Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Click here for the full interview with Assal Rad: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-iranians-protest?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “The state is responsible. Period. There’s just no question.” Author and historian Assal Rad joins Useful Idiots to discuss the Iranian protests over the case of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being detained by Iran’s “Morality Police” for not adequately covering her hair. “She shouldn’t have been detained in the first place,” Rad says. “The fact that there is this law, this dress code, that doesn’t allow women a basic form of free expression is the problem.” Amini’s death has sparked protests across Iran and the west, with politicians and celebrities weighing in from around the world. “This is a human rights issue,” Rad says. “But so were the sanctions on Iran during the pandemic. It’s problematic when you only cite human rights organizations and international law and the UN when it serves your purpose.” Today, crippling sanctions on Iran are starving its people, and women are affected the most. But Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber aren’t posting on Instagram about it. The West chooses when to call out human rights abuses against women and when to ignore them. “And that’s why outside powers having any kind of intervention is so problematic. They’re not doing it in the interest of those civilians, they’re doing it in their own national interest,” Rad says. “This is why listening to and supporting voices in Iran is so important.” Assad Rad’s new book is “The State of Resistance Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran.” Plus, subscribe to hear the full interview on why Biden won’t reenter the Iran nuclear deal, the historic suppression of the Iranian left stemming from the Cold War, and how sanctions are crushing Iranian workers. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-interview-how-the-west-provoked?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web How the West Brought War to Ukraine: https://www.amazon.com/How-West-Brought-Ukraine-Understanding/dp/0991076702 Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Researcher and writer Dr. Ben Abelow, a scholar who lobbied Congress on nuclear arms policy, joins Useful Idiots to explain, as his new book argues, how the west brought war to Ukraine. “The goal of the US,” Abelow says, “is not to save Ukrainians but to degrade Russia’s military until they won’t be able to fight in the future. And while some say stopping Russia is a humanitarian goal, the way one would degrade Russia’s military is to keep an extended war going and fight to the last Ukrainian.” Abelow analyzes the history of this cold war, the aggression by each side, and the hypocrisy of the argument that Ukraine has a sacrosanct right to join NATO. “The right to join NATO is the right to place a western military arsenal on Russia’s border. If Russia made a military alliance with Canada or Mexico, US leaders would not be talking about their right to do so.” And on this week’s news of Putin announcing military escalation and giving a thinly-veiled threat of nuclear war, Dr. Abelow warns: “I hope it’s taken seriously.” These are scary times. So buckle up, cook some Nyquil chicken, and get ready for this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-matt-taibbi-returns?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Once a Useful Idiot, always a Useful Idiot. Matt Taibbi, who’s taken a hiatus from this pod to write his next book (he gives a sneak peek in the extended interview), just can’t stay out of the game. He’s back to talk about Democrats and Republicans sucking, the weird and terrible media, and the scary stories that are ignored by the mainstream. His newest article on taint teams sheds like on a dark new phenomenon. The FBI has given itself the power to raid lawyers, take all of their documents, and then give itself permission to use the stolen documents in unrelated cases. It’s an easy way to skip getting a search warrant, and gives the government unprecedented power to bury its enemies. Matt explains the ominous story in detail. And subscribe for the full interview: Matt and Aaron ask why hasn’t Hillary Clinton been questioned for her Russiagate involvement, Matt remembers pranking General Secretary Gorbachev, and we take Matt’s new media quiz. Taibbi’s back this week, and you’re not gonna want to miss it. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full episode: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-katrina-vanden-heuvel?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “We need to not treat the idea of peace as subversive.” Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher and editorial director of The Nation, predicts a dark cold war ahead if our leaders continue their craven militarism. The first step, she says, is talking about it openly, which, sadly, the media won’t do. “The crisis is on us. And there’s a lack not only of preparedness but of thinking about the crisis.” Katrina, who was close with the late Mikhail Gorbachev, shares the leader’s personal thoughts on peace, nuclear weapons, and the worsening relationship between US and Russian presidents. She calls Gorbachev “a great reformer in his country’s tormented history.” And shares some private stories about him too. And she reflects on her late husband, scholar Stephen Cohen, when we react to a video of him offering a very prescient analysis of the new Cold War. Plus, Biden does fascist Roger Waters, Liz Truss wants to nuke you, and the latest in terrible Trump-themed drinks. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Emmy-winning writer and comedian Kurt Metzger, who wrote for Who is America? and Inside Amy Schumer, stops by to talk comedy with the Useful Idiots. We figured since August is wrapped, it’s probably time we all had a Summer Friday. So instead of talking death in Ukraine and poverty in the US, Kurt shares stories of running from Chinese cops, illegal standup comedy in Shanghai, joining (and then ditching) the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, most importantly, how he’d look with Katie’s hair. When the Useful Idiots decide to go silly, we’re no-nonsense about it. So we also enroll in the new college major Lesbian Dance Theory, chat about stoned (and dry-diapered) President Brandon in a fighter jet, and announce a watch party for the new off-the-wall Hunter Biden movie (watch the trailer with us in the four food groups). And subscribe for the full episode, including the extended interview with Kurt Metzger on call-out culture, Youtube suppression, and whatever the hell is going on with that “robot with salmon eyes” Mark Zuckerberg. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-noam-chomsky-were?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Professor Noam Chomsky has a stark prediction for the future of humanity if the US refuses to cooperate with other countries: “It is absolutely necessary for the great powers to cooperate if there’s going to be any hope for survival,” he explains. “China, the US, Russia, they have to be cooperating on the major issues of the day: climate, nuclear war, pandemics. You work on them together or you all fall over the cliff together.” And while cooperation sounds like a smart idea, Chomsky doubts the US will go along. “The US orders allies to follow its rules-based international order while China calls for the UN-based international order. And the US doesn’t accept that for a very good reason: the UN rules out US foreign policy explicitly. The UN charter bans the threat or use of force in international affairs. Can you think of a US president who hasn’t engaged in a threat or use of force?” This sparks an analysis of US censorship and how the government can suppress the truth without throwing us in gulags. “Read things carefully that do come out: the Washington Post had a long, comprehensive article in which they reviewed in great detail the background for the war. Nothing in it about possible negotiations. They don’t want it on the agenda.” Plus, subscribe for the extended interview in which Noam Chomsky explains his worst fear if the Republicans take control of Congress, calls out politicians who oppose forgiving student loans, and criticizes the underwhelming US response to climate change. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-i-was-sure-they?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “It’s the US’s attempt to crush the Black liberation movement.” On July 29th, members of the African People’s Socialist Party were raided by the FBI. At the St. Louis home of APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela, armed agents threw flash grenades, drones swooped in to spy, and snipers trained lasers on their targets’ chests — all while the FBI taped over the ‘smart doorbells’ of neighbors to avoid being filmed. Anyone have 1984 bingo yet? And the purpose of the raid? To bust the Russians for, in the FBI’s eyes, secretly running the African People’s Socialist Party. The raid came in conjunction with an indictment that day of Russian national Aleksandr Ionov for an alleged “malign influence campaign” against the United States. “There’s this insidious assumption in the mind of most white people globally that African people are too stupid to know what our own interests are, that somebody else must’ve come and told us that we are mistreated in the United States,” Chairman Yeshitela tells us. “So if Black people are saying something is happening to us, it’s not because it’s happening, it’s because Russia is talking through us. That is what they constructed.” Now, Yeshitela and his team of activists are under intense legal threat from the US government. They’re trying to raise awareness, but very few in the media are covering it. Every American knew about the Trump raid that happened weeks later, and calls to defund the FBI were solely in defense of the former president. No one talked about the Black activists threatened and raided. “Generally speaking,” the Chairman explains, “Americans are the most backwards people in the world in terms of living right in the heart of the most oppressive system while being the most ignorant about what it is that this government does.” Subscribe for the full interview, where Chairman Yeshitela describes the full raid, the dark history of American colonization, and how he and the APSP are making real change — not “malign influence” — in cities all around the country. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Subscribe now For more information on the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru, visit https://apspuhuru.org/ Upcoming events to support the movement: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/inpdum-2022-convention-defending-the-black-community-tickets-388189955607 14th annual Black People’s March on the White House is happening November 5 and 6. Info will be posted at https://blackisbackcoalition.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “The jaws of Hell have opened wide.” Historian and author Vijay Prashad is worried about the next war that the US will provoke. Nukes in Ukraine, a new missile crisis in Taiwan, destabilizing sovereign South American nations, asserting control in Africa. All in the name of US hegemony. He focuses in on China: what if Xi Jinping flew to Guam like Nancy Pelosi flew to Taiwan? What would the US do? There are 29 US military bases in Africa. How many Chinese military bases are there? None. The US is expanding NATO to bypass the UN treaty in an attempt to rule the world. Is China to blame? Prashad, who has a new book co-authored by Noam Chomsky, analyzes the US’s increasingly dictatorial role in the world from Russia to China to Cuba to South America: Colombia just elected a new left president. One of Gustavo Petro’s first moves was to call for an end to the US-led, so-called “war on drugs.” Subscribe for the extended episode to hear Vijay discuss all of that, plus how capitalism has destroyed the ability of people to control their own lives; the nonsensical decision to place Cuba on the state sponsor of terrorism list; and why Jordan Peterson needs a hug. It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Vijay Prashad on the US expanding control over South America and why Jordan Peterson needs a hug: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-vijay-prashad-us?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Lindsey Snell, journalist at ishgal.com, crossed the Ukraine border to talk to soldiers and civilians. What she found surprised her: There are Ukrainian forces who are “openly Neonazis, and we’re still giving them weapons and calling them something that they’re not.” All across the frontlines Lindsey found swastikas, SS symbols, and Wolfsangels. But negative news in Ukraine undermines the West’s mission to bleed Russia and sell more weapons, so corporate US media paints over it. Lindsey also found that while the western mercenaries who flew over to kill Russians are loving the war, most of the Ukrainians she spoke to, both soldiers and citizens, want it to end. “The corruption and lack of equipment is worse in Ukraine than anywhere I’ve been, Syria, Iraq, Libya. It’s just so bad.” And for the Ukrainians who are starving, losing their homes, and dying, “there’s no end in sight.” What’s worse — as is the norm with guests on Useful Idiots — no one in western media will report on Lindsey’s story. “Journalists come and see how corrupt everything is and that the soldiers have nothing, but none of is is reflected in mainstream reporting. It’s very well known but it’s just not getting past the filter of western media.” Plus, subscribe for the full interview, where Lindsey shares the story of getting kidnapped in Syria, how the war is hurting Europeans, and Turkey’s potential invasion of Syria (that you probably won’t hear about). It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “Democracy is about having a say in how your country is run. Right now, that’s not happening. The way the system works, the politicians don’t feel under pressure to answer to the majority of the people.” Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, members of the European Parliament, are Irish progressives. This means they speak out against the proxy war in Ukraine, Julian Assange’s torture, and the Syria dirty war. Elected progressives in the US are quite different. “From what we can see,” they tell us. “You don’t have any left politics in the US. The Democrats are indistinguishable from the Republicans and Bernie would be seen as just right of center in Europe.” And what does it take to get actual progressives like Clare and Mick in office? “Until people take to the streets, it’s going to be very hard for any left wing party to show its head in America.” Plus, subscribe for the extended interview where Claire and Mick discuss abortion rights in Ireland and the US, mainstream media’s constant attacks and misinformation about them, and why our government and media are too afraid to talk about Assange, the realities of the Ukraine proxy war, and US hegemony. As Mick always says, “democracy means you can say what you like, but you’ll do what you’re told.” And that’s this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out. Click here for the full interview: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-mick-wallace-and?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesOur Sponsors:* Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com* Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.agAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy