Ben Norton speaks with Professor Jared Ball about political prisoner Julian Assange, and how the UK judge blocked extradition due to the horrific conditions of US mass incarceration, while also justifying CIA spying by citing a bogus CNN report based on CIA spying. Then we discuss the liberal war hawks in the Joe Biden administration and their "intersectional imperialism." Follow Jared Ball's show IMIXWHATILIKE at imixwhatilike.org .
Jan 07, 2021•50 min
Ben Norton speaks with Professor Jared Ball about information warfare, war propaganda, US imperialism, and CIA penetration and manipulation of mainstream corporate media. Follow Jared Ball's show IMIXWHATILIKE at imixwhatilike.org
Jan 07, 2021•47 min
In Caracas, Venezuela, Max Blumenthal has a wide-ranging chat with Danny Shaw, a professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies who has lived in the Dominican Republican, Haiti, and Brazil. They discuss revolutionary anti-imperialist movements, life in poor neighborhoods in the Bronx, Malcolm X's internationalist legacy, identity politics, differences of whiteness in Latin America, problems with the US left, and humanity's age-old question: did Jesus Christ do drugs? You can follow Danny Shaw...
Jan 01, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Max Blumenthal, reporting from Venezuela, discusses with Aaron Maté and Ben Norton how Western corporate media outlets are full of stenographers for spy agencies, how the CIA and MI6 drive reporting on Russia, how the US and UK governments fund regime-change website Bellingcat and its deceptive articles on Syria and the OPCW, and how the British military censors journalism. (Excerpt from The Grayzone livestream on December 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBfEWdh_0Ec )...
Dec 23, 2020•58 min
Max Blumenthal discusses life on the ground in Venezuela under suffocating US sanctions, and debunks media myths about the December National Assembly election, which he observed. Venezuelan journalist Diego Sequera also addresses the economic situation and what a Biden administration policy could look like. (This is an excerpt from The Grayzone livestream on December 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBfEWdh_0Ec ) Our previous interview with Diego Sequera: part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watc...
Dec 21, 2020•48 min
Ben Norton was invited to give this talk on US imperialism in Latin America, for the Workers' Party of Ireland. He discusses the history from European settler colonialism, through the Monroe Doctrine, the first cold war, and the three great socialist revolutions, to the 21st-century resurgence of the left in the Pink Tide. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=ycFW7pvu51k Topics 0:03 European settler colonialism in the Americas 9:30 US colonialism and Monroe Doctrine 18:51 Rebellions against US military oc...
Dec 12, 2020•1 hr 50 min
US government-backed corporate censorship is escalating online, while France's neoliberal President Emmanuel Macron lurches hard right, cracking down on civil liberties, protests, and the Muslim community. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada about attacks on alternative media and independent journalism by Western "democracies", and how Silicon Valley companies are censoring Palestinians. We then discuss the French government's discrimination against M...
Nov 30, 2020•1 hr 7 min
US president-elect Joe Biden has filled his transition team with hawkish neoliberal war-profiteering holdovers from the Barack Obama administration. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada about how the specter of Obama haunts America - and controls the Democratic Party. We review passages from Obama's new memoir "A Promised Land," and how they expose his sociopathic imperial worldview. We also discuss how Rahm Emanuel's neoliberal model in Chicago is bei...
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 1 min
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is full of war hawks and weapons industry shills. We speak with US Army veteran Danny Sjursen, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an anti-imperialist activist and journalist, about what a Biden-Harris administration foreign policy would look like. Sjursen, who previously taught at the United States Military Academy, also discusses how warmongering members of the West Point Mafia dominate the US government and military-industrial complex...
Nov 14, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Ben Norton speaks with Andrés González Berdecía, a senatorial candidate from the Puerto Rican Independence Party, about the November 3 election and referendum, US colonialism, the unelected neoliberal junta that controls Puerto Rico's economy, the similarities between Republican and Democratic administrations, and why he wants his nation to be independent. You can listen to Andrés' podcast Radio Independencia at https://www.radioindependencia.net, and support it at https://www.patreon.com/radioi...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton report from La Paz, Bolivia, where we observed the historic landslide victory of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party of former President Evo Morales. We speak with human rights lawyer Thomas Becker about the horrific crimes and repression of the coup regime that has ruled Bolivia since the military overthrew Evo in November 2019. We also discuss the deep colonial racism of the Bolivian right-wing, and indigenous resistance against authoritarianism and imperial...
Oct 28, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald about what a Joe Biden presidency would mean for US-Russia relations. We also remember late scholar Stephen F. Cohen, who spoke out against the new cold war. And we debunk the ridiculous "red-brown alliance" myth spread by pro-NATO trolls. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=x-qe8FnRkUM SECTIONS 0:00 Intro 3:35 Remembering pro-peace scholar Stephen F. Cohen 16:58 NATO trolls' absurd 'red-brown alliance' myth 31:00 What would a Joe Biden ...
Oct 01, 2020•56 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton start off with an exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording we were leaked of Russian President Vladimir Putin's phone calls. Then we speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald, who lives in Russia, about the very suspicious alleged poisoning of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny, and what his real, xenophobic politics are. We also discuss the NATO/EU attempt to orchestrate a so-called color revolution in Belarus and install a pro-Western neoliberal regime. VIDEO: yout...
Sep 23, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak about the dystopian show trial going on against political prisoner Julian Assange with journalist Kevin Gosztola, who is covering the UK court hearings to potentially extradite the WikiLeaks publisher to the US. We discuss the major threat this case poses to the freedom of the press -- yet how it is being criminally under-reported and whitewashed in the corporate media. LINKS: Read Kevin's reporting at shadowproof.com Follow Kevin on Twitter at twitter.com/kgo...
Sep 13, 2020•1 hr 29 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with the hosts of Redspin Sports, Nathanial Wallace and Michael Sampson, about the historic one-day NBA strike, capitalist oligarchs' exploitation of largely Black athletes, and what American sports look like with an anti-imperialist perspective. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=TmaAtHMLObg Redspin Sports on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCdjXZ5L7lkf8da6zFH4Dqgw Redspin Sports on Facebook: facebook.com/RedspinSports Redspin Sports on Twitter: twitter.com/RedspinSport...
Sep 02, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Aaron Maté; about the new cold war on China and Russia and the US government-backed campaign to silence anti-war voices. We discuss the growing censorship of independent outlets on social media and the defamatory corporate media smears of our factual reporting. Video: youtube.com/watch?v=s1k_GnT0sFI Part 2 of 2 (Episode recorded on August 19, 2020)
Aug 25, 2020•44 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Aaron Maté about the virtual Democratic National Convention (DNC), and how the Democratic Party welcomes neoconservative war criminals and right-wing Republicans while attacking the left. We also talk about Joe Biden choosing hawkish neoliberal "top cop" Kamala Harris as his VP candidate. Then Aaron picks apart the new Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russia, and explains why the Russiagate conspiracy still won't go away, even after it has been deb...
Aug 20, 2020•1 hr 19 min
With a massive uprising in the US against systemic racism and the authoritarian police state, the government and corporate foundations have mobilized a counterinsurgency strategy to try to contain the Black liberation movement and co-opt it into a liberal direction that the Democratic Party can digest. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Professor Jared Ball about the co-option of the George Floyd uprising. We also address how the corporate media weaponizes allegations of anti-Semitism agai...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 51 min
Rich corporate oligarchs are plotting to destabilize and overthrow Mexico's first left-wing president in 40 years, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). We speak with prominent Mexican Professor John Ackerman about AMLO's many accomplishments, and how the corporate media attacks his progressive Fourth Transformation movement nonstop. We also discuss AMLO's historic visit to the US and his meeting with Trump, and what exactly this means politically. LINKS and show notes: https://moderaterebels.com/...
Jul 10, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Max Blumenthal discusses joint US-Israeli police training and border militarization. Then Ben Norton and anti-war veteran Camilo Mejía talk about the hybrid war on Nicaragua's democratically elected socialist government and how US-backed right-wing opposition groups are using disinformation about coronavirus as a weapon against the Sandinistas. We conclude addressing the grave dangers of the upcoming economic crisis caused by Covid-19. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=dMLEkf8MGOw LINKS and show notes:...
Jul 05, 2020•40 min
The Minneapolis cop who murdered George Floyd, setting off a protest movement, Derek Chauvin, started his career as a military police officer at the notorious Fort Benning, a base named after a Confederate general that is home to the School of the Americas (now called WHINSEC), where the US Army has trained countless Latin American dictators, death squads, torturers, assassins, and coup-plotters. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with anti-war veteran Camilo Mejía, who was trained at Fort Benn...
Jun 29, 2020•50 min
Brazilian independent journalist Nathália Urban discusses the surge of fascist militias and Evangelical extremists in Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro is putting the military in power. We also address his refusal to do anything to stop the Covid-19 pandemic, and how Brazil has thus become the world's new epicenter. "Basically the military is in power in every ministry; they are overseeing everything in Brazil right now," Nathália says. Follow Nathália on Twitter: twitter.com/UrbanNathalia ...
May 27, 2020•1 hr 15 min
The Soviet Union played the leading role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, but the US government has tried to erase its unimaginable sacrifice. Historian Peter Kuznick discusses the real history of WWII, and how 80% of Nazis were killed on the Eastern Front with the USSR. We also address the new cold war on Russia and China, and the possibility for peace, then and now. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=ctp5a21Mtvs (Interview recorded on May 14, 2020)...
May 15, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Israeli journalist David Sheen tells the shocking story of how extremists suspected of murdering Palestinian American activist Alex Odeh in a terrorist attack in California in 1985 are living openly in Israel. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton also discuss the fascist Zionist movement Kahanism and its growing influence inside Netanyahu's government. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/tJdfGury5Sc Show notes: moderaterebels.com/israel-alex-odeh-murder-kahanism-david-sheen PART 2 OF 2 Part 1: " Netanyahu's corona...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 22 min
Israeli journalist David Sheen discusses how Netanyahu lost three elections and faced corruption charges but still managed to stay in power in his fifth term as prime minister. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton talk about King Bibi's coalition negotiations with rival Benny Gantz (who boasted of killing Palestinians), the decision to officially annex the occupied West Bank, apartheid in the time of Covid-19, and the growing racism and far-right extremism in Israel. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=COfIJOt3...
Apr 27, 2020•1 hr 14 min
Economist Michael Hudson explains how American imperialism has created a global free lunch, where the US makes foreign countries pay for its wars, and even their own military occupation. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the economics of Washington's empire, the role of the IMF and World Bank, attempts to create alternative financial systems like BRICS, and the new cold war on China and Russia. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=paUgY6SGlgY PART 2 OF 2 Part 1 here: moderaterebels.com/transcript-us-c...
Apr 23, 2020•47 min
Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Congress rammed through the CARES Act — which economist Michael Hudson explains is not a "bailout" but a massive, $6 trillion giveaway to Wall Street, banks, large corporations, and stockholders. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the systemic financial scam with Hudson, who shows how the economy actually works, with the Federal Reserve printing money so rich elites don't lose their investments. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=N-8m5fBbLgQ TRANSCRIPT: moderatere...
Apr 20, 2020•44 min
Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton continue discussing the end of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, and how the professional media left, largely based in Brooklyn, opportunistically capitalized on his movement to push a soft-imperialist branding of "democratic socialism" — and to advance their careers in the press. We also address media celebrity AOC, Jacobin Magazine, the DSA, and the scheme to divert angry politicized youth back into the thoroughly discredited, neoliberal Democratic Party. ...
Apr 13, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the US presidential race. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss what went wrong in his campaign, from being unwilling to take on the Democratic Party, treating right-wing war criminal Joe Biden like a friend, refusing to attack a cartoonishly hostile corporate media, recruiting milquetoast Washington, DC foreign-policy advisors, and attracting a slew of careerists and opportunists in "left media." PART 1 OF 2 (Recorded April 11, 2020)
Apr 12, 2020•55 min
As the deadly coronavirus pandemic rampages across the world, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with independent geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar about the new US cold war with China, potential origins of the Covid-19 virus, the collapse of the European Union, anti-China corporate media narratives, and Beijing's strategy to build a new silk road. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYf5h0wOV1Q (Episode recorded on March 26, 2020) You can read Pepe Escobar's column "China locked in hybrid w...
Mar 27, 2020•1 hr 38 min
