Around The Empire

Guest: Max Blumenthal. We discuss his new book, The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump

Here's an excerpt from the promo for the book:

The rise of international jihad and Western ultra-nationalism

In the Management of Savagery, Max Blumenthal excavates the real story behind America's dealings with the world and shows how the extremist forces that now threaten peace across the globe are the inevitable flowering of America's imperial designs.

Washington's secret funding of the mujahedin provoked the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. With guns and money, the United States has ever since sustained the extremists, including Osama Bin Laden, who have become its enemies. The Pentagon has trained and armed jihadist elements in Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya; it has launched military interventions to change regimes in the Middle East. In doing so, it created fertile ground for the Islamic State and brought foreign conflicts home to American soil.

These failed wars abroad have made the United States more vulnerable to both terrorism as well as native ultra-nationalism. The Trump presidency is the inevitable consequence of neoconservative imperialism in the post–Cold War age. Trump's dealings in the Middle East are likely only to exacerbate the situation.

This interview became a longer and more wide-ranging discussion than we had anticipated, and a really interesting one at that. Not only did we talk about the book and what we think is one of the biggest scandals in American history, but we also talked about the rise of anti-interventionism both as a generational movement and a general awakening. The current positions taken by Democratic candidates for the 2020 presidential election also comes up in the conversation. In Part 2 of the interview, we discussed our own evolutions and how we came to understand the role of the US and the empire in the world. We ventured into what we think are the best practices for helping others who are in varying states of their own awakening. Max then explains how the book, The Management of Savagery, is actually the compilation of his new understanding of the US role in the world.

FOLLOW Max on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal. Find and support his work at The Grayzone and at Moderate Rebels.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on June 14, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

Book: The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump, Max Blumenthal, Verso Books

Guest: Max Blumenthal. We discuss his new book, The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump

Here's an excerpt from the promo for the book:

The rise of international jihad and Western ultra-nationalism

In the Management of Savagery, Max Blumenthal excavates the real story behind America's dealings with the world and shows how the extremist forces that now threaten peace across the globe are the inevitable flowering of America's imperial designs.

Washington's secret funding of the mujahedin provoked the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. With guns and money, the United States has ever since sustained the extremists, including Osama Bin Laden, who have become its enemies. The Pentagon has trained and armed jihadist elements in Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya; it has launched military interventions to change regimes in the Middle East. In doing so, it created fertile ground for the Islamic State and brought foreign conflicts home to American soil.

These failed wars abroad have made the United States more vulnerable to both terrorism as well as native ultra-nationalism. The Trump presidency is the inevitable consequence of neoconservative imperialism in the post–Cold War age. Trump's dealings in the Middle East are likely only to exacerbate the situation.

This interview became a longer and more wide-ranging discussion than we had anticipated, and a really interesting one at that. Not only did we talk about the book and what we think is one of the biggest scandals in American history, but we also talked about the rise of anti-interventionism both as a generational movement and a general awakening. The current positions taken by Democratic candidates for the 2020 presidential election also comes up in the conversation. In Part 2 of the interview, we discussed our own evolutions and how we came to understand the role of the US and the empire in the world. We ventured into what we think are the best practices for helping others who are in varying states of their own awakening. Max then explains how the book, The Management of Savagery, is actually the compilation of his new understanding of the US role in the world.

FOLLOW Max on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal. Find and support his work at The Grayzone and at Moderate Rebels.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on June 14, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

Book: The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump, Max Blumenthal, Verso Books

Guest: Kyle Anzalone. Escalation of the conflict with Iran. Tucker Carlson's major pushback against John Bolton and others urging Trump to provoke or start a hot war with Iran. Iran's retaliatory "maximum pressure" campaign against the United States. The downing of an American drone over the Persian Gulf and Trump's last minute stand down on missile strikes. Increasingly sophisticated strikes on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis.

Find Kyle's work at ImmersionNews.com and at LibertarianInstitute.org

Support Kyle at https://www.patreon.com/ForeignPolicyFocus

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on June 21/24, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Abruptly Pulls Back, NYT
2. White House Pushes 'Trump Pulled Back' Story - He Likely Never Approved To Strike Iran, Moon of Alabama
3. IRAN AND TRUMP ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS, Elijah Magnier
4. Around the Empire episodes 77-78 The Khashoggi Affair
5. Around the Empire episodes 69-71 The Rise and Fall of John Brennan

Guest: Kevin Gosztola studied and analyzed the 17 superseding indictments brought against Julian Assange on May 23. He argues that a familiar contrived, conspiracy narrative and timeline underpin the Dept. of Justice charges.

Kevin says that: "In order to defend the First Amendment and investigative journalism itself, it is crucial to understand the timeline of events for Chelsea Manning's disclosures to WikiLeaks and their publication in 2010." He uses his extensive experience covering that military trial to demonstrate the prosecutor's dilemma and to show how specific arguments based on those details will be more crucial than the broad defense of rights.

Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the excellent weekly podcast with Rania Khalek, "Unauthorized Disclosure."

FOLLOW Kevin @kgosztola, find his work at shadowproof.com, and subscribe to his podcast Unauthorized Disclosure.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 31, 2019 / June 19, 2019.. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Unraveling the Justice Department's Conspiracy Theory Against Julian Assange, Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof
2. Trump Justice Department's Prosecution Of Julian Assange Relies On Contrived Conspiracy Theory, Kevin Gosztola, Medium
3. WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Charged in 18-Count Superseding Indictment, US Dept. of Justice
4. Around the Empire Ep 97 Chelsea Manning's Resistance feat Kevin Gosztola

Guest: Jeb Sprague. We discuss the hybrid war being waged on Venezuela with an end goal of regime change. We also talk about recent events at the Venezuelan embassy under siege in Washington and the Venezuelan opposition figures who operated outside to help with a seizure in violation of the Vienna Convention.

Jeb Sprague lectures at the University of Virginia and formerly taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class (Temple University Press, 2019) and Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti (Monthly Review Press, 2012). In addition, he has authored and co-authored a number of scholarly articles, and is the editor of Globalization and Transnational Capitalism in Asia and Oceania (Routledge, 2016). He is a founding member of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism (NCSGC) and has taught sociology in the Caribbean, East Asia, and North America. Find his articles at The Grayzone, MintPress News, The Canary and at his website jebsprague.blogspot.com.

FOLLOW Jeb Sprague @JebSprague and find his writing at The Grayzone, MintPress News, The Canary and at his website jebsprague.blogspot.com. Visit him at Jeb Sprague CV.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 21, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Who's Behind the Pro-Guaidó Crowd Besieging Venezuela's D.C. Embassy?, Jeb Sprague, Alex Rubinstein, Mint Press News
2. Washington's hybrid war on Venezuela – a very 21st-century attempt at regime change, Jeb Sprague, The Canary

Guest: Douglas Valentine. We discuss the CIA warrior class. As Doug says, they "truly believe the heroic myth they have created about themselves… endowing the warrior class with the highest social virtues, while justifying the tragic consequences of their imperial marauding as 'fate'".

Douglas Valentine is an author, investigator, journalist and poet. He's the author of many books, including "The Phoenix Program: America's Use of Terror in Vietnam," and "The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World." He is well known for his extensive research and interviews of numerous CIA officers, former CIA director William Colby and others involved in the Phoenix Program. The Phoenix Program was a large operation that involved kidnapping, torture, and assassination. Its goal was the destruction of the Viet Cong insurgency, a political and paramilitary movement that worked against the United States and the US-backed South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam war.

FOLLOW Douglas Valentine @dougvalentine77 and find his books, writing and archives on his website www.douglasvalentine.com.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 18, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

www.douglasvalentine.com.

Guest: Dave Foster. We discuss the evolution of the military-industrial complex, Cold War weapons systems and "last war-ism."

In Dave's own words:

"The U.S. status quo model of the military is one composed of advanced conventional forces equipped with modern ships, planes, tanks, sensor networks, and logistic capability and also nuclear weapons. The Pentagon, the broader government, and the industrial base is beholden to this status quo and favored visions of future operations. The Pentagon can modify to a degree for operations but finds it difficult to adapt structurally to new realities. The primary reasons are financial. Last War-ism and nostrums of future scenarios always vastly outweigh truly fresh thinking. The commitment to the ideas of the past that exist today – as business relationships, existing infrastructure, organizations, systems, plans, and past research – dominate the Pentagon's budget. With rare exception, the entire Pentagon budget funds the status quo."

Dave Foster is a data analyst in the private sector. He's a former Marine Corps pilot and a Defense Department contract and civilian weapons engineer and operations analyst. You can find his writing at antiwar.com.

Timestamps:

• 1:45 Dave Foster's background
• 6:30 Anti-war vs anti-interventionism vs pacifism
• 7:15 Empire, military-industrial complex, weapons evolution
• 9:15 Last war-ism, building weapons for the last war or last century's war, air war
• 13:15 Reviving the Cold War, peer level competitor adversaries, for-profit wars
• 16:15 Return to priority on conventional land forces and weapons with Russia as adversary. Competition between different branches of the military, repurposing anti-Soviet weapons for Middle Eastern wars, GPS aided weapons. Adversaries focusing on surface-to-air weapons
• 20:15 Iraq war, all volunteer force
• 26:00 Excerpt from Lawrence Wilkerson's speech at a Maine Peace Action speech, May 2019
• 31:15 Military-industrial complex, profiteering, maintaining the status quo, form of welfare and what we build isn't really suitable for the future.
• 33:45 Post-WWII, Korean war, Vietnam war, setting up a military poised to go out and look for things to do, wasted good will, world views US as a threat
• 38:45 War is no longer dependent on having a big conventional military, vulnerability due to large number of bases and ships
• 42:15 Batteships are outdated, size of the navy, difficulty making big changes in big organizations, life cycle costs of military products, assumptions and estimations
• 54:15 Recent proposal for fighting Chinese navy
• 56:15 Arleigh Burke class destroyers accidents, vulnerabilities, vast operations present opportunity for adversaries to study our systems, network-centric systems
• 1:02:15 Digital systems, testing complex systems
• 1:09:15 Pentagon has a hard time dealing with disruptive realities, inertia and profits, investing in old fashioned notions of what a military should be
• Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 12, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. The Pentagon's Days of Future Past, Dave Foster, antiwar.com
2. National Security in Three Diagrams and Six Takeaways
3. Maine 2019 Spring Gathering & Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson Speech
4. So Much for Conventional Wisdom, America Actually Seems to Care About Foreign Policy, Deep State Radio podcast

Guest: Patrick Lawrence. We discuss President Trump's relationship with his chosen cabinet hawks, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and what Lawrence sees as a foreign policy coup by the Bolton-Pompeo axis.

Patrick Lawrence is a columnist and essayist who specializes in foreign affairs and media analysis and his work is published at The Nation, Consortium News, Salon and other outlets. Also he's the author of the book "Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century."

FOLLOW Patrick Lawrence @thefloutist. Find his work at his website patricklawrence.us and support his work at patreon.com/thefloutist.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 16, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. A Week of Dangerous Developments from Iran to North Korea, Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News
2. The US Moves on Iran's Oil Market as an Expression of an Irrational Foreign Policy, Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News
3. Trump & the Bolton-Pompeo Axis, Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News
4. White House Reviews Military Plans Against Iran, in Echoes of Iraq War, New York Times
5. Pompeo, Russia's Lavrov see hope for improved US-Russia ties, AP

Guest: Elijah Magnier. According to Elijah's analysis, the recent sabotage attacks in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were a warning from Iran to the US and allies in the region about what kinds of retaliation would occur if escalation continues and an attack on Iran is carried out. We also talk about his recent reporting about the prospects for a summer war in Lebanon and the wider region.

Elijah Magnier is a veteran war correspondent and political analyst with over 35 years of experience covering the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

FOLLOW Elijah Magnier @ejmalrai. Read and support his work at ejmagnier.com

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 17, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. What Would be the Role of Iraq in a US-Iran War Scenario? Elijah Magnier
2. No Attacks Against US Forces in the Middle East but Against US Allies, Elijah Magnier
3. No War Between Iran and the US Anytime Soon: Trump Doesn't Know How to Negotiate With Iran, Elijah Magnier
4. Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Full Alert Sending a Clear Warning to Gulf Countries, Elijah Magnier
5. From Karbala to Al Fujairah: An Act of Sabotage May End Prospects of a Summer War in the Middle East, Elijah Magnier
6. US sets course for its next Middle Eastern war of choice, Financial Times, Edward Luce

Guest: Michael Krieger. Michael explains how the extraction of Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and subsequent arrest and request for extradition to the US was a profound turning point for investigative journalism, freedom of speech and for liberty and civilization. This event might end up being as consequential as the bailout of the "too big to fail" banks and the impact that had on the financial system and the rule of law.

Michael Krieger is the creator and editor of Liberty Blitzkrieg. He's a former Wall Street analyst from New York now based in Colorado where he is, as his Twitter profile says, " poet laureate of the debt apocalypse."

FOLLOW Michael on Twitter @LibertyBlitz and find his work at LibertyBlitzkrieg.com.

Timestamps:

• 04:00 Kreiger's background and article, Wall Street, TARP bailout bill, information arbitrage, Tech giants, a turning point, precedents set, no rule of law
• 11:00 Assange arrest another precedent being set, national security state, no transparency, loss of freedom of speech and investigative journalism
• 14:00 No accountability for elites aligned with empire, lying on a ridiculous level, outrageous propaganda
• 22:00 Too big to jail, voluntary corporate surveillance, passive population, rulers and the ruled
• 31:00 The "problematic" people, dissidents, Assange, Manning and Snowden
• 35:00 Decline of empire, acceleration of abuse of power
• 41:00 Investigative journalism, voluntary suppression of leaked or hacked information
• 44:00 Suppression of speech online, deplatforming from the public square
• 50:30 Open source software, platforms, systems, journalism

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in if you can at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Website: aroundtheempire.com.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube. FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, Google Play, Facebook or on your preferred podcast app.

Recorded on May 8, 2019. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

Krieger 4/15/19: Arrest of Julian Assange is an Attack on Journalism, Liberty, Self-Government and Civilization Itself