Geopolitical Economy Report

While the US and Europe have invaded and colonized countries around the world, China and Russia have helped the Global South develop and resist Western imperialism, argues Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista Revolution. Ben Norton reports.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8waJIQTKD4

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega blasted Western support for Israel in its war on Gaza and asked, if a state of Palestine is not allowed to exist, why should the US be allowed to exist? He was joined at the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution by Palestinian ex guerrilla Leila Khaled, who denounced imperialism and neocolonialism. Ben Norton reports.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je1wKlRUyFg

Read our related article - US legally owes Nicaragua reparations, but still refuses to honor 1986 Int’l Court of Justice ruling: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/06/28/us-owes-nicaragua-reparations-1986-icj/

European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell admitted the West has hypocritical "double standards" on international law, the Russia-Ukraine-NATO war, Israel's brutal bombing of Gaza, the US-led invasion of Iraq, and climate change. Ben Norton analyzes the revealing comments of the top EU diplomat.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQuUbBf6snA

Sources and links here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/18/eu-borrell-hypocrisy-double-standards-israel-ukraine-iraq/

EU confesses ‘our prosperity was based on China & Russia’: cheap energy, low-paid labor, big market: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/10/18/eu-prosperity-china-russia-energy-market/

‘Western dominance has ended’, EU foreign-policy chief admits, warning of ‘West against the Rest’ geopolitics: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/02/26/western-dominance-ended-eu-josep-borrell/

Topics

0:00 Intro

1:56 (Clip) EU foreign policy chief on West's "double standards"

4:25 (Clip) West values lives of Ukrainians more than Palestinians

5:06 (Clip) Hypocrisy on Israel's violations of UN resolutions

6:19 Historical carbon emissions by region

7:17 (Clip) Western hypocrisy on climate change

8:46 Who is Josep Borrell?

10:02 (Clip) West is prolonging Ukraine war

10:42 "Western dominance has ended"

11:55 (Clip) USA has lost its hegemony

12:11 China's economic rise

12:54 (Clip) China challenges Western dominance

14:21 Multipolarity

15:01 (Clip) "The world is much more multipolar"

15:54 "Democracy vs autocracy"?

16:33 (Clip) "On our side, there are a lot of authoritarian regimes"

17:00 How West relied on China & Russia

17:40 (Clip) "Our prosperity was based on China & Russia"

19:15 Borrell's racist "garden vs jungle" rant

21:30 (Clip) European exceptionalism

22:11 Outro

Following a shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump's supporters have portrayed him as a so-called "threat to the US deep state". But in reality, Trump was a warmonger as president, and appointed top CIA officials and neoconservatives to run his foreign policy. Ben Norton reviews Trump's support for Israel and Ukraine and his aggressive policies against China, Russia, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwm4OiYY5M

Topics

0:00 (Clips) Trump on Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine

0:32 US politics & bipartisan war crimes

3:29 Alleged assassination attempt against Trump

7:13 Trump's warmongering foreign policy: a summary

11:35 Israel - Palestine

16:56 Trump proposed bombing Russia & China

17:27 Russiagate

18:01 Trump tore up 2 arms treaties with Russia

18:55 Ukraine

20:33 (Clip) Trump boasts of arming Ukraine

20:56 Trump vs Obama on Ukraine weapons

23:02 NATO

24:24 "We're at war with China"

26:24 Trade war & new cold war on China

28:44 Democrats vs Republicans on Russia & China

29:48 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)

30:44 Assassination of Qasem Soleimani

31:20 Trump's war on Iraq

32:48 US hypocrisy on "political violence"

34:31 Syria

35:00 (Clip) Trump brags of taking Syria's oil

35:27 Afghanistan war & minerals

37:06 Trump wanted to take oil from Libya & Iraq too

38:15 Yemen

39:24 Trump plans to attack Mexico

41:06 Bolivia coup

41:54 Elon Musk & Bolivia's lithium

43:24 Venezuela

44:06 (Clip) Trump on "taking over" Venezuela

44:18 Venezuela coup attempt

46:00 Nicaragua coup attempt

46:37 Elliott Abrams

47:53 Cuba blockade & sanctions

50:09 Tax cuts for the rich

51:54 Billionaires for fellow billionaire Trump

53:16 Outro

In response to the NATO summit in Washington, political economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson discuss how Western governments are losing elections and ignoring their own people in order to expand the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and beyond, while seeking to impose control over the majority of humanity in the Global South.

Read the transcript here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/07/12/nato-west-war-democracy-global-south

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXIYInJUYp8

This is part of the show Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the program here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP

The UK's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer is a pro-war, neoliberal Blairite who is closely linked to British intelligence and the US government. He was backed by big business interests after the corporate media destroyed popular left-wing, anti-imperialist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ben Norton discusses how Britain is an oligarchy, not a democracy.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7YDNrYsV8

Topics

0:00 UK PM Keir Starmer is Tony Blair 2.0

3:26 Biden & Starmer discuss new cold war on Russia & China

5:00 Keir Starmer's shady US government ties

7:13 CIA-linked Trilateral Commission

11:09 Neoliberalism: a class war

13:13 The coup against Jeremy Corbyn

19:12 Outro

How did Western governments get to the point where major decisions are made by and for large corporate monopolies? Ben Norton is joined by political economist Radhika Desai to discuss neoliberalism and the myth of the free market.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tczNLhfdQ7A

This is based on chapter 6 of Radhika's book "Capitalism, Coronavirus and War". You can download it for free here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/17/capitalism-coronavirus-war-geopolitical-economy-radhika-desai/

Check out other episodes in the series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hNZoKp0XsLFwSxxlMQu6ye8

China describes its system as a "socialist market economy". How does that work? What is the role of its stock exchanges? Ben Norton explains Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4__IBd_sGE

Topics

0:00 Intro

1:11 Deng Xiaoping & China's "Reform & Opening Up"

4:06 Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

5:17 China's economic growth & poverty reduction

7:42 How state-owned enterprises (SOEs) run China's economy

10:09 Chen Yun & the "birdcage economy"

11:39 SOE share of China's GDP

13:37 China's largest companies are SOEs

14:53 Socialist market economy

16:02 "Grasp the large, let go of the small"

17:42 "Managed competition" in China

19:50 Billionaires in China

20:43 China's stock markets

27:17 (Clip) Western financial analyst says China rejected Washington Consensus

30:43 (Clip) Bloomberg complains "China doesn't care about the stock market"

32:10 Differences between US & Chinese economies

33:33 (Clip) Investor explains China's stock market is not priority for government

36:56 China's economic policy is made for workers, not investors

45:55 US financialized capitalism vs. Chinese socialism

46:33 US stock market is 60.5% of entire world

47:13 Richest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks

47:52 Global oligarchs hold wealth in US stock market

48:31 China's pursuit of "common prosperity"

51:49 Outro

Top UN human rights experts called on Western weapons corporations to stop sending arms to Israel, saying they could be complicit in war crimes. Asset managers like BlackRock and Wall Street banks are also profiting. Ben Norton looks at the evidence.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur2xRJzbyJE

Topics

0:00 Western complicity in Israel's war crimes in Gaza

1:07 Statement by UN human rights experts

1:26 Weapons corporations aiding Israel

2:41 US, Germany, Italy are arming Israel

3:09 Israel is violating Hague rulings

4:01 Financial companies profiting from Israel

5:10 BlackRock investments in Israel

6:53 Wall Street banks underwrite Israeli bonds

8:52 US states invest in Israeli bonds

10:55 Biden continues arming Israel (despite misleading media claims)

14:11 Outro

Economists Radhika Desai and Prabhat Patnaik analyze India's 2024 general election and why Prime Minister Narendra Modi's far-right Hindu-nationalist party BJP lost its majority. They discuss the state of the economy, rising unemployment and inequality, and Modi's neoliberal model.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4xfHMkIPJ4

Transcript here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/06/27/india-modi-2024-election-economy/

You can watch other episodes of their program Geopolitical Economy Hour here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP