The Regrettable Century

Regrettable Geopolitics - 03/23/2025 (Israel Turns the Genocide Machine Back On, Yemen/Iran, Kursk, Other Ukraine Things, and Cease-Fire Talks)Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Finally, the long-awaited second Q&A episode. We talk USSR, religion, parenting, and all sort of other stuff... but some of it will have to wait until Q&A #3, which will be soon. Enjoy!Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

This week Chris and Jason read and discussed a paper Chris wrote for a strategic studies project about neo-Nazi terror networks and their links to far-right militias in Ukraine. The influx of foreign fighters to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion of 2022 has outpaced US intel and law enforcement agencies' ability to monitor potential radicals going to and coming from Ukraine. Far-right extremists have been drawn to the conflict in Ukraine since 2014 due to affiliated organizations that belong to a web of loosely related violent neo-fascist organizations. Several affiliated extremists have been apprehended planning terror attacks and other acts of violence. Amos, Howard, and Harriet Salem. 2014. “Ukraine Clashes: Dozens Dead after Odessa Building Fire.” The Guardian. May 2, 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/ukraine-dead-odessa-building-fire.“Atomwaffen Division (AWD)/ National Socialist Order (NSO) | ADL.” 2020. Www.adl.org. April 29, 2020. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/atomwaffen-division-awd-national-socialist-order-nso.Belew, Kathleen. 2018. Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Department of Homeland Security: US Customs and Border Protection. 2022. “Intelligence Note: United States Citizens Joining the Fight for Ukraine.”Department of Justice: Office of Public Affairs. 2023. “Office of Public Affairs | Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice.” Www.justice.gov. September 5, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/proud-boys-leader-sentenced-22-years-prison-seditious-conspiracy-and-other-charges-related.Goldman, Adam. 2020. “Man Suspected of Planning Attack on Missouri Hospital Is Killed, Officials Say.” The New York Times, March 25, 2020, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/us/politics/coronavirus-fbi-shooting.html.“James Mason.” 2019. Southern Poverty Law Center. 2019. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/james-mason.Johnston, David Cay. 2002. “William Pierce, 69, Neo-Nazi Leader, Dies.” The New York Times, July 24, 2002, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/us/william-pierce-69-neo-nazi-leader-dies.html.Kacper, Rekawek. 2022. Foreign Fighters in Ukraine: The Brown–Red Cocktail. New York: Routledge.Kheel, Rebecca. 2018. “Congress Bans Arms to Ukraine Militia Linked to Neo-Nazis.” The Hill. March 27, 2018. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/380483-congress-bans-arms-to-controversial-ukrainian-militia-linked-to-neo-nazis/.Kriner, Matthew, and Jon Lewis. 2021. “Pride & Prejudice: The Violent Evolution of the Proud Boys.” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. July 9, 2021. https://ctc.westpoint.edu/pride-prejudice-the-violent-evolution-of-the-proud-boys/.Loisy, Par Florian, and Gwenael Bourdon et Jean-Michel Décugis Le 8 février 2022 à 06h15. 2022. “Enquête Sur Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier, Le Sulfureux Chef Présumé des Zouaves Paris.” Leparisien.fr. February 8, 2022. https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/ultra-droite-qui-est-marc-de-cacqueray-valmenier-chef-presume-des-zouaves-paris-08-02-2022-TBCYP3EIPBA67GY2R7BR3ICAOE.php.Makuch, Ben. 2023. “Wanted for Murder, an Army Vet Escaped to Ukraine — and Fought the Russians.” The Intercept. July 19, 2023. https://theintercept.com/2023/07/19/ukraine-war-american-foreign-fighter/.Marone, Francesco. 2021. “Far-Right Extremism and Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy: A Case from Italy.” ISPI. October 21, 2021. httpsSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Another lightly edited casual conversation about geopolitics. We do a whirlwind summary of the stuff that has happened since last week and land back on the subject of Ukraine for most of the program.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, talking about "Decadence Theory" and how it differs from "crisis theory" and "breakdown theory." We discuss Samir Amin's third-worldist (and not very Marxist) take on decadence theory.Revolution or Decadence- Samir Aminhttps://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Welcome to a new series that we are trying out for Patrons. This is a lightly edited casual conversation between Jason and Chris about Geopolitics. We aren't really preparing for these by doing a lot of research and we certainly aren't doing much editing. We are going to try to do these semi-regularly and hopefully we can figure out how to do video versions as well.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

This week we discussed the thought of one of 20th-century Marxism's socialist opponents, Tomáš Masaryk. Masaryk was reviled by Czech communists until they appropriated him and he was an opponent of capitalism until the champions of capitalism did the same. He was a social democrat with an ethical and Christian-humanist vision of socialism that inspired the Prague Spring but was later coopted by the opponents of the working class and human liberation. A State without Suicidehttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/state-without-suicide Betts, R. R. “Masaryk’s Philosophy of History.” The Slavonic and East European Review 26, no. 66 (1947): 30–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4203912.Kohak, Erazim. “T. G. Masaryk’s Revision of Marxism.” Journal of the History of Ideas 25, no. 4 (1964): 519–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/2708184. Kovác, Dusan. "World Revolution — Tomás Garrigue Masaryk and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" Human Affairs 1, no. 1 (1991): 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-1991-010105Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and Karel Čapek. Talks with T.G. Masaryk. Catbird Press, 1995.Winters, Stanley B, Robert B Pynsent, and Harry Hanak. T.G. Masaryk (1850-1937).: Thinker and Critic. Palgrave Macmillan , 1989.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

So, you think you had some judgments? TOO BAD THEY ARE ALL REFUTED!This week Jason and Andrew watched and discussed Guy Debord's follow up to his Society of the Spectacle film, which is essentially a clapback at his haters. As any good Regrettable discussion goes, the film was the anchor, but the topics ranged far and wide. Enjoy!Refutation of All the Judgements, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film “The Society of the Spectacle" (1975)https://www.ubu.com/film/debord_refutation.html Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

This week we read and discussed an article by Richard Seymour that explores Marxism's relationship with materialism and idealism. Seymour argues that the Hegelian inheritance within Marxism forces it in the direction of an idealism which is essential for a successful revolutionary politics.Duel and duality, or, degrowth and dialectics https://www.patreon.com/posts/81735357?pr=true&fbclid=IwAR2ftGQudDJQhykIW4rv_3F34xqP8RGHZdyZyb4JsGQgxzQ7qxvRNI9BP7kSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

The gang tackles Chapter 5 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation.Read Along With Us: https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauerSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show