Geopolitics & Empire

Geopolitics & Empire · Bill Simpich: Kennedys and Kings Call for New Probe into Deaths of JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X #095 Civil rights attorney Bill Simpich joins us to discuss the new call put forward by Kennedy and King family members as well as 50+ other prominent Americans to open new probes into the deaths of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X. Mr. Simpich explains why the call is happening now, who is behind it, what needs to happen in the future, and why it is so important for American democracy. He explains deep politics and provides some interesting personal anecdotes along the way. Show Notes Kennedy, King Families to Congress: Reopen Probes https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/01/19/kennedy-king-families-to-congress-reopen-probes Kennedy, King, Malcolm X Relatives and Scholars Seek New Assassination Probes https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/25/kennedy-king-malcolm-x-relatives-scholars-seek-new-assassination-probes Websites https://twitter.com/BillSimpich https://www.maryferrell.org https://jfkfacts.org/author/bill-simpich https://capa-us.org/bill-simpich https://aarclibrary.org/bill-simpich-analyzing-the-new-jfk-revelations Publications https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/State_Secret.html About the Guest Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area. The main areas of his law practice are government misconduct, housing and toxic tort violations. A contributor to Reader Supported News, he is the author of “State Secret:  Wiretapping in Mexico City, Double Agents, and the Framing of Lee Oswald.”  He is analyzing CIA cryptonyms at the Mary Ferrell Foundation website.  He is also reviewing the forensic evidence indicating that Oswald did not use a weapon on Nov. 22, 1963. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SuX47jF-GM Dr. Paul Craig Roberts joins us to discuss US military interventions, how the "Everything Bubble" won't pop until the dollar ceases to be the world reserve currency, the Orwellian media landscape, and how identity politics is causing violent polarization in America that could lead to internal conflict. Websites http://www.paulcraigroberts.org Books https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Craig-Roberts/e/B001ITWVPE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1494260819&sr=8-2 About Paul Craig Roberts Paul Craig Roberts has had careers in scholarship and academia, journalism, public service, and business. He is chairman of The Institute for Political Economy. Dr. Roberts has held numerous academic appointments including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy in the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has contributed chapters to numerous books and has published many articles in journals of scholarship. He has testified before committees of Congress on 30 occasions. Dr. Roberts was associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service. He was a nationally syndicated columnist for Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles. In 1992 he received the Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 1993 the Forbes Media Guide ranked him as one of the top seven journalists in the United States. President Reagan appointed Dr. Roberts Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and he was confirmed in office by the U.S. Senate. From 1975 to 1978, Dr. Roberts served on the congressional staff where he drafted the Kemp-Roth bill and played a leading role in developing bipartisan support for a supply-side economic policy. After leaving the Treasury, he served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Dr. Roberts was awarded the Treasury Department’s Meritorious Service Award for “his outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy.” In 1987 the French government recognized him as “the artisan of a renewal in economic science and policy after half a century of state interventionism” and inducted him into the Legion of Honor. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Klaus Dodds: Scramble for the Poles? Geopolitics of the Arctic and Antarctic #093 Professor of geopolitics Klaus Dodds explains the 'Scramble for the Poles' and how elements of stagecraft and triumphant geopolitics are used by countries such as Canada, China, and Russia to gain currency in order to better assert themselves in the Arctic and Antarctic. He explains the legal regimes that govern the regions, the Cold War military history, and what the future holds for one of the last frontiers. Show Notes In 30 years the Antarctic Treaty becomes modifiable, and the fate of a continent could hang in the balance https://theconversation.com/in-30-years-the-antarctic-treaty-becomes-modifiable-and-the-fate-of-a-continent-could-hang-in-the-balance-98654 Triumphant geopolitics? Making space of and for Arctic geopolitics in the Arctic Ocean https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/triumphant-geopolitics-making-space-of-and-for-arctic-geopolitics-in-the-arctic-ocean(71b6e049-147b-4b33-8234-7291e58f7702).html Websites https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/klaus-dodds(fb99b223-7661-4aa1-95f6-1cd527dd0fc7).html https://twitter.com/klausdodds Publications https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Klaus+Dodds&search-alias=books&field-author=Klaus+Dodds&sort=relevancerankhttps://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/klaus-dodds(fb99b223-7661-4aa1-95f6-1cd527dd0fc7)/publications.html About the Guest Professor Klaus Dodds researches in the areas of geopolitics and security, media/popular culture, ice studies and the international governance of the Antarctic and the Arctic. He has published many authored and edited books including Ice: Nature and Culture (Reaktion 2018), Research Companion on the Politics of the Antarctic (Edward Elgar 2017 with Alan Hemmings and Peder Roberts), The World is Not Enough: The Geographies, Genders and Geopolitics of James Bond (Palgrave Macmillan with Lisa Funnell 2016), Scramble for the Poles? The Contemporary Geopolitics of the Arctic and Antarctic (Polity 2015 with Mark Nuttall), International Politics and Film (Columbia University Press 2014 with Sean Carter), The Antarctic: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2012), Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2007 and 2014 second edition), Global Geopolitics: A Critical Introduction (Pearson Education, 2005) and Pink Ice: Britain and the South Atlantic Empire (I B Tauris, 2002) and co-edited The Ashgate Research Companion to Critical Geopolitics (Ashgate 2013), Spaces of Security and Insecurity (Ashgate 2009), Observant States: Geopolitics and Visual Culture (I B Tauris 2009), Geopolitical Traditions (Routledge 2000), Polar Geopolitics: Knowledges, Legal Regimes and Resources (Edward Elgar 2014). His newest book is co-authored with Mark Nuttall, The Arctic: What Everyone Needs to Know (OUP 2019). He has acted as external/visiting examiner for University College London and University College Dublin, and in 2017 was appointed as external examiner for the Politics Department's two masters programmes at Birbeck College, London and MPhil Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge. In November 2005, he was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for his achievements in the fields of geopolitics and human geography. In academic year 2010-11, he was a visiting fellow at St Cross College, Oxford and HARC fellow at Royal Holloway. In October 2012, he was elected Academician (now Fellow) of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS). In November 2016, he was awarded a Major Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust (2017-2020) for a project examining 'A new North? The making and remaking of the global Arctic'. In academic year 2017-18, he was a visiting fellow at St John's College, Oxford. He was editor of The Geographical Journal between 2010-2015 and is currently editorial board member of Critical Studies on Security, Geopolitics, International Journal of James Bond Studies, Marine Policy, Political Geography and Polar Record. He is also co-editor of the Routledge Geopolitics Series (with Reece Jones of University of Hawai'i). In 2018, he was appointed deputy editor of Territory, Politics and Governance and will become editor in chief in 2019. Klaus is a Council Member of the Canada-UK Council and a member of the UK Arctic Antarctic Partnership. He has worked for the UK Parliament as specialist adviser to a House of Lords Select Committe on the Arctic and the House of Commons Environment Audit Committee. He is the Director of Research for the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway and acts as REF 2021 lead. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Elijah J. Magnier: The War in Syria is Over, What Happens Next? #092 Senior Political Risk Analyst Elijah J. Magnier discusses the end of the war in Syria and what follows as the U.S. pulls out, Syria is reintegrated into the Arab League, Russia helps consolidate Syrian sovereignty, the Kurds are left to fend for themselves, and Turkey and Israel ponder on how to move forward. Transcript Podcast: On this edition of Geopolitics and Empire, we interview senior political risk analyst, Elijah Magnier, who has over 30 years of experience and in depth knowledge of the Middle East. We'll be looking at the developments in Syria, and examine whether the war is really over. Why don't we start with President Trump's announcement of US withdrawal? Podcast: This is confusing, because we know the US has had a long term plan of regime change in Syria, and just a week or two ago, an article was published describing how US forces would remain indefinitely in Syria, and then we hear Trump say that US forces are pulling out. His claim that the US has defeated ISIS is kind of silly, because in reality, it's been Syria, Russia, and Iran who were largely responsible for defeating a US sponsored ISIS, but Trump's comment is a face saving measure perhaps before a naïve US populace. Podcast: Some people remain skeptical as to the US pulling out, what is your assessment? [spoiler] Elijah Magnier: Yes, hi, I think from what we have seen today, and what we have seen in the last couple of weeks, it seems Trump is serious about pulling out his troops from Syria, particularly in the area that his forces are occupying in the Northeast of Syria, and that is [inaudible 00:01:27] province, and [inaudible 00:01:28], and part of [inaudible 00:01:30]. Elijah Magnier: The reaction of his defense secretary, the reaction of other diplomats like Brett McGurk, who resigned from the US establishment, was a good indication that Trump wants to go ahead and pull out of Syria. Moreover, the reaction of Turkey that was insisting on disarming the YPG Kurds that are the PKK version, Syria PKK version, that also confirm one thing, that the US can no longer protect the Kurds, and can no longer stay in that part of the country. Elijah Magnier: Today, we saw the Syrian forces deploying two small divisions in Manbij, and particularly in an area around Arima that's a village west of Manbij that they Syrian and the Russian use to maintain an observation location in the area for over a year, and they pull out from this 20 location in the area, like Arima, Arab Hassan Kabir, [inaudible 00:02:54], Al Furat, Dandaniya, and all these villages. Elijah Magnier: They pull out, and they pull out when Turkey attack Afrin, and they returned only three days ago, but before they have reached an agreement with the Kurds yesterday evening, late around midnight, so they have decided to send two small divisions in the city of Manbij, and the Kurds, YPG, announce their withdrawal from the city, although the Americans are still there, but the Americans can do nothing without the Kurds, because they have used the Kurds as a human shield to protect them, and the presence of 2,000, or 2,000 or a little bit more than 2,000 American troops are not enough to protect the Americans in an area that is more or less 50,000 square meters. That is more or less a third of Syria, which is exactly between 23 to 24% of the geographic Syria. Elijah Magnier: Therefore, they need the Kurds, and if they Kurds pulled out of Manbij, there are no other forces that can protect the Americans, so, yes, my answer is Trump seems serious, now the Syrian army moved in, they put the Russian and the Syrian flag on all the position, they are regaining control of to give a strong indication to the Americans and to Turkey that now Russia is involved, and no other force will regain the force of the Syrian territory but the Syrian army. Podcast: We're seeing other promising signs, which you have written about, that Arab investment will pour back into Syria, and that Assad will be diplomatically and politically perhaps reinstated and welcomed back, begrudgingly, with his neighbors, including the Arab league. You're right that the Sudanese president recently visited Assad, and that lays the ground work for more Arab leaders to pay tribute to Assad in 2019. We see that countries like Italy, and the UAE are, I think, reopening embassies in Syria. Does this mean, then, that operation Timber Sycamore and the regime change plan has been called off and that the war is finally over? Elijah Magnier: Indeed, yes, the regime change plan is history now, is behind us. The integrity of Syria, regardless who is sitting on top of the country, is preserved today, and there is no more [inaudible 00:05:53] state, or Jihadists state, or a chaos in control of the [inaudible 00:06:00]. Elijah Magnier: Yes, the Arabs are returning. Sudan is a very close ally to South Arabia and to the Emirates. Sudanese forces are fighting alongside with the Emirates, and the Saudis in Yemen, and President Bashir would never dare to take a unilateral decision to reopen widely the relationship between, to open the road to the Arabs to return by his first visit to Syria after seven years of war. Elijah Magnier: Therefore, it is with the agreement of the Arabs, and with the consent of the Americans, because they also were informed about the visit of Omar al-Bashir, and they didn't object. We saw the Emirates, they opened their embassy at the [inaudible 00:06:54] level yesterday. We see that [inaudible 00:06:57] is going to start functioning at a full state embassy in Damascus. Elijah Magnier: There is an information that I have about the meeting between Mohammed Bin Salman and the advisor on the security issued to the President Assad, General Ali [inaudible 00:07:22] who met with Mohammed Bin Salman a few years back, and Bin Salman said his intention is not to destabilize the country, and that his support to Syria is limited to what the Americans are asking him to do, therefore he just fulfilling the commitment of the Americans to appoint where he express on the ground in Syria his lack of intention to continue supporting Jihadists when he gave up on Al Ghouta around Damascus, and [inaudible 00:08:03] that Saudi Arabia was financing. Elijah Magnier: Today we see several thousand of [inaudible 00:08:09] are working under Turkey and no longer under the flag of Saudi Arabia, because they no longer received the support of Saudi Arabia. Yes, there is a meeting of the Arab League that's going to happen at the beginning of next year, and the Arab League will open its arms to the return of Syria back to the Arab, let's say, family, because the gun countries would like to regain some of their losses in Syria by seeing if by regaining, a real normalizing the relationship with Syria, they can push Syria a little bit far from Iran. That's an objective that I don't think they will reach, but at the other hand, Syria will be extremely happy to start a good relationship with the Arab state because Syria, Iran, and Russia, and China cannot rebuild the country, particularly when the need to reconstruct Syria is between 250 and 400 billion dollars. Elijah Magnier: There is a need for not only Syrian hands to reconstruct the country, and not only China, Russia, Iran and those around Syria that did not declare a [inaudible 00:09:38] state objective on Syria, or did not declare war on Syria. There is a need for other countries, a rich country to come and invest in Syria, and Assad will welcome even Saudi Arabia. Elijah Magnier: Now, the war is almost over, but we still have, as a first objective, will be for the Syrian army to eliminate ISIS along the Euphrates where the US forces were offering protection to these militants, and second need to regain control of [inaudible 00:10:18] and then to turn towards [inaudible 00:10:23]. Podcast: I'd like to get your thought on Russia's role in the Syrian conflict. This is a very, I guess, divisive topic, especially in the west, and what we try to do here on Geopolitics and Empire is look at thing without our own emotions, or preconceived notions, or biases, or ideologies getting in the way, which is why we interview people from left, right, and in between. I recently posted a political cartoon on social media, which perhaps you may have seen, a Syrian woman telling her young son not to worry, that she will be okay, meanwhile multiple knives and daggers are depicted sticking out from the backside of the woman, and country names are listed, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, USA, France, Germany, Israel, and Turkey. Podcast: A friend of mine raised the question as to whether a Russian dagger should also be depicted, implying that Russia is responsible in some way for the Syrian conflict, or taking advantage of the conflict, but based on history and the actions taking by Russia in accordance with international law, I personally see no wrongdoing by Russia in this Syrian conflict. What is your assessment? Elijah Magnier: Well, Russia was on the side when the war imposed on Syria started in 2011, and Russia was not yet ready to reenter the international arena, and particularly the Middle East complication, because Russia was building up it's strength, ready to face other challenges in the future that we see today, it is facing these challenges. We saw Russia did not interfere in what happened in Libya and allow the American and Europe to do whatever they want in Libya, and the result is a failed state, and a disastrous situation. Elijah Magnier: But Russia was not in the position to interfere. In 2011, Russia, again, was not in a position to interfere in Syria, on the other hand, Russia learned from the mistakes in the major Libya, and was limiting itself, which is not little, to support Syria at the UN and prevent the Americans from attacking or from taking the illegal right from the UN to attack Syria,

Geopolitics & Empire · Todd Weaver: Privacy Protection in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism #091 Founder and CEO of Purism, Todd Weaver, discusses surveillance capitalism, digital rights, and why he decided to create an entire ecosystem of computers, mobile phones, and software that provide users with nearly 100% control over their devices. Websites https://puri.sm https://twitter.com/puri_sm About the Guest Serial entrepreneur and successful businessman, Todd has been recognized for his visionary strategy, technical leadership, and relentless drive, with more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, using, installing, and promoting Free Software. Todd has consistently predicted market directions and executed disruptive technologies in a wide range of industries, including in-store entertainment, collaborative financial solutions, and starting the first online cable company. Todd has a deep understanding of the hardware manufacturing process, and an unwavering belief for users to retain their essential freedoms via free software, making Purism (the marriage of high quality hardware and free software), his most ambitious, disruptive, and exciting venture yet. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Steven Seegel: The Geographers Who Defined East Central Europe #090 Professor of History Dr. Steven Seegel discusses his book "Map Men: Transnational Lives and Deaths of Geographers in the Making of East Central Europe" and how famous geographers such as Isaiah Bowman or Hungarian Prime Minister Count Pál Teleki influenced maps and policy in the 20th century. Websites https://twitter.com/steven_seegel http://unco.academia.edu/StevenSeegel Books https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo27760776.html About the Guest Steven Seegel is Professor of Russian and European History at the University of Northern Colorado. He is the author, most recently, of Map Men: Transnational Lives and Deaths of Geographers in the Making of East Central Europe, which came out with University of Chicago Press in June 2018. He has also published Ukraine under Western Eyes (Harvard University Press, 2013), and Mapping Europe's Borderlands: Russian Cartography in the Age of Empire (University of Chicago Press, 2012). He has been a contributor to the fourth and fifth volumes of Chicago's international history of cartography series, and has translated over 300 entries from Russian and Polish for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, in multiple volumes, published jointly by USHMM and Indiana University Press. Professor Seegel is also a former director at Harvard of the Ukrainian Research Institute's summer exchange program. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · William Engdahl: Are the French Protests a U.S. Color Revolution & is Trump the Real Deal? #089 Strategic risk consultant and best-selling author F. William Engdahl discusses his latest book "Manifest Destiny" describing US-sponsored democratic regime change operations known as "color revolutions" which utilize civil society organizations such as USAID, Soros' Open Society Foundations, and NGOs such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). He provides his analysis on whether or not the French "Yellow Vest" revolution is sponsored by the U.S. and discusses his change of mind on whether President Trump is an authentic patriot fighting against globalism. Transcript Podcast:                               On this edition of geopolitics and empire, we interview strategic risk consultant and best-selling author, F. William Engdahl. We'll be talking about his latest book, Manifest Destiny, and the latest in Geopolitics, Economy War, Trump and Empire. Let's start with the main idea of your latest book, Manifest Destiny. Now, I wrote my graduate thesis on this topic of U.S. sponsored democratic regime change otherwise known as Color Revolutions about a decade ago. In my thesis, I tried to look at a color revolution that was not written much about. I looked at Mongolia in the 1990s because I spent some time there as a peace corp volunteer. I was surprised to discover the same U.S. State Department, National Endowment for Democracy NED, Soros' Open Society formula at play there that you detail in your book, Manifest Destiny. After the Soviet Union FELL, sure enough, James Baker paid a visit to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, the capital. The young Mongolian named Elbegdorj who was educated in the U.S. at Harvard, just like Saakashvili, the former leader of Georgia. Elbegdorj founded a liberty center, which Saakash really did as well in Georgia with the same name. They were both funded by Soros, NED, USAID. I documented that about Mongolia and interesting that Elbegdorj eventually became the president in 2009. In your book, Manifest Destiny, you basically look at how Washington has systematically attempted to take over nation after nation including Poland, Yugoslavia, Russia, China, Georgia, Ukraine. Could you, for listeners, describe this basic framework or template that Washington uses to take down foreign governments in a way that makes it look like Washington had nothing to do with it. [spoiler] William Engdahl:              What happened in the 1980s, there was a whole series of congressional investigations, exposés, whistle blowers, et cetera, about the illegal activities of the CIA. Assassinations of people like Pinochet in Chile, the coup d'état against Mosaddegh in Iran, in Guatemala, Árbenz and so forth. As damage control, Reagan's head of CIA, and Will Casey, proposed a privatization of this regime change machine instead of using CIA agents on the street in civilian clothes who can be discovered and then revealed as a government operation. He said, "Let's do it through private NGOs, non-governmental organizations," and then if they're caught in some attempt in some country, we can always say, "Oh, that's private. We can't control what private foundations do. They want human rights, liberty, democracy." You allow them to work in your country. We have no ... Et cetera. That was actually at the beginning of brilliant and very effective way to get rid of regimes that Washington didn't like. This was ruled out in one of the earliest experiments in Poland with the help of the Pope, John Paul II, who had a secret meeting with President Reagan and worked out an agreement where the pope would be informed of the CIA's activities in Poland with Solidarnosc, the trade union movement and then would appear in Poland, in the streets, and give support to the fight for liberty and freedom. Of course, ultimately led to the topelling of the communist government. Then, one by one, the communist countries in the east block, began falling down. It was financially rocked the manipulations of the U.S. with collapsing the oil price in 1986. It created that, but then what George Bush Sr, someone to my view does not deserve any kind of praise or thanks from the nation or the world for the evil that he did in his lifetime. George Bush Sr. Worked with a group of old cronies from the CIA, CIA Old Boys, and they locked in with a very senior level of KGB Operatives, KGB Senior Officers, head of international organization and really top level guys. And they pulled off this coup notice Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin was an asset of the CIA of the Bush crop. And what they did was to not only bring down communism in the soviet union, but they brought in key economic advisors like professor Jeffrey Sachs from Harvard university and others to organize the privatization through criminal bans or today called the oligarchs, the Russian oligarchs and began looting that country to the poem. And George Soros was involved in that process. He was picking up crown jewels left and right Bush was involved, many people from the west until 1999 when it really wasn't possible to push it anymore and a nationalist faction came in [inaudible 00:06:23] that's another story. So the book traces, why do I call it, Manifest Destiny? Well, in the 19th century, America is, as you well know, that was an ideology of empire. We have a destiny from God to essentially dominate the world. It was a very powerful inner ideology of the elite families, the powers that be in all the space 18080s, 18090s and that justified not only the Spanish American war and the acquisition of the first colony, the Philippines, but also pushing all the way toward China in the pacific and through Latin and south America and beyond. So the idea of Manifest Destiny and the book is really about how this machinery of fake democracy has been created. Fake human rights. NGOs like Open Society Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, which is US government, financed CIA controlled NGO, but it masquerades as a private freedom will have an enterprise, it's anything but that. One of the key figures before his death was John McCain the senator from Arizona, some people say one of the most treasonous figures in the US senate in recent history. That history will have to judge but certainly not one was the white hats or one of the good guys. And he was president of the republican institute, which was an arm of the National Endowment for Democracy. He was involved in the cia coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2013, 14, directly involved along with the victoria Nuland at the state department whose husband was one of the leading neoconservatives and vice president Joe Biden never was up there and you think good wherever he went. Podcast:                               So speaking of empire and Europe, nowadays with Trump and all this talk about NATO not paying its dues and all this back and forth that's happening. If we could kind of go back and forth in time. In your book, you describe the Europeans. So I suppose in the 1980s and 1990s that leading Europeans viewed America as a declining empire. And so they were kind of set to, I guess, replace a lIttle bit of that unilateral US world or challenge a bit of it. And at the same time we saw Saddam wanting to trade oil, not in dollars exclusively but in euros, and so the US invaded Iraq in the 1990s. And we've had on- William Engdahl:              I'm not sure that was the only reason, but that was one of the reasons. Yeah. Podcast:                               And we've previously interviewed Alistair Macleod of Gold Money who wrote about Chinese military analysts saying, that was one of the reasons for Yugoslavia as well to ... The war in Yugoslavia that the US also interfered in and helped stoke to kind of, I guess, delay that the EU project. I'm not sure. And so we see the US continued seemingly trying to go against the EU, whether it's Brexit or forcing the EU to just stop buying cheap Russian energy and instead to purchase expensive US gas. As well as the sanctions not allowing the EU to do business with Iran. So could you talk about that section in your book, what's going on with the EU US relationship? William Engdahl:              Well the European Economic Community back in the 50s, the coal and steel union between France and Germany was a project encouraged not only by Winston Churchill but by the CIA and the US president to create an entity that they could better control in the cold war period and create larger markets for US exports and so forth. Well, as Europe got on its feet in the late 60s and 70s, that calculus had begun to change. Now in the period, you're talking about in the 80s and the 90s, the government shouldn't Washington were concerned that Europe not develop an independent defense pillar, but it not be after the end of the cold war, that not be its own decider of what its military and defense policy would be. That it would be dependent on NATO, which means dependent on the US. And so they quite effectively killed off the part of the master treaty of 1990 that called for a European defense pillar. They said no, this will be called NATO and it will stay in NATO. And then the military industrial complex began creating lobbyists in Washington advocating the spreading of NATO to the East and violation of the solemn pledge that James Baker gave to Gorbachev for the unification of Germany. And so they made sure that Europe was not independent. And I think the reason for the Yugoslav war, there were several elements to it. One was, and the war was this, you probably know very well, but the war was instigated, manipulated and led by Washington, by the CIA, by the Bush administration. They submitted laws to congress. They lied about the events and for Yugoslavia and Serbia and so forth, they created a one sided narrative to while they were financing genocide essentially in Bosnia Herzegovina through Bin Ladin.

Geopolitics & Empire · Dmitry Orlov: How the Technosphere Threatens the Biosphere and our Freedoms #088 Dmitry Orlov rejoins us to discuss his book on the technosphere and how it threatens the environment or biosphere, limits our economic freedoms, and can become weaponized as a political technology. He gives some recommendations on ways to mitigate against the overarching influence of the technosphere. Transcript Podcast: Returning to the Geopolitics and Empire Podcast is author Dmitry Orlov. We'll be discussing his book, Shrinking the Technosphere: Getting a Grip on Technologies that Limit our Autonomy, Self-sufficiency, and Freedom, which touches on ways technology or this thing known as technosphere limits our economic and political freedoms as well as threatens the biosphere and environment. I'd also like to remind listeners to subscribe to all of our social media and weekly newsletter, all of which can be found at geopoliticsandempire.com, and thank the few of you who have left a tip via Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin, and ask new listeners for continued support because it does cost a considerable amount of time, energy, and money to produce this podcast. Without further ado, thanks for coming back on, Dmitry. [spoiler] Dmitry Orlov: Thank you for inviting me. Glad to discuss this topic. Podcast: Yeah, and I purchased this book from you a year ago, and only got around to reading it recently. You put to paper succinctly a lot of thoughts I've had on this subject of the technosphere, but let's start with what is the technosphere. The term, for me, evokes different themes, such as the technocracy, the 1930s scientific dictatorship movement, which I suppose is still alive today in some form. Some people talk about the term globalism, an elite who wield technology to tighten their grip on power, perhaps private corporations who wield greater power than states, such as Silicon Valley, who, at this moment, are purging any anti-establishment voices from their online platforms. It also, the technosphere reminds me of the Belgian utopian Paul Otlet who wanted to classify the world and create some sort of world city, as well as it evokes images of science fiction dystopian literature in film, such as The Matrix. Could you tell us what is the technosphere? Dmitry Orlov: Well, what got me thinking about it initially was this thought that there are systems that human being evolve at various points that are not necessarily in their individual or group interest and that these systems behave as emergent intelligences and as agents independent of the human will, that they manipulate people as opposed to people controlling them.Probably, the first one is agriculture. It made people sicker. It bound them to the earth. It made them unable to move around as they have before, but it increased population density and allowed more powerful systems of control to develop. It gave rise to empires, whereas before, we had basically bands and tribes. That took over. Then, later on, we had the development of the financial realm and money lending, which was only made possible by agriculture and by the accumulation of harvests, of harvested wealth. Eventually, this way of handling wealth involving money and debt took over and grew out of control, so that money became this necessary evil that people required to keep people at bay.Then later on, with industrialization and especially with the development of fossil fuels, we had the full development of the technosphere, which is now a realm onto its own, an emergent intelligence that we have no chance outside of that we must allow to take priority over our own interests, even if our basic interest is just elemental survival in terms of not destroying the biosphere or what's left of the biosphere. Podcast: Just, again, to clarify that note on your definition of the technosphere. It's not any sentient being, but I suppose it can be wielded by political elites? Dmitry Orlov: Yes, well, it can be used to one's advantage or one's disadvantage, especially in large groups. For instance, you could make the fatal choice of not industrializing, and then your country will be taken over that has not made that choice, but instead has industrialized and has produced weapons of war at the industrial scale. That has happened over and over again. Attempt to not be part of the technosphere leads to failure. Another move that people can make is decouple from the global financial system. Well, that leads to revolt eventually because the global system, with all of the injustices that it creates and all of its flaws, allows people to become wealthy. People, when deprived of that ability, will revolt eventually, as has happened all over the place.People can make decisions on some scale, but in terms of pushing back against the technosphere as a whole, the project is more or less doomed to failure. We are condemned to sort of nibble away at it at the edges to make, basically, lifestyle decisions so that we're not utterly ravaged by the technosphere, but we can't banish it altogether. Podcast: You also say that a technosphere demands homogeneity, and now we're seeing all this crisis with migration in Europe and Central America where you're having people from different countries going into European countries. We have this globalization of culture where, here in Kazakhstan, where I am, the most popular restaurant is Kentucky Fried Chicken.I mean, you go to the malls here in Kazakhstan and the local food chains, when you compare, the KFCs always got this long line compared to the local food chain. What is it about this technosphere that demands a homogeneity of culture, and is the migration crisis part of this push towards making nations homogeneous? Dmitry Orlov: Well, there are a lot of reasons why these global brands are actually global, and one of them is that they cater to the least common denominator. They care to immature tastes. Children like chicken nuggets. Adult don't necessarily, but they are forced to eat chicken nuggets because that's the most universally acceptable fare. There's a lot of that to it.In terms of controlling people, the first step from the point of view of the technosphere is to standardize everyone. Instead of having an educational system that basically tries to figure out what each person's aptitude and talent is, and allow them to develop it individually, which is what produces educated individuals, instead, the effort is to, again, cater to the least common denominator.For instance, mathematics is dumbed down so that those students in the class who are least capable are able to keep up, and then the smartest students, basically, are deprived of any stimulation in learning math and lose interest. Instead of actually learning how to solve problems, people are taught to fill in circles and multiple choice test forms. That sort of thing.In terms of the migrant crisis, the effort, which again is very much in line with the interest of the technosphere to commoditize everything including human nature, is to basically posit that there is this universal humanity, and that the universal human rights can supersede just about everything else, and that everybody must be treated the same regardless of how their ancestors have lived and what they have been conditioned to excel at. Some population groups, they excel at disease tolerance, and others excel at intensive farming. Those groups are not necessarily the same. Some other are excellent at industrial work, and they are disjoint with the other two groups, but everybody is lump into the same group. Everybody has to be treated the same. Everybody is processed based on the same side of bureaucratic principles. That's the goal. Podcast: Talking about the technosphere, it reminds me a lot of something Jim Rickards, author Jim Rickards has written about systems or complexity theory. It seems like the more complex a system gets, the more fragile or precarious it becomes. Then it creates these technologies, that it create unintended consequences, which constantly need to be mitigated to prevent the entire system and biosphere as well as technosphere from collapsing. You've mentioned nuclear energy, the problems we've seen with that in Ukraine and Japan, GMOs, nanotechnology kind of reminds me of Microsoft Windows updates, which are in need of constant patching for a system that is always failing until one day it can collapse. How fragile is this technosphere itself? Dmitry Orlov: Well, it's robust in the sense that it is very difficult to stamp out or destroy, and nobody has the ability to do it. It does not have anything resembling an off switch. It will blindly march forward until something catastrophic happens, but that catastrophe is very much coded into it because although it does possess a certain kind of intelligence, an emergent intelligence, it is not a human intelligence. The technosphere, to put a too fine a point on it, is an idiot savant. It is very good at growing. Like a cancer, it's capable of growing, but just like a cancer, it is incapable of seeing whether or not it's killing its host. The technosphere specifically is completely incapable of seeing physical limits to its growth and expansion. It has absolutely no way of measuring diminishing returns, be it in oil and natural gas extraction, or using the biosphere as a sink, or any of the other problems that develop along the way.It cannot see physical limits. It is also unable to see the limits of technology. Its basic assumption is that new technology is always better than older technology, but more technology is better than less technology. Then no matter what the problem is, the solution lies in the application of even more technology, even if its technology itself that created the problem, to begin with. Podcast: To talk a bit of its influence on the biosphere, something that you've written about for a long time, the environment and climate change.

Geopolitics & Empire · Dmitry Orlov: How the Technosphere Threatens the Biosphere and our Freedoms #088 Schiller Institute science advisor Jason Ross discusses China's imperial ambitions in Africa through its Belt And Road Initiative and the challenges it poses to the US-dominated Bretton Woods system. Show Notes Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa https://schillerinstitute.com/extending-new-silk-road-west-asia-africa Why China’s ‘Debtbook Diplomacy’ is a Hoax https://schillerinstitute.com/why-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy-is-a-hoax Africa's Bright Future on China's Belt and Road Initiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIvC_Kdvc4E China: A New Imperial Power? https://www.transcend.org/tms/2018/10/a-new-imperial-power Websites https://schillerinstitute.com https://www.twitter.com/JasonA_Ross About the Guest Jason Ross is a Science Advisor at The Schiller Institute. In America, the Institute, a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in May 1984. The Schiller Institute is also established in Australia, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and has a growing influence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Helga Zepp LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute internationally, is also Chairman of its Board of Directors in the United States. A German citizen, Mrs. Zepp LaRouche is wife of Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., statesman and economist, who, with his wife, is a true citizen of the world, in Schiller's sense. In her Founding Message for the American Schiller Institute, in 1984, Chairman Helga Zepp LaRouche outlined the Institute's objectives as follows: "The clock of mankind has advanced to a point where the old lackluster ways will no longer work. According to all established criteria, mankind has gambled away all its chances for survival. Too many catastrophes are crowding in upon us, the entropic process has proceeded too far and the rift between the U.S.A. and Western Europe is all but accomplished. For precisely this reason, we are founding the Schiller Institute. We do so not only because there is a vacuum we need to fill with institutions willing to revive the spirit of the American Revolution and the German classical period. We are founding the Schiller Institute because Schiller's special method of approaching world-historical problems is the only one which can still bring about a solution today. The kernel of this method can be defined in Schiller's own words: Man is greater than his fate. Even if the objective situation looks almost hopeless and desperate, we, like Schiller, are sure that a courageous spirit and human reason will always be able to find the higher level where the problems are solvable...."The Schiller Institute will work for this perspective. You, dear citizens of America, are called upon to help in this process. We can win, but. as Schiller stated, 'world history is the world's court of justice!''' *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Noah Coburn: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global War #086 Political Anthropologist Dr. Noah Coburn discusses his latest book "Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America's Global War" as we delve into the lives of over 3 million private contractors who service the logistics and underbelly of the Global War On Terror in Afghanistan. Show Notes Trump’s Disastrous Plan to Increase Contracting in Afghanistan https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/trumps-disastrous-plan-to-increase-contracting-in-afghanistan Trump’s Afghanistan strategy won’t end human rights violations among immigrant contractors https://qz.com/1062034/trumps-afghanistan-strategy-wont-end-human-rights-violations-among-immigrant-contractors Websites https://noahcoburn.com http://noahcoburn.bennington.edu https://www.twitter.com/NCoburnNoah Books https://www.amazon.com/Noah-Coburn/e/B005MYUBQM/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29268 About the Guest Noah is a political anthropologist focusing on political structures and violence in the Middle East and South Asia and the Director of the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning. At Bennington College he teaches courses on the overlap of politics, power and culture. He has conducted over 5 years of field research in Afghanistan, and has also conducted field research in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Georgia, Turkey and India.  His most recent work focus on international contractors from Nepal, the Republic of Georgia and India, who fought during the war in Afghanistan. He tells their stories and looks at what this means for the future of war and the American Empire in his book Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global War. Follow him on twitter: @NCoburnNoah. *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)