

Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté
Useful Idiots, LLC
Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 23, 2024 • 1h 12min
Racism is "in" again at the DNC
Watch Monday Mourning with Rania Khalek: The Cops are Ready for the DNC https://youtube.com/live/U3ZaFJUi6W0?feature=shareWatch Thursday Throwdown: Everyone's laughing at you, CNN https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/everyones-laughing-at-you-cnn?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.Go to mymorningkick.com/useful and watch Chuck Norris's video on how you can see incredible changes to your health.Support 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

Aug 16, 2024 • 49min
The REAL Hezbollah – With Lebanese Journalist Ghadi Francis
Click here for the full interview with Ghadi Francis: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/the-real-hezbollah-with-lebanese?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Everyone's laughing at you, CNN https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/everyones-laughing-at-you-cnn?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.Go to mymorningkick.com/useful and watch Chuck Norris's video on how you can see incredible changes to your health.Western media presents Hezbollah as a group of savages, targeting civilians and trying to drag Lebanon, and the entire Middle East, into war.But, Lebanese journalist Ghadi Francis explains, this couldn’t be further from the truth: “The armed resistance in Lebanon and in Palestine and in Yemen and in Iraq is just the reaction to the decades of oppression, to the decades of blood.”And though Ghadi doesn’t share Hezbollah’s ideology, she is grateful for it: “The ideology gives so much confidence to these fighters and patience and resilience to their families.” And she is grateful that Hezbollah is fighting to protect her, the Lebanese people and the Palestinian people. “The concept of resistance, it's the concept of life, to give my kids a future that I couldn't have.”Ghadi warns against trusting Western media. “After the 40 beheaded imaginary Israeli babies,” why would we “still believe them?”Social media is revealing the truth that traditional media has been covering up: “You are seeing now the tremendous videos and feeds coming out from Gaza. I tell you, this is not new. The same things have been happening, but cameras weren't there and social media wasn't there.”Although Hezbollah and other resistance movements are painted as instigating violence, they are reacting to it. “The armed resistance in Lebanon and in Palestine and in Yemen and in Iraq is just the reaction to the decades of oppression, to the decades of blood.”Israel’s terrorism is presented as self defense, while Hezbollah’s self defense is presented as terrorism. But “when someone else is killing your infants, you’d have to be like God or a prophet to be able to forgive and forgive and forgive and forgive, decade after decade after decade.”Subscribe for the full interview with Ghadi Francis on the difference between how Israel and Hezbollah fight wars, the growing desperation in the west that could lead to a ceasefire, and her own experience in Hamas’s tunnels.00:00 Intro01:08 Aaron's hate crime04:56 Blinken celebrates the Geneva Conventions17:48 Ghadi Francis interview18:26 What is resistance?22:12 Who is Hezbollah?27:06 Does Hezbollah have support in Lebanon?31:43 Is Iran behind it all?36:40 The role of Hamas41:26 The ideology of Hezbollah46:36 How Israel fights vs how Hezbollah fightsSupport 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

Aug 9, 2024 • 51min
Is Israel About to Go to War with Iran? w/ Rami Khouri
Click here for the full interview with Rami Khouri: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-interview-is-israel-about?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webRead Rami Khouri's new book Understanding Hamas: https://orbooks.com/catalog/understanding-hamas/Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Is Tim Walz anti-Semitic for not being Josh Shapiro? https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/is-tim-walz-anti-semitic-for-not?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.Go to mymorningkick.com/useful and watch Chuck Norris's video on how you can see incredible changes to your health.“The colonial era never ended in the Middle East. The colonial spirit that drives white, Northern, European, American, military-industrial, racist, apartheid, Christian powers is still with us.”Palestinian-American journalist Rami Khouri, who is a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow at the American University of Beirut and author of the new book Understanding Hamas, has been reporting on conflicts in the Middle east for 55 years. “And the most striking thing to me in that entire period is what we're witnessing today.”This week the world is watching the potential face-off between an Israeli-American alliance against a new alliance of forces in the Middle East. Will Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran trigger a regional war?Khouri explains how the tumultuous history in the region brought us to where we are today, and he points a finger at not just nation states and governments, but Western media:“The mainstream media has played such a central role propagating the various lies and exaggerations and racist stereotypes that have kept this conflict going for so long.”And they don’t just report on war. They profit off it. “We have to not be drawn into the CNN, New York Times, MSNBC fantasy world of cartoon-like diplomacy, and the projection of the US as the great provider of peaceful life and democracy in the face of these barbaric Muslims and Arabs and Iranians. This is a fantasy world that has been created in the West, and a lot of people made a lot of money out of it.”So we asked Rami Khouri: will all this lead to a new war in the Middle East?Subscribe to hear his full answer, plus how Israel has repeatedly rejected peace deals, the difference between Judaism and Zionism, how to properly understand Hamas, and the one way to end this occupation:“The Israelis have revealed, in all its ugliness, the barbaric, violent spirit that is their Zionist movement in the genocide in Gaza. There has to be an international mechanism to force Israel to do what it has never done.”Thanks for supporting independent media. Subscribe for the full episode.00:00 Intro01:24 White House helps AIPAC take out progressives19:15 Rami Khouri interview20:13 Israel vs Iran27:49 Does Israel want Iran to attack?42:20 Israel's violent worldview48:40 Will they EVER accept a peace deal?Support 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

Aug 2, 2024 • 50min
US media is hiding THIS about Venezuela’s elections – w/ Anya Parampil
Click here for the full interview with Anya Parampil: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-us-media-is-hiding?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Thursday Throwdown: The State Dept Doesn't Know What a War Crime Is https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/the-state-dept-doesnt-know-what-a?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.Go to mymorningkick.com/useful and watch Chuck Norris's video on how you can see incredible changes to your health.When the US government has been running a decades-long regime-change operation, sabotaging another country with shadow governments and crippling sanctions, it’s hard to take anything it says about the country’s leaders at face value. Which is why, as Venezuela held elections this week and corporate media shouted reports of stolen elections, dictatorship, and civil war, you might find yourself asking:Is any of this actually true?Journalist Anya Parampil, author of the new book Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire, documents the bipartisan efforts of the last four US presidents to destroy Venezuela’s economy enough to remove its leaders from power and instate a US-backed puppet as head of state.“You can't deny,” she says, “what was an orchestrated demolition of the Venezuelan economy on behalf of foreign powers.” And while we hear repeatedly from corporate media that the problems come from within Venezuela, whether it’s dictatorship, gangs, or corruption, Anya points out a basic truth:“Coming at it from the point of an American, I'm not going to intervene in your country at all, and beyond that all I know is that their lives would be better if the sanctions were lifted.”She explains why, even after the constant meddling of neocons like John Bolton and Gargamel-doppelganger Elliot Abrams, the piracy of the country’s oil, and the destruction of countless people’s lives with harsh sanctions, the US has still been unsuccessful in regime change.Subscribe to hear the full interview with Anya Parampil where she details how each US president from Bush to Biden made efforts to derail Venezuela’s economy, how these efforts have actually created the immigration problems they love to complain about, and Anya’s epic 2019 interview with Tucker Carlson which led to a call from then-President Trump.00:00 Intro00:35 Lindsey Graham wants to bomb Iran and Trump falls in love15:09 Anya Parampil interview16:38 WTF happened in Venezuela this week?23:43 Who is the opposition?29:13 The US role37:32 A visit from Gargamel45:49 Is it Venezuela's fault?Support 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

Jul 26, 2024 • 42min
Israeli Settlers Are the World’s Worst Neighbors w/ Mohammed el-Kurd
Click here for the full interview with Mohammed el-Kurd: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israeli-settlers?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Biden forgets he’s at war around the world https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/biden-forgets-hes-at-war-around-the?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.Go to mymorningkick.com/useful and watch Chuck Norris's video on how you can see incredible changes to your health.Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed el-Kurd is from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. He became known around the world when he resisted the theft of his family home by Israeli settlers.Now, as he and his community continue to resist, he is constantly asked in Western media: But what about their feelings? Where will the settlers go?His response created a meltdown for corporate media elites: “I truly don’t give a f***”In a new satirical parody of the disingenuous Western media, Mohammed expands his answer: “Why should I care about what happens to the settlements? What happens to the people who have been bombed to smithereens? What happens to our relatives who are in prisons rotting away without charge or trial? But what I'm asked to care about is the hypothetical future of the settlers who drink their coffee from my balcony.”So we chat with Mohammed on Useful Idiots to find out why he’s using satire to make fun of the corporate media that treats Palestinians so disingenuously.“Ever since this genocidal onslaught on Gaza started,” he says. “It's become more and more circus-like. Being a Palestinian in the media sphere almost feels gimmicky, like it's being done for entertainment values. We are told to take these ridiculous accusations seriously, to respond to them in good faith. In reality, when you're responding to them in good faith, you're giving them power over you.”Mohammed’s parody, which he made with Jewish Voice for Peace activist Morgan Bassichis, is instead titled In Bad Faith. “When you're satirizing them, when you're dismissing them, you are in fact flipping the script. It teaches the audience at home something. It inspires them and incentivizes them to be more flippant, to be more irreverent, to refuse these kinds of investigations and interrogations.”What is serious: Mohammed goes in-depth on what it was like to have people violently raid his community and steal their homes.“They would look at us like they were at an auction for zoo animals. And that's how it felt. We grew up with settlers doing all kinds of sexual harassment, verbal abuses, and they're always protected by police. We would have busloads come into our front yard and sing their religious songs and scream their expletives at us, spit at us. If I didn't live that life, I would not believe it.”Subscribe for the full interview with Mohammed el-Kurd where we ask him if there’s any difference between Trump and the Democrats, discuss the New York Times’ complicity with their rampant anti-Palestinian propaganda, and find out: will Kamala Harris be any different?00:00 Intro00:58 Netanyahu goes to Congress16:26 Mohammed el-Kurd interview17:20 MSM parody "In Bad Faith"21:34 Why should I care about settlers?25:02 College encampments27:34 How settlers took their homes32:17 Killing poets40:00 Trump vs Dems: What's the Difference?Support 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

Jul 19, 2024 • 49min
Roger Waters TAKES ON Piers Morgan
Click here for the full interview with Roger Waters: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/roger-waters-takes-on-piers-morgan?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webSee Katie LIVE in Dublin on July 24: https://thefumbally.ie/product/the-katie-halper-show/For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.comWatch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Joe Biden thinks he's the MOST RESPECTED world leader https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/joe-biden-thinks-hes-the-most-respected?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.“Is the revolution around the corner? I effing hope so!”Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters returns to Useful Idiots as bold and funny as ever, with takes on the UK’s new “self-serving Nazi” Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the meaninglessness of the Trump assassination attempt, the real devastation happening everyday in Gaza, Julian Assange, and so much more.Roger laments that our leaders are “Joe Biden, who thinks he rules the world” and “Keir Starmer, who's a self-serving, career Nazi. They would do anything, tell any lie, adopt any position that can give them power and influence.”Waters asks what would have happened if the assassination attempt on Trump had been successful: “Nothing. There'd be another puppet there instead. It doesn't make any difference.”Which is why Roger believes working hard to get these people, Trump and Biden, out of office is so important. “You have an opportunity now to take part in the existential battle for the human soul that Aaron and Katie and I and millions, billions of people all over the world are engaged in. Because we care about right and wrong and we care about human rights and we care about our brothers and sisters.”And if we don’t? “We are heading towards World War Three very, very fast.”ShareLast week, Aaron appeared on Piers Morgan in a debate with two very angry Zionists. The week before, Roger debated Piers himself. The two trade stories of the frustrating environment and how blatant lies (beheaded babies, evidence-less sexual assault of Israeli women), and propaganda (the covering up of Israel’s mass violence of its own people on October 7th) are being shoved down our throats.“People on this issue just repeat again and again claims that have been debunked. They've been doing it since Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goering suggested it in the late 1930s. The bigger the lie you tell, the better it is. You just have to keep repeating it.”Subscribe to hear the full interview with Roger Waters where he shares stories of his meeting with Julian Assange, a song from his upcoming album, the fascist uniform he wears for his live shows, and what he does every day to make a difference in the world.“It's not easy. We all of us wake up in the morning and burst into tears, and then think ‘All right pull yourself together you big lunk. There's work to be done.’ And we think what can I do today to to make a difference? However tiny it is, what can I do today that is not standing by, silent and indifferent? What can I do?”00:00 Intro04:11 The Four Food Groups of News18:04 Roger Waters interview18:42 UK elections24:39 England's role in Gaza31:57 Jeremy Corbyn's fall39:41 The moment Putin became the enemy42:54 Israel killed its OWN PEOPLE on Oct 746:49 Roger and Aaron on Piers Morgan (subscribe)Support 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

Jul 12, 2024 • 49min
UNLOCKED: UK Diplomat Ian Proud Full Interview
For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.comWatch Thursday Throwdown: NYT accidentally exposes Biden's big debate lie https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nyt-accidentally-exposes-bidens-big?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.By popular demand, we are unlocking the extended interview with Ian Proud. Watch the full chat here:From July 2014 to February 2019, veteran diplomat Ian Proud was posted to the British Embassy in Moscow where he advised UK Ministers on sanctions against Russia.His embrace of diplomacy over war made him a Misfit in Moscow.Proud joins Useful Idiots to explain how British diplomacy failed in Russia, and how a strategy other than aggression and saber-rattling could have averted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He gives a complex history of the conflict, beginning with the 2014 West-backed coup in Ukraine, and culminating in Boris Johnson’s infamous in person threat to Zelensky that he must reject a peace deal.We ask Ian if it was Biden who instructed Johnson to do so.And today, with a (“so-called”) peace summit convened by the Ukrainian government and Putin making his most concrete peace offer to date, Ian’s long history as a British diplomat in Moscow gives us a chance to pull back the curtain on the talks that could potentially end the proxy war.Subscribe to hear the full interview with Ian Proud where he explains:•How the US’s Victoria Nuland undermined peace talks at every step since 2014•Boris Johnson’s admission that the proxy war is about “defending western hegemony” (and his embarrassing meeting with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion)•The UK’s role in the dirty war in Syria•The UK’s role in aiding Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza•How much the British government and its allies invest in propaganda (or, as they call it, strategic communications) to deceive the public into going along with their proxy wars•And the 2024 US presidential election: Would there would be any foreign policy difference between Biden and Trump?Useful Idiots is off this week, so we are unlocking a fan-favorite episode. Thanks for your support!Support 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

Jul 5, 2024 • 55min
Israel is heading for "national suicide" says Jewish Arab Israeli
Click here for the full interview with Alon Mizrahi: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israel-is-heading?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com
Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: NYT accidentally exposes Biden's big debate lie https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nyt-accidentally-exposes-bidens-big?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Join 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.
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

Jun 28, 2024 • 58min
The one way to stop Israel – w/ Diana Buttu
For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com
Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: CNN compares Keffiyehs to Confederate Flags https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/cnn-compares-keffiyehs-to-confederate?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Join 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.
265 days into Israel’s mass assault on Gaza, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization Diana Buttu joins us from Haifa, Israel with a stark warning:
Things are going to get worse.
“For Netanyahu,” she explains, “he needs to open up another front in order to maintain his power. He's made it clear that he's not going to push for a ceasefire. He doesn't care about the Israeli captives. And so it's pretty clear to me that he's going to go ahead and attack Lebanon.”
Israel has no aim to rescue its hostages. It never did. “If they actually cared about them, they would have done what should have been done very early on, which is negotiate a ceasefire. Instead, they’ve done the opposite. And this is why you can look at these ceasefire proposals with such skepticism. Because instead, what they’ve done is bombed Gaza to virtual smithereens.”
Diana, whose father survived the Nakba in 1948, moved to Haifa in 2000. And like many others, she believed what the media told everyone to believe: that with a simple peace plan, Palestine would be fixed.
Then she arrived in Palestine and saw the true reality.
“All of the things that had been dismissed by the mainstream media,” she says, “I had dismissed too. I had dismissed this idea of settlements and the impact of settlements. And I kept thinking, it'll be undone. It'll all be undone. I dismissed the harm of what it means to be a Palestinian political prisoner, to be somebody who's abducted in the middle of the night. I dismissed the harm of the checkpoints. I dismissed a lot of things. And so when I arrived here, it was the first time that I had to confront the reality that this political process was not going to undo any of those harms.”
Stopping the bombs is one thing. Stopping settlements, returning land, granting rights to Palestinians, and removing the literal wall that cages them is another.
“They talk about reconfiguring the prison, reconfiguring the occupation, but they never talk about ending the occupation because this mentality of control permeates deep inside Israel.”
There’s only one way this ends, Diana says. “It's going to end when the world says that it's enough. And that's it.”
Diana also shares haunting stories of Palestinian children who were kept in Israeli torture prisons for months, and the ways that western corporate media has worked to cover it up.
This week’s interview with Diana Buttu will not be paywalled. We hope you’ll listen to and share her important perspective.
Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: CNN compares Keffiyehs to Confederate Flags, where Van Jones claims that wearing a keffiyeh around Israeli government supporters is as much a call for violence as waving a confederate flag in Harlem. And we celebrate the freedom of Julian Assange, a rare victory that couldn’t have happened without supporters of independent media like you.
Thanks for your support, we’ll see you next time.
00:00 Intro
00:37 The Four Food Groups of News
18:10 Diana Buttu interview
18:52 Will Netanyahu attack Lebanon?
23:17 Why Netanyahu needs the war
24:50 Does Israel care about the hostages?
28:24 Is the peace process bogus?
33:01 Responding to Israeli talking points
42:10 Israeli is torturing child prisoners
52:10 How does the occupation end?
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

Jun 21, 2024 • 45min
UK diplomat reveals NATO STARTED the WAR in Ukraine
Click here for the full interview with Ian Proud: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/uk-diplomat-reveals-nato-started?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com
Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: White House would NEVER pause shipments to Israel, reports White House https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/white-house-would-never-pause-shipments?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Join 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.
From July 2014 to February 2019, veteran diplomat Ian Proud was posted to the British Embassy in Moscow where he advised UK Ministers on sanctions against Russia.
His embrace of diplomacy over war made him a Misfit in Moscow.
Proud joins Useful Idiots to explain how British diplomacy failed in Russia, and how a strategy other than aggression and saber-rattling could have averted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He gives a complex history of the conflict, beginning with the 2014 West-backed coup in Ukraine, and culminating in Boris Johnson’s infamous in person threat to Zelensky that he must reject a peace deal.
We ask Ian if it was Biden who instructed Johnson to do so.
And today, with a (“so-called”) peace summit convened by the Ukrainian government and Putin making his most concrete peace offer to date, Ian’s long history as a British diplomat in Moscow gives us a chance to pull back the curtain on the talks that could potentially end the proxy war.
Subscribe to hear the full interview with Ian Proud where he explains:
•How the US’s Victoria Nuland undermined peace talks at every step since 2014
•Boris Johnson’s admission that the proxy war is about “defending western hegemony” (and his embarrassing meeting with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion)
•The UK’s role in the dirty war in Syria
•The UK’s role in aiding Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza
•How much the British government and its allies invest in propaganda (or, as they call it, strategic communications) to deceive the public into going along with their proxy wars
•And the 2024 US presidential election: Would there would be any foreign policy difference between Biden and Trump?
00:00 Intro
01:11 The Four Food Groups of News
15:17 Ian Proud interview
16:05 Peace talks in Ukraine
18:26 What the media gets wrong about Putin
23:06 The bridge that could have prevented a war
27:26 Did Biden instruct Johnson to threaten Zelensky?
33:10 Censoring his new book
38:02 Was the west involved in the 2014 coup?
40:50 Victoria Nuland undermines it all
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