareholders, “[W]e are seeing, I would say, opportunities for international sales. We just have to look to last week where we saw the drone attack in the UAE, which have attacked some of their other facilities. And of course, the tensions in Eastern Europe, the tensions in the South China Sea, all of those things are putting pressure on some of the defense spending over there. So I fully expect we’re going to see some benefit from it.”  While lauded in the press for his comments, Hayes’ thinking embodies structures established by government and private industry for over a hundred years.

Listen in: https://apple.co/34cn5KZ

Beyond Good vs Bad: More Background on Ukraine and Russia

Posted inForeign Policy, Materialism and Economics, politics

We’ve got another briefing on the larger contexts of the current  conflict between Ukraine and Russia.  Sure, Putin is a horrible and  brutal force in the world and the attack on Ukraine is indefensible, but  we ignore the larger contexts at our own peril.

Listen in: https://apple.co/3hoJ5p5

We talk about the impact of the breakup of the USSR, the privatization of the Russian economy, the sense of western/NATO encirclement felt by  Russia, and U.S-Russia-Ukraine economic and trade relations.

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.

Col. Andrew Bacevich on the Deepening Crisis in Ukraine

Posted inForeign Policy

Rising tensions in eastern Europe between the U.S. and Russia over the Ukraine have dominated the news.  We discuss the situation with scholar and retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich.   We discussed why the U.S. is so concerned, and hawkish, about Russia and Ukraine–Russophobia?   We talked about the role of NATO in this current crisis.  We talked about the many more pressing issues the U.S. should focus on–like inflation, COVID, the surveillance state, and especially Climate Change!

Listen in: https://apple.co/35CTESB

It’s a great conversation with one of America’s leading intellectuals and critics of foreign policy.

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.

Dr. Ussama Makdisi on Sheikh Jarra, Gaza and the Israeli Colonization of Palestine

Posted inUncategorized

Beginning on May 9th, the Israeli Defense Force attacked Palestinian populations in Gaza for 11 days leaving 250 dead (including 66 children), more than 1700 injured and over 6000 homeless. This most recent attack by the Israelis was in relation to Israeli settler provocations against Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

We talk with Dr. Ussama Makdisi (@UssamaMakdisi) about the history of Israeli colonization and displacement of the Palestinian people. How the U.S. supports Israel with $3.8 billion a year in military aid while trying to appear as a “mediator” in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Israeli propaganda machine targeting of critics and journalists of Israel in the U.S.

Listen: http://bit.ly/PalestineGandR

Is Your Outrage Pure?

Posted inUncategorized

cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable

by Prof. Bob Buzzanco

Planned Election Protests Shouldn’t Have Been Postponed

First, there’s not going to be a “coup” or any other type of stolen election.  The hysterics surrounding this issue have frankly become embarrassing on the Left.  No reason to go into the particulars here (though I did in a lengthy piece a few weeks ago), but it’s not going to happen.  Trump won’t be president after January 20th, 2021.

But coup-or-no-coup is a pretty weak line on gauging political success. The standard for Pass/Fail shouldn’t be the worst possible outcome—the actual theft of government power.  The way some people are sizing this up, anything short of tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue flying Confederate flags with the Proud Boys and Q him- or her-self leading the attack with Kid Rock providing the marching music would be a victory.

The Big Five-Oh Pt 2. “Where Does the Left Go From Here?”

Posted inUncategorized

Our fiftieth episode was such a BFD, that we made it a two parter.

Listen here: https://apple.co/3krciyK

In part two, we get into the aftermath of the election and discuss where do we go from here when 70 million Americans voted for the racist and right-wing policies of Donald Trump, the Democrats’ “Misleadership Class” that continues to fail masses of people, the Coup That Wasn’t and how grassroots organizers saved the day.