Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full episode with Professor Junaid Ahmad: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/exposed-us-backed-regime-change-in?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Hillary Clinton and Rachel Maddow Save Democracy https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/hillary-clinton-and-rachel-maddow?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Professor Junaid Ahmad, director for the Center for Global Dialogue, joins Useful Idiots to shed light on a bombshell story that you may not have heard about. And you have western corporate media to thank for that. The Intercept released a secret Pakistan cable which documents US pressure to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan from power. That was achieved in April 2022, when Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote. Since then, the Pakistani government has arrested Khan and banned him from the next election. Ahmad explains the consequences of the findings in the classified documents and shares one of the craziest quotes reported in the Intercept article: “All will be forgiven,” said a U.S. diplomat, “if the no-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.” So why did the US want Khan out? Because he didn’t follow the rules of western imperialism. In a speech, Khan responded directly to Western demands that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine. “What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us? We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance.” Of course, such a statement is blasphemy under US rule, so Imran Khan was swiftly taken care of. Watch the full interview with Junaid Ahmad where he explains in depth what Khan believed as leader of Pakistan, how the regime change happened, and the next steps for the imprisoned prime minister to walk free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 debate: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/debate-is-trumps-jan-6th-plot-kooky?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: "Livin' on a Prayer (for endless war) https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/livin-on-a-prayer-for-endless-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Trump Indictment Season is officially in full swing, and corporate news, in their best attempt to give Trump as much free campaign coverage as possible, is covering it nearly 24/7. Whichever network you tune into, whether Fox News or MSNBC (and we sincerely hope you never tune into either), you’ll find panels with talking-head lawyers professing to know the exact legal implications of the indictment. As is our mission at Useful Idiots, we aim to be fundamentally opposite of corporate media in all ways. So accordingly, we admit to not mastering the legal implications of anything. Which is why Useful Idiots is hosting a proxy debate on the criminality of Trump’s actions around January 6. Congressional Dish host Jennifer Briney argues that Trump did in fact break the law, while writer and substacker Michael Tracey claims this indictment, like the others, is merely political. It’s a debate you could only get from independent media: respectful, evenly-matched, and honestly hard to choose a winning side. So cut the cable, tune into Useful Idiots, and let us know in the comments who wins you over. Did Trump break the law, or are we watching Russiagate 2.0? Subscribe to support independent media and watch the full debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 episode: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4381986/nato-is-the-zombie-that-won-t-die For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: MSNBC Celebrates Trump Indictment with 24/7 Campaign Promotion https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4375164/msnbc-celebrates-trump-indictment-with-24-7-campaign-promotion Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “The likely outcome of the Vilnius summit,” Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute, explains, “will be once again to dangle a never ending timetable for Kyiv’s admittance into the alliance.” As we progress further and further into the proxy war against Russia, Ukraine’s roadmap for joining NATO grows foggier and foggier. In 2008, Ukraine was given an explicit list of steps to complete in order to gain acceptance. Today, they’re told something else: “Ukraine can join NATO when allies agree and when certain conditions are met.” This purposefully vague promise seems to be the West’s way of pushing off Ukraine indefinitely while still making sure that they fight to the last Ukrainian. As Lieven says: “At the very least I’d say Ukraine is just as far away as it was in 2008. The case for Ukraine’s NATO membership is the zombie that won’t die.” At Responsible Statecraft, he writes of the danger NATO faces if they ever actually followed through on their promise: “The West will be committed to an endless strategy of arming and financing Ukraine against Russia, while praying that the United States remains fully committed to this and is not drawn away by more important domestic and international threats.” He adds: “For if America ever does pull back, NATO’s European members may find that the only thing more stupid than pulling a bear’s tail and running away is pulling its tail when you can’t run away.” Watch the full interview with Anatol Lieven where he explains how journalists have become part of the elite system they once reported on, the danger of Russophobia, and his scary answer to the question: “Do you have any fear that we’re heading towards World War III?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 Greg Mitchell: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4350544/oppenheimer-expert-on-what-christopher-nolan-s-movie-gets-wrong For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Congress Says the Aliens are Coming https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4342771/congress-says-the-aliens-are-coming Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Now I am become Useful Idiot. With the Hollywood blockbuster forcing everyone to remember the nuclear bomb again, Oppenheimer expert Greg Mitchell, who you can find on Substack here and here, joins the Useful Idiots to analyze Hollywood’s portrayal of the man and his bomb. “Only four movies in 75 years” have really dealt with the bomb, he tells us. We have countless movies about World War II, but when the US becomes the killer, Hollywood has fallen silent. So how did the fourth movie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, do? “What is included in the film is extremely accurate,” Mitchell says, but the details omitted tell a different story. “In the movie we don’t see warnings about the radiation effect, we don’t see the horror in Japan.” Nolan apparently leaves the audience with a grave warning about the future of nuclear warfare, but is he giving a pass to his characters who dropped the bombs already? “There’s tremendous focus on the Trinity test,” he says, explaining something the movie does show. “Every filmmaker loves to focus on Trinity because no one died there and there’s great special effects and it’s a great moment of triumph and celebration.” But what’s omitted: “They’d rather do that than look at happened when we killed 160,000 civilians.” Watch the full interview with author and historian Greg Mitchell where he explains the faults of the “harm reduction” argument, the rising nuclear tensions in North Korea, and how the Ukraine proxy war has brought us dangerously close to nuclear war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 Lev Golinkin: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4318784/ukrainian-journalist-shocked-by-new-poll The poll: https://voxukraine.org/en/the-ability-of-ukrainians-to-distinguish-messages-of-russian-propaganda-results-of-public-opinion-research For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Anderson Cooper upset by Cornel West's morality https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4311701/anderson-cooper-upset-by-cornel-wests-morality Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “This poll is earth-shattering.” “I wonder if any media will pick it up.” “Of course not!” Ukrainian-America journalist and author Lev Golinkin joined the show this week to discuss on a new poll that flips everything we’ve been told about “real Ukrainians.” And before you write off the poll as Russian propaganda, check out who conducted it: not Moscow, with its memes of deception to trick Americans, and not Useful Idiots, those secret Putin agents, but Vox! Now the poll: A shocking 43% of respondents in Ukraine disagreed with the statement “Nazi and/or neo-Nazi ideology is not widespread in Ukraine.” Guess what percent of respondents agreed with the statement “The West is using Ukraine for its own purposes in the war against Russia.” Check out the interview to find out. But you’ll see that Ukraine is not the monolith of pro-war nationalists that our media claims they are. As Lev goes through the responses of the poll, each one shockingly truthful about the split of what Ukrainians actually believe, he has a dark conclusion about the US government which refuses to look at the data: “These people who have control over our future know nothing about us.” But Vox Ukraine’s conclusion (we give props to them for even publishing the results at all), is very different. “The conducted survey revealed the overall ability of Ukrainians to differentiate narratives of Russian propaganda. In this case, the active promotion of counter-narratives is necessary.” So now it isn’t “listen to Ukrainians” but “these Ukrainians are duped by Russian propaganda and we need to teach the troglodytes that they like the war.” So, don’t listen to them. Join Lev, Katie, and Aaron as we analyze a poll that surely won’t be reported by the New York Times or any other corporate warriors, and watch the extended interview where Lev shares the truth about the real people of the Donbas, the war crimes committed by the West and Russia (“Any war crime you can name that has been committed by one side has been committed by the other”), and the one difference between Wagner neo-Nazis and Azov neo-Nazis: “The Wagner neo-Nazis are not put on MSNBC. The Wagner neo-Nazis are not being trained and armed by the United States. The Wagner neo-Nazis are not being invited to Congress.” It’s an enlightening interview with a Ukrainian voice ignored by the mainstream. Check it out, share the poll, and watch the extended interview with Lev Golinkin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 former CIA analyst Larry Johnson: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4286903/former-cia-analyst-the-west-cannot-defeat-russia-in-ukraine For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Biden Throws "Vladimir" Zelensky Under the Bus https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4280521/biden-throws-vladimir-zelensky-under-the-bus Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “The west cannot win.” Former CIA analyst and deputy director of the US Office of Counterterrorism Larry Johnson has a grave outlook for the proxy war in Ukraine. And it ends with a lot of dead Ukrainians. Even with the hundreds of billions of dollars of HIMARS, Stingers, Javelins, and now the potential for F-16s and war-crime cluster munitions, Ukraine, according to Johnson’s military analysis, has not made a single successful stand against fortified Russian forces and will only suffer more losses as the pointless war rages forward. And what’s his solution? Well, you won’t be surprised to hear it’s just about exactly the same as every other Useful Idiots guest’s: diplomacy. The west wins through peace. Johnson covers it all: how Russiagate led to the war, the Wagner Group’s “coup” and Prigozhin’s silly disguises, and the real reason the west hates Putin so much. Hint: it’s not because of the communist/dictator/Hitler/4D-chess super genius stuff they tell us. “We’re angry at Putin because he shut down the money flow from the oligarchs that was going into the pockets of a lot of western capitalists. It’s that simple.” Catch it all in the extended interview with Larry Johnson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 Noura Erakat: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4255962/israels-illegal-assault-on-jenin-w-noura-erakat For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: US "Free Press" Loves State Censorship https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/us-free-press-loves-state-censorship?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “Their crime is to exist,” Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat says of the Palestinians resisting Israel’s state-perpetrated terrorism and the recent attacks on the West Bank city of Jenin in particular. “When they attack, with war planes and tanks, indiscriminately, it’s a message to Palestinians that you are not safe. Anywhere. That unless you completely surrender, we will terrorize you. And the rest of the international community is going to blame you.” But, she tells us, sharing the resilience of Palestinians, “this is not a people that watches this and gives up. We’ll fight. We’ll fight and we’ll die fighting for our freedom.” And their fight is challenging Israel’s illegal violence: “The fact that Palestinians refuse to disappear is the existential threat. It’s not Molotov cocktails, or IEDs, or armed Palestinians. It’s the fact that Palestinians have united themselves across violent geographic demarcations that are meant to separate us, and refuse to disappear.” Watch the full interview with Noura to hear her family’s tragic first-hand experience with Israeli terror and her predictions for the future of the brave people of Palestine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 Scott Ritter: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4225085/scott-ritter-putin-won-the-coup-and-will-win-the-war Watch this week's FREE Thursday Throwdown on Locals: A "Non-Panicky" Nuclear War https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4216874/a-non-panicky-nuclear-war For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat “How does this war end?” we asked former marine corps intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter. The answer was not pretty. “With a lot of dead Ukrainians,” he told us gravely. “When Lindsay Graham gets out there and does his sick cackling and says we’re going to fight to the last Ukrainian, unfortunately that’s what’s going to happen.” Ritter explains that Putin and Russia will not be beaten militarily, and every day the US extends the proxy war in its attempt to bleed Russia and enrich weapons manufacturers, our “friends” will suffer even more. “We are condemning our friends the Ukrainians, everyday hundreds of families, to a fate that is in many cases worse than death. Bombing houses, people out on the street with their kids; this is what we’re doing to our friends every day of the week.” He finishes, giving the proper name for our relationship with the Ukrainian people: “We’re not friends. We’re the worst enemy one could imagine.” So what would Scott Ritter do if he was president today? “I would stop this war instantly,” he says. “There’s no more weaponry going to Ukraine. It’s over. I’d call Zelenskyy and say it’s done. And then I would call Putin and say we’re going to stop the fighting and we’re never going to start it again. We need to sit down and talk. That’s it, it’s called diplomacy.” Watch the full interview with Scott Ritter where he explains the history of Prigozhin and the Wagner Group, the disastrous Ukrainian counteroffensive, evidence of the peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and his full plan for how to end the war. Plus, watch this week’s Thursday Throwdown, which we’re giving to you for FREE on Locals: A “Non-Panicky” Nuclear War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 David Talbot and Aaron Good: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4191638/the-kennedys-vs-the-deep-state For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown – Biden: Build a 700-mile Fence to Keep Out the Illegals https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/biden-build-a-700-mile-fence-to-keep?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “We’ve gotten to the point now where we’ve been lied to for so long that people are really pissed off. One major event after the other we’ve been lied to. And we want the truth.” These wise words come from our guest David Talbot, journalist and author of The Devil’s Chessboard and Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years. He’s joined by Aaron Good, a historian and host of the American Exception podcast. They both bring their extensive research of the deep state, the secrets of the American empire, and previously-classified info from first-hand interviews and loads of documents. Plus they share their respectful disagreement with Noam Chomsky over JFK. Watch the full interview where they reveal who their research shows killed Robert F. Kennedy, their thoughts on presidential candidate RFK Jr, and how news media has collapsed since David founded Salon in 1995, one of the first online news magazines. The deep state has a lot of secrets, but the Useful Idiots are digging them up. Listen in. Don’t miss this week’s Thursday Throwdown where we watch a newly-resurfaced clip of Biden calling for a 700-mile fence on the Mexican border to keep out the “illegals.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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 Touré: https://usefulidiots.locals.com/post/4160086/80s-grooves-that-explained-the-news-w-tour For $5 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and chat live with Katie and Aaron in the Absurd Arena at http://usefulidiots.locals.com Find us on Substack at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Join the Absurd Arena live chat with Katie and Aaron every Tuesday at 12pm est at https://usefulidiots.substack.com/chat Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Cornel West Blows Jake Tapper's Mind https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/cornel-west-blows-jake-tappers-mind?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web We’re throwing it back to the 1980s with Touré, host of the excellent new podcast Being Black: The 80s (70s and 90s to follow), which breaks down some of the most impactful Black music of the decade, including what was happening in Black America at each moment in time. We listen to Dianna Ross, Public Enemy, Tracy Chapman, Stevie Wonder and more as Touré explains the Black culture history that led to the iconic songs, not just how they reflect the stories of the time, but how they ushered, or forced, in a new era of revolution. Touré, who was a cohost of MSNBC’s The Cycle and a writer for Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and The New Yorker, deep dives into the rich political and cultural history of Black life and music, including the influences of gay liberation, the power of MLK, mass incarceration, and the crack epidemic. It’s a fascinating musical episode of Useful Idiots that you won’t want to miss. And watch the full version where things get political: Touré, whose past as an MSNBC host can’t be hidden forever, debates Katie and Aaron on Cornel West, Bernie Sanders, and Obama. It’s a heated back and forth that seems to only prove the power of music, because no matter the disagreements on political issues, the tunes we listen to bring everyone back together. Listen and groove along with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSupport 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