Geopolitics & Empire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xv3V-zo9YU Former UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Alfred de Zayas explains the coup in Venezuela, how the U.S. is responsible for the humanitarian crisis, how civil war and U.S. intervention are possible, and more. He describes how human rights are weaponized by Washington (in the case of Caracas) and by Spain and the EU (in the case of Catalonia). Dr. de Zayas also comments on media propaganda, fake news, and the censorship he has personally experienced. *Support/Donate to Geopolitics & Empire: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/empiregeopolitics PayPal https://www.paypal.me/geopolitics Bitcoin http://geopoliticsandempire.com/bitcoin-donate Show Notes Report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order on his mission to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Ecuador https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/239/31/PDF/G1823931.pdf?OpenElement Informe del Experto Independiente sobre la promoción de un orden internacional democrático y equitativo, sobre su misión a Venezuela: Comentarios del Estado https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/262/97/PDF/G1826297.pdf?OpenElement Websites https://twitter.com/alfreddezayas https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/AlfredDeZayas.aspx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred-Maurice_de_Zayas http://alfreddezayas.com About Alfred de Zayas Alfred-Maurice de Zayas studied history and law at Harvard, where he obtained his J.D. He practiced corporate law with the New York law firm Simpson Thacher and Bartlett and is a retired member of the New York and Florida Bar. He obtained a doctorate in history for the University of Göttingen in Germany. Mr. de Zayas has been visiting professor of law at numerous universities including the University of British Columbia in Canada, the Graduate Institute of the University of Geneva, the DePaul University Law School (Chicago), the Human Rights Institute at the Irish National University (Galway)and the University of Trier (Germany). At present he teaches international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. In 2009 de Zayas was a member of the UN workshop that drafted a report on the human right to peace, which was subsequently discussed and further elaborated by the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council. He is also a signatory of the Declaración de Bilbao and Declaración de Santiago de Compostela on the Human Right to Peace. He served as a consultant to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue of mercenaries. De Zayas is an expert for civil and political rights and has published nine books on a variety of legal and historical issues, including “United Nations Human Rights Committee Case Law” (together with Jakob th. Möller, N.P. Engel 2009), and has been co-author and co-editor of numerous other books, including “International Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms” (together with Gudmundur Alfredsson and Bertrand Ramcharan). His scholarly articles in the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Oxford Encyclopedia of Human Rights and Macmillan Encyclopedia of Genocide, encompass the prohibition of aggression, universal jurisdiction, the right to the homeland, mass population transfers, minority rights, refugee law, repatriation, legal aspects of the Spanish Civil War, indefinite detention, Guantanamo and the right to peace. He is fluent in six languages and has published a book of Rilke translations with commentary (“Larenopfer”, Red Hen Press 2008) and is completing the translation of Hermann Hesse’s “Das Lied des Lebens”. From 2002-2006 he was Secretary-General, from 2006-2010 President of PEN International, Centre Suisse romand. He was member of several advisory boards, including of the International Society of Human Rights (Frankfurt a.M.), Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen (Berlin), the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (Canada) and of the conseil scientifique of the Académie International de droit constitutionnel (Tunis). He has received several awards, most recently the “Educators Award 2011” of Canadians for Genocide Education. *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 · Daniel Estulin: New Global Order as U.S. Takes Venezuela, China Gets North Korea #097 Daniel Estulin explains the US regime change in Venezuela and how it is part of a bigger global shifting alliance of interests, where China has agreed to let the U.S. take Venezuela in exchange for North Korea. He discusses his latest book “In the Shadows of a Presidency”, and what scenarios he sees playing out beyond the coming global economic reset. *Support/Donate to Geopolitics & Empire: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/empiregeopolitics PayPal https://www.paypal.me/geopolitics Bitcoin http://geopoliticsandempire.com/bitcoin-donate Websites https://twitter.com/estulindaniel https://english.danielestulin.com Publications http://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Estulin/e/B002O0C8D6/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1459468196&sr=8-1 About the Guest Dr. Daniel Estulin is a dangerous man to the status quo. Possessed, obsessed, tenacious and courageous, a 2015 Nobel Prize nominee and a multi award-winning investigative journalist, he is a man who has been in the cross-hairs of the global power brokers for almost two decades. He is our preeminent historian of the global elite, a scholar of remarkable breadth and erudition and one of the world’s most outspoken public intellectuals. Dr. Estulin doesn’t just inspire us, he informs us with his intelligence, authenticity, generosity and compassion. He provides the information, tools, and motivation necessary to inspire and catalyze strategic citizen action. In doing so, his work strengthens movements, ensures a more just system, and brings us closer to the promise of democracy. His 2015 Nobel Peace Prize nomination is a tribute and recognition for all the work in fighting, exposing and risking his life for the common good of the human race. He gave two speeches at the European Parliament in 2010 and 2012 on European Integration and financial crisis. In November 2014, Mr. Estulin was a keynote speaker at the United Nations conference in Vienna, “Strategic Tendencies of World Politics 2015-2020”. In 2015 and again in 2016, Estulin won Mexico’s highest award for journalism. Between 2012 and 2014, Estulin presented and directed the highest rates Spanish language TV show in the world, Desde la Sombra (Out of the Shadows), on RT’s international channel with a weekly audience of over 6 million/ episode. Since 2005, Dr. Estulin has given over 700 conferences to 500,000+ people. In his international best seller, The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, which has sold 7.2 million copies in 68 countries and been translated into 48 languages, Dr. Estulin was the first man to publicly expose this shadowy cabal of some of the world’s most powerful behind the scenes manipulators. Again and again, Dr. Estulin bravely journeys to the epicenter of hell to uncover some of the most mind-boggling crimes by the men who run the world from behind the scenes. Show Notes Colombia: A Return to War? https://sputniknews.com/radio_trendstorm/201901261071820593-colombia-a-return-to-war South America creating regional bloc to counter Venezuela: Colombia https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-diplomacy/south-america-creating-regional-bloc-to-counter-venezuela-colombia-idUSKCN1P8287 Colombia probes Venezuela connection to assassination plot on President Ivan Duque https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2180007/colombia-probes-venezuela-connection-assassination-plot Revealed: US And Colombia Conspiring To Intervene In Venezuela https://disobedientmedia.com/2019/02/revealed-us-and-columbia-conspiring-to-intervene-in-venezuela Venezuela: Pope wants to verify will of both parties https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-02/venezuela-pope-wants-to-verify-will-of-both-parties.html Leaked Wikileaks Doc Reveals US Military Use of IMF, World Bank as “Unconventional” Weapons https://www.mintpressnews.com/leaked-wikileaks-doc-reveals-how-us-military-uses-of-imf-world-bank-as-unconventional-weapons/254708 As a former UN special rapporteur, the coup in Venezuela reminds me of the rush to war in Iraq https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/venezuela-crisis-coup-maduro-guaido-us-troops-un-iraq-a8767506.html Mujica sobre la crisis en Venezuela: “Si EE.UU. no tiene más remedio que intervenir, va a intervenir; el tema central es evitar la guerra” https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-47137888?SThisFB *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 · Paul Robinson: Russia, the West, and the World #096 Dr. Paul Robinson from the University of Ottawa explains the current state of US-Russia relations. We talk Putin, Trump, Russiagate, media propaganda, the New Arms Race, the Russian economy, and his forthcoming book on Russian conservatism. Websites https://irrussianality.wordpress.com https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/994/profile Publications https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Robinson/e/B001HQ26YE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3?qid=1549382146&sr=8-3 About the Guest Paul Robinson holds an MA in Russian and Eastern European Studies from the University of Toronto and a D. Phil. in Modern History from the University of Oxford. Prior to his graduate studies, he served as a regular officer in the British Army Intelligence Corps from 1989 to 1994, and as a reserve officer in the Canadian Forces from 1994 to 1996. He also worked as a media research executive in Moscow in 1995. Having published six books, he has also written widely for the international press on political issues. His research focuses generally on military affairs. In recent years, he has worked on Russian history, military history, defence policy, and military ethics. *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 · 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, or with all its military force. Elijah Magnier: But in 2015, when the allies of Syria, that is Iran, [inaudible 00:13:08], realize the size of support, the Americans, the Europeans, Turkey, and the Arabs were offering to the Jihadists, they have decided to regain control, to gain control of the cities, and to pull out from all the rural areas, because they couldn’t control all that, and because the support was overwhelming, and the number of the Syrians on the other side was much higher than the number of the allies, and Iran didn’t want to send it’s army, because then Saudi Arabia would send its army, and then American will send the army, and everybody will start fighting on this territory, and there will be total chaos. Elijah Magnier: Russia understood that the Jihadists and the rebels will not allow Russia to keep its military base on the Mediterranean coast in [inaudible 00:14:07] and [inaudible 00:14:08]. What Russia did in September 2015, they had decided to interfere in the conflict lightly by trying to stop the war without giving the upper hand to any side. Russia aimed to keep a status quo, and to start a negotiation without any real visibility and objective, but to start the war first. Elijah Magnier: What happened is Turkey dragged Russia into a higher contribution by downing his jet at the end of 2015. This is where Russia’s involvement started to become even more effective. What Russia did, yes, of course, Russia didn’t interfere just to support Assad, the support of Syria dates back to the late president, [inaudible 00:15:05] Assad, the father of [inaudible 00:15:07]. We’re talking about the beginning of the ’70s when Russia and Syria established a defense agreement between the two countries, and the supply of weapons, the Syrian supply of weapons, [inaudible 00:15:24] from Russia. Elijah Magnier: Therefore, Russia wanted to maintain the window on the Mediterranean, and look at its budget where it can train a [inaudible 00:15:35] in the [inaudible 00:15:35], conditions and scenario, and the same budget used at the Russian Defense Ministry was used [inaudible 00:15:45] military base where the Russian can obtain a very unique experience in warfare by actually using their skills and their training on live targets. This is what was Russia approach to keep a balance, and to make sure that there will not be a failed state in Syria. Elijah Magnier: That was a positive approach. Nevertheless, on the other hand, Russia made it clear to Iran and Israel that it will not interfere in the conflict between them, and that was a mistake, because if you have troops on the ground, you can’t isolate yourself and thinking that you will suffer no casualties if you keep watching. Indeed, they have suffered, the Russian have suffered several casualties from watching from Afar, and we recently saw the IL 20 with 15 officers on board that was downed by a mistake during the exchange between the Israeli and the Syrian air defense. Elijah Magnier: There are many other examples before that. A Russian jet was downed by Turkey, another Russian helicopters were downed during the conflict, so Russia tried it’s best to reach a deal with the Americans, particularly with John Kerry in mid-2016. Thanks to the Americans, unwilling to respect their deal that Russia took the war further and tried to consolidate the position of the Syrian army, and give the upper hand to the Syrian government. Elijah Magnier: Because America decided to go on with this war, didn’t believe in the Russian capability to make any changes on the ground, and they were wrong, because Russia did make many changes, and managed to defeat the Jihadists. Got rid of the control of ISIS of large territory in Syria, west of the Euphrates River, in Palmyra, in [inaudible 00:18:08], in other places under the control of Al Qaeda and other Jihadists, [inaudible 00:18:16] around Homs, around [inaudible 00:18:18], in Aleppo, all that was thanks to the Russian intervention. Elijah Magnier: Russia was in favor of seeing a state with a government that is stable, and not a [inaudible 00:18:33] state. Regardless who is sitting on top, so regardless if Assad remains in power or not, and the Russians said clearly “This is not our problem. It’s up to the Syrians to decide who is their future leader.” So, Qatar, yes, has invested 150 billion according to what the ex-prime minister said. Saudi Arabia has invested tens or hundreds of billions, and send all the Jihadists they have into Syria to change the regime. Elijah Magnier: Turkey has invested by allowing the passage of all Jihadists into Syria, and bought oil from ISIS, gave all the supply and the logistics needed to ISIS, supported Al Qaeda by allowing Al Qaeda to attack many areas around [inaudible 00:19:35], in the north of Syria, and take [inaudible 00:19:39]. It was thanks to Turkey that Al Qaeda managed to take [inaudible 00:19:43] at that time, and now [inaudible 00:19:45] is safe haven of Al Qaeda, of other Jihadists, and of the rebels who pulled out from all over Syria. What Russia did, it was very clever, because they created [inaudible 00:20:01], they have isolated all the problems on the entire geography and start dealing with one city at a time, with one pocket at a time. Elijah Magnier: This is how they have managed to regain the territory from the air, and Iran, and Syrian army, and [inaudible 00:20:21] on the ground because the Russians can’t do that on their own. Militants and Jihadists don’t surrender to a jet, but they surrender to troops on the ground, so the combination with having the allies on the ground, and the Russians in the sky made a very strong army, let’s say, in harmony to reconquer the land and give it back to the control of the Syrian army. Elijah Magnier: The Russian road in Syria was extremely positive generally speaking, but there are a few mistakes, but these are insignificant. Podcast: Briefly about Israel, we know there are documents, I guess from the ’80s, such as the [inaudible 00:21:07] plan, where Israel has some expansionist ideas, and on Christmas day, I believe, there was an Israeli attack on Damascus. As the US withdraws, will Israel continue to remain very active in Syria? Elijah Magnier: Well, it is thanks to the Israeli violation, continuation violation of Syria sovereignty that Russia provided Syria with anti air defense missiles that never existed before in Syria. The continuous violation of Israel to Syrian sovereignty and bombing targets in Syria was due to the intention of Russia, the Syrian army, and Iran not to be involved in a wider conflict that the Israelis would love to see, particularly if there is such as a conflict, the US will be part of it on the side of the Israelis. Elijah Magnier: The war was to defeat the [inaudible 00:22:17] and the Jihadists first, allow Israel to play and to be the naughty boy, let’s say, to bomb objectives in Syria, to bomb warehouses that can be replaced later, but to concentrate on one objective, eliminate Jihadists and make sure the US will not interfere by larger forces with Israel, because another conflict is starting. They have avoided this, and because they have avoided this, Israel took advantage of this situation playing on the psychology, on the circumstances, on the priorities, and on the lack of response of Russia and the Syrian army to all its bombing of the Syrian objectives in [inaudible 00:23:10]. Elijah Magnier: This situation can no longer remain valid when the Americans will pull out, I think Israel will have a very hard time if they think, if the Israeli military think they can still abuse of the Syrian [inaudible 00:23:29] and the Russian [inaudible 00:23:31] in [inaudible 00:23:32]. Podcast: You know, I still feel that it is almost too good to be true, that the foreign aggressors will accept that their plan for Syria has failed. I feel that somehow in the future they might revisit their project in some way, you say Trump’s withdrawal in your latest article lays a trap for Russia, Iran, and Turkey that the situation perhaps, again, can complicate, which can lead to the US later on saying that they need to go back in. Podcast: Do you still see that as a possibility? Will Turkey hold out and continue with their own geopolitical goals, or will they also throw in the towel on Syria? What do you think will happen from here on out? Elijah Magnier: Turkey, Iran, and Russia have established a very strong commercial strategic bond that is translated today by the decision of Turkey not to push forces, and to wait to give Russia the time to reorganize itself, and to think of a strategy to give the upper hand to the Syrian government. Turkey did not enter into [inaudible 00:24:44] for many reasons, first because it doesn’t want to confront the Russian forces, second because Iran, Russia, and the Syrian army can arm the Kurds and support them to fight against Turkey that will be involved in fighting around 43,000 square kilometers, and the Turks and the Syrian proxies are not capable of retaking such a big area, more or less a third of Syria. Elijah Magnier: Turkey has a gas, energy, commercial relationship with Russia and Iran today that are established. Moreover, Turkey knows that its presence in [inaudible 00:25:34] is protected [inaudible 00:25:35] agreement. If they walk in the [inaudible 00:25:40] province, they will not be protected because there is no previous agreement. Yes, it is in the advantage of Turkey not to see its forces involved in [inaudible 00:25:54] of [inaudible 00:25:57] and [inaudible 00:25:58] and start fighting again the Arab Tribe, and the Kurds YPG in the north of Syria. Elijah Magnier: Now, the US are pulling back from that area, and they’re going to be based in Iran. Now, the US is planning, but also the Iraqis are planning, and the question is, how long the US can stay in Iran. That’s another question. If they use Iran as a platform to start attacking Syria, then I think the Americans will be attacked also in Iran, now this is a very strong possibility, therefore we can’t say that the Americans are planning, and the rest of the Middle East is just watching them, and Iran, and Russia, and Iraq will sit idle and do nothing about it. On the contrary. Each side is planning to think how they can get rid of the other, or limit its presence or power in the Middle East. Elijah Magnier: Yes, it is not too good to be true, because we have seen seven years of destruction and war that covers Syria, covers Iraq, and neighboring countries, so that is not an easy situation to deal with. After seven years today, we have a complicated situation where the Americans wanted to deliver, to pull out as an organized exit. It means that they wanted to deliver Turkey each area they pull out from, but Turkey didn’t walk along with the Americans, and the Russians play an essential role in promising first that the YPG will no longer be armed, and this is what Turkey wants, and this is what Syria wants. Elijah Magnier: Damascus refused the request of the Kurds to keep their weapons. Seconds, the administration of the [inaudible 00:27:54] that is a Kurdish Arab area, is not only Kurdish, will be given to the Syrian government, and not the Kurdish administration, that will go away. What the Americans have created as the [inaudible 00:28:08] will vanish. Anything that the Americans have created in the north of country, they will be thankful for the military airport they have created, and they will leave to the Syrian army, and nothing else. All their proxies will leave them, because they have abandoned and betrayed their proxies, the Kurds, without giving them any notice that they were leaving, and they used them as a human shield. Elijah Magnier: The Kurds now have nothing to link them to the Americans. Therefore, yes, it is a normal and a logical situation to see the Kurds giving up on the Americans as the Americans gave up on the Kurds first, that Turkey needs to look after its long term relationship with Syria, and with Russia, and with Iran, and is not with the Americans, because the Americans don’t have friends, they have only interest relationship. Elijah Magnier: When the interest and the benefit stops, then the relationship with the Americans stops. That is not the case with Russia and Iran, so it is more in the advantage of Turkey to keep Iran and Russia on the good side, without necessarily losing the US, because Turkey is still a NATO member. Podcast: I have one final question before I ask for your final thought. I ask this to most of my guests. Could you give us your thought on how you view this idea of the American empire and is this failure in Syria a sign that it is receding, declining, and do you think Trump will manage a soft landing, or is there a potential, as we’ve seen in history, for another sort of World War? Elijah Magnier: I think the US [inaudible 00:30:01] of the world is over, unilateral [inaudible 00:30:04] of the world. Therefore, today Russia regained its place that used to have before the Paris [inaudible 00:30:13] in 1990, therefore I think today the US is still a superpower, is still extremely strong with a very good army, capable of winning any war, but not to control any country they win. We saw that in Iraq, we saw that in Syria. They can’t win the after war. They can win the war only. They can’t win the hearts and minds of the population. Iraq turned against them, Afghanistan turned against them, today 52 provinces in Afghanistan are in the hands of Taliban. Elijah Magnier: Therefore, the US empire, unilateral empire, the only [inaudible 00:30:55], only [inaudible 00:30:56] of the world, is over. Russia is moving in as a superpower country, China is moving in as a commercial superpower, and the Americans are losing a lot of friends on the way, not only in the Middle East, but mainly in Europe. They behave on their own, without consulting their supposed to be partners in Europe, they have done this against the Nuclear Deal that they have signed and they refuse to honor while the Europeans are still holding it. They are losing in Iraq, and the government in Iraq is far from being pro-American. Elijah Magnier: They have lost in Afghanistan, they have lost their [inaudible 00:31:46] state in Syria, they have lost the impose on the Lebanese government to attack [inaudible 00:31:52] and to turn against it. So, all their plan, the only power they have, is on GCC weak countries who are ruled by families, and who need the US to keep them in power, and this is only where they can exert their will upon the leaders of the Arab countries. That is enough to keep military bases, it is enough to keep its presence where it can use military power, but is not enough at all to dominate the population. Podcast: Any final thought or comment from you? And how can people best follow your work and support you? Elijah Magnier: Well, thank you for this question. My articles speak for themselves, so I am on Twitter, I have my blog, I have my articles published at the newspaper, and I give interviews to people like you, but not to BBC and other big institutions, because they proved to be unreliable, and they have forgot about how journalism is. Podcast: Well, thank you, Elijah, for your very concise, clear, and excellent analysis on the Middle East. I am ashamed to admit that I’ve only recently discovered your work, and I urge listeners to follow Elijah’s website, his Twitter, which we’ll link in the descriptions below, and to leave him a donation so that he can continue providing cutting edge analysis, and thank you for the interview. Elijah Magnier: Thank you. [/spoiler] Websites https://ejmagnier.com https://ahtribune.com https://twitter.com/ejmalrai Show Notes Russia, Iran, Turkey seek deal on Syria constitutional body at UN https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/russia-iran-turkey-seek-deal-syria-constitutional-body-181218061917052.html America’s hidden war in Syria https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/in-america-s-hidden-war-in-syria-troops-face-peril-on-many-fronts-1.560780 Trump is leaving behind a trap for Russia, Turkey and Iran in Syria https://ejmagnier.com/2018/12/24/trump-is-leaving-behind-a-trap-for-russia-turkey-and-iran-in-syria The Kurds Have Lost The Chance to Decide Their Fate: Only Damascus Can Save Them https://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/syria-crisis/2726-damascus-save-kurds.html Erdogan does not object to Damascus’s control over al-Hasaka: the Kurds choose between loyalty to Syria or defeat by Turkey https://ejmagnier.com/2018/12/22/erdogan-does-not-object-to-damascuss-control-over-al-hasaka-the-kurds-choose-between-loyalty-to-syria-or-defeat-by-turkey USA announces withdrawal from the Levant: time for all parties to rethink their next move https://ejmagnier.com/2018/12/21/usa-announces-withdrawal-from-the-levant-time-for-all-parties-to-rethink-their-next-move Burying the axe of war: the Arabs will recognise Assad, and Arab investment will help rebuild Syria https://ejmagnier.com/2018/12/19/burying-the-axe-of-war-the-arabs-will-recognise-assad-and-arab-investment-will-help-rebuild-syria About the Guest Elijah J. Magnier is a Senior Political Risk Analyst with over 32 years’ experience covering Europe & the Middle East. Acquiring in-depth experience, robust contacts and political knowledge in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Specialized in political assessments, strategic planning and thorough insight in political networks. Created and coordinated network of decision makers to provide key insight into the complex political developments of the Middle Eastern region. Experienced in dealing with intrinsically difficult situations in a broad spectrum of situations when interacting with leaders and fundamentalist movements in war zones and areas of growing instability. *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 · 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. Bin Laden was in the Bosnia Herzegovina during the war. He was brought there by the CIA with radical Arab Jihadists from Saudi Arabian and elsewhere that had fought in Afghanistan. So they were there training the muslim forces of Izetbegović. This is something a few people are aware of. So what came out of that was, number one, the Balkanization of a country that could have provided, I think it could have provided kind of a middle way economic model between radical free market transformation, which is the Harvard shock therapy, IMF policy. And a centralized state planning, it had the elements of a transition between the two that could have been imitated by many of the former communist economies, especially Russia. So that model was effectively destroyed. And also they created the basis to put huge military base, NATO base called Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo after the war. So there were many levels of it, but I think the primary one was to say we NATO Washington are running the military show here and don’t get any ideas. I think what’s going on now with Trump and the NATO, you’re not paying your fair share is a slightly different agenda, but we can talk about that later. Podcast:                               I just wanted to comment on that section of the book and Yugoslavia. It creates a little bit of cognitive dissonance in me because I’m a Croatian-American. And so I kind of like, it’s kind of confusing regarding allegiances and the one reason that I recommend people pick up the book, you have a lot good sources from official government documents. And I looked some of them up and you mentioned regarding Yugoslavia, the October 27th, 1990, I believe. Foreign operations appropriations act 101-513. So basically what happened in the 1980s, I guess you have the whole Brooklyn Woods IMF system, they get the country into debt, Yugoslavia, and then they’re never going to be able to pay that debt and then at the same time they give them foreign aid, I guess, to help them kind of service that debt. And then when it comes time, they, in this appropriations act, there were saying US was going to stop giving the foreign aid which would collapse Yugoslavia and that actually says like, it’s unbelievable. I have a Croatian colleague that works with me and I was telling them this today and they couldn’t believe it says all the individual republics of Yugoslavia need to hold free and fair elections so as not to have this aid removed. So I mean, it’s there in the government documents and then you quote Sir Alfred Sherman saying the war in Bosnia was America’s war and every sense of the word the US helped start it, kept it going and prevented it’s early end. So again, I mean it’s documented. William Engdahl:              Yeah. It’s shocking. It was shocking to me as I got deeper into the research. My first book in Serbo or Croatian or Serbo Croatian language was translated into Croatian in 1999 and I was invited by the translator who later became publisher many, many times to Croatia to give speeches at the universities and so forth. And the book was a bestseller. And at that time I did not understand this larger dimension of the war. When I did and when I wrote that with the documentation you’re talking about, her contacted and I considered her and a husband really dear friends. Simply broke off. She could not look at that. And in war there are very few good cats but in this one, it really was horrible. They forced everybody to begin making board against every other part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia was on the edge, and they somehow avoided the worst of it. But Croatia, Serbia, the Bosnia’s, the muslim, the ethnic people in Bosnia Herzegovina and it’s just tragedy beyond belief. Podcast:                               Going back then to the color revolutions, I mean, I don’t think we have to go too much into detail. You’ve given interviews on this recently so people can go listen to those to get into more detail. They can read your book, but the gist of it is, from 2000 with Serbia, 2003 Georgia, 2004 Ukraine and on and the Kurgastan. So the US state department the NED, the USAID, Soros, Open Society, all these foundations come in and start funding and training youth and overthrow these countries. And so if we can kind of then bring it up to today and what’s happening now is interesting in France. I read an article, I think it was a national review. I’m not sure I call the Tax Revolt in France and this yellow vest movement and they’re saying that it’s the first color Revolution yellow, not sponsored by the US state department, NED, USAID, or Soros. And we know that Macron is an agent of the elite. He worked literally for Rothchild. And he’s an EU yes man. And he tried to implement this austerity global warming tax. So do you think the Yellow Vest are an organic movement or is this the US again taking a shot at the EU? William Engdahl:              I’m convinced that the Yellow Vest movement is organic and real and this is what has Macron and his bankers, the bankers in Paris and Brussels and at first they didn’t … They thought it would go away. They tried, he tried to ignore it. He didn’t make any public statements and then people came in from the countryside, even Germany and go off into two or three hours drive to France and you see that the standard of living has deteriorated steadily over the past years, the past couple of decades, and people kind of live a great life. It used to be to go to France and so there was a lot of fear people were happy and enjoyed good food and wonderful wine and fellowship and friendship and that you don’t see. People that are struggling to pay the rent or to own a house to simply feed their family and the taxes go up and the benefits go down. It’s just horrendous. And then comes Macron with this very strange manipulated election. I have a gut feeling that Marine Le Pen, the conservative, I don’t call her right wing left wing. But the conservative candidate actually probably won the election, but they manipulated the thing so that Macron becomes the surprise winner. Before the run off it was within 2% of each other and Macron was simply given the media backup from the elite, they own the media, defense industry and so forth. And they got their boy in there. They got their man in whatever you want to call as president. And then he began just rolling back workers’ rights, trade union rights in a country that says the strong tradition of fighting for those rights. So I think what’s going on is the beginning that what’s going to expand across the European union, how it will expand, I don’t know, but already Macron is scared enough that he’s agreed to postpone the gasoline tax for six months, I think. It’s not about gasoline tax. It took on an organic dimension. People said we’re sick of the 1% destroying that 99% of the population. We’re sick of these policies. We want France back again. We don’t want France to be a suburb of Africa. We want to be France to be France with its own history, culture, pride and tradition and its own economy instead of this globalization nonsense. So I think that’s kind of what’s going on here. You see what I’ve seen videos of this. What Macron has ordered is that the French intelligence insert, provocateurs police, you even see in films, they go behind their van and start changing into civilian uniform and put on the yellow vest and then start throwing rocks to incite violence and so forth. And then the yellow vest discover this and they say, “Police, police. Look at that police agent, and they run away. So to see this and of course, what the mainstream media films are scenes of violence and you think these are nothing but hooligans and an attic fire, the US terrorists and so forth they’re not … But this is genuine. And it’s got the powers to be freaked out I think. And there’s a plan. It goes back to the 1920s from certain circles in Europe, [inaudible 00:23:24] was one of the architects of this to destroy the borders of the nation state Brzezinski in his book, Technetronic Era between two agents. I think it was called in the 1960s, wrote that the nation state is essentially finished. Actually it’s a quote I like to cite if you allow me a 1969, he wrote very prophetically because he was very close to David Rockefeller who was one of the architects of this process. He said “The nation state, as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force. International banks and multinational corporations are acting filing in terms that are far in advance. It’s certainly true of the political concepts of the nation state.” Well, think Google, think Facebook, think Apple and Amazon and so forth. And these are the corporate entities and the big global banks like Citi group like the JP. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and so forth that are just, they have been deregulated and allowed to create such a massive size that they simply tell governments what to do. Private banks should be regulated by governments, not the other way around. So this migration thing I’m convinced is part of a longer term project to simply as George Soros with this initiative on migration, international migration initiative NGO. They talk about migration is the new normal and talk about millions per year coming into the EU and they talk about the US migration channel from Latin America in into the US unlimited. If you think about it, the economic policy, which is a globalized policy of these corporations, created the poverty and created the wars in the Middle East. The so called Arab Spring, created the wars in Africa. They financed them to give guns to both sides and so forth in order that they can come in and loot the raw materials. And then through those wars, like the war in Syria, you create refugee flows, people are desperate to get out and in those refugee flows you can also create embedded terrorists like Isis or Al-Qaeda and so forth, bring those into Europe and began creating unlivable situation. And the amazing thing to most Germans is that the top level politicians in Berlin are complicit in this. Merkel has no idea that she’s going to change your policy. She insisted on signing this ridiculous initiative, this compact for migration it’s not compact on migration, that you have certain principles that nations agreed to. It’s a compact for migration to encourage migration and make opposing this a hate crime and this horrendous. This is fascism nations like people they have a right to decide who their friends are, their companions are or their citizens. This is the fundamental of national sovereignty. This is what nations are all live up with borders as well. It worked fine for hundreds of years, so there’s no need to stop that and open everything up to chaos. So that’s, I think what is going on in France and it’s spreading. It’s already spreading into Belgium. Germany is a much more controlled country so you don’t have the same kind of manifestation. You’ve had various groups and then you’ve had some, I think fake groups like [Pegida 00:27:59] created to give genuine protesters the bad name in Germany. But most Germans are fed up with this policy of Merkel. And also the fact that their pensions are being cut, they’re told to work longer, more use and their health benefits. Their health insurance is being cut back, the quality is going down the roads, the railroads, the state on railway system, which is partly privatized but mostly state owned. The [inaudible 00:28:31] is a disaster. They don’t invest in the upkeep of the local motors and the railroad. So trains don’t run on time as the expression goes. So these are the genuine real elements to this. and I don’t see that all the hands of a color revolution. I think a lot of them look at what’s going on with protests in the US around the Trump election. And they maybe say, okay, let’s try to protest some of these things ourselves. Let’s say enough with this migration, we need to have a war with Europe of some sort, this is not fascism. This is normally how it used to work. You would come into the United States through a point of entry and declare your citizenship, show your papers and say why you’re applying for asylum or whatever it is, or a work visa, you know, if you have skills and so. And that would be an orderly process. But this is out of control. Podcast:                               And I make a joke about this un migration pact because basically the UN and these folks want to force all countries to be subject to this and where they make illegal immigration legal. And I’m on my third passport. I have three citizenships, three passports. So what have I been doing collecting passports all this time when essentially you will need a passport because now I can go anywhere. William Engdahl:              Yeah but that’s not how it’s going to work. Podcast:                               And just final question on that color revolution aspect. Last week we interviewed Dmitri Orlov about his book Technosphere and he briefly wrote about color revolutions and he used the term political technology. It’s been a good 20 to 30 year run by the US in their use of this political technology, if you will. Do color revolutions still work? Are they still effective? William Engdahl:              Less and less Russia has outlawed the NGOs as undesirable NGOs, which I think is a very good idea. China has cracked down … They’re cracking down on everything. Churches, religion, [wigos 00:30:57] and so forth. But China has cracked down and many countries have realized that these NGOs are up to no good. They’re just plain ignorant or corrupt I think today because there’s so many examples. So I think it’s running out of effectiveness. And I think the other thing, and this is harder to judge, of course, there are networks that have been embedded in the permanent bureaucracy in Washington through the time. If you look back, I think this destruction of the american democratic institutions or political institutions began significantly around after the assassination by the CIA and others of JFK in 1963. And then of course you had the scaling up with the Vietnam war under Johnson who did whatever the military industrial complex and the CIA told him to do basically. But then you had the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, former head of the CIA who was ambassador to China and involved in some very corrupt dealings with the corrupt Chinese circles from everything I can glean. And then George Bush lasted for one term because he was not very well loved. He wasn’t a lovable type contrary to his funeral orations. Then you had Bill Clinton, who before he was president, was identified as visiting Kennebunkport Maine. The Bush family compound something like 17 times before the 1992 election. He was Governor of Arkansas receiving illegal drug payments through allowing the Mena Arkansas airport to fly in cocaine from Columbia the CIA pilots and so forth. And they would bring stacks of $100 bills under the governor’s office and put them on the desk. So this is Bill Clinton and then went through the Clinton … There was a continuity of destruction here that goes from Clinton, eight years of Clinton up to the year 2000. And then you have going back to the Bush family, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, most of the key people around George W. Were all Bush Senior hold overs. Then you had the war on Iraq, war in Afghanistan, all these regime change operations, going into high gear. And then you had after two terms of George W, you had Obama who’s part of the same machine with Hillary is as secretary of state. Laughing at the brutal assassination of Gaddafi and one of the few countries in Africa that before the color revolution there was prosperous and peaceful. And the people had because Gaddafi wanted to have stability. He made sure the oil revenues a good part of it went to his own people. And so now now we’re at kind of an interesting turning point and I think the venom, and this is a conclusion I’m slowly coming to, if I may expand on this point a little bit. The venom being directed by the mainstream media, and by the democrats against Trump. I think Trump was the president that wasn’t supposed to be. Podcast:                               ‘Cause you had written, I guess some years ago an article … I mean, and it’s great. They say one of the key skills for the 21st century is to learn, unlearn and relearn. And I think you wrote an article some years ago about Trump saying he’s part of the same system. And what causes you to change your thinking now? William Engdahl:              Well, several American friends whom I respect and whose political fillers are pretty good, started telling me to rethink this and I realized that there’s a genuine change going on in the country against this globalization, phony nonsense of the last 20 years or so. And that Trump is very much a part of that. And I said, oh, this can’t be true. But then I started listening to videos, reading speeches and so forth, and take the case of North Korea. North Korea I was told by the late James R. Lilley, who was a CIA senior officer for 30 years and a skull and bones pile of George Bush Senior. He was ambassador in beijing at the time of the Tiananmen Square business. I write about this in the book Manifest Destiny and according to everything I was able to research and Chinese so the talk was in visits to China years ago, and American journalists who were there, Tiananmen square. There was never a government massacred by the students. But James R. Lilley was the ambassador running the color revolution. It was one of the early color revolutions that didn’t work. It flopped. And George Soros had to get out of the country. He was accused of being a CIA operative, which is probably not far from the truth. I was sued by Soros for a million dollars over something I wrote about his daughter’s foundation in Tibet but that as it may. Then I began looking at What trump is doing on many levels. And it’s difficult because you have an embedded permanent bureaucracy that is committed to this destruction and it’s in the state department and the justice department. Look at this guy Comey. He’s now back in the news James Comey, the former director of the FBI was put in charge of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation during the election campaign, if you remember. And he gave a press conference where he stated that even though there’s evidence that we uncovered of Clinton’s, know abusive of the email rules and even though there were classified documents on her private server and so forth. We do not find any grounds for … What did he say? “Although there’s evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, my judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” Well, it’s not the job of the FBI or the cops, it’s not the cops job to be a prosecutor. They give it to the prosecution, which is the justice department. So he was in on the fixed to cover up this incredible email, the abuse by Hillary Clinton and the wiki leaks just before the election of the so called a pizza gate emails with Hillary and and so forth indicated her campaign, chairman Podesta and others. This threatened to bring all the trees in the forest. So now that’s coming out. It turns out that the brother of James Comey, Peter Comey is a senior employee of the law firm, DLA Piper in Washington that did the audit of the Clinton foundation when Hillary was secretary of state and using her private email servers to do her official government business. And there’s so much a smoking gun of corruption here on this. This is now beginning to come out. And I think that’s creating a huge free cow in the democratic camp. And in the camp of the people who are complicit in this, such that they’re trying to attack Trump for unbelievable charges of impeachment because he supposedly used campaign money his own apparently. If that’s the case to buy the silence of this woman who claims that he had an affair with her. And all these sort of things that are coming up. But the real story I think is this private email server. The exchange of classified information to foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, including the people of the republic of China so on and so forth and including Russia. There’s a scandal about to come out again called Uranium One. that is, to my mind, the real Russia gate scandal. And that involves Hillary Clinton as secretary of state doing something very, very ugly with the CEO of a major chunk of US uranium. So what is trump during his campaign slogan was Make America Great Again and now I began looking more closely at the trade war. And what do we have? We have China. I’ve been to China many times. I was very positive about the development I saw. They were actually building things where Europe is kind of going downhill, as the US in the last 40 years, the US economy. And I thought, well, China really working hard and doing this. Turns out that since the time of Bill Clinton’s presidency, 27,000 factories were dismantled in the US. The jobs of course were closed down and the factories moved to China by multinational corporations and Clinton facilitated that transfer. So indeed American jobs, were ruined and the competitive advantage that China had was helped by friends from the outside and billionaires abounded everywhere. So I am now beginning to relook at what trump is doing with the trade war on China is a very calculated move. It began to become clear and that is against something called made in China 2025. It’s a 10. point strategy that China will become, not a leading competitor or player, but the world leader in 10 areas of technology by 2040. 2025 it will achieve an irreversible forward momentum. And that includes such things as 5G telephony communications, something that’s highly controversial and highly dangerous in my view. But for the internet of things, we’ll look more closely at what the internet of things is about. It’s about this electronic surveillance of all citizens everywhere. I don’t need a computer program to tell me when I opened my refrigerator, oh your egg supply is getting low. You should mark it down on your shopping list to buy new eggs. Or you were at this restaurant yesterday, do you want to give a rating? Do you want to go again et cetera et cetera. Everything we do, everything we buy is going to be in some data bank. So we’re controlled by private corporations and that’s exactly I think what Brzezinski was foreshadowing back in 1969 in that court. So the areas, biotechnology, the Chinese, Just a bio engineered the first genetically edited humans supposedly immune from HIV virus by copying the DNA, spearheaded the certain place and injecting a virus from an HIV positive male sperm and the twins somehow are born, but God knows what’s going to happen, what kind of genetic mutations. Because gene editing is not a stable, proven technology. It’s highly controversial even from some of the developers. So began looking at a trade war strategy and said maybe there’s something interesting here for once a president attacks the federal reserve said this is very bad. What the federal reserve is going to be ami with interest rates and that’s the usual pattern of the fed. If you look at historically greens pan did this time and again, every fit chairman has done this. You raise interest rates at a time when bubbles build up because money is relatively cheap and then you pop the bubble and you say, well, we can’t tell when there’s a bubble. This is nonsense. They know very well. Stock market’s overpriced and all these other indicators. So a president of the United States coming out attacking openly the federal reserve is unheard of and I think that’s very interesting sign. So I’m at this point withholding judgment and going from negative to neutral in my evaluation of Trump and watching to see if his administration is successful in bringing indictments to law breakers, presumed lawbreakers, from all evidence such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, people in the Obama administRation and so forth. Then I think we’re looking at something genuine about draining the swamp and it didn’t appear so at the beginning. And I think part of the reason is the swamp it was just everywhere. You have to have a strategy to start. And that’s what I began to see now through the appointments of Whitaker as acting attorney general. Someone who realizes that the motor, special investigation of the Russia gate is simply gone out of control and is looking for dirt on any direction simply to weaken the powers of the trump presidency. So I think it’s time of titanic shifts going on and I think some of the things that trump is doing actually are rather positive. Other things, I can’t say I’m terribly excited by the tax law that he enacted two years ago. But again, there might be parts of that that actually helped the economy. Economist friends of mine in the US who follow hard economic data telling me that the economy is genuinely doing better in the last two years. So maybe there is something to all this. And the idea of stopping the invasion and I think that’s the right word, is thousands of people being financed by private NGOs and reportedly also Soros NGOs to simply storm the wall on the borders of the US coming from Honduras, including MS13 gang members who according to reports are CIA trained to be gang terrorists if they get an order, okay, we want you to get rid of this guy and make it look like gang violence. But these are drug gangs that are coming into America United States and up to no good. The family’s legitimate families half of central America accordIng to the opinion polls would like to come to America as the land of choice 10 million people. And let’s do this in an orderly way ladies and gentlemen. This is an [inaudible 00:48:39]. So in this respect even though he’s attacked as vicious racist president, I don’t think he’s racist. I don’t see that evidence. He’s certainly not Antisemitism, he’s own daughter is a converted Jew and his son in law is Jewish. He has good relations with this and so forth. So, they have trouble with him. He’s kind of a … And he’s got very good support within the career military who felt that the Obama was really destroying the defenses in the country. So let’s see. I’m virtually critically looking at this thing in a slightly different light. In politics I’ve learned over the years that reality is often not. It’s presented in the mainstream media. Podcast:                               And that’s very fair enough. And as we’re winding down, I guess one of my final question would be 2018’s coming to a quick and 2019 is upon us. As you say, it’s a very shaky time. And perhaps if you could just leave us with what do you think? We’re heading into 2019. We’ve, got some interesting events in the Middle East. Qatar just announced they’re leaving OPEC and in another report that Iraq might also and then in your book, you’ve written about it as well. We see it in the daily headlines. The Saudi government’s is experiencing troubles and perhaps they’re targeted for regime change. The war in Yemen, in one of your chapters, you talk about how Yemen might have as much oil reserves as Saudi Arabia on the border. NATO has been talking about the obsession of Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia speeding those up as well as well as the economy. So, I mean going into 2019, I don’t know what are the things that are on the top of your mind? William Engdahl:              I think number one, I think we will not have a war with Russia. I don’t think is going to happen. I think there are certain Russian oligarchs and certain networks in and around Moscow that we’re trying to influence because they probably assumed that Hillary would be the president is most of the world did including Hillary. But then the voting machines didn’t function as they should maybe I don’t know. By the way, most of the voting machine companies are owned by … I recently discovered are owned by companies that are connected with George Soros and others like that who are definitely pro Clinton. So I think we will not have war. I think there will be a huge upheaval in the political establishment in the US. Huge upheaval. If it comes to arrests of prominent people like Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton and people around the Obama administration, I think that will be a very positive development. Because this cesspool of corruption has to be cleaned out. They’re promoting an agenda that’s not only destroying the United States of America, it’s destroying a nation state globally. And that is losing steam and beginning to lose popularity if people are realizing that this manipulation is going to kill them, literally kill their livelihood and their ability to live a peaceful life, then this game might began to change. In terms of the Middle East, I think what’s going on in Saudi Arabia is the more I look at this Khashoggi affair the more I began to doubt the official narrative. The official narrative was governed by Erdoğan the president of Turkey. The whole Khashoggi business smells or some kind of setup. Not only of Khashoggi but maybe of Trump and the Saudi prince, the Saudi royal house. And that might be because what Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, he just go Saudi Arabia and reportedly briefed the prince MbS Salman who in the royal family is plotting a coup to get rid of Salman and prevent him from becoming the next king. And suddenly, you remember about a year ago, there were these mass arrests of billionaires, including all the Al-Waleed and the several princes, billionaire princess. And they were essentially stripped of their fortunes. Well, if you look at Al-Waleed bin, he’s a major donor to projects of the Clinton foundation to Citigroup, one of the dirtiest spikes in the world, a Citi corporation and so money laundering. And these Saudi slush fund monies were a major factor in political corruption by the cabal around the Clintons, the Obama’s and so forth and the Bush family over the last 30, 40 years. So if that is the background to this relation between Trump and MbS, then it would make sense and the CIA’s seems to be really acting not in the interest of the good of the United States and probably never has. I know Kennedy wanted to just … In his second presidency term, he wanted to dismantle the CIA as an institution because it was run by certain old families that was like a private intelligence operation to extend their power and [inaudible 00:55:03] Bush [inaudible 00:55:04] and so forth. So the CIA seems to be playing a very dirty game against Trump in this particular case, probably they rely on a lot of slush fund money for black operations coming from Saudi Arabia or did rely. So if that’s being cut off, if the black money from China that used to go to Hillary Clinton or Dianne Feinstein in the senate or Bill Clinton when he was president, if that’s been cut off, then we could see in 2019 a major upheaval in some of the negative things going on inside the United States. And if that begins to happen, that will begin to have shockwave effect on those same kinds of networks in the European union, in France, in Germany. Merkel was very closely tied with the Obama people and so forth. And when Trump came in, she just absolutely went bizarre. So the proverb is we live in very interesting times, and I think 2019 is going to become a decisive year either where mankind as human beings begins to say, okay, we’re losing our fundamental values. Let’s stop this geoengineering weather modification experiments with climate on the planet. Let’s stop all this GMO poison that we give our children call it food. The agribusiness destruction of healthy food production in the world. The globalization of agriculture. And let’s bring the central banks under political control constitution. There was a coup d’état in 1913 when the federal reserve was created as a private central bank. So I think all of these things potentially could be on the agenda in 2019. If they are, I think the world will breathe great sigh of relief. Few people unfortunately have a glimpse as to what’s been done over the past 30, 40 years. But it’s beginning to change and that gives me optimism. Podcast:                               Well it’s going to be interesting and it’s always a pleasure talking with you, William. I would recommend listeners go out and get every single one of your books from Century Of War to Manifest Destiny. I know I have multiple copies of each and finally, how can people best follow you, your work support you? William Engdahl:              If you go to my website, which is williamengdahl I spelled my name without anything in between e-n-g-d-a-h-l, williamengdahl.com, very simple. Go to my website and there a window will pop up, offering a free subscription to my monthly newsletter geo political newsletter. And then you go onto the website itself and you’ll find links to most of my articles over the past five or six or more years. And there you can access for free. So if people go there, they will find YouTube interviews like this as I say, the articles and also links to my books. So that’s the best way to follow. Podcast:                               And they can leave a donation as well. So thank you. William Engdahl:              Yes. Please. Thank you. [/spoiler] Websites williamengdahl.com twitter.com/EngdahlFW Books http://williamengdahl.com/books.php About William Engdahl F. William Engdahl is an award-winning geopolitical analyst, strategic risk consultant, author, professor and lecturer. He has been researching and writing about the world political scene for more than thirty years. His various books on geopolitics—the interaction between international power politics, economics and geography—have been translated into 14 foreign languages from Chinese to French, from German to Japanese. His most recent works trace the strategies and events that led to the rise of the US as an international superpower. He describes the emergence after 1945 of an American power as a new kind of Empire not based upon sole military occupation of land, but control of vital resources. Domination was through creation of an informal empire where control of finance, of the basic food chain, of energy—above all of oil, would be the basis for what would become the greatest concentration of power in history, an American Sole Superpower after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Born in Minnesota, William Engdahl grew up in Texas. After earning a degree in politics from Princeton University, and graduate study in comparative economics at Stockholm University, he worked as an economist and investigative freelance journalist in New York and Europe. He has lectured on contemporary geopolitics as Visiting Professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology and delivers talks and private seminars around the world on different aspects of economics and politics with focus on political risk. He has given talks at the Ministry of Science and Technology Conference on Alternative Energy, Beijing; London Centre for Energy Policy Studies of Hon. Sheikh Zaki Yamani; Turkish-Eurasian Business Council of Istanbul, Global Investors’ Forum (GIF) Montreaux Switzerland; Bank Negara Indonesia; the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies; the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Economics. F. William Engdahl also contributes regularly to a number of international publications on economics and political affairs including Asia Times, FinancialSense.com, 321.gold.com, The Real News, RT.com OpEdge, RT TV, Asia Inc., GlobalResearch.com, Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Foresight magazine. He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Grant’sInvestor.com, European Banker and Business Banker International, Globus in Croatia, and has been interviewed on various geopolitical topics on numerous international TV and radio programs including USA Coast-to-Coast with George Noory, Al Jazeera, CCTV and Sina.com (China), Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), and Channel 1 Russian TV. William is a Research Associate of Michel Chossudovsky’s Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, Canada and member of the editorial board of Eurasia magazine. He currently lives in Germany and in addition to writing and giving interviews on current events, consults as a political risk economist for various private organizations, major European banks and private investor groups. Why the “F.” in F. William Engdahl? That’s an interesting question. *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)