Where does Israel’s genocide in Gaza fit in to our late stage global imperialist order? What does it mean about the role of Zionism in the Middle East? How do the U.S. wars on other Middle Eastern countries factor in? How has China managed to escape this and the neoliberal rot that has consumed so much of the world? And how come some Western Marxists get it so wrong? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Ali Kadri, author of many books including “Arab Development Denied: Dynamics ...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Does Israel really have the “right to defend itself” against people it occupies? What about Palestinians, don’t they have a right to defend themselves from their occupiers? How serious is South Africa’s case charging Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice? Is there even any meaning to international law anymore? Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, joined Rania Khalek Dispatches to discuss this and more....
Jan 12, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Israel continues its genocide on Gaza, it is ramping up its attacks in Lebanon and Syria while the US strikes Iraq and Yemen, bringing the Middle East closer to the brink of regional war. To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek is joined by veteran war correspondent and analyst Elijah Magnier for a special live episode of Dispatches.
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast By targeting hospitals and doctors while cutting off water, food and electricity and concentrating Palestinians into smaller and smaller zones of death in Gaza, the Israelis are creating a public health crisis that will kill even more Palestinians with infectious diseases. To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Lebanese medical doctor and public health researcher Anis Germany.
Dec 22, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast What does the genocide in Gaza mean for the surrounding Arab states? Do their oppositional responses even matter or is it all just symbolic? How will this impact the Abraham Accords and other normalization efforts? Why won’t the Gulf states use their oil as leverage to pressure the United States? How does the genocide in Gaza impact countries like Jordan and Syria? How is it affecting America’s standing in the world? What does it mean for Russia and China in an emerging multipolar world? To disc...
Dec 22, 2023•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel has been stealing Palestine for more than 100 years. What are the roots of the genocide in Gaza? How did Zionism form? What has Palestinian resistance to the Zionist project looked like throughout history and how has it impacted Palestinian resistance today? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek is joined by Professor As’ad Abukhalil for a special live episode of Dispatches.
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the entire episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-never-94662711 There appear to be no “red lines” for what Israel can do as U.S. officials twist themselves in knots to justify genocide in Gaza with racist and dehumanizing tropes. To help us understand the view from West Asia about the genocide in Gaza and the racist behavior of the so-called “civilized” West, Rania Khalek was joined by influential Lebanese journalist Ghadi Francis. This is just part of this episo...
Dec 14, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two months into the genocide in Gaza, Israel’s propaganda has never been more transparent and sloppy. To discuss this and critical historical context, Rania Khalek is joined by Mouin Rabbani, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies.
Dec 05, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is the “resistance axis” and why does it matter in Israel’s genocide on Gaza? What is it like on the ground in Lebanon’s south where Hezbollah has been fiercely confronting the Israeli army in support of Gaza? What are the red lines for Iran and for Hezbollah? Does Yemen pose a threat and are they all coordinating or acting independently? And what would a regional war look like for the Americans and Israelis? To answer these questions and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Al Jazeera English ...
Dec 04, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel’s war on Palestine isn’t limited to Gaza. It’s global. In the US it takes the form of censorship, bullying, intimidation, doxxing, accusations of antisemitism, attacking people’s livelihoods, and increasingly lobbying for the state to prosecute anyone who dares to stand up for the rights of Palestinians. But even in the face of all this, solidarity is growing across the US and around the globe. To discuss this and more Nora Barrows-Friedman, staff writer and associate editor at The Electr...
Nov 27, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Israelis and their US sponsors have created a world where it’s normal to fire on hospitals, journalists and UN workers while killing 5,500 children in 45 days. Rania Khalek will be joined by Prof. As’ad Abukhalil for a special live episode of Dispatches to discuss the genocide in Gaza, western double standards and racism towards Palestinians, Israel’s bad propaganda, and growing resistance from the Middle East to the streets of the US.
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-in-93064780 This is a mask off moment for the imperialist West. All of the sociopathic narcissism that underpins the dystopian global order they created is on display for everyone to see. They have made a mockery of international humanitarian law and killed any pretense of the freedom and democracy they claim to represent. Meanwhile they turn inward to repress their own populations from protesting against Israel’s ...
Nov 17, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-un-in-92827009 Craig Mokhiber worked at the UN for three decades and recently resigned from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights over its failure to address what he called a “textbook case of genocide in Gaza.” He joined Rania Khalek to discuss what prompted him to leave when he did, the current Israeli assault on Gaza, the genocide label, challenges inside the UN on the issue of Palestine, and more...
Nov 13, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-gaza-92659388 To discuss the implications of Israel’s onslaught on global politics in an increasingly multipolar world, how the rift between the imperialist countries and the rest of the world has never been more stark, the US’s frightening reaction to the decline of American hegemony and what it means for Gaza and the rest of us, Rania Khalek was joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany who is currently ...
Nov 10, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ukraine-to-gaza-92464031 So what’s new with the war in Ukraine? Is anyone winning? How will it impact the future of Europe and NATO? What are the similarities to the war on Gaza? How will escalation in the Middle East impact Ukraine? And how is the war on Gaza exposing all the hypocrisy of the EU in particular? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by prolific writer and author Wolfgang Streeck, Emeritus Director at...
Nov 07, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the extended version of this interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/audio-genocidal-91798227 Israel’s genocide in Gaza has shocked the conscience of the entire world, with an endless flow of videos and images of Palestinian children cut into pieces by American bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes deliberately intended to destroy a civilian population. Despite the explicitly genocidal rhetoric of Israeli officials, Western leaders continue to proclaim their support for Israel...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast With the death toll climbing by the hour in Gaza, including over 1000 children, the whole world is wondering if there will be a ceasefire or if a larger war is likely. Rania Khalek asked Osama Hamdan, a senior representative of Hamas located in Lebanon, about what happens next. Watch the full interview for free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/hamas-rep-will-91415177
Oct 21, 2023•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Israel’s war on Gaza heats up with the potential to escalate into a regional fight, Rania Khalek hosts a special live episode of Dispatches w/ Ali Abunimah, executive director of the @TheElectronicIntifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Link to Ali Abunimah's article discussed in the interview: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-forces-shot-their-own-civilians-kibbutz-survivor-says/38861...
Oct 19, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-not-w-90192326 The West African countries of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali are in rebellion against their former colonial masters, while the imperialists of the Global North try desperately to contain the situation. But the portrayal of these developments as mere “coups” hides the depth of popular anger, particularly against the French? What almost no one else is telling is the story of popular movements and organiza...
Oct 02, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-china-89625885 Four of the six new BRICS countries - Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE - are in the Middle East. What does this mean for the region, for multipolarity, for the Cold War between the US and China and for the future of the Saudi-Iran rivalry? How does a country like Saudi Arabia, which has such a long record in service of the West, fit in? How might it impact Israel? How will Washington react now ...
Sep 21, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-can-w-88623146 How much of a challenge to Western hegemony does the expansion of BRICS actually pose? How much of this has been brought on by the West’s own hubris? What should we make of the ideological differences among the BRICS countries? Could India and Saudi Arabia act as spoilers? Or are we witnessing the symptomatic decline of American hegemony, with US allies turning toward Washington’s rivals? What do...
Sep 01, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-how-88285425 We’re told that countries across the Global South are poor and plagued by violence not because of colonialism, imperialism, never ending Western wars, resource theft and destabilization campaigns. Rather, it’s because they’re ruled by corrupt and greedy people who seem to be innately authoritarian and backwards due to some sort of cultural deficiency that prevents respect for human rights and causes stat...
Aug 26, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-party-88241590 The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) is the second largest party in Russia, yet their views are often ignored in Western media. How do they view the war in Ukraine, the nature of the Russian state under Putin, and the character of the Ukrainian state under Zelensky? What’s their position on Russia’s foreign policy more generally? How about domestic policy? Where do they stand on the r...
Aug 20, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-of-of-87855875 To discuss the brutal history of NATO intervention in the Third World and CIA infiltration of education in targeted countries, Rania Khalek was joined by Essam Elkorghli, a Libyan PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he researches the impact of contemporary imperialism on education with a particular focus on Libya. This is just the first half of this episode. The second hal...
Aug 18, 2023•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Border policy in the Global North has been crafted to intentionally cause people to die of thirst in the Arizona desert and drown in the Mediterranean sea as a form of deterrence. But why are people picking up and leaving their countries in the first place? Why are they being subjected to so much cruelty on their journey no matter who’s in charge in Europe or the U.S.? Where does the Israeli occupation of Palestine fit in? How about climate change? And how is this feeding in to the rise of the f...
Aug 12, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Breakthrough News journalist Eugene Puryear joins Rania Khalek for a special live episode of Dispatches on Tuesday August 8 at 12pm ET to discuss the latest developments in Niger following threats of military intervention by Western governments and their regional allies meant to reverse an explosion of anti-colonial sentiment across Africa’s Sahel.
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-east-87132481 East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), is remembered in the West as the antithesis to freedom and democracy. But the history and reality of the GDR was far more complex. Not only was the GDR a socialist state built on antifascist principles following the Second World War. It also practiced solidarity with other socialist states, countries and liberation movements fighting for independe...
Aug 03, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-is-us-86956303 Western sanctions on Russia, previously Europe’s biggest natural gas supplier, has lowered European living standards in the sweltering heat while exacerbating fuel and food shortages around the world. And that’s not all — military spending has increased while social budgets have been cut. To discuss this downplayed aspect of the war in Ukraine and its horrific consequences, Rania Khalek is again jo...
Jul 31, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-and-w-86459089 The Red Scare is back. This new era of McCarthyism depends on loose and selective interpretation and enforcement of existing legal measures with some racial profiling and guilt-by-association mixed in. People are being accused of being foreign agents based on their political views. Chinese nationals have been chased out of academia. And wild and easily disproved stories about China, often sourced t...
Jul 21, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-anti-86303559 For decades anti-Palestinian fanatics have harassed and attacked professors and students who dare to speak out against Israeli apartheid, going after their reputations and livelihoods with media smears and legal assaults. Why is it so important to document and understand such attacks on academic freedom? How does it fit into the context of Zionism and imperialism? What is the role of imperial feminism...
Jul 18, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
