Moderate Rebels: Recent Episodes
Moderate Rebels
Moderate Rebels was a political podcast and video show hosted by journalists Max Blumenthal and Benjamin Norton. It ended in January 2022.
Puerto Rican public workers are protesting the neoliberal policies imposed by US colonialism and Washington's unelected Financial Oversight and Management Board.
I speak with Ángel Rodríguez Rivera, president of the Puerto Rican Association of University Professors, about how teachers are rising up, after the minimum wage hasn't increased in 13 years.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=hCKxWXuEYUc
With a diplomatic boycott by Western governments, corporate media propaganda has demonized China over the 2022 Winter Olympics. Britain's Financial Times openly declared, "Beijing Winter Olympics: the new front line in the US-China cold war." Actual China expert Carl Zha joins Multipolarista to pick apart the propaganda and explain what's really happening. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tysrspp7KOU
Follow Carl on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CarlZha
You can support Carl's Silk and Steel Podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/silknsteel
After meeting in Beijing, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin released a lengthy joint statement clarifying the ideological divisions of the new cold war: Eurasian calls for multipolarity, cooperation, sovereignty, and “redistribution of power in the world” against US unipolar hegemony and interventionism.
Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/07/china-russia-multipolar-historic-meeting
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=c0JaOHa0qOM
Mainstream human rights organization Amnesty International has come out publicly and said that "Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians," and that Israel's "cruel system of domination" amounts to a "crime against humanity."
We discuss this report with Ali Abunimah, journalist and editor of the Electronic Intifada.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=-wfk4QVPwP8
Follow Ali on Twitter at: twitter.com/AliAbunimah
Electronic Intifada website: electronicintifada.net
Journalist Rania Khalek talks about her reporting trip to Ethiopia, where armed group the TPLF is waging war on the central government, apparently with Western support, and Eritrea, one of the world's most sanctioned countries. We discuss the geopolitical importance of the Horn of Africa, and how the area has been affected by the US new cold war on China. PART 2 OF 2 VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4Q9zIB2xA Follow Rania's reporting at BreakThrough News: breakthroughnews.org And follow Rania at twitter.com/RaniaKhalek
Journalist Rania Khalek discusses her reporting trip to Cuba, where she got a firsthand look at its socialist health system, under the brutal US blockade.
PART 1 OF 2
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4Q9zIB2xA
Follow Rania's reporting at BreakThrough News: breakthroughnews.org
And follow Rania at twitter.com/RaniaKhalek
Moderate Rebels has ended as of January 2022, but this show will be continuing under the new name Multipolarista, hosted by Benjamin Norton. The show will report once or twice a week on the end of US unipolar hegemony and the transition to a multipolar world. Follow Multipolarista's website: multipolarista.com
For years corporate media outlets accused Cuba, China, Russia, and other US adversaries of attacking spies and diplomats with hi-tech "pulsed microwave weapons" or "directed-energy weapons." But now the CIA has admitted that "Havana Syndrome" is not caused by attacks by a foreign hostile power, but rather stress or natural causes.
Benjamin Norton interviews Doctor Robert Bartholomew, a medical sociologist and leading expert on mass hysteria and social panics, explains how he predicted this in his 2020 book "Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria."
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=LnpaqWVi76U
Robert Bartholomew's website: rebartholomew.com
Pepe Escobar discusses the failure of the US-Russia talks in Geneva, NATO's refusal to make any diplomatic concessions, and if war could be on the horizon. We address the impact on Ukraine, Europe, Germany, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
PART 2 OF 2
Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar discusses the violent coup attempt in Kazakhstan, and its crucial importance as an ally of Russia and the center of China's Belt and Road Initiative. He also addresses US, British, and Turkish meddling, and why this massive and misunderstood country is suddenly at the heart of the new cold war.
PART 1 OF 2
Economist Michael Hudson discusses the global inflation crisis and how the US Federal Reserve has given trillions of dollars to large banks.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=m7eAbbVMr_4
In Chile's presidential election, far-right Pinochet dictatorship supporter José Antonio Kast, the son of a German Nazi, was defeated by young center-left social democrat Gabriel Boric.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Pablo Vivanco about what this victory means, Boric's major weakness on US imperialism, and the prospects of rewriting the Pinochet-era constitution.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=dSCmGvcxXWU
Follow Pablo on Twitter at @PVivancoGuzman
The US government claims Russia is planning to invade Ukraine, but is this true? Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with analyst and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter about Western governments' dubious claims, and NATO's designs for the region.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NLpPyuzxSf4
Follow Scott on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RealScottRitter
Nicaragua's Sandinista government has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized the People's Republic of China. We discuss the historic decision and its huge geopolitical implications.
A Chinese company plans to build an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua, to challenge the monopoly of the US-dominated Panama Canal.
And the same week, Nicaragua signed agreements strengthening ties with Russia and collaborating on nuclear energy projects.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EDADaUXL6kM
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won the November 21 mega-elections in a landslide, getting more votes in 20 of 23 states and the capital Caracas. So the US government responded by trying to discredit the vote.
Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera speaks about the elections, the historic victory of the ruling party of President Nicolás Maduro, and Washington's attempt to de-legitimize the process.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=p5ZrAMexvk8
Follow Diego on Twitter at twitter.com/QueraElse
Nicaraguan diplomat Michael Campbell Hooker speaks with Ben Norton about why they are leaving the Organization of American States (OAS), which he says is a “failed,” “coup-plotting” organization dominated by Washington.
Campbell also responds to US attempts to discredit Nicaragua’s November elections, and explains the importance of autonomy for Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities on the Caribbean Coast.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DTRODfuRp6o
TRANSCRIPT: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/11/21/nicaragua-leaving-oas-elections
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss Washington's new hybrid war on Nicaragua's Sandinista government, the US/EU/OAS refusing to recognize the election results, Congress passing the RENACER Act, and Biden imposing sanctions.
We speak with British journalist Steve Sweeney of the newspaper Morning Star, who was due to travel to Nicaragua to observe the election, but was detained in Mexico in mysterious circumstances.
Follow Steve on Twitter at twitter.com/SweeneySteve
Read Ben's report from inside Nicaragua's elections: thegrayzone.com/2021/11/11/nicaragua-2021-elections
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Stella Moris, the fiancée of imprisoned WikiLeaks journalist Julian Assange, about CIA threats, the appeal hearings in the US extradition case, and how this scandal threatens freedom of the press around the world.
Remember Russiagate claims of "Kremlin meddling"? Well, the US government is blatantly interfering in Nicaragua's elections.
Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal discuss how, mere days before Nicaragua's November 7 elections, Meta/Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, and Google/YouTube purged thousands of pro-Sandinista journalists, activists, and media outlets. Meanwhile, the US Congress voted for more crushing sanctions.
We address the gaping holes in Facebook's bogus report falsely claiming the Sandinistas it purged were "government-run troll accounts," which was written by former Pentagon-funded NATO press officer Ben Nimmo, a symbol of how social media corporations have effectively merged with the US government.
Read Ben's report "Meet the Nicaraguans Facebook falsely branded bots and censored days before elections" here: thegrayzone.com/2021/11/02/facebook-twitter-purge-sandinista-nicaragua
Ben Norton speaks with Ángel Rodríguez Rivera, president of the Puerto Rican Association of University Professors, about the devastating neoliberal economic policies forced on Puerto Rico.
Washington imposed an unelected fiscal control board, called the junta, to control Puerto Rico's finances. Now it is pushing through so-called "debt restructuring," in law PC1003, that will slash social benefits, defund public universities, and crush working-class people in order to pay off foreign corporate debt vultures.
Meanwhile, the US-imposed privatization of Puerto Rico's electrical grid in a neoliberal public-private partnership has caused chronic blackouts, while executives at LUMA Energy make huge salaries.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with economist Michael Hudson about his book "Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire."
Professor Hudson just published a 3rd edition that updates his analysis for the 21st century, discussing the new cold war on China and Russia and the ongoing transition from a US dollar-dominated financialized system to a "multipolar de-dollarized economy."
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uiz934HVZjY
Michael Hudson's website: michael-hudson.com
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the Pandora Papers, how zero US politicians or oligarchs were implicated, and the CIA's growing use of "hack-and-dump" operations.
The group behind the Pandora and Panama Papers, the ICIJ, is the anti-WikiLeaks. It is funded by regime-change organizations and billionaires, while working with US government front groups.
We show how the Washington is increasingly weaponizing so-called "anti-corruption" efforts against Official Enemies as a form of lawfare (judicial warfare) and hybrid war.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss shady Facebook "whistleblower" Frances Haugen and how her testimony only helps US spy agencies, justifying further government censorship while demonizing Washington's Official Enemies, from China to Iran, Myanmar to Ethiopia.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ilOl9bLfFgc
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the CIA's plot to assassinate or kidnap WikiLeaks journalist Julian Assange, which was first reported by The Grayzone in 2020.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the absurd media propaganda about "Havana Syndrome," claiming without any evidence that Cuba, Russia, China, Vietnam, and Official Enemies of the US government are supposedly attacking CIA spies with microwave energy, or sonic weapons, or ray guns, or... something.
In reality, scientists say it is most likely psychogenic, or psychological, a kind of mass hysteria for coup-plotting spooks.
Ben Norton analyzes the lies and misleading claims in US President Joe Biden's speech at the United Nations, and shows how the corporate media coverage is very misleading.
VIDEO: https://rokfin.com/post/53970/Bidens-UN-speech-shows-further-US-commitment-to-war-and-meddling-not-diplomacy
Ben Norton speaks with journalist Brian Mier of independent news website Brasil Wire about the fascistic Jair Bolsonaro government in Brazil, the far-right's attacks on democracy, and the rumors of plans for a military coup to prevent popular leftist former president Lula da Silva from returning to power in the 2022 elections.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BiVixfNIfSs
Check out Brasil Wire: https://brasilwire.com
Follow Brian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianMteleSUR
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with Professor Asad Abukhalil, and the millions of victims of the "War on Terror."
We speak about US imperialism's constant meddling in the Middle East, and Washington's hybrid wars on Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and more.
We also addressed how Bush-era neocons have been rehabilitated by and even merged with the Democratic Party and liberal "humanitarian interventionists."
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Oca3UvG2HPA
Ben Norton was invited to give this talk on US hybrid warfare in Latin America. He analyzes how imperialism has evolved in the 21st century, and looks at Washington's interventionist campaigns across the region, from Bolivia to Venezuela. Then Ben discusses the case of the 2018 coup attempt in Nicaragua.
The talk goes from the beginning to 1:00:00. A 30-minute Q&A then follows after.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=X87h8kh_8cI
Ben Norton discusses his The Grayzone investigation "How elite US institutions created Afghanistan’s neoliberal President Ashraf Ghani, who stole $169 million from his country": https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/02/afghanistan-ashraf-ghani-corrupt
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bgTu7MC3gVc
Watch Ben's weekly show Propaganda Today, where he streamed this video, and get access to exclusive content over at Rokfin: https://rokfin.com/benjaminnorton
On Foreign Agents, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton expose the biggest frauds recruited as defectors and dissidents to lie about Official Enemies by the US regime, from North Korea's Yeonmi Park to Kuwait's Nayirah to Syria's Bana al-Abed.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pJCY7dS7StU
You can watch Max's show Foreign Agents at Rokfin and subscribe to get all exclusive content here: https://rokfin.com/stream/8605/Foreign-Agents-5--Dissidents-defectors--deceivers-of-the-US-regime
We discuss how the US government is destabilizing the strategic Horn of Africa with Eritrean journalist Elias Amare. We talk about the conflict in Ethiopia, the TPLF's attacks on the government in the Tigray region, and the role of the Biden administration's sanctions and meddling.
Is the United States using the "humanitarian interventionist" playbook like it used to justify the devastating NATO regime-change war on Libya in 2011?
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=v8vRaWgI86Q
Follow Elias on Twitter at twitter.com/eliasamare
We continue our discussion with geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar of the end of the 20-year US/NATO war in Afghanistan, the opium ratline the CIA used to fund dirty covert ops, the fight over pipelines, and the estimated $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral reserves in the country, as well as Washington's "pivot to Asia" and how Afghanistan is central in the new cold war on China and Russia.
PART 2 OF 2
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QiF3TQZSxhs
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the end to the 20-year US/NATO war in Afghanistan with journalist Pepe Escobar, who has extensive experience reporting in the country and was even arrested by the Taliban.
We talk about how the geopolitics of the conflict, how the Taliban has changed, what the future government could look like, and the corruption of US puppet President Ashraf Ghani and other CIA assets.
PART 1 OF 2
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QiF3TQZSxhs
Max Blumenthal discusses US government-backed regime-change guru Gene Sharp with scholar Marcie Smith Parenti. They talk about Sharp's NED-funded Albert Einstein Institution; his explicitly neoliberal, pro-corporate, and pro-imperialist politics; and the manuals Sharp wrote teaching people how to do so-called "color revolutions" (ie, soft coups) against Washington's targets, from Yugoslavia to Venezuela to Hong Kong.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ruu9aDHTqJU
Read Marcie's article "Change Agent: Gene Sharp’s Neoliberal Nonviolence": nonsite.org/change-agent-gene-sharps-neoliberal-nonviolence-part-one
You can watch the censored part two of their discussion over at Rokfin: rokfin.com/stream/8188/Foreign-Agents-3--meet-regime-change-guru-Gene-Sharp-and-CDCFDA-vaccine-misogyny
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss how the US government laid the groundwork for unrest in Cuba, the Biden administration's escalation of the economic war, and how CIA cutouts like USAID and the NED have cultivated a counter-revolutionary cultural network of rappers, artists, and social media influencers to push propaganda.
We had planned on speaking with Havana-based journalist Cristina Escobar, but at the last minute when we started recording she unfortunately was unable to join us.
Read Max's report "Cuba’s cultural counter-revolution: US gov’t-backed rappers, artists gain fame as ‘catalyst for current unrest’" here: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/07/25/cubas-cultural-counter-revolution-us-govt-rappers-artists-catalyst
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=KLMuuGtaxes
Max Blumenthal discusses his reporting at the US Capitol on the protests demanding an eviction moratorium, the huge impending economic crisis, the opportunism of the Squad, and how Democratic Party warmongers like Adam Schiff cynically exploited it to do a photo op.
VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3aHgChJxsdg
We briefly discuss how the US government and corporate media are heavily amplifying small protests in Cuba to destabilize the country. While Washington suffocates the Cuban people with an illegal, 60-year blockade that the entire world just voted against at the UN, C-list celebrities are promoting #SOSCuba propaganda, and thousands of bots are spreading fake news on social media.
We discuss the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse with Haitian journalist Nazaire St. Fort and scholar Jeb Sprague. We talk about the "interim" presidency of US asset Claude Joseph, his request for American troops, the history of UN occupation, and the role of Colombian mercenaries and US citizens contracted by a Florida-based firm run by a right-wing Venezuelan-American.
We recount the insane story of how a pampered heiress and journalistic wannabe, enriched by millions of dollars seized from Iran by the US government, sued us for exposing her bogus Hezbollah sources, and hired an influential pro-Israel lawyer to try to bankrupt The Grayzone.
After 2.5 years of silence, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak out about the McCarthyite legal assault. We expose Sulome Anderson and the powerful neoconservative forces supporting her lawfare campaign against us.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=6vCnQKPznzM
Read about the case here: thegrayzone.com/2021/06/29/lawsuit-sulome-anderson-hezbollah
We discuss Mexico's progressive President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and the left-wing Morena party alliance victory in the June 2021 elections with journalist José Luis Granados Ceja. We also address US meddling via NED/USAID funding for the neoliberal opposition, as well as the constant media attacks.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=vp1no7Idbx4
Follow José Luis on Twitter: twitter.com/GranadosCeja
Article link - "‘Sexy tricks’: How journalists demonize Venezuela’s socialist government, in their own words" thegrayzone.com/2019/12/09/sexy-tricks-journalists-demonize-venezuela-anatoly-kurmanaev
Article link - "US Special Forces trained Mexican drug cartels linked to decapitation, torture, rape" thegrayzone.com/2021/05/06/us-special-forces-mexican-drug-cartels
Journalist Aaron Mate and Professor Mohammad Marandi continue talking about the trip they took to Syria, after a decade of Western proxy war. We also discuss the OPCW cover-up of so-called "chemical attacks," as well as the role of Israel in the war, and Palestinian resistance to its brutal bombing and blockade of Gaza.
We address the political situations in Iran and Nicaragua, and then respond to questions from our patrons over at Patreon.com/ModerateRebels.
PART 2 OF 2
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=g9iqWnpBFZk
We speak with journalist Aaron Mate and Professor Mohammad Marandi, who just took a trip to Syria to see the real-life impact on average people caused by the decade-long Western regime-change war and suffocating US/EU sanctions.
PART 1 OF 2
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=g9iqWnpBFZk
We were joined by musician Roger Waters and author Gabor Maté to discuss Israel's war on Gaza, the Palestinian resistance struggle, the psychology of Zionism, the music industry, and a variety of other political and cultural issues.
Israel is bombing Gaza, while extremists ethnically cleanse Palestinians. We are joined by Ali Abunimah and Rania Khalek, as well as Aaron Maté and Anya Parampil, to discuss the colonial violence - and indigenous resistance.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=-SaqRY7qHV0
Following his talk on the cultural cold war and the fake left, Ben Norton takes questions and discusses the "woke" CIA ads, the Biden administration's "intersectional imperialist" foreign policy, the Kurdish YPG/SDF and US military occupation of Syria, and new cold war myths about China.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=sZ79-gXVHos
This is part 2 of 2. You can watch or listen to part 1 here: moderaterebels.com/cia-fake-left-cultural-cold-war
TOPICS
0:00 Intro
4:25 Biden, Trump, and intersectional imperialism
29:00 China and new cold war propaganda
54:45 Syria and the Kurdish YPG/SDF
1:06:13 Ideology and hegemony
Ben Norton was invited to give this talk about the fake left and imperialism. He discusses how the CIA's "woke" recruitment ad is not new; it is rooted in an "intersectional imperialist" history going back to the first cold war, in which the CIA poured money into cultivating anti-communist, pro-imperialist progressive groups, using fronts like the Congress for Cultural Freedom and billionaire-funded foundations like Ford and Rockefeller.
Ben goes through the book "The Cultural Cold War," and talks about supposed "leftist" CIA assets like feminist leader Gloria Steinem and Trotskyite civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, then analyzes examples of astroturfed, Nonprofit Industrial Complex-backed pseudo-left campaigns in the US, Western Europe, and Latin America.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=rMap-6KxQJI
Links and show notes: moderaterebels.com/cia-fake-left-cultural-cold-war
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss with world-renowned economist Michael Hudson his concept of US "Super Imperialism," the new cold war on China and Russia, the Joe Biden administration, and dedollarization - the potential end to the dollar as the global reserve currency.
From 1:00:37 on, we also respond to questions from our patrons at Patreon: patreon.com/ModerateRebels
As the anti-Russia hawks in the Joe Biden administration push for more aggressive policies in Ukraine, we speak with Russell Bentley, an American from Texas who moved to the Donbas region to fight on behalf of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic.
Bentley discusses the ultra-nationalist fascists and neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian forces. He also explains the Christian Communist ideology that motivates him and his combat unit.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=F5O8h1dpP_k
-- Bentley's YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/RussellBentleyTexac
Ben Norton discusses Ecuador's 2021 election results, and how the US government and intelligence-linked billionaire foundations spent decades funding and cultivating liberal environmental groups and rightist Indigenous leaders to divide the left and weaken the socialist Citizens' Revolution movement launched by former President Rafael Correa.
- Read Ben's investigation "How the US gov’t cultivated environmental and Indigenous groups to defeat Ecuador’s leftist Correísta movement" here: thegrayzone.com/2021/05/04/ecuador-election-us-pachakutik-lasso-yaku
State Department cables released by WikiLeaks show how the US embassy recruited members of the Indigenous confederation CONAIE and its political arm Pachakutik, which has been directly supported by US government soft-power weapons like the NDI. CIA cutouts USAID and the NED poured tens of millions of dollars into building a fake "left" opposition to Correísmo, using "anti-extractivism" as a cover.
The result was Pachakutik/CONAIE and its coup-supporting neoliberal candidate Yaku Pérez got more than 1 million extra Ecuadorians to vote null in the April 2021 vote, compared to previous elections, thereby handing the victory to right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso.
After left-wing candidate Andrés Arauz conceded losing by 400,000 votes, Pérez boasted of "burying Correísmo." The US-backed fake "left" had succeeded in defeating a real leftist movement.
Norton documents how these tactics mirror US imperialist strategy targeting Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and more.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=k8FHNlbGKC0
-- Read more at The Grayzone: "How Ecuador’s US-backed, coup-supporting ‘ecosocialist’ candidate Yaku Pérez aids the right-wing"
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss US meddling in the protests in Myanmar with Brian Berletic, and how Washington seeks to weaken a neighbor of China and key ally in Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.
We discuss the coup by the Tatmadaw military, the NED-funded Burmese networks calling for R2P ("Responsibility to Protect") foreign intervention, eerie parallels to the regime-change operations targeting Syria and Libya, and how the violence risks a dangerous destabilization of Southeast Asia.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=Hr24DLS16C8
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Check out Brian's website Land Destroyer: landdestroyer.blogspot.com
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Follow Brian's YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/LandDestroyerReport
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Ajit Singh and Aaron Maté to discuss the new cold war on Beijing, and how the US government is funding far-right extremist Uyghur armed separatists, to try to divide and balkanize China.
We also debunk the absurd Western accusations of genocide in Xinjiang province, and pick apart the propaganda of Adrian Zenz and other charlatans.
-- Link to Ajit's The Grayzone article "'Wipe out China!' US-funded Uyghur activists train as gun-toting foot soldiers for empire": thegrayzone.com/2021/03/31/china-uyghur-gun-soldiers-empire
-- Link to Ajit's other The Grayzone article "China detaining millions of Uyghurs? Serious problems with claims by US-backed NGO and far-right researcher ‘led by God’ against Beijing": thegrayzone.com/2019/12/21/china-detaining-millions-uyghurs-problems-claims-us-ngo-researcher
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Aaron Maté to discuss the dirty war on Syria, how murderous US/EU sanctions have destroyed the country's economy and led to many civilian deaths, and Washington's military occupation of its oil/wheat-rich territory.
We respond to a ridiculous open letter that smears the anti-war movement, signed by regime-change operatives and fake "leftist" imperialists like Gilbert Achcar.
-- Link to Ben's The Grayzone article "Elite UK military unit secretly trained by leftist regime-change advocate Gilbert Achcar and other academics": thegrayzone.com/2019/10/03/leftist-regime-change-activist-gilbert-achcar-academics-train-uk-military
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Aaron Maté to discuss the radlibs in academia who pretend to be radical but use anti-materialist post-modern philosophy and neoliberal identity politics to defend Western imperialism, from Ecuador to Syria, China to Venezuela. We also make fun of Bernard-Henri Lévy, who has never seen a US war he didn't love.
-- Link to Ben's article "Coup-supporting academics spread lies to censor The Grayzone reporting exposing Ecuador’s pseudo-left candidate Yaku Pérez": thegrayzone.com/2021/03/01/academic-letter-censor-grayzone-ecuador-yaku-perez
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Aaron Maté to discuss the hawks in the Joe Biden administration and Washington and NATO are pushing for a dangerous proxy war between Ukraine and Russia.
Max Blumenthal documents the deceptions behind the US government's accusation that China is committing "genocide" against Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, picking apart NED-funded studies that rely on botched statistics and exposing extremist Adrian Zenz and his error-filled research.
This was part of a panel discussion held on March 19, 2021, hosted on Daniel Dumbrill's channel.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=qZkxaEC1xjY
Ben Norton was invited to give this talk on US imperialism in Latin America for the anti-war group Massachusetts Peace Action. He discusses the similarities in the aggressive foreign policy of Biden, Trump, and Obama, and talks about Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and "Plan Biden" for Central America, Chile, Colombia, Peru, immigration in the United States, and more.
Ben's The Grayzone article "Right-wing Central American leaders praise neoliberal 'Biden Plan' to strengthen US 'sphere of influence'": thegrayzone.com/2021/03/08/central-america-neoliberal-biden-plan
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton continue speaking with Daniel Dumbrill, a Canadian in China, about the new US cold war, the Washington-backed secessionist campaign in Xinjiang, and other propaganda. We also discuss "socialism with Chinese characteristics," and respond to questions submitted by patrons over at patreon.com/ModerateRebels.
Part 2 of 2
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton (kind of) speak with Daniel Dumbrill, a Canadian YouTuber who has lived in China for more than a decade, about the new cold war. He debunks the anti-Chinese myths constantly spread in the Western corporate media.
Check out Daniel's YouTube channel at: youtube.com/channel/UC6Bl8MTbW9M9MQoPhxbarpw
Ben Norton speaks with journalist Yasha Levine about how Silicon Valley has its origins in the US national security and its Cold War on communism. We discuss the links between the United States government and Google, Facebook, and Tor; the far-right anti-China cult Falun Gong; and how Washington rapidly shifted from promoting "internet freedom" to censorship of alternative information.
We also talk about Adam Curtis' documentary series Can't Get You Out of My Head, and respond to questions from our patrons on Patreon.
Yasha's article "Google has been a military-intel contractor from the very beginning": surveillancevalley.com/blog/google-has-been-a-military-contractor-from-the-very-beginning
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Yasha Levine about Russian politics and Alexei Navalny, his political views and xenophobic nationalist history, his Western backing, his own oligarch sponsors, and the elite capitalists who dominate the country's system.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Yasha Levine about racism in Israel, anti-Soviet propaganda, the cold war, the Zionist movement, and weaponization of Russian Jewish immigration.
Ben Norton speaks with Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera about the corporate media disinformation targeting leftist governments in Latin America. We discuss Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and even Libya. We also talk about the importance of food sovereignty, and respond to questions from viewers and listeners.
This is part 3 of our lengthy livestream with Diego: youtube.com/watch?v=WlRl0ZVUrHE
Diego's website Misión Verdad: misionverdad.com
Follow Diego on Twitter: twitter.com/QueraElse
Ben Norton speaks with Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera about the far-right government in Colombia, its close links to drug cartels and death squads, Latin America's anti-imperialist Bolivarian movement, the brutally violent repression of the Colombian left, and the false positives scandal, in which the Colombian military massacred over 6400 innocent people and falsely claimed they were socialist guerrillas.
This is part 2 of our lengthy livestream with Diego: youtube.com/watch?v=WlRl0ZVUrHE
Diego's website Misión Verdad: misionverdad.com
Follow Diego on Twitter: twitter.com/QueraElse
Ben Norton speaks with Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera, from inside Caracas, about the US blockade, the Biden administration's continued recognition of puppet Juan Guaidó, and Washington's gangster-like theft.
This is part 1 of our lengthy livestream with Diego: youtube.com/watch?v=WlRl0ZVUrHE
Diego's website Misión Verdad: misionverdad.com
Follow Diego on Twitter: twitter.com/QueraElse
Max Blumenthal speaks with Ben Norton, who is reporting from Ecuador, on the historic February 7 election, and how the US government, regime-change networks, and wealthy oligarchs are trying to prevent the return of the socialist Citizens' Revolution movement of former President Rafael Correa.
We discuss the fake NGO "left," represented by coup-supporting pseudo-environmentalist candidate Yaku Pérez, and how a victory of leftist Andrés Arauz could help bring back the progressive, anti-imperialist Pink Tide in Latin America.
Ben and Max speak with peace activist David Swanson about the US wars coming home: from the prolonged military occupation of Washington, DC to the "liberal interventionist" hawks in the Joe Biden administration, including Antony Blinken, Samantha Power, Lloyd Austin, and Avril Haines.
We speak with former CIA analyst-turned-dissident Ray McGovern about the institutions that truly govern the United States, comprising the MICIMATT, or Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank Complex.
We discuss how the CIA popularized the "conspiracy theory" smear to discredit US government critics, as well as Donald Trump and the January 6 Capitol riot, Russiagate lies and the DNC "hack," JFK, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the new cold war on Russia and China, and the Joe Biden administration.
Ben Norton speaks with Professor Jared Ball about political prisoner Julian Assange, and how the UK judge blocked extradition due to the horrific conditions of US mass incarceration, while also justifying CIA spying by citing a bogus CNN report based on CIA spying. Then we discuss the liberal war hawks in the Joe Biden administration and their "intersectional imperialism."
Follow Jared Ball's show IMIXWHATILIKE at imixwhatilike.org.
Ben Norton speaks with Professor Jared Ball about information warfare, war propaganda, US imperialism, and CIA penetration and manipulation of mainstream corporate media.
Follow Jared Ball's show IMIXWHATILIKE at imixwhatilike.org
In Caracas, Venezuela, Max Blumenthal has a wide-ranging chat with Danny Shaw, a professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies who has lived in the Dominican Republican, Haiti, and Brazil. They discuss revolutionary anti-imperialist movements, life in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx, Malcolm X's internationalist legacy, identity politics, differences of whiteness in Latin America, problems with the US left, and humanity's age-old question: did Jesus Christ do drugs?
You can follow Danny Shaw on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dannyshawcuny
Max Blumenthal, reporting from Venezuela, discusses with Aaron Maté and Ben Norton how Western corporate media outlets are full of stenographers for spy agencies, how the CIA and MI6 drive reporting on Russia, how the US and UK governments fund regime-change website Bellingcat and its deceptive articles on Syria and the OPCW, and how the British military censors journalism.
(Excerpt from The Grayzone livestream on December 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBfEWdh_0Ec)
Max Blumenthal discusses life on the ground in Venezuela under suffocating US sanctions, and debunks media myths about the December National Assembly election, which he observed. Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera also addresses the economic situation and what a Biden administration policy could look like.
(This is an excerpt from The Grayzone livestream on December 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBfEWdh_0Ec)
Our previous interview with Diego Sequera: part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph7jVQf5DSQ / part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OsvbjnTbGc
Ben Norton was invited to give this talk on US imperialism in Latin America, for the Workers' Party of Ireland. He discusses the history from European settler colonialism, through the Monroe Doctrine, the first cold war, and the three great socialist revolutions, to the 21st-century resurgence of the left in the Pink Tide.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=ycFW7pvu51k
Topics
0:03 European settler colonialism in the Americas
9:30 US colonialism and Monroe Doctrine
18:51 Rebellions against US military occupations
24:43 First cold war and OAS
27:10 Latin American left's 3 great revolutions
38:23 Pink Tide and socialism in the 21st century
Q&A
1:01:57 Mexico and AMLO
1:13:00 White supremacy and political construction of the West
1:18:07 US military presence in Latin America
1:22:40 Ecuador and Lenin Moreno
1:29:13 Russia and China relations in Latin America
1:39:02 Climate change, oil, extractivism, and renewable energy
1:48:14 Outro
US government-backed corporate censorship is escalating online, while France's neoliberal President Emmanuel Macron lurches hard right, cracking down on civil liberties, protests, and the Muslim community.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada about attacks on alternative media and independent journalism by Western "democracies", and how Silicon Valley companies are censoring Palestinians.
We then discuss the French government's discrimination against Muslims, repression of anti-neoliberal protests, and attempt to criminalize filming police brutality.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=w7-nuuSeTKg
Show notes and links: moderaterebels.com/western-authoritarian-censorship-france
Part 2 of 2
(Episode recorded November 25, 2020)
US president-elect Joe Biden has filled his transition team with hawkish neoliberal war-profiteering holdovers from the Barack Obama administration. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada about how the specter of Obama haunts America - and controls the Democratic Party.
We review passages from Obama's new memoir "A Promised Land," and how they expose his sociopathic imperial worldview. We also discuss how Rahm Emanuel's neoliberal model in Chicago is being copied nationwide.
And we address Biden's cabinet picks, including liberal interventionist Antony Blinken and neocon Michele Flournoy, as well as Democratic support for Israeli apartheid.
Links and show notes: moderaterebels.com/obama-biden-warmongering-neoliberal
Part 1 of 2
(Episode recorded November 25, 2020)
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is full of war hawks and weapons industry shills. We speak with US Army veteran Danny Sjursen, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an anti-imperialist activist and journalist, about what a Biden-Harris administration foreign policy would look like.
Sjursen, who previously taught at the United States Military Academy, also discusses how warmongering members of the West Point Mafia dominate the US government and military-industrial complex.
Follow Sjursen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/skepticalvet
Sjursen's website: https://skepticalvet.com
Sjursen's The Nation article "How the ‘West Point Mafia’ Runs Washington": https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/esper-pompeo-west-point
Ben Norton speaks with Andrés González Berdecía, a senatorial candidate from the Puerto Rican Independence Party, about the November 3 election and referendum, US colonialism, the unelected neoliberal junta that controls Puerto Rico's economy, the similarities between Republican and Democratic administrations, and why he wants his nation to be independent.
You can listen to Andrés' podcast Radio Independencia at https://www.radioindependencia.net, and support it at https://www.patreon.com/radioindependencia.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton report from La Paz, Bolivia, where we observed the historic landslide victory of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party of former President Evo Morales.
We speak with human rights lawyer Thomas Becker about the horrific crimes and repression of the coup regime that has ruled Bolivia since the military overthrew Evo in November 2019.
We also discuss the deep colonial racism of the Bolivian right-wing, and indigenous resistance against authoritarianism and imperialism.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=NHXc6WrMGYQ
Follow Thomas on Twitter at twitter.com/mrtommybecker
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald about what a Joe Biden presidency would mean for US-Russia relations. We also remember late scholar Stephen F. Cohen, who spoke out against the new cold war. And we debunk the ridiculous "red-brown alliance" myth spread by pro-NATO trolls.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=x-qe8FnRkUM
SECTIONS
0:00 Intro
3:35 Remembering pro-peace scholar Stephen F. Cohen
16:58 NATO trolls' absurd 'red-brown alliance' myth
31:00 What would a Joe Biden presidency mean for US-Russia relations?
Part 2 of 2
Follow Bryan MacDonald on Twitter: twitter.com/27khv
(Episode recorded on September 22, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton start off with an exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording we were leaked of Russian President Vladimir Putin's phone calls.
Then we speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald, who lives in Russia, about the very suspicious alleged poisoning of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny, and what his real, xenophobic politics are.
We also discuss the NATO/EU attempt to orchestrate a so-called color revolution in Belarus and install a pro-Western neoliberal regime.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=9ow9-w8nvJM
SECTIONS
0:00 Exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording
8:33 Poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny
45:00 Belarus color revolution attempt
1:21:30 Outro
PART 1 OF 2
Follow Bryan MacDonald on Twitter: twitter.com/27khv
(Episode recorded on September 22, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak about the dystopian show trial going on against political prisoner Julian Assange with journalist Kevin Gosztola, who is covering the UK court hearings to potentially extradite the WikiLeaks publisher to the US.
We discuss the major threat this case poses to the freedom of the press -- yet how it is being criminally under-reported and whitewashed in the corporate media.
LINKS:
Read Kevin's reporting at shadowproof.com
Follow Kevin on Twitter at twitter.com/kgosztola
Max's report "'The American friends': New court files expose Sheldon Adelson’s security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange": thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/american-sheldon-adelsons-us-spy-julian-assange
Max's report "Exclusive images from inside British court expose Assange’s un-democratic treatment, physical deterioration": thegrayzone.com/2020/05/29/british-court-assanges-physical-deterioration
(Episode recorded on September 11, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with the hosts of Redspin Sports, Nathanial Wallace and Michael Sampson, about the historic one-day NBA strike, capitalist oligarchs' exploitation of largely Black athletes, and what American sports look like with an anti-imperialist perspective.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=TmaAtHMLObg
Redspin Sports on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCdjXZ5L7lkf8da6zFH4Dqgw
Redspin Sports on Facebook: facebook.com/RedspinSports
Redspin Sports on Twitter: twitter.com/RedspinSports
(Episode recorded on August 31, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Aaron Maté; about the new cold war on China and Russia and the US government-backed campaign to silence anti-war voices. We discuss the growing censorship of independent outlets on social media and the defamatory corporate media smears of our factual reporting.
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=s1k_GnT0sFI
Part 2 of 2
(Episode recorded on August 19, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Aaron Maté about the virtual Democratic National Convention (DNC), and how the Democratic Party welcomes neoconservative war criminals and right-wing Republicans while attacking the left.
We also talk about Joe Biden choosing hawkish neoliberal "top cop" Kamala Harris as his VP candidate. Then Aaron picks apart the new Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russia, and explains why the Russiagate conspiracy still won't go away, even after it has been debunked.
PART 1 OF 2
(Episode recorded on August 19, 2020)
With a massive uprising in the US against systemic racism and the authoritarian police state, the government and corporate foundations have mobilized a counterinsurgency strategy to try to contain the Black liberation movement and co-opt it into a liberal direction that the Democratic Party can digest.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Professor Jared Ball about the co-option of the George Floyd uprising.
We also address how the corporate media weaponizes allegations of anti-Semitism against Black nationalist activists. Max and Jared talk about Black-Jewish relations and a provide larger, more nuanced context that is often left out of these conversations.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=A7WJMMB9jzM
SHOW NOTES: moderaterebels.com/counterinsurgency-black-liberation-anti-semitism-jared-ball
Follow Jared Ball on Twitter: @imixwhatilike
Jared's website: imixwhatilike.org
(Episode recorded on July 16, 2020)
Rich corporate oligarchs are plotting to destabilize and overthrow Mexico's first left-wing president in 40 years, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). We speak with prominent Mexican Professor John Ackerman about AMLO's many accomplishments, and how the corporate media attacks his progressive Fourth Transformation movement nonstop. We also discuss AMLO's historic visit to the US and his meeting with Trump, and what exactly this means politically.
LINKS and show notes: https://moderaterebels.com/amlo-mexico-trump-john-ackerman
Meet the far-right oligarchs working to topple Mexico’s progressive President AMLO: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/25/frena-gilberto-lozano-mexico-coup-amlo
Leaked documents reveal right-wing oligarch plot to overthrow Mexico’s AMLO: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/18/mexico-overthrow-president-amlo-boa
(Episode recorded July 9, 2020)
Max Blumenthal discusses joint US-Israeli police training and border militarization. Then Ben Norton and anti-war veteran Camilo Mejía talk about the hybrid war on Nicaragua's democratically elected socialist government and how US-backed right-wing opposition groups are using disinformation about coronavirus as a weapon against the Sandinistas. We conclude addressing the grave dangers of the upcoming economic crisis caused by Covid-19.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=dMLEkf8MGOw
LINKS and show notes: moderaterebels.com/us-israel-militarization-coronavirus-nicaragua
PART 2 OF 2
(Episode recorded June 28, 2020)
The Minneapolis cop who murdered George Floyd, setting off a protest movement, Derek Chauvin, started his career as a military police officer at the notorious Fort Benning, a base named after a Confederate general that is home to the School of the Americas (now called WHINSEC), where the US Army has trained countless Latin American dictators, death squads, torturers, assassins, and coup-plotters.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with anti-war veteran Camilo Mejía, who was trained at Fort Benning, about the deep links between US imperialism, white supremacy, and police violence.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=htGiSE5kJuo
LINKS AND SHOW NOTES: moderaterebels.com/fort-benning-school-americas-camilo-mejia
Part 1 of 2
(Episode recorded June 28, 2020)
Brazilian independent journalist Nathália Urban discusses the surge of fascist militias and Evangelical extremists in Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro is putting the military in power.
We also address his refusal to do anything to stop the Covid-19 pandemic, and how Brazil has thus become the world's new epicenter.
"Basically the military is in power in every ministry; they are overseeing everything in Brazil right now," Nathália says.
Follow Nathália on Twitter: twitter.com/UrbanNathalia
Read Brasil Wire: brasilwire.com
(Recorded on May 26, 2020)
The Soviet Union played the leading role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, but the US government has tried to erase its unimaginable sacrifice. Historian Peter Kuznick discusses the real history of WWII, and how 80% of Nazis were killed on the Eastern Front with the USSR.
We also address the new cold war on Russia and China, and the possibility for peace, then and now.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=ctp5a21Mtvs
(Interview recorded on May 14, 2020)
Israeli journalist David Sheen tells the shocking story of how extremists suspected of murdering Palestinian American activist Alex Odeh in a terrorist attack in California in 1985 are living openly in Israel.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton also discuss the fascist Zionist movement Kahanism and its growing influence inside Netanyahu's government.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/tJdfGury5Sc
Show notes: moderaterebels.com/israel-alex-odeh-murder-kahanism-david-sheen
PART 2 OF 2
Part 1: "Netanyahu's coronavirus coalition consolidates apartheid: Inside Israel's extremism with David Sheen"
(Interview recorded on April 21, 2020)
LINKS
David Sheen's website: davidsheen.com
David's report "Alex Odeh was assassinated. Two suspects live openly in Israel"
David's report "Trump’s Jerusalem plan rewards suspected killer of Alex Odeh"
David's lecture "Messiah Mode"
David's lecture "Israeli Politics Decoded"
David's video documenting the extremist fascist views of Baruch Ben Yosef / Andy Green
Israeli journalist David Sheen discusses how Netanyahu lost three elections and faced corruption charges but still managed to stay in power in his fifth term as prime minister.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton talk about King Bibi's coalition negotiations with rival Benny Gantz (who boasted of killing Palestinians), the decision to officially annex the occupied West Bank, apartheid in the time of Covid-19, and the growing racism and far-right extremism in Israel.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=COfIJOt3cmg
PART 1 OF 2
(Interview recorded on April 22, 2020)
Economist Michael Hudson explains how American imperialism has created a global free lunch, where the US makes foreign countries pay for its wars, and even their own military occupation.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the economics of Washington's empire, the role of the IMF and World Bank, attempts to create alternative financial systems like BRICS, and the new cold war on China and Russia.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=paUgY6SGlgY
PART 2 OF 2
Part 1 here: moderaterebels.com/transcript-us-coronavirus-bailout-michael-hudson
Michael Hudson's website: michael-hudson.com
PDF of his book Super Imperialism: michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/superimperialism.pdf
(Interview recorded on April 13, 2020)
Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Congress rammed through the CARES Act — which economist Michael Hudson explains is not a "bailout" but a massive, $6 trillion giveaway to Wall Street, banks, large corporations, and stockholders.
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the systemic financial scam with Hudson, who shows how the economy actually works, with the Federal Reserve printing money so rich elites don't lose their investments.
VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=N-8m5fBbLgQ
TRANSCRIPT: moderaterebels.com/transcript-us-coronavirus-bailout-michael-hudson
PART 1 OF 2
Part 2: "How the US makes countries pay for its wars: Economics of American imperialism with Michael Hudson"
Michael Hudson's website: michael-hudson.com
(Interview recorded on April 13, 2020)
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton continue discussing the end of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, and how the professional media left, largely based in Brooklyn, opportunistically capitalized on his movement to push a soft-imperialist branding of "democratic socialism" — and to advance their careers in the press. We also address media celebrity AOC, Jacobin Magazine, the DSA, and the scheme to divert angry politicized youth back into the thoroughly discredited, neoliberal Democratic Party.
PART 2 OF 2
(Recorded on April 11, 2020)
Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the US presidential race. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss what went wrong in his campaign, from being unwilling to take on the Democratic Party, treating right-wing war criminal Joe Biden like a friend, refusing to attack a cartoonishly hostile corporate media, recruiting milquetoast Washington, DC foreign-policy advisors, and attracting a slew of careerists and opportunists in "left media."
PART 1 OF 2
(Recorded April 11, 2020)
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic rampages across the world, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with independent geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar about the new US cold war with China, potential origins of the Covid-19 virus, the collapse of the European Union, anti-China corporate media narratives, and Beijing's strategy to build a new silk road.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYf5h0wOV1Q
(Episode recorded on March 26, 2020)
You can read Pepe Escobar's column "China locked in hybrid war with US" here: https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/china-locked-in-hybrid-war-with-us/
Ben Norton joins Randy Credico to co-host his program "Julian Assange: Countdown to Freedom," dedicated to exposing the prosecution and persecution of the WikiLeaks founder, a political prisoner who is being tortured for the "crime" of publishing truthful information. We discuss the extradition trial in London, the dangerous implications for press freedom, CIA surveillance, and the campaign against Chelsea Manning.
Guests: Thomas Drake, Jesselyn Radack, Rebecca Vincent, and Robert Boyle
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden has for decades supported wars and military interventions across the planet. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with former State Department Russia adviser James Carden about his experience in the Obama administration. We discuss the ex vice president's role in the wars on Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yugoslavia; his hawkishness against Russia and China; his destructive policies in Latin America; and the Biden family's corruption in Ukraine.
(This interview was recorded on the night of Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020.)
Show notes, with links: https://moderaterebels.com/biden-war-interventionism-james-carden/
In Managua, Ben Norton interviews Nicaragua's representative to the UN's International Court of Justice, Carlos Argüello Gómez, who speaks about his country's case against the US over its terrorist Contra war, the 2018 coup attempt, and why Washington's unilateral sanctions are an illegal form of warfare on civilians.
WATCH the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jo-_0xH2Vw
Moderate Rebels co-host and The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal speaks about the witch hunt against WikiLeaks publisher and political prisoner Julian Assange, and how billionaire-funded "human rights" and "press freedom" non-profit organizations have refused to support him.
This talk was hosted by the Courage Foundation in New York City on February 15, 2020.
WATCH the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT1-tbJ9Mak
As the US escalates its military aggression in the Middle East, we speak with journalist Elijah Magnier about the future of the Axis of Resistance. After the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraq's parliament voted unanimously to expel American troops. But the Trump administration is refusing to withdraw.
Max Blumenthal describes his arrest and imprisonment on false charges (which were later dropped), the persecution he faced by the US government, and the real story of how the Trump administration helped violent right-wing coup-mongers besiege and eventually seize Venezuela's embassy in Washington, DC.
Read more at the article we discuss: https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/07/us-government-dropped-charges-max-blumenthal-arrest/
Donald Trump has in effect declared war on Iran and Iraq by assassinating IRGC general Qasem Soleimani and PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the dangerous consequences in this The Grayzone livestream with Aaron Maté and Rania Khalek.
You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeQ_dx452WM
After sabotaging Jeremy Corbyn, centrists from Britain's Labour Party are looking for a new leader without principled anti-war views. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton continue with activist Joshua Y. Jackson, discussing how Corbyn was viciously smeared because of his committed anti-imperialism and support for Palestinian rights. We also talk about the massive media propaganda campaign, and the prospects of an independent Scotland and united Ireland.
PART 2 OF 2
Follow Josh on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JoshuaYJackson
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party suffered a historic defeat in the UK general elections. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Labour activist Joshua Y. Jackson, who says the failure of the party to get behind Brexit destroyed it, and handed victory to the far-right Conservatives and Boris Johnson.
Josh talks about how the centrists who still dominate Labour sabotaged Corbyn's campaign, and how the media-savvy "middle-class left" abandoned socialist working-class policies to not lose the approval of the commentariat.
PART 1 OF 2
Follow Josh on Twitter at twitter.com/JoshuaYJackson
What was Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg doing in his safe house in Iraq — and why is he hiding it? Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Peter Van Buren, a longtime US State Department employee turned whistleblower.
Van Buren explains how corporate contractors profited from the war and built a shielded bubble of corruption in Baghdad's Green Zone. We also address McKinsey & Company's work with the CIA and Mayor Pete's links to American intelligence agencies.
Peter Van Buren's website: https://wemeantwell.com/blog/the-author/