American Prestige

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Danny and Derek conclude their discussion with Lyle Jeremy Rubin, veteran of the war in Afghanistan and author of the memoir Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine’s Unbecoming. We’ve reached the point of Lyle’s deployment to Afghanistan, with the conversation touching on his work as a signals intelligence officer, how his personal politics evolved…

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Ken Klippenstein, reporter for The Intercept and of his eponymous newsletter, returns to the podcast to help lay out what exactly Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey has been accused of doing, what we know so far (including accepting gold bars and pursuing high-level Egyptian contacts), and what the implications are.

Check out Ken’s latest piece in The …

Derek telepathically (and verbally) delivers Danny the news. This week: Antarctic sea ice breaks record lows (0:39); Saudi Arabia and Israel move forward with their normalization agreement, which includes a Saudi nuclear program (1:57); the U.S.-Iran prisoner swap is completed (6:05); an update on the humanitarian crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave of Azebaijan (8:02); a diplomatic spat between Canada and India over the latter carrying out an apparent assassination on Canadian soil (10:25); the DPRK releases the U.S. soldier who crossed the border from South Korea (12:40); France announces its withdrawal from Niger (15:15); a Ukraine update featuring attacks on Crimea and new tanks supplied by the U.S. (17:38); Colombia moves ahead with a six-month ceasefire with the with the National Liberation Army (ELN) (23:52); a New Cold War update featuring a potential Biden-Xi meeting (25:48) and America hosts the second U.S.-Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Summit (27:20); and Bob Menendez, of the great State of New Jersey, is charged with a number of bribery offenses (29:27).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Danny and Derek chat with Lyle Jeremy Rubin, veteran of the war in Afghanistan and author of the memoir Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine’s Unbecoming. In this first part, they get into Lyle’s origins in Connecticut, how he became enamored with rightwing media, the galvinizing impact of 9/11, what exactly one learns at bootcamp in 2006, the culture among his peers and superiors, and more through the end of his training.

Be sure to grab a copy of Lyle’s book!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

We’ve reached the end of our “History of the Philippines” series featuring Lisandro Claudio, associate professor at UC Berkeley. In this final episode, the group picks up at the end of Ferdinand Marcos’ rule, examining the economic and ideological factors in his downfall, the end of the Cold War in the archipelago, the tenure of president Corazon Aquino, the New People's Army (NPA), and where the US-Philippines relationship stands today.

Check out the rest of the series here: https://shorturl.at/bemW4

For more on contemporary Philippine politics, check out our non-series episode on the subject with Lisandro: https://shorturl.at/eJLNX

Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Lisandro’s latest book Liberalism and the Postcolony: Thinking the State in 20th-Century Philippines: https://shorturl.at/hmzL5

Finally, the good people at The Un-Diplomatic Podcast (https://www.undiplomaticpodcast.com/) have a special offer for American Prestige subscribers! Just click the button below!

Derek sits down with Laurence Broers, associate fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and author of Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry, to discuss this week’s events in Nagorno-Karabkah, a predominantly Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. They get into the complex political history of the territory, the resulting conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan including the 2020 war, what Azerbaijan’s recent actions seek to achieve, the roles of Russia and Turkey, the human rights situation in the enclave, and more.

Grab a copy of Laurence’s book: https://shorturl.at/bvFS9

Recorded Thursday, September 21, 2023

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Timothy Gill, assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, joins Danny and Derek for a discussion of how the US has attempted to undermine foreign governments, particularly Venezuela, by way of democracy promotion. They discuss the role of government groups like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and parastatal actors like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the history of US-Venezuelan relations and how they deteriorated, the two-party consensus in the US around democracy promotion interventions, how this tactic has also been used by the US in other regions, and more.

Be sure to grab a copy of Tim’s book Encountering US Empire in Socialist Venezuela: The Legacy of Race, Neo-Colonialism, and Democracy Promotion: https://shorturl.at/aiEIN

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Our journey through Philippine history continues as Danny and Derek again speak with Lisandro Claudio, associate professor at UC Berkeley. It’s now the time of Ferdinand Marcos, with the discussion exploring his origins, role in a broader regional context, declaration of martial law, interaction with student activists, figures like economist Gerardo Sic…

Danny’s on the road, but finds the time to slow down and hear Derek out! This week: humanity has breached 6 out of the 9 planetary boundaries for the climate (0:30); a Houthi delegation from Yemen visits Saudi Arabia (1:46); the Iran prisoner swap moves forward as the undead JCPOA (nuclear deal) persists (2:58); the Biden administration’s purported priority on human rights again brought into question given some recent diplomatic partners (5:52); the DPRK’s Kim meets Putin in Russia (10:13); catastrophic natural disasters in Libya and Morocco (13:00); a renewed uprising in the north of Mali (16:40); the US sends long-range artillery to Ukraine (19:10); the G20 summit in India (23:43); a New Cold War update featuring a proposed US-backed India-Europe shipping network (25:57), Biden visiting Vietnam (27:58), and Maduro in China (29:36); and the anniversary of 9/11 (30:48).

Disaster Relief:

* Morocco: https://shorturl.at/ipuK5

* Libya: https://shorturl.at/klnsF

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Danny and Derek welcome back Spencer Ackerman, publisher of Forever Wars, to discuss his new piece in The Nation, “US Foreign Policy Has an Extinction Agenda”. The group gets into the article’s bleak analysis of where US foreign policy is headed in the era of climate collapse, which includes American declarations of world cooperation despite pursuing a cold war with China and arming Ukraine, fear-mongering around inevitable upticks in migration to the global north, whether the international left has a chance of affecting policy around climate change, and more.

Be sure to also check out Spencer’s work for DC Comics in Waller vs. Wildstorm!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com