🦩 This episode originally aired on July 15, 2025. Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs

Barry Eisler, a former CIA agent and bestselling novelist, joins Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his new book, The System. They talk about how power actually works in Washington, how politicians get absorbed into the duopoly, why partisan conflict is mostly theater, and how language, fiction, and euphemism shape our understanding of violence, war, and the state. 

🕸️ Purchase The System: https://barryeisler.com/books/the-system/ 

🕸️ Barry's Other Writing: https://barryeisler.com/books/ 

🕸️ Follow Barry on Twitter: https://x.com/barryeisler 

🕸️ Follow Barry on Substack: https://barryeisler.substack.com/ 

0:00–5:33 Introducing *The System* 

5:33–10:41 The Illusion of Partisanship 

10:41–15:14 Understanding the Duopoly 

15:14–27:06 The Co-optation of AOC 

27:06–34:09 Chomky's Martian 

34:09–39:28 How Language Masks Violence 

39:28–45:24 Rationalizing Atrocity 

45:24–56:03 “Are We the Baddies?” 

56:03–1:06:15 The Politics of Thrillers 

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani joins Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the ongoing genocide in Gaza. They examine the illusion of ceasefire negotiations, the weaponization of humanitarian aid through the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and the eugenic logic underpinning Israel’s military campaign. They also explore how death tolls are systematically undercounted, how Palestinian voices are censored in Western media, why Israeli hasbara no longer works, and how genocidal logic is rationalized through propaganda. 

🇵🇸 Follow Mouin on Substack: https://substack.com/@mouinrabbani 

🇵🇸 Follow Mouin on Twitter: https://x.com/MouinRabbani 

0:00-9:55 The Illusion of Negotiations 

9:55-21:54 Weaponization of Aid and the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" 

21:54-25:24 Genocide as Eugenics 

25:24-30:15 Undercounting Deaths 

30:15-37:49 Media Censorship of Palestinian Voices 

37:49-41:21 The Collapse of Israeli Hasbara 

41:21-50:33 Genocidal Rhetoric and International Law 

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

MAGA followers say they want to expose powerful, predatory billionaire elites. But Donald Trump is the exact person who should be their enemy.

🏝️ Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-epstein-case-reveals-the-fraud-of-trumpism 

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Honor Cargill-Martin, a historian of the ancient world, discusses how myths about the Roman empire originated and continue to warp our political discourse.

🏛️ Honor's Substack: https://allancienthistory.substack.com/

🏛️ Honor's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRIbS3NQ4ksTUrMiaMVQ-Q

🏛️ Interview Transcript: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/what-the-right-doesnt-know-about-rome

0:00-4:28 The Roman Empire TikTok Trend

4:28-12:27 The Roman Empire Loved by MAGA Never Existed

12:27-15:17 What JD Vance Doesn't Understand About Rome

15:17-20:53 Do All Democracies Have to Die?

20:53-32:30 Myth vs. Reality in Roman History

32:30-42:46 Messalina

42:46-49:01 How to Understand Our Own Time

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Kishore Mahbubani is a renowned diplomat, scholar, and one of the most insightful analysts of global power dynamics. He served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the United Nations and as President of the UN Security Council, and is the author of books including "Has China Won?" and "Has the West Lost It?"

Mahbubani joins Current Affairs to explain why the United States is losing ground to China--not because of Chinese aggression, but because of internal dysfunction, elite failure, and strategic incoherence. He critiques the emotional, zero-sum mindset dominating U.S. foreign policy and calls for a more rational, cooperative approach to global affairs.

🌏 Follow Kishore on Twitter: https://x.com/mahbubani_k

🌏 Buy Kishore's Books: https://mahbubani.net/books/

0:00-3:57 The Good News

3:57- 6:54 Why Americans Fear China

6:54-9:51 The Failure of American Elites

9:51-15:31 Why Trump Should Work With China

15:31-21:38 Is China Communist?

21:38-23:37 Is America The Best Model?

23:37-27:14 Does America Think Strategically?

27:14-30:08 America's Wasteful Defense Spending

30:08-35:15 America's Strategic Errors

35:15-41:17 America's Disdain for the UN

41:17-46:17 The Potential For Cooperation

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

He has shown that a socialist message can win people over. His campaign is a model that should be emulated everywhere.

🗽 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/zohran-mamdanis-victory-is-just-what-the-left-needed

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

The latest Democratic fad sidelines equality and justice in favor of a focus on cutting red tape. This is not the path forward.

🌎 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/abandon-abundance

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Ralph Nader is one of the most important and successful activists in American political history. He played a key role in creating the consumer rights movement in the 1960s and ’70s, and his push for auto safety regulation led to measures that saved countless lives. He has also run multiple insurgent campaigns for president, challenging the two-party system and offering powerful criticisms of corporate power.

Nader joins Current Affairs to analyze Donald Trump’s authoritarianism, the Democratic Party’s failure to offer a compelling alternative, and the media’s role in narrowing public imagination. He also responds to Ezra Klein’s recent critique in Abundance, arguing that it shifts blame away from institutional failures and undermines genuine political accountability.

📣 Ralph's latest book, Civic Self Respect: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/718731/civic-self-respect-by-ralph-nader/

📣 Ralph's website: https://nader.org/

📣 Interview transcript: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ralph-nader-on

0:00–5:36 Trump’s Authoritarian Rule

5:36–10:39 What Deserves Our Focus Now

10:39–15:43 Democratic Party Malpractice

15:43–21:19 Ezra Klein’s Attack on Nader

21:19–29:45 How Ordinary People Build Power

29:45–38:39 Proven Victories by Citizen Action

38:39–45:58 Pessimism as a Tool of Control

45:58–52:28 Nader Reflects on His Life's Work

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the publisher and editorial director of The Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an advocate for diplomacy, disarmament, and international cooperation. She returns to Current Affairs to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, the erosion of U.S. diplomacy, and the bipartisan consensus around militarism.

She outlines the details of the Quincy Institute’s U.S. peace plan, explains why diplomacy is often smeared as appeasement, and explores what a negotiated end to the war might actually look like. We also explore whether Trump, despite his transactional and erratic instincts, might paradoxically be the only figure capable of restarting peace talks. Nathan concludes with an analysis of the "security dilemma" and how the logic of militarism is driving a global arms race under the guise of self-defense.

🕊️ Read Katrina in The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/authors/katrina-vanden-heuvel/ 

🕊️ Subscribe to The Nation: https://subscriptions.thenation.com/TNA/?f=Site01&s=F5X001 

🕊️ The Quincy Institute's Peace Plan: https://quincyinst.org/research/a-u-s-peace-plan-for-ukraine/#executive-summary

0:00-5:15 Is Trump Interested In Peace?

5:15-17:05 The U.S. Peace Plan for Ukraine

17:21-26:53 Diplomacy vs. Appeasement

26:53-31:21 How Does The War End?

31:21-38:58 The Security Dilemma

Even by the standards of right-wing rhetoric, Miller’s public statements are uncommonly shameless. He treats his audience as stupid and gullible. 

🦎 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-brainless-propaganda-of-stephen-miller 

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/