Around The Empire

Hosts: Joanne Leon and Kelley Lane. Guest: Oliver Boyd-Barrett. We discuss Boyd-Barrett's book titled RussiaGate and Propaganda: Disinformation in the Age of Social Media, which focuses on the Russiagate case in the broader understanding of propaganda. In the bonus episode, we talk about the recent resurrection of the Russiagate saga and the reasons for it.

Dr. Oliver Boyd-Barrett is Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Public Relations at Bowling Green State University and the author of the book: RussiaGate and Propaganda:

Disinformation in the Age of Social Media. He serves on the international advisory board of the Organization for Propaganda Studies and he is currently working on a new book "Conflict Propaganda in Syria: Narrative Battles".

Find Olivery Boyd-Barrett on Facebook look for his books including RussiaGate and Propaganda: Disinformation in the Age of Social Media and his upcoming book "Conflict Propaganda in Syria: Narrative Battles".

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

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FOLLOW @aroundtheempire and @joanneleon. FOLLOW Kelley Lane at @KelleysWords

Recorded on March 25, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Russiagate as Organized Distraction, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Consortium News
2. The Great Hack (2019 documentary) Brittany Kaiser

Guest: Angela McArdle. Co-hosts Joanne Leon, Kelley Lane and Kyle Anzalone. This is a swapcast for the Around the Empire podcast and the Conflicts of Interest show. It's a broad discussion about war and foreign policy, interventionism, elections and the handling of the pandemic with lockdowns and other restrictions and its impact on the lives of Americans, the economy and our rights. There is a bonus episode questioning whether censorship and lockdowns can be compared to a modern day gulag.

Angela McArdle currently serves as Chair of the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County and is seeking the National Libertarian Party Chair in 2022. Angela was a two time candidate for California's 34th Congressional District. She is a paralegal and legal aid who currently works in litigation focused mainly on real estate and constitutional law. She also has a private practice providing self help legal services to low income clients and she was a key organizer for the 2013 protest in LA against a ban on feeding in public rights of way. Angela believes strongly in the sanctity of personal choice and allowing people to govern their own lives.

FOLLOW Angela at @angela4congress and on her website angelamcardle.com

FOLLOW on Twitter: @KyleAnzalone_ @Con_Interest SUBSCRIBE to the Conflicts of Interest podcast at the Libertarian Institute and on YouTube and LBRY.

FOLLOW Kelley at @Kelleyswords

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 March 16, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Guests: Kit Klarenberg & Mohamed Elmaazi. New documents that appear to be from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have been leaked by a group that identifies as "Anonymous" and is allegedly the same group that has published leaked documents over the past two years about UK Foreign Office covert programs. This batch of documents shows that Whitehall uses private contractors to infiltrate a variety of media (including smaller, "independent" media and social media influencers and civil society. In this case the stated noble objectives are things like improving literacy, ensuring balance in reporting and countering disinformation. The real objectives revealed in the documents are something else entirely. There is also a bonus episode for patrons about how this seems like an evolved, 21st century Operation Mockingbird.

Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist who explores the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions and he currently writes for RT. Mohamed Elmaazi is a journalist with experience in human rights law who is currently writing for Sputnik International.

FOLLOW Mohamed on Twitter at @MElmaazi. Find his writing at Sputnik News, The Canary and visit his blog The Interregnum. Follow Kit's work at RT.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 March 3, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Leaked papers allege massive UK govt effort to co-opt Russian-language anti-Kremlin media & influencers to 'weaken Russian state', Kit Klarenberg, RT
2. From Telegram to elections: Leaked documents expose sinister workings of UK government's anti-Russian 'troll factory', RT, Kit Klarenberg
3. UK Foreign Office Docs Reveal 'Full-Spectrum' Psyops to 'Destabilise Russia', Journalist Says, Mohamed Elmaazi, Sputnik
4. ATE Ep 83 Temple of Covert Propaganda (Part 1) feat Mohamed Elmaazi
5. ATE Ep 84 Temple of Covert Propaganda (Part 2) feat Mohamed Elmaazi
6. On Contact: British government psyops with Mohamed Elmaazi
7. Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to "weaken Russia," leaked docs reveal, Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone
8. PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century

Guest: Monica Perez from the Propaganda Report show. We talk about the October, 2019 exercise called Event 201 hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which illustrated that "public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences." We have a wide-ranging discussion about the Great Reset and other emerging plans that have been set out by various global institutions. We focus on the immense public relations and propaganda efforts around these things and other broader topics about the way the world is changing. There is also a bonus episode for patrons about what the end game is and how likely it is to be successful.

Monica Perez is co-host of the Propaganda Report podcast and was the host of The Monica Perez Show for 8 1/2 years on WSB in Atlanta. Prior to that she was an investment banker. She holds a degree from Harvard and a JD-MBA from Stanford and she is a Chartered Financial Analyst and member of the bar of the State of New York. Monica now lives in Los Angeles, California and is the proud (and busy) mother of three teenagers.

FOLLOW Monica @MonicaPerezShow, SUBSCRIBE to the Propaganda Report podcast and https://rokfin.com/propagandareport Rokfin channel. Find her work at The Propaganda Report website or MonicaPerezShow.com

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 17, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Guest: Elijah Magnier. We talk about the the three attacks in one week on US bases in Iraq following an announcement that the US will escalate the operation in Iraq. US and NATO troops will no longer be withdrawn from Iraq but instead the escalate and expand the mission substantially. We also talk about Syria, the axis of resistance and the broader region. When we recorded this interview a few days ago the media was reporting that the Biden administration is taking a calm approach, investigating the source of the attacks and not overreacting. All of that changed just a couple of days later when Biden launched an retaliatory attack on "infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria." Reports on the multiple-target attack are still varying at the moment but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that 22 people were killed. The strikes happened in al Bukamal near the border with Iraq and the "Iranian-backed militant groups" that the Pentagon spokesman referred to are Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) fighters. The PMF is sponsored by the Iraqi government and was reorganized around 2014 to fight against ISIS, something that Elijah has explained in previous interviews on this podcast. No evidence from the alleged investigation that the media claimed the Biden administration was conducting before any response has been reported. The Pentagon frames it as a defensive strike and also claims that this was an attempt to "de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq."

There is also a bonus question for patrons about US support for Saudi operations in Yemen and an increase in deployment of US troops in Saudi Arabia and why the American people don't elect leaders who can end the forever wars.

FOLLOW Elijah on Twitter @ejmalrai. Find and support his work at ejmagnier.com where you can subscribe to his articles and donate.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 23, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Guest: Gareth Porter. We discuss Gareth's new article on the Biden administration's endorsement of the Chinahawk narrative on Uychur genocide. Gareth examines the origin, source and credibility of that narrative, the Uyghur people and the Xinjiang province in China. There is also a bonus question about the likelihood of the Biden administration re-entering the JCPOA Iran deal and US military buildup in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf area. There is also a bonus question for patrons where Gareth gives his thoughts about a US return to the Iran deal under the new Biden administration and some further thoughts on Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Gareth Porter is an independent Investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of numerous books including Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam (2005) and Manufactured Crisis: the Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare (2014).and the co-author with John Kiriakou of his latest book The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War. Gareth is the winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for Journalism

FOLLOW Gareth on Twitter at @GarethPorter. Find his work at The Grayzone. Read his most recent book authored with John Kirakou: The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at aroundtheempire.com.

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

Reference Links:

1. US State Department accusation of China 'genocide' relied on data abuse and baseless claims by far-right ideologue, Gareth Porter at The Grayzone

Swapcast: Kyle Anzalone from Conflicts of Interest and Joanne Leon from Around the Empire. We compare the Biden foreign policy to the Trump, Obama and Bush administrations, analyze press conference and announcements from NATO's Jen Stoltenberg about expanding the number of troops and area of operation in Iraq and freezing any withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and more.

FOLLOW on Twitter: @KyleAnzalone_ @Con_Interest SUBSCRIBE to the Conflicts of Interest podcast at the Libertarian Institute and on YouTube and LBRY.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 18, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. NATO press conference: Stoltenberg speaks to media on second day of NATO ministerial meetings
2. America after Trump isn't exactly popular around the world, MSNBC
3. US goes one year without a combat death in Afghanistan as Taliban warn against reneging on peace deal, Stars & Stripes

Hosts: Joanne Leon and Kelley Lane. Guests: Craig Jardula (aka Pasta) and Fiorella Isabel from the Convo Couch

We talk about Biden's foreign policy speech (and other declarations) and the people who are now returning to the helm of the "national security state". We talked about the increase in censorship (including the recent demonetizing of Convo Couch and others), the "blue fascism" of the establishment and our thoughts on the time being ripe for for a broad, independent political movement. There is a bonus question for patrons about election integrity and the "storming of the citadel of democracy" on January 6th and the impeachment that followed. Fiorella and Pasta were there on the ground in Washington that day and they share with us their observations and analysis of the situation.

Craig (aka Pasta) Jardula and Fiorella Isabel are the hosts of 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 them on Twitter and other social media platforms at @theconvocouch, @Fiorella_im and @yopasta and find their show on YouTube, Rokfin and Patreon.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 11, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Swapcast: Kyle Anzalone from Conflicts of Interest and Joanne Leon from Around the Empire.

We discuss the 2020 election and a new Time magazine article titled "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election" which explains how an "elite-cabal" "saved democracy" by 'influencing perceptions, changing rules and laws, steering media coverage and controlling the flow of information". These actions are not illegal, but they affirm the feeling of many Americans that something was wrong with the 2020 election.

Joanne and Kyle argue that the article is even more nefarious than it appears. The bold, and likely exaggerated, claims about the cabal's influence are reported as unquestionably heroic. Meanwhile any effort by Trump or his supporters to question or challenge the "shadow campaign" is treated as an evil attack on democracy. The message is: Americans need our elites to craft the appropriate narrative so Americans consume the right information and vote for the correct candidate.

FOLLOW Kyle on Twitter: @KyleAnzalone_ SUBSCRIBE to the Conflicts of Interest podcast at the Libertarian Institute and on YouTube.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 6, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election, Time
2. Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments, AP
3. Bill would allow tech companies to create local governments, Las Vegas Review Journal

Guest: Tom Luongo. We talk about market trading, the short squeeze tactic, Robinhood, Gamestop, silver and other assets that have been in play recently along with an allegedly grassroots populist, online-coordinated effort to rebel against hedge funds and Wall Street. Some have framed this movement as another generation of Occupy Wall Street. We also had a broader conversation about the overall unrest and in a bonus question about the possibility that behind the latest chaos might be yet another factional battle that could even involve foreign entities in a hybrid type war.

This podcast is another example of how both Tom Luongo and I seek out common ground for discussions even though our views are very different on some issues. But we both believe that a huge number of people from across the spectrum have many of the same fundamental wants, needs and objectives and we should seek those out when we can instead of demonizing and waging war against each other. These divides can be (and are) manipulated, aren't in our best interest and only favor people who we should be opposing because they absolutely don't have the best interests of the populace at heart. When we do that, we all lose, so let's find common ground.

FOLLOW Tom at @TFL1728. Find his work at Gold, Goats 'n Guns Also find his work at Patreon, Youtube and DLive and other platforms.

Around the Empire is listener supported, independent media. Pitch in at Patreon: patreon.com/aroundtheempire or paypal.me/aroundtheempirepod. Find all links at 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 February 1, 2021. Music by Fluorescent Grey.

Reference Links:

1. Market Weekly: Game Stop Revolution or the Matrix Reloaded?, Tom Luongo
2. Gold Goats 'n Guns Live -- The Silver #ShortSqueeze, Tom Luongo
3. GameStop Short Squeeze: These Are the Big Wall Street Players Who Stood to Make Billions, Wall Street on Parade
4. GameStop Promoter Keith Gill Was No "Amateur" Trader; He Held Sophisticated Trading Licenses and Worked in the Finance Industry, Wall Street on Parade
5. GameStop Shares: Dark Pools Owned by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, UBS, et al, Have Made Tens of Thousands of Trades, Wall Street on Parade
6. Last American Vagabond Interview with Whitney Webb