Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ari Rabin-Havt, deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign, joins me for a brief 20 minute about his new campaign memoir The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders. Rabin-Havt provides not only a behind-the-scenes look at the Sanders campaign but also a rare glimpse into the passionate Vermont Senator himself that gets beyond what one saw from him in televised appearances, town halls, and Presidential debates. Most of this conversation focuses on how Bernie developed a greater confidence in his foreign policy views and detailing his fight to pass the Yemen War Powers Act/Resolution alongside seemingly unlikely allies Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). We also discuss Bernie's 2018 lunch with then Iranian foreign minister Javad Zaraf, an anecdote about Bernie Sanders and America's most prominent Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Bernie's love of mo-town, an exchange between Barack Obama and Bernie that illustrates Bernie's principles, and an amusing story involving Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus. Be sure to pick of The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders as this only covers a small slice of a book that is a fast-paced, rollicking read throughout. In the second segment of the show, former Senior Federal Reserve official Thomas M. Hoenig joins me to discuss the aftermath of the global financial crisis and his opposition to Quantitative Easing, "Too Big To Fail Banks", and support for a new, modernized Glass-Steagall Act to break up mega-banks. As listeners of Parallax Views may recall, Hoenig was recently featured as the main protagonist of recent guest Christopher Leonard's The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Broke the American Economy. In the second segment of the show, former Senior Federal Reserve official Thomas M. Hoenig joins me to discuss the aftermath of the global financial crisis and his opposition to Quantitative Easing, "Too Big To Fail Banks", and support for a new, modernized Glass-Steagall Act to break up mega-banks. As listeners of Parallax Views may recall, Hoenig was recently featured as the main protagonist of recent guest Christopher Leonard's The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Broke the American Economy. In Leonard's book, which covers the Federal Reserve's policies in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, Hoenig is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City who consistently (and in opposition to other Federal Reserve officials) votes "No" on proposed policies. Although painted as being merely an "anti-inflation hawk", Leonard says this is a misrepresentation and that Hoenig saw how Quantitative Easing was hurting rather than helping the ordinary citizens of Main Street America. In this conversation, Hoenig explains exactly how he saw policies like Quantitative Easing and the belief in "Too Big To Fail Banks" as having negative consequences for ordinary America. Hoenig is unfiltered in the course of our discussion and expresses his pro-market views, small "c" conservative views while also noting the ways in which some of his views have overlapped with liberal and left-wing figures like Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown. This conversation doesn't get into a debate about politics, but rather allows Hoenig to express his views. All in all it is hope by Parallax Views that this is seen as a fascinating discussion with a former major figure from the Federal Reserve who now serves as a Distinguished Fellow for the Mercatus Center.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olum (also occasional contributor to Jacobin) joins Parallax Views to discuss the Al-Aqsa Mosque uprising and his views on the history of Israel/Palestine. The conversation covers a great number of topics including the death of liberal and socialist Zionism, Rabbi Meier Kahane and Kahanism in Israel, Israel as a national security state, Hamas, Naftali Bennett, the language used in the discourse on Israe/Palestine, the role of religion in Israel, U.S. policy towards Israel and what Silverstein sees as its toothlessness, the defilement of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam's third holiest site), debates over the merits of armed Palestinian resistance, Richard's views on J Street, "both sides-ism" and the problem of it, the Temple Mount, occupied territory or disputed territory and the narratives about Israel/Palestine, the one democratic state solution, terror attacks, unequal power and casualties, the secularism of the original Labor Zionists, the significance of 1967, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Cooke, Israel's reaction to Muslims at al-Aqsa, the mortally wounded Palestinian at Al-Aqsa hit bit rubber bullets, how the al-Aqsa situation could escalate into full-scale war, Gaza and the West Bank, Israeli border police at al-Aqsa Mosque, AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the two state solution, Kahane's desire for the return of Judea and total expulsion of Palestinians, religious end times-style extremism and the vision of a messianic era, the Israeli national security state, pushing back against criticisms of Israel just being antisemitism, Silverstein's vision of Judaism and its basis in ideas and ethical values as opposed to land and property, exploitation of religion for political aims, dealing with fact rather than conspiracy theories, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the independent genre film factory that is Charles Band's long running Full Moon Features has a quirky new sci-fi/fantasy adventure on the horizon that's of, shall we say, epic proportions. Although Full Moon's known for serving up pint-sized mayhem with such franchises as Puppet Master and Demonic Toys, they're going BIG this time around with Attack of the 50 Ft. Camgirl! A riff on the immortal 1958 B-movie classic Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, the film that may have created a million giantess fetishists w/ it's buxom star Allison Hayes, puts an Instagram influencer twist on the often-told science fiction tale of the gargantuan beauty run amuck and even features a showdown between not one but two glamorous Godzilla-sized gals. Joining me to discuss Full Moon's latest sci-fi/fantasy romp, are director Jim Wynorski and star Ivy Smith, making her acting debut as the titular 50 ft camgirl! First up is Ivy Smith, who talks a little bit about the film, the story of it, how she got into modeling, how she ended up as the 50 ft camgirl, the anxiety that comes with doing a nude scene, destroying miniatures in the climatic showdown of the giantesses, getting rude messages from men asking her to step on them (if you want to do that send money!) and working with director Jim Wynorski, producer Charles Band, and actresses Christine Nyugen and Lisa London among other things! Then, Jim Wynorksi comes on the program and chastisize me a bit for asking questions that aren't stupid enough. We talk about how Attack of the 50 ft Camgirl came to be, what he learned from maverick exploitation producer Roger Corman, why men are into the giantess fetish, his friendship with Traci Lords (who made her non-adult debut in Jim's 1988 remake of Not of This Earth), the legendary character of Orville Ketchum in Jim's cult classics Sorority House Massacre II and its sequel Hard to Die (as well as the interesting details on how those films got made!), Jim's sense of humor, how my original questions bored him to tears, his upcoming feature Bigfoot or Bust, working with Stormy Daniels and why he didn't like that experience, and more! All in all this is one of the sillier and weirder episodes of Parallax Views I've done to date! Many thanks to Chris Alexander and Full Moon Features for making it happen! And if any of my listeners are in Dallas, be sure to stop by Texas Frightmare Weekend where you can see the premiere of Attack of the 50ft Camgirl and meet both Full Moon head honcho Charles Bad and the beautiful, talented Ivy Smith (Friday only for Ivy!)! And be sure to check out Ivy Smith's Facebook page

On this edition of Parallax Views, Doug Bandow, former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and regular contributor to Antiwar.Com, The American Conservative, and Responsible Statecraft, joins me to discuss his trip to the Doha Forum in Qatar and the vibe there as well as President Joe Biden's "New World Order" speech. This leads us to a conversation about the potential slow decline and erosion of Pax Americana, the waning of U.S. dollar hegemony, and what it means for the average American citizen. Doug also speaks to the issue of the ceasfire in Yemen, the need for the U.S. to relearn diplomacy, not getting trapped in defending figures like Putin while opposing the U.S. foreign policy blob, rating Biden's response to the Ukraine crisis, and much, much more! In the second half of the program, we present a previously lost interview with Casey Chalk, who served in the military, joins me to discuss his The American Conservative article "The Somme And The Global War On Terror"about what we can learn from the German WWI soldier Ernst Junger through his recollectionsof the brutality of warfare in Storm of Steel. Junger has been accused of romanticizing war and was of a conservative, reactionary-bent politically, although he was critical of Nazis and the Third Reich. This conversation, which sees a left-leaning individual in dialogue with a conservative Catholic, attempts to deal with the human cost of war without getting bogged down in current issues like the American culture wars. It is a conversation I am proud of even if I find aspects of Junger problematic. I'm grateful it was saved from oblivion and offer my sincerest apologies to Casey Chalk for the extreme lateness of its publication (it was recorded in the aftermath of the Afghanistan withdrawal). I hope Casey will accept my apology.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Santa Claus is running for Congress! Hailing from North Pole, Alaska, where he's served as the President of the Chamber of Commerce and two terms in the City Council, the ordained monk who legally changed his name to Santa Claus and became a local legend for his work helping children in need is throwing himself into a carnival-esque Congressional race in Alaska that includes over 40 candidates including Sarah Palin. This real-life St. Nicholas isn't some joke candidate either. He's gone viral and is gaining grassroots support. Moreover he's a Santa Claus of the people who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist, supporter of Bernie Sanders, and proponent of Medicare4All. In a past life he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and did work on counter-terrorism. Through his life he's come to see what he calls the love vs. fear dynamic that holds us apart. With his run for congress he wants to inspire children across the world much like he did visiting them in orphanages, making videos for them during the COVID crisis, and more. In this conversation you'll learn the funny story about how President Obama got him to run for taxes as well as his stances on human rights, housing, medical marijuana, indigenous peoples, the wealth tax, and much, much more as well as the importance of making a difference to children in these polarizing times. It's a heartwarming, thoughtful episode of Parallax Views that you won't want to miss!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Candice Wuehle joins us to discuss her mind-bending novel Monarch, which combines mind control conspiracies, America's morbid fascination with dead girls and true crime, Norwegian folklore, and child beauty pageants to explore themes of identity formation, the violence of consumer society, patriarchy, memory, and trauma. Description of MONARCH: A Novel from Soft Skull Press: The cryptic worlds of Hanna and Stranger Things mingle with the dark humor of Dare Me in this debut novel about a teen beauty queen who discovers she’s been a sleeper agent in a deep state government program After waking up with a strange taste in her mouth and mysterious bruises, former child pageant star Jessica Clink unwittingly begins an investigation into a nefarious deep state underworld. Equipped with the eccentric education of her father, Dr. Clink (a professor of Boredom Studies and the founder of an elite study group known as the Devil’s Workshop), Jessica uncovers a disquieting connection between her former life as a beauty queen and an offshoot of Project MKUltra known as MONARCH. As Jessica moves closer to the truth, she begins to suspect the involvement of everyone around her, including her own mother, Grethe (a Norwegian pageant queen turned occult American wellness guru for suburban housewives). With the help of Christine (her black-lipsticked riot grrrl babysitter and confidante), Jessica sets out to take down Project MONARCH. More importantly, she must discover if her first love, fellow teen queen Veronica Marshall, was genuine or yet another deep state plant. Merging iconic true crime stories of the ’90s (Lorena Bobbitt, Nicole Brown Simpson, and JonBenét Ramsey) with theories of human consciousness, folklore, and a perennial cultural fixation with dead girls, MONARCH questions the shadow sides of self-concept: Who are you if you don’t know yourself? In this conversation we delve into a number of different aspects and themes from the book including the Project Monarch conspiracy theory and Cathy O'Brien's Trance Formation of America (and how Candice viewed it metaphorically rather than a factual account), cultural programming, the limits of feminism in the 1990s, heroin chic, the Barbie doll face on the cover of the novel, the pop culture image of a person vs. who they truly are, the occult, what freedom means in the context of the novel and why Candice believes freedom is harder to achieve than ever before, explaining the book's dedication "I wrote this book for women who survived and women who didn’t, but mostly I wrote it for those still somewhere in between", the role of "circles" and "spirals" in the main characters narration, what people don't understand about trauma, sex and liberation, the violence patriarchy commits against men as well as women, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ken Silva of the Epoch Times joined me to discuss his reporting on the FBI's PATCON (Patriot Conspiracy) operation, which attempted to infiltrate the far-right "Patriot"/militia movement in the early 1990s, and the questions that remain about the federal handling of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building aka the Oklahoma City Bombing on April 19th, 1995. Although Silva works for the admittedly very conservative Epoch Times he believes the story of PATCON should be of concern to everyone given the history of FBI operations like COINTELPRO. We discuss how the FBI set up front groups like the Veterans Aryan Movements to target militia/"Patriot" movement targets such as Tom Posey, a veteran who became radicalized after being thrown under the bus by the Reagan administration in the aftermath of Iran/Contra. We also delve into how the story of PATCON was first reported by extremism researcher J.M. Berger, then covered by a whistleblower in a heavily redacted Newsweek piece, and, rather critically, by Wend S. Painting in her book Aberration in the Heatland of the Real about Timothy McVeigh. Ken and I discuss how PATCON may have created blowback and even, potentially, contributed to aiding far-right wing activities in the lead up to the OKC bombing (PATCON was shuttered in 1993; two years before the bombing). We also dissect the rather complex story of the OKC bombing including the neo-nazi terrorist bank robbers known as the Aryan Republican Army, the private white nationalist city Elohim City and its mysterious head of security Andreas Strassmeir, the ongoing high-stakes case of Jesse Trentadue (whose brother Kenneth Michael Trentadue was founding hanging in a cell during the OKC bombing investigation) and how it relates to the case, a whistleblower who claims feds were involved in the incitement of extremist groups, Aryan Republican Army Donna Langan (formerly Peter Langan), the Wolverine Watchmen case and the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot, the possibility that the OKC bombing was the result of a failed sting operation (as opposed to other, more sensational theories claiming it was an "inside job" or had Iraqi connections), Ken's recent interview with Bob Ricks (FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge during the 1993 Waco Siege and FBI Special Agent in Charge during the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing investigation), ATF informant and white supremacist Carol Howe (who claims that she informed federal authorities of plans emanating from Elohim City to attack federal buildings in the lead up to the OKC bombing), United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, PATCON as a failure at best and having led to incitement at worst, the origins of the Patriot movement, domestic spying, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967 S. Michael Lynk joins us to discuss his latest report on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Dr. Lynk, who is also an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, describes how he wrote the report and the difficulties of writing due to roadblocks from both the pandemic and Israeli officials. We then begin to delve into the findings of the report with a focus on the shocking stories of settler violence detailed within, the unequal practice of law and policy in the OPT in regard to its Israeli and Palestinian citizens, housing demolition and the issue of collective punishment, "permanent occupation" as a legal paradox, international law, institutionalized systems of racial oppression and domination, the differences between what took place in apartheid South Africa and what is happening now in the Occupied Territories, and much, much more. Additionally, we do raise the issue of the "A" word, or apartheid, in the OPT. What does it mean? What does it entail? And why does Lynk's report employ the term. This specific UN report raises the issue of apartheid alongside a growing number of others in the past few years including B'tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. What does it all mean and what are Lynk's recommendations going forward? Also, what does the report mean when it calls for the United Nations to re-establish the Special Committee Against Apartheid and what are the broader ramifications of what is currently occurring in the OPT according to Lynk's report? All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!

On this edition of Parallax Views, famed Egyptologist (or as she puts it "recovering Egyptologist") Dr. Kara Cooney of UCLA joins us to explore her fascinating book The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World. Dr. Cooney describes herself as a recovering Egyptologist in order to consider the ways in which the cultural phenomena of Egyptomania may have a dark side that romanticizes and uncritically celebrates power. We discuss this as well as the parallels between King Ramsey II and Donald Trump, Orientalism, universalism vs. particularism, the problem of the Ancient Aliens narrative about the Pyramids (and why the Pharaohs would like that view), ancient Egypt's superiority complex and exceptionalism, the Pyramids as a weapon of the mind utilized by the kings, power and images, the Confederate Statues debate and how we can relate it to The Good Kings, the lamentations of the dead that take place in upper Egypt, who were the ancient people of Egypt beyond the Pharaohs (for example those who actually built the pyramids), the concept of Ma'at (related to truth and order) in ancient Egypt and its personification as a goddess, David Graeber and The Dawn of Everything, Pharaohs and authoritarianism (and autocracy), the Supreme Court and religion, and much, much more! Dr. Kara Cooney in front of one of the Pyramids in Egypt In the second segment of the show, Dr. Amineh Hoti, executive director of the Centre for Dialogue and the co-founder of the first Action and Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relation at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss her fascinating new book Gems and Jewels: The Religions of Pakistan. Like her father, previous Parallax Views guest Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Dr. Hoti has sought to bridge the gap of understanding between the East and West by fostering interfaith dialogue and understanding between different cultures and their religions. In this conversation we discuss such issues as Islamophobia and its impact; Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrianism (and the Parsi faith), Hindus, and other non-Muslim religious communities in Pakistan; Dr. Hoti's experiences teaching students who began as intolerant towards faith different than their own; Dr. Hoti's overcoming of cultural misogyny, chauvinism, and sexism and how Islam is for education of both women and men; the Sufi saint and poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai; how interfaith dialogue strengthens faith rather than degrading it; the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the effect it had on both the Muslim community and humanity as a whole; misunderstandings about Pakistan and the stereotypes of "the Other"; Sufism; the Orientalist romanticization of Sufism in the West; Ahuru Mazda, Zoroastrianism, and the misperception of the Parsi community as "fire worshippers" in Pakistan; Taxila and the deep roots of Buddhism in Pakistan; the Sikh community in Pakistan, the importance of Pakistan to Sikhism, and the story of Baba Guru Nanak; the temples; the temples of the Sindh province of Pakistan; Katas Raj Temples and the body of emerald green water beside it; meeting the Christians of Pakistan in Karachi at the St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas Day; the Sufi saints of Pakistan and writings like the Kashf Al-Mahjub; the love stories of Sufism; how the media presents religious communities to each other and how it leads to monolithic views of those religious communities; the Abrahamic God in Islam; Muslim-Hindu unity; the United Nations and the concept of soft speech vs. hate speech; and much, much more! The Katas Raj Temples and the body of emerald, green water beside it

On this edition of Parallax Views, independent scholar Wahid Azal joins Parallax Views to discuss the ideology of Russia's Aleksandr Dugin, which he describes as steeped in imperialism and occultism. Dugin has become known in the West as "Putin's Brain", but lost his academic job at Moscow State University in 2014 after essentially calling for genocide against Ukrainians. He is known for advocating what he calls the "Fourth Political Theory" and for writing the book The Foundations of Geopolitics, which had influence in the Russian military. Wahid makes the case that while Dugin is marginal in Russia and Ukraine, his ideology has been boosted throughout Europe through oligarch funding and in the U.S. thanks to a number of factors including Dugin's Rasputin-esque image being perfectly fitted for sensational, attention-grabbing headlines and features. In this conversation we discuss the underpinnings of Dugin's thought including the idea of Atlantacism, the role of the apocalypse in Dugin's worldview, the influence of Heidegger on Dugin, Dugin's connection to Traditionalism and how the influence of Heidegger on him is not in line with Traditionalism (we also discuss what Tradtionalism is from Rene Guenon to Julius Evola and how Dugin's thinking could be described as Counter-Traditionalism), Dugin's current interest in the Russian Orthodox Church and his previous interest in chaos magick, the neo-nazi Satanist group The Order of Nine Angles, the death of Azal's wife and how he believes Duginists may have been involved in it, explaining the meaning of Dugin's quote "We will cure you with poison" and its connection to alchemy, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, April 10th, 2022 would've marked the 43rd birthday of American peace activist Rachel Corrie. In 2003 she went to the Palestinian city of Rafa in Gaza alongside other activists in the International Solidarity Movement. On March 16th of that year she stood in front of a Palestinian home that was to be demolished by an Israeli Defense Forces armored bulldozer. Corrie was crushed to death by said bulldozer. Her death led to an international uproar and her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, sought justice and a full investigation. It has been 19 years since Rachel's passing. In order to remember her, tell her story, and explain what she was fighting for in her support for the plight of Palestinians in the occupied territories we're joined by her parents Cindy and Craig Corrie. Cindy and Craig relate Rachel's story and the events of March 16th, 2003.

On this edition of Parallax Views, investigative journalist Karim Zidan, whose work has been featured in Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and the MMA-news website Bloody Elbow, joins us to discuss the intersection between politics and Mixed Martial Arts from Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov's Akmat Fight Club to Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White's appearances on Fox News. We'll discuss how figures from Ted Cruz to Vladimir Putin are interested in MMA and how they attempt to use it politically. We also delve into such topics as sportswashing and propaganda, Abuzayed Vismuradov (the powerful Chechnya associated with Ramzan Kadyrov and the Akmat Fight Club who is known simply as "Patriot" and is considered one of Chechnya's most dangerous men), "The Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (and the shady history of his brother), self-described anarcho-communist fighter "The Snowman" Jeff Monson and his relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin, Conor MacGregor, Saudi Arabia and the WWE, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and much, access journalism in MMA reporting, unionization efforts and the UFC, and much, much more! In the second segment of the show, progressive sports journalist David Zirin joins the show to discuss the intersection of sports and politics more broadly and his latest book The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. We discuss how David began his now almost 20-year run of writing about politics and sports before delving into such issues as leftist aversion to sports, sports and nationalism (and militarism), cheerleaders who supported Black Lives Matter, the Kaepernick Effect as about the Effect even more so than Colin Kaepernick himself, the film National Champions and efforts of NCAA college football to receive fair compensation, exploitation of athletes by owners, and more!

From Failed State Update: Daniel Muessig, the "real-life Saul Goodman" on going to prison and America's unjust legal system Daniel Muessig is a Pittsburgh folk hero, mostly for this ad that he put together when he was kicking off his law practice: But the legal field is a tough racket. Tough enough, in fact, that Muessig eventually turned to some law-breaking of his own. Any day now he will go to prison for five years for conspiring to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and possession of marijuana. He was busted by an FBI task force who ID'd him through a wiretap. Of course, he broke the law. But should we be sending anyone to jail over marijuana? Read the rest and listen to the full podcast at Failed State Update

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Annelle Sheline, Research Fellow for the Middle East at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins us for an in-depth examination of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the role of the U.S. in supporting the 7-year long Saudi intervention that has led to instability there. Although a ceasefire is under way, that doesn't mean the conflict is over and Dr. Sheline believes now is the time to apply pressure to end the intervention once and for all. In this conversation we discuss the history of the conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, Saudi human rights violations, starvation in Yemen due to the Saudi-imposed blockade, the Iranian involvement in Yemen, U.S. support of Saudi Arabia throughout the conflict through expensive arms deals, the War on Terror, the return of Great Power Competition, China, proponents of U.S. primacy believing it is necessary to support dictator and so-called "enlightened autocrats", Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Russia (and parallels between the crisis in Yemen and the invasion of Ukraine), and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist Christopher Leonard joins us to discuss his new book The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy. The book chronicles how the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke dealt with the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath from 2010-2014. In doing so he attempts to offer a concise and highly critical examination of the policy known as quantitative easing and makes the case that quantitative easing has enriched the wealthy at the expense of the working and middle classes through a form of hyper-trickle-down economics. Leonard and I begin the conversation by discussing his earlier works The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business and Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America. We then discuss how his critical examination of the Federal Reserve departs from many of the criticisms of the Fed from libertarians and the right such as G. Edward Griffin's The Creature from Jekyll Island. Leonard also praises William Greider's seminal work on the subject Secrets of the Temple. From there we delve into what the Federal Reserve is, what it isn't, and the question of whether it is a public or private institution as well as the ways the Fed, and monetary policy in general, is often treated as being too mystical for a layperson to understand (even if this is not the case). Leonard also explains the concept of quantitative easing and how it has, he argues, enriched the wealthy at the expense of the working and middle classes. Among the many other topics, we cover in the conversation: the Federal Reserve and the Tea Party Movement in November 2010, the story of former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Thomas Hoenig's dissenting from Ben Bernanke's quantitative easing policies, Alan Greenspan and ideology within the institution of the Federal Reserve, the populist William Jennings Bryan and his "Cross of Gold" speech, Bill Clinton and the declaration he made during his Presidency that "the era of big government is over", hyper-trickle-down economics, Andrew Mellon, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Daad Sharab joins me to discuss her role as a trusted troubleshooter and confidante to Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi through half of his 42-year reign. In her book The Colonel and I: My Life with Gaddafi, Sharab tells the inside story of her involvement with Gaddafi's government and the leader's spectacular fall. Daad Sharab talks about the various "missions" she went on for Gaddafi and experiences with Col. Gaddafi as well as other topics including the Lockerbie Bombing and whether Gaddafi was responsible, conflicts between her and the Libyan intelligence offices (whom she believed did a lot of things behind Gaddafi's back and without his approval), her first encounter with Gaddafi, Gaddafi's charisma, the NATO bombing of Libya, acting as an intermediary between Gaddafi's Libya and George H.W. Bush's administration in the U.S., the different sides of Gaddafi and his personality including his emotional side, helping get Libyan men who thought Libya had betrayed them released from British prison, meeting Hillary Clinton's, Gaddafi's death and Hillary Clinton's comments "We came, we saw, he died", U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East, Western double standards, Saddam Hussein, and the three leaders she liked to work with today and why (this last one gets a bit controversial).

On this edition of Parallax Views, Hannah R. Gurman, historian and Clinical Associate Professor at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, joins us to discuss her Responsible Statecraft piece "‘Rambo’ rides again? Switching roles and purifying souls in Ukraine". Said piece deals with the return of counterinsurgency in the post-War on Terror/post-Iraq War context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. response to it. Hannah analyzes this using the popular action film Rambo III, which infamously saw Sylvester Stallone's iconic John Rambo joining Afghanistan freedom fighter (or... the mujahadeen?) fight the Soviet Union and save his friend Col. Sam Trautman by joining a secret CIA mission. Hannah argues that Rambo III is is a piece of pop culture that relevant in understanding how Americans processed the Vietnam War in the decades following its failure. She then uses this to examine how counterinsurgency has returned with none other than the neoconservative hawk Eliot Cohen, a co-founder of the Project for American Century, as a proponent thanks to the Ukraine crisis. All that and much more in this fascinating conversation! In the second segment of the show, Jacobin staff writer and Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden author Branko Marcetic joins me to discuss his article "We Have New Evidence of Saudi Involvement in 9/11, and Barely Anyone Cares". Branko covers how newly released FBI documents point towards some level of Saudi complicity in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The prime figure that come up in the latest documents? Omar al-Bayoumi, a man who provided assistance to 9/11 hijackers in California and that is believed to have been associated with Saudi intelligence, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, whose close relationship with President George W. Bush led to him being nicknamed "Prince Bandar Bush". In this conversation we discuss the seemingly explosive revelations in these documents as well as the media blackout on coverage of the topic, crisis in Yemen, why despots can get away with violations of international law and the mocking of its allies in a world driven by oil and gas, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the "Radical Lawyer" Stanley Cohen joins Parallax Views for a freewheeling conversation about his career as an attorney who has represented members of the Weather Underground, Hamas, and the Mohawk Warriors society. Additionally, Cohen gives his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, imperialism and anti-imperialism, working with Lynne Stewart and the late ACLU board member William Kunstler, meeting and representing Hamas leader Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, rejecting antisemitic conspiracy, the charge that he is a "self-hating Jew", Cohen's view on Hamas, his criticism of liberal Zionism, the history of the Lohamei Herut Israel aka Lehi or the Stern Gang,, whether or not the tide is turning in regards to public opinion on Israel/Palestine, Palestinian identity, his Counterpunch article "Imperialism and the Struggle Against It Begins at Home", NATO, Vladimir Putin and Russia's domestic situation, the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), the occupation of the Palestinian territories and how Palestinians feelings about the Russian invasion of Ukrainian, oppression in Putin's Russia, the Iraq War, comparative Whataboutism, international law, what leads Cohen to take up a case (especially political cases), and more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Jonathan M. Katz joins us to discuss his fascinating new book Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire. For the uninitiated, Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler is one of only a few men to receive a Medal of Honor twice for his service in the military. Later on in life he became a voice for disenfranchised veterans and a prominent antiwar figure who claimed that in his years prior he had served as a "gangster of capitalism". Butler wrote the famous antiwar short book War is a Racket to expound on the antiwar views that dominated the latter portion of his life. Katz discusses all of this as well as Butler's dark legacy in Haiti, the ways in which Butler couldn't be neatly categorized politically as anything other than a patriotic defender of troops and veterans (and how the Communist Party's Earl Browder summed that up), his contempt for the Italian fascist Mussolini, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and moral injury, the Business Plot, the Bonus Marches and Butler's support for them (vs. Gen. Patton), and zombies. Yes, zombies. How does that factor into the story. Well, you'll have to find out by listening to the conversation but the mention of Butler and his time in Haiti should give you a clue! In the second half of the program, journalist Liza Featherstone, author of such books as Diving Desire: Focus Groups and the Culture of Consultation and False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton, joins us to discuss her Jacobin obituary of the recently passed diplomat Madeline Albright. Although Albright has been well-remembered in many obituaries since her passing on Mar 23, 2022, Featherstone took a more critical view of Albright and her career which included time as the 20th United States Ambassador to the United Nations and 64th United States Secretary of State. Albright infamously said that sanctions against Iraq, which harmed many innocent Iraqi civilians (including children), was worth it in a 60 Minutes interview. She also held to a foreign policy that conflicted greatly with Colin Powell and his Powell Doctrine, instead believing that U.S. military might should not go to waste. We cover all of this as well as Albright's consulting group and its relation to the pandemic and vaccine apartheid, the hagiography around Albright since her passing, girl boss feminism and its discontents, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, long-time Palestinian-American human rights activist and attorney Huwaida Arraf joined me to discuss her political awakening, spending most of her adult life fighting for justice, and her run for Congress in Michigan's 10th Congressional District. In 2001, Huwaida, her husband Adam Shapiro, Israeli activist Neta Golan, and Palestinian activist Ghassan Adoni founded the International Solidarity Movement that has sought to support the cause of Palestinian liberation. However, Huwaida says she isn't a single-issue candidate and has a broad list of priorities including making leaders accessible and accountable in an age where they've often become distant from their constituents. Armed with years of activism and experience as a practicing human rights attorney, hard-working mother, and energetic, community involved activist Huwaida believes she can represent the new 10th district of Michigan. She also explains how redistricting of the thumb region of Michigan a game-changer for her campaign may well be. Additionally, Huwaida talks about the need for visibility of Palestinian and Arab Americans in the U.S. today, the need for campaign finance reform, and the pivotal experience in her young life that began her political awakening. In the second segment of the show, Dr, Poua Alimagham, author of Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings, joins us to discuss the continued attempts to reach a new nuclear deal with Iran over the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Donald Trump had the U.S. renege on the deal during his Presidency. Talks meant to bring about a new deal have commenced in the post-Trump era, but some forces in the U.S., specifically within the GOP, hope to see such efforts scuttled claiming that it will weaken America. Meanwhile, talks have continued amidst Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the crisis it has wrought. Dr. Alimagham and I discuss all of this as well as the ways in which the discourse around Iran and Iranian-Americans has been tinged by racism over the years.

On this edition of Parallax Views, William Ramsey, host of the William Ramsey Investigates podcast, joins me to discuss his book Global Death: The Order of Nine Angles, Atomwaffen, and the Slaughter of the Innocents. In said book, Ramsey uncovers the extremist ideologies of David Myatt and the birth of the Satanic neo-nazi/neo-fascist underground group known as The Order of Nine Angles. Along the way he also deals with the sordid story of the neo-nazi terrorists known as the Atomowaffen Division. He details the interest of the Order of Nine Angles in Satanism and their belief in a "culling" of those deemed "Untermensch". Its a strange tale straight out of a horror movie and Ramsey unravels it with us on this edition of the show.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Peter S. Goodman, global economics correspondent for the New York Times, joins us to discuss his invaluable, informative new book Davos Man: How the Billionaires. "Davos Man", coined by the late political scientist and Clash of Civilizations author Samuel P. Huntington, refers to the ultra-wealthy attendees of Klaus Schwab's annual World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland. Peter has covered a number of these conferences and offers his insights on what drives "Davos Man", why "Davos Man" should be looked at from a conspiratorial lens, and more. We also discuss Donald Trump and Bill Clinton's relation to Davos and the billionaire class, Silicon Valley tech giant Marc Benioff, the multinational investment management corporation BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink, the potentially false promise of shareholder capitalism, Milton Friedman and stakeholder maximization, immigration, labor exploitation, Jeff Bezos and the ideology of "Davos Man", Amazon labor organizer Chris Smalls, tax avoidance schemes, the Syrian refugee simulation at Davos, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, independent Libyan academic and award-winning journalist Mustafa Fetouri joins the show to discuss the political turmoil in Libya as well as the history of it and its context. Libya recently postponed its Parliamentary and Presidential elections, which was supposed to happen on December 24th, 2021. Among the candidates for the Presidency were General Khalifar, Fathi Bashagha, and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late, overthrown Muammar Gaddafi. Mustafa discusses all of these figures, the role foreign interventions have played in Libya's current predicament, the U.S. and NATO, Russia's Wagner Group, Turkey, corruption in Libya, polls indicating strong support for Saif Gaddafi, and much, much more. Then in the second segment of our show, independent journalist Andrew Corbley of the World At Large news outlet, joined me to discuss outcome of the South Korean Presidential election. Yoon Suk-yeol of the People's Power Party took the victory in a narrow and controversial election. Known for his hawkish tendencies towards North Korea, what does Suk-yeol's Presidential win mean for the Asia Pacific arms build-up? Corbley recently delved into that very question in his article "North Korea Hawk To Take Power in Seoul—Asia Pacific Set For Continuing Arms Buildup". We discuss his analysis in this conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, investigative journalist Greg Palast returns to the program to detail the deep history of Vladimir Putin's rise to power involving Russian oligarchs, Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton, and former United States Secretary of Treasure Larry Summers among others. We also discuss how oil figures into the equation, how the U.S. cutting a deal with Venezuela could help deal a blow to Putin, Putin as the "Russian Pinochet", and U.S. "shock therapy" on Russia after the Cold War. In the second segment of the show, progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann returns to the program to discuss his latest book The Hidden History of Big Brother. We begin by delving into the "pre-history" of Orwellian surveillance and police state-style tactics used by the powerful in America from the days of slavery in the agrarian South to the reign of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI in the 20th century. From there we pivot to the question of Big Tech in relation to the modern surveillance and also discuss the Patriot Act, Josh Hawley's The Tyranny of Big Tech, Cambridge Analytica, and much, much more! In the third segment of the show we welcome George Demacopoulos, a Professor of Theology/Fr. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies at Fordham University and the co-director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center, to tell us about how the Russki Mir (Russian World) teaching that is some powerful members of the Russian Orthodox Church are using to justify Putin's war in Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in particular has been a major embracer of the Russian World teaching. Others, however, including Prof. Demacopoulos, argue this teaching is heretical and have made their feelings on the matter known by signing "A DECLARATION ON THE “RUSSIAN WORLD” (RUSSKII MIR) TEACHING".

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the crisis in Ukraine after the country's invasion by Vladimir Putin's Russia. On this time we take a look at Cuba's reaction to these recent events with Dr. William LeoGrande of American Universty in Washington, D.C. LeoGrande recently penned a piece for the Quincy Institute's Responsible Statecraft publication entitled "Why Cuba has threaded the Russia needle for 60 years" that delves into the history of Cuba-Russia relation going back to the days of the Soviet Union, Cold War, and U.S. hostilities towards Fidel Castro. Dr. LeoGrande discusses Cuba's reactions to Russian interventions in Czechoslovakia in 1969 and Afghanistan in 1979 in addition to talking about Cuba's response to the invasion of Ukraine. Dr. LeoGrande and I also delve into such issues as Cuba's foreign policy, Fidel Castro's comments on the Soviet Union throughout the years, Barack Obama's attepts to normalize relations with Cuba, how Donald Trump and conservative Florida-based Cubans thwarted normalization of Cuba-U.S. relations, Boris Yeltsin and Cuba, the plight of smaller countries and especially those with a hostile relationship to the U.S., sanctions, Havana Syndrome, and more. In the second segment of the show, Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, author of Qatar and the Gulf Crisis and Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, joins me to discuss his Doha News article "What the Russian invasion of Ukraine means for small states". Dr. Ulrichsen discusses how states in the Persian Gulf have reacted to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what it means for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain among others. He also explains how smaller gulf states may be paying careful attention to the conflict due to a.) memories of Saddam Hussein and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and b.) Putin's invocation of "ancient lands" and how it could be used in a new era of great power competition. In the third and final segment of the show, Daniel Bessner of the American Prestige podcast joins to offer his take on the situation in Ukraine, U.S. foreign policy, NATO, the controversy over John Mearsheimer and the Realist School of International Relations theory, "the Left", and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, author and former Berlin correspondent for the BBC Martyn Bond joined me to discuss his fascinating and relevant biography of a the little known Austrian/Japanese aristocratic who may envisioned a unified Europe years before the formation of the EU. Hitler's Cosmopolitan Bastard: Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and His Vision for Europe, tells the story of Count Kalergi, the man who founded the Pan-Europa movement, served as a large part of the inspiration for the anti-fascist leader Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, and was despised so much by his fellow Austrian Adolph Hitler that he was referred to as the "cosmopolitan bastard" in Mein Kampf. In this conversation we cover a number of aspects of Count Kalergi and his life and legacy including the lead-up to WWII, his personality fault, his views of Russia and the Soviet Union, his sometimes xenophobic Western-bias, his push for European parliament, his attraction to strong personalities like his wife the Jewish actress Ida Roland, his association with Freemasonry and pacifism, his belief that one could have a nationality identity and a European identity, the idea of "thinking in continents, not countries", the relevance of Kalergi today in light of the Ukraine War and Brexit, and much, much more! Then, inn the second segment of the show, Briand Grodsky joins us to discuss his article for The Conversation entitled "Economic sanctions may deal fatal blow to Russia’s already-weak domestic opposition". Brian explains how economic sanctions against Russia could possibly strengthen Putin and irrevocably damage, or destroy, the opposition to him in Russia.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Mike Swanson of Wall Street Window and author of such books as The War State and Why the Vietnam War? joins Parallax Views to discuss skyrocketing gas prices, the economy, and inflation in lieu of the Ukraine-Russia War. We also discuss Empire, the Robinhood app, Bitcoin and crypto-currencies, 9/11, the pandemic, and much, much more. In our second segment, Larry Hancock, most known for his work on the assassinations of the 1960s and writings on the Cold War, joins us to discuss the Ukraine crisis and his book Creating Chaos: Covert Political Warfare from Truman to Putin. Hancock gives his perspective on the situation unfolding in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's game, whether Putin has lost his sense of chess-playing when it comes to geopolitics, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Aaron Lake Smith joins Parallax Views to discuss his 2018 Harper's Magazine article detailing his trip to the Russian separatist breakaway republics in the Donbass entitled "Light in the Donbass Window". We discuss the pro-Russian Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic seeking to break away from Ukraine and the strange mix of supporters and foreign volunteers this has brought to Donbass including tankies (hard leftists who oppose American imperialism and NATO; this came up because the article was originally titled "Tankieland"), Nazbols (National Bolsheviks, a performance art prank created by Eduard Liminov that has since turned into an ideology/movement), Duginists (adherents to the Eurasianist philosophy of Aleksander Dugin), and others. Reporting on the "International Fascist Conference" in the Donbass, Aaron met a wide variety of individuals who supported the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. But he quickly began to consider that these various individuals were caught in the cross-hairs of a spy-vs-spy style hall-of-mirrors world. In other words, a seeming proxy war between Russian and NATO. Aaron also details the rotating cast of characters in the two People's Republics' leadership positions as well as the deaths and mysterious disappearances of many in the middle of this strange saga. It's a story of information warfare, cloak-and-dagger intrigues, and tankies. In the second segment of the show, Mickey Huff of the long-running media watchdog non-profit Project Censored joined me to discuss Project Censored's State of the Free Press 2022 (edited by Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth). We discuss the problems facing news media today including junk food news, "humilitainment", the problems of corporate media, state-run media, censorship, how the stories for State of the Free Press are collated each year, Palestinian activists and the Canary Mission, free speech, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the war in Ukraine and the crisis as it unfolds. Recorded on Monday the 7th, 2022, the episode features a conversation with John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. We discuss the move Putin has made invading Ukraine, Putin's claims of genocide in the Donbass, the NATO expansion question, and much, much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, long-time war reporter Patrick Cockburn returns to the show to discuss the gamble Putin has made in Ukraine and how it could endanger his political survival in Russia. Additionally, Patrick will talk about the way hubris afflicts political leaders leading to disastrous military interventions, comparing Putin's invasion of Ukraine to the Western interventions in Iraq and Libya, the Russian political elite, sanctions, the calls for NATO to institute no-fly zones, Putin's claims about genocide and what they may indicate about his endgame, and more! NOTE: Had a massive flub that may have been due to noise reduction process during editing of the intro. Appears to have said "military inventions" rather than "military interventions"

We continue our Ukraine coverage, this time with Zachary Paikin, a non-resident fellow for the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and a research for the EU affairs-focused think tanks CEPS. We'll discuss the invasion, thoughts on Putin and his decision to invade, the psychoanalysis of Putin and the ideas (prior to the invasion) that he was a master of the Grand Chessboard vs. the idea that he's gone mad with the invasion, the EU, NATO, No-Fly Zone debate, sanctions, the potential political aftermath on a global scale after this is all said and done, diplomacy, and much, much more. In the second half of the program, David Swanson of the global antiwar movement World Beyond War joins us to discuss the situation further as well as to express the concern over this conflict becoming a nuclear war.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the Ukraine crisis, Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Kuba Wreszniewski, a National Security commentator associated with This is Revolution, joins us to discuss a number of matters. This conversation was recorded on 2/28/22 7:00 pm EST. Further notes forthcoming.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a former advisor to the State Department, James W. Carden, joins us to discuss Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the crisis around it as well as the questions around NATO, Putin's motivations for this war, the American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord's condemnation of the invasion, and much, much more. (Further Show Notes Forthcoming) From ACURA (American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord): On Thursday March 3 at NOON EST, please join former Governor of California Jerry Brown; Professor David Hendrickson, author of Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition; and the American Committee for US-Russia Accord’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and James W. Carden for an in-depth discussion on the current state of the war in Ukraine and the approach outlined by President Biden in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. ZOOM LINK HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89427125478

On this edition of Parallax Views, Thaddeuss Russell and Kamasi Hill of Renegade University join Parallax Views to discuss the course their teaching for RU on 1970s Blaxploitation cinema from Superfly and Shaft to Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song, Cleopatra Jones, and Foxy Brown starring the Queen of Blaxploitation herself Pam Grier. We discuss the significance of this kind of cinema, how Thad and Kamasi became interested in the genre; the idea of black working class culture vs. black middle class culture; sexuality in black cinema; masculinity in blaxploitation; drugs dealing, and crime in blaxploitation, blaxploitation's influence on pop culture and hip hop culture; the music of blaxploitation cinema and its influence on sampling in hip hop; the problem of stereotypes and blaxploitation cinema; Civil Rights leadership and the NAACP's deriding of blaxploitation film; Rudy Ray Moore and Dolemite; the history of hip hop, the projects, and the way blaxploitation can change our perspective on cinema; blaxploitation and the meaning of freedom; Sidney Poitier and the portrayal of African Americans in cinema before the 70s; Bill Cosby; Melvin van Peebles; and much more! You can sign up for the Renegade University course on Blaxploitation here!

On this edition of Parallax Views, later on in the program we'll be talking to one of the most prominent leaders in the Palestinian liberation movement, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. Dr. Ashrawi was the first woman to be elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009, served as the official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process from 1991-1993, and participated in the 1991-1992 Madrid peace conference as a member of the Palestinian Leadership Committee delegation. Hanan will join me to discuss the Palestinian struggle, human rights, and U.S. policy on Palestine with a focus on said policy during the Presidencies of Donald J. Trump and now Joe Biden. We'll also discuss Dr. Ashrawi's encounter with the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, the expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, the human rights and international law approach to Israel/Palestine, the propaganda matrix around Israel/Palestine, hope for the future of the Palestinian cause, and much, much more! That, however, will be in the second segment of today's show. First, Grant F. Smith of IRmep (Institute for Research: Middle East Policy) returns to the show to discuss the upcoming Israel Lobby Con (Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad) on March 3rd. Speakers include the aforementioned Dr. Ashrawi, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, Paul Noursi of the Virginia Human Rights Coalition, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Rev. Don Wagner, academic Sut Jhally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Edward Ahmed Mitchell, and Palestine Legal's Radihka Sanith. The conference will cover a number of topics such as Christian Zionism, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement), human rights and Democracy in Israel, Israel and the U.S. national security state, free speech for Palestinian activists, and much, much more. You can attend the conference by visiting the Israel Lobby Con website and purchasing a ticket. The Annual Israel Lobby Con at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on March 3rd (IRL and Zoom tickets available)

On this edition of Parallax Views, the noted genocide studies scholar A. Dirk Moses joins us to discuss his provocative book The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression. In said book, Moses argues that the way in which we conceptualize the legal concept of genocide structures the way we think about "acts that shock the conscience of mankind" and how this in turn may lead us to have blind spots in considering how other heinous acts and crimes against humanity also should shock our conscience. We begin by discussing how Moses became involved in genocide studies and the treatment of indigenous Australians under colonialism. Additionally, Moses gives a history of the term genocide from WWII and the Holocaust on through to the Cold War and the War on Terror. In this regard, we discuss genocide and the ways in which it has been utilized as a concept to political, and especially foreign policy ends. During this portion of the conversation Moses and I talk a little bit about U.S. foreign policy heavyweight Samantha Power and her influential book The Problem from Hell. Additionally, Moses and J.G. talk about: - The concept of permanent security, its liberal and illiberal variants, the utopian nature of pursuing it, and the problems that arise from it - Drone warfare and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen - The Holocaust, the debate over Germany and Holocaust Memory and what Moses calls the "German Catechism" as well as the response famed philosopher/sociologist Jurgen Habermas made to Moses's writing on the subject - The Nigerian Civil War and the Republic of Biafra - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Presidential historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky joins us to discuss her book The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution. If you ever found history unexciting Dr. Chervinsky will have you reconsidering that as she takes you through the turbulent days of the early American Republic from the inauguration of George Washington to the 1791-1794 violent tax protest known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Lindsay and I discuss the formation of Washington's Cabinet which was Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Lindsay explains how the institution of the Cabinet came to be and how the vision of it changed over the years. Additionally, Lindsay and I discuss the recent news that Donald Trump was shredding Presidential documents in the dwindling days of his Presidency. Moreover, Lindsay and I discuss other Presidential cabinets such as that of President John F. Kennedy, the problem of nepotism in the Cabinet historically, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ambassador Akbar S. Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., joined Parallax Views for an enlightening and uplifting conversation about how the golden age of Islamic philosophy can show us a bridge that exists between East and West, Muslim and non-Muslim. Amb. Ahmed's latest book deal with this specific subject and is entitled The Flying Man, Aristotle, and the Philosophies of the Golden Age of Islam: Their Relevance Today. Amb. Ahmed has written a number of books, including The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam and Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization among others, have attempted to deal with questions related to Islamic in modernity, relations between the Western and Islamic worlds, and attempting to foster understand between cultures and interfaith dialogues. His latest book is no exception and discusses a number of philosophers, poets, and intellectuals including the physician Avicenna and his "Flying Man" thought experiment among others. Amb. explains how these figures from Islamic culture cross-pollinated with Western thought and how their ideas were often in line with those of the Enlightenment and the humanist tradition. He also notes how "New Atheists" like Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry have a blind-spot in regards to their dismissal of the Islamic world's contributions to culture, from philosophy to art. In addition to disccussing all of this, Amb. Ahmed and I also discuss his attempt to chronicle the life and significance of the Pakistani statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who could be considered the George Washington of modern Pakistan. In this regard, Amb. Ahmed tells us a little about the origins and troubles with the cinematic biopic of the statesmen, simply known as Jinnah, which starred the late world-renowned British actor Christopher Lee (Sarumon the White in the Lords of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies; Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones; the title character in a number of the Hammer Studios Dracula films) in the lead role. Amb. Akbar talks about the negative portrayal of Jinnah in the Ben Kingsley-starring Gandhi, misconceptions he sees many as having about Jinnah, and his thoughts about Pakistan, India, and Muslim-Hindu unity. Along with all of this, Amb. Ahmed briefly comments on the situation of Afghanistan as someone who extensively studies the Pashtun people there. *CORRECTION: In this episode I neglected to mention that Ambassador Ahmed was co-scriptwriter with Jamil Dehlavi for Jinnah rather than the sole writer. Then in the second segment of our show, Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. and its Inequality.Org joins us to discuss his decades-spanning work investigating the problem of global wealth inequality and how that inequality has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Chuck describes how he was "born on third base" to a wealthy family (the Oscar-Mayer meatpacking family to be exact) and how it gave him a "front row seat" to the problem of wealth inequality. We discuss what the ultra-wealthy are and aren't, wealth taxes, common arguments against taxing the ultra-wealthy, the World Economic Forum and Davos, wealth inequality as a cause of political polarization and social destabilization, the problem with charity as a fix for global wealth inequality, and much, much more! "‘This gift list is completely disconnected from the reality of our society’: Here are the most charitable billionaires in America" by Leslie Albrecht - MarketWatch -2/8/22 "REPORT: Gilded Giving 2020: How Wealth Inequality Distorts Philanthropy and Imperils Democracy" by Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery - 7/28/20 "Updates: Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses and Pandemic Profiteers" by Chuck Collins - 10/18/21 "Taxing extreme wealth could lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty" by Chuck Collins - CNN - 1/19/22

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Mitchell Joseph Valdés-Sosa, the director of the Cuban Neuroscience Center, joins Parallax Views to discuss the 60-year embargo by the U.S. against Cuba, the story of Cuba's response to the pandemic and development of the Cuban Abdala and Soberana 02, and pushing back against conspiracy theories about the "Havana Syndrome". Dr. Valdés-Sosa begins by explaining the origins of the Cuban Neuroscience Center and the late Fidel Castro's hopes and vision for public health and scientific research in Cuba. In this regard we also address the differences between the health systems of Cuba and the United States. From ther Dr. Valdés-Sosa discusses the effects of the U.S. embargo against Cuba and how it has affected the Cuban response to the pandemic. February marks the 60th anniversary of the embargo. We then discuss the story of vaccine development in Cuba during the pandemic and the efforts of Cuba to share their vaccine with the Global South. And finally, Dr. Valdés-Sosa addresses the question of "Havana Syndrome" both scientifically and politically. He explains why the claims that "Havana Syndrome" is caused by exotic weapons, particularly microwave or sonic weapons, should be ruled out. In this part of our conversation, we discuss the Fray effect as well as the ways in which Cuba is misunderstood by the U.S. at numerous different levels. Dr. Valdés-Sosa expresses the belief that U.S.-Cuba relations has been hijacked by reactionary factions but expresses hope in light of the solidarity ordinary people and organizations have had with Cuba during the pandemic. In the second segment of our program, Giorgio Cafiero, founder and CEO of Gulf State Analytics, joins Parallax Views to discuss his Al Jazeera article "What next for world powers in war-torn Libya?". Giorgio details the recent history of turmoil in Libya dating back to NATO interventions and the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Foreign interventions, Giorgio says, have not ended in Libya. They are not, however, of the U.S. variety right now. Instead, there is both a Turkish and Russian presence in Libya. In relation to the Russian presence, Giorgio specifically talks about the private organization known as the Wagner Group and its relationship to Russia. During the course of our conversation Giorgio also discusses the recent postponement of the Libya elections, the candidates (with special focus on Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and military official Khalifa Haftar), the possibility of partition, the Civil War in Libya and the possibility it could happen again, and much, much more. Additionally, Giorgio gives an update on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the Houthis, the geopolitics around it involving the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and the potential changing nature of Gulf politics in light of cooperation between the UAE and Israel. "Does Israel-UAE cooperation show what a post-US Gulf will look like?" by Giorgio Cafiero - TRT World - 2/3/2022 "Yemen: Intensifying war worsens world’s worst civilian crisis" by Giorgio Cafiero - Al Jazeera -2/7/22

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Lev Golinkin joins me to discuss the U.S. arming of the Azov Battalion and Ukranian far-right neo-Nazi elements. Lev is the author of A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka and arrived in the U.S. as a child refugee Kharkov, a city in eastern Ukraine. His writings on Ukraine have been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Forward, The Nation, and Time.Com. For some time now Lev has been raising the alarm bells about the U.S. arming of the Azov Battalion and far-right elements in Ukraine. He is quick to point out that, of course, not all Ukrainians are of this fascist ultranationalist contingent, but that concerns about the Azov Battalion and other Ukranian ultranationalist organizations are not merely Russian/Kremlin propaganda. The U.S. support for elements like the Azov Battalion could, Lev believes, lead to forms of blowback especially as news surfaces that U.S. neo-nazis heading over to Ukraine to network with and receive paramilitary training from the. Lev and I delve into the history of the Azov Battalion and the history of Ukranian ultranationalism more broadly going back to the figure of Stepan Bandera in WWII, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and the origins of Ukranian ultranationalism in Galicia. Lev explains the sordid history of Ukranian ultranationalists and their violence against Poles, Jews, and even fellow Ukranians. Additionally, Lev and I talk about the Maidan uprising, the targeting of Ukranian Jewish activist Eduard Dolinsky by neo-nazi elements, Obama-era foreign policy official Evelyn Farkas and her comments on the U.S. support of Ukranian ultranationalists, the horrific pogroms against the Roma by Ukranian ultranationalists today, the Atlantic Council's defense of the Azov Battalion, Andriy Yevhenovych Biletsky of the far-right Ukranian political party National Corps and its connection to the Azov Battalion, countering claims that discussion of the Azov Battalion is just Russian propaganda, the "freedom fighters" vs. "neo-nazis" distinction, Nazi monuments around the world, Werner Von Braun and Operation Paper Clip, the foreign policy establishment and the military-industrial complex, and much, much more! "Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine" by Lev Golinkin - 2/22/19 "A Year After 1/6, Ukraine's War Draws U.S. Far-Right to Fight Russia, Train for Violence at Home" by Tom O'Connor and Naveed Jamali - 1/05/22 "Why Azov should not be designated a foreign terrorist organization" by Anton Shekhovtsov - 2/24/20 Eduard Dolinsky's Twitter Status Documenting Threats Made Against Him by the Ukranian Neo-Nazis "Meet the Lonely Ukrainian Jew Fighting His Country’s New Fondness for Nazis" by The Forward and Sam Sokol - Haaretz - 12/6/18 "Investigation: Some 1,500 statues and streets honor Nazis around the world — including in Germany and the U.S." by Lev Golinkin - The Forward - 1/27/22 "It's time to confront the dark postscript to America's role in defeating the Nazis" by Lev Golinkin - CNN - 2/24/21

THIS EPISODE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED WITH A MAJOR ERROR, NAMELY DR. ZUNES SEGMENT BEING MISSING. THIS HAS BEEN RECTIFIED AND REPUBLISHED. On this edition of Parallax Views, award-winning journalist Brandon R. Reynolds joins us to discuss his recent WhoWhatWhy piece "Havana Syndrome and TikTok Tics: Many Forms of Mass Hysteria" and the potential geopolitical implications of mass psychogenic illnesses in the age of social media and renewed tensions between the U.S. and countries like China, Russia, and Cuba. In our second segment Insider (formerly known as Business Insider) journalist Mia Jankowicz joins us to discuss her coverage of prominent anti-vaxxers, chief among them Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, and how their enterprise may be proving quite lucrative for them. Among other things Dr. Tenpenny is connected to MyPillow's Mike Lindell (who has been pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election) and has promoted sensational claims such as the belief that vaccines turn people magnetic. And finally, Dr. Stephen Zunes returns to the program to discuss the recent Amnesty International report arguing Israel is in engaging in the practice of apartheid against Palestinians, especially in the Occupied Territories. Dr. Zunes will also give his thoughts on the reaction of the U.S. media and Congressmen to the report.

On this edition of Parallax Views, University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of communications Sut Jhally and acclaimed musician Roger Waters, the front man of Pink Floyd, joins Parallax Views to discuss the propaganda matrix around the Israel/Palestine conflict and breaking through it. In 2016 Sut made the documentary The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in the United States, which was narrated by Roger Waters and detailed the information war over the plight of Palestinians. Sut, Roger, and I discuss the recent Amnesty International report arguing that Israeli is practicing a form of apartheid against Palestinians, their article "The Smearing of Emma Watson" on the Harry Potter star being branded an antisemite for posting a picture on Instagram featuring the Palestinian flag and the words "Solidarity is a Verb", the very real issue of antisemitism today and its misuses and abuses in the discussion around Israel/Palestine, the changing of public perception (especially among millennials and Generation Z) in relation to Israel and Palestine), the issues Roger has faced with his concert touring due to his activism on behalf of Palestinians, the hasbara public relations campaign and its effect on news coverage of Israel/Palestine, Roger's thoughts on the 1% ruling class and how they're the "Emperor With No Clothes", the lack of education in the United States and the lack of support for teachers, the debate in the Democratic Party that has emerged over Israel/Palestine and Sut's thoughts on Bernie Sanders use of the term Palestinian on the campaign trail, the connection between the Black Lives Matter and Palestinian Solidarity movements, how Roger first became aware of the Palestinian plight, the B in the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement, evangelical support for Israel and the Biblical apocalypse, the Asia Pivot and the potential decline in Israel's geostrategic significance, and much, much more! Catch Sut Jhally and Roger Waters next month at the annual Israel Lobby Con at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on March 3rd (IRL and Zoom tickets available) ,Then, in our second segment, Nick Cleveland-Stout and Taylor Giorno of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft joins Parallax Views to discuss the latest developments in the scandals of Israeli spyware firm NSO Group. NSO Group's Pegasus spyware has been used by unseemly forces around the world, including authoritarian regimes, to target activists, journalists, diplomats, and others. In their article for Responsible Statecraft entitled "Israeli spyware firm in hot water over alleged interest in US data, CIA/FBI links", Nick and Taylor delve into the most recent revelations about NSO Group including attempts to use the Global Magnistky Act to impose sanctions on the firm, NSO Chairman Asher Levi's resignation, NSO Group's dealings with the U.S. government vis-a-vis its Phantom spyware, and the bombshell reports on the firm by The Washington Post and the New York Times in the past week. We discuss all of this as well as the history of the NSO Group/Pegasus spyware scandal, the targeting of U.S. diplomats in Uganda using Pegasus, the cyberweapons arm race, the Oregon connection to the story, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, economist Michael Hudson joins the show to discuss his seminal 1972 book Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire, now available in an updated and expanded third edition. We begin the conversation by discussing how the futurist Herman Khan of the hawkish, conservative Hudson Institute surprisingly showed an interest in the book (which Hudson thought would be more well-received by the political Left). Khan commented on the book by saying: You’ve shown how the United States has run rings around Britain and every other empire-building nation in history. We’ve pulled off the greatest rip-off ever achieved. Michael goes on to explain how the book was of interest not only to Khan, but also people within the CIA and State Department. He then explains the thesis of the book which deals with the major shift in how the international economic system worked after the U.S. got off the gold standard. Hudson speaks to U.S. military spending and investment in foreign countries vis-a-vis organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank became a strategy for American hegemonic dominance through the dollar. In the course of our conversation, we also discuss such issues as immigration, the World Economic Forum and Davos, an alternative system arising with China and Russia that could challenge the U.S. hegemon, the multipolar world, sanctions, Germany, and much, much more. Then, in our second segment, James A. Smith joins us to discuss the article he co-wrote with David Slavick for the left-wing magazine Jacobin entitled "The Labour Left’s Fatal Contradictions Are Still Unresolved". James offers a critique of the Left's relationship with populism wherein populism is alternately cheered on and reviled. More controversy, James takes issue with the Left's embrace of lockdown measures during the pandemic. We discuss this as well as issues like de-platforming, big tech, the fall of Jeremy Corbyn and Corbynism, Left vs. Right Populism, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a new joint report by Human Rights Watch and the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs delves into the 20 years of unlawful detentions and interrogations that have been pursued by the U.S. in the "War On Terror" since the Presidency of George W. Bush. Co-authored by Letta Taylor and Elisa Epstein, the "Legacy of the 'Dark Side': The Costs of Unlawful U.S. Detentions and Interrogations Post-9/11" report hones in on the activities that have occurred at the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and its costs. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney famously said that the U.S. would have to engage its "dark side" to fight a terrifying new enemy. After 20 years, however, have the policies of unlawful detention, interrogation, and torture in fighting the "War in Terror" actually damaged the U.S.'s moral authority, created terrorist martyrs, empowered jihadist factions like the Islamic State, and led to other extremely negative impacts? Tayler and Epstein argue it has. In this segment of the show Letta Tayler joins us to discuss the report. Additionally, Letta provides us with exclusive news about a prison in Syria that she says is "Guantanamo Bay on steroids" and provides chilling audio she obtained last month from inside the prison. Then, in the second segment of our show, reporter Maia Szalavitz joins us to discuss her book Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, a major drug policy story from Oregon, and countering misinformation about drug policy, addiction, and the issue of criminalization vs. decriminalization being peddled by figures like Michael Shellenberger (author of San Fransicko: Why Progressive Ruin Cities). Maia Szlavitz takes us through the problems with the U.S.'s decades-spanning War on Drugs and how it has harmed rather than led to the recovery of those suffering from drug addiction issues. We discuss all of this as well as key misrepresentations being made about drug policy in Portugal by those who call for continuing a more-or-less law-and-order approach to the problem of addiction in society.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, authors of Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold Story, Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire, and now the novelized memoir The Valediction, join me to discuss their forty year journey investigating American Empire, the Cold War arms race, military Keynesianism and destruction of the civilian economy, covert operations, the rise of the peculiar ex-Trotskyites that came to be known as neocons, the politicization of intelligence vis-a-vis "Team B", the death of the SALT treaty, and the political maneuverings of the foreign policy heavyweight Zbigniew Brzezinski in the Jimmy Carter White House all through their attempts to understand the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. We begin the conversation by delving into Paul's work in the talk show business. Paul discusses how an anti-SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) treay documentary led him to make a documentary that was pro-SALT. This led him to speak with the well-known economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who told him about some key Cold War hawk figures like Paul Nitsze. Liz explains how many thought the end of the Vietnam War and later the Carter Presidency would lead to a new era that would lead to a reinvestment in the American civilian economy rather than the Wall Street and military economy. The SALT treaties were part of this hope as were talks of peace and détente. Paul then goes on to explain what Paul Warnke told him about peace talks going back to Lyndon Johnson's Presidency. From there we jump into the topic of the neoconservatives and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Paul and Liz discuss the involvement of the virulently anti-Soviet Zbigniew Brzezinski in the Carter administration as National Security advisor. In this regard we talk about Paul and Liz's interview with Dr. Charles Cogan, chief of the Near East and South Asia Division in the CIA's Directorate of Operations (1979–1984), in which Cogan talked about asking Zbigniew Brzezinski about the "Afghan Trap", the idea that Brzezinski intentionally lured the Soviets into Afghanistan via covert operations, and Brzezinski's surprising response. This leads us to talk about Brzezinski's infamous interview with Le Nouvel Observateur in 1998 and the controversy surrounding it. From there we delve into a number of different odds and ends including the death of Adolph "Spike" Dubs; explaining what the Afghan Trap was; the relationship between Trotskyism, game theory, and neocons; Team B and the politicization of intelligence, the mujahadeen, the neoconservative casus belli, Cold War political theater, Zbigniew Brzezinski ad a Dr. Faustus character, late-stage imperial dementia, and much, much more. The Brzezinski "Afghan Trap Thesis" is authentic: Interview with Dr. Charles Cogan 2 8 2015 (Youtube) The Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998) The Deep Research Behind the Valediction (Article "President Carter, Do You Swear to Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth?" Discussed In This Episode) Afghanistan Between Three Worlds (Documentary)

On this edition of Parallax Views, Alfred de Zayas, the first United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, joins me from his home in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss a number of themes in his book Building a Just World Order and its upcoming follow-up The Human Rights Industry. An expert in international law and human rights, Alfred de Zayas offers a scorching criticism of the United States military-industrial complex and those he argues enables it in many successful media outlets today. Alfred and I also discuss corporate media, Alfred's views that we are in an Orwellian 1984-esque moment, NATO expansion and its discontents, the late diplomat George F. Kennan, the Russia-Ukraine situation, the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo in the 1990s, referendums and direct democracy, the principles of international order, the weaponization of human rights rhetoric, the lack of visibility for dissident voices in media today, the crimes of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror and the Project for a New American Century, Biden's Democracy Summit, lobbying efforts vs. the will of the people, idealogues vs. adherents of realpolitik, cheating international law and its consequences, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Andrew Cockburn, Washington, D.C., editor of Harper's Magazine, joins us to discuss his book The Spoils of War: Power, Profit, and the American War Machine. Cockburn argues that talk of "foreign policy", "defense", and even Left criticisms concerning imperialism and Empire camouflage the true nature of the military-industrial complex: keeping the money flow going. In other word, making profits. Andrew and I discuss a number of issues including the military-industrial complex as something akin to a "living, insatiable, creature" or amoeba "dedicated only to its own defense and power", the question of ideology and idealogues as it relates to the American war machine, Bill Clinton and NATO expansion after the Cold War, threat inflation, the absence of long-term peace dividends when wars end, the rise of the neoconservatives, Russiagate, profits of war outside of U.S. actors (military-industrial complexes in other countries), the so-called missile gap of the Cold War era, hypersonic weapons, the human cost of the war machine (Cockburn discusses the Korean War in this regard), and much, much more! Then, in the second half of the program Nicolai Petro, Silvia-Chandley Professor of Peace Studies and Nonviolence and Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island and the US State Department's special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under President George HW Bush, stops by for a discussion about U.S.-Russia tensions, Ukranian nationalism, and the need for strategic empathy in foreign policy. Nicolai explains the roots of the Russia/Ukraine crisis going back to 2013 as well as telling us a little bit about the history of Ukranian nationalism, his thoughts on the Azov Battalion, and related matters. We then shift focus slightly to discuss the value of the 20th century diplomat Hans Morgenthau in these times of tension. In this regard we talk about the problem of strategic narcissism and the need for strategic empathy. Are we reading Russia right? How can we read Russia and Putin better? What are the primary problems with the discourse around Russia/Ukraine tensions, NATO, and the U.S. today? Hopefully this conversation will shed light on the answers to some of those questions.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we have another "Triple Feature" for listeners. First up, former New York Times journalist Barry Meier joins us to discuss the saga of the private intelligence firm Fusion GPS, former MI-6 agent Christopher Steele of Orbis Business Intelligence, and the media coverage of the infamous Steele Dossier (which purported, among other things, that Vladimir Putin and Russia had "kompromat" on President Donald J. Trump vis-a-vis an alleged "pee tape" with prostitutes that was then used to blackmail Trump) as outlined in his book Spooked: The Trump Dossier, Black Cube, and the Rise of Private Spies. We delve into the hidden billion-dollar industry of corporate investigative firms, Jules Kroll, the mercenary nature of these firms, the connection between "vulture capitalist" Paul Singer and the saga that would come to be known as the Steele Dossier, oppo research in the world of politics, Fusion GPS's connection to a Russian oligarch, and much, much more. "Ping!! How Those Trump/Russia Stories Got Shopped to the Media" by Barry Meier - The Nation -11/2/21 Then in our second segment, prolific author Sally Denton joins us for a short conversation about her 2008 book The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right in light of the Janury 6th Capitol breach anniversary. Denton explains how powerful Wall Street forces, allied with various right-wing elements including Christian evangelicals, Nazi sympathizers, and militias, plotted a coup against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt due to the path he wanted to take the United States on vis-a-vis the New Deal. The plotters approached the "Maverick Marine" Gen. Smedley Butler, known for his seminal antiwar book War is a Racket, in the hopes that he would assist them. Instead of taking up their offer, Butler notified J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI. The plot was then eventually investigated by Congress. Know alternately as the Business Plot or Wall Street Putsch, this extent of the plans and how close they were to being executed have been a matter of heated historical debate over the decades. Media at the time denounced it as a hoax, but since then the question, again, has become how close the plot was to being carried out. Denton and I talk about all of this as well as the relevance of this story to our current times. "Why is so little known about the 1930s coup attempt against FDR?" by Sally Denton - The Guardian - 1/11/22 And finally in our third segment, Paul Robinson, professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and a scholar on issues related to Russia and its history, joins us to discuss Russia, Ukraine, and NATO. In particular we discuss his Irrussianality blog post "Why Russia Fears NATO".

On this edition of Parallax Views, Christopher Mott, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy and author The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia, joins Parallax Views to discuss his recent CovertAction Magazine piece "Samantha Power and the Cosmopolitan Crusaders". Applying his knowledge as someone who has worked inside the U.S. State Department, Chris explains the foreign policy thought of the diplomat and government official Samantha Power, whose influential book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide was foundational to R2P (Responsible to Protect) doctrine. R2P, Mott explains, holds that powerful nations (ie: the U.S. and NATO-aligned states) have a duty to stop human rights abuses around the world. Although a noble cause in theory, Mott argues that R2P in practice has not always worked perfectly in practice. In this regard Mott examines the Obama-era intervention into Libya on humanitarian grounds and how Libya has turned into a chaotic failed state that's led to the return of the slave trade to North Africa. In addition to all of this Mott and I also discuss: - Fear of another Weimar moment haunting beltway foreign policy circles and the role that plays in driving interventionist policymaking - The question of isolationism, the specter of WWII, and Stephen Wertheim's Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy - Foreign policy realism and its variations including offensive realism and defensive realism - Sun Tzu, the risks of war, diplomacy vs. military force, and the question of grand strategy - The role of ideological, systemic, and economic factors in U.S. foreign policy - Democratic Peace Theory, American exceptionalism, and Kantian liberal cosmopolitanism - Sanctions, the potential critique of their effectiveness in achieving state policy goals, and the Iran deal/JCPOA; sanctions as a form of economic warfare - Jihadism, cosmopolitanism, and state collapse - U.S.-China relations, human rights rhetoric, and whataboutisms - American exceptionalism as having a right, left, and center form - U.S. foreign policy, puritanical morality plays, and protagonist syndrome - Tyler Cowen's Bloomberg op-ed arguing for using "Wokeism" (a very vague term removed from its original context on Black Twitter) to rebrand American exceptionalism - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editorial Director and Publisher of The Nation, joins Parallax Views in the first half of the show to discuss the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the U.S., and NATO. Then, in the second half of the show Ret. Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, author of Skin in the Game: Poor Kids and Patriots, joins the show to discuss the Military Times op-ed he co-wrote with Ret. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson on vaccination insubordination in the all-voluntary military force and its implications. And finally, libertarian economist David R. Henderson offers an argument for why the U.S. doesn't need to fight wars for oil and gives his perspective on the cause of high gas prices. Opinion: What a sensible Ukraine policy would look like - Katrina vanden Heuvel - The Washington Post - Jan 4, 2022 Opinion: Stop the stumble toward war with Russia - Katrina vanden Heuvel - The Washington Post - Jan 18, 2022 Toward a Global Realignment - Zbigniew Brzezinski - The National Interest - April 17, 2016 The Broken Chessboard: Brzezinski Gives Up on Empire - Mike Whitney - Counterpunch - Aug, 25, 2016 A Year After 1/6, Ukraine's War Draws U.S. Far-Right to Fight Russia, Train for Violence at Home - Tom O'Connor and Naveed Jamali - Newsweek - Jan 5, 2022 CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take central role if Russia invades - Zach Dorfman - Yahoo! News - Jan 13, 2022 American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord U.S.-Russia Relations: Can ‘Strategic Empathy’ Be A Way Forward? - Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Panel Discussion Insurrection has led to dereliction of duty - Ret. Gen Maj. Dennis Laich and Ret. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson - Military Times - Jan 7, 2022 Do We Need to Go to War for Oil? - David R. Henderson - Independent Institute Policy Paper