Around The Empire

Guest: Craig (Pasta) Jardula. Hosts: Joanne Leon and Kelley Lane. We talk about the latest developments in the election integrity arena surrounding the 2020 election, especially the Arizona audit. There have been a lot of claims about audits in various states but the term "audit" means a lot of different things in American elections (as in some "audits" are really not audits). However, the audit that is happening in the state of Arizona right now is a real audit, which is important for a lot of reasons that we discuss in this episode. Around the Empire's main focus is not electoral politics or any politics in particular. But politics are at the center of all wars and foreign policy and the presidential elections in the United States are at the center of most wars and foreign policy in today's world.

Craig (aka Pasta) Jardula is a host on the Convo Couch show, an independent media show focused on politics, rooted in progressivism and one that strives to stand up for the little guy against the machine. They've done extensive work with candidates and investigation of elections and election systems.

FOLLOW Pasta on Twitter at @yopasta and @theconvocouch, and find their show on YouTube, Rokfin and other platforms.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

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FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on May 8, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Video Clip: Craig Jardula interview Ken Bennett (Twitter)
2. Justice Dept. Letter on Arizona Audit
3. Democrats Lied About the Georgia Senate Bill, The Truth About The Election Integrity Act, Fiorella Isabel
4. Convo Couch Live Inside Arizona Audit 5/5/21
5. Convo Couch LIVE: Maricopa Audit @ Veterans Memorial Coliseum 5/5/21
6. Convo Couch LIVE Outside Coliseum Interviews with Brandon Slayton & John Brakey #ArizonaAudit #AZAuditPool 5/6/21
7. Convo Couch Mark Finchem discusses Arizona Audit and Election Integrity 5/8/21
8. Convo Couch LIVE AZ State Senator Sony Borrelli joins The Convo Couch to talk #AZAudit #Arizona #AZAuditPool
9. Convo Couch What's Really Happening At The Maricopa County Audit? (Rokfin)

Guest: Danny Sjursen. We talk about reasons for the 2011 regime change in Libya, the complex power struggle and foreign intervention that has ensued ever since and the importance of that story in understanding everything else in the Sahel areas of Africa and the broader region. We also discuss the 21st century American-enabled version of the French and British empires, European influence in African countries and how military operations in Africa are largely hidden from the citizens of the NATO countries who are driving them.

In a recent article, Sjursen wrote about the impact:

Conflicts are catalyzed, authoritarianism accelerated, human rights go to hell-in-a-hand-basket, and the cycle runs on repeat like a skipping (non-) strategy record. Generally, at least in Franco-America's African adventures, it's all done so secretly, sleazily, and – because hidden from the pesky public's peepers – almost silently. Only sometimes the most wretched walking evidences of criminal complicity have a nasty habit of dying on us, and, for a moment the conspirators stand exposed. That's when the linguistic-apologia indecency starts.

In a bonus question we talk about NATO, how its priorities are set and how its mini-empires are sustained.

Major Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) is prolific writer and speaker and a leading expert voice among veterans. He is a Director of the Eisenhower Media Network, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, contributing editor at Antiwar.com, the co-host of the Fortress on a Hill podcast and the author of two books: Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge, his new book Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War.

FOLLOW @SkepticalVet, SUBSCRIBE to the Fortress on a Hill podcast and buy his book Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War published by Heyday.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

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FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 29, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Our 'Dear Friend' Deby Is Dead – Yea, About That…, Danny Sjursen
2. Deby's Death, Chad's Crisis, and the Ghosts of Libyan Fiascoes Past, Danny Sjursen
3. New Hillary Emails Reveal Propaganda, Executions, Coveting Libyan Oil and Gold, Brad Hoff (2016)
4. State Department FOIA Archives, Clinton email December release

Guest: Dan Kovalik. We talk about his op-ed "The West's sole prerogative is that Russia has no right to self-defense... even when the threat is right on its border"

Daniel Kovalik teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and is author of the book: No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using "Humanitarian" Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests.

FOLLOW @danielmkovalik and find his book at Skyhorse Publishing.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 27, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. The West's sole prerogative is that Russia has no right to self-defense... even when the threat is right on its border, Dan Kovalik

Guest: Alan MacLeod. We discuss his article "Support the Tropes: How media language encourages the left to support wars, coups and intervention" and how how media is used as an instrument to manufacture consent for regime change and various acts of war, especially targeting left-leaning audiences. In a bonus segment we talk about Alan's research on Bellingcat and his article How Bellingcat Launders National Security State Talking Points into the Press.

Dr. Alan MacLeod is an academic, an author and a journalist who does work on media analysis and politics with a focus on social media, Latin American politics and propaganda. He writes for MintPress News and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and he has written two recent books, Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent.

FOLLOW Alan on Twitter at @AlanRMacLeod. Find his work at MintPress News and look for his books Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 26, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Support the Tropes: How media language encourages the left to support wars, coups and intervention, Alan MacLeod, FAIR
2. Humanitarian Imperialism: How corporate media sell regime change, Intervention and war to progressive audiences, Alan MacLeod, FAIR
3. How Bellingcat Launders National Security State Talking Points into the Press, Alan MacLeod, MintPress News

Guest: Alison McDowell. We talk about her research into Agenda 21, the transformation of education, the natural systems being financialized, the biosecurity state, stakeholder capitalism and more. In a bonus question we talk about why the "great reset" or new normal agenda seems to have been fast-tracked and if there are common threads in the institutions and entities who are behind it.

Alison McDowell is a mom, a prolific researcher and producer of network mapping and reporting on her independent media site, wrenchinthegears.com and her Youtube channel.

FOLLOW @Philly852 SUBSCRIBE to her YouTube channel. Find her work at her website wrenchinthegears.com

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 19, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Guest: Michael Vlahos. We discuss his article published at The American Conservative

titled "The Doom Of The Elite: The rise and fall of elites shapes our history and can be predicted". In a bonus episode we talk about the prospects for a new civil war, Vlahos' theory that "cancel culture" is a response to the decline, and other warnings from his recent article titled "There Will Be Blood: Beware the Ides of March!"

Michael Vlahos is an author, a military historian and strategist. He has taught war and strategy graduate courses at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the U.S Naval War College, and at Centro Estudios Superiores Navales, D.F. He is the author of the book Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change and he is a weekly contributor to The John Batchelor Show.

Michael Vlahos is a writer and author of the book Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change. He has taught war and strategy at Johns Hopkins University and the Naval War College and other institutions.

FOLLOW @Michalis_Vlahos and find his blog at anewcivilwar.com.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 15, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. The Doom Of The Elite: The rise and fall of elites shapes our history and can be predicted. Michael Vlahos, American Conservative
2. There Will Be Blood: Beware the Ides of March!, Michael Vlahos
3. Old Civil Wars Never Die: Like Zombies They Are Raised By History to Devour Us, Michael Vlahos

Swapcast with Liberty Weekly / Patrick MacFarlane. In this age of decline of the establishment mainstream media, the pundits and the usual chinahawk commentators aren't the only ones parroting the hostile and aggressive narratives toward China. A surprising number of independent media personalities with large followings are doing the same thing. Patrick takes note of some of the people and places where this is happening and also does some deep dive research into the Uyghur genocide claims and counterclaims themselves and takes a sober look at the evidence.

Patrick MacFarlane is a practicing attorney in Wisconsin, a libertarian podcaster and a contributor at the Libertarian Institute.

FOLLOW @liberty_weekly SUBSCRIBE to his podcast Liberty Weekly. Find his work at libertyweekly.net and the Libertarian Institute

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 16, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Independent Media Parrots Questionable Uyghur Genocide Claims, Patrick MacFarlane, Libertarian Institute
2. Conflicts of Interest #93 - China's Uyghurs: Genocide Victims or CIA Pawns?
3. ATE Ep 207 Chinahawks' Uyghur Genocide Narrative feat Gareth Porter
4. ATE Ep 181 Xinjiang and the Uyghurs feat Peter Lee

Isa Blumi provides some historical background on Turkey and Ottoman empire, some more current history of Turkey and NATO and also an analysis of Turkey's current involvement in the rising crisis between US/NATO and Russia in Ukraine. We also explore the role of Turkey's president Erdogan and what it means when people say that he and his political allies have neo-Ottoman aspirations.

Dr. Isa Blumi is an historian, an author and Professor of Global History, Islamic World, Ottoman Empire, Yemen, Albania. His most recent Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World tells the story of the wars in Yemen but also "ultimately tells an even larger story of today's political economy of global capitalism, development, and the war on terror as disparate actors intersect in Arabia." He also authored the book Ottoman Refugees, 1878-1939: Migration in a Post-Imperial World

FOLLOW Isa Blumi @IsaBlumi and find his work at Google Scholar and his latest book at UCPress.edu.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on April 14, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Guest: Peter Lee. We talk about the Fiasco in Alaska aka the Alaska Summit talks between the US and China on March 18th where Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan met with top Chinese diplomats including Yang Jiechi, the Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office in China. The preaching by the American officials was met with an unexpected clapbac and the whole affair blew up in international media including Chinese social media where the Chinese translator Zhang Jing and the defiant message she relayed was widely celebrated. We also talk about the US Indo-Pacific command's containment strategy for China, a multi-faceted Cold War on the rise, the situation with Taiwan, Project 2049, and the prospects for war between Taiwan and China. In a bonus episode Peter explains the "who lost China?" narrative that has influenced the military and diplomatic corps for decades. Before we begin the interview, I'll include some excerpts of the Chinese response to Blinken from the Fiasco in Alaska.

FOLLOW @chinahand. SUBSCRIBE to Peter Lee's China Threat Report.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

Twitter @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on March 31, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Peter Lee's China Threat Report

Guest: Mark Sleboda. We talk about the state of affairs in Ukraine with the current Zelensky administration and the new US administration's policies (which involve a lot of old geopolitical rhetoric). We also talk about the escalation in the Donbas and the Black Sea region. In bonus segment for patrons, we talk about the perils of creating external enemies for political purposes and the reasons behind US sanctions and hostility toward Russia.

Mark Sleboda is an International Affairs & Security Analyst, a US Navy veteran, a university lecturer and a foreign policy realist.

FOLLOW Mark on Twitter @MarkSleboda1 and on Facebook, look for his appearances on RT, Sputnik and other international channels.

Around the Empire aroundtheempire.com is listener supported, independent media.

SUBSCRIBE/FOLLOW on Rokfin rokfin.com/aroundtheempire, Patreon patreon.com/aroundtheempire, Paypal paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod, YouTube youtube.com/aroundtheempire, Spotify, iTunes, iHeart, Google Podcasts

FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon.

Recorded on March 26, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. ATE Episode 99 Ukraine feat Mark Sleboda
2. ATE Ep 120 Ukraine Political Transformation? feat Mark Sleboda
3. ATE Ep 157 Crisis of Confidence in Ukraine feat Mark Sleboda