Geopolitical Economy Report (Ben Norton)

For years corporate media outlets accused Cuba, China, Russia, and other US adversaries of attacking spies and diplomats with hi-tech "pulsed microwave weapons" or "directed-energy weapons." But now the CIA has admitted that "Havana Syndrome" is not caused by attacks by a foreign hostile power, but rather stress or natural causes. Benjamin Norton interviews Doctor Robert Bartholomew, a medical sociologist and leading expert on mass hysteria and social panics, explains how he predicted this in his 2020 book "Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LnpaqWVi76U Robert Bartholomew's website: https://rebartholomew.com Read my article "CIA's 'Havana Syndrome' conspiracy implodes: Here are media's worst fake news stories": https://benjaminnorton.substack.com/p/cias-havana-syndrome-conspiracy-implodes

Moderate Rebels has ended as of January 2022, but this show will be continuing under the new name Multipolarista, hosted by Benjamin Norton. The show will report once or twice a week on the end of US unipolar hegemony and the transition to a multipolar world. Follow Multipolarista's website: https://multipolarista.com

Journalist Rania Khalek discusses her reporting trip to Cuba, where she got a firsthand look at its socialist health system, under the brutal US blockade. PART 1 OF 2 VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4Q9zIB2xA Follow Rania's reporting at BreakThrough News: https://breakthroughnews.org And follow Rania at https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek

Journalist Rania Khalek talks about her reporting trip to Ethiopia, where armed group the TPLF is waging war on the central government, apparently with Western support, and Eritrea, one of the world's most sanctioned countries. We discuss the geopolitical importance of the Horn of Africa, and how the area has been affected by the US new cold war on China. PART 2 OF 2 VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4Q9zIB2xA Follow Rania's reporting at BreakThrough News: breakthroughnews.org And follow Rania at twitter.com/RaniaKhalek

Mainstream human rights organization Amnesty International has come out publicly and said that "Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians," and that Israel's "cruel system of domination" amounts to a "crime against humanity." We discuss this report with Ali Abunimah, journalist and editor of the Electronic Intifada. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-wfk4QVPwP8 Follow Ali on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah Electronic Intifada website: https://electronicintifada.net

After meeting in Beijing, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin released a lengthy joint statement clarifying the ideological divisions of the new cold war: Eurasian calls for multipolarity, cooperation, sovereignty, and “redistribution of power in the world” against US unipolar hegemony and interventionism. Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/07/china-russia-multipolar-historic-meeting VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=c0JaOHa0qOM

With a diplomatic boycott by Western governments, corporate media propaganda has demonized China over the 2022 Winter Olympics. Britain's Financial Times openly declared, "Beijing Winter Olympics: the new front line in the US-China cold war." Actual China expert Carl Zha joins Multipolarista to pick apart the propaganda and explain what's really happening. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tysrspp7KOU Follow Carl on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CarlZha You can support Carl's Silk and Steel Podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/silknsteel

Puerto Rican public workers are protesting the neoliberal policies imposed by US colonialism and Washington's unelected Financial Oversight and Management Board. I speak with Ángel Rodríguez Rivera, president of the Puerto Rican Association of University Professors, about how teachers are rising up, after the minimum wage hasn't increased in 13 years. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hCKxWXuEYUc

Benjamin Norton discusses how the United States has turned Latin America and the Caribbean into a key battlefield in its new cold war on China and Russia, invoking the 200-year-old colonialist Monroe Doctrine to justify aggressive interventionist policies. This talk was part of the March 19 event "21st Century Socialism: China and Latin America on the Frontline," organized by Friends of Socialist China VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cr32TzD9Tk0

Benjamin Norton is joined by Pakistani scholar Junaid S. Ahmad to discuss how Pakistan's elected Prime Minister Imran Khan was overthrown in a US-backed coup aimed at reversing his independent foreign policy – like his close alliance with China, improved relations with Russia and Iran, and staunch support for Palestine. PART 1 OF 2 (This was first published on April 12, 2022.) VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XGh-aO2Xuic

Benjamin Norton continues his discussion with Pakistani scholar Junaid S. Ahmad about Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, his history, and how he challenged the two-party system that dominated the country for decades until being overthrown in a US-backed soft coup this April. Part 2 of 2 (This was originally published on April 14, 2022.) VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=prtjx1_hMAM

Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton is joined by journalist Abraham Marquez to discuss how the Joe Biden administration has continued many of Donald Trump’s brutal anti-immigrant policies, giving $284.7 million more to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and expanding detention centers, while turning away refugees of US wars and weaponizing displaced Ukrainians. (This was originally published on April 23, 2022.) VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zSQ4gEb_fiY

Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton is joined by Mexican professor and activist Renata Turrent to discuss how the progressive government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) nationalized Mexico's lithium, an important resource needed to create electronic technologies, while also reversing privatization of oil by corrupt past neoliberal governments. (This was originally published on April 29, 2022.) VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-xmfX3fb7SQ

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton is joined by journalist Asa Winstanley to discuss Operation Gladio, the NATO "stay behind" networks in which the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies recruited, armed, and trained former Nazis, other fascists, and right-wing terrorists to wage a war on the left. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UPhFCAI4SnQ Read and support Asa's reporting at his Substack: https://asawinstanley.substack.com

Benjamin Norton discusses the historic announcement by Brazil’s left-wing leader Lula da Silva that, if he wins the October 2022 presidential elections, “we are going to create a currency in Latin America,” called the Sur (“South”), to combat “the dependency on the dollar.” Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/05/04/brazil-lula-latin-america-currency-us-dollar VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bRTr8o8EYiE

Economist Michael Hudson discusses the decline of the US dollar, the sanctions war on Russia, his concept of "free-trade imperialism," and financial parasitism. We talk about these concepts explored in his new book "The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qlUSqQ8U8T8

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton and journalist Robbie Martin discuss how neoconservative US imperialists like Fox News host Tucker Carlson (a CIA applicant) and Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cynically tried to rebrand as "right-wing populists," while pushing war on China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Palestine. These bogus "populists" portrayed Donald Trump as an "anti-war" president, while he killed top Iranian and Iraqi officials, imposed suffocating sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, waged a hybrid war on China, bombed the hell out of Afghanistan, expanded the war on Yemen, strongly supported apartheid Israel and Saudi Arabia, militarily occupied Syria and Iraq to take their oil, and tore up arms control agreements with Russia. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_QHoW8Vf8wg Follow Robbie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FluorescentGrey

What is "socialism with Chinese characteristics," and how does it differ from Western neoliberal capitalism? Economist John Ross, who has taught in China and written books about its economy, explains. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2wJwhkRz4Lk Follow John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnRoss43

While claiming to fight a "war on drugs," US intelligence agencies have used drug trafficking to fund their dirty covert operations. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents were caught taking massive bribes to give sensitive information to Colombian cartels. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6XCDGCgvPYo

Colombia's presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of the left-wing Pacto Histórico coalition won round one of the May 29 elections in a landslide. He will compete against a far-right hundred-millionaire real estate mogul, Rodolfo Hernández, in a runoff vote on June 19. Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton speaks with members of the anti-imperialist Troika Kollective in Colombia to discuss the election and the political situation in the country. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SfIJ9uf40sU Troika Kollective website: https://troikakollective.com Support our work on Patreon at https://patreon.com/multipolarista

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton interviewed US Congress candidate Geoff Young, who is running in Kentucky's 6th district on an anti-war platform calling for abolishing the CIA. We discussed Young's 12-point program, which also seeks to "End the failed 'War on Drugs,'" prevent nuclear war, establish a Medicare-for-All system of universal healthcare, dismantle the US military's Africa Command (AFRICOM), increase taxes on billionaires and millionaires, and "Get Big Money out of politics." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=JyKdEizCOII Young's website: https://young4ky.com

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton interviews the secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA), Sacha Llorenti, about Latin America and the Caribbean's rebellion against the US government's Summit of the Americas. Presidents of eight countries in the region boycotted the conference. We discuss ALBA's alternative summit in Cuba, and growing efforts at economic integration against imperialism. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TQu4UcEKCwU TRANSCRIPT: https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/08/alba-summit-americas-sacha-llorenti

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton is joined by Beijing-based journalist Ian Goodrum to discuss the Chinese government's campaign against inequality, its crackdown on billionaires, and its push for what it calls "common prosperity." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=TiJ2-Uw_0tA Follow Ian on Twitter at https://twitter.com/isgoodrum

Benjamin Norton discusses the historic victory of left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro in Colombia's June 19 presidential election, who he and his running mate Francia Márquez are, and what it means for the country, Latin America, and the world. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RORUdBlmmss Written analysis: https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/19/colombia-gustavo-petro-election

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton speaks with Venezuelan journalist Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza, editor of independent news outlet the Orinoco Tribune, about the victory of left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro in Colombia's presidential election, the easing of a few US sanctions, and Venezuela's 20-year cooperation agreement with Iran. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wpouWfsvLYI Read the Orinoco Tribune at https://orinocotribune.com

The chief of the UK Army, Patrick Sanders, told his troops to prepare for World War III with Russia. Benjamin Norton discusses how Western imperialists are threatening nuclear apocalypse to try to save their declining empires. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MKO1v65OSt0

France and Germany pressured African Union leaders for months to join a brief Zoom call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. 51 of 55 African heads of state (93%) boycotted the meeting, showing clear neutrality over the Western proxy war with Russia. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v-EzrUzaZ6M Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/22/africa-zelensky-call-neutrality-ukraine

Multipolarista host Ben Norton speaks with historian Aaron Good about his book "American Exception: Empire and the Deep State," detailing the breakdown of democracy, the criminality that lies at the heart of US government policy, and the corporate interests driving it. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mY82b8hC7JQ This is the first part in a joint series between Multipolarista and Aaron's podcast American Exception. You can get the book here: https://skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510769137/american-exception Follow Aaron on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Aaron_Good_

The CIA and special operations forces from Britain, France, and Canada are physically in Ukraine, helping direct the proxy war on Russia, overseeing weapons, training, and intelligence. Some Ukrainian fighters have US flag patches. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R3szI4GRmqU Read more here https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/26/cia-special-ops-ukraine-proxy-war-russia

The US organized a meeting with top military officials from apartheid Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain to conspire against Iran, as Jordan’s king calls for a “Middle East NATO.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=siPtgYa-Efo Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/27/israel-saudi-arabia-qatar-uae-iran

Economist Michael Hudson explains the inflation crisis and the US Federal Reserve's "austerity program to reduce wages." So-called experts are openly calling to boost unemployment. A depression is coming, in which the poor will suffer so the rich can get richer. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-AJwMvCxwm0 Read Prof. Hudson's article "The Fed’s Austerity Program to Reduce Wages": https://michael-hudson.com/2022/06/the-feds-austerity-program-to-reduce-wages

The US government’s Helsinki Commission held a Congressional briefing plotting ways to break up Russia as a country, in the name of supposed “decolonization.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LfWYtRMbMnk Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/23/us-government-decolonize-russia

Neoconservative ex CIA Director and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted NATO seeks to prevent a “Russian-Chinese axis” and “pan-Eurasian colossus.” Benjamin Norton analyzes a speech in which Pompeo outlines Washington’s imperial strategy in the new cold war, to maintain “economic hegemony” and control over fossil fuels and other resources. Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/30/nato-eurasia-us-hegemony-mike-pompeo

CNBC pundit Jim Cramer called for “cyber terrorism” against Russia and a “blank check” for US weapons corporations – including the same companies he encourages his viewers to invest in. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VYthL0qmoi8 Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/05/cnbc-jim-cramer-cyber-terrorism-russia

While condemning China and Russia as “threats” to “democracy,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss refused to admit that Saudi Arabia is authoritarian, declined to condemn the monarchy’s execution of 81 people in one day, and would not acknowledge a single human rights abuse. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZX3ZEt4SahM Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/06/liz-truss-uk-saudi-arabia-authoritarian

Japan's longest serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe tried to rewrite the genocidal history of the fascist Japanese empire. And he and his Nazi-collaborating grandfather enjoyed staunch Western support. After World War II, the US government pardoned and recruited many of the fascists who had led imperial Japan, like Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, putting in power war criminals who had committed genocide in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia, carrying out biological warfare, human experimentation, and mass sexual slavery. Benjamin Norton discusses how Japan's political system still today is a one-party right-wing regime run by descendants of these fascist war criminals. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5WWJ3EOmPkY SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/09/fascism-japan-shinzo-abe-empire

Sri Lanka owes 81% of its external debt to US and European financial institutions and Western allies Japan and India. China owns just 10%. But Washington blames imaginary “Chinese debt traps” for the nation’s crisis, as it considers a 17th IMF structural adjustment program. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=U52tT5hgtSk SOURCES here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/11/debt-trap-sri-lanka-west-china

Donald Trump's neoconservative US National Security Advisor John Bolton admitted he “helped plan coups d’etat” in Venezuela and “other places,” in a CNN interview. Benjamin Norton analyzes Bolton's book "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," which details the US hybrid war on Venezuela. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tzoJ_UVBV7w Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/12/trump-john-bolton-coups-venezuela

US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia not only to discuss oil but also to pressure Riyadh to cut ties with China and Russia. This comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) killed key CIA ally Jamal Khashoggi and purged rivals in the royal family who were most loyal to Washington. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yf1raQ4FBt8 SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/17/biden-saudi-china-russia-cia-mbs

Part one of the Empire and the Deep State series that Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good, of the American Exception podcast. We discuss the origins of the US empire and deep state, why US foreign policy remain unchanged across administrations, and why democracy has declined with the rise of the US global dominance. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i1FlXcwhsp4 American Exception website: https://americanexception.com For early access, subscribe to Multipolarista at Patreon: https://patreon.com/multipolarista For early access, subscribe to American Exception at Patreon: https://patreon.com/americanexception

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran, signed a $40 billion energy cooperation agreement, and pledged to strengthen their economic and military alliance with China. Moscow and Tehran also called to drop the US dollar and use local currencies for trade. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=n60R8NooXa0 SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/23/iran-russia-dollar-china-alliance

After the corporate media spent years spreading the fake "Havana Syndrome" conspiracy theory, CIA Director William Burns admitted there is no evidence that a foreign country like Russia, China, or Cuba has attacked US spies and diplomats with "sonic attacks" or "directed energy weapons." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R_BI7eiNdjE Credit to Kawsachun News: https://kawsachunnews.com/cia-director-admits-theres-no-havana-syndrome Our report "CIA’s ‘Havana Syndrome’ conspiracy implodes: Here are media’s worst fake news stories": https://multipolarista.com/2022/01/23/cia-havana-syndrome-conspiracy-media

The 1997 Hollywood film "Wag the Dog" perfectly predicted the propaganda tactics the US government and media would use decades later in its wars in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and beyond. In this special joint episode, Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton is joined by Sina Rahmani of The East Is a Podcast to discuss the movie and how shockingly relevant it still is today. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BIZFAOtD5rM Support The East Is a Podcast at https://patreon.com/east_podcast Follow Sina at https://twitter.com/urorientalist

Western governments and corporations met in Switzerland to plan harsh neoliberal economic policies to impose on post-war Ukraine, calling to cut labor laws, “open markets,” drop tariffs, deregulate industries, and “sell state-owned enterprises to private investors.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rbxudlFTN1E Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/28/west-neoliberal-recovery-conference

Part two of the Empire and the Deep State series that Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good, of the American Exception podcast. We discuss deep politics and the history of the US empire up until World War Two. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vJmEwRRsjbo American Exception website: https://americanexception.com

The US government has been preparing for war with China over Taiwan. The extremely provocative trip by top official Nancy Pelosi was only the latest development in years of US escalation. The Pentagon has made plans for war with China, top CIA officials openly call for fighting Beijing, and US troops are on the ground in Taipei. Washington has sold Taiwan tens of billions of dollars worth of military equipment, and influential DC think tanks are even calling to send it nuclear weapons. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hUjHZ5z8W90 SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/02/us-war-china-taiwan-nuclear

Analyzing the geopolitical crisis, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said the US war on China and Russia is an attack on the new world of “multipolarism,” because “North American imperialism is trying to maintain its hegemony at all costs, even at the risk of sinking its own economy.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lkPyT8fDymk Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/05/us-war-china-russia-multipolar-world-nicaragua-ortega

Silicon Valley Big Tech corporations, which are all US government contractors, censor Russian media while allowing Australian state outlets to spread anti-China propaganda without even a label. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YHUctJi2EWw Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/10/big-tech-state-media/

Under Ukrainian government pressure, CBS News censored its own documentary “Arming Ukraine,” which showed that just around 30% of the weapons Western governments have sent actually go to the frontlines, with widespread corruption and black markets. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4MQNjmbDadg Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/10/cbs-censors-report-ukraine-weapons-corruption

The US military spends more than the next 9 biggest countries combined. The expected 2023 Pentagon budget is $840 billion. Donald Trump and Joe Biden have spent $220 billion more than even cold warrior Ronald Reagan. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=h0BZso9Yb30 Research by Stephen Semler at https://stephensemler.substack.com

After dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, top US government officials lied to the media and Congress, claiming there was "no radioactive residue" in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that Japanese reports of deaths due to radiation were "propaganda," that civilians did not face "undue suffering," and that it was "a very pleasant way to die." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Cu4KnCPjwys Report on US-backed fascism in Japan and Shinzo Abe: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/09/fascism-japan-shinzo-abe-empire

Biden's top Latin America advisor Juan González threateningly said of Colombia's new left-wing president: "40 years ago, the United States would have done everything possible to prevent the election of Gustavo Petro, and once in power it would have done almost everything possible to sabotage his government." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pVQy88AzQ5A Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/17/biden-colombia-petro-coup

Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton responds to smears from a neoconservative think tank funded by Western governments and corporations, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which attacked him over his factual journalism reporting on NATO support for far-right extremists in Ukraine. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cHPKpUJBfZ4 Read the Multipolarista article being attacked: https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/10/nato-arming-training-nazis-ukraine-azov This is a clip from the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast hosted by Kevin Gosztola and Rania Khalek. Support Unauthorized Disclosure here: https://thedissenter.org/unauthorized-disclosure-podcast

A discussion of different theoretical concepts of imperialism and hegemony and how they relate to the United States empire. This is PART 4 of the Empire and the Deep State series Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OYywVTzV524 You can support American Exception at https://patreon.com/americanexception American Exception website: https://americanexception.com

China is forgiving 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries, after already cancelling $3.4 billion and restructuring $15 billion of debt from 2000-2019. This debunks the US government's propaganda myth of supposed Chinese "debt-trap diplomacy." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AMTVoZKrCPo Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/20/china-forgives-debt-africa Report on disinformation blaming China for debt crisis in Sri Lanka: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/11/debt-trap-sri-lanka-west-china

The Donald Trump White House and CIA ran "black ops" to intimate close US "ally" Britain to cut all ties with China's tech giant Huawei, hurting the UK's own economic interests in order to advance Washington's trade war on Beijing. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QwL1V93xXm0 Read more at https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/24/cia-britain-china-huawei

Pakistan's elected Prime Minister Imran Khan was overthrown in a US-backed regime-change operation due to his independent foreign policy. Now the coup regime has charged him with "terrorism." Pakistani scholar Junaid S. Ahmad discusses the desperate attempt to crush the mass movement and protests that Khan has led. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=g9IzwCAYbZY Our previous interview with Junaid: https://multipolarista.com/2022/04/13/us-coup-pakistan-imran-khan-foreign-policy Read Junaid's article warning about the coup: https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/31/pakistan-foreign-regime-change-china-russia

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, a former banker, warned "we are living the end of what could have seemed an era of abundance." Western wars and sanctions are boomeranging back at home. The neoliberal phase of capitalism is collapsing. Neoliberalism has lost the key pillars it was built on: cheap energy and raw materials from Russia, cheap labor and consumer goods from China, an unsustainable bubble of household debt, low to zero interest rates, and Washington's ability to organize regime-change operations in any country where a government tried a socialistic or state-led economic model. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dw84vwYS8YE SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/27/west-end-neoliberalism-abundance

Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned that the US is trying to start a war with China over Taiwan. He also explained how imperialism is rooted in capitalism and detailed its economic exploitation of the Global South. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1xUV4qT97TI SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/29/war-china-malaysia-imperialism-capitalism

The Joe Biden administration pledged Ukraine $39.87 billion in military aid between February and August 2022, for an average of $228 million per day, fueling a brutal proxy war causing tens of thousands of deaths. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sGQFTwvHM_4 SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/30/us-ukraine-military-aid-proxy Credit to researcher Stephen Semler: https://stephensemler.substack.com/p/how-much-military-aid-has-biden-sent CIA and Western special ops commandos are in Ukraine, directing proxy war on Russia: https://multipolarista.com/2022/06/26/cia-special-ops-ukraine-proxy-war-russia

South Koreans held huge protests against the US military and its largest joint war exercises in years, simulating attacks on the DPRK (North Korea) and the assassination of its leader. We are joined by activists from the peace groups Women Cross DMZ and Korea Peace Now to discuss the mass movement against US militarization and imperialism. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Lqocug-NGRs You can support their work at https://koreapeacenow.org You can get involved at https://koreapeacenow.org

Russia and Ukraine agreed to a negotiated settlement to end the conflict in April, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intervened to stop the peace deal, and the US and EU escalated the proxy war to try to weaken Moscow. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LpJMqs1yG1A SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/03/west-peace-proposal-ukraine-russia

In a blatant violation of international law and its 1947 hosting agreement, the US government has blocked countries from participating in events at the UN headquarters in New York. The Biden administration is banning Russian diplomats, while the Trump admin illegally prohibited Venezuela and Iran. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WfjqzAY_mEc SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/04/biden-trump-un-neutrality-visas

An analysis of the deeply undemocratic structure of the US government, exploring the academic research on the concepts of the dual state and double government. This is PART 7 of the Empire and the Deep State series I am co-hosting with historian Aaron Good, of the American Exception podcast, along with producer Seamus McGuinness. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=siGbth6AwtA

While Palestinians are forced off of buses for being Arab, apartheid Israel is now requiring foreigners to officially notify the regime if they fall in love with a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. If they marry, they must leave Palestine for a 6-month "cooling-off period." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=D6M_Q3R97jw SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/07/israel-palestinians-report-relationships

Economist Michael Hudson joins Multipolarista host Ben Norton to discuss partial student debt relief in the US, inflation and the Fed, disaster capitalism in Ukraine, and China's challenge to the petrodollar. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AEZBOaPKWjw TRANSCRIPT: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/08/michael-hudson-debt-inflation-ukraine-petrodollar Prof. Hudson's official website: https://michael-hudson.com

In his 1956 book "The Power Elite," New Left sociologist C. Wright Mills detailed how decision-making in the United States is not democratic; it is determined by (1) Wall Street capitalists and large corporations, (2) the Pentagon and military-industrial complex, and (3) the corrupt political class. This is PART 8 of the Empire and the Deep State series Multipolarista editor Ben Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1PGah9yfulw

The US military launched at least 251 interventions between 1991 and 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service. Washington’s meddling abroad drastically increased after the end of the first cold war. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=h4Pr9g_7Nhc Maps, graphs, and sources here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/13/us-251-military-interventions-1991

Ben Norton and Danny Haiphong discuss the absurd concepts of MAGA "communism" and "patriotic socialism" in the imperialist US. Pro-Trump opportunists are posing as leftists to recruit the right - and make lots of money. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=y9YI57XWFQg Support Danny at https://patreon.com/dannyhaiphong

US imperial court philosopher Francis Fukuyama once declared liberal capitalist democracy was the "end of history." Now he is openly praising the deep state. Ben Norton is joined by political scientist Aaron Good of the American Exception podcast to analyze his fallacious arguments. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rr1a4BshPo8 You can support Aaron's show American Exception at https://patreon.com/americanexception

The FBI harassed Black revolutionary Darren Seals and compiled a 900-page report on his organizing against racism and police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, birthplace of the Black Lives Matter movement. He was shot to death in 2016, then set on fire in his car in an unsolved murder. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=scBiUIaBx9s

Two former US diplomats admitted that 87% of the world's population has refused to enforce the West's sanctions on Russia, showing neutrality over the proxy war in Ukraine. They said "the outbreak of Cold War II" has led countries "to become increasingly multi-aligned," especially in the Global South. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OG7UPNGRWH4 Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/21/global-south-west-cold-war-russia

Journalist Ben Norton fact-checks the deeply misleading claims US President Joe Biden made in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=khzHWQSxwg0 SOURCES: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/22/un-speech-biden-war

Journalist Ben Norton analyzes the UN speech of Honduras’ new left-wing President Xiomara Castro. She denounced colonialism, “neoliberal injustice,” and corporate exploitation while calling for multipolarity. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=udvjVaxP96s Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/22/un-speech-honduras-xiomara-castro Report on Honduras' unpayable odious debt: https://multipolarista.com/2022/01/31/coup-honduras-unpayable-odious-debt

Colombia's first ever left-wing President Gustavo Petro delivered a historic UN speech declaring, "The war on drugs has failed." He warned capitalism is destroying the environment, with its "addiction to money and oil," and called for debt relief for the Global South. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=qbiIoIAgxws Read the speech here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/24/war-drugs-un-colombia-gustavo-petro Our report on Honduran President Xiomara Castro's speech: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/22/un-speech-honduras-xiomara-castro

An analysis of the geopolitics behind the proxy war in Ukraine, from Russia's oil and gas exports and the Nord Stream pipelines to Washington's strategy to prevent Eurasian integration and keep Germany's economy dependent on the US. Ben Norton is joined by historian Aaron Good and Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nyitwFjX0GI You can support American Exception at https://patreon.com/americanexception

At the United Nations General Assembly, Nicaragua’s Sandinista government called for a global rebellion against the “imperialist and capitalist system” that is “bleeding the world dry.” Condemning illegal sanctions and war, it urged a new multipolar order. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DcsYtdEIQu0 Read the transcript here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/26/imperialism-capitalism-un-nicaragua

Bolivia’s leftist President Luis Arce used his platform at the United Nations General Assembly to propose a revolutionary 14-point program to transform the world. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzrvo_vC68 Translation and more info here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/27/luis-arce-un-bolivia-14-point-program Our report ‘War on drugs has failed’: At UN, Colombia condemns ‘addiction to money and oil’: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/24/war-drugs-un-colombia-gustavo-petro

A sociological analysis of capitalist criminality and the imperial US deep state, based on the concepts of the "higher immorality" and "crackpot realism," introduced by scholar C. Wright Mills in his book "The Power Elite." This is PART 9 of the Empire and the Deep State series Multipolarista editor Ben Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mxcyvUfrXsc You can support American Exception at https://patreon.com/americanexception

Multipolarista host Ben Norton is joined by journalist Camila Escalante from Brazil, where she is reporting on historic elections. Leftist presidential candidate Lula da Silva won with 48.4% and over 6 million more votes than far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. We talk about the round two coming on October 30, the Workers' Party, and the PT's grassroots strategy. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Mkh1QKhZvC8 Follow Camila on Twitter at https://twitter.com/camilapress Support Camila and her work at Kawsachun News: https://patreon.com/KawsachunNews

Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines with Germany were sabotaged mere hours before the EU opened its own Baltic Sea pipeline from Norway to Poland. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gloated that the attacks were a “tremendous opportunity” to weaken Moscow. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nhux0KbAe-s Read our investigation, with links to all sources, here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/06/sabotage-nord-stream-pipelines-us-russia-cia

A scholarly explanation of the history of the deep state, a top-down structure used by capitalism to subvert democracy and maintain unaccountable corporate power. This is PART 10 of the Empire and the Deep State series I am co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RiLTLUnNc3E You can support American Exception at https://patreon.com/americanexception

Journalist Ben Norton and historian Aaron Good discuss what the deep state actually is -- a top-down structure used to maintain imperialism and override popular democracy so capitalists can maximize their profits -- and what it is not -- a right-wing conspiracy scapegoating a cabal of people of a particular ethnic, religious, or identity group. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2gaVtjKNWbY PLAYLIST of the Empire and Deep State series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL You can support the American Exception podcast at https://patreon.com/americanexception

European Union leader Ursula von der Leyen warned China and Russia are a “global challenge” to Western hegemony. She called for weakening their influence in the Global South, cutting their access to raw materials, opposing Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, and expanding the EU. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fW4Sc6JAJEs Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/13/von-der-leyen-eu-china-russia-threats Our past report "NATO’s 2022 plan declares second cold war on Russia and China": https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/08/nato-2022-strategic-concept-russia-china

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell showed the West’s neocolonial mentality claiming “the world needs Europe” as a “beacon” and beautiful “garden” to civilize the barbarous “jungle” in the Global South. He also called for regime change to create a “post-Putin Russia.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R4hRs1svQlk Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/15/eu-europe-garden-jungle

Ben Norton is joined by journalist Marlon Ettinger to discuss how the right wing has tried to infiltrate and co-opt the anti-war movement while supporting US imperialism, looking at Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, and Tulsi Gabbard. We analyze the same phenomenon in France, where far-right politicians Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour superficially criticize war while advocating to strengthen French imperialism. And we explain the deceptive tactics of the fascist cult of Lyndon LaRouche. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DH_8lQTijjg Also see our past episode "Exposing the neocon 'right-wing populism' scam, from Trump to Tucker Carlson": https://youtube.com/watch?v=_QHoW8Vf8wg Marlon's blog: https://footnotesnews.substack.com Follow Marlon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarlonEttinger

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell confessed the West’s neoliberal economic model was “based on cheap energy coming from Russia,” “access to the big China market,” and low-paid Chinese workers. Europe has now lost that, and is thus in crisis. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ajIRkk1FOkM Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/18/eu-prosperity-china-russia-energy-market Check out our previous episode "West’s neoliberal ‘age of abundance’ is over, as war and sanctions boomerang home": https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/27/west-end-neoliberalism-abundance

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is holding its 20th national congress to plan the next five years of policies. It says its goal is to "write an even more magnificent chapter for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era." Carlos Martinez, Danny Haiphong, and Ben Norton discuss the importance of the party congress in this joint production co-sponsored by Friends of Socialist China, The Left Lens, and Multipolarista. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4IztA3jlUKs Read more in our report here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/21/china-20th-cpc-national-congress

An analysis of undemocratic dark power and how liberal capitalism and authoritarianism are not opposites; they are inextricably linked together. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IZ1P_b13l28 This is PART 11 of the Empire and the Deep State series Multipolarista editor Ben Norton is co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. PLAYLIST with past episodes in the series here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL

The Biden administration's aggressive sanctions aim to "kneecap" China's tech sector. A former Pentagon official acknowledged it is a "disproportionate" and "unilateral" attack, a "form of economic containment." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMY_rNWx4 Sources here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/24/us-economic-tech-war-china

After Prime Minister Imran Khan was overthrown in a US-backed soft coup, Pakistan's unelected "imported government" has banned the country's most popular politician from office, sparking huge protests. Pakistani scholar Junaid S. Ahmad speaks with Ben Norton about army chief Bajwa's friendly trip to Washington and US efforts to pressure Pakistan to weaken ties with China, arm Ukraine in its war with Russia, and recognize apartheid Israel. We also address the assassination of prominent dissident journalist Arshad Sharif. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ugzu1pTiWXQ Check out our previous discussion here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/08/25/pakistan-coup-imran-khan-terrorism-charges

The European Union’s top foreign-policy official Josep Borrell admitted the West’s new cold war on China and Russia is not a conflict of “democracies vs. authoritarians,” conceding, “On our side, there are a lot of authoritarian regimes.” He acknowledged that their economic “systems are in rivalry.” VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Avqt0Fie-wk Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/27/eu-cold-war-democracy-authoritarian Check out our related report "In neocolonial rant, EU says Europe is ‘garden’ superior to rest of world’s barbaric ‘jungle’": https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/15/eu-europe-garden-jungle

Independent researcher Moss Robeson documented how the vociferously pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia troll operation NAFO was founded by a Hitler-admiring anti-Semite. He discusses the campaign's far-right roots, and also how the fascist LaRouche cult has tried to disrupt the anti-war movement. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hG5XLThOpQY Read Robeson's report on the Nazi origins of NAFO: https://mossrobeson.medium.com/ukes-kooks-spooks-nafo-735b66e48508 Check out Robeson's article "LaRouche’s ‘Ukrainian Nazi’ Legacy": https://mossrobeson.medium.com/larouches-ukrainian-nazi-legacy-7ab93aea3ea7 Robeson's "Bandera Lobby Blog": https://banderalobby.substack.com

Brazil-based journalist Brian Mier discusses the importance of Lula da Silva's victory in Brazil's October 30 presidential election against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Lula has vowed to strengthen Latin American regional integration and expand the BRICS system, while fighting poverty and hunger at home. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HuDWw5l-yoU Follow Brian at https://twitter.com/BrianMteleSUR Check out Brasil Wire at https://brasilwire.com

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly, 152 to 5, to tell the Israeli apartheid regime to get rid of its nuclear weapons, which are illegal under international law. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xxtl5oAIT5M SOURCES here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/10/31/un-vote-israel-nuclear-weapons

Colombia’s first-ever left-wing leader Gustavo Petro took a historic trip to Venezuela, pledging regional unity following the anti-imperialist model of Simón Bolívar. Meeting with President Nicolás Maduro, Petro said it is “suicidal” to divide the countries, “because we are the same people,” in "historically one single Bolivarian nation, reunited." VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=u3lJW3Y6Pqo Read more here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/11/02/colombia-petro-visits-venezuela-unity-bolivar Petro's powerful UN speech: https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/24/war-drugs-un-colombia-gustavo-petro John Bolton admits planning US coup in Venezuela: https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/12/trump-john-bolton-coups-venezuela Trump wanted US military attacks on Venezuela: https://multipolarista.com/2022/05/19/trump-us-military-venezuela-mark-esper

For the 30th year in a row, almost every country on Earth voted at the United Nations General Assembly to oppose the illegal six-decade US blockade of Cuba. 185 nations voted against just two: the United States and Israel. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cpiF6JYepfI SOURCES here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/11/03/un-vote-blockade-cuba-us-israel

The history of how Wall Street capitalists helped to create the US national security state under the Harry S. Truman administration, as Washington built its post-World War II empire. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IOviqBC3o-0 This is PART 12 of the Empire and the Deep State series I am co-hosting with historian Aaron Good and producer Seamus McGuinness of the American Exception podcast. PLAYLIST with past episodes in the series here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNArLl765PXe8tsTKmOciGL

The US-dominated IMF has said a "wave of debt crises" may be coming in the Global South, warning "the worst is yet to come," as the depreciation of most currencies against the dollar and rising interest rates make it hard for countries to service their dollar-denominated debt. Political economist Radhika Desai discusses the imperialist nature of the international financial system, and parallels to the "Third World debt crisis" of the 1980s. VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lPTiSi8h8oQ Follow Prof. Desai on Twitter at https://twitter.com/raddesai Read her article on inflation: https://multipolarista.com/2022/11/07/inflation-neoliberal-financialization Geopolitical Economy Research Group: https://geopoliticaleconomy.org Check out the International Manifesto Group: https://internationalmanifesto.org

After years backing a failed coup attempt, France's Emmanuel Macron and US climate envoy John Kerry met with Venezuela's constitutionally elected President Nicolás Maduro at the UN's COP27 conference in Egypt. The Biden administration still technically recognizes unelected coup leader Juan Guaidó, but is desperate to lower oil prices after Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ refused Washington's requests to increase production. SOURCES here: https://multipolarista.com/2022/11/09/macron-kerry-venezuela-maduro-oil VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ONakKTA87Bs Check out our related report "How Trump and John Bolton attempted a coup in Venezuela": https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/14/trump-john-bolton-coup-venezuela CIA backed failed 2020 invasion of Venezuela, top coup-plotter says: https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/02/cia-invasion-venezuela-cliver-alcala