AlternativeRadio
106 episodes - English - Latest episode: 17 days ago - ★★★★★ - 473 ratingsAlternative Radio is an "unembedded" weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and on short-wave on Radio for Peace International. AR provides information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored or distorted in other media.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
[Howard Zinn] Against War
June 20, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBIn a May 1976 column in the Boston Globe Howard Zinn wrote “Memorial Day should be a day for putting flowers on graves and planting trees. Also, for destroying the weapons of death that endanger us more than they protect us, that waste our resources and threaten our children and grandchildren.” Sadly his column in the Globe was discontinued soon after. And even more sadly his words are evergreen. Veterans are still returning from foreign wars with lost limbs, bodies and souls. If an honest hi...
[Vijay Prashad] The Decline of the Global North
June 13, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.5 MBThe Global North or the West is a group of countries led by the United States. In juxtaposition is the Global South, once called the Third World. In recent years, the Global North has undergone a significant economic and political decline. The geopolitical landscape is shifting thus opening new possibilities for Global South countries, particularly for China. A dramatic example of America’s isolation was the UN vote on Palestinian membership. The vote was 143 in favor, 25 abstentions and 9 ag...
[Richard Forer] Psychospiritual Roots of the Israel-Palestinian Tragedy
June 06, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBIn Sanskrit, Maya means illusion or magic. Maya is at work among people and nations who project carefully crafted positive images of themselves. The U.S. and Israel are no different from other countries. They claim self-defense as they launch massive attacks. They invoke international law when it suits them then ignore it when it doesn’t. Then there’s always the standard line about our so-called values which justifies their actions. Most people don’t have a clue about Israel-Palestine because...
[Matthew Desmond] Ending Poverty in America
May 30, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBWhy does the United States, the richest country on earth, have more poverty than any other advanced democracy? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? What perpetuates poverty and what can be done to end it? “Poverty persists,” Matthew Desmond says, “because the rest of us benefit from it.” Recorded at Town Hall.
[Chris Hedges] What the Genocide Says About Us
May 16, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe Iran-Israel attacks and the prospects of a wider Middle East war have dominated the news. Meanwhile, the bloodbath in Gaza continues. Genocide is the crime of crimes. We are witnessing it in real time in Gaza. The UN says, “The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history. Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu’s promised “mighty vengeance” quickly became genocid...
[Brian Klaas] The Wrong People at the Top
May 09, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBPower. What is it? Political theorist Robert Dahl gave one example. He said, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he would not otherwise do.” Why is it that often that those who are on top are the wrong people? The high rollers and the nabobs lust for power behind a smokescreen of homilies about doing good. Today, more and more power is concentrated in the hands of the few, thus weakening democracy. Who wields it? How is it allocated? What are effective way...
[Johan Galtung] The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
May 02, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBEmpires come and go. They’re sometimes long, sometimes short. But ultimately they fall. Hubris, incredible arrogance, is often the element that brings the mighty down. The U.S. is not immune from decline. With its ruinous wars, bloated Pentagon budget, military bases all over the earth, grotesque levels of inequality and an economy that spews red ink we are witnessing its diminishing power. Recall the words of President Eisenhower in his 1961 Farewell Address. He warned of the dangers posed b...
[Mohamad Junaid] Modi, Hindutva & Kashmir
April 25, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MB"India's democracy is being systematically disassembled,” says renowned writer and activist Arundhati Roy. She adds, “Any kind of dissent is just smashed with an iron fist." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party openly espouse Hindutva, a racist ideology rooted in a mythical past and fueled by magical thinking. It’s a supremacist doctrine that privileges and elevates one group, Hindus, over all others. Its animus toward Muslims is particularly acute but Christians...
[Eugene Puryear] From Birmingham to Bethlehem (part 2)
April 11, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBHow can the Palestinian struggle for freedom and dignity take lessons from the Black Liberation Movement? Historical circumstances are clearly different yet there are similarities. Both are located in a colonial-like situation, where a powerful oppressor dominates another less powerful group. Racism is a major factor. The Black Liberation Movement and Malcolm X’s eloquent voice and militant politics resonate with Palestinians struggling for their freedom. Liberation struggles are not easy. Re...
[Eugene Puryear] From Birmingham to Bethlehem (part 1)
April 04, 2024 21:01 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBHow can the Palestinian struggle for freedom and dignity take lessons from the Black Liberation Movement? Historical circumstances are clearly different yet there are similarities. Both are located in a colonial-like situation, where a powerful oppressor dominates another less powerful group. Racism is a major factor. The Black Liberation Movement and Malcolm X’s eloquent voice and militant politics resonate with Palestinians struggling for their freedom. Liberation struggles are not easy. Re...
[Andrew Seidel] Weaponizing Religious Freedom
March 14, 2024 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe separation of church and state has long been a cornerstone of American democracy. The Founders of the Republic, Jefferson, Madison, et al, insisted on a secular government unencumbered by religious dogma. However, in recent years decisions by a conservative-dominated Supreme Court have increasingly blurred that barrier. How has this happened? Enter Leonard Leo and a pile of money. Co-chair of the highly influential Federalist Society, he has been at the forefront of weaponizing religious ...
[Sarah Leah Whitson] Gaza, International Law & the Biden Presidency
March 07, 2024 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBJulia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams writes, “Along with persistent protests at public events held by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, recent polling is continuously demonstrating that the White House's vehement support for Israel's bombardment of Gaza despite the rising civilian death toll is not winning them accolades among the voters whose backing they depend on in the upcoming election.” Conley cites a recent poll that “50% of 2020 Biden voters believe the Isr...
[Chris Hedges] Biden, Gaza Genocide & Israel
February 29, 2024 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBIn a landmark decision the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest judicial body, based in The Hague, by an overwhelming vote ruled that the accusation that Israel in its assault on Gaza is committing genocide is “plausible.” The Israeli prime minister in response said, “Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering. The charge of genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous.” Almost certainly the issue will move from the ICJ to the UN Security Council ...
[Chris Hedges] The Israeli-Palestinian War
January 11, 2024 22:01 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe death toll of Palestinians in Gaza will soon surpass 20,000 with many more wounded. The UN says Gaza is “a graveyard for children.” The history of the Israeli-Palestinian war did not begin on October 7. While the atrocities of that day cannot and should not be excused, they have to be located in the context of decades of Israeli annexation, occupation, sieges, blockades and extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians are in Israeli prisons being held without trial or...
[John Mearsheimer] Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War
July 28, 2022 21:01 - 57 minutes - 43.1 MBThe Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most dangerous international conflict in decades with ominous implications. It has already resulted in much death, destruction and displacement in Ukraine. A disruption in food supplies may lead to famine in West Asia, Latin America and Africa. And there is a possibility of the war escalating into something unthinkable. Understanding the root causes of the crisis is essential if we are to prevent it from getting worse and to find a way to brin...
[Noam Chomsky] Chronicles of Dissent
July 14, 2022 21:01 - 57 minutes - 40.5 MBIn his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Dr. King memorably said, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Our present precarious circumstances make Dr. King’s words abundantly clear. We face war, climate chaos, a pandemic, inequality, hunger and poverty. The perils confronting humankind are unprecedented. And always looming in the background are doomsday weapons that can destroy our preci...
[Frank Smyth] The NRA Unmasked
June 30, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 43.3 MBGun violence exacts an enormous toll on U.S. society-claiming tens of thousands of lives every year. Many more thousands are wounded and scarred physically and psychologically. From malls to schools from places of worship to concerts there is no safe space. Weapons of war are easily obtainable. We have the spectacle of armed militias in combat gear roaming statehouses, threatening the lives of government officials and invading the national Capitol itself on January 6. The main lobby for guns ...
[Arundhati Roy] Fascism & Resistance in India
June 23, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 131 MBFascism in India? It’s a secular republic, according to its constitution but the country under its prime minister Narender Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, has drifted sharply to the religious right. The BJP ideology is Hindutva, Hindu nationalism. Its mother ship and muscle is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS. It’s a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, inspired by Mussolini and Hitler, and has millions of members. Not much is known about what’s actually going on...
[Jennifer Hendricks] Roe v. Wade & the Supreme Court
June 09, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBRoe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision which established a constitutional right to abortion is under attack. The Supreme Court with its super-conservative majority is poised to overturn Roe. According to an editorial in Against the Current: “Poll after poll reveals that the right to abortion care actually has more popular support today than when Roe v. Wade was decided. If that right can be mutilated now, precedent and public opinion be damned, then no rights are secure from re...
[Sarita Gupta] The Future of Work
June 02, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 131 MBThe future of work is unclear. There will be jobs. But what kind? The pandemic drove many to work remotely at home. As the crisis ebbs some will discover that’s the future. Crucial long-term factors affecting workers will be more and more AI, artificial intelligence, and automation. Corporations will be looking to expand in those areas to maximize profits. This is all happening while worker militancy has enjoyed a resurgence. Workers are challenging some of the biggest corporations. There’s b...
[Ray McGovern] Hidden History of U.S., Ukraine, Russia Relations
May 26, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 131 MBThe February 24th Russian invasion of Ukraine has rattled the world and has unleashed misery, death and destruction. What prompted Moscow's attack? From their perspective, the expansion of NATO, a U.S.-led military alliance, up to Russia’s borders threatens their national security interests. It went against assurances given by Washington that that would not happen. Years ago, George Kennan, the much venerated State Department diplomat warned against NATO expansion. With great foresight he sai...
[Timothy Snyder] On the Holocaust
May 19, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBWhere does one start when talking about the Holocaust? The word derives from the Greek, a burnt offering, a sacrifice by fire. It is one of the greatest crimes in human history. And we are cautioned to learn its lessons. Historian Timothy Snyder argues that "The history that we might understand is rather different than the history that we generally remember and that if we did it right the lessons that we draw from the present and the future would be different lessons than the ones we draw now...
[Katrina vanden Heuvel] Russia, Ukraine, the War & the U.S.
May 12, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe Russian invasion of Ukraine with its horrific atrocities and massive refugee crisis has turned the world upside down. The war will have a huge impact on global food security as both countries are major exporters of wheat, barley and other grains. As usual, the media provide very little context and background. We are told ad nauseum that the Russian invasion was unprovoked. A careful look at history reveals a slightly more nuanced picture. To explain is not to excuse Moscow’s criminal atta...
[Gillian Tett, Yanis Varoufakis] Can Capitalism be Fixed? (Debate)
May 05, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBCapitalism’s origins, several centuries ago, can be traced to the expropriation of the commons and its transformation into private property. Since those hoary beginnings, it has evolved into an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and its operation for profit. In the last forty years or so capitalism has evolved into its neoliberal phase characterized by deregulation, punishing bubbles, economic crises and jaw-dropping income and wealth inequality. The sys...
[Craig Aaron] The Future of Media
April 14, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe Digital Age has transformed the traditional media landscape. The so-called Fourth Estate is reeling. Thousands of journalists have lost their jobs. Newsrooms have shrunk. Beats have been eliminated. Bureaus have closed. Many important stories are given short shrift or not covered at all. Investigative journalism may soon be an endangered species. City hall and statehouse coverage has been particularly hard hit. Large parts of the country are served by one or no local newspapers. Internet ...
[Roger Hallam] Extinction Rebellion, the Climate Crisis & Civil Resistance
April 07, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBExtinction Rebellion, also simply known as XR, is a global environmental movement. It was founded in the UK with the explicit aim of using nonviolent civil resistance to compel government action to avoid ecological collapse. The latest UN IPCC report paints a dire picture of what the future will bring. By 2050, a billion people will face coastal flooding from rising seas. Using radical tactics, Extinction Rebellion draws inspiration from grassroots movements such as the civil rights movement....
[Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz] Genocide & Settler Colonialism
March 31, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBGenocide is the most heinous of crimes and it connects to settler colonialism. Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz says, “Settler colonialism requires genocidal violence to attain its goal” of acquiring land. In North America and elsewhere this meant the Indigenous population was targeted for mass murder. North America’s huge landmass and resources drove the policy. In Germany, there was the Nazi desire for lebensraum, living space, in Eastern Europe. It’s interesting to see the parallels. The U.S...
[Ralph Nader] Mobilizing People
March 24, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBConcentrated wealth and power undermine democracy and advance plutocracy. The 1% have inordinate influence over the rest of us. Wall Street dominates Main Street. How do ordinary people break through the oligarchic system to assert their interests over the interests of the super-rich? As Ralph Nader says, "However we look at it, the wealthy few use the relentless mechanism of commercialism to trample democracy, the natural environment, and the common good. Our grievances are many, and the pow...
[Julianne Malveaux] Economic Justice: Dr. King’s Legacy
March 17, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe conventional media image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has him frozen in time at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 giving his inspirational "I Have a Dream" speech. Little attention is paid to King's remarkable political and social evolution in the last five years of his life. He became a trenchant critic of the Vietnam War. In his classic sermon at the Riverside Church in New York he denounced the war and "the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism." King increasingl...
[Malcolm X] The Ballot or the Bullet
March 10, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBMalcolm X is a singular figure in African-American history. He led an extraordinary life. He was born in an impoverished family in Omaha, NE on May 19, 1925. He recalled being “dizzy” with hunger. He said, “My whole life has been a chronology of changes.” Indeed it was. He went through a remarkable series of transformations from being a street hustler known as Detroit Red to going to jail, to converting to Islam then breaking with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and becoming an indepen...
[Vandana Shiva] Interconnectedness
March 03, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe corporate takeover of food with its toxic chemical inputs poses serious health and environmental problems. Corporate agriculture, The New York Times states unequivocally "is causing irreparable harm to the planet." It is "ravaging the air, soil and water, destroying wildlife habitats and spurring climate chaos. The system, a vast web of industries and processes that stretches from seed to pasture, to packaging, to the supermarket, to the trash dump, produces at least a third of all human-...
[Angela Davis] What Will You Say in 2030?
February 24, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBImagine it is 2030. A youngster asks you, What was is like back then at the turn of the century? What will you say about capital punishment, the drug war, guns or why more money was spent on prisons than education? What will you say about racism, the criminal justice system and the vast discrepancies in sentencing? What will you say about gender and class bias and the huge income and wealth gap between the rich and the poor? What will you say? Recorded at the Boulder Theater.
[Eqbal Ahmad] Intellectuals, Ideology & the State
February 17, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBWhat role do intellectuals play in society? Are they apparatchiks, yes men and women or do they challenge the half-truths, mendacities and fabrications of the rich and powerful? Noam Chomsky explored these themes in his famous essay, “The Responsibility of Intellectuals." published in The New York Review of Books during the height of U.S. aggression in Indochina. Chomsky unambiguously declared, "It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies." He called them the ...
[Michael Eric Dyson] Chaos or Community?
February 10, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBIn his 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote these prophetic words: “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.” More than five decades later the chaos i...
[Ralph Nader] What Are We Waiting For?
February 03, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBInertia. We all experience it. It can lead to despair and despair can lead to paralysis. And that’s just where the oligarchs and plutocrats want us to be. Keeps the focus away from their destructive policies. Many of us have resources and privileges but don’t use them. The attitude is if something’s wrong let someone else deal with it. But throughout history small groups of organized people have fought against and overcome many difficult obstacles such as patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia and ...
[Chris Hedges] Q&A on American Sadism
January 27, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe great 20th-century Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, "We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare." The United States has long fed its heart with fairy tales about itself. Hardly a day goes by without some new story being spun about our noble intentions, benevolence and devotion to international law. Sadism is not something new. Just ask indigenous peoples and Blacks or the Vietnamese and Iraqis. Chris Hedges warns, “The violence and exploitation, which ...
[Chris Hedges] American Sadism
January 20, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe great 20th-century Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, "We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare." The United States has long fed its heart with fairy tales about itself. Hardly a day goes by without some new story being spun about our noble intentions, benevolence and devotion to international law. American sadism is not something new. Just ask indigenous peoples and Blacks or the Vietnamese and Iraqis. Chris Hedges warns, “The violence and exploitatio...
[Noam Chomsky] Optimism of the Will
January 13, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBHow to be positive in these perilous times? Humankind and the planet are facing enormous dangers. We can indulge in magical thinking and hope for miracles or we can ground ourselves in reality, understand the depth of the crises we face and then act to change things. It won’t be easy. There are huge obstacles and difficulties. Our task going forward is to find kindred spirits, organize and work to create a decent future. We may be inspired by the adage, Pessimism of the intellect, Optimism of...
[Jenny Brown] Women: Labor Pains
January 06, 2022 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBReproductive rights and abortion are under sustained political attack. Texas, Mississippi and other states have passed highly restrictive laws limiting and, in some cases, eliminating access to abortion. In all, nearly 600 anti-abortion laws have been introduced. The Supreme Court, with its three Trump-appointed justices, seems poised to decimate if not overturn the Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion. In 2018, even before the pandemic, the birth rate in the United Stat...
[Vijay Prashad] Radical Views from the Global South
December 30, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe concept of Global North and Global South are not geographical terms but rather describe a grouping of countries along economic lines. The Global South, previously called the Third World, is a term used to identify lower-income countries on one side of the so-called divide, the other side being the countries of the Global North with its enormous wealth and its institutions of power and control: the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. The pandemic has created a kind of vaccine apartheid. Take ...
[Harriet Fraad] Patriarchy & Capitalism
December 23, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBDenise Comanne, a prominent French feminist/activist wrote, “The oppression of women is very ancient: it existed before capitalism, which is also a system of oppression, but one that is more global in nature. Patriarchy can be defined in simple terms as the oppression and objectification of women by men. In addition to its strictly economic form, this oppression is expressed in many ways, notably through language, kinship relations, stereotypes, religion, and culture. The form oppression take...
[Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz] The Other Side of Thanksgiving
December 16, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe historical lens through which national holidays are viewed is often blurred and distorted. Thanksgiving is a case in point. The much-revered Pilgrims fresh off the Mayflower sat down and shared native foods with the friendly Wampanoags. A heart-warming story. But this idea of the gift-giving Indian, helping to establish and enrich what would become the United States, is a myth. Native Americans would soon be overwhelmed and killed en masse by white settlers. Those that survived the murde...
[Stephen Bezruchka] Social Murder & Covid-19
December 09, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe concept of social murder was introduced in the mid-19th century. The German philosopher Friedrich Engels coined the phrase in describing the political and social power held by ruling elites over laborers in England. Engels wrote about poor workers dying prematurely. Today, during the current pandemic, the term has been revived. The British Medical Journal says, “Social murder may describe the lack of political attention to social determinants and inequities that exacerbate the pandemic.”...
[Chris Hedges] The Prison Plantation System
December 02, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865 officially abolished slavery. However, there is a crucial legal exception. Section 1 of the Amendment provides: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." In plain English, this simply means those behind bars have no constitutional rights and they can be forced to work as further...
[Jeff Chester, Kathryn Montgomery] Commercial Surveillance Culture
November 25, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBTim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, once described the internet as a "permissionless space for creativity, innovation and free expression." In the early days, you may recall, the internet was also called the “information superhighway.” It would be open, free and with no advertising. It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Tech giants like Facebook and Google control a huge percentage of traffic on the internet with algorithms designed with just one priority in mind: make that cas...
[Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore] Radical Lessons: Then & Now
November 18, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe 1960s have been largely romanticized and commodified. The Beatles, Woodstock, sit-ins, protests, and marches. Those years saw huge social change. Bottom-up grassroots movements rocked the establishment. A major symbol of those years was Angela Davis. She has this to say today: “The lesson is that even though we don't have the same structures that we had at that time, the challenge is to create a kind of vibrant internationalism. Today, of course, we have the technologies of communication ...
[James Loewen] History Textbooks: Facts or Fiction?
November 11, 2021 22:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThere’s a famous quote in George Orwell’s 1984: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Orwell understood how important knowledge of history is and how it can be manipulated by the powerful to serve their interests. If the past disappears down the memory hole society is at risk. History is not some neutral ideologically-free zone. It is a highly contested battlefield. The contents of textbooks are subject to partisan bias, often tilting to the ...
[Tariq Ali] Afghanistan, China & the Decline of U.S. Power (part 2)
October 21, 2021 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe ignominious debacle in Afghanistan was predictable and predicted. Afghans, like most people, don't appreciate foreign invaders occupying their country. Just ask the British and the Russians. But the U.S., in its imperial hubris, thought it was different. It would nation-build in Afghanistan and bring democracy to that land. Meanwhile, China is watching the U.S. squander its wealth on military adventures. The decline of U.S. power is evident. In its place, China is rapidly expanding its in...
[Jeffery Robinson] The South, Slavery & the Lost Cause
September 09, 2021 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBThe Lost Cause is rooted in the South’s search for justification and the need to find a substitute for victory in the Civil War. In attempting to deal with defeat, the South created an image of the war as a noble epic fought by brave men. The war, the mythology goes, wasn’t about preserving slavery it was about Southern values. Monuments to Confederate soldiers and the naming of military bases not only glorifies militarism but are everyday reminders of white supremacy and the subordination of...
[Vijay Prashad] China, the U.S. & the New Cold War (part 2)
July 22, 2021 21:00 - 57 minutes - 52.2 MBChina is one of the oldest cultures in the world with a rich history. The ancient Middle Kingdom is today's People's Republic of China. For several centuries prior to the creation of the PRC, China endured invasions, occupations, civil wars and famine. Today it is an economic powerhouse. Its influence is expanding across the globe. However, relations between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly confrontational. Secretary of State Blinken warned China not to upset what he called the...