Guest: Hrvoje Morić, host of the Geopolitics and Empire podcast. About a week after the protests and unrest in Kazakhstan in early January, Hrvoje and I got together for a chat about the questions we still had about the situation and our skepticism about the immediate claims of color revolution. Some things have changed in the past two weeks since we recorded this but for me, many questions still remain.
Guest: Ford Fischer. We talk about the evolution of the protests and counterprotests that Ford has been covering since May, 2020. These including the Black Lives Matter and social justice protests, pro and anti police demonstrations, pandemic related things like the anti-lockdown and back to work demonstrations, anti-fascist protests and counter protests, and also the multitude of election related protests during that period of time. Often these protests aren’t easily categorized as Left or Right or pro/anti-Trump or Biden or political party. Ford not only describes the things he has witnessed on the ground at these events but helps analyze what they’re about and what is happening with a more informed and nuanced perspective based on his observations and interactions with the people on the ground. In a bonus question we talk about the recent warnings and predictions that a civil war is brewing.
Guest: Ford Fischer. Ford has been covering the various protests and counterprotests that we have seen since May, 2020. These including the Black Lives Matter and social justice protests, pro and anti police demonstrations, pandemic related things like the anti-lockdown and back to work demonstrations, anti-fascist protests and counter protests, and also the multitude of election related protests during that period of time. Often these protests aren’t easily categorized as Left or Right or pro/anti-Trump or Biden or political party. Ford not only describes the things he has witnessed on the ground at these events but helps analyze what they’re about and what is happening with a more informed and nuanced perspective based on his observations and interactions with the people on the ground. In this bonus episode we talk about the recent warnings and predictions that a civil war is brewing.
Joanne Leon and Kyle Anzalone, hosts of Around the Empire and Conflicts of Interests podcasts, team up for another swapcast. We discuss the 2020 election, upcoming electoral college vote, protests and some of Biden’s potential moral hazard picks for high level positions, like Mike Morrell as director of the CIA. We also talk about the risk of war with Iran and other issues in the Middle East.
Joanne Leon and Dan Wright do another quarantine episode while on newly reduced lockdown in New Jersey in a conversation about the pandemic, protests, the movement to defund police, the hypocrisy of politicians, and Governor Murphy the Friendly Cartoonish Dictator. We also talk about majoritarianism, Turchin’s theory on stability, inequality and the overproduction of elites, and more. This episode is for patrons only and may be unlocked for the public at a later date.
Guest: Danny Sjursen. Swapcast: Around the Empire’s Joanne Leon and Foreign Policy Focus host Kyle Anzalone. We discuss Danny’s experience on the ground at the protests in Kansas City and the broader protest movement, whether this is an insurrection, the idea of calling in the military to act as a police force or worse, and the parallels between current policing practices and counterinsurgency missions.
Guest: Elijah Magnier. Uprising in Iraq: A new generation of Iraqis has new ideas and is not willing to accept an old, corrupt system dominated by ruling parties and sectarianism. Iraqis want foreign meddling to stop and they want reform and change. They want the country’s resources to be used to improve the quality of life. Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr still has enormous influence over the protesters in the street and the ministers in the government. But what does Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr want to achieve?
Prime Minister Mahdi inherited all the corruption and deficits from previous governments, the complications of alliances with the US and Iran and neighboring countries. His errors in handling the protests and his police forces and the violent crackdown led to his downfall. The search for a new leader of the parliament and the important ministries is on but there probably won’t be a new election until 2021. Will this new generation of Iraqis succeed in acting as a check on the corrupt actors going forward?
Guest: Elijah Magnier. We discuss the uprising and protests across Iraq that turned violent this week, with over a hundred deaths and thousands of injuries.
