Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of V: The Original Miniseries. A two-part sci-fi television event that brought in around 33 million homes, V was ostensibly the story of reptilian alien invading earth to steal it's resources and turn the human population into a food source. However, beneath the surface it acted as a parable about how fascism and authoritarianism can take hold in a country. In fact, it was inspired by Sinclair Lewis' classic novel It Can't Happen Here and was initially not about malevolent extraterrestrial invaders at all. In this conversation we discuss how V came to be, the conspiracy theorists who take the miniseries and it's reptilian invasion literally and Kenny's response to them, V as a parable about fascism, Kenny's work with Vincent Price on An Evening With Edgar Allen Poe, what Kenny thinks of being compared to The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling due to his interest in sci-fi that deals with social issues, the TV how Alien Nation, the cast of V (which included such names as Marc Singer of The Beastmaster franchise, Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame, Jane Badler, Andrew Prine, and many others), the Holocaust and how it tied into the story of V, racism and diversity and the way those topics figured into V, Kenny's sequel novel to V entitled V: The Second Generation, the possibility of a big screen movie remake of the miniseries, looking back on V in the era of Trump (and anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theories), V's dealing with the topic of anti-science sentiments and how they can be damaging to society, the way in which V is about two powerful women (the heroine Juliet and the villainous reptilian alien Diana), the cinematic quality of V and its European theatrical release, the studio's lack of faith in V and belief that it's dealing with social issues of the time would be too intellectual for American audiences, and much, much more!

On this editiion of Parallax Views, Writer and researcher Abdalhadi Alijla, author of Trust in Divided Societies and co-editor of Rebel Governance in the Middle East, joins the show to discuss his perspective on Israel-Palestine and the Gaza War from his perspective as both a researcher and writer on the region as well as someone who was born in Gaza. We'll also be discussing the aforementioned book Rebel Governance in the Middle East and examine groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Ajiljla will also look at the effect of the war on Israel as well as Palestinians, the response of the Global South to the war, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's strategy, the risks of regional war, how the war could have an impact on the U.S. Presidential election, Jordan and Egypt in relation to the current war, forced migration of Palestinians and Egyptian security concerns, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States (including most especially Qatar) in relation to the war, talk of the resettlement of Gazans by Israeli political figures, Israel's political scene and the Israeli far-right, one state vs two state solution, the IDs issued to Palestinians by Israel, the one state reality and the Occupation, the issue of human dignity in regards to Israel-Palestine, misperceptions about the Palestinian people and the specter of antisemitism, and more. NOTE: RECORDED 1/31/24

On this edition of Parallax Views, Josef Avesar of the Israeli-Palestinian Confederation joins the show to discuss not the one-state or two-state solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but instead the Confederation approach to the issue. This is a very basic introduction to the Confederation model for Israel/Palestine that proposes a common government alongside Israeli and Palestinian governments. Hopefully, if this episode gains traction we can have another conversation with listener questions. In any case, it is important to think about ways that this issue can be solved. Especially in light of the October 7th Hamas attack AND the ensuing Gaza War that has seen Israel's bombing of Gaza kills tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. After 75 years of war and conflict, Avesar argues that seeking peace is the realistic approach whereas the argument that peace is not possible is actually the naive approach. We will discuss all this and much more in this fascinating conversation. Although many argue that the Confederation model is a defacto one-state solution others argue that it's a compromise between the two-state solution and the one-state democratic solution. We'll get into Josef's views, his own views on Zionism, his debate with Alan Dershowitz about Zionism, the criticisms he's received over the confederation approach, the simulations that IPC does, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Simon Matthews, author of Free Your Mind!: Giovanni 'Tinto' Brass, 'Swinging London' and the 60s Pop Culture Scene, joins the show to discuss the life and career of European filmmaker Tinto Brass. Brass is perhaps most well-known today for his erotic/softcore features as well as the epic, star-studded effort Caligula (starring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren among others), that was re-edited at the behest of Penthouse's Bob Guccione to the point of butchering Brass' original vision. Matthews, however, hones in on the works of Brass as they relate to the the era of mod culture in the days of London's swinging 60s. With a foreward by the legendary actor Franco Nero, Free Your Mind! explores such Brass efforts as Nerosubianco (aka Attraction), The Howl, The Vacation, and The Dropout and their relation to 60s pop culture and counterculture. We'll also be discussing such Tinto Brass movies as the controversial Salon Kitty about Nazi Germany (part of the Nazi chic boom of the 60s/70s film industry), the spaghetti Western Yankee, and Brass in relation to contemporaries like Russ Meyer and John Waters. We'll look at the politics of Tinto Brass and why his filmography, especially in Britain, has been overlooked. If you're unfamiliar with Tinto Brass this will fill you in on an interesting auteur in the world of filmmaking who hasn't gotten his proper due despite working with heavyweight actors like Vanessa Redgrave and the aforementioned Franco Nero. We'll also discuss the unmade films of Tinto Brass including the adaptation of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange that he almost made and a project that never materialized with Jim Morrison of the legendary rock 'n' roll band The Doors. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Paralalx Views, Peter Beinart, the Editor-at-Large for Jewish Current and author of The Beinart Notebook Substack, joins the show to discuss his views on Israel/Palestine amidst the war in Gaza. In his 2020 Jewish Currents article "Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine", Beinart definitively moved on from his two-state solution position on Israel/Palestine by declaring, "The two-state solution is dead. It’s time for liberal Zionists to abandon Jewish–Palestinian separation and embrace equality." In other words, he became a proponent of a One Democratic State solution for Israel/Palestine that advocates equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Beinart's positions sent shockwaves through the Israel/Palestine discourse due to his high-profile as a journalist and commentator. He joined me on this edition of the show to discuss why he sees the fates and futures of Palestinians and Israeli Jews as being intertwined. We'll discuss how he came to his positions and his own intellectual evolution as well as his writings addressing subjects like the American Jewish Establishment (no, he's not talking about an antisemitic conspiracy theory, but rather the institutions that make up the American Jewish community), the dual loyalty trope, antisemitism, anti-Palestinian bigotry, and much, much more. And, of course, amidst this discussion the issue of the war in Gaza and Israel's bombardment of Gaza, which has claimed an estimated 25k+ Palestinian lives, after the October 7th Hamas attack will be part of the conversation. Peter will also offer his thoughts on pushes for a ceasefire, the beliefs of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, what he believes needs to change about U.S. policy on Israel/Palestine, and a potpourri of other topics as well.

On this edition of Parallax Views, retired diplomat Patrick Theros, who served as the United States Ambassador to Qatar from 1995 to 1998 and is currently a Strategic Adviser for Gulf International Forum, joins the show to discuss Israel/Palestine and the war in Gaza from a diplomat's perspective and his Responsible Statecraft piece "Who’s the superpower around here?". We discuss what Biden must do in this situation not just for the sake of Palestinians, but also Israelis. Theros argues that if a President isn't willing to take the risk of making difficult decisions then what is the point of being President. He also laments the lack of diplomatic thought in approaching the Middle East arguing that you have to understand the perspective of the various players in the region and in many cases people do not do this. We also discuss how the GCC Gulf states have responded to the Gaza war, Iran in relation to the Gaza war, actions of past presidents like Eisenhower and HW Bush in regard to Israel/Palestine, Bill Clinton and Camp David 2000 (and the often repeated but contested claim that Arafat turned down a fair and generous offer), and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, last month I spoke to journalist Jeffrey Sharlet, known for his books on the Christian Nationalist movement (The Family and C Street; the former has been made into hit Netflix documentary miniseries), to discuss his latest work The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. The book is a series of essays exploring the chaotic moment that Sharlet calls the "Trumpocene" and delves into everything from the January 6th insurrection and death of Ashli Babbitt to the Men's Rights Movement. Given he New Hampshire primary on January 23rd, I felt that now was the perfect time to release this prescient conversation. In this conversation we cover a number of topics including: - The "F Word"; or fascism - The rise of the far-right in the U.S. and its global ascendancy - Trump and Gnosticism; Jeff's citing of the Gnostic poem "Thunder Perfect Mind" in relation to the Trump/MAGA movement phenomena - Jan 6th and the death of Ashli Babbit; what drove Ashli Babbit into Trumpism and the MAGA movement? - QAnon and the power of narratives in mobilizing the American right-wing - Revisiting Jeff's groundbreaking journalism on The Family, C Street, the Council for National Policy (CNP), and Christian Nationalism - Christian Nationalism and Trumpism as radical reinterpretations of Christianity; the Church itself as not being the be-all-end-all of Christian Nationalism (it's much bigger than that) - Jeff's experiences reporting on the MRA movement and the ways in which they start with some true observations (men have high suicide rates, custody issues, etc.) that are chucked away in favor of misogny and all-out attacks on feminism (even though some of their initial observations can also be found amongst feminist works such as Susan Faludi's Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man) - And more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Israeli pollster, political consultant, and political scientist Dahlia Scheindlin joins the show to discuss a number of topics ranging from the war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian to her new book The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled. Dahlia is also one of the main voices that has written about the confederation approach to Israel/Palestine. We will discuss what the confederation approach is, why Dahlia doesn't believe it is a one-state solution by another name (and why it actually fits into a two-state solution approach for the 21st century), how it could potentially work (especially in regard to Jerusalem) and the promise Dahlia finds in it, and more. Dahlia will also discuss her polling/survey research on Israeli public opinion, her work with Palestinian pollsters, and Israeli public opinion of the Occupation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Prof. Ian S. Lustick, author of Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality, returns to discuss his TIME Magazine op-ed "History Tells Us How the Israel-Hamas War Will End". Looking back at previous Israeli wars, such as the Israeli-Lebanon war of 2006, Prof. Lustick discusses what he believes will bring about the end of the current war and how the U.S. and President Biden will factor into the equation. He also gives a history lesson the trajectory of Zionist/Israeli political thought over the years, with a particular focus on comparing and contrasting Revisionist Zionist Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the party seen as his ideological heir, Likud (currently led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). Israel, he argues, has moved beyond a key element of Jabotinsky's "Iron Wall" strategy for dealing with Israeli-Arab/Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. NOTE: THIS WAS RECORDED BEFORE SEN. BERNIE SANDERS' BID TO PROBE ISRAEL OVER HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS (noted because this is mentioned at the end of the interview)

On this edition of Parallax Views, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s former foreign policy advisor James R. Webb, son of Sen. Jim Webb, joins the show to discuss U.S. foreign policy, Israel/Palestine, Gaza, Yemen, Iraq, and the risks of the current Middle East turmoil escalating into a very nasty regional war. Webb recently resigned from RFK Jr.'s campaign over Gaza (you can read his resignation letter here). James served a Marine infantryman from 2005-2010 and has worked on the Hill, bringing him into contact with politicians like Bernie Sanders and working with Rand Paul. He'll bring those experiences to this conversation.