Independent journalist and documentarian Abby Martin joins me to discuss Earth's Greatest Enemy, a feature length documentary that examines one of the largest polluters and contributors to global climate change in the world: the United States military. I ask Abby what the seeds of this massive project were, and why the military-industrial complex is the "elephant in the room" in the political discourse on human-caused climate change. Also, we connect this subject to the horrific mass violence in Gaza being enacted by the State of Israel—with full US complicity—to the ecocide implicit in the maintenance of US hegemonic interests globally.
Read MoreUnited States
#314 | The Invasion Of Ukraine: An Imperialist War, An Unfolding Conflagration w/ Eric Draitser
Eric Draitser, independent political analyst and host of CounterPunch Radio, joins me to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We recorded this discussion March 3rd 2022 — exactly seven days into this ongoing conflict.
Eric has been publishing very concise, clear, and measured analysis of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military almost daily since it began — mostly through 15-20 minute videos published publicly, and through his Patreon page for his supporters. He applies a principled anti-imperialist, anti-war, and leftist approach to his detailed summaries of this situation as it unfolds — pointing to the roles that both Russian leadership (primarily Russian President Vladimir Putin) and the United States and its NATO partners in Europe have played in the escalation of this conflict. What are the short-term, and long-term, aims of Russia in this invasion? What is the historical context this war sits within? What are the ideological components to this? And most importantly, who ultimately suffers from this conflagration in Eastern Europe? We discuss all this and more in this interview.
Read More#226 | Giving Way To Passivity & Despair: Americans, How To Not Win A Damn Thing w/ Alley Valkyrie
Intro: 7:47
In this episode, I speak with social critic, activist, writer, and textile artist Alley Valkyrie, co-founder of Gods & Radicals and author of ‘Of Monsters and Miso,’ “a bilingual book of delicious miso sauce recipes.”
Waves of protests have swept nations around the globe, with robust examples mass resistance in such places as Hong Kong (http://bit.ly/2Q2LtF8), Chile, and France, just to name a few. (http://bit.ly/2SFi8lX) Organized resistance against the neoliberal economic polices imposed by governments globally, and the authoritarian responses from these states towards their respective populations, has not only demonstrated the spirit of the times we are in, but just as importantly, what the nature of resistance looks like in our time of compounding crises. Among these numerous examples of civil unrest, there is one glaring exception: the United States. As Alley explains in this episode, there are numerous historical, cultural, and sociological reasons as to why US citizens continue to believe that the electoral process, petition signing, and the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Trump in the House and Senate will lead to the changes needed to adequately respond to the massive systemic injustices Americans experience in their economic and social lives daily. Faith in these bureaucratic processes are certainly not enough, and in fact, works to deter the kinds of direct actions required to actually force the hands of the political elite to do anything besides steal from and undermine the majority of the population in their ability to live lives of dignity, good health, and social welfare.
Alley Valkyrie is a co-founder of Gods & Radicals Press and co-hosts the Empires Crumble podcast with Rhyd Wildermuth. She currently resides in Rennes, France.
Episode Notes:
- Purchase Alley’s book ‘Of Monsters and Miso’: http://bit.ly/39iH08M
- Read Alley’s article ‘Refugees and the Reflection of Empire’: http://bit.ly/2F2ejPC
- Much of Alley’s work can be found at her website and at Gods & Radicals Press: https://alleyvalkyrie.wordpress.com / https://abeautifulresistance.org
- Listen and subscribe to Empires Crumble: http://bit.ly/EmpiresCrumble
- The song featured in this episode is “Strt Srns” by Wise Blood from the + EP.
#192 | America Faded Vol. II: The Precipitous Decline Of The U.S. Empire w/ Dmitry Orlov
INTRO: 10:01
In this episode, I speak with engineer and writer Dmitry Orlov. I ask Dmitry to provide an overview of the ongoing collapse of the United States empire on the geopolitical, economic, and political fronts, since our first interview recorded and released last year.
As Dmitry explains in this interview, the United States is facing collapse. The U.S. is in massive debt, and wholly relies on its global military presence to maintain the dominance of the dollar — a situation in which we have to ask the question: how long before that, too, fails? Decades of United States global hegemony is being successfully countered by other global powers, namely Russia, although in a very different fashion from how the United States has traditionally exerted geopolitical influence up to the present moment. Why, and how, has this happened? Dmitry lays out the interrelating factors that are contributing to America’s faltering influence on the global stage, even as the U.S. Empire becomes increasingly belligerent towards other nations, whether ally or foe, as it seeks to maintain its place at the top of the global economic and political order. I ask Dmitry to go over the faltering shale oil industry and energy production in the United States; the failed attempt by the U.S. government, under the leadership and direction of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, to instigate a coup in Venezuela (as of the recording and release of this episode); the forced expulsion of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (and possible extradition to the U.S.); Russia’s growing economic prominence and geopolitical influence in relation to the United States; the history of the Ukraine’s deep and complicated relationship with the USSR, and more recently the United States; and the overwhelming social collapse we are witnessing in the United States, manifesting in widespread drug addiction, mental illness, political division, and hypernationalism.
Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad, USSR, into an academic family, and emigrated to the US in the mid-1970s. He holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Linguistics, and has worked in a variety of fields, including high-energy physics, Internet commerce, network security and advertising. He is a prolific writer, and the author of several books, including ‘Reinventing Collapse,’ ‘The Five Stages of Collapse,’ and most recently ‘Collapse and the Good Life.
Episode Notes:
- Follow Dmitry’s work at his blog: https://cluborlov.blogspot.com
- Support Dmitry’s work and read his supporter-only essays at: https://www.patreon.com/orlov/posts
- Or, support him at: https://www.subscribestar.com/orlov
- Purchase Dmitry’s books: http://bit.ly/DmitryOrlov
- I mention the Saker interview with Dmitry on the Ukraine: http://bit.ly/2PJXvBe
- The songs featured in this episode are “Will I See You Again” and “Waterlily” by Onra from Chinioiseries, Pt. 3.