- Page 2 of 13 - The American empire and its many tentacles. Podcasts & articles

Ep 167 Averting Our Gaze From Biowarfare feat Sam Husseini

Guest:‌ ‌Sam‌ ‌Husseini.‌ ‌The‌ ‌origins‌ ‌of‌ ‌COVID-19‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌novel‌ ‌coronavirus‌ ‌are‌ ‌not‌ ‌yet‌ ‌clear‌ ‌but‌ ‌the‌ ‌possibility‌ ‌of‌ ‌it‌ ‌being‌ ‌the‌ ‌result‌ ‌of‌ ‌biowarfare‌ ‌or‌ ‌gain-of-function‌ ‌experimentation‌ ‌that‌ ‌makes‌ ‌viruses‌ ‌more‌ ‌deadly‌ ‌or‌ ‌some‌ ‌other‌ ‌scenario‌ ‌have‌ ‌largely‌ ‌been‌ ‌dismissed,‌ ‌from‌ ‌early‌ ‌on,‌ ‌by‌ ‌officials‌ ‌and‌ ‌some‌ ‌scientists‌ ‌and‌ ‌to‌ ‌a‌ ‌large‌ ‌extent‌ ‌suppressed‌ ‌by‌ ‌the‌ ‌corporate‌ ‌media.‌ ‌Regardless‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌origin‌ ‌of‌ ‌this‌ ‌pandemic,‌ ‌there‌ ‌needs‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌more‌ ‌discussion‌ ‌and‌ ‌airing‌ ‌of‌ ‌different‌ ‌views‌ ‌on‌ ‌this‌ ‌subject‌ ‌and‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌topic‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌global‌ ‌biological‌ ‌arms‌ ‌race‌ ‌that‌ ‌is‌ ‌very‌ ‌real‌ ‌and‌ ‌happening‌ ‌largely‌ ‌outside‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌public‌ ‌view.‌ ‌ ‌

‌There’s‌ ‌an‌ ‌extra/bonus‌ ‌segment‌ ‌for‌ ‌patrons‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌question‌ ‌of‌ ‌privatized‌ ‌and/or‌ ‌covert‌ ‌biowarfare‌ ‌research,‌ ‌a‌ ‌short‌ ‌discussion‌ ‌with‌ ‌Sam‌ ‌and‌ ‌some‌ ‌additional‌ ‌information‌ ‌that‌ ‌I‌ ‌later‌ ‌added,‌ ‌reading‌ ‌from‌ ‌some‌ ‌articles‌ ‌and‌ ‌adding‌ ‌some‌ ‌commentary‌ ‌to‌ ‌expand‌ ‌a‌ ‌little‌ ‌and‌ ‌for‌ ‌important‌ ‌context.‌ ‌You‌ ‌can‌ ‌find‌ ‌that‌ ‌at‌ ‌Patreon,‌ ‌Episode‌ ‌167‌ ‌EXTRA.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Ep 166 EXTRA The Russiagate Walls Are Closing In feat Aaron Maté

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Guest: Aaron Maté. Key allegations from the Russiagate conspiracy have now officially collapsed with the release of transcripts from witness interviews that were conducted over the past three years. Now the walls are truly closing in and not in the way the Trump-Russia obsessed media presented it in the past. Key Obama administration officials, under oath, said they had no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Perhaps the biggest blow was delivered by Crowdstrike, the private cybersecurity firm that served as a critical source on the Russian hacking claim. We now know that Crowdstrike’s president told Congress more than two years ago that it had no real evidence that Russian hackers exfiltrated emails and passed them to Wikileaks. Aaron notes, in an understated manner, that this “raises new questions about whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller, intelligence officials and Democrats misled the public.” At the end of the interview, there’s an extra/bonus segment for patrons on the question of which forces were driving the Russiagate conspiracy. You can find that at Patreon, Episode 166 EXTRA.

Ep 166 The Russiagate Walls Are Closing In feat Aaron Maté

Ep 165 EXTRA Surveillance and Contact Tracing in the Pandemic Era feat Yasha Levine

Guest: Yasha Levine. Extra segment (patrons only) on surveillance and contact tracing.

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Ep 165 Weaponized Immigrants as Tools of Empire feat Yasha Levine

Guest: Yasha Levine. We talk about his new series on Substack, titled Immigrants as a Weapon. Yasha refers to this as an “investigative newsletter” about “weaponized immigrants, oligarchs, and the twisted politics of American power”. He refers to himself as “a Soviet immigrant living in an era of American decline” and it speaks for itself as to why his perspective is so perfect for this fascinating topic. At the end of the discussion, there’s an extra segment on surveillance and contact tracing. It’s a separate bonus extra for patrons titled Episode 165 EXTRA Surveillance and Contact Tracing in the Pandemic Era.

Ep 164 Exposing the Origins of Russiagate (Swapcast)

Swapcast: Around the Empire’s Joanne Leon and Dan Wright and Foreign Policy Focus host Kyle Anzalone discuss the origins of Russiagate. For three years, we have been fighting to debunk the fake news created about the imagined Russian conspiracy to help Trump beat Hillary. Now, the fake news and false allegations have run dry and some of the faces behind it are being exposed. We discuss the unmaskings and why it is so important.

Ep UNLOCKED 163 Quarantine Edition #3

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Joanne and Dan Wright spend another afternoon while on quarantine / lockdown in New Jersey in a long conversation about the pandemic, civil rights, protests, religious rights, so called philanthropists and oligarchs, and the breaking news on the Flynn case and Russiagate. This episode is for patrons only and may be unlocked for the public at a later date.

Ep 162 China Hawks Exploit Pandemic feat Dave DeCamp

Guest: Dave DeCamp. We talk about the way that China hawks are exploiting the pandemic and global crisis to influence the opinion of a fearful public. There are legitimate issues with China but some of the same bad actors who were involved in the post 9/11 push for war in the Middle East and others seem to be using this crisis to advance their own great power competition agenda, for political and financial reasons and for the evergreen goal of preserving the empire. If there was ever a time to avoid conflict, it’s now, while the country is in pretty dire straits. Big crises can result in big changes and profiteers who don’t have our best interests at heart know that better than anyone. Dave has written two articles on the topic, filled with great examples and context and we talk about those today.

Ep 161 UNLOCKED Quarantine Edition #2

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Joanne and Dan Wright spend another evening while on quarantine / lockdown in New Jersey in a long conversation about Coronavirus, the reopening of states, “contact tracing”, Trump, the Clintons, Anthony Fauci, information from skeptics like RFK, Jr., and we also talk about the Kim Jong Un mystery. This episode is for patrons only but will be unlocked later for the public.

Ep 160 UNLOCKED Quarantine Edition #1

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Joanne and Dan Wright spend an evening over the weekend while on quarantine / lockdown in New Jersey in a long conversation about Coronavirus, the theories about it and the response to this pandemic. We discuss the use of technology for surveillance measures, the hybrid war with China. We then spent some time talking about the “pandemic primary”, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. This episode is for patrons only but might be unlocked later for the public. .

Ep 159 Military Ambitions vs Pandemics in 1918 and 2020 feat Gareth Porter

Guest: Gareth Porter. Both in 1918 and 2020 pandemics forced the US military to make changes in their operations but the Pentagon has also revealed a resistance to stand down even when it’s necessary to protect troops. We talk about the similarities and differences between the situations in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I and today’s Coronavirus pandemic during never ending imperial wars. We also talk about the kinds of movements, changes and consequences that might be catalyzed by this latest crisis.

Ep 158 Conflict Between Russia and Turkey in Syria feat Mark Sleboda

(Podcast published on April 2, 2020) Guest: Mark Sleboda. We talk about the recent conflicts between Russia and Turkey in Syria. Negotiations resulted in a Sochi 2.0 Agreement, also called the Moscow Memorandum which settled the issue for the time being but none of the underlying problems were solved so it’s likely a temporary solution. We also discussed the overall situation in Syria and Turkish President Erdogan’s predicament and predictions for his future.

Ep 157 Crisis of Confidence in Ukraine feat Mark Sleboda

Guest: Mark Sleboda. We talk about recent events in Ukraine and what has developed into a crisis of confidence for Ukrainian President Zelensky. It resulted in a reshuffling in Zelensky’s cabinet, a no confidence vote in the Rada and no progress on bringing the civil conflict to an end, threats from the ultranationalist factions and strong opposition to Zelensky’s neoliberal economic policy proposals. Recent polls have also shown a larger lack of confidence in the legitimacy of the post-Maidan government overall. We also talk about the Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky and the Biden / Burisma Affair.

Ep 156 Western Denial About Syria feat Régis Le Sommier

Ep 157 Western Denial About Syria feat Regis LeSommier

Guest: Régis Le Sommier. We discuss the fact that the United States and its western allies are in denial about having lost the war in Syria. Calls to reboot that war are unrealistic and against the wishes of the majority of Syrian people who are living in government controlled areas, still suffering under sanctions and whose voices are rarely heard in western media. The sanctions are being used in an effort to keep options open for regime change and to deny the Assad government the opportunity to rebuild and stabilize the country. Western leaders and media are also in denial about the nature and objectives of the people who control the opposition held areas. Régis brings us insights from Syria having spent time on the ground there in both government and opposition controlled areas.

Ep 155 5 Years of War on Yemen & Coronavirus Crisis (Swapcast)

Ep 155 Swapcast 5 Years of War in Yemen and Coronavirus Crisis

On this Foreign Policy Focus and Around the Empire swapcast, Kyle and Joanne discuss the five year anniversary of the US/Saudi/UAE war on Yemen. The anniversary has received almost no media coverage in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. It’s the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and makes Yemen extremely vulnerable to the coronavirus crisis. The US/Saudi/UAE/UK bombing campaign has intentionally targeted the civilian infrastructure of Yemen. 24 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and millions of children are at risk of starvation. Yemen must be remembered and the war must end.