Moderate Rebels

Max Blumenthal discusses US government-backed regime-change guru Gene Sharp with scholar Marcie Smith Parenti. They talk about Sharp's NED-funded Albert Einstein Institution; his explicitly neoliberal, pro-corporate, and pro-imperialist politics; and the manuals Sharp wrote teaching people how to do so-called "color revolutions" (ie, soft coups) against Washington's targets, from Yugoslavia to Venezuela to Hong Kong.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ruu9aDHTqJU

Read Marcie's article "Change Agent: Gene Sharp's Neoliberal Nonviolence": nonsite.org/change-agent-gene-sharps-neoliberal-nonviolence-part-one

You can watch the censored part two of their discussion over at Rokfin: rokfin.com/stream/8188/Foreign-Agents-3--meet-regime-change-guru-Gene-Sharp-and-CDCFDA-vaccine-misogyny

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss how the US government laid the groundwork for unrest in Cuba, the Biden administration's escalation of the economic war, and how CIA cutouts like USAID and the NED have cultivated a counter-revolutionary cultural network of rappers, artists, and social media influencers to push propaganda.

We had planned on speaking with Havana-based journalist Cristina Escobar, but at the last minute when we started recording she unfortunately was unable to join us.

Read Max's report "Cuba's cultural counter-revolution: US gov't-backed rappers, artists gain fame as 'catalyst for current unrest'" here: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/07/25/cubas-cultural-counter-revolution-us-govt-rappers-artists-catalyst

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=KLMuuGtaxes

Max Blumenthal discusses his reporting at the US Capitol on the protests demanding an eviction moratorium, the huge impending economic crisis, the opportunism of the Squad, and how Democratic Party warmongers like Adam Schiff cynically exploited it to do a photo op.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3aHgChJxsdg

We briefly discuss how the US government and corporate media are heavily amplifying small protests in Cuba to destabilize the country. While Washington suffocates the Cuban people with an illegal, 60-year blockade that the entire world just voted against at the UN, C-list celebrities are promoting #SOSCuba propaganda, and thousands of bots are spreading fake news on social media.

We discuss the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse with Haitian journalist Nazaire St. Fort and scholar Jeb Sprague. We talk about the "interim" presidency of US asset Claude Joseph, his request for American troops, the history of UN occupation, and the role of Colombian mercenaries and US citizens contracted by a Florida-based firm run by a right-wing Venezuelan-American.

We recount the insane story of how a pampered heiress and journalistic wannabe, enriched by millions of dollars seized from Iran by the US government, sued us for exposing her bogus Hezbollah sources, and hired an influential pro-Israel lawyer to try to bankrupt The Grayzone.

After 2.5 years of silence, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak out about the McCarthyite legal assault. We expose Sulome Anderson and the powerful neoconservative forces supporting her lawfare campaign against us.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=6vCnQKPznzM

Read about the case here: thegrayzone.com/2021/06/29/lawsuit-sulome-anderson-hezbollah

We discuss Mexico's progressive President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and the left-wing Morena party alliance victory in the June 2021 elections with journalist José Luis Granados Ceja. We also address US meddling via NED/USAID funding for the neoliberal opposition, as well as the constant media attacks.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=vp1no7Idbx4

Follow José Luis on Twitter: twitter.com/GranadosCeja

Article link - "'Sexy tricks': How journalists demonize Venezuela's socialist government, in their own words" thegrayzone.com/2019/12/09/sexy-tricks-journalists-demonize-venezuela-anatoly-kurmanaev

Article link - "US Special Forces trained Mexican drug cartels linked to decapitation, torture, rape" thegrayzone.com/2021/05/06/us-special-forces-mexican-drug-cartels

Journalist Aaron Mate and Professor Mohammad Marandi continue talking about the trip they took to Syria, after a decade of Western proxy war. We also discuss the OPCW cover-up of so-called "chemical attacks," as well as the role of Israel in the war, and Palestinian resistance to its brutal bombing and blockade of Gaza.

We address the political situations in Iran and Nicaragua, and then respond to questions from our patrons over at Patreon.com/ModerateRebels.

PART 2 OF 2

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=g9iqWnpBFZk

We speak with journalist Aaron Mate and Professor Mohammad Marandi, who just took a trip to Syria to see the real-life impact on average people caused by the decade-long Western regime-change war and suffocating US/EU sanctions.

PART 1 OF 2

Video: youtube.com/watch?v=g9iqWnpBFZk

We were joined by musician Roger Waters and author Gabor Maté to discuss Israel's war on Gaza, the Palestinian resistance struggle, the psychology of Zionism, the music industry, and a variety of other political and cultural issues.