Foreign Exchanges: the Podcast

Alex Thurston (@sahelblog on Twitter) joins me again to try to make some sense of the dizzying array of extremist groups in Mali and to talk about the aftermath of the Malian presidential election last month, which saw Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (pictured) reelected albeit with very low turnout. Be sure to check out Alex's Sahel Blog and his books:* Salafism in Nigeria from Columbia University Press* Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement from Princeton University PressEnjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

I'm joined by Michael Youhana to discuss his recent piece for the Fellow Travelers Blog, "Ending the War on Weapon States." We talk about what constitutes a Weapon State, how the War on Weapon States has impacted post-Cold War US foreign policy, and how to think about WMD and "rogue states" without falling into the usual Blob b******t. Apologies for a couple of spots where the audio is rough, one of us was fighting a lousy internet connection and the Skype quality suffered for it.You can find Michael's Fellow Traveler's piece here.Follow Michael on Twitter: @Michael_Youhana This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Unlocked for the public again because we've got another interview. Today I'm joined by defense technology reporter Kelsey Atherton, who you should be following on Twitter. We're talking about building a left-wing foreign policy vision, the new Fellow Travelers Blog that aims to get that conversation going, Space Force, and drone madness. Enjoy!Kelsey's piece on the Maduro incident is here.Fellow Travelers Blog on Twitter. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

I'm joined by Alex Thurston from Miami University of Ohio to talk about Boko Haram in particular and Nigeria in general. Alex is an expert on the Sahel region who writes at several places, but you should definitely check out his Sahel Blog and his books:* Salafism in Nigeria from Columbia University Press* Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement from Princeton University PressYou can also follow him on Twitter. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Here's that interview I promised you all last week. I'm speaking with writer Branko Marcetic, who has been covering Donald Trump's trip to the NATO summit and his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki for Jacobin and In These Times. He's been doing some great work countering the overwrought conventional narratives about both events. We discuss what really happened in Brussels and Helsinki and talk about NATO's superfluous post-Cold War existence. This one is open to the public. Enjoy!Links:"The Mysteriously Vanished NATO Critique" for Jacobin"The NATO Summit Wasn’t a Victory for Trump—It Was a Victory for Militarism" for In These Times"What the Liberal Establishment Gets Wrong About the Trump-Putin Summit" also for In These TimesFollow Branko on Twitter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

I'm throwing this one open to the general public because I think it's a good discussion and because...I've got a guest! Yes, you get to listen to somebody else talk for a change! I'm very excited to be joined by Ryan Cooper, National Correspondent for The Week and deep thinker about left-wing politics, to discuss what he's learned about how new Democratic candidates are approaching foreign policy and how the party as a whole is approaching foreign policy in the Age of Trump.If you're not reading Ryan's work regularly, you should. You can also follow him on Twitter.If you're interested in developing a left foreign policy, check out Fellow Travelers.Finally, if you want to support the work that Matt Bruenig is doing in developing a left-wing think tank, his People's Policy Project is here.Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

As promised, I did a 20 minute spot with the District Sentinel guys earlier today to discuss Netanyahu's presentation yesterday. You can go check it out on their Patreon and also check out the other great work they're doing, but they were kind enough to let me also post the audio here for you guys as well. One thing I'll add here: I mentioned Netanyahu wanting his speech to get on Fox and Friends so he could be sure Trump saw it. I actually gave him too much credit, because it turns out Netanyahu himself appeared on Fox and Friends this morning to deliver his sales pitch directly at Trump. I did not know this when we were doing the interview. In my defense, you would need to drug and restrain me to get me to watch Fox and Friends. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Today I'm pleased to be joined by Dan, aka Twitter user @dankmtl, for a crash course on the history of Armenian communities in the Middle East. Obviously we spend a fair amount of time on the Armenian Genocide, its causes and lingering effects, but we go all the way back to good old Tigranes the Great (see one of his coins above), who expanded Armenia to its largest extent in the first century BCE. This is a subject that can only be given the most cursory of treatments in a single podcast episode, but Dan is more than up to the challenge.I was going to post this on Tuesday as usual, but events in Armenia are kind of overtaking the interview. As I say in a section I just added, ex-Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan just resigned today after days of protests over his decision to switch over from president to PM in order to hang onto power. Dan and I did this interview on Sunday and talked briefly about the protests, but obviously we didn't have any idea he was about to step down. I figured I better get this out before anything else happens. Anyway, enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

Today's episode is another interview and it is again going to be available to the public. I'm grateful to have been joined by John Feffer of the Institute for Policy Studies to talk about his recent piece for Foreign Policy in Focus on Donald Trump's majoritarian politics and the spread of majoritarianism around the world (I know I mention "a couple of pieces" in my intro but consider that a function of the fact that I got about five hours of sleep last night and that my plan for the interview changed as we were recording it). John walks us through the concept of majoritarianism, examines the construction of a "majority" in the first place, and looks at majoritarianism's causes and a hopeful counter to it. You can find more of John's work at Foreign Policy in Focus, LobeLog, and his own website. Enjoy!I close with an appeal for you to support a new resolution in the US Senate offered by Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy that could potentially end America's role in the ongoing Yemen atrocity. WinWithoutWar.org's petition is here. I know I usually post episodes on Tuesdays but because the petition is timely I wanted to get this episode out as soon as it was ready. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe

We're lucky to be joined by freelance writer, full-time grad student, and Russian active measure Hannah Gais to talk about the 2016 election, Russiagate, Vladimir Putin, the state of US-Russia relations, and Russia's many crimes including killing God. I'm opening this episode to the general public for a change, so please share widely.Hannah's Baffler piece, "Who's Afraid of the Russian Soul?" is here.Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.foreignexchanges.news/subscribe