Rania Khalek Dispatches

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.

Access the entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-rise-84975377The power of the dollar sustains U.S. imperialism. But rising multipolarity, an overuse of U.S. sanctions, the rise of alternative trading arrangements that sidestep the dollar, and a very obvious crisis of western capitalism have led to panic about a decline in dollar hegemony. What gives the dollar so much power in the first place? What would a world without dollar hegemony look like? What would it mean for those in the imperial core who benefit from this system? How about those in the third world on whose backs dollar hegemony is built? And where does the war in Ukraine fit into it all? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Prabhat Patnaik, marxist economist, professor emeritus at JNU, and author of many books including “A Theory of Imperialism” and the more recent “Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present,” both co-authored with Utsa Patnaik. Prabhat’s piece discussed in this episode:https://www.newsclick.in/us-sanctions-and-dollars-waning-hegemonyThis 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 entire interview on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-wins-84859698In popular culture, Canada is seen as the nicer version of the US, the harmless northern neighbor. Behind that shiny exterior is a country that plays a crucial supporting role in US aggression abroad and providing it with a layer of liberal respectability. Canada remains the “good cop” to the US “bad cop” in wars and coups from the Middle East to Latin America. This is no great departure for a country founded as a European settler colony that continues to commit atrocities against the indigenous communities. To discuss Canada’s role in the US-led imperial order, Rania Khalek was joined by Justin Podur, a Professor at York University in Toronto, author of many books including “Extraordinary Threat,” “Haiti's New Dictatorship,” “America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and the DR Congo,” and “Siegebreakers” and host of the Anti-Empire Project podcast.This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

Full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-us-84510217The Gulf states have been reliable partners of U.S. imperialism since their inception. But that hasn’t stopped them from deepening their ties with Russia and China, leading to tectonic shifts across the Middle East that have many DC insiders losing sleep. What’s behind these shifting alliances across the Gulf? Will they continue to oppose the new Cold War? Or are they too wedded to the U.S. to truly forge paths independent of it? How much wiggle room does multipolarity really afford them? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington, DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy.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.Following Giorgio’s work here: https://gulfstateanalytics.com/ 

Why is Iran under constant US attack? Is it really about women’s rights and democracy? Or is it because Iran, since its revolution, has been a staunch supporter both ideologically and materially, of resistance to US imperialism across the Middle East? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Nina Farnia, Assistant Professor of Law at Albany Law School, a longtime activist and a scholar of Critical Race Theory, with a focus on US imperialism and its impact on domestic law.This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at https://Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

Full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/full-audio-how-w-83919972After Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the British Labour Party, the right wing of the party joined with the Israel lobby and the Israeli state to bring down Corbyn and purge the party of leftists using false accusations of anti-semitism. The witch-hunt continued even after Corbyn’s downfall.No reporter has covered the weaponization of anti-semitism in British politics as rigorously as Asa Winstanley, associate editor at The Electronic Intifada and author of the new book “Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn,” published by OR books. He joined Rania Khalek to discuss his new book and what the left in other parts of the world should learn from it all. Asa’s book: https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/weaponising-anti-semitism/ Asa’s substack: https://substack.com/@asawinstanley This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.

It’s a new era of global power dynamics where countries sometimes have the option to say no to the U.S. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Middle East. Almost 12 years after being kicked out of the Arab League, Syria has been welcomed back into the fold by many of the U.S.-allied countries that tried to destroy it. All this time Israel was banking on normalization with Saudi Arabia and the opposite happened, with China overseeing a Saudi peace deal with Iran. Why? What does this multipolarity mean for the region? And how might it impact Palestine and the broader resistance axis? To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was joined by Ali Abunimah, executive director of the Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in PalestineAli’s article discussed in this episode: https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-saudis-have-called-their-israeli-wedding/37561 This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content

According to U.S. politicians, military leaders and the media, everything China does on the international stage – brokering peace deals, expanding economic initiatives, building ports — is part of an aggressive campaign to weaken the United States. While China is becoming more assertive diplomatically, is the U.S. interpretation of why accurate or is it projection and delusion? And how does it relate to China’s internationalist past? What does it mean for the future of the Global South and the world order? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Tings Chak, a researcher at the Tricontinental Institute and a member of the Dongsheng News collective. 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. 

See full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/83205814Collaboration between the US and fascists is a pattern that stretches back to the end of World War II and NATO’s founding, when the US and British intelligence services established secret far-right terror network armies across NATO countries made up of fascists, Nazi collaborators and actual Nazis. 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. Check out our previous episode w/ Matteo Capasso on Libya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKhOTEfNjdg&t=1779s

In the U.S. we’re taught that North Korea is a horrible backwards dictatorship where every person is captive to an evil regime run by a mad man who has an inexplicable hatred of the U.S., freedom and democracy – and is always on the edge of launching a nuclear missile to destroy the world. This, we’re told, is the reason we have to isolate the country and occupy South Korea with thousands of U.S. soldiers. The purpose of such a simplistic narrative is to prevent Americans from getting curious about what’s really happening there. Why is North Korea so closed off? What's the relevant history of that region? Why did the U.S. go to war there in the 1950s? What were the consequences? Why is Korea split into two? And is the country really as evil as the mainstream portrays? To help break it all down, Rania Khalek was joined by Ju-Hyun Park,  a member of Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, an anti-imperialist organization of Koreans in the U.S. struggling for Korean  reunification and national liberation. They are also engagement editor at The Real News.This is just the first half of this episode. The second half is available for Breakthrough News Members only. Become a member at Patreon.com/BreakthroughNews to access the full episode and other exclusive content.