In the wake of escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, MintCast brings you an exclusive interview with Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. Join MintPress as we delve into the unfolding events and gain insights into Iran's perspective. As the world's attention remains fixated on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the subsequent global student protests, focus has shifted to the broader implications of Israel's actions, particularl...
May 06, 2024•54 min•Season 3Ep. 70
Gaza is the “key issue of our era,” Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein told the MintCast today. “Every international law in the books is being broken,” she said, “This is not something that began on October 7. This is the continuation of ethnic cleansing and displacement that began in 1947 and 1948 with the displacement of 750,000 people.” While Stein condemned Israel for its actions, she placed ultimate responsibility for much of the violence on Washington, telling MintCast host Mnar A...
Apr 05, 2024•56 min•Season 3Ep. 69
Haiti is in crisis. As armed groups come together and storm the island nation’s institutions, leading to mass prison breaks, U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ariel Henry – who was abroad at the time, desperately trying to negotiate some kind of foreign intervention – has resigned. Henry’s departure has left a power vacuum on the island. Will an alliance of armed groups seize power in a revolution? Will factions of the old government hang on? Or will the United States intervene to reassert control over...
Mar 21, 2024•46 min•Season 3Ep. 68
One week after Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in an extreme act of Protest for Palestine – the world has been awe-struck by his galvanizing act of courage, with his last words being Free Palestine. Across the world, including in Yemen and Gaza, Bushnell is being memorialized as a martyr for Palestine as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza that has left over 30,000 people dead. His protest was not only moving but stood in stark contrast to the empty rhetoric given by so-called liberal polit...
Mar 08, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 67
Even as Israel turns Gaza into dust, few Western celebrities have dared to raise their voices against the genocide – and many have even supported it. One notable exception to this are the Hadids. The family of Palestinian-American fashion designers, influencers and models have been using their considerable platforms to bring attention to the slaughter and to call on the world to act to save innocent civilians. Today, Alana Hadid joins MintCast host Mnar Adley for a frank and insightful discussio...
Mar 04, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 36
For all of his power and prestige, Bill Gates is rarely scrutinized in our media. The Seattle native has been careful to cultivate an image of a well-meaning nerd who uses his wealth for good. Our guest today on the “MintCast” is an exception to that rule, being one of the few investigative journalists to critically examine Gates’ power and influence. Tim Schwab is an award-winning investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C. His reporting has been published in outlets such as The Nation, ...
Feb 21, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 35
The United States and the United Kingdom recently carried out their eighth round of strikes against targets in Yemen that they claim are being used by Yemen’s Ansar Allah – known in the West as the Houthis – to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea. Since Israel began its deadly incursion into Gaza on October 7 of last year, Ansar Allah has carried out a de facto campaign of targeted sanctions against Israeli economic interests, attacking ships traveling through the Red Sea that it says ar...
Jan 30, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 34
As China continues rising and the U.S. attempts to dominate the world, Northeast Asia becomes an increasingly crucial battleground. The United States is trying to encircle China with a network of hundreds of military bases while building a trilateral military alliance with South Korea and Japan. But many in those countries want to be free of U.S. domination. Our guest today is Tim Shorrock , a writer and commentator who has covered the region since the 1970s. Growing up in Japan, Tim has covered...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 33
In the wake of the October 7 assault, more than 700 celebrities signed an open letter pledging support to the government of Israel. On the other hand, the hip-hop community has displayed solidarity with Gaza, with over 600 artists joining the Musicians for Palestine movement. Joining MintCast host Alan MacLeod today to talk about Gaza and the music industry is Immortal Technique . Immortal Technique is an independent rapper and activist widely regarded as one of his generation's most respected a...
Dec 06, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 32
There is no doubt about it: China is rising. Whether it sparks hope and interest or fear and worry, it is impossible to ignore the country’s rapid economic and social transformation. Just a few decades ago, the words “made in China” were a synonym for bad quality junk. But today, China leads the world in all manner of high-tech industries, including photovoltaic cells, semiconductors, 5G communications technologies, and electric vehicles. Joining “MintCast” host today is someone who knows China ...
Oct 03, 2023•58 min•Season 3Ep. 31
America is addicted to war. But its citizens rarely see the brutal realities of the U.S. military-industrial complex up close. That is because our pliant media hides the carnage from the public, refusing to report on the victims of the war machine, and uses euphemisms like “surgical strikes” and “enhanced interrogation techniques” to mask the barbarity meted out by Washington around the world. A recent study from the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the post-9/11 wars have bee...
Sep 26, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 30
South of the border, an entire region is rising, electing radical governments and moving towards integration and genuine independence. Today, “MintPress News” speaks to Ollie Vargas about Latin America and just what is going on in the region President Joe Biden called the U.S.’ “front yard.” Ollie Vargas is an award-winning journalist based in Bolivia. He is the co-founder of “ Kawsachun News ,” an outlet reporting in the English language on Bolivia and Latin America. He has also contributed to ...
Aug 18, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Have you ever wondered just how much of your hard-earned tax dollars go to funding our bloated war machine? On today’s episode of “The MintCast,” Lindsay Koshgarian lays out the staggering expense that American taxpayers fork out each year to keep the U.S. empire going. “The average person is paying over $2300 per year for our military, plus another $700 for veterans’ [benefits]. So that’s over $3000. To put that in some other perspective, that’s more than twice what the median rent is for a two...
Aug 10, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Americans want change. A December poll found that only 38% of the country is satisfied with the way the political system is working, with nearly two-thirds expressing their discontent. Despite this, it appears that very little change is on the horizon; the 2024 election is looking increasingly likely that the two parties will select aging relics in Joe Biden and Donald Trump as their candidates. In this situation, half of Americans say they would consider voting for a third party, despite the cl...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 27
Somebody blew up the Nord Stream II pipeline – that much is certain. Yet, since September last year, when the incident occurred, no one has come forward to take responsibility, and the attack has become the subject of intense international debate. Our guest on “MintCast” is Bryce Greene , a writer, journalist, activist and media critic who has covered the issue extensively in outlets such as “ Fairness And Accuracy in Reporting .” Earlier this month, Bryce was invited to speak at the United Nati...
Jul 28, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 26
As the war in Ukraine continues to take lives, many people worldwide question its legitimacy and demand an end to the violence. Yet even as calls to cease the conflict grow, the Biden administration has announced that it will up the ante by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine – a weapon banned by more than 100 countries worldwide. Today’s guest, Medea Benjamin , an anti-war activist and co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK , was shocked by the decision. “The world came together in 2008 to ban...
Jul 24, 2023•51 min•Season 3Ep. 25
MintPress speaks to James Rehwald . Thanks to his innovative comedy and razor-sharp wit, James has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media platforms, his viral, darkly satirical videos having been seen by tens of millions of people worldwide. James constantly takes aim at the entire power structure to produce explicitly anti-imperialist, radical shorts that cut deep. A frequent target of his is the CIA. "The CIA are basically gangsters for American capitalism,” he told Ala...
Jul 14, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 24
It ain’t easy being a YouTuber—at least, not a political one. The platform is a giant, Byzantine organization filled with secret rules and algorithms that content creators constantly fall afoul of. This is especially true for radical voices, who are incessantly shadowbanned and suppressed by the Google-owned platform. One person who has broken through the algorithmic barriers better than almost anyone is JT Chapman, host of the Second Thought channel. Chapman makes engaging video essays about so...
Jul 05, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 23
The United States is an empire, even if its citizens don’t all realize it. That is the conclusion from historian and political scientist Aaron Good, who joins Alan MacLeod on this week’s edition of “MintCast.” Today, Good walks us through the history of how the United States came to dominate the world and the organizations it uses – especially the CIA and NATO – in order to enforce its control over the planet. He notes that as Europe and Asia were destroying themselves in conflict, the U.S. gave...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Last month, on his way back to Great Britain, MintPress contributor Kit Klarenberg was detained and interrogated. The investigative journalist was met at the airport by six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers, who seized his electronic devices, and memory cards and took his fingerprints and DNA. Under Schedule Three, Section Four of the U.K. 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Act, they grilled him for over five hours, asking probing questions on everything from his opinions on the curr...
Jun 22, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Amid an ongoing crisis in recruitment, the military has found a novel way of enticing teens to enlist: thirst traps. “MintCast” co-host Alan MacLeod joins Mnar Adley for an in-house edition of the podcast to describe how the military is using young teens’ horniness against them, utilizing an army of attractive women posting sexually suggestive content on social media – in effect, turning a generation of young men from simps into soldiers. Alan MacLeod is senior staff writer and podcast producer ...
Jun 05, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 20
You can indict Vladimir Putin over war crimes in Ukraine. But if you do, you’d better indict Joe Biden as well. That is the message that Professor Alfred de Zayas, world-renowned human rights and international law expert, gave “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod on today’s episode of the series. A Swiss-American lawyer, academic and United Nations official with over 50 years’ experience in the field of human rights, de Zayas joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about international law and Ukraine, U....
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 19
The war in Ukraine is well into its second year, and the United States is insistent on pumping billions more into the quagmire that has already seen thousands of lives lost and millions displaced. The U.S. has already approved more than $113 billion in aid to Ukraine, most of which is weaponry. This year, President Biden has earmarked a record-breaking $842 billion on the military. Yet much of this is not even directed towards Europe but at China. Seemingly not content with turning Europe into a...
May 19, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Congress recently voted against pulling American troops out of Somalia. Officially, U.S. forces number 900 and are there in an advisory role to help the government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud combat terrorist forces such as Al-Shabab. Yet our guest today states that U.S. boots on the ground in Somalia are doing nothing but serving as a recruiting tool for jihadists, their presence provoking widespread resentment among the people of the resource-rich but war-torn African nation. Ann Garrison is a jo...
May 19, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 17
In 1999, South African anti-apartheid activist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela visited Gaza and said, "We know too well our freedom is not complete without the freedom of the Palestinians." Since his death in 2013, Mandela’s unifying message of decolonization reverberated across the globe. The anti-colonial, anti-apartheid struggle that he led to end racial segregation and transform South Africa into a democratic nation has been lauded by Palestinians, who have drawn parallels between Is...
May 16, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Although corporate media inundate us with stories of Russian aggression, far fewer people are aware that the Ukrainian government itself has been using the fog of war to move against certain sectors of its own population, settle scores, and attempt to revolutionize society. These attempts have been led by President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, who, in recent months, has banned more than ten political parties (including the main opposition bloc), made trade unions illegal, outlawed Russian languag...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 15
After witnessing the ongoing attack from a coordinated campaign to silence him, tens of thousands of people from around the world have come out in support of hip hop artist, campaigner and host of the MintPress podcast “ The Watchdog ,” Lowkey. An online petition addressed to music giant Spotify, demanding it refuse to buckle to pressure from the Israel lobby to remove his music from its platform, has garnered over 40,000 signatures from members of the public. Joining the wave of support have be...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 14
In just a few short weeks, Russia’s war on Ukraine has precipitated a massive exodus of refugees. According to the United Nations , more than 4.3 million people have fled the country since February 24, the majority of them – 2.5 million – traveling west to Poland. Media across the world have closely covered the story, and shown a great deal more sympathy for the Ukrainian refugees than for others fleeing from U.S. wars in the Middle East or North Africa. But fewer people are aware of another gro...
Apr 12, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 13
It is becoming increasingly hard, it seems, to have civil conversations. Amid an increasingly polarized political climate, families and friendships are being ruined by intense disagreements. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll, the majority of Americans now believe that their political adversaries pose the greatest threat to democracy and way of life. Many now dread family occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas because of the awkward or heated political topics that will be discussed at the di...
Apr 06, 2022•55 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Ethiopia is not a country that is on many Americans’ radar. Yet, since 2020, a brutal civil war has raged, displacing an estimated 4 million people. As the conflict continues, hawks in Washington are beginning to circle, demanding the U.S. intervene militarily. When it comes to Ethiopia – said head of USAID Samantha Power, one of the architects of the U.S. intervention in Libya – “every option is on the table,” using a phrase that has long been understood to be a threat of war. Secretary of Stat...
Jan 28, 2022•52 min•Season 3Ep. 11
