Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael Ep. 61: Matthew Alford on Corbyn, Brexit, and the "Union Jackboot" of British Foreign Policy
On this edition of Parallax Views, we travel across the pond to the United Kingdom to discuss Jeremy Corbyn, Brexit, and British foreign policy with Matthew Alford, co-author with T.J. Coles of Union Jackboot: What Your Media and Professors Don't Tell You About British Foreign Policy.
The conversation begins with Matthew filling listeners in on his prior work investigating the Pentagon and CIA's little-known role in the entertainment industry. In his books Reel Power and National Security Cinema w/ Tom Secker, Matthew exposes how the military-industrial complex has influenced and manipulated Hollywood films and television show to promote an uncritical image of the national security state and recruit impressionable youths to the war machine.
From there we delve into how Matthew came to work on his latest book, Union Jackboot: What Your Media and Professors Don't Tell You About British Foreign Policy, with T.J. Coles. T.J. is, by day, an academic researcher at the Plymouth Institute's Cognition Institute focused on visual impairment and blindness. By night, however, he is an astute analyst, commentator, and investigator of human right abuses and geopolitics related to the United Kingdom and its foreign policy. Matthew gives an insight into T.J., his parallels to Chomsky, and the important insights he provided in the Union Jackboot interviews.
We then move onto discussing the rise of the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn, whose political leftism has led many to consider him the British equivalent of Bernie Sanders. We discuss the many attacks that have been made on Corbyn including accusations of anti-Semitism. Matthew and I delve into how Corbyn is a throwback to an older version of the Labour Part before the rise of Tony Blair and Third Way neoliberalism.
From there we discuss T.J.'s views on Britain's foreign policy and how it has been downplayed in not only the British mainstream media but also many left-wing circles. Matthew also discusses how Britain, although not the Empire it once was, has a great deal of standing in the international scene and still is involved in many foreign policy actions that should be up for criticism. Then we briefly switch our focus to the U.S. with a discussion of Donald Trump and Matthew provides his own English-flavored take on the controversial POTUS.
Matthew you and I then have an extended discussion about Brexit and Britain's leaving the European Union (EU). This makes up an entire, fascinating chapter in Union Jackboot that's a must read. Matthew lays out the complicated nature of Brexit and how there are many different factors that lead people to support either Brexit or its Remain opposition. We discuss the way in which anti-immigration sentiment played a role in Brexit and how many of Brexit supporters are the made it's being handled. At the same time, Matthew talks about how racism isn't the only motivator of Brexit. Then we delve into some of the main proponent of the Brexit campaign, specifically Jacob Reese-Mogg and Nigel Farage. In addition, we discuss Boris Johnson and David Cameron, the former Primer Minister who left his position immediately after the Brexit vote came in. And finally we discuss what Brexit could mean in terms of a possible return of The Troubles and what effect it could have on the National Health Service (NHS).
Then, before wrapping up the conversation we discuss conspiracy theories with a particular focus on the kookiness that is David Icke and his eccentric belief that shapeshifting reptilians rule the world. During this part of the conversation we also talk about Matthew and T.J.'s appearance on RT and how T.J. has a critical view of state-owned Russian media outlet like RT, Sputnik, etc. Additionally, we discuss T.J.'s observation that elites may actually be the biggest conspiracy theorists of them all.
We then wrap up by discussing the humor and energy that permeates Union Jackboot and why listeners should consider giving it a read.