As the U.S. pours a seemingly endless amount of weapons into Ukraine to weaken Russia, Western officials and pundits are very casually setting us up for a potential nuclear war that would be catastrophic for humanity. Meanwhile European hardship continues to skyrocket as sanctions on Russia destroy its economy and cause gas shortages while European leaders and media demonstrate shocking levels of racism and hypocrisy. To help make sense of it all Rania Khalek is joined by Ali Abunimah, director ...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 18 min
How can we comprehend the victory of Giorgia Meloni, an admirer of Mussolini, in Italy's recent elections? Is she a fascist? Does this represent a surging far-right trend in Europe? How has the war in Ukraine impacted Italian politics? And where is the Italian left in all of this? To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was joined by Maurizio Coppola, a member of the international office of the Italian political party Power to the People!. Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches an...
Oct 19, 2022•57 min
Navid Zarrinnal, a Columbia Univ. PhD and Iranian scholar at Stanford University, joined Rania Khalek to help make sense of the unrest in Iran over the morality police or guidance patrol amid the death of Mahsa Amini and the way Western governments are using a legitimate grievance to promote instability in Iran. They also discuss the way the protests have been exaggerated by Western anti-Iran media, the role of hawkish exiles in promoting false narratives about a “revolution” and the actual conv...
Oct 14, 2022•1 hr 17 min
To discuss the history of the Arab Gulf states as Western imperial outposts and the damage they have done and continue to do to the left and progressive movements around the world, Rania Khalek was joined by As’ad Abukhalil, a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK...
Oct 12, 2022•1 hr 17 min
To understand what Brazil has gone through in recent years, the significance of the recent election results and what it could mean for the country and the world, Rania Khalek was joined by Michael Fox, a freelance journalist based in Latin America, former editor of NACLA and host of the new podcast Brazil on Fire. Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mfox_us Michael’s podcast Brazil on Fire: https://nacla.org/brazil-on-fire-podcast Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere y...
Oct 07, 2022•1 hr 12 min
With the Democratic Party hopelessly incapable of doing anything to address our many crises, the far-right has managed to brand itself as subversive using oligarch funding for anti-woke and pseudo-populist campaigns. The result is to send more and more lost and alienated people down the reactionary rabbit hole. How do we understand and navigate our way through this dystopian political scene? To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was joined by Matt Christman, co-host of the popular podcast Chapo ...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez sat down with BT’s Rania Khalek following the UN General Assembly to discuss why so many countries oppose the U.S. blockade, how U.S. official hostility towards Cuba hurts both countries and his own personal history volunteering in the liberation struggle of Angola against racist apartheid.
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min
The British Queen’s death has given rise to conversations about the crimes of colonialism as well as defenses and denials of it. Meanwhile the US can’t impose itself on the Global South the way it used to, it appears both at home and abroad to be an empire in decline. To discuss empires, both dead and dying, why colonialism still matters and the anti-imperialist struggle around the world, Rania Khalek was joined by Sina Rahmani, creator of East Is A Podcast. Sina on Twitter: https://twitter.com/...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min
To discuss the disinformation industry and how it's contributed to the collapse of foreign reporting in the West, Rania Khalek was joined by Ben Norton, a Latin America based journalist and founder of Multipolarista. Ben’s article discussed in the episode: https://multipolarista.com/2022/04/14/new-york-times-attack-propaganda/ Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Are Russia & China imperialist like the US? Will the decline of the west lead to more fascism in the global north? What is sovereignty? Is every country entitled to it? Where do sanctions fit in? What does it mean that the Global South is refusing to get on board with them? And what are the alternatives to the current so-called rules-based international order? To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was joined by Bikrum Gill, who teaches at the department of political science at Virginia Tech....
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 28 min
What does the US Cold War with China and Russia mean for Africa? Can China’s rise benefit the continent, providing it leverage and another partner to rely on? Or is the State Department correct that China is engaging in neocolonialism and that African countries should be cautious and prioritize their relationship with the US? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Kambale Musavuli, an activist, writer, and analyst with the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa. Kambale’s organi...
Sep 03, 2022•1 hr 8 min
To discuss the censored reality of the war in Ukraine and its horrific consequences, Rania Khalek was joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany, who is currently associate professor of history at Koc University in Istanbul, working on Russian, Ukrainian, and generally East European history. Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 30 min
The misnamed “Arab Spring” unleashed restrained aspirations of the region and like all uprisings saw an eruption of expression in songs, music, lyrics, spreading, much like these intifadas, through social media, massive crowds, and sharing ideas and trends across borders. But just as the initial optimism of the protests was crushed by the harsh reality of reactionary governments, western interventions, oligarchs and capitalism, so too was the new music of Arab youth co-opted, suppressed, corrupt...
Aug 30, 2022•1 hr 11 min
The US left is often smeared and mocked, accused of being weak, ineffective, unserious, fractured, obsessed with identity issues and prone to destructive infighting. While capitalist media has a stake in portraying the left in this way, the organized US left is rebuilding and growing stronger. Still, it is weaker today than it was many decades ago and that’s no accident. To discuss the history of repression against the US left and how it relates to the challenges we face today, Rania Khalek was ...
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 34 min
The occupation of Palestine continues with no end in sight, and this remains the primary political struggle in the region as America’s client states normalize with Israel. But now there’s a new backdrop: the war in Ukraine exposing Western double standards alongside the US-China New Cold War. Fundamental to US geostrategic aims in the region is taming the “axis of resistance” stretching from Iraq to Iran to Syria to Lebanon and Palestine. This played out in yet another Israeli bombing campaign a...
Aug 20, 2022•1 hr 20 min
NATO expansion might have provoked the war in Ukraine, but surrounding Russia isn’t the organization’s only pursuit. NATO participated in the US “war on terror” in Afghanistan, NATO destroyed Libya and today NATO is expanding into Africa. To help break it all down, Rania Khalek was joined by Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and author of many books, including “Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations." Vijay’s ...
Aug 12, 2022•58 min
How is it that judges arbitrarily chosen by presidents who didn't even win the popular vote are appointed for life and can overturn our most cherished rights? What’s with the veneration of the US constitution, which was written by slave owners? Is America really a democracy? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Aziz Rana, a professor of law at Cornell University and author of the book “The Two Faces of American Freedom.” Follow Aziz’s work here: https://www.azizrana.com/ You...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 26 min
A few months ago Democrats bragged that Americans were so supportive of President Biden's "unprecedented" Russia sanctions turning the ruble into rubble, that they couldn't wait to pay higher gas prices. But now that prices are higher with no end in sight, Americans are irate with high costs eating into their earnings, and Democrats and Republicans are pretending the sanctions they enacted have nothing to do with it. Meanwhile mainstream economists are warning of a possible r...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 16 min
In his recent Harper's cover piece, “Empire Burlesque,” Daniel Bessner traced the evolution of the foreign policy vision that defined the so-called American century and how it has been reshaped by failures and a changing world order, including a new multipolarity and the rise of China. He draws a distinction between the liberal internationalists and the “restrainers,” the two dominant foreign policy camps in Washington, and he calls for planning a future beyond the American century. But can...
Jul 15, 2022•56 min
From his perch at the Chapo Trap House podcast, Felix Biederman has been an acerbic observer and commentator. He joined Dispatches with Rania Khalek for a wide-ranging discussion about America’s cultural and political decline. Listen to every episode of Dispatches with Rania Khalek anywhere you get podcasts. Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK TIME CODES: 0:00 Intro 1:18 Why does America have so many mass shootings? 6:44 America’s loneliness crisis 12:38 Cowboy fore...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 13 min
On its face, nothing seems more benign and positive than “wildlife conservation.” But the Wildlife Conservation Society and the German and US governments have now been implicated in supporting organized violence against Congolese villagers, using mortars, RPGs, indisciminate fire, murder and rape. This is the finding of award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Robert Flummerfelt. Flummerfelt and his team uncovered a three-year campaign of violence by park authorities to e...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 32 min
To understand why the European Union exists and how it is changing due to the financial crisis and the war in Ukraine, Rania Khalek was joined by Costas Lapavitsas, a professor of economics at SOAS, author of “The Left Case Against the EU” and a former Syriza MP. He also has a forthcoming book out in 2023 called “The State of Capitalism” published by Verso Books. Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW Spotify: https://spoti.f...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Rania Khalek was joined by Arnaud Bertrand, a commentator on economics and geopolitics based in Shanghai, to discuss the sanctions blowback on the West, the narrative management surrounding it, and growing tensions between the US and China. Arnaud on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand TIME CODES: 0:00 Intro 1:32 Is the West isolating itself? 6:09 Russia & China can survive US sanctions 11:51 US-led West weaker today than in 1st cold war 14:59 How Arnaud ended up in China 17:56 Who’s ...
Jun 19, 2022•1 hr 6 min
What’s cryptocurrency really? What are NFTs? Is it as revolutionary as its advocates claim or is it a libertarian fake money Ponzi scheme? Is this digital funny money really the future, and if so why is it tanking? To help break it all down, Rania Khalek was joined by Tom Redshaw, a sociologist and lecturer in digital society at the University of Salford. Tom’s articles on cryptocurrency mentioned in the episode: https://mronline.org/2021/12/28/cryptocurrencies-a-view-from-the-left/ https://mron...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Europe has ceded its core decisions to the US warmongers flooding Ukraine with arms, expediting the global economy’s collapse and extending the war against their own interests. But Ukraine isn’t the only major event stressing the global order: the US flexing against China, global inflation, a possible victory for the left in Colombia, massive protests in Sri Lanka, and even the senseless school shootings in the US reverberate across the world. To help make sense of it all, Vijay Prashad, Executi...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Iran nuclear deal negotiations appear frozen and the Biden administration is busy pouring fuel onto the Ukrainian fire and trying to encircle China. To help us understand why attempts to salvage an agreement with Iran have not succeeded, Rania Khalek was joined by Mohammad Marandi, professor of English literature and orientalism at the University of Tehran. Prof. Marandi also speaks about recent events in the region. TIME CODES 0:00 Intro 1:56 Why is there no agreement yet? Who’s at fault? 11:55...
May 27, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Lebanon’s May 15 elections results were confusing, with contradictory claims of victory and defeat. Much of the mainstream media coverage further obfuscated the results, with journalists celebrating the few self-described independents and reformists as a sign that some kind of change might be coming, while also appearing to cheer the apparent defeat of Hezbollah and its allies. Except they weren’t defeated, and the independents are actually quite dependent, and the reforms they propose are likel...
May 25, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Africa’s Sahel region encompasses Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad and has been an arena of French colonialism, liberation struggles, ongoing imperialist interventions, the war on terror, and coups d’etat. To discuss this and more Rania Khalek, was joined by Hannah Rae Armstrong, a long-time researcher with years of experience living and working in Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and then covering the Sahel for the International Crisis Group from her base in Senegal. Hannah’s latest a...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Libya seems to be trapped in endless conflict between rival militias and outside powers, with migrants trapped in neo-slavery and others drowning in the Mediteranean trying to flee to the European. Prior to the 2011 Arab uprisings and subsequent NATO regime change operation that destroyed the country, most outsiders knew little of Libya except for its caricature as a bizarre authoritarian country led by the idiosyncratic Gaddafi. But history did not start in 2011. To understand the Libya of toda...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 18 min
The Palestinian rap group DAM put Palestinian rap on the map and inspired Arab rap in general with songs like Meen Irhabi (Who’s the terrorist?). DAM did not only address Arabs, however. As Palestinian citizens of Israel, they also had Hebrew lyrics, directly challenging their oppressor. Tamer Nafar, one of the group’s founding members, has since launched a solo career which includes writing and starring in a semi autobiographical film, Junction 48 as well as newly released music. He joined Rani...
May 16, 2022•58 min
