The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: The most important political scandal you haven't heard of

   An enormous scandal is unfolding in Latin America, which says everything about politics in the 21st century. Far-right Argentine election meddling specialist Fernando Cerimedo was arrested in Bolivia after hiring hitmen to try to assassinate his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Nadia Beller. They failed, and she is now revealing the truth. Cerimedo has deep links to the US government and Donald Trump's top allies, such as Marco Rubio. Cerimedo worked for many US-backed right-wing leaders in Latin America, including Argentina's Javier Milei, Bolivia's Rodrigo Paz, Brazil's Bolsonaro family, and Honduras' Nasry "Tito" Asfura. Cerimedo is now also being investigated for drug trafficking. Ben Norton explains this insane scandal, which exposes how powerful US-backed right-wing groups, with funding from rich oligarchs, are manipulating elections and destroying democracy. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqIJDC5gsl8 Sources and links here: https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/fernando-cerimedo-elections-latin-america-trump-us Topics 0:00 Huge election meddling scandal 1:05 Criminal Fernando Cerimedo 1:40 La Derecha Diario 3:06 Attack on Nadia Beller 4:18 Drug trafficking allegations 5:26 Bot farms spread disinfo 7:36 Bots dysfunction after arrest 8:49 US government propaganda 9:36 Shield of the Americas 11:03 Neocolonial Donroe Doctrine 11:33 Op against Latin American left 13:29 Argentina's Javier Milei 13:57 Elon Musk in Argentina 14:42 Corruption in Argentina 18:42 Bolivia's Rodrigo Paz 21:01 Honduras' Nasry "Tito" Asfura 21:42 Trump pardons drug lord JOH 22:17 Election meddling in Honduras 24:22 Election interference 25:18 Coup attempt in Brazil 26:41 Bolsonaro family 28:15 Mar-a-Lago & Latino Wall Street 30:48 Cerimedo's links to US gov't 31:35 Damián Merlo, lobbyist 32:50 Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump advisor 33:50 Lobbying in Washington 35:02 Marco Rubio & María Elvira Salazar 36:20 Brad Parscale, Trump campaign chief 39:58 La Derecha Diario erases evidence 40:58 Javier Negre, new owner 42:17 La Derecha Diario's fake news 44:18 Javier Negre takes credit for elections 45:31 US neocolonialism in Latin America 46:23 This is NOT "democracy" 47:33 Outro

   August 28, 2026·48min
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   Number 2: The truth behind Trump's trade war with Canada: It will blow back

   Donald Trump has restarted his trade war with Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney revealed that the US government made last-minute demands for control over Canada's trade deals, critical minerals, and French language policies, violating the country's sovereignty. Ben Norton explains how the trade war could blow back, given the USA's dependence on Canadian oil, exacerbating the global energy crisis caused by Trump's war on Iran. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D97iyWy4-KU Check out our related video explaining why the US lost its trade war with China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuYVMrXmAM Topics 0:00 US trade war with Canada 1:17 US dependence on Canada's oil 2:35 Potential blowback on US economy 3:25 Trump sabotages his own USMCA 4:52 Trump's "art of the deal" 5:52 US violated deals with Iran 6:48 US "power play" with Canada 7:57 (CLIP) PM Mark Carney on sovereignty 9:03 US demands of Canada 9:52 (CLIP) PM Carney on trade deals 10:14 Canada's critical minerals 11:02 French language in Canada 13:11 "51st state" threats 14:41 Canadians see USA as top threat 14:57 US official talks of war with Canada 15:48 (CLIP) Transport Secretary Sean Duffy 16:11 Canada's trade surplus with USA 17:40 Canada defends itself 19:31 Prime Minister Mark Carney 21:38 (CLIP) Carney admits Western hypocrisy 22:20 Canada moves closer to China 23:33 Carney's speech on trade war 23:57 (CLIP) Carney: USA can't be trusted 24:48 More US demands of Canada 26:00 (CLIP) Canada energy exports to US 26:40 Canadian crude and US refineries 28:24 US oil imports 32:18 US energy vulnerability 32:46 US oil reserves running out 34:09 Gasoline prices rise before midterms 34:54 Why Trump will likely lose 36:56 Trump lost his trade war with China 37:48 Outro

   August 25, 2026·39min
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   Number 3: How USA & Israel put drug cartel-linked puppet in power in Colombia

   Colombia's former President Gustavo Petro formally accused the USA and Israel of meddling in his country's election to put in power new far-right leader Abelardo de la Espriella, a US citizen and Trump ally who worked as a lawyer for years in Miami, Florida, defending drug traffickers. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rBhz7_rlg0 Check out our related video on the Sandinista Revolution and Nicaragua's resistance against US imperialism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIXMyFvMeMc Topics 0:00 US & Israeli meddling in Colombian election 2:34 US-backed coups in Latin America 4:23 Abelardo de la Espriella, US citizen 6:36 De la Espriella defended drug traffickers 8:19 US govt supports drug traffickers 11:17 De la Espriella's business interests 12:14 De la Espriella's botox scandals 13:40 Far-right paramilitaries in Colombia 15:42 Sociopathy 16:23 Colombia's new right-wing regime 16:52 Marco Rubio 17:27 US military alliance with Colombia 18:27 US-backed narco leader Álvaro Uribe 19:58 Marco Rubio's extremist ties 20:34 War on Drugs 2.0 22:13 Ecuador's narco-dictator Daniel Noboa 23:38 Operation Condor 2.0 25:27 Colonialist Donroe Doctrine 26:53 Gustavo Petro cut ties with Israel 28:48 Israel's new alliance with Colombia 29:53 Colombia: the Israel of Latin America 31:08 Israel occupies Syria's Golan Heights 32:50 Morocco occupies Western Sahara 33:23 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 36:00 Morocco supports Israel 36:53 US backs Morocco in Western Sahara 38:09 Colombia's relations with China 39:39 US Cold War Two against China 40:22 US puppet regimes in Latin America 41:15 US National Security Strategy 42:45 Neocolonialism 43:56 Anti-imperialist resistance 45:23 Outro

   August 19, 2026·46min
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   Number 4: Dollar system in crisis: Why the US bailed out Japan

   The US government quietly bailed out Japan. The Treasury intervened in the foreign exchange market to try to stabilize the yen, the Japanese currency. Ben Norton explains how this reflects a larger, structural problem with the dollar system. Japan is the largest holder of US Treasury securities (US government debt), and Washington doesn't want other countries to sell its bonds, fearing that yields could rise and cause a debt crisis. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngGQrWxNdV4 Topics 0:00 USA bails out Japan 1:04 Japanese yen falls against USD 1:29 USA will "do whatever it takes" 2:21 Japan's holdings of US Treasuries 3:03 China de-dollarizes 3:31 US empire and Japan 4:26 Japan's role in dollar system 5:32 Carry trade 7:24 Wall Street benefits 8:24 Real reason for US intervention 9:39 US fears sales of its bonds 10:37 US bond yields rise 11:38 US government debt 12:14 Inflation in US 12:56 Foreign demand for US bonds 14:35 Seizure of Russian assets 16:06 Central banks buy gold 16:55 US bond market problems 17:58 US Treasury sells euro 19:37 Crisis in dollar system 22:07 Dollar dominance in decline 24:30 Why the yen is falling so much 24:51 Energy crisis and Iran War 26:57 Inflation in Japan 27:47 Interest rates in Japan 29:25 US govt backs carry trade 30:36 Economic stagnation in Japan 31:03 Enormous debt to GDP in Japan 33:10 US debt problems 33:44 Slow-motion financial crisis 34:46 Outro

   August 14, 2026·36min
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   Number 5: Why the world prefers China over the USA

   Poll after poll shows that the world increasingly prefers China over the United States. So why are people in so many countries, especially the youth, "Chinamaxxing"? Ben Norton explains how China has developed a new political, economic, and technological model; promoted a non-interventionist foreign policy, which supports the sovereignty of the Global South; and built a socialist market economy, which offers an alternative to the neoliberal capitalism imposed by the West. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYgRMgKtup0 Topics 0:00 Polls show China more popular than USA 0:54 Global South prefers China 2:31 Global South tired of US interventions 4:21 Even Europe now prefers China 5:41 Younger people prefer China 6:17 Why China is more popular 6:47 Multipolarity vs US-led unipolarity 7:11 Media propaganda on "Chinamaxxing" 8:12 Media attacks Hasan Piker 9:06 Why are people "Chinamaxxing"? 9:35 War on Iran 10:36 US empire's war on international law 12:23 China's alternative vision for world 12:57 US vs China: imperialism vs multipolarity 13:31 (CLIP) Marco Rubio praises colonialism 15:11 (CLIP) Wang Yi promotes multilateralism 16:26 Foreign policy: China vs USA 17:32 Why young people like China 19:27 US political-economic system in crisis 20:17 Increasing interest in socialism 22:10 China's poverty reduction 24:36 Alternative to neoliberal capitalism 26:09 China's socialist market economy 27:37 Public ownership in China 28:40 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) 29:15 Perspective on socialism: USA vs China 31:13 Capitalist propaganda 32:27 China's peaceful alternative 33:03 China's technological progress 34:45 Global Governance Initiative 37:08 Growth of new multipolar world order 38:19 Why China is increasingly popular 39:11 Outro

   September 02, 2026·40min
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