In This Mad World

One sentence summary: How the combination of an Orwellian political language of euphemism with a brutal language of fascism manifested in the genocide in Gaza.

The one-sentence summary: understanding what fascist imperialism is and what its consequences are, and then establishing both the United States and Israel as currently constituting fascist governments, according to our previously established definition of fascism.

The one-sentence summary: Defining the characteristics of fascism using the examples of the two historical fascist regimes that came to power of their own accord, in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

The one-sentence summary: Applying George Orwell’s concept of “political language” to understand empire, fascism, and fascist imperialism in the context of present-day Israel and the United States.

What is the current situation in Gaza? How far has the destruction gone? What is the legal definition of ‘genocide’ and why does it apply to Gaza? This episode is a deep dive into the escalating Gaza genocide, debunking some of the talking points used to silence critics, and finishes with an examination of things we can do every day to try to stop this insanity.

In this episode, we take a look at where the Russia-Ukraine war is at presently, with record-level drone and missile attacks by Russia, a growing death toll, stalled “peace talks,” and Russia’s evolving nuclear doctrine. We put the war in its historical context, from the end of the Cold War to the Russia-NATO rivalry, the 2013 Maidan uprising in Ukraine, to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the 2014 war and finally, the outbreak of full-scale war in 2022, and its potential consequences.

In this episode, recorded on July 12, we examine the first six weeks of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s so-called “aid distribution” program in Gaza. We place this program in the wider context of the Israeli strategy to undermine and dismantle the existing UN-run aid system in Gaza, as part of the overall Israeli plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza, pushing the population further south into a planned concentration camp in the ruins of Rafah City. It’s called “humanitarian aid,” but it operates like Squid Game or the Hunger Games, and has led to the murder of over 800 desperate, starving Palestinians.

It’s been over a month since we last joined you, and a lot has happened! We begin our discussion with the protests in Los Angeles that resulted in the deployment of the National Guard and US Marines, a dangerous new precedent for democracy as the government clamps down on immigrants. As the standoff between protesters and police appeared to reach new heights, a war erupted on the other side of the world, quickly drawing international attention as Israel launched a war of aggression on Iran.

This episode examines what the UN has called “the cruelest phase” of the Israeli war and genocide in Gaza. The IDF and Israeli government are enacting a plan to conquer the entirety of Gaza, coral Palestinians into three smaller areas, and hold territory. In a new turn, Israel and the US have proposed a new joint project to “deliver aid” to those in Gaza under siege, but while sold on “humanitarian” grounds, it is actually part of a project to displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the north of Gaza. This includes plans to ultimately push Palestinians into small “bubbles,” or armed compounds, otherwise known as concentration camps. We briefly look at the role of concentration camps in history, its origins in colonial warfare and counter-insurgency. Ultimately, we have entered a more extreme, cruel, and dangerous phase of the genocide, and international pressure on Israel remains far from meeting the moment.

In this episode, Andrew Gavin Marshall and Chelsey G return to the subject of Israel’s war on Gaza, from the negotiation of the ceasefire in January, violations of the agreement, to Israel’s violent and destructive return to war in March. Moving from Trump’s Gaza plan to the role of Egypt and Jordan, this episode takes a look at both the geopolitics and on-the-ground realities of this ruthless war’s return.