Foreign Exchanges: the Podcast

We're joined for the second time by Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic (@BMarchetich) to talk about French President Emmanuel Macron's tribulations, France's "yellow vest" protests, why austerity leads both to fascism and to a cooked planet, and of course why Vladimir Putin is behind all of it. 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

Freelance writer and Harvard Divinity School grad student Hannah Gais is back, so that makes two repeat guests on the podcast! She's going to try to explain to me how the Orthodox Church works, an effort that goes so well you can hear my dog literally howling by the end of it (I'm pretty sure she saw some kids outside). We talk about the schism between the Russian Orthodox Church and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I over Bartholomew's decision to allow Ukrainian church leaders to form their own autocephalous Orthodox Church separate from Moscow and try to Make Sense Of It All. Enjoy!Hannah has also written a piece about the schism, which we discuss during the interview that you can find here. You can find her on Twitter at @hannahgais. 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 joined in person by Emerson T. Brooking, co-author of a new book called LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. We talk about  the ways social media is being used to make life worse, where we're heading in terms of how governments and other bad actors weaponize social media, and what we can do about it. Enjoy!Buy the book: https://www.powells.com/book/-9781328695741You can follow Emerson on Twitter at @etbrooking. And if you can, Emerson asked me to ask you to support Stacey Abrams, the Democrat running for governor of Georgia. Her actblue page is here. 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

If you're a Michael Brooks fan, which you should be, then hopefully you've heard me on his show a few times now. Today I'm very grateful for the chance to turn the tables on him as we talk about Brazilian politics, corruption, Lula, and what has been an extraordinarily eventful presidential campaign. Enjoy!Do yourselves a favor and check out The Michael Brooks Show, on libsyn and/or YouTube. And if you're not already subscribing to Michael's Patreon, that's here. 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

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