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Following decades of ongoing mineral extraction, environmental plunder, and the subsidization of the fossil fuel industry, the second Trump administration’s aggressive pro-drilling agenda unapologetically seeks to seize as many foreign and domestic minerals and dirty energy sources as possible. Patrick Bond, political economist and Director of the Centre for Social Change in Johannesburg, discusses the mix of neoliberalism and paleo-conservatism undergirding Elon Musk’s corporate takeover of the US government. Bond also discusses the motivation behind US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to skip the solidarity-equality-sustainability G20 in South Africa, and the implications of the US’ withdrawal from international climate agreements, slashing of emissions-reduction goals, and support for destructive carbon-intensive industries.

Israeli military raids on the West Bank have intensified ever since the fragile ceasefire agreement came into effect in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli forces have killed over 70 Palestinians in the West Bank this year alone and displaced thousands from their homes. These IDF raids not only target and kill Palestinians of all ages but serve as a pretext to launch mass arrest campaigns. Jenna Abu Hasna, international advocacy officer at the Ramallah-based NGO Addameer, describes Israel’s longstanding practice of mass arrests in the occupied Palestinian territories. Abu Hasna outlines Israel’s systemic torture of Palestinians in Israeli jails and its widespread practice of placing Palestinians under administrative detention for months – even years - without filing formal charges. Israel’s system of mass incarceration is not only a violation of international norms but serves as a tool to dispossess Palestinians of their rights, dignity, and land.

In part two, economist Martin Hart-Landsberg underscores the importance of planning for a just transition and transformation of socio-economic relations. Hart-Landsberg examines FDR’s Defense Production Corporation and War Production Board which were established to coordinate the U.S. economy’s rapid conversion from civilian to military production. The entrepreneurial class largely opposed these changes, fearing cuts to their bottom line. Yet FDR’s government, through experimentation with different strategies, was able to successfully allocate resources towards wartime production and negotiate enough procurement contracts to drive the conversion. Hart-Landsberg’s historical analysis of the successes and challenges of FDR's WWII production model lends important insights for solidaristic organizing and eco-socialist activism.

Palestinian-American journalist Rami Khouri outlines the Israeli far-right’s longstanding opposition to Palestinian self-determination and, as he says, the very right of Palestinians to exist. Khouri discusses how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, together with President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have shredded international law at every opportunity in their genocidal slaughter and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. Yet despite Trump’s success in pressuring Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal, the agreement itself is on thin ice: Israel’s resumption of strikes in Gaza could lead to an unraveling of phase two negotiations, precluding the possibility of a permanent ceasefire and ultimately of any effective Palestinian governance and statehood.

Trump’s inaugural speech avoided direct war rhetoric with China but signaled dangerous trends: a growing alliance between corporate elites and government, imperialist ambitions, climate denial, and authoritarian overreach. With tech CEOs at the forefront and Musk in a key government role, the fusion of state and corporate power mirrors Mussolini-style corporatism. From threats to seize the Panama Canal to deploying emergency powers domestically, Trump’s vision risks U.S. democracy and global stability. This analysis unpacks the implications of a presidency rooted in power, profit, and peril.

Despite being (mis)characterized by the IMF as a free-market "success story," South Korea's development model involved state planning and import controls for decades prior to the 1997 East Asia debt crisis. Economist Martin Hart-Landsberg, Professor Emeritus at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, explains how capitalist globalization materialized and morphed in East Asia, often to the detriment of its worker population. With Trump's inauguration nearing, Hart-Landsberg sheds light on why contemporary U.S.-China hawks view China as a threat rather than a technological competitor.

Trump’s interest in Greenland is closely tied to his plan to build a nationwide anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system, which he calls the "American Iron Dome." It could trigger a nuclear war.

In part two, political economist Dr. Devaka Gunawardena outlines the political dynasties in Sri Lanka that governed the country until the National People Power’s (NPP) recent electoral victory. Gunawardena discusses how NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has garnered widespread support across different ethnic and class lines despite being a political outsider.

In November 2024, Anura Kumara Dissanayake's National People's Power (NPP) coalition won a two-thirds majority in Sri Lanka's general elections, marking a historic win for the Sri Lankan left. NPP's victory came at a time of prolonged economic crisis exacerbated by the crushing terms of Sri Lanka's IMF agreement. Political economist Dr. Devaka Gunawardena traces the factors leading to Sri Lanka's economic woes and how international sovereign bonds (ISBs) held by private equity firms such as BlackRock constitute a large segment of Sri Lanka's debt. Given the government's recent private creditor debt restructuring agreement, can the NPP still deliver on its campaign promises of wealth redistribution and reversing austerity?

Steven Donziger, an American environmental and human rights lawyer, won a landmark case against Chevron, requiring it to pay 9.5 billion USD in damages to indigenous communities in Ecuador for destroying and polluting their land. In retaliation, Chevron launched a suit against Donziger, accusing him of fabricating evidence in the case. In an unprecedented move, a U.S. judge appointed a corporate prosecutor, paid for by Chevron itself, to litigate a case against Donziger after the U.S. Justice Department refused to prosecute the case. Donziger was released after spending a total of 993 days under house arrest for a bogus criminal contempt of court charge but has yet to be pardoned. Donziger urges viewers to call the U.S. White House at (202) 456 - 1111 and demand a pardon from President Biden to undermine Big Oil's corporate prosecution of climate justice.