The termination of that most creative and aggressive of species

August 25

GUEST: Melvin A. Goodman, author, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, former CIA analyst, and professor of international security at the Department of Defense's National War College, talks about the warmongering of Henry Kissinger.

Henry Kissinger: A Warmonger’s Lying Continues

It felt more familiar talking about US foreign policy with Melvin Goodman. His encyclopedic knowledge of CIA history supports his analysis of both US leaders and the American Empire. He isn't afraid to point out Kissinger's mistakes either. In fact, we both share a particular distaste for this most manipulative and ruthless of national security advisors. 

Melvin's judgements are limited to Kissinger's effectiveness and his penchant for aggrandizing his own successes. Even the costs of American militarism are quantified by counting the billions wasted in pursuing American "interests" in the rest of the world. Less explored is the morality of waging wars of aggression, torturing prisoners in black sites, and assassinating leaders in foreign countries. 

Does the American Empire even make sense in a nuclear age? Will its successes herald in a new era of war, climate collapse and the termination of that most creative and aggressive of species, the Homo sapiens?   


Let us applaud our troublemakers

August 18

GUEST: Sonali Kolhatkar, journalist, activist, and host of Pacifica’s popular program "Rising Up With Sonali," talks about the recent election in Columbia and the declining influence of the US empire in all of Latin America.

Colombia, Once a Pro-U.S. Conservative Bastion, Turns Left

Sonali presents a thoroughly enjoyable show that does its best to defy Western propaganda. The "Life and Times of a Well-Rounded Troublemaker" is both entertaining and carefully researched. There are hardly any limits to the stories that she takes on. We talked today about the recent election in Colombia. How can we make sense of this important change since we have grown up with nothing but media distortions about Latin America?

We can now enjoy the confusion of our lockstep news organizations as they try to come up with alternative narratives about Columbia. Will the Pentagon try to make peace with this new democracy? Or will the empire decide to rearm the right wing forces for a possible military coup against the new president? In the meantime, we the people get a little relief from the dominant and heavy handed reporting about the region. 

As the empire's media contracts into predictable stereotypes about war and "Western values," there is an infinite number of subjects that are just left out. The empire has been hiding its history and lying about Columbia for decades. Let us applaud troublemakers like Sonali as they expose the gross hypocrisy of our warmongering leaders. 

 

Circumscribed Western media

August 11

GUEST: Tom Whitney Jr., retired pediatrician, political writer, member of the Let Cuba Live Committee of Maine as well as Maine Veterans For Peace, talks about why the US Cuban embargo must be lifted.

To Normalize US-Cuban Relations, Restore Working Embassies

When it comes to Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, there is no difference of opinion in the Western World. According to the empire and our at times unwilling allies, these regimes promote terror and suppress their own peoples. The coordination of the empire's media says more about these countries' isolation than official government statements. The New York Times and the Guardian in the UK have the same point of view. So does Democracy Now.

Should we roll over and accept this overwhelmingly dominant propoganda? What is the alternative? Go to a Russian influenced media? In many ways, the media of the "enemy" is much closer to the truth than we can find in the West's compromised news organizations. I see nothing wrong with pursuing the truth through the Russian and Chinese media in this era of a New Cold War.

Another choice is to go to people like Tom Whitney, who have devoted their lives to reporting the news from the supposed "enemies" of the US state. That's what I have tried to do in Activist Radio. Maybe that is the program's niche. I don't pretend to know all the truth about Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela. But I know enough to find alternative voices, because almost all of the major media is obediently following the Pentagon line. It is quite amazing how circumscribed the Western media now is. Can war be far behind?
 

In the country that invented "Government of the people"

August 4

GUEST: Lillian Cicerchia, socialist writer, organizer and postdoctoral researcher in philosophy at the Free University of Berlin, talks about her interview in Jacobin entitled: "Voting Harder Won’t Bring Back Roe."

Voting Harder Won’t Bring Back Roe

Lillian reminds us that social change doesn't happen at elections. Applying this concept to abortion rights is easy. For decades, we have relied on a Supreme Court ruling to give women the right to control their own bodies. What should have been happening is the creation of a broad movement to give women their equal rights in all aspects of their lives. The question is not why the ultra conservatives want to take away a women's rights. That happens in all fascist influenced societies. The real question is why society as a whole has offered so little resistance. 

Part of the problem is the use of human rights issues in elections. In short, Democrats have run on protecting a women's right to choose. But like most election promises on waging peace, protecting the environment, or taxing the rich, it has been all talk. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are comfortable within the embrace of big money. The billionaires and their corporations make all the real decisions in these United States. And whatever is profitable for the ultra rich is what really gets done. 

Of course, there has to be a reinvigoration of the women's rights movement. But more than that, we have to reinvent our government so that our representatives do what we want them to do. That will require the overcoming of both corporate dominated political parties. How to expose the fraud of billionaire backed candidates? How to get our mainstream media to even point out the gross corruption of our system? That's the struggle that we must eventually win. Societies do accomplish massive changes like these, and eventually it can happen here, in the country that invented "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."
 

Where you gonna run to

July 28

Guest: Richard E. Rubenstein, Professor at George Mason University and former Director of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, talks about ways to negotiate an end to the Ukraine War.

Reaching a Just and Lasting Peace in Ukraine

Is it pro-Russian to express some doubt about what the US is doing in Ukraine? The FBI's recent raid on Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis is a very bad sign. Once again, our country is using its  secret police to track down what is now being called "Russian propaganda." This is certainly a revival of that old fascist favorite, the Red Scare.

Richard and I are only asking questions. Why can't the US media talk about some sort of compromise with the Russians? Why is our government obsessed with military solutions? And why are both parties more than willing to pour tens of billions more in another lost cause?

Perhaps this is just the way our empire works. It is determined to undermine any world power that would even think of resisting US global expansion. The Pentagon uses NATO as its battering ram, surrounding Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Is this American alliance now going in for the kill?

It doesn't take much to see how risky this US backed aggression really is. Russia has already warned the US of a possible nuclear response to NATO's encirclement. But that seems to be part of the empire's plan. Is it time to bet the house on winning a nuclear war? 

Well maybe it's just US weapons companies making a killing. Tens of billions in military aid are enthusiastically being spent by both parties. When it comes to the war racket, there is no space between Republicans and Democrats. Maybe this provocation of Russia is just the Military Industrial Complex taking more chances.

Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, however, is a very bad omen. Why would the US provoke both Russia and China at the same time? Has the hour finally come, when the United States risks a nuclear Armageddon for power and profit? Are the leaders of the US insane with hubris and greed?

If catastrophic climate change is any indicator, our leaders are hellbent on the annihilation of our species. And the only question remaining is:

Where you gonna run to, when the world's on fire?