Geopolitics & Empire

Geopolitics & Empire · Dmitry Orlov: How the Technosphere Threatens the Biosphere and our Freedoms #088

Schiller Institute science advisor Jason Ross discusses China's imperial ambitions in Africa through its Belt And Road Initiative and the challenges it poses to the US-dominated Bretton Woods system.

Show Notes

Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa https://schillerinstitute.com/extending-new-silk-road-west-asia-africa

Why China’s ‘Debtbook Diplomacy’ is a Hoax https://schillerinstitute.com/why-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy-is-a-hoax

Africa's Bright Future on China's Belt and Road Initiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIvC_Kdvc4E

China: A New Imperial Power? https://www.transcend.org/tms/2018/10/a-new-imperial-power

Websites

https://schillerinstitute.com

https://www.twitter.com/JasonA_Ross

About the Guest

Jason Ross is a Science Advisor at The Schiller Institute.

In America, the Institute, a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in May 1984. The Schiller Institute is also established in Australia, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and has a growing influence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Helga Zepp LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute internationally, is also Chairman of its Board of Directors in the United States. A German citizen, Mrs. Zepp LaRouche is wife of Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., statesman and economist, who, with his wife, is a true citizen of the world, in Schiller's sense. In her Founding Message for the American Schiller Institute, in 1984, Chairman Helga Zepp LaRouche outlined the Institute's objectives as follows:

"The clock of mankind has advanced to a point where the old lackluster ways will no longer work. According to all established criteria, mankind has gambled away all its chances for survival. Too many catastrophes are crowding in upon us, the entropic process has proceeded too far and the rift between the U.S.A. and Western Europe is all but accomplished.

For precisely this reason, we are founding the Schiller Institute. We do so not only because there is a vacuum we need to fill with institutions willing to revive the spirit of the American Revolution and the German classical period. We are founding the Schiller Institute because Schiller's special method of approaching world-historical problems is the only one which can still bring about a solution today. The kernel of this method can be defined in Schiller's own words: Man is greater than his fate. Even if the objective situation looks almost hopeless and desperate, we, like Schiller, are sure that a courageous spirit and human reason will always be able to find the higher level where the problems are solvable...."The Schiller Institute will work for this perspective. You, dear citizens of America, are called upon to help in this process. We can win, but. as Schiller stated, 'world history is the world's court of justice!'''

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Schiller Institute science advisor Jason Ross discusses China's imperial ambitions in Africa through its Belt And Road Initiative and the challenges it poses to the US-dominated Bretton Woods system.

Show Notes

Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa https://schillerinstitute.com/extending-new-silk-road-west-asia-africa

Why China’s ‘Debtbook Diplomacy’ is a Hoax https://schillerinstitute.com/why-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy-is-a-hoax

Africa's Bright Future on China's Belt and Road Initiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIvC_Kdvc4E

China: A New Imperial Power? https://www.transcend.org/tms/2018/10/a-new-imperial-power

Websites

https://schillerinstitute.com

https://www.twitter.com/JasonA_Ross

About the Guest

Jason Ross is a Science Advisor at The Schiller Institute. In America, the Institute, a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in May 1984. The Schiller Institute is also established in Australia, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and has a growing influence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Helga Zepp LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute internationally, is also Chairman of its Board of Directors in the United States. A German citizen, Mrs. Zepp LaRouche is wife of Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., statesman and economist, who, with his wife, is a true citizen of the world, in Schiller's sense. In her Founding Message for the American Schiller Institute, in 1984, Chairman Helga Zepp LaRouche outlined the Institute's objectives as follows:

"The clock of mankind has advanced to a point where the old lackluster ways will no longer work. According to all established criteria, mankind has gambled away all its chances for survival. Too many catastrophes are crowding in upon us, the entropic process has proceeded too far and the rift between the U.S.A. and Western Europe is all but accomplished.

For precisely this reason, we are founding the Schiller Institute. We do so not only because there is a vacuum we need to fill with institutions willing to revive the spirit of the American Revolution and the German classical period. We are founding the Schiller Institute because Schiller's special method of approaching world-historical problems is the only one which can still bring about a solution today. The kernel of this method can be defined in Schiller's own words: Man is greater than his fate. Even if the objective situation looks almost hopeless and desperate, we, like Schiller, are sure that a courageous spirit and human reason will always be able to find the higher level where the problems are solvable...."The Schiller Institute will work for this perspective. You, dear citizens of America, are called upon to help in this process. We can win, but. as Schiller stated, 'world history is the world's court of justice!'''

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Noah Coburn: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global War #086

Political Anthropologist Dr. Noah Coburn discusses his latest book "Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America's Global War" as we delve into the lives of over 3 million private contractors who service the logistics and underbelly of the Global War On Terror in Afghanistan.

Show Notes

Trump’s Disastrous Plan to Increase Contracting in Afghanistan https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/trumps-disastrous-plan-to-increase-contracting-in-afghanistan

Trump’s Afghanistan strategy won’t end human rights violations among immigrant contractors https://qz.com/1062034/trumps-afghanistan-strategy-wont-end-human-rights-violations-among-immigrant-contractors

Websites

https://noahcoburn.com

http://noahcoburn.bennington.edu

https://www.twitter.com/NCoburnNoah

Books

https://www.amazon.com/Noah-Coburn/e/B005MYUBQM/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29268

About the Guest

Noah is a political anthropologist focusing on political structures and violence in the Middle East and South Asia and the Director of the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning.

At Bennington College he teaches courses on the overlap of politics, power and culture. He has conducted over 5 years of field research in Afghanistan, and has also conducted field research in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Georgia, Turkey and India.  His most recent work focus on international contractors from Nepal, the Republic of Georgia and India, who fought during the war in Afghanistan. He tells their stories and looks at what this means for the future of war and the American Empire in his book Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global War.

Follow him on twitter: @NCoburnNoah.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Political Anthropologist Dr. Noah Coburn discusses his latest book "Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America's Global War" as we delve into the lives of over 3 million private contractors who service the logistics and underbelly of the Global War On Terror in Afghanistan.

Show Notes

Trump’s Disastrous Plan to Increase Contracting in Afghanistan https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/trumps-disastrous-plan-to-increase-contracting-in-afghanistan

Trump’s Afghanistan strategy won’t end human rights violations among immigrant contractors https://qz.com/1062034/trumps-afghanistan-strategy-wont-end-human-rights-violations-among-immigrant-contractors

Websites

https://noahcoburn.com

http://noahcoburn.bennington.edu

https://www.twitter.com/NCoburnNoah

Books

https://www.amazon.com/Noah-Coburn/e/B005MYUBQM/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=29268

About the Guest

Noah is a political anthropologist focusing on political structures and violence in the Middle East and South Asia and the Director of the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning.

At Bennington College he teaches courses on the overlap of politics, power and culture. He has conducted over 5 years of field research in Afghanistan, and has also conducted field research in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Georgia, Turkey and India.  His most recent work focus on international contractors from Nepal, the Republic of Georgia and India, who fought during the war in Afghanistan. He tells their stories and looks at what this means for the future of war and the American Empire in his book Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America’s Global War.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Isa Blumi: The Geopolitics of the War on Yemen #085

Dr. Isa Blumi discusses his book "Destroying Yemen" which explains how the Atlanticist empire has sought for a century to secure financial, political, and resource control over an independent Yemeni state with the help of GCC actors. Blumi also explains how Saudi Arabia is quickly disintegrating and what this means for the future.

Show Notes

In Yemen, Hardly A Revolution https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/opinion/09blumi.html

What's Going On In Yemen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJf8g6FDHo

Websites

https://www.su.se/english/profiles/iblum-1.253921

https://www.twitter.com/isablumi

Books

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520296145/destroying-yemen

About the Guest

Isa Blumi is Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University and a Master of  Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.

Dr. Isa Blumi joins Stockholm University after spending the last 10 years teaching and researching in universities located in Germany, Belgium, Turkey, the USA, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Albania/Kosovo.

Isa Blumi researches societies in the throes of social, economic, and political transformation. His latest work covers the late Ottoman period and successor regimes, arguing that these events are part of process that interlinks the Balkans, the Middle East, and the larger Islamic world. In this respect, it is key to explore in a comparative, integrated manner how post-Ottoman Turkey fits into what is a global story of transition.

As he expands his work to include more of the 20th century, Blumi explores processes of change induced by Muslim refugees who ended up settling throughout the world. Exploring these refugees' stories through this global perspective helps question how we understand identity and social organization, themes Blumi will focus on in the courses he will teach. Beyond his historical research, Blumi also regularly writes, and lectures on contemporary Balkan and Middle Eastern politics (especially Kosovo, Turkey and Yemen) and political Islam.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Dr. Isa Blumi discusses his book "Destroying Yemen" which explains how the Atlanticist empire has sought for a century to secure financial, political, and resource control over an independent Yemeni state with the help of GCC actors. Blumi also explains how Saudi Arabia is quickly disintegrating and what this means for the future.

Show Notes

In Yemen, Hardly A Revolution https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/opinion/09blumi.html

What's Going On In Yemen? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJf8g6FDHo

Websites

https://www.su.se/english/profiles/iblum-1.253921

https://www.twitter.com/isablumi

Books

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520296145/destroying-yemen

About the Guest

Isa Blumi is Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University and a Master of  Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.

Dr. Isa Blumi joins Stockholm University after spending the last 10 years teaching and researching in universities located in Germany, Belgium, Turkey, the USA, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Albania/Kosovo.

Isa Blumi researches societies in the throes of social, economic, and political transformation. His latest work covers the late Ottoman period and successor regimes, arguing that these events are part of process that interlinks the Balkans, the Middle East, and the larger Islamic world. In this respect, it is key to explore in a comparative, integrated manner how post-Ottoman Turkey fits into what is a global story of transition.

As he expands his work to include more of the 20th century, Blumi explores processes of change induced by Muslim refugees who ended up settling throughout the world. Exploring these refugees' stories through this global perspective helps question how we understand identity and social organization, themes Blumi will focus on in the courses he will teach. Beyond his historical research, Blumi also regularly writes, and lectures on contemporary Balkan and Middle Eastern politics (especially Kosovo, Turkey and Yemen) and political Islam.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Balihar Sanghera: Central Asia as the New Economic Battleground for China, Russia, and the USA #084

Dr. Balihar Sanghera discusses the economic dystopia left behind by the Soviet Union in Central Asia as well as why he thinks the United States holds the upper hand in the region despite Russia's formidable Eurasian Union project and China's Belt and Road.

Websites

https://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/s/sanghera-balihar.html

Show Notes

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera/economic-dystopia-in-kyrgyzstan

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera-and-elmira-satybaldieva/global-capitalism-in-central-asia

https://theconversation.com/central-asia-is-the-new-economic-battleground-for-the-us-china-and-russia-98263

About the Guest

Balihar Sanghera is the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught) and a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Medway campus.

His main interests are political economy, social theory and ethics. Currently, he is writing up four research projects:

Geopolitics and competing economic imaginaries in Central Asia (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The moral economy of credit in Kyrgyzstan (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The neoliberal judiciary and property rights in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Social justice philanthropy in the UK

Before joining SSPSSR in 2004, he was a visiting lecturer at the Sociology Department, American University – Central Asia (2002-04), at the Sociology Department, Novosibirsk State University (2000-02), and at the Economics Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1999-2000). He was also senior research fellow at the Management Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1998-1999).

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Dr. Balihar Sanghera discusses the economic dystopia left behind by the Soviet Union in Central Asia as well as why he thinks the United States holds the upper hand in the region despite Russia's formidable Eurasian Union project and China's Belt and Road.

Websites

https://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/staff/academic/s/sanghera-balihar.html

Show Notes

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera/economic-dystopia-in-kyrgyzstan

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/balihar-sanghera-and-elmira-satybaldieva/global-capitalism-in-central-asia

https://theconversation.com/central-asia-is-the-new-economic-battleground-for-the-us-china-and-russia-98263

About the Guest

Balihar Sanghera is the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught) and a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, Medway campus.

His main interests are political economy, social theory and ethics. Currently, he is writing up four research projects:

Geopolitics and competing economic imaginaries in Central Asia (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The moral economy of credit in Kyrgyzstan (with Dr Elmira Satybaldieva)

The neoliberal judiciary and property rights in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Social justice philanthropy in the UK

Before joining SSPSSR in 2004, he was a visiting lecturer at the Sociology Department, American University – Central Asia (2002-04), at the Sociology Department, Novosibirsk State University (2000-02), and at the Economics Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1999-2000). He was also senior research fellow at the Management Department, University of Central England in Birmingham (1998-1999).

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Geopolitics & Empire · Jeremy Kuzmarov: The New Cold War is a Farce #083

Academic and author Jeremy Kuzmarov discusses his latest book "The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce." Topics covered include the true origins of the Cold War, how a Henry Wallace presidency could've altered the course of history, the Military-Industrial-Academic-Complex, the use of propaganda against Russia in the New Cold War, NATO expansion, color revolutions, and how the Democratic left is perpetuating McCarthyism in the age of Trump.

Websites

https://jeremykuzmarov.com

Books

https://www.amazon.com/Russians-Are-Coming-Again-Tragedy/dp/1583676945

About the Guest

Jeremy Kuzmarov has taught at numerous universities and colleges in the field of U.S. history and foreign relations. He has undertaken extensive specialized research on the following topics:

—  Covert dimensions of U.S. foreign policy

—  The War on Drugs

—  U.S. policing and prisons and the internationalization of U.S. criminal justice

—  U.S. airpower and its human cost

—  American military base networks

—  The false manipulations of the public in selling American wars, among other topics.

Kuzmarov has contributed to many progressive publications like The Progressive Magazine, Counterpunch, the LA Progressive, the Huffington Post, Z Magazine, Z Net and has appeared in various media outlets, including on radio and television programs.  He is also a contributor to a peace website, developed by historian Roger Peace, that provides comprehensive overviews of major U.S. wars and assesses them from a just war perspective. Kuzmarov has been active in local peace groups, and is a board member of the Tulsa Peace fellowship, a friend of the Asia-Pacific Journal, and on the Steering committee for Historians for Peace and Democracy. He is also part of a network, headquartered at the University of Exeter, that studies colonial history and counterinsurgencies in comparative perspective.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)

Academic and author Jeremy Kuzmarov discusses his latest book "The Russians Are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce." Topics covered include the true origins of the Cold War, how a Henry Wallace presidency could've altered the course of history, the Military-Industrial-Academic-Complex, the use of propaganda against Russia in the New Cold War, NATO expansion, color revolutions, and how the Democratic left is perpetuating McCarthyism in the age of Trump.

Websites

https://jeremykuzmarov.com

Books

https://www.amazon.com/Russians-Are-Coming-Again-Tragedy/dp/1583676945

About the Guest

Jeremy Kuzmarov has taught at numerous universities and colleges in the field of U.S. history and foreign relations. He has undertaken extensive specialized research on the following topics:

—  Covert dimensions of U.S. foreign policy

—  The War on Drugs

—  U.S. policing and prisons and the internationalization of U.S. criminal justice

—  U.S. airpower and its human cost

—  American military base networks

—  The false manipulations of the public in selling American wars, among other topics.

Kuzmarov has contributed to many progressive publications like The Progressive Magazine, Counterpunch, the LA Progressive, the Huffington Post, Z Magazine, Z Net and has appeared in various media outlets, including on radio and television programs.  He is also a contributor to a peace website, developed by historian Roger Peace, that provides comprehensive overviews of major U.S. wars and assesses them from a just war perspective. Kuzmarov has been active in local peace groups, and is a board member of the Tulsa Peace fellowship, a friend of the Asia-Pacific Journal, and on the Steering committee for Historians for Peace and Democracy. He is also part of a network, headquartered at the University of Exeter, that studies colonial history and counterinsurgencies in comparative perspective.

*Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)