Neutrality Studies

Originally published on 18 Apr 2025. Today I’m talking to Dr. Geoffrey Roberts, an Emeritus Professor form the University College Cork, in Ireland. Geoff is a British historian, biographer, and political commentator, a specialist in Russian and Soviet foreign and military policy, and an expert on Stalin and the Second World War. His most recent work is the book titled “Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books.”Geoff is one of the critical western historians who also dears to speak his mind when it comes the War in Ukraine, something that he has been critisized for strongly. So, today we want to discuss Ukraine and academic Freedom in the West.

Originally published on 15 Apr 2025.If someone offered you money to write about the "heroic deeds" of war criminal in the Balkans, would do you so? Do you think people would fall for it? Well, here's the thing: one man's war criminal is another man's war hero...Joe Tripician is an Emmy award-winning Producer / Writer / Director and a Published Author. His work has been broadcast across America, Europe and Japan, has shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Joe also once was paid good money to produce a hagiography of Franjo Tudjman, the Croat leader during the Yugoslav wars. Today we discuss the ins and outs of his experience as being a paid propagandist for a darling of the western narrative about the Balkan Wars.Links:Joe’s memoir “Balkanized at Sunrise”: https://www.amazon.com/Balkanized-at-...Joe’s documentary (in production) “I Was a Paid Propagandist” Trailer: https://vimeo.com/693242604Donation link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/joetr...Joe’s website: https://joetripician.comFollow Joe on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/joetrip.bsky...

Originally published on 14 Apr 2025.Genocide has no speed limits nor time constrains. The two-year long slaughter of the Palestinians in Gaza is but the latest phase of a Holocaust that has been going on for nearly a century. The deliberate and collective plan to erase an entire people physically, culturally, and even strike them from the historical record is much older than "October 7". The complete destruction of this ancient Arab civilisation is systematic and perpetrated not only by the Israelis. It's the effort of white-settler colonial Europeans to pull off just one more time the annihilation of an indigenous population the way the European's exterminated already three other continents. Today I’m talking to Craig Mokhiber, the former Director of the human rights office at the UN Headquarters in New York, who in October 2023 quit the agency publically, over the already unfolding artrocities in Gaza and what most of us today recognize as the beginning of the Gaza Genocide. Craig's Article:https://mondoweiss.net/2025/04/yemen-...

Originally published on 13 Apr 2025.Today I’m talking to Patrik Baab, one of Germany’s best and most critical international journalists. Mr. Baab is the author of the German-language bestselling book “On Both Sides of the Front,” in which he shares his experiences traveling to the Donbas. He also worked for many years as an editor for the North German Broadcasting Company (NDR) and he used to work as a lecturer at two universities.Patrik Baab’s publications can be found here:https://patrikbaab.de/https://www.buchkomplizen.de/buecher/...https://www.buchkomplizen.de/buecher/...https://www.zeit-fragen.ch/archiv/202...https://www.buchkomplizen.de/buecher/...https://www.buchkomplizen.de/buecher/...https://www.buchkomplizen.de/mediensy...https://shop.tredition.com/booktitle/...

Originally published on 12 Apr 2025. 2025 might well become for Ukraine what 1944 was for Finland, the year of capitulation. But look at what came after that for the nordic nation: 80 years of development and prosperity. Surrenders like those of Japan or the capitulation of Finland are anything but catastrophes. Unless we are talking about a war of annihilation, surrenders are the end of mass-violence and inevitably the beginning of a new chapter. In Europe and in Asia we have many examples of successful surrenders, in which "letting go" of an old regime in the ned re-started nations and set them toward prosperity in the future. And if you are not sure about that, just ask any German if he/she would prefer their nation had not lost WWII.Finland is a particularly important example for Ukraine. Not only are the political parallels striking, but the potential political settlement will almost necessarily look similar. To discuss this, I'm talking today with Dr. Tuomas Malinen, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Helsinki and an outspoken critic of his country’s NATO integration. Tuomas’ Substack: https://mtmalinen.substack.com

Originally published on 11 Apr 2025.The rise of BRICS is only the beginning. Multipolarity and the empowerment of national and rural communities is crating new ideas and pathways of development that don't care about western prescriptions or interests. New initiatives are being born daily that are not under the control of the neocolonial structures of old. This dynamic is another nail in the coffin of the "Collective West" and a stepping stone of the Global South toward true and sovereign prosperity. To discuss these developments I’m talking today to Neha Bansal, a former policy specialist at the United Nations and the Founder of the think tank “Asianism Retold – Development Pathways from the Global South”. Her think tank seeks to bring Asian values and Asian perspectives to bear on global conversations about development, immigration, health, and human flourishing. Today we want to discuss the Global South perspectives.

Originally published on 11 Apr 2025.Donald Trump just broke a lot of China—but not the one he was actually targeting. The level of trust and good-will the US threw over board in the last week will hunt Washington for years to come, even if the political leadership should get back on track and try to be a more reliable partner again. If the goal of the Trump administration was ever to send a big middle finger to the entire world, then this did the trick, and the World has certainly seen it clearly. This begs the question, what's next? The sad answer: more uncertainty. Erratic foreign policy making is not anymore a "glitch" in the US system, it has become part and parcel of the system.

Originally published on 10 Apr 2025.The lies, omissions, and contradictions of the War in Ukraine are still rampant. That also holds true for warcrimes and crimes against humanity committed during this war. How can there ever be healing after all sides in this war accuse each other of the most horrendous crimes imaginable? Well, healing requires justice, and justice requires truth.The most instructive example for how a process of seeking justice can bring some healing to the victims of mass-violence—on all sides—is South Africa's approach to deal with the crimes committed by both, whites and blacks during the apartheid regime. My guest today, Dr. Clivia von Dewitz, argues that this experience holds important lessons for Russia and Ukraine, too, as justice begins with the search for truth.Dr. Dewitz is a judge at a District Court in Germany. In 1997 she completed an internship at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and later researched for many years the role of restorative justice in Canada, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and the United States.She is also a trained mediator in criminal and civil law, and most recently she published a book with the title “A Peace Commission for the Ukraine Conflict: Could South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission be a Model?”Links:German Book Link: “Gerechtigkeit durch Wiedergutmachung?”: https://westendverlag.de/Gerechtigkei...English Book Link:https://www.amazon.de/Peace-Commissio...Peace Institute: https://peacemaking.institute/english/Homepage Clivia von Dewitz https://coachingcvd.info/

Originally published on 9 Apr 2025.Today I’m talking again to Dr. David Gibbs, a Professor of History at Arizona University. We talked before on this channel but he recently made me aware of a noteworthy comparison, namely the striking similarities that today’s Russo-Ukrainian war has with the Soviet-Afghanistan war. At the time when the 1979 invasion took place, it was viewed in the West as completely unprovoked and a sensational threat to Western security. That’s the topic of discussion today.

Originally published on 8 Apr 2025.The signs are not just on the wall but written in the skies and the ocean's too. The entire "western" narrative, its repressive dominance, and its hubris are about to collapse and take many of its established institutions down with it. And the kakistrocratic (aka imbecile) leadership, doesn't even realise it. If they did, they wouldn't be driving Europe into that giant iceberg. To discuss the very sorry state of the European tragedy, I'm joined again by two colleagues from the region, Dr. Jan Oberg, a peace researcher from Sweden and the former British Diplomat Ian Proud.Ian's Substack article: https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p...Jan's Susback: https://thetransnational.substack.com