Rania Khalek podcastit

All things having to do with Russia are seen in the West through a renewed Cold War prism, with simplistic portrayals more befitting a Hollywood villain. Western media has been in a panic about an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, while they celebrated a countrywide uprising in Kazakhstan that after a few days was put down. So what's really ha…

As Israel enters its 74th year of occupying Palestine, labeling all its critics as antisemitic, world public opinion is finally changing. But is it shifting fast enough for those being pushed off their land? What is the relationship between, and relative importance of, Western public opinion in connection with regional resistance? How should we dea…

In 2018, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran, but if you follow mainstream media you’d think Iran was responsible for the deal’s collapse. In the recent seventh round of negotiations to restore the deal, the U.S. government added new sanctions on Iran while Biden was urged to “restore Iran’s fear” with military build-ups.…

The U.S. government has tried to destabilize the tiny island nation of Cuba for 60 years all as punishment for Cuba daring to have a revolution and forge a path independent of U.S. capitalism. Yet Cuba has survived, and even thrived, most recently developing its own highly effective COVID vaccine while dispatching doctors around the world. How did …

China is imposing harsh regulations on private education, big tech, and billionaires. The new Cold Warriors in the U.S. government and media call these moves authoritarian, leftward tyranny, and bad for business. But Chinese president Xi Jinping calls it part of a “common prosperity” agenda to create a more equitable society on the road to building…

Why is the coverage of the war in Ethiopia so one-sided? What’s really happening on the ground? And how does it compare to the narrative being presented in U.S. media? Rania Khalek is joined by Jemal Countess, a photojournalist with Getty Images and Redux Pictures who was formerly based in Ethiopia and has reported from around the country since the…

Lebanon has endured constant attacks and pressure from Israel, America and their allies for decades, sometimes in the form of direct military confrontation and more recently through a hybrid war involving sanctions, propaganda, violent provocations, social media, western NGOs and embassies -- all to weaken Hezbollah. To discuss all of this Rania Kh…

Why does capitalism need imperialism? What is the magnitude of colonial and imperial theft of resources from the Global South? How did global capitalism adapt after World War II and in the neoliberal era? And how is it fueling neofascist movements today? Rania Khalek was joined by renowned Marxist Economist Utsa Patnaik. She is co-author of "A Theo…

When we think of Palestine we think of the struggle for liberation against occupation, settler colonialism, and brutal military oppression. What often gets left out is how this fits into neoliberal capitalism. Adopting private development and neoliberalization under Israeli occupation not only failed to promote Palestinian sovereignty but instead i…

Chile is set to have its first elections following the 2019 uprising, which was provoked by growing inequality and fueled by a violent and deadly police response. But as the left has made gains, so too has the far right in Chile. Here to break it all down and discuss how it fits into the broader Latin American scene, including Peru and Argentina, i…

November 4 is the one year anniversary of the TPLF attacks on the Ethiopian government's Northern Command base, kicking off a brutal war. The TPLF is now advancing towards Addis Ababa, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency. The U.S. government has continued to condemn Ethiopia for fighting back against the TPLF insurgency, leadin…

Lebanon can’t catch a break. Amidst the worst economic collapse in the modern era, the Saudis and their regional allies are punishing the tiny country over comments criticizing the war on Yemen. To make matters worse, October saw clashes in Beirut on a front line that dates back to the civil war of the 1980s, with a Saudi and U.S.-backed Christian …

As tensions heat up over Taiwan, everything the U.S. does is depicted as defensive while everything China does is framed as menacing, aggressive and authoritarian. But the island’s history has been totally left out of the coverage. How did Taiwan come to be? Is it part of China? How has the U.S. used Taiwan as a weapon against China both historical…

Is there a growing resistance to the unipolar imperial order? Is the US an empire in decline? Will the future be a multipolar one? If so, what does that mean ans how should the left in the imperialist core respond? To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Rese…

Venezuela’s special diplomatic envoy, Alex Saab, was extradited to the U.S. on Oct. 16 after 491 days of detention and imprisonment in Cape Verde. His alleged crime? Helping the Venezuelan government evade crippling US sanctions to procure fuel, medicine and food. His detention sets a dangerous precedent in violation of all diplomatic protocol and …

The U.S. and EU have accused Ethiopia of every atrocity imaginable and now they’re preparing sanctions. The Ethiopian government insists that it’s legitimately fighting a separatist group, the formerly ruling TPLF, which is attempting to regain power through violence and terrorism. Who’s telling the truth? What explains the one-sided media coverage…

In the American mind, Russia is associated with the Soviet Union — the red menace — and long standing Russophobia clearly echoes in the coverage of Putin today. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) officially received 19 percent of the vote, but the KPRF claims their vote totals were suppressed. What explains the recent election res…

It’s been 20 years since the US invaded Afghanistan. As the US finally withdrew, Taliban control over Afghanistan has been portrayed as inevitable. But what happened to the other political forces in the country? The war on Afghanistan didn’t really start in 2001. US meddling goes back to the 1970s and British meddling even further. Most people don’…

Western governments along with their loyal media and think tanks warn that China is colonizing, exploiting, and forcing Africa into a debt trap. Is this true? Or is it Cold War propaganda? What is China’s actual role in Africa and how does it compare with the West’s? To help us understand what's really happening, Rania Khalek was joined by two lead…

Anti-scientific conspiracy theories are spreading, not just among the right, but even among some segments of the left. To address this issue from a Marxist perspective, Rania Khalek spoke with Rob Wallace, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps in St. Paul and author of “Dead Epidemiologists: On the Ori…

The Saudis, backed by the Americans, have been waging a war against Yemen since 2015, causing massive civilian casualties as well as famine and a cholera epidemic. How did Yemen get here? Yemen’s modern history is fascinating and overlooked, and few are aware of the Marxist republic that existed in South Yemen from 1967 to 1990. To help place recen…

Rania Khalek spoke with writer and conflict mediator Michael Vatikiotis about his latest book exploring the lost history of Europeans fleeing to safety in the Middle East over a century ago. Vatikiotis discusses recent developments in Myanmar, China and Southeast Asia. He is the Asia director at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a leading confl…

The Game of Thrones politics of Kurdistan is fascinating and neglected, involving family and tribal dictators, international intrigue from the likes of Turkey, Iran and Israel, and the elusive PKK. Rania Khalek spoke with Kamal Chomani, a political analyst from Iraqi Kurdistan. They discussed the nuances of the political parties that make up the le…

In February, the Chinese government celebrated the eradication of extreme poverty within its borders. This would be a massive achievement for any country, but for China it’s even more so as it is home to some 1.4 billion people and is considered a developing country. China is credited with lifting over 800 million people out of poverty, which accou…

Rania Khalek was joined by @Daniel Dumbrill , a political commentator on China-related issues who is based in Shenzhen, to speak about his experiences in Hong Kong, his recent trip to Xinjiang and how it relates to America's new Cold War.Kirjoittanut Rania Khalek

As the situation in Ethiopia continues to escalate, the war over narratives is in full force. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Is it even that black and white? Is the TPLF fighting a war for liberation of the Tigrayan people against a cruel government or is it executing a war of aggression to regain power after losing it? And what sh…

All eyes are on Afghanistan as the Taliban has rapidly taken over the entire country. Most coverage is focused on what this means for the US. But in reality, the West is removed and distant, Iran, on the other hand, is Afghanistan's neighbor and hosts about 2 million official or unofficial Afghan refugees and will likely absorb even more. Iran had …

Rania Khalek was joined by Daniel Bessner, associate professor of international studies at the University of Washington and co-host of the podcast American Prestige, to talk about US foreign policy under Biden. What’s changed? What hasn’t changed? Is the US empire collapsing? And what should a progressive foreign policy look like?…

Rania Khalek was joined by Jordan Chariton, journalist and co-founder of Status Coup, to discuss the massive cover-up of the toxic water scandal in Flint, the ongoing eviction crisis in spite of the moratorium, corporate Democrats tanking Nina Turner’s campaign, and the crisis in left media, where censorship and underhanded algorithms suppress cont…

It's been one year since the Beirut port exploded, killing over 200 people and wounding thousands. And it's been almost two years since Lebanon's Ponzi scheme economy started crashing. The West often blames the devastation that has befallen Lebanon on government mismanagement, sectarianism, bureaucratic incompetence, internal corruption, and their …

The situation in Ethiopia has continued to escalate, with accusations of genocide, warnings of famine, and threats of sanctions. What began as a war between the TPLF in Tigray and the Ethiopian government is spilling into neighboring areas as the TPLF appears to launch more offensives in the Afar and Amhara regions. The growing violence threatens t…

Tunisia is where the Arab uprisings erupted in December 2010, spreading east and ushering in 10 years of change, chaos, and wars. It’s also the only “Arab Spring” country that could claim some success in transitioning to democracy. That’s why many were shocked to see Tunisia’s President Kais Saied oust the government and freeze parliament, using th…

July 9th marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of South Sudan. The US State Department lamented that the young country has “seen much suffering” and “the promise of peace and prosperity that independence represented remains unfulfilled.” To help us understand why the optimism of the West and South Sudanese in 2011 remains unfulfilled, Rania K…

Ethiopia has been in the headlines in recent months as the TPLF, a Tigrayan rebel group that ruled the country for three decades, violently seized the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray from the government. As of this recording, the Ethiopian government had declared a ceasefire. However, the TPLF has continued fighting to expand its control over Ti…

After seemingly forgetting Afghanistan for years, Western media has rediscovered it in time to provide panicked and hand-wringing coverage of the US-led coalition's withdrawal, as well as the apparent rapid gains made by the Taliban. Is the country on the verge of collapse? What will happen and what do Afghanistan’s people want? To help make sense …

US officials and their corporate media mouthpieces were elated at the sight of protests in Cuba in recent days against deteriorating living conditions that are a direct result of the US blockade, which Trump increased and Biden has maintained during the pandemic to deliberately heighten suffering at a time when Cuba was sending doctors around the w…

Assal Rad, a Senior Research Fellow at NIAC (the National Iranian American Council) joins Rania Khalek Dispatches to discuss the ongoing suffering of Iranians from US sanctions, the return to the Iran nuclear deal, and how little has actually changed under Biden as his team seems to escalate.Kirjoittanut Rania Khalek

Fred M’membe, leader of the Socialist Party of Zambia, is running for president in the upcoming August election. Can he win? He joins Rania Khalek Dispatches to discuss the failure of capitalist policies on the African continent and how his party's platform can fix itKirjoittanut Rania Khalek

Rania Khalek is joined by Ali Abunimah, director of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice In Palestine, to discuss developments in Palestine and regionally following the formation of a new Israeli government and Israel’s war on Gaza. From Israel’s ethnic cleansing through forced demolitions in Silwan to the Palestinian Author…

The Green New Deal has become a popular slogan among progressive Democrats in recent years. But we need to be wary of the capitalist class co-opting the energy around climate change to maintain the imperialist global order they benefit from. To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek is joined by Max Ajl, a post doc at Wageningen University and a resea…

German support for Israel appears to be unshakable no matter what the Israelis do to Palestinians. The irony of course is that much of this support for Israel is justified as necessary to make up for the German Holocaust against European Jews. It seems Palestinians are paying for Europe’s crimes. To discuss this phenomenon Rania Khalek is joined by…

Breakthrough’s Rania Khalek was joined by Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran Mohammad Marandi on her program Dispatches to discuss the results of the Iranian presidential election and some of the simplistic and misleading media portrayals of Iran that have come with that coverage.…

In December outgoing president Donald trump pulled one more shocking foreign policy decision when he recognized Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco normalizing relations with Israel. Western Sahara has been disputed since the Spanish withdrew in 1975 and the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario front, an armed liberation…

As Iran prepares for presidential elections, Rania Khalek is joined by Iranian scholar at Columbia University Navid Zarrinnal on her program Dispatches to discuss developments in Iran, from the coming elections to the tumultuous Trump years, relations with the Biden administration, Iran’s role in the region and more.…

What is imperialism? Is it a stage of capitalism, as Lenin described it, or was it always essential to capitalism? Can capitalism exist without imperialism? Prahbat Patnaik, professor emeritus at JNU, joins Rania Khalek on her program Dispatches to discuss the argument he lays out in his book A Theory of Imperialism, which argues that capitalism wa…

PBS Frontline released a long anticipated documentary featuring Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, formerly the head of Jabhat Al Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, which is now called Hayat Tahrir al Sham, or HTS. Jolani is attempting to rebrand himself and his organization in an effort to be removed from the US terrorism list so he can be legitimized a…

Human rights lawyer Steven Donziger has been thrust into an epic battle with one of the biggest oil companies in the world. He helped win a multi billion dollar lawsuit against the Oil Giant Chevron for polluting the Amazon in Ecuador and poisoning the indigenous community who lives there. Ever since then Chevron has waged a relentless and global c…

While it’s not often in the news, the Horn of Africa is volatile and often the scene of violence and its countries are victims of international interventions and interference that has played a destabilizing role, from Djibouti and Eritrea to Somalia and Ethiopia. As western imperialism continues to prop up dictators while blocking any moves towards…

Joseph Massad, Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, joins Dispatches with Rania Khalek to help break down everything from Israel’s value as an outpost of US imperialism and why the Arab uprisings failed to the recent victory of Palestinian resistance forces and why it’s crucial to incorporate anti-imper…

Lowkey joins Rania Khalek to talk Palestine and global resistance to Zionist apartheid.Kirjoittanut Rania Khalek