Rania Khalek Dispatches

Essam Elkorghli, a Libyan PhD student, discusses the history of NATO intervention in the Third World and the CIA's infiltration of education. They explore the NATO bombing in Libya, power dynamics between the military and rebels, and the impact of the intervention. The podcast also delves into the US and NATO's role in Afghanistan, the politicization of school textbooks, and the connection between the CIA, NED, and IFES in promoting liberal democratic values in Libya.

Border policy in the Global North has been crafted to intentionally cause people to die of thirst in the Arizona desert and drown in the Mediterranean sea as a form of deterrence. But why are people picking up and leaving their countries in the first place? Why are they being subjected to so much cruelty on their journey no matter who’s in charge in Europe or the U.S.? Where does the Israeli occupation of Palestine fit in? How about climate change? And how is this feeding in to the rise of the far right? To discuss the bipartisan border industrial complex, Rania Khalek was joined by Todd Miller, journalist and author of several books including “Border Patrol Nation” and his latest “Build Bridges, Not Walls: A Journey to a World Without Borders.”For an in depth look at U.S. border policy over the decades, watch the very first episode of Dispatches featuring Todd Miller here: https://youtu.be/lRR51JHdLyM This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

Breakthrough News journalist Eugene Puryear joins Rania Khalek for a special live episode of Dispatches on Tuesday August 8 at 12pm ET to discuss the latest developments in Niger following threats of military intervention by Western governments and their regional allies meant to reverse an explosion of anti-colonial sentiment across Africa’s Sahel. 

Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-east-87132481East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), is remembered in the West as the antithesis to freedom and democracy. But the history and reality of the GDR was far more complex. Not only was the GDR a socialist state built on antifascist principles following the Second World War. It also practiced solidarity with other socialist states, countries and liberation movements fighting for independence from colonialism across the Global South. To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was joined by Max Rodermund and Matthew Read, researchers at the International Research Centre DDR, which together with the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research published a special issue on the legacy and historical experiences of socialist construction under the conditions of constant imperialist aggression in the GDR.This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.Read the Tricontinental report here: https://thetricontinental.org/studies-1-ddr/ Follow the International Research Centre DDR here: https://ifddr.org/en/home/ 

Listen to the entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-is-us-86956303Western sanctions on Russia, previously Europe’s biggest natural gas supplier, has lowered European living standards in the sweltering heat while exacerbating fuel and food shortages around the world. And that’s not all — military spending has increased while social budgets have been cut. To discuss this downplayed aspect of the war in Ukraine and its horrific consequences, Rania Khalek is again joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany, who is currently associate professor of history at Koc University in Istanbul, working on Russian, Ukrainian, and generally East European history.This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.Past episodes with Tarik:https://youtu.be/5C7DE2KFJHshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6t6QiN45Vg 

Listen to the entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-and-w-86459089The Red Scare is back. This new era of McCarthyism depends on loose and selective interpretation and enforcement of existing legal measures with some racial profiling and guilt-by-association mixed in. People are being accused of being foreign agents based on their political views. Chinese nationals have been chased out of academia. And wild and easily disproved stories about China, often sourced to the State Department or think tanks connected to the U.S. government, proliferate in the capitalist press, priming the US public for a never-ending expansion of the U.S. war machine. To discuss the new Red Scare and why it's so dangerous, Rania Khalek was joined by Amanda Yee, a writer and organizer based in Brooklyn, host of the podcast Radio Free Amanda, and author of the piece “Red Scare reloaded: Chinese “foreign agents” and a new era of McCarthyism”, published at Liberation News. This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.Amanda’s articles discussed in this episode: https://www.liberationnews.org/red-scare-reloaded-chinese-foreign-agents-and-a-new-era-of-mccarthyism/https://www.liberationnews.org/the-resurgence-of-america-first-isolationism-the-far-rights-opposition-to-nato-and-the-ukraine-war/ 

Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-anti-86303559For decades anti-Palestinian fanatics have harassed and attacked professors and students who dare to speak out against Israeli apartheid, going after their reputations and livelihoods with media smears and legal assaults. Why is it so important to document and understand such attacks on academic freedom? How does it fit into the context of Zionism and imperialism? What is the role of imperial feminism, islamophobia, and native informants in hegemonic narratives? And how does it relate to what’s happening on the ground in Palestine, from Gaza to Jenin? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by distinguished professor Rabab Abdulhadi, the founding Director and Senior scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies Program at San Francisco State University and head of the oral history project Teaching Palestine. This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.Petition discussed in the episode:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EqSAgVue4H7F8OvtTMrkBhOUEc29MA_mGa3Qk4vI7Rg/edit?pli=1 Follow Teaching PalestineInstagram: https://instagram.com/teachingpalestine?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ== Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeachingPalestine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/teachingpal?s=21 AMED Studies:Instagram: https://instagram.com/amedstudies?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ== Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064100371121&mibextid=LQQJ4d Twitter: https://twitter.com/amedstudies?s=21 Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi:Instagram: https://instagram.com/abdulhadirabab?igshid=Y2IzZGU1MTFhOQ== Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabab.abdulhadi?mibextid=LQQJ4d Twitter: https://twitter.com/abdulhadirabab?s=21 

Listen to the full interview on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-us-on-86104940The US is escalating a bipartisan Cold War, pumping up the military industrial complex, fueling proxy wars and gutting what’s left of the welfare state. But there is a split in the ruling class on how best to guarantee US hegemony. On one side is the far-right America First crowd led by Trump, who claim to want out of Ukraine. That’s only because they want to divert the country’s Cold War resources solely toward what they see as the ultimate enemy, China. On the other side there are the neo-cons and liberals who want to take on Russia and China at the same. Both sides are committed imperialists with the same agenda, but they have a different pathway for how to get there. Here to discuss how to navigate it all as the U.S. Empire gets desperate to maintain itself in an increasingly multipolar world is Ben Norton, a Latin-America based journalist and founder of the Geopolitical Economy Report. This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-on-of-85896805France is on fire after police were filmed shooting and killing unarmed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, a French citizen of Moroccan and Algerian descent, in the suburbs of Paris during a traffic stop. This shocking display of French state violence triggered large-scale protests, particularly amongst the country’s Muslim, African, and Arab populations, long boiling over racist and classist structures staunchly rooted in French history and identity as displayed in its brutal colonial legacy.What is the role of France’s colonial hangover in all of this? Where do racism, secularism and Islamophobia fit in? How about class inequality? And what comes next? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Yasser Louati, a political analyst and head of the Committee for Justice & Liberties in France. This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

Listen to the full interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-or-us-85690029In 2003, Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, a Lebanese-American, was sentenced to 155 years in prison on allegations of "providing material support" to the Lebanese organization Hezbollah with funds garnered from cigarette smuggling. Characterized by prosecutors as an “enemy combatant” and “terrorist financier,” he was the first person in the United States to be charged for material support to an alleged terrorist organization. From conviction to release he has maintained his innocence and accused the United States of targeting him for political reasons. Recently, after 23 years behind bars, he was released and has returned to Lebanon, where he joined Rania Khalek to discuss the case against him, his time in prison and how it feels to be back in his native country. This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://www.Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.