Wider View Radio Podcast: Recent Episodes
Charles Dunaway
Wider View provides perspectives on the news outside the narrow confines of the mainstream media. It is available to radio stations through the Pacifica Network. If you have questions or comments on the show, email me at widerviewradio@gmail.com
This week’s program is an interview with Dr. Walter Hixson. Hixson is a historian and commentator whose work has focused mainly on the intersection of American culture and foreign relations. A prolific writer and publisher, he has a produced a series of works critically examining the history of US foreign relations, with particular emphasis on the Middle East in recent years. Since 2019 Hixson has been a columnist and contributing editor of the magazine, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Hixson’s forthcoming book, Architects of Repression: How Israel and its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy is published by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy. His previous book on the lobby is Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict.
Human Rights Watch has just issued a report on Israel entitled “Abusive Israeli Policies Constitute Crimes of Apartheid, Persecution: Crimes Against Humanity Should Trigger Action to End Repression of Palestinians”
If you are Jewish and concerned about the human rights violations of the Israeli state, you may want to investigate Jewish Voice for Peace and B’Tselem . Concerned citizens of all faiths should be aware of the most effective of current efforts to rein in the Israeli government - the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement or BDS.
Bruce Gagnon is a lifelong activist for peace and justice and a co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He has traveled to Russia, Crimea and Ukraine and watched this crisis unfold over the last 7 years.
I asked him to bring us up-to-date on the situation in Ukraine and how we got ourselves in this mess.
This week I am reading excerpts from news and analysis stories from a number of alternative sources - outside the mainstream establishment media.
Sources include Strategic Culture, Counterpunch, Anti-War and New Eastern Outlook. I also strongly recommend taking a look at Covert Action Magazine which has published a number of important in-depth articles over the last few months.
As the Biden regime seems determined to start another Cold War, this time with both Russia and China, I take a look at the rationale and origins of the first one and the similarities between Cold Wars I and II.
Barbara Boland is a journalist living and working in Washingon, DC who writes primarily about US foreign policy. She has been published in the American Conservative and Responsible Statecraft, among others. We take a look at President Biden's foreign policy, its goals and methods, and who's running the show.
Russell Dobular lives in New York City where he is a playwright and the owner and artistic director at Endtimes Productions, an independent Theater/Film Production Company. He is also a political commentator appearing on the Due Dissidence Podcast with Keaton Weiss, who was my guest a few weeks ago.
We had a wide-ranging conversation centered on the failed state in which we live and the political morass in which we find ourselves. Thankfully Russell has a great sense of humor so it isn't that depressing.
This week I'm exploring the efforts of the elites to control us through control of the media narrative. We explore the role of social media and government efforts to put tight controls on what we can read and write on the internet.
This is a very timely episode discussing the posture of the US vis-a-vis Iran and the effects of this week's bombing in Syria and the sanctions regime being continued by Biden.
My guest this week is Assal Rad. Dr. Rad is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Iranian-American Council. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her writing can be seen in Newsweek, Independent, the National Interest, and Responsible Statecraft, and she has appeared as a commentator on the BBC, Al Jazeera, BBC Persian, and NPR.
This episode details the sources I use for news and opinion outside the narrow confines of the mainstream media.
Web Sites mentioned on this broadcast (Please note that I do not endorse everything posted on any of these web sites. I do think they are worth reading because they provide missing alternative perspectives.):
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- Economics - Naked Capitalism - Michael Hudson - New Economic Perspectives
- Education
- Curmudgucation
- UO Matters
- Foreign Policy
- Israel/Palestine
- Electronic Intifada
- Palestine Chronicle
- Israel/Palestine News
- Council for the National Interest
- Miko Peled
- Steven Salaita
- Bloggers
- Caitlin Johnstone
- Craig Murray
- Eurasia
- New Eastern Outlook
- The Vineyard of the Saker
- Indispensible
- Israel/Palestine
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Moon of Alabama
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- Mainstream Left - Responsible Statecraft
- US Politics
- Black Agenda Report
- Scheerpost
- Benjamin Studebaker
- Due Dissidence
- Ray McGovern
- General News and Opinion
- Mint Press News
- Consortium News
- Grayzone Project
- Matt Taibbi (Substack is a membership site so the journalists can be paid for their work)
- Glenn Greenwald
- Patrick Lawrence
- Covert Action Magazine
- American Herald Tribune
- Video (YouTube)
- TheHill.com
- AcTVism Munich
- Land Destroyer
- Jimmy Dore
- Foreign Press Sources
- Russia
- RT News
- Sputnik News
- China
- Global Times
- CGTN
- Iran
- Press TV
- Tasnim News Agency
- Syria
- Syrian Arab News Agency
- Al-Masdar News
- Venezuela
- Telesur
- Venezuela Analysis
- Cuba
- Granma
- Russia
Keaton Weiss lives in Beacon, NY on the Hudson River, and is a published playwright and award-winning filmmaker. I came to know him through his Due Dissidence blog, film club, and podcast. He tweets (much more rationally than our former President) at @DueDissidence and you can support his work on Patreon at https://patreon.com/duedissidence. The Due Dissidence Podcast is available on Google, Apple, Soundcloud, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an almost hour-long conversation I had with Jim Kavanagh on January 24, 2021. We talk about the storming of Congress, populism of the left and right, keeping the pitchforks away, and various other topics.
Jim is a former college professor who publishes left-socialist analysis at ThePolemicist.Net, Counterpunch, and Medium and appears regularly on podcasts including The Critical Hour, By Any Means Necessary, and Political Misfits.
Dr. Rick Staggenborg, President of the Linus Pauling Chapter of Veterans for Peace in Corvallis, Oregon and an activist for public banking talk about the need for Public Banking and how it might work and the current political situation in the US.
In this episode we consider the question "Is the US a failed state?" Looking at the key characteristics of a failed state, are they here in the US today? Is the US a failed state with a huge military and an inflated self-image?
The program contains the song "Failed State" by last week's guest, David Rovics, from his album "Strangers and Friends".
My guest today is David Rovics. David is a songwriter, podcaster, and part of Portland Emergency Eviction Response. We discuss the upcoming tsunami of evictions and the response of landlords, the history of rent strikes, and the struggle to stop evictions including that of the "Red House" in Portland, OR.
You can find out more about David at https://www.davidrovics.com. His podcast “This Week with David Rovics” is archived at https://drovics.podbean.com/ You can find his music on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube and wherever fine music is available. He even has an app for Android and Apple iOS!
In this episode, I examine identity politics as a strategy for the Left. Is it getting the results we want, or is it a distraction from the work the Left needs to do to gain political power?
I’m very pleased to welcome Patrick Lawrence back to Wider View. Patrick was a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, and is currently a columnist, essayist, author, and lecturer. His most recent book is Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. Patrick's recent essays can be found at https://consortiumnews.com/tag/patrick-lawrence/
Patrick and I have a wide-ranging conversation mostly about US foreign policy and the contrast, or lack thereof, between the outgoing Trump Administration and the incoming Biden presidency.
With clips from experts and other commentators, I discuss the current situation with the 2020 Presidential Election (3 weeks later) along with the problems progressives face over the next 4 years under a Biden administration.
Catherine Shakdam joins me this week. Catherine is a research fellow at the Al Bayan Centre for Planning & Studies and a political analyst specializing in radical movements. She is the author of A Tale of Grand Resistance: Yemen, the Wahhabi and the House of Saud.
We discuss the differences in Middle East policy between the Trump Administration and the incoming Biden Administration and her take on this may surprise you.
You can find Catherine Shakdam's recent essays at New Eastern Outlook.
Colin Moran, a pharmacist, activist and neighbor, joins me to talk about some issues that have been ignored or grossly misrepresented in the Presidential campaigns this year.
This is the second part of my interview with Moscow-based geopolitical analyst Mark Sleboda. We talk about US-Russia relations and the impact of the upcoming election.
Following the interview, I talk a bit about the election and the future for progressives in the US.
I'm joined this week by Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based geopolitical analyst who is a regular pundit on RT, Sputnik and CGTN and other outlets. We discuss the US encirclement of Russia and in particular the current situation in Belarus. Mark goes into detail on the history of the current crisis, the involvement of Russia and the US, and likely outcomes.
This is Part 1 of my interview with Mark and Part 2 will be made available next week.
Canadian journalist Joe Emersberger joins me to discuss the upcoming elections in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela and US efforts to disrupt them. Joe mentioned several excellent sources for unfiltered news on Latin America. Here they are with links:
- Venezuela Analysis primarily covers Venezuela and provides an even-handed approach to the news from that nation targeted by the US.
- Telesur English is the English-language television network sponsored by a number of Latin American governments including that of Venezuela.
- The Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) provides high-quality analysis of events throughout Latin America.
- A number of the journalists at the Grayzone have spent time in the nations targeted by US imperialism and cover US actions in the region without fear or favor.
- A number of good independent journalists report using Twitter.
- Ollie Vargas provides ongoing coverage of Bolivia during this dangerous period.
- Kawsachun News is the English-language service of @KawsachunCoca, official station of the 6 Federations and is headquartered in Cochabamba.
- Camila Escalante reports for Kawsachun News and also posts independent stories on Twitter.
Based on recent reports from these sources, here is a summary of news from Bolivia as of October 11, one week before the national election.
With the Bolivian election days away, it’s being reported that fake NGO’s funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy and USAID are in Bolivia to make sure the election is fair (meaning the US-backed candidate wins). Polls show that MAS, Evo Morales’ party, is ahead and close to a 1st round victory. The Anez regime intends to impose a 48 hour “quarantine” after the elections to stop protests after they steal the election. The US-backed neoliberal candidate Carlos Mesa says he will call for ‘resistance’ if the MAS refuses to recognize a fraudulent election result. Last year his supporters burnt down vote counting centers and chanted ‘second round or civil war’. We need to watch this closely. Our turn is coming.
After a brief history of October Surprises, I talk about the current election and the possible effect of Trump's COVID-19 illness on the November results.
Today I’m welcoming Jeremy Kuzmarov back to Wider View. Jeremy has taught in history in colleges, written 4 books including “Obama's Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State” with Glen Ford, and “The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce” with John Marciano, and was recently named Managing Editor of Covert Action Magazine. We talk about the magazine and its history, current US interventions including Belarus, and the upcoming election.
I keep getting asked that question. It does seem unbelievable that so many Americans would have voted for this con man and probably will again. In this episode we listen to the voices of some voters in Michigan recorded in 2016 and I try to make sense of this in some way. Have I succeeded? You tell me.
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent for Press TV in Paris where he has lived for the last 11 years. He is also the author of ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism’ as well as ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’. He is currently back in the US to cover the political situation here leading up to the election. His reports can be found regularly on the Press TV web site.
In the interview, Ramin referred to his interview with Naba'a Muhammad, and his report on possible violence after the US election,, one of his reports on the Kenosha protests is here.
Dr. Rick Staggenborg joins me again to discuss propaganda. This episode is a wide-ranging discussion of how narrative management is used to gain consent for war.
You can read Rick's articles on OpEdNews.com
Dr. Rick Staggenborg is a retired VA psychiatrist and post-Vietnam Army veteran who specialized in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in his practice. He is a trained psychotherapist with a particular interest in how perception is modified to manufacture consent for war. Rick and I recently collaborated on a presentation to the Veterans for Peace annual convention on propaganda and with the presidential campaign in full swing, we thought it would be a good time to share this with a wider audience.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome Margaret Kimberley back to Wider View. Margaret is the senior editor of the Black Agenda Report and a writer and activist on peace and justice issues. Cornel West said of her latest book, Prejudential - Black America and the Presidents,
“Margaret Kimberley gives us an intellectual gem of prophetic fire about all the U.S. presidents and their deep roots in the vicious legacy of white supremacy and predatory capitalism. Such truths seem more than most Americans can bear, though we ignore her words at our peril!”
My guest this week is Dr. Benay Blend. She earned her doctorate in American Studies at the University of New Mexico and has taught at the University of Georgia, Memphis State University, and the University of New Mexico. Currently, she is an adjunct professor of Native American, American, and New Mexico history at Central NM Community College in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also, she contributes articles regularly to the Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss.
My guest this week is Gregory McKelvey. Greg is an activist and public speaker, the founder of Portland Resistance, and Vice-Chair of the Black Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon. He has been participating in and witnessing the demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.
Greg recently wrote an article entitled America, Here's the Truth About Portland's Protests that the Mainstream is Hiding. He is also campaign manager for Sarah Iannarone, a candidate for Mayor of Portland.
We discuss the George Floyd protests as well as the upcoming election and the need for systemic change.
This is the first episode since our summer hiatus and I am delighted to welcome Jim Kavanagh back to kick off our 4th season of Wider View. Jim is a former college professor and New York City native and denizen. He blogs at The Polemicist.net and his writing and analysis can be found on CounterPunch, Op-Ed News, The Greanville Post, Dandelion Salad, and elsewhere. Jim is a frequent guest on Loud & Clear and The Critical Hour on Radio Sputnik, and you can follow him on Twitter at @ThePolemicist_ and on Facebook at The Polemicist.
Jim refers to a recent article by Ajamu Baraka and echoes his call to expand the George Floyd protests into a struggle for the structural change that we need in this nation.
This will be the last episode for a while as I am suspending for the summer. I took this opportunity to reflect on the demonstrations arising from George Floyd's murder by the Minneapolis police and include comments by Ajamu Baraka and Margaret Kimberley.
This week I welcome Barbara Boland to Wider View. Barbara is foreign policy and national security reporter for The American Conservative. She previously worked as an editor for the Washington Examiner and for CNS News. She is the author of Patton Uncovered, a book about General George Patton in World War II, and her work has appeared on Fox News, The Hill, UK Spectator, and elsewhere. Boland is a graduate of Immaculata University in Pennsylvania.
We discuss two of her recent articles for The American Conservative, How Did a Bronze Star Green Beret End Up Behind Venezuelan 'Bay of Pigs'? and 'Zombie Neocon': How This Iran Contra Architect Is Leading Trump Policy. We also discuss China and the coronavirus accusations by the Trump Administration and the anti-war Right.
My guest on this program is Rob Dietz, the Program Director at Post Carbon Institute.
Prior to joining Post Carbon Institute, Rob worked as a project manager at Farmland LP, helping to transition conventional farmland to organic. He was also the first executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy taking it from an unfunded start-up organization to an internationally respected leader on new economic thinking. He is the lead author of Enough Is Enough, a popular book on steady-state economics.
During the show, I referred to a recent article by Elizabeth Rosenthal on Kaiser Health News entitled "We Knew the Coronavirus Was Coming Yet We Failed 5 Critical Tests". I strongly recommend this article to those of you interested in health care policy.
I am very pleased to welcome Monisha Rios back to Wider View. Monisha is a Gulf War Era Army Veteran and a Doctoral Candidate on Liberation Psychology. Her research focuses on the militarization of psychology in the United States. Her work is geared towards building a grassroots movement to conduct a peoples' inquiry into the U.S.'s use of psychological warfare against the peoples of the world, including its own citizens, and to amplify the voices of those who are most impacted by U.S. wars, centering the voices of indigenous communities. She is also the creator of MIRA, a grassroots research project that focuses on moral injuries related to the causes and consequences of U.S. wars.
During our conversation, Monisha mentioned the organization Vamos, which sees its mission as "Puerto Rico empowered, where our people, as people who think and feel, unite in community and sovereignly exercise the construction of a sustainable, inclusive, caring, democratic, fair, equitable, prosperous, healthy and happy country." Their website is https://www.vamospr.org/
I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Jack Rasmus to Wider View. Jack has a Ph.D in Political Economy and teaches economics at St. Mary’s College in California. He is the author of a number of books including “Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression”, “Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy”, “Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few” and his latest, “The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy from Reagan to Trump”. Jack is also host of a weekly radio show called Alternative Visions on the Progressive Radio Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @drjackrasmus
Jim Kavanagh is a political analyst and commentator who lives in New York City. He is a regular contributor to the Loud and Clear and Critical Hour podcasts on Sputnik Radio and writes a blog called The Polemicist.
We talk about the reaction of the left to the end of the Bernie Sanders campaign and what options are left open for real change in the United States.
This week I talk with Iranian-American attorney Mehrnoush Yazdanyar whose clients are struggling to deal with the illegal US sanctions on Iran and the fallout from the Muslim Ban.
During her 10 plus years of private practice, Ms. Yazdanyar has not only established herself an expert in her niche areas of practice, but she has also gained notoriety for her pro-bono and non-profit work as well as her dedication to assisting non-government organizations with their legal needs.
Assal Rad, Research Fellow of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) joins me to discuss the dire situation in Iran where the nation is struggling to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak while vital medical supplies are withheld due to illegal US sanctions. NIAC is currently calling on Congress to provide immediate relief to Iran from the sanctions regime. You can join in that action by going to:
https://www.niacouncil.org/campaign/solidarity-not-sanctions/
I am very pleased to welcome writer and columnist Patrick Lawrence to Wider View. Patrick is the author of 5 books, has taught at universities in the US and abroad, and has worked as a journalist and columnist for the Far Eastern Economic Review, the International Herald Tribune, the New Yorker and Consortium News. His most recent book is “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century”.
We begin by discussing his recent article for Consortium News, COVID-19: The US National Emergency and move on from there.
Grant Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, joins me to discuss the Israel Lobby, the Israel Lobby Conference, and his new book The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. Learn how taxpayers in Virginia are supporting Israel business interests.
Geopolitical analyst Mark Sleboda joins me to discuss the latest developments in the 9-year war in Syria, including the machinations of Turkish President Erdogan and his proxies in the Idlib region and the reaction of the Syrian and Russian governments. We recorded this after the meeting in Moscow of Putin and Erdogan.
Author and analyst Mike Whitney and I discuss the recent downturn in the stock market, the various tools the government has to respond and their inadequacy, as well as the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on our financial future.
You can find Mike's most recent articles on The Unz Review at https://www.unz.com/author/mike-whitney/. Mike has also been published at Counterpunch, and Global Research at https://www.globalresearch.ca/author/mike-whitney.
Margaret Kimberley, Senior Editor of Black Agenda Report, joins me this week to talk about her new book, Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.
"Margaret Kimberley gives us an intellectual gem of prophetic fire about all the U.S. presidents and their deep roots in the vicious legacy of white supremacy and predatory capitalism. Such truths seem more than most Americans can bear, though we ignore her words at our own peril!" — Cornel West, author of Race Matters
We also discuss the current presidential campaign as seen from the vantage point of this book.
This week was a very busy one for news. Trump gave his State of the Union speech followed the next day by his acquittal in the impeachment trial and the Democrats made a mess of the Iowa Caucuses. To help us get perspective on these events, I’m joined by historian Jeremy Kuzmarov.
Jeremy is the author of 4 books on US foreign policy:
- Obama’s Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State
- Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation-Building in the American Century (Culture, Politics, and the Cold War)
- The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs (Culture, Politics, and the Cold War)
- The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce (with John Marciano)
He has taught at numerous universities in the field of US history and foreign relations and contributes to a number of progressive publications. He is also a board member of the Tulsa Peace Fellowship and on the Steering Committee for Historians for Peace and Democracy.
I'm joined this week by Jim Kavanagh. Jim is a former college professor and denizen of New York City who currently blogs at ThePolemicist.net, reflecting on politics and culture from a left-socialist perspective. He is a frequent guest on the Loud and Clear podcast from Sputnik.
You can follow Jim on his Facebook page and on Twitter as @ThePolemicist_ .
During the show, Jim mentioned a recent article on Joe Biden by Shaun King. That article can be found on Shaun King's Newsletter at https://shaunking.substack.com/p/2-truths-and-31-lies-joe-biden-has
Lots of material packed into this half hour. Take a listen!
Writer and analyst Mike Whitney who writes regularly for the Unz Review, joins me for a wide-ranging discussion on the crisis in the Middle East and the role of the neocons.
Mike's recent articles include "Pompeo Says Gangland-Style Hit on Soleimani was 'Restoration of Deterrence'", and "Did Pompeo Dupe Trump Into the Soleimani Hit?"
Catherine Shakdam is Co-Founder of Veritas Consulting and Head of the Yemen Unit at the Next Century Foundation. She was formerly Director of Programs at the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies. She is much in demand as an analyst of the Middle East and I am honored to have her join me on Wider View.
We talk this time about the repercussions of the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani throughout the region.
You can find Catherine's work at https://www.catherine-shakdam.com/ and at Citizen Truth, New Eastern Outlook, and on the blog of the Next Century Foundation. You can follow her on Twitter @shakdamc.
With the murder of Iranian General Soleimani on January 3rd, tensions in the Middle East are worse than before. I explore the events leading to the drone assassination, the popularity of Soleimani and his contributions to the region, and talk about why we continue to get further embroiled in the Middle East region.
Historian Jeremy Kuzmarov joins me for a discussion of US foreign policy in the Obama and Trump Years.
Jeremy received his PhD from Brandeis University in 2006 and has taught at Bucknell University , Emmanuel College and the University of Tulsa. He’s the author of several books including “The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs“, “Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation-Building in the American Century”, “The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, The Second as Farce” with John Marciano, and his latest “Obama’s Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State”.
His website is the place to go for his recent writings.
A review of episodes during the year focusing on the Middle East, the Presidential Elections, the Democrats and Impeachment.
Thanks for your support this year!
Professor John Marciano and I discuss the impeachment charges and the underlying foreign policy issues that are rarely explored in the media.
John is the author, with Jeremy Kuzmarov, of the book The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce. He is also the author of The American War in Vietnam: Crime or Commemoration? John's most recent Guest Opinion for the Ashland (Oregon) Tidings is Impeach Trump for unconstitutional wars.
Jeremy Kuzmarov, the author of Obama's Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State, will be my guest in early January.
FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley discusses the latest revelations from the FBI Inspector General and her concerns about the intensifying Cold War with Russia.
South America is rife with protests, demonstrations and uprisings and with coups sponsored and supported by the US. We look at some of the most important - the ones you've heard about and those you haven't.
We hear the voices of several journalists and analysts reflecting on each of the nations currently in turmoil.
The impeachment inquiry has focused on Ukraine and US policy toward that nation, but the basic tenets of that policy have not been challenged and the corruption of Democrats is getting little attention. The following sources were used to prepare this episode:
- A Timeline of Joe Biden's Intervention Against the Ukraine Prosecutor
- Ukraine Ambassador's OpEd Opposing Trump
- Alexandra Chalupa and the 2016 Election
- Ukraine Help to Hillary Clinton in 2016
- Ukraine's Role in the 2016 Election
Aaron Mate's talk was from the panel "How Propaganda Manufactures Consent" in New York City on November 19, 2019 recorded by the Grayzone Project.
Joe Emersberger joins me to discuss the coup in Bolivia that overthrew Evo Morales, the first indigenous President in Latin America. We discuss the racist nature of the right-wing opposition that has taken power and the impact on other struggles for freedom from imperial tyranny on the continent.
Joe has a new article on Counterpunch entitled "Oppose the Military Coup in Bolivia. Spare Us Your 'Critiques'". Another recent article is Max Blumenthal arrest exposes the hypocrisy of Western media and human rights NGOs on The Transnational.Live web site.
International affairs analyst Mark Sleboda joins me to discuss the ongoing protests in Lebanon and Iraq and the geopolitical implications of these uprisings. We also touch on the recent developments in Syria and the precarious situation there.
A continuation of last week's discussion about the problems of making system change in the US political and economic environment with political scientist Alan Zundel.
For more information, please see the Social Advance web page at http://www.socialadvance.org/ and to sample Oregon News and Views which Alan and I host, go to the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh7vi3KmaoyalJVthpbFmww
Activist and writer Cliff Willming discusses his recent article on Wrong Kind of Green entitled "Ill Tell You Why the 99% Is Not In Revolt".
I am pleased to welcome Laith Marouf to Wider View. Laith is a Canadian journalist and activist who has served as national chair of the group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Executive Director of Concordia University Television in Montreal, and a senior consultant to the Community Media Advocacy Centre there. Laith Marouf currently lives in Beirut Lebanon where he is a geopolitical and media analyst. I spoke to Laith while he was in a cafe in Damascus, Syria.
We debunk some of the mainstream media lies about current events in Syria, particularly the US pullout that is getting so much negative attention. It's refreshing to hear from a native of Syria who also has studied the situation there for many years.
Margaret Kimberley is one of the founders of Black Agenda Report where she serves as Editor and Senior Columnist. Her new book, Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents will be released in February by Penguin Books.
We discuss the impeachment and its impact on our political system, the Democratic candidates, and the future of our democracy.
It isn't often that a protest, particularly one against neoliberal policies, experiences success. But the Yellow Vests have achieved limited success after nearly a year of protests. We in the West have heard little about this protest because it isn't the kind of protest our government and mainstream media likes to talk about. Ramin Mazaheri is the Paris correspondent for Press TV and has been out every weekend getting teargassed along with the demonstrators.
Ramin tells us about the demonstrations and the significance of the recent response by the French government. We also discuss the efforts by French President Macron to mediate between the US and Iran.
Ramin's book on China is I'll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China. He writes often for the Greanville Post and Vineyard of the Saker.
My guest today a very brave young journalist from Bulgaria, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva. Dilyana has been uncovering important information about the illicit arms trade originating in Eastern Europe for some time. Among her revelations - the US taxpayer is buying weapons and delivering them to Al Qaeda and ISIS militants in Yemen and Syria!
The full reports with documentation are on Dilyana's website Arms Watch, along with other exposes and reports on the trade in arms that fuels wars worldwide.
Catherine Shakdam, my guest this week,is a geopolitical analyst and commentator on the Middle East with a special focus on Yemen and the Gulf countries, and was recently named head of the Yemen Unit at the Next Century Foundation in the UK. She writes for Citizen Truth, New Eastern Outlook, Huffington Post, the website of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Katehon think tank, among others. She is the author of a number of books including “A Tale of Grand Resistance: Yemen, the Wahhabi, and the House of Saud”, “Arabia’s Rising: Under The Banner of the First Imam”, and “From Mecca to the plain of Karbala”. Her website is http://www.catherine-shakdam.com/
In this broadcast, we discuss her recent article “How Yemen’s War Stands to Redefine the Region’s Future” in New Eastern Outlook.
Since the topics we discussed are complex, I am providing a full transcript below.
Charles:
Catherine, you've just taken a new position at the Next Century Foundation. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about the foundation and what your role is there
Catherine:
Sure. The Next Century Foundation is essentially a peace building organization. So we are a think tank, and we are particularly interested in curating good and healthy relationship between different actors in the Middle East, but not just the Middle East , some of our interests extend to Africa, and I'm serving as the head of the Yemen unit.
We have launched a peace initiative recently, and what we're trying to do, because people tend to get a little bit confused when I say peace initiative, they just assume that we have those ambitions, thinking that we can actually broker peace in Yemen and bring everybody to the table. That is not what we are trying to do. What we're trying to do is act as a soundboard for all the different local and regional actors.
The team and the think tank in general has enough gravitas and enough connections across the Middle East to force certain conversations, and maybe gently nudge people to look at the conflict a bit differently, and to act as advisors as well, to try to find some kind of common ground and some consensus as to what needs to happen in Yemen in order to not launch the region into complete disarray.
If there is a consensus about one thing, it is that things cannot continue as they are, and if they do, we will face hell. And when I say we, I mean not just the immediate region, but the international community because Yemen is a very sensitive country by its geography. And if we don't want to see a repeat of Afghanistan, Libya or potentially something worse, we need to really get things together now. The humanitarian catastrophe is just one of the areas where we could see things devolve quite rapidly into an ugly, ugly vacuum of we don't know what, and I don't like not knowing what could happen when it comes to politics.
We try to avoid black swans, and I think that Yemen is fast becoming one. We don't want to get suddenly blindsided and then say, "Oops, we didn't see that coming". So this is what we are trying to do. We're trying to reassess the situation differently in that we're trying to look at Yemen not from the who's right/who's wrong perspective, but rather how can we make sure that all the parties get something and that the people are offered a good future. We want to be there for the Yemenis, not so much for their political parties or the various factions involved in this war. We want Yemen to get a chance at being reconstructed and people getting out of poverty and away from the humanitarian crisis they're facing right now. This is our view because we don't want to be political. We don't want to defend one party or the other. We just want Yemen to be offered the chance to decide what it wants for its future.
Charles:
Excellent. I want to get back to that a little bit later, but certainly Yemen is in the news. Of course, the latest thing is this bombing of a Saudi Aramco facility that's in the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia. So we have the rebels in Yemen saying that they are responsible. We have the US saying that Iran is responsible and of course, Iran says is not responsible. What's your take on this particular event and what is going on?
Catherine:
I need to back up a little bit. If you recall, this is not the first time that the Houthis have claimed an attack on Saudi Arabia, or even on the Emirates for that matter. A few weeks ago, they, there was an attack launched against Saudi Arabia and the Houthis claimed it as well. There were rumors that this attack actually came from Iraq, from one of the PMU bases in Iraq. As you know, the PMU has supported the Houthis, if not directly, at least ideologically
Charles:
PMU stands for Popular Mobilization Units.
Catherine:
The ones that were created by Ali Sistani. So ideologically, they are in line with the Houthis in that they do not like foreign boots on the ground. They do not like idea of Saudi Arabia promoting any form of terrorism, whether by way of it's war coalition or using ISIS or al-Qaida elements, etc. It's not difficult to imagine that there would be an alliance of sorts between the PMU and the Houthis because essentially they are quite similar outfits. I mean, they are militia-ish even though now they have become somewhat legitimized by just being on the ground.
So given that there were precedents when it comes to such attacks,a lot of people are now saying that this particular attack actually came from Iraq and not from Iran. Now some other people have argued that it came from Iran, but that it came from Iran without the direct knowledge of the regime and that it could be that there are various factions within Iran and Iraq who are not particularly in alignment with what Tehran is doing and saying right now in terms of its foreign policy and how it wants to weigh in on the Yemen conflict against Saudi Arabia.
There have been different rumors, but I will say this and I think it's of importance, is that only a few weeks ago the Israelis conducted a series of attacks against the PMU bases. Now you know very well that Saudi Arabia is acting as a buffer and almost a client state to Israel. So it's interesting to see that now Israel is actually looking not at Iran so much or even Yemen, but actually looking at Iraq and the PMU in particular as its next most immediate existential threats.
So I just found it interesting that there's somehow a little bit of a shift. It's a possibility that other players are coming into the Yemeni war theater and maybe the Saudis did not plan on coming in to this equation. So all I'm saying is that I could well be wrong, but Iran said they didn't and they don't have a problem taking ownership of what they do. So I would take their word for it. That being said, it's very possible that a rogue element within the regime decided to act to force their hand. Iran has it's war hawks as well. America is not the only one. There are various scenarios that we need to consider, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly.
Charles:
No. I heard Professor Mohammad Morandi speaking from Tehran on RT the other day making the point that the US has very major defense installations all through Iraq and in the Gulf states that one would assume would have intercepted anything coming from the direction of Iran. There were apparently Patriot missile batteries near the site of the bombing, but from whatever direction this came, it got through, which is ...
Catherine:
It's interesting isn't it? Because bear in mind that the Saudis have literally spent billions and billions and billions of dollars to be made safe within their borders. And Aramco is a very strategic place that they need to protect. It is a matter of national survival for them. This is their bread and butter. So the idea that drone could actually hit and not miss is actually somewhat troubling to me. And again, we need to ask the question. It's not so much as to who fired as to who would benefit from either an escalation or a disintegration of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty because an attack on Aramco is an attack on Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and Mohammed bin Salmon's direct authority because this is an extension of his power. Without the oil, he has nothing.
Charles:
Right, and there are probably quite a number of elements who would like to see his power diminished.
Catherine:
Well, yes. America could be playing Riyadh and and saying, "Oh look, this could happen, you do need to spend more money". Orit could be that someone somewhere wants to weaken Saudi Arabia, or it could be America saying she's done with Saudi Arabia and thinking, well we milked you for all you got. Maybe we want to make new friends in the region. I don't know.
Everything is possible when it comes to Donald Trump. I mean, he's not exactly very loyal to his friendships or even to the treaty that he's predicted to sign anyway. So I think anything goes right now, which is very dangerous because it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen or who did what, or on whose authority.
Charles:
I think one of the things that our government certainly is saying is that the Yemeni group - and maybe we should stop for a moment right here. As to the nature of the group in Yemen that is doing the fighting here, the western press tends to call them either the Houthis or more likely the Iran-backed Houthi rebels or something of that nature.
Catherine:
That actually infuriates me because if you want to be precise, and I understand that people want to cast a shade against your Iran and say they funded those militias in those groups across the region and they're fomenting instability. Iran is not funding them. And I mean they are not funding the Houthis for one very simple reason, they don't have the money for it. They are under sanctions, they are suffering greatly within their own borders. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever for them to fund a war in Yemen or any kind of war effort in Yemen when Yemen is not even sharing a border with them.
So if you're talking for example about Iraq, I would say yes, if you're talking about Syria, I would say yes, because it makes sense from a strategic perspective. Yemen doesn't make sense for Iran in the immediate term. And bear in mind that Iran's economy has shrunk so much that they really can't afford any kind of frivolity right now and Yemen's war would be classified under frivolity as far as the Iranian government is concerned.
Right now I think Iran is more concerned about feeding its people and ensuring that they don't end up with some kind of an unrest on their hands because people are going hungry, than actually playing with the Houthis. By the way, anyone who knows anything about Yemen, will tell you that the second you start pumping money into that country, it disappears into black holes. Yemen is really not an easy country to handle even if you have a good relationship with people there, because there's so much corruption. There are so many entanglements between the tribes and the religious factions and the political factions and the military and so on. It's very complicated and very, very expensive. And I don't think that the Iranians have time for it. So if you want to call them something, call them rebels if you want to. They're not, but you can call them that. But they're not Iran funded or Iranian backed at all.
Charles:
And they are at this point, the de facto government of at least part of Yemen.
Catherine:
Exactly and so they might want to change the adjective that they're using. The thing is the Houthis are not even technically in charge of everything. It's a coalition government. So what you have is a resistance movement within which you have the Houthis and you have -- I mean, look, if you look at the war, the war has lasted for four years now. It would be ridiculous to think that the Houthi who by the way account for about two to five thousand men tops because they're from one city inside the northern province of Yemen. There are not that many. They're not even a tribe technically, they're just a movement,okay? They have about five thousand fighters. So you're telling me that five thousand people for four years have managed to push against several military super powers, including Saudi Arabia?
Come on. They were helped by the military in Yemen, which is by the way, loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. They aren't exactly pro-Houthi they just understand that they have to align themselves with the Houthis right now because they need all the help they can get to prevent foreign boots to bridge into their country. So it's really just an act of self defense and you have various factions who maybe don't like each other very much. but who right now have to make do because someone is batting them on the head. So they have to be friends right now. But people need to stop thinking that this war in Yemen is being led by the Houthis, they are just part of it. But it's easier again for the media to demonize an entire country by saying, “Oh, the bad Shi'a rebel Houthis, who are backed by the bad, bad Iran people”. No, it's not the case and it's, trust me, there's not even one Iranian boot on the ground in Yemen, you would like to think that they would send a few just to keep an eye on their interest. I mean, they've done it in Syria and in Iraq. Why not in Yemen? If they are in fact there but they're not! Otherwise trust me, you would have pictures everywhere of Iranian generals leading the show and the Saudis would say see, see we told you they were there. They're not there. People need to get over it.
Charles:
Exactly. We don't hear that at all in the western press at this point.
Catherine:
Because they don't know Yemen. I'm not berating the journalists, but they need to do a bit more research when they cover Yemen. Yemen is complicated. I mean, take the time to research the country for God’s sake before you start slapping adjectives on people.
Charles:
Right. I think they just take the State Department press releases.
Catherine:
In this case, if they want it to be balanced, then when they talk about President Hadi, for example, they should say “Former undemocratically elected Sunni-borderline-Wahabi president who resigned twice then ran away from his country to ask a foreign power to declare war on his people.” - if you want it to be accurate. And I don't see anyone saying stuff like that. When they talk about the Saudis, do they say “The Wahhabi regime of Saudi Arabia”? No. So why do they have to say “the rebels”,the “Shi'a fighters”. Let's be balanced. Why don't you call them for what they are as well. If you want to do the sectarian game, play to the end.
Charles:
Great. Only this morning, I read an article of yours in the New Eastern Outlook. In that article you said that Yemen's war is now precipitating a profound geopolitical shift in the region. So maybe you can expound on that a little bit.
Catherine:
Well, it's complicated. But I'm going back to what I was saying about the Iraqis having entered the war theater. And you need to understand that when we talk about the Middle East, we have to talk about the Islamic World, and when we talk about the Islamic world, we need to understand that there are various schools of thoughts within Islam, and that those schools of thought have been in competition with one another for centuries. And this is not something that's going to go away anytime soon. And for people who say that, oh, it doesn't really matter, people love each other and respect each other, it's simply not true. People are competing for power. And we know it to be true,that people, including clerics will use religion as a means to gain more power and to justify their actions.
For the longest time, the Shi'ite Islamic world has been oppressed and its voice repressed by the Sunni world. This is not an accusation. This is just a historical fact, and that has been the case for centuries and centuries, 1,500 years, more or less, during which Shi'a have been systematically oppressed and they were never really given any political platform of their own. Now the war in Iraq changed that dramatically because suddenly this silent majority, the Shi'a majority in Iraq was suddenly given a platform and they formed a political polity and not they run the country but they are part of the government and they are a very heavy part of the government by the demographic of Iraq. And I think that the little movements that started in Lebanon with Hezbollah, for example, resistance movements that were essentially created on the back of Iran's 1979 revolution ,who were following a very revolutionary ideal. Ayatollah Khomeini was basically telling people that they had to resist any form of oppression, whether foreign or national oppression by their leaders, to embrace political self-determination and decide what is it that they wanted for themselves.
He molded his political thoughts on Shi'a Islam and that gave in Iran the governance of the jurists. Now we know that this model of governance cannot be exported anywhere else but Iran, for the very simple reason that you need to have a very large majority Shi'a population for this form of government to even work or even be accepted by the people. So you could not do this, for example, in Lebanon, you cannot do this in Syria. You cannot do this in Yemen, you cannot do this in Iraq. And I think that everyone understands that. So when people were saying Iran is trying to export its revolution - No! It was trying to export an ideal , a political ideal that can then take any shape or form depending on the country's history and demographics.
Now, and this is important, in Iraq, right about the same time as Ayatollah Khomeini was formulating his system of governance, it was Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr who came up with something called Wilayat al Umma, which is the governance of the people. So rather than have the governance of the jurists, he wanted the people to have sovereignty. He wanted the source of power to come from the people. And that formula was adopted by the Da'wah party in Iraq. The Da'wah party was very largely funded by Iran at the very beginning in the 1970s. For obvious reasons, Iran was not particularly friendly to Saddam Hussein and Iran was more than happy to try to boost Shi'a revival movements next door because, there was this sense of brotherhood almost. I mean they wanted to help shape Shi'a political thought. They started off as friends, but naturally things evolve, things change. You could be friend on Monday and then on Friday you're going to be not enemies, but you're going to be competing for space.You're gonna be competing for power.
And I think the Da'wah party now is looking to stamp its own political thought, not just in Iraq but across the Middle East because it can export its ideology. Something that Iran cannot do because of the nature of the system of governance that it's promoting. You can promote the governance of the people more easily than that of the jurists because that would imply that the entire state has to be absolutely Shi'a. With Wilayat al Umma, it's a very different political formula. So that could be adapted to a great many different countries in the Middle East, and I think this is why Yemen has become so important because Yemen does not want to have an Iranian model. However, now it's paying attention to the Iraqi model because it's thinking, okay,that we could do. And of course as far as the Da'wah party is concerned, that would be a tremendous, tremendous win.
Bear in mind as well, the Da'wah party is quite close to the Ayatollah Sistani camp. And I don't know if you're familiar with the way that Shi'a Islam is organized, but you have Maraji, which are the equivalent of the pope and each Maraji gives his own religious jurisprudence that people may choose to abide by and follow. So it's almost an allegiance that people make to a particular cleric saying, I'm going to follow you and whatever religious edicts that you're going to issue. I'm going to listen to you and only you. Now if you look, we have about 300 million Shi'a Muslims across the world spread out everywhere. About 70% of those follow Ayatollah Sistani. They do not follow Ayatollah Khamenei. Ayatollah Khamenei is the head of state of Iran and within Iran itself, you actually have a majority of Iranians following Ayatollah Sistani for their religious advice as opposed to Ayatollah Khamenei.
So Ayatollah Sistani has much more power religiously speaking in numbers than Ayatollah Khamenei, and I think that this is giving a few people a few ideas because they are thinking, there is one top power here. And you have to understand that generally speaking, there is competition between the Sunni world and the Shi'a world. I'm not saying that they're trying to start a war because I don't think that's what they're trying to do. What they're trying to do is to operate, to shift -- for centuries that they were told to shut up and be quiet and not move and be oppressed and like it because nothing's going to change. Now they want to have a say in what happens in the region and create a network that will immobilize the likes of Saudi Arabia because if you look at Pakistan and India for example, there are more Shi'a Muslims in India than there are in Iran, and those Shi'a Muslims follow Ayatollah Sistani and no one else.
So it's interesting to see that Najaf could potentially wield something like 100 million people to its name, which is not negligible. Those are big numbers. I think that we need to take this into account when we look at the way that Yemen is going or when we look at how allegiances are being re-formed in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq through the PMU .You have suddenly those little bubbles of militias being formed here and there. And those little bubbles are coming together and they're forming bigger bubbles. And I think, and I actually wrote this years ago, that we are seeing before our eyes, the formation of the pan-Arab-Shi'a-Islamic revival movement. Something similar to what we saw in the 1950's with Abdul Nassar, where it was born in Egypt but exported everywhere in the Middle East. And it was a very powerful movement. I think we see these being created from Najaf and not from Tehran, which is interesting again, because everybody is barking at Tehran and Tehran is not doing anything. Tehran is actually trying to stabilize the region and grow its economy. It doesn't need more territory. It doesn't need to have more political influence other than that it needs to protect itself in order to prevent any potential war or attempt to destroy its government.
Charles:
Well, I know it's complicated, but I think what you're saying here is, let's try to paraphrase this, kind of a loose alliance of Shi'a Muslim groups throughout the region that are beginning to put pressure on the Sunni groups that have been oppressing them, particularly at the Saudis, I would assume.
Catherine:
Yes. But it's not religious pressure per se. Those Shi'a communities are formulating their own political thoughts. It's coming from a place where they identify as a religious oppressed minority within the Islamic word , and they're slowly organizing themselves as a political force in order to compete against the likes of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries and everything. And you also need to bear in mind that, for better or for worse, often for worse, natural resources happen to be sitting under Shi'a communities across the Middle East. Qatif in Saudi Arabia is majority Shi'a and this is where the oil is, this is where Aramco is, this is what was attacked. North Yemen for example, is Shi'a territory and you know, guess what, this is why they wanted to invade it. I mean, Bahrain, all of these different countries.
And it's interesting because I'm thinking that there is a lot that is now coming to the surface because of religious subsets because of the fact that for many centuries they were politically silenced. And so they never really had time to think politically. Now they have this wealth that they are literally sitting on and they're thinking, why should we allow other people to take advantage of it or why should we be exploited? Why can't we take charge for once? So I think that all this is coming together and I do really think that Yemen exploded that because Yemen resisted. And so it gave people an idea thinking, well, if they can do it, why can't we gang up with this resistance movement that is standing up to Saudi Arabia and doing it so well? It's like vultures circling Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis have left themselves completely exposed because of Yemen. And I think that the cracks that are starting to appear are being exploited by other actors, and not necessarily, as everyone seems to be thinking, Iran. I don't really think that Iran has anything to do with it because it's not in its immediate interest or not even long-term interest. It's not interested. Iran is not a colonial power. It doesn't need to be.
Charles:
That's true. Yeah. I think the colonial power that's sticking its nose in here, other than Israel, of course, is the United States. I think perhaps if we would reduce the number of western actors involved in this, we might come to some resolution a little quicker.
Catherine:
Well, yeah, that's true. I had an interesting conversation this week with different people and I don't think that the Saudis are stupid. I think they understand that Yemen has become a very real problem for them. But they cannot change course and they will not change course until Washington tells them to, that's the problem. Because Saudi Arabia is owned. I don't think it has any real independent policy. I'm always the first one to blame Saudi Arabia when it comes to the atrocities that they committing. That being said, even though they are pulling the trigger, again decisions are not being made in Riyadh, they are being made in Washington. And so I tend to think that actually the Saudis will be the next victim. I mean, they are in a way victims here as well. This is not to take away from the horror that they're doing. I'm not excusing them in any way, shape or form. I'm just saying that again, I think we are barking at the wrong tree asking the Saudis to stop. They won't stop until the Washington says, yes, you can stop now. So I think they stuck as well.
Charles:
Well, I wish we had more time to talk but we're already probably a little over the time limit, and again, I always appreciate having you on the show.
Catherine:
Always a pleasure. Whenever you want. I'm always willing to talk.
Charles:
That's wonderful. Thank you.
Matthew Hoh joins me this week. Matthew took part in the American occupation of Iraq; first in 2004-5 in Salah ad Din Province with a State Department reconstruction and governance team and then in 2006-7 in Anbar Province as a Marine Corps company commander. When no t deployed, Matthew worked on Afghanistan and Iraq war policy and operations issues at the Pentagon and State Department from 2002-2008.
In 2009, Matthew resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan with the State Department over the American escalation of the war. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy.
We discuss the history of US involvement in Afghanistan, the geopolitical implications, the prospects for peace, and the devastation caused by 4 decades of war.
Monisha Rios is my guest this week. Monisha is a veteran and a peace activist and part of the Puerto Rican diaspora. We talked about the peace movement and the intersection with other movements for liberation, the various forms of colonialism and how people can learn about our own history as a colonial power.
During the broadcast, a number of references were made to other media that can inform people in the US about our own history and how it still impacts those who were its victims and still impacts people throughout the world through the American Empire. Here are links:
- Abby Martin’s video for Telesur’s Empire Files: Israelis Speak Candidly about Palestinians
- Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World by David Vine
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
- A Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen
- The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andres Resendez
- War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony by Nelson A. Denis
Monisha assures me she has a much longer list but my space here is limited. Email me at widerviewradio@gmail.com if you want more of her recommended titles.
A wide-ranging program to celebrate the 100th episode of Wider View. We hear the voices of Don DeBar, John Pilger, Jimmy Dore, Amy Goodman and Ramin Mazaheri as we discuss alternative media.
My guest this week is Dr. Assal Rad. Dr. Rad graduated with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran, with an emphasis on national identity formation and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. Assal works with the policy team of the National Iranian American Council as a Research Fellow on Iran policy issues and U.S.-Iran relations.
We discuss the recent history of Iran, the reasons why the US is threatening Iran and imposing crippling sanctions, the Iranian people's attitudes toward the government and other topics.
Recorded at the Veterans for Peace Convention in Spokane, we present excerpts from a workshop on Opposing US Intervention around the Globe. Speakers include Col. Ann Wright, and Camilo Mejia.
https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/camilo-mejia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Wright
Today’s episode focuses on the Israel Lobby and it’s pernicious influence on the US political system. If you want to know more about the Lobby, we recommend the abridged version of the Al Jazeera documentary on the Israel Lobby in the US on YouTube; Courage To Speak Out, a documentary on the life of Paul Findley; Phil Giraldi’s speech to the National Summit to Reassess the US-Israel “Special Relationship” ; Walter Hixson’s speech on the origins of the lobby; and above all, Nader’s Show, a series of excellent interviews on the Middle East hosted and produced by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh.
Wider View is also available as a podcast from iTunes , Spotify , YouTube and Google Play
Political scientist Benjamin Studebaker and I discuss the 2020 election, the Democratic primary, and progressive political movements. Benjamin provides a useful and critical view of what progressives are doing that doesn't work and what we could do that would work. This is an interesting discussion with important information for activists.
You can read more from Ben at his website https://benjaminstudebaker.com/.
Wider View is also available on iTunes , Spotify , YouTube and Google Play.
FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley joins me to discuss the Mueller Report. We talk about who Robert Mueller really is and why he might have been chosen to lead the inquiry. Then Coleen talks about the origins of the charges that were the basis for the investigation in the first place.
Coleen Rowley then talks about the charges made against Russians, the charges of lying to the FBI lodged against key figures in the Trump campaign, and then we talk about the likelihood of obstruction charges being lodged against President Trump.
Here’s an opportunity to hear about the Mueller inquiry from someone who has been on the inside. You’ll hear a very different story than the one in the mainstream media. This is a don’t miss episode!
(This episode is longer than usual because it is an unedited version of my interview with Coleen Rowley. I wanted to make sure you heard all that she had to say.)
This is the second half of my interview of Mark Sleboda. In this episode, we discuss the recent interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin by Financial Times editor Lionel Barber. We discuss liberalism and globalization from the Russian perspective.
International affairs and security analyst Mark Sleboda joins me again from Moscow to discuss the Russian government's relationship with Iran and likely scenarios following an outbreak of war in the region.
I'm joined this week by Dr. Kaveh Afrasaibi. Dr. Afrasaibi has a PhD in Political Science from Boston University and has taught at the University of Tehran, Boston University and Bentley University and been a visiting scholar at Harvard, UC Berkeley, Binghamton University and the Center for Strategic Research in Tehran. He is the author or co-author of several books including 3 on Iran’s Nuclear Program.
Dr. Afrasaibi writes frequently for a number of web sites. Here are some of his recent articles on the Iran crisis:
- The Demise Of Chris Wallace Into A Mouthpiece For War
- A Nuclear War in the Persian Gulf?
- Shinzo Abe's Crucial Iran Visit
You can find out more at his website kavehafrasiabi.com.
This is the last of a 3-part series on the media and features Professor Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania discussing the pressures on today's media and what we need to do to make media more democratic.
If you're interested in a progressive vision for the future of media in the United States, you'll find Dr. Pickard's comments very helpful.
Dr. Pickard is also a Director of the Media, Inequality and Change Center, a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School and Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information.
Joe Emersberger joins me to discuss the state of the media today. We talk about the repetition of government propaganda, the lack of resources available to journalists in the field, and the crackdown on independent journalists, particularly Julian Assange.
The first of a 3-part series on the state of the media. This week we discuss these topics:
- Independent local newspapers are a thing of the past and local news is effectively absent in large portions of the country.
- Mainstream media present or fail to present news stories based on their marketing goals and the preconceptions of their target audience.
- News stories are designed to make you feel part of a group that is fighting the horrible other side, not designed to inform you or present truthful information that you could use to make a decision in a democratic society.
- Online news is even more targeted to specific groups and the methods for sharing those stories - social media - is increasingly being censored by government-aligned groups to suppress news stories that contradict the narratives produced by the mainstream.
- Those few courageous journalists who have brought us important stories of government corruption and illegality are being raided, jailed and prosecuted
Professor John Marciano joined me back in September 2018 to discuss his book The Russians Are Coming Again - The First Cold War as Tragedy the Second as Farce. John is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Cortland and a lifelong social justice activist currently living in Talent, Oregon. John is also the author of The American War in Vietnam - Crime or Commemoration.
My guest is Margaret Kimberley, Senior Columnist and Editor of Black Agenda Report. We discuss the charges against Julian Assange, the response of the mainstream media and their role in promoting wars; then we talk about the recent anti-Choice legislation in several states, the role of the Democratic Party in that development and the ineffectiveness of recent protest movements. I think this is a very important conversation for all those on the Left who want things to change. You can read Margaret's columns at Black Agenda Report and on her blog Freedom Rider . The article we discussed is Abortion Rights and the Power of Protest.
My guest today is labor and human rights attorney Dan Kovalik. Dan teaches international human rights law at the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of a number of books including “The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran” and soon to be released, “The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the U.S. Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil”.
We discuss the ways the US is working to start wars in Iran and Venezuela and our nation's utter disregard for international law - when it applies to us at least.
This episode is based on a a speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah given on May 2nd of this year. In his speech, Nasrallah addressed the conflict in Syria and Hezbollah's role in it, as well as the origin and continued threat posed by ISIS or Daesh. The full video and transcript of the speech can be found on Vineyard of the Saker.
Since the publication date of this episode falls near the commemoration of the Nakba, I also quote from an article by Miko Peled, "Deal of the Century Adds 'New" to the Four Thousand Year Old Name 'Palestine'" and from the web site al-nakba-history.com, a comprehensive source for historical information about Palestine and the Zionist settler colonial project there.
In this episode I talk to Danny Haiphong, author, with Roberto Sirvent, of American Exceptionalism and American Innocence - A People's History of Fake News from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. Danny is well known to progressives for his columns for Black Agenda Report. As Cynthia McKinney says "By carefully exposing the destructive myths that sustain U.S. empire, this book provides an intellectual anchor that will surely disrupt and unsettle the powers that be.” We hope she's right!
Don DeBar, producer and host of CPR News joins me again to discuss the Mueller Report and its effect on our political life. Don is a regular guest on the excellent news panel show Crosstalk on RT.
Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space talks about the necessity to bring the environmental and peace movements together and to be authentic, even when your political party is on the wrong side.
Bruce blogs regularly at https://space4peace.blogspot.com/, and the Global Network website is http://space4peace.org/
Bruce is departing for Russia with a group of Global Network and Veterans for Peace members this week. You can follow their progress on his blog and donations to the Global Network can be made from their web site.
Philip Giraldi is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, which describes its mission as seeking "...to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values, protects our national interests, and contributes to a just solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is CNIs goal to restore a political environment in America in which voters and their elected officials are free from the undue influence and pressure of foreign countries and their partisans."
Philip is a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer with a PhD from the University of London in European History. He has been a security analyst and consultant as well as a speaker and writer since leaving the agency in 1992. He is also a founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Philip Giraldi's articles can also be found at unz.com, and he is regularly interviewed by foreign news agencies - unfortunately not by US corporate media.
This is a wide-ranging and delightful conversation with Catherine Shakdam. Catherine is a geopolitical analyst and commentator on the Middle East with a special focus on Yemen and the Gulf Countries. She is also a researcher with Al Bayan Centre for Planning & Studies and the founder of Veritas-Consulting. Her book Arabia’s Rising: Under the Banner of the First Imam is available on Amazon.
Catherine is currently working on several book projects which are scheduled to be published in 2019. Her website is http://www.catherine-shakdam.com/
Dr. Afrasiabi earned a PhD in Political Science from Boston University under the supervision of Howard Zinn and has taught at the University of Tehran and was a research scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and Binghamton University. He is the author of numerous books including Looking for Rights at Harvard, Iran’s Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction, and After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy.
You can read his recent articles on his website and at Iran Diplomacy.
Are you looking at the growing field of Democratic Presidential candidates and wondering who they are and who to trust? My guest this week has an informed and interesting take on the campaign and the Democratic Party itself. Benjamin Studebaker is an American doing a PhD in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on economic inequality and democratic theory. Benjamin received his BA in Politics from the University of Warwick in 2013 and his MA from the University of Chicago in 2014. He blogs at benjaminstudebaker.com and has recently started a podcast with Aimee Terese called What’s Left?
This episode begins with a brief update on stories we’ve covered recently, then Benjamin and I discuss US politics and the prospects for the Left.
This episode features an interview with Christine Ahn, founder and International Coordinator of Women Cross DMZ and currently working with Korea Peace Now , a global campaign to educate, organize and advocate for a Korea peace agreement by 2020. The group is currently working to promote passage of House Resolution 152 calling for a formal end to the Korean War. The bill was introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna of California on February 26th, and has 22 co-sponsors including Representatives Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawai’i. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for Press TV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and websites, as well as on radio and television.
We talk about the origins and makeup of the Gilets Jaunes protesters, Emmanuel Macron and his government, and the likely increase in protests this spring. Ramin has been covering the unusual winter protests every weekend since they began.
My guest today is a long-time anti-war activist Brian Willson. He spoke to me via Skype from his home in Nicaragua.
Brian is the author of three books, On Third World Legs, now out of print, Blood on the Tracks and his latest book is Don’t Thank Me for My Service.
We discuss his life of activism, the situation in Venezuela, US regime change attempts in Nicaragua and the state of activism and resistance in the age of Trump.
I am very pleased to welcome Walter Hixson to the program today. Dr. Hixson is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Akron concentrating in diplomatic and cultural history. He is the author of a number of books including The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and US Foreign Policy and American Settler Colonialism: A History. His new book, Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict is due out soon. His PhD is from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1986.
The episode also includes excerpts from the speech by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the Munich Security Conference on February 17, 2019.
Ilhan Omar and Tulsi Gabbard are women of color who are making waves in the Democratic Party because of their anti-war stands and their strong objections to US foreign policy. We discuss each and the dilemma they pose for the establishment Democrats and their narratives.
Mark Sleboda is an international affairs and security analyst for RT, a former Senior Researcher at the Sociological faculty of Moscow State University and a former Nuclear Reactor Operator for the US Navy. Mark is currently based in Moscow. We talk about the abandonment of the cold war weapons treaties between Russia and the US.
With the issue of Venezuela dominating the news, especially after President Trump declared Juan Guiado to be the legitimate President of Venezuela, I am extremely pleased to have Eva Golinger as my guest on this program. Eva was a close personal friend and adviser to former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and knows the players in this crisis personally.
Eva Golinger is the author of the best-selling book "The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela", and "Bush Versus Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela". Her most recent book is "Confidente of Tyrants: The Story of the American Woman Trusted by the US's Biggest Enemies".
We discuss the economic malaise in Venezuela and its origins, the history of US intervention in the Venezuelan democracy, and the hope for solving this crisis in a way that preserves the gains made for ordinary Venezuelans under Chavez.
In this episode, I'm joined by Margaret Kimberley, Editor and Senior Columnist for Black Agenda Report for a discussion of NATO, US foreign military bases, the role of the Democratic Party in progressive movements, the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi and other topics.
For information on the campaign to get the US out of Africa go to http://tinyurl.com/shutdownafricom or https://blackallianceforpeace.com/
Beginning with the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi of Press TV, we look at the relationship of the US and Iran and the "threat" Iran poses to Israel. Then we look at the case of a local activist silenced because her cause is not on the approved list.
Today's episode contains content from Catherine Shakdam and Dr. Jack Dresser.
We also report on a local activist and friend whose address to the local Womxn's March was silenced by the organizers because she wasn't fighting the correct oppression.
My guest today is journalist Alison Weir. Her best-selling book Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel has been called a must-read for all Americans and her websites, If Americans Knew and Israel Palestine News are invaluable sources for information on Palestinian human rights and the pernicious influence of the Zionist lobby on US politics.
