Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trump-shocked-after?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Surprise! Dr. Phil is in Israel's Pocket https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/surprise-dr-phil-is-in-israels-pocket?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.Read our guests' books:Democracy on the Ground: Local Politics in Latin America’s Left TurnSpecters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican CountrysideThe Trump Administration’s regime change operations in Venezuela are escalating rapidly, making it a challenge to keep up with the facts, lies, hypocrisies, kidnappings, and killings. That’s why we’re speaking with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña, two experts on the historical implications of US destabilization attempts in Latin America, who deep dive into why Trump is attacking Venezuela, the role oil and natural resources play in this, and the broader conflict it will bring with China and BRICS.Useful Idiots: Despite the invasion, Alex, you’ve argued that this can be read as a sign of weakness of the United States. Can you elaborate on that?Alex Aviña: The fact that they didn’t opt for a larger military operation could be read as a recognition of the difficulty of such an operation. The military assets that the US had moved in the Caribbean are not nearly enough for an Iraq-style invasion or even what they did to Panama in December of 1989.If we think about the broader context, and thinking about the national security strategy that the Trump administration published late last year, they more or less have conceded that they can’t frontally challenge China and Asia. So one way that they are going to proceed in the future is to indirectly challenge China.China is the largest trading partner for South America, right? Historically every time that the US “comes home” and starts taking it out on Latin America, it’s usually after a moment of defeat or an admission that the global designs of the United States have met obstacles. So they have to retrench their power within Latin America.Useful Idiots: Gabriel, you have a recent article at The Intercept: “The U.S. Desperately Wants Back in the Business of Empire With Venezuela. America carried out a coup in Venezuela to plunder the country’s resources. But Latin Americans will have the last word.” So what do you mean by that, Latin Americans will have the last word?Gabriel Hetland: Trump’s attempt to dominate Latin America doesn’t always work out the way the US wants it to. Specifically, when the US attempts to push Latin Americans around, it sometimes has an immediate or more long-term backlash. And we’ve seen this repeatedly in Latin American history just this year.Trump went after Lula, the president of Brazil, because he was prosecuting Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup. He talked about slapping 50% tariffs on Lula, and that helped Lula’s popularity. We saw something similar in 2002 with Evo Morales in Bolivia. The U.S. ambassador called him a narco terrorist and he immediately went to number two in the polls.There’s also going to be a backlash against U.S. imperialism in other countries. In Colombia, Gustavo Petro has had huge rallies all week. Santos, the conservative former president of Colombia, who’s not an ally of Petro, actually said it was good that Petro and Trump were having a conversation. So when the president of the United States goes after leaders in Latin America, it can put conservatives in Latin America on the back foot and force them to actually defend leftists. It can also provide an electoral boost for nationalists and leftists and anti-imperialism overall. I think that it’s very, very likely that we’ll see more of that.Subscribe to watch full interview with Alex Aviño and Gabriel Hetland on the nearly-satyrical levels of racism in the Venezuelan opposition that MAGA is propping up, as well as a controversial question from Aaron.00:00 Intro00:47 JD Vance CAUGHT Lying About Minnesota ICE Murder07:12 Alex Aviña and Gabriel Hetland interview09:28 What's happening in Venezuela?13:50 Is the US weakening?35:09 The real MAGA agenda in Latin AmericaOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Watch the full Monday Mourning here: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-kidnaps-venezuelan-president-maduro?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webClick here for our episode on Trump's Venezuela War: https://youtu.be/-R9OJP5K21AWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULClick here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch our Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The hosts dive into the mysterious redactions of Epstein files, questioning political motives behind the removal of a Trump photo. They analyze public reactions to imagery of notable figures, including Bill Clinton. The conversation shifts to Lindsey Graham's controversial statements on Israel and Venezuela, with critiques of escalation rhetoric. They challenge Antony Blinken's diplomatic record and discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. A focus on media consolidation reveals concerns about bias and journalistic integrity.

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULClick here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.For this week’s interview, we’re speaking with Francisco Rodríguez about the latest in Trump’s regime-change campaign in Venezuela. Rodríguez, a member of the Venezuelan opposition who formerly advised a challenger to President Nicolás Maduro, does not, like other members of the opposition, support the U.S. policy of starvation sanctions and military force to overthrow the government of Venezuela.Useful Idiots: You have warned that Trump’s naval blockade of U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela could lead to the first major famine in the Western Hemisphere. Can you explain what you mean by that?Francisco Rodríguez: The first thing to understand is that the Venezuelan economy runs on oil revenues. Oil is more than 90% of the country’s exports. It uses its export revenue in order to pay for imports of everything, including food and essentials.The Venezuelan economy doesn’t actually produce the food that it needs to feed itself. And that’s not atypical: that’s the case for many economies that are integrated into the world economy. But not many economies get blockaded. In fact, there’s really no precedent of a sustained blockade of any economy in the Western Hemisphere.Useful Idiots: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responded to Trump’s blockade announcement by ordering a naval escort for tankers that are carrying oil toward Asia. This obviously raises the risk, if Trump decides to enforce his social media post, of a military confrontation between the U.S. and Venezuela in the high seas.Francisco Rodríguez: The U.S. has essentially gone into this strategy of trying to scare the Venezuelan military into turning on Maduro, which is called the credible threat strategy. It’s the idea that if the US can credibly threaten that it’s going to invade, it doesn’t actually have to invade: the military is going to turn on Maduro who is going to give up power.Up until now, Maduro isn’t moving. You don’t have any sign of rebellion in the military, and this strategy has painted President Trump into a corner because now he’s almost forced to show that this threat is credible by carrying out a military attack.But on the other hand, there seems to be absolutely no appetite, at least in American public opinion and among the political leadership of both parties, for an actual war in Venezuela. So is President Trump going to pull the trigger? Is he going to go in and seize that tanker and fire on the Venezuelan ships that are escorting it? We don’t know. It’s highly unpredictable.But what we do know is that a lot of military conflicts begin this way. They begin with threats and then one side either miscalculating or believing that it has to enforce its threat in order to maintain its credibility.Subscribe for the full interview with Francisco Rodríguez for his thoughts on Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado calling regime change an “act of love.”And don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: Katie Halper & Aaron Maté React to Ridiculous ‘Melania’ Trailer00:00 Intro01:02 Fox News celebrates "squeezing" civilians06:48 Francisco Rodríguez interview29:44 What happened when he challenged President Maduro?Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Suad Abdel Aziz: https://youtu.be/AQjkoX28EN0Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/aaron-mate-on-confronting-hillary?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourningThis weekend, a mass shooting in Australia killed at least 16 people at a Hanukkah celebration. Australian lawmakers responded to the incident rationally: they’re creating new policy to tighten gun restrictions in the country. US politicians, who responded to their own mass shooting at Brown University with the usual “thoughts and prayers,” had a much more ridiculous takeaway:“My heart goes out to all of the Jewish citizens of America and around the world,” says Senator Jim Banks (R-IN). “In America we have to do more to deport terrorists out of the United States to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen in the homeland.” He then adds for good measure: “And our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.”Instead of dealing with the problem of gun violence, or assessing that the ethno-supremacist state of Israel waging a 2-year ethnic cleansing campaign is the leading cause for the rise in antisemitism, US politicians are using this atrocity to fuel Islamophobia and deport innocent people from the country, creating even more suffering in the name of Israel.But please, when you talk about the students killed at Brown, don’t politicize it. Just say thoughts and prayers.We cover this, and so much more, in this week’s Monday Mourning. Plus, don’t miss our limited-time offer to get 2 FREE MONTHS OF USEFUL IDIOTS.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton at usefulidiotspodcast.comJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.This week we speak with Suad Abdel Aziz, a Sudanese-American lawyer and founder of the human rights advocacy organization Decolonize Sudan. The Sudan genocide is a topic we haven’t covered extensively at Useful Idiots, so Suad educates us with a history of the region, explains what’s going on now, and reveals how the US is involved.Useful Idiots: Can you give us a brief history of Sudan and how we got to where we are?Suad Abdel Aziz: Despite how mainstream media frames it, there is not an internal power struggle or civil war that’s happening in Sudan. What’s happening is a foreign-backed genocide, carried out by a militia called the Rapid Support Forces, or the RSF, as part of a colonial project to completely destabilize Sudan in order to seize land within a larger imperial scheme designed to extract resources, consolidate economic control of Sudan, and control Sudan’s foreign policy.Beginning in April of 2023, the RSF violently seized Sudan, and over the course of over two years now, destroyed and leveled the bulk of Sudan’s infrastructure and has displaced over a third of the population, which is over sixteen million people. They have waged a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing marked by mass killings, including killings of entire family lineages, sexual violence, and the deliberate starvation of entire communities.The RSF is only able to do this through the backing of the United Arab Emirates, who provide the funds, the fighters, and the weapons for this militia. In exchange, the UAE is extracting the resources of Sudan, with the main export that it’s smuggling being gold. And the UAE’s gold exports have increased by over 25% since this siege began.Useful Idiots: What is the connection between Sudan and Palestine?Suad Abdel Aziz: Sudan has historically been allied with Palestine and against Israel, which is key in understanding why the US seeks to align Sudan’s foreign policy with its own in order to serve its larger interests of domination of the Middle East. It’s very clear that if elections were to happen in Sudan, that the people would elect in anti-colonial Muslim governance. And this is a threat to US control of the Middle East and of Muslim countries.Listen to or watch our full interview with Suad Abdel Aziz, unpaywalled for all listeners. And don’t miss our limited time deal: 2 MONTHS of Useful Idiots FREE. Your support of independent media means everything.Plus, don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton00:00 Intro00:29 Chuck Schumer Supports Trump's Regime Change War02:46 CNN says stealing oil from other countries is cool now06:33 Suad Abdel Aziz interviewOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Click here for the full interview with Greg Grandin: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-cias-secret-drug-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Stephen Miller Says What He'd Do With Pete Hegseth's Children https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/stephen-miller-says-what-hed-do-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.This week we’re speaking to Pulitzer-Prize winner Greg Grandin about the Trump Administration’s regime-change war in Venezuela, which now is mired in controversy not just because we’re trying to overthrow a foreign government yet again, but also because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presided over a blatantly unconstitutional strike on a speedboat in the Caribbean.Useful Idiots: Can you walk us through what Trump is doing right now in Venezuela and what is motivating him?Greg Grandin: The big picture is the America First movement, which imagines that the United States no longer superintends a global liberal political economy in which everybody plays by the rules. That’s happened in the past, and Latin America is key to that.But then, of course, there’s Venezuela and there’s oil. There was a split within the Trump administration between so-called moderates, who are tied to Chevron, and the war party, Miller, Rubio, and Hegseth. I think those speedboat attacks were the war party’s attempt to preempt any normalization of relationships with Venezuela.And with Rubio, it’s a confluence of two different strands. One is he was a neocon before he became America First. But he’s also from South Florida, and he’s got deep ties to the Cuban community. And Venezuela is seen as the first step towards taking out Cuba, denying it its oil. So he’s doing it under the rubric of the War on Drugs, which of course is not Donald Trump. That’s a fifty year war.Behind every single horror that Donald Trump represents exists a long train of U.S. presidents that had first put in the policies that make what Trump does today possible. And that’s nowhere clearer than in the Drug War, which started formally with Richard Nixon in 1973. So there’s many things flowing into it.Useful Idiots: Do you think Trump will succeed with these plans in Venezuela?Greg Grandin: The momentum to get Maduro out is quite strong and surprisingly orchestrated, which included the Nobel Peace Prize Committee giving María Corina Machado the prize, and she immediately fulfilled her role as everybody’s worst expectation of what could possibly happen. I can’t imagine any other Peace Prize winner immediately embarking on an alliance with Donald Trump to stage a coup. But that’s where we are.I think that Trump wants Venezuela settled. That either means Maduro’s gone and some provisional government favorable to the United States is in power, or it means the Chevron faction within the Trump administration keeps Maduro and establishes some semblance of normalcy and keeps the oil pumping.Now deportation flights have restarted after being halted for a little while. That’s where I’m a little bit dubious about whether Trump is going to go all in on Rubio’s visions. They don’t have enormous support in the United States. It doesn’t have support in the MAGA base. And obviously Hegseth is having all of these problems. The leaking of the footage of that double-tap speedboat killing suggests there’s deep discontent within the military…Subscribe to watch the full interview with historian Greg Grandin. (Or watch it free with this deal. You’ll also get our Friday Free-For-All: Stephen Miller Says What He’d Do With Pete Hegseth’s Children)00:00 Intro00:59 Friday Free-For-All01:18 Hillary Clinton mocks her own students for opposing genocide07:30 Greg Grandin interview07:54 Pete Hegseth's war crimes31:32 Marco Rubio claims Hezbollah is working in VenezuelaOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Marta Havryshko and Nicolai Petro: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-ukrainian-scholar-exposes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Fmr Obama Speechwriter: "Genocide is Bad" Is WRONG Takeaway of the Holocaust at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/fmr-obama-speechwriter-genocide-is?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This interview with Marta Havryshko is UNPAYWALLED from last week's show. We think Marta's message is important for everyone to hear so we're making it free to all!Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Click here for the full interview with Marta Havryshko and Nicolai Petro: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-ukrainian-scholar-exposes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Fmr Obama Speechwriter: "Genocide is Bad" Is WRONG Takeaway of the Holocaust at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/fmr-obama-speechwriter-genocide-is?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.There’s been a lot happening in Ukraine: there is talk of a new peace proposal floated by the US and Russia, and meanwhile, Ukraine internally is in chaos over a corruption scandal touching Zelensky and his inner circle.We spoke to two experts: returning guest Marta Havryshko, visiting assistant professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, and Nicolai Petro, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island and author of The Tragedy of Ukraine.Useful Idiots: What is going on with this corruption controversy in Ukraine?Marta Havryshko: First of all, I must say that it’s not only a corruption scandal. It’s an entire political crisis. This energy scandal is part of a bigger picture, and different security services and state agencies are all involved in these corruption schemes crafted by Zelensky’s friends.The corruption scheme involves kickbacks with Ukraine’s energy production at a time when a lot of Ukrainians are going without power because of all the Russian attacks. So now, Ukrainians are sitting without water, electricity, and heat for twelve, fifteen hours per day in some cities.They are outraged. And they are thinking, ‘Why is this happening? How is it possible that ordinary Ukrainians are demanded to go to the front line, to send their sons away, but at the same time our political elites are making money out of their sufferings while we sit for hours without heat, water, and electricity?’Useful Idiots: We have word of yet another new seismic development in the Ukraine proxy war. There is talk now that Ukraine has been presented with a new sort of ultimatum from Trump. It includes ceding all of the Donbas to Russia and a reduction in the size of the Ukrainian military. What is your understanding of where things are both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table?Nicolai Petro: The battlefield situation is getting increasingly critical for Ukraine. There are some assessments that we’re reaching a tipping point at which it is possible that the front line collapses at several points and then the situation will be dire indeed. And perhaps it is to prevent putting Ukraine and its European backers in that kind of dire situation that the current proposal has been floated…Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy