Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Mike Swanson of Wall Street Window and author of such books as The War State and Why the Vietnam War? joins Parallax Views to discuss skyrocketing gas prices, the economy, and inflation in lieu of the Ukraine-Russia War. We also discuss Empire, the Robinhood app, Bitcoin and crypto-currencies, 9/11, the pandemic, and much, much more. In our second segment, Larry Hancock, most known for his work on the assassinations of the 1960s and writings on the Cold War, joins us to discuss the Ukraine crisis and his book Creating Chaos: Covert Political Warfare from Truman to Putin. Hancock gives his perspective on the situation unfolding in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's game, whether Putin has lost his sense of chess-playing when it comes to geopolitics, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Aaron Lake Smith joins Parallax Views to discuss his 2018 Harper's Magazine article detailing his trip to the Russian separatist breakaway republics in the Donbass entitled "Light in the Donbass Window". We discuss the pro-Russian Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic seeking to break away from Ukraine and the strange mix of supporters and foreign volunteers this has brought to Donbass including tankies (hard leftists who oppose American imperialism and NATO; this came up because the article was originally titled "Tankieland"), Nazbols (National Bolsheviks, a performance art prank created by Eduard Liminov that has since turned into an ideology/movement), Duginists (adherents to the Eurasianist philosophy of Aleksander Dugin), and others. Reporting on the "International Fascist Conference" in the Donbass, Aaron met a wide variety of individuals who supported the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. But he quickly began to consider that these various individuals were caught in the cross-hairs of a spy-vs-spy style hall-of-mirrors world. In other words, a seeming proxy war between Russian and NATO. Aaron also details the rotating cast of characters in the two People's Republics' leadership positions as well as the deaths and mysterious disappearances of many in the middle of this strange saga. It's a story of information warfare, cloak-and-dagger intrigues, and tankies. In the second segment of the show, Mickey Huff of the long-running media watchdog non-profit Project Censored joined me to discuss Project Censored's State of the Free Press 2022 (edited by Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth). We discuss the problems facing news media today including junk food news, "humilitainment", the problems of corporate media, state-run media, censorship, how the stories for State of the Free Press are collated each year, Palestinian activists and the Canary Mission, free speech, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the war in Ukraine and the crisis as it unfolds. Recorded on Monday the 7th, 2022, the episode features a conversation with John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. We discuss the move Putin has made invading Ukraine, Putin's claims of genocide in the Donbass, the NATO expansion question, and much, much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, long-time war reporter Patrick Cockburn returns to the show to discuss the gamble Putin has made in Ukraine and how it could endanger his political survival in Russia. Additionally, Patrick will talk about the way hubris afflicts political leaders leading to disastrous military interventions, comparing Putin's invasion of Ukraine to the Western interventions in Iraq and Libya, the Russian political elite, sanctions, the calls for NATO to institute no-fly zones, Putin's claims about genocide and what they may indicate about his endgame, and more! NOTE: Had a massive flub that may have been due to noise reduction process during editing of the intro. Appears to have said "military inventions" rather than "military interventions"

We continue our Ukraine coverage, this time with Zachary Paikin, a non-resident fellow for the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and a research for the EU affairs-focused think tanks CEPS. We'll discuss the invasion, thoughts on Putin and his decision to invade, the psychoanalysis of Putin and the ideas (prior to the invasion) that he was a master of the Grand Chessboard vs. the idea that he's gone mad with the invasion, the EU, NATO, No-Fly Zone debate, sanctions, the potential political aftermath on a global scale after this is all said and done, diplomacy, and much, much more. In the second half of the program, David Swanson of the global antiwar movement World Beyond War joins us to discuss the situation further as well as to express the concern over this conflict becoming a nuclear war.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the Ukraine crisis, Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Kuba Wreszniewski, a National Security commentator associated with This is Revolution, joins us to discuss a number of matters. This conversation was recorded on 2/28/22 7:00 pm EST. Further notes forthcoming.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a former advisor to the State Department, James W. Carden, joins us to discuss Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the crisis around it as well as the questions around NATO, Putin's motivations for this war, the American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord's condemnation of the invasion, and much, much more. (Further Show Notes Forthcoming) From ACURA (American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord): On Thursday March 3 at NOON EST, please join former Governor of California Jerry Brown; Professor David Hendrickson, author of Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition; and the American Committee for US-Russia Accord’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and James W. Carden for an in-depth discussion on the current state of the war in Ukraine and the approach outlined by President Biden in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. ZOOM LINK HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89427125478

On this edition of Parallax Views, Thaddeuss Russell and Kamasi Hill of Renegade University join Parallax Views to discuss the course their teaching for RU on 1970s Blaxploitation cinema from Superfly and Shaft to Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song, Cleopatra Jones, and Foxy Brown starring the Queen of Blaxploitation herself Pam Grier. We discuss the significance of this kind of cinema, how Thad and Kamasi became interested in the genre; the idea of black working class culture vs. black middle class culture; sexuality in black cinema; masculinity in blaxploitation; drugs dealing, and crime in blaxploitation, blaxploitation's influence on pop culture and hip hop culture; the music of blaxploitation cinema and its influence on sampling in hip hop; the problem of stereotypes and blaxploitation cinema; Civil Rights leadership and the NAACP's deriding of blaxploitation film; Rudy Ray Moore and Dolemite; the history of hip hop, the projects, and the way blaxploitation can change our perspective on cinema; blaxploitation and the meaning of freedom; Sidney Poitier and the portrayal of African Americans in cinema before the 70s; Bill Cosby; Melvin van Peebles; and much more! You can sign up for the Renegade University course on Blaxploitation here!

On this edition of Parallax Views, later on in the program we'll be talking to one of the most prominent leaders in the Palestinian liberation movement, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. Dr. Ashrawi was the first woman to be elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009, served as the official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process from 1991-1993, and participated in the 1991-1992 Madrid peace conference as a member of the Palestinian Leadership Committee delegation. Hanan will join me to discuss the Palestinian struggle, human rights, and U.S. policy on Palestine with a focus on said policy during the Presidencies of Donald J. Trump and now Joe Biden. We'll also discuss Dr. Ashrawi's encounter with the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, the expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, the human rights and international law approach to Israel/Palestine, the propaganda matrix around Israel/Palestine, hope for the future of the Palestinian cause, and much, much more! That, however, will be in the second segment of today's show. First, Grant F. Smith of IRmep (Institute for Research: Middle East Policy) returns to the show to discuss the upcoming Israel Lobby Con (Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad) on March 3rd. Speakers include the aforementioned Dr. Ashrawi, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, Paul Noursi of the Virginia Human Rights Coalition, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Rev. Don Wagner, academic Sut Jhally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Edward Ahmed Mitchell, and Palestine Legal's Radihka Sanith. The conference will cover a number of topics such as Christian Zionism, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement), human rights and Democracy in Israel, Israel and the U.S. national security state, free speech for Palestinian activists, and much, much more. You can attend the conference by visiting the Israel Lobby Con website and purchasing a ticket. The Annual Israel Lobby Con at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on March 3rd (IRL and Zoom tickets available)

On this edition of Parallax Views, the noted genocide studies scholar A. Dirk Moses joins us to discuss his provocative book The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression. In said book, Moses argues that the way in which we conceptualize the legal concept of genocide structures the way we think about "acts that shock the conscience of mankind" and how this in turn may lead us to have blind spots in considering how other heinous acts and crimes against humanity also should shock our conscience. We begin by discussing how Moses became involved in genocide studies and the treatment of indigenous Australians under colonialism. Additionally, Moses gives a history of the term genocide from WWII and the Holocaust on through to the Cold War and the War on Terror. In this regard, we discuss genocide and the ways in which it has been utilized as a concept to political, and especially foreign policy ends. During this portion of the conversation Moses and I talk a little bit about U.S. foreign policy heavyweight Samantha Power and her influential book The Problem from Hell. Additionally, Moses and J.G. talk about: - The concept of permanent security, its liberal and illiberal variants, the utopian nature of pursuing it, and the problems that arise from it - Drone warfare and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen - The Holocaust, the debate over Germany and Holocaust Memory and what Moses calls the "German Catechism" as well as the response famed philosopher/sociologist Jurgen Habermas made to Moses's writing on the subject - The Nigerian Civil War and the Republic of Biafra - And much, much more!