The Donald Trump administration has imposed an extreme oil blockade to prevent Cuba from getting fuel from any country. Marco Rubio wants to collapse the economy, causing millions of civilians to starve and suffer in order to overthrow the revolutionary Cuban government. Ben Norton explains the monstrous history of US imperialism and its siege of Cuba.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ykeYsIRqKQ

Topics

0:00 US oil blockade of Cuba

1:09 USA starves Cuban women & children

2:23 Interview with Cuban mother

3:57 Far-right Miami Congress members

4:40 Shutting down Cuba's free universities

5:41 US blockade is illegal

6:06 Trump threatens tariffs on oil sellers

6:40 US empire attacks international law

7:48 US war on Cuban Revolution

8:08 Goal: "Hunger, desperation, & overthrow"

9:29 Trump's war on Cuba

10:25 (CLIP) Marco Rubio wants regime change

10:58 Marco Rubio, warmonger in chief

12:42 Miami Mafia wants to exploit Cuba

13:16 Narco Rubio's links to drugs

15:12 Trump admin attacks Cuba

16:13 Trump executive order on Cuba

17:05 Monroe to Donroe Doctrine

17:57 Russia vows to send Cuba oil

18:43 USA seizes oil tankers

19:26 (CLIP) Trump vows to steal oil tankers

20:09 China supports Cuba

21:30 US-China trade

22:01 Will Brazil help Cuba?

22:34 Mexico is in a tough spot

23:35 US attack on Venezuela

24:26 World opposes US embargo (UN votes)

26:12 US threatens secondary sanctions

27:28 How the embargo works

29:24 Gains of the Cuban Revolution

30:56 Extremist Miami Congress members

31:36 US politicians call to asphyxiate Cuba

32:06 US corporate colonization

33:33 US imperialism

34:24 Outro

The USA is waging a new cold war on China, and trying to recruit countries in the Asia-Pacific region to join it. Vietnam refuses, and is making plans for a potential second war with the United States. Ben Norton explains the complex geopolitics of Southeast Asia and the US empire's strategy.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NncakfDmrxU

Topics

0:00 Cold War Two against China

1:00 Vietnam's "bamboo diplomacy"

2:18 Vietnam prepares for new war with USA

4:07 US-Vietnam relations

5:38 Fears of US interventionism

7:22 US National Security Strategy

8:10 Monroe (Donroe) Doctrine

9:08 US "Indo-Pacific" strategy

10:55 US imperialism

12:51 China-Vietnam relations

13:38 Non-Aligned Movement

14:10 BRICS

14:49 Vietnam's economy: GDP

15:38 Incomes in Vietnam

16:54 Investment-led growth

17:44 Vietnam's manufacturing exports

18:18 Socialist market economy

19:30 Vietnam's "Four Nos" policy

20:51 Vietnam's "2nd US Invasion Plan"

23:48 US-backed "color revolution" fears

25:03 Shift in US imperial strategy

27:17 Divide and conquer

28:24 Trump, Biden, Obama

29:07 Vietnam & China share vision

30:02 China & Vietnam deepen ties

30:43 China-Vietnam conflict

32:21 ASEAN

33:28 Thailand foreign policy

34:41 Southeast Asian model

35:39 Outro

The United States is waging medieval economic war. Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran is "designed to collapse its already buckling economy", boasted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Ben Norton explains how the US is trying to suffocate Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba by collapsing their currencies and causing extreme inflation, using illegal sanctions and blockades.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AQWr6Rtybg

Topics

0:00 Economic war

1:02 USA has sanctioned 1/3rd of countries

1:40 Sanctions kill 560,000 people per year

2:46 US sanctions on Iran

3:54 Trump threatens to bomb Iran (again)

5:20 Map of US troops in Middle East

6:58 Economic war against Iran

8:21 (CLIP) Scott Bessent: "Collapse" Iran

10:17 (CLIP) Bessent: Crash Iran currency

11:13 (CLIP) Bessent: Stop Iran oil exports

11:34 Dollar hegemony & financial system

12:33 "Making Iran broke again"

13:09 Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman

14:20 Inflation & US sanctions on Iran

20:40 Goal: "hunger, desperation and overthrow"

22:25 "Make the economy scream"

23:15 More US sanctions

23:50 UN experts: US sanctions are illegal

25:25 How to help the Iranian people

26:29 Outro

Donald Trump's attacks on longtime US "allies" have forced Western leaders to admit their warmongering foreign policy was hypocritical. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said the truth in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos: the "rules-based order" was "false". Ben Norton explains how the global balance of power is shifting.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTH_rx1mpfE

Check out our related video on Europe improving its relations with China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpngJ3tC7Xw

Topics

0:00 Hypocrisy of Western foreign policy

1:05 "Rules-based international order"

1:27 Donald Trump, arch-imperialist

3:00 Canada PM Mark Carney Davos speech

3:42 "Middle powers" fear US attacks

5:42 (CLIP) Multilateralism is under threat

6:04 Double standards on international law

6:35 (CLIP) "Rules-based order" was false

6:58 US unipolar domination

7:28 (CLIP) Defending "American hegemony"

7:41 Financial system & US dollar

8:34 (CLIP) Rupture, not transition

9:13 West's exploitation of Global South

9:36 Canada's complicity in imperialism

9:56 Gaza, Palestine, Israel

10:31 Canada sells weapons to Israel

11:54 Canada's whitewashed reputation

12:22 Canada's hypocritical UN votes

13:47 West votes against rest of world

14:21 Canadian conservatives

15:03 Imperial hypocrisy

15:36 USA supports Canadian separatists

16:33 (CLIP) If not at table, on the menu

16:48 Partners in crime

17:34 Macron's message to Trump

18:38 New phase of imperialism

19:38 Sovereignty: Westphalian system

20:40 Decolonization

21:11 Neocolonialism

22:08 Mark Carney's trip to China

23:09 Trump threatens Canada over China

23:51 Canada's trade dependence on USA

24:26 Oil exports

24:59 Canada's oil pipelines

25:49 Chinese car industry investments

27:41 Reducing dependency

28:06 European leaders visit China

28:30 "Human rights" hypocrisy

29:07 EU relations with China

29:32 Outro

As Donald Trump hits the EU with tariffs and threatens to colonize Greenland (an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark), European leaders are improving relations with China and seeking new trade partners. Is this the end of the political West and the transatlantic alliance? Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpngJ3tC7Xw

Topics

0:00 Western alliance & US empire

0:59 NATO

2:04 Cold War One

2:42 Rise of China

4:20 Cold War Two

5:11 Europe's trade with China

5:33 Trump strategy: exploit Europe

6:55 Why Trump wants Greenland

8:18 Critical minerals & rare earths

9:37 End of NATO?

10:28 UK PM Keir Starmer visits China

11:07 Europe improves China relations

11:39 Trump threatens Europe over China

12:26 Splits with European Union

13:10 German industry

14:44 Would a Democrat repair EU ties?

15:46 EU trade deal with India

16:25 EU agreement with Mercosur

17:06 EU trade dependence on USA

17:50 UK trade dependence on USA

18:13 Canada trade dependence on USA

19:04 Canada PM Mark Carney visits China

19:33 US military presence in Europe

21:02 EU energy dependency

21:38 US oil exports to EU

22:06 US LNG exports to EU

23:41 EU dependence on US technology

25:52 Artificial intelligence (AI)

26:35 US Big Tech companies

27:05 EU card: ASML machines

28:09 Will EU dump US financial assets?

28:54 European holdings of US assets

29:56 US bond market vulnerability

30:58 Trump threatens "big retaliation"

32:30 INSTEX & US sanctions

34:12 Merkel & Macron promised EU army

35:02 Strategic autonomy?

35:37 Vassals of US empire

36:40 Change will be slow

37:33 Independence would be good

38:26 Outro

The Donald Trump administration is waging a war against all multilateral institutions and international law itself. He withdrew the US from most global organizations and created a "Board of Peace" as an alternative to the UN that is entirely controlled by the USA. Ben Norton explains the imperialist strategy to impose unipolar hegemony on the world.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3nGsmSI3EQ

Topics

0:00 New phase of imperialism

1:17 US war on international law

2:03 US colonial expansionism

3:05 USA withdraws from international orgs

4:30 Board of Peace: Trump's UN alternative

6:27 Board of Peace isn't about Gaza

7:39 Board members: US officials & oligarchs

9:10 Most countries reject invitation

10:04 Trump didn't invite Africa

11:10 China opposes US-led world order

12:08 Trump's US unipolar pay-to-play plan

13:25 USA attacks Canada over China deal

15:19 Importance of international law

17:20 UN Charter upholds sovereignty

18:27 Goal of US imperialism

19:34 Outro

So-called "peace president" Donald Trump has bombed 10 countries, more than any other US leader. He attacked 7 countries in 2025 alone. Now he wants to raise the USA's military budget to $1.5 trillion. Ben Norton explains how the self-declared "peacemaker" is waging war around the world.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Div95RNXX0M

Topics

0:00 Donald Trump's promises

0:13 (CLIP) Trump: I'm a "peacemaker"

0:50 Trump promises no new wars

1:14 (CLIP) "I'm going to stop wars"

1:27 Trump bombed 7 countries in 2025

1:50 Map of 10 countries Trump bombed

2:49 US presidents are war criminals

4:06 Post-9/11 US wars: 4.5 million deaths

5:01 Trump the "peace president"

5:51 Joe Biden, war criminal

6:09 Trump, war criminal

6:50 Victims of US attack on Venezuela

8:26 US Department of War

9:06 Pete Hegseth threatens China, Russia

9:36 Trump's $1.5 trillion military budget

10:25 Military spending by top countries

11:09 Share of world defense spending

12:13 US national debt

14:26 Cut taxes on rich, raise on poor

15:41 Elon Musk's DOGE

16:28 Food stamp cuts

16:58 Class war

17:21 Money buys US elections

17:54 (CLIP) Trump praises Big Tech oligarchs

18:17 Imperialism

18:48 Outro

When Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gave her Nobel "Peace" Prize to warmonger Donald Trump to thank him for bombing her country, it showed how the prize is a tool of war that serves Western foreign policy interests. The winner is very often a US-funded regime-change activist who tries to overthrow independent governments deemed "authoritarian" by NATO. Ben Norton reports.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ow1WRl0Axw

Topics

0:00 Trump gets prize from Venezuela's Machado

2:12 Trump has bombed 10 countries

3:01 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite

3:52 Nobel Peace Prize serves US foreign policy

4:39 Henry Kissinger, war criminal

5:42 Barack Obama, war criminal & Nobel laureate

7:07 Nobel Peace Prize: regime-change tool

9:07 Prize money

9:46 National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

11:07 Philippines' pro-US "dissident"

12:54 Russian pro-US "dissident"

14:33 Ukraine & neocons

15:36 Anti-Russian groups

16:23 Anti-Soviet "dissident"

16:51 Belarusian pro-US "dissident"

18:09 Iranian pro-US "dissident"

19:26 Iranian pro-US, pro-war activist

22:07 War is peace: US empire über alles

22:54 Iranian Revolution & imperialism

23:19 USA supports protests in Iran

26:15 NED continues under Trump & Rubio

27:24 China targeted by USA

28:07 Chinese pro-US "dissident"

29:11 US gov't links to Human Rights Watch

30:02 "Color revolution" attempt

31:21 Pro-colonialist fanatic Liu Xiaobo

34:53 Far-right warmonger Solzhenitsyn

35:59 Jean-Paul Sartre rejected Nobel Prize

36:56 Dalai Lama & CIA support

38:22 Nobel "Peace" Prize for war

39:07 Outro

The US government is openly backing the violent protests in Iran. An Israeli media outlet admitted foreign powers are arming Iranian rioters with weapons to try to overthrow the government. Ben Norton explains the geopolitical context and why the USA has sought regime change ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4_eu-TF68

Topics

0:00 (CLIP) Trump supports Iran protests

0:11 Riots in Iran

0:42 Israeli media on arming Iranian 'protesters'

1:49 US-backed regime change attempt

3:14 (CLIP) Trump pushes Iran regime change

3:41 Trump threatens to attack Iran (again)

5:15 CIA coup in Iran in 1953

5:56 Crimes of US-backed shah

6:50 Iranian Revolution

7:53 US imperialism: Wolfowitz Doctrine

8:43 Geopolitics of Middle East (West Asia)

10:12 Iran: BRICS, SCO, China, Russia

11:14 US plans to 'remake Middle East'

12:18 (CLIP) Wesley Clark: 7 countries in 5 years

12:56 Trump's threats against Iran

14:52 Trump spreads fake news

15:24 Trump threatens tariffs

16:21 Trump: "take over [Iranian] institutions"

17:23 US withdraws troops from Qatar

18:06 US plans to attack Iran

19:20 'Protesters' burn down buildings

21:22 Iran 'protesters' have weapons

22:58 Similarities to Syria & Libya

25:15 USA backs Iranian 'crown prince'

27:49 (CLIP) 'Crown prince': "This is a war"

29:31 Sacrifices to empire

30:24 Israel supports Iranian 'crown prince'

31:25 Mike Pompeo: Mossad supports protests

32:30 US boasts of 'maximum pressure'

33:06 US sanctions devastate Iranian economy

34:47 Outro

Donald Trump claims he will "run" Venezuela, after he bombed it and abducted President Nicolás Maduro. However, his plan makes no sense -- and will likely blow back on the USA. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez is still independent, and not cutting off China. US sanctions devastated Venezuela's oil infrastructure, and its heavy crude is expensive to produce -- and US companies do not see it as profitable enough, amid a global supply glut. Ben Norton explains.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpdfPK8jVE

Topics

0:00 US attack on Venezuela

0:49 (CLIP) Trump: USA will "run the country"

1:31 Two main US demands for Venezuela

2:20 Chavista government is intact

3:21 Oil corporations are skeptical

4:57 Trump's oil deal with Venezuela

7:44 US oil industry benefits rich elites

8:27 China, Russia, Iran, Cuba ties

10:08 USA wants heavy crude

10:46 Economic war

11:53 Marco Rubio targets Cuba

12:24 China and Venezuelan oil

13:02 Pete Hegseth threatens China & Russia

13:44 US seizes Russian-flagged tanker

14:16 Trump wants $1.5 trillion military budget

14:58 Trump bombed 7 countries in 2025

15:20 China's oil imports by country

17:43 Imperialist Monroe/Donroe Doctrine

18:21 Desperation of declining US empire

19:12 International law & UN Charter

20:19 China: South America's top trading partner

21:17 Forcing Venezuela to buy US products

22:07 Latin America exports

23:56 US is trade competitor with Latin America

25:24 US National Security Strategy

26:03 Pressure to cut ties with China

27:30 Geopolitics vs trade

28:45 USA threatens Venezuelan officials

30:30 Opposition leader María Corina Machado

32:56 Acting President Delcy Rodríguez

35:03 Delcy Rodríguez reaffirms China support

36:02 Trump will not have a US colony

37:40 Chevron deal in Venezuela

40:38 Sanctions exemptions in oil sector

41:53 US sanctions devastated oil industry

44:02 US purchases of Venezuelan oil

45:14 US imports heavy crude

46:25 US oil refineries want heavy crude

47:50 Oil companies say it's "uninvestable"

48:37 Oil deal possible, but not colonialism

49:42 High cost of Venezuelan crude

52:34 Global oil supply glut

53:34 US oil companies want gov't benefits

54:13 Destructive US interventions

56:47 Outro