Moderate Rebels

Israel is bombing Gaza, while extremists ethnically cleanse Palestinians. We are joined by Ali Abunimah and Rania Khalek, as well as Aaron Maté and Anya Parampil, to discuss the colonial violence - and indigenous resistance.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=-SaqRY7qHV0

Following his talk on the cultural cold war and the fake left, Ben Norton takes questions and discusses the "woke" CIA ads, the Biden administration's "intersectional imperialist" foreign policy, the Kurdish YPG/SDF and US military occupation of Syria, and new cold war myths about China.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=sZ79-gXVHos

This is part 2 of 2. You can watch or listen to part 1 here: moderaterebels.com/cia-fake-left-cultural-cold-war

TOPICS 0:00 Intro 4:25 Biden, Trump, and intersectional imperialism 29:00 China and new cold war propaganda 54:45 Syria and the Kurdish YPG/SDF 1:06:13 Ideology and hegemony

Ben Norton was invited to give this talk about the fake left and imperialism. He discusses how the CIA's "woke" recruitment ad is not new; it is rooted in an "intersectional imperialist" history going back to the first cold war, in which the CIA poured money into cultivating anti-communist, pro-imperialist progressive groups, using fronts like the Congress for Cultural Freedom and billionaire-funded foundations like Ford and Rockefeller.

Ben goes through the book "The Cultural Cold War," and talks about supposed "leftist" CIA assets like feminist leader Gloria Steinem and Trotskyite civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, then analyzes examples of astroturfed, Nonprofit Industrial Complex-backed pseudo-left campaigns in the US, Western Europe, and Latin America.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=rMap-6KxQJI

Links and show notes: moderaterebels.com/cia-fake-left-cultural-cold-war

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss with world-renowned economist Michael Hudson his concept of US "Super Imperialism," the new cold war on China and Russia, the Joe Biden administration, and dedollarization - the potential end to the dollar as the global reserve currency.

From 1:00:37 on, we also respond to questions from our patrons at Patreon: patreon.com/ModerateRebels

As the anti-Russia hawks in the Joe Biden administration push for more aggressive policies in Ukraine, we speak with Russell Bentley, an American from Texas who moved to the Donbas region to fight on behalf of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic.

Bentley discusses the ultra-nationalist fascists and neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian forces. He also explains the Christian Communist ideology that motivates him and his combat unit.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=F5O8h1dpP_k

-- Bentley's YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/RussellBentleyTexac

Ben Norton discusses Ecuador's 2021 election results, and how the US government and intelligence-linked billionaire foundations spent decades funding and cultivating liberal environmental groups and rightist Indigenous leaders to divide the left and weaken the socialist Citizens' Revolution movement launched by former President Rafael Correa.

* Read Ben's investigation "How the US gov't cultivated environmental and Indigenous groups to defeat Ecuador's leftist Correísta movement" here: thegrayzone.com/2021/05/04/ecuador-election-us-pachakutik-lasso-yaku

State Department cables released by WikiLeaks show how the US embassy recruited members of the Indigenous confederation CONAIE and its political arm Pachakutik, which has been directly supported by US government soft-power weapons like the NDI. CIA cutouts USAID and the NED poured tens of millions of dollars into building a fake "left" opposition to Correísmo, using "anti-extractivism" as a cover.

The result was Pachakutik/CONAIE and its coup-supporting neoliberal candidate Yaku Pérez got more than 1 million extra Ecuadorians to vote null in the April 2021 vote, compared to previous elections, thereby handing the victory to right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso.

After left-wing candidate Andrés Arauz conceded losing by 400,000 votes, Pérez boasted of "burying Correísmo." The US-backed fake "left" had succeeded in defeating a real leftist movement.

Norton documents how these tactics mirror US imperialist strategy targeting Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and more.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=k8FHNlbGKC0

-- Read more at The Grayzone: "How Ecuador's US-backed, coup-supporting 'ecosocialist' candidate Yaku Pérez aids the right-wing"

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss US meddling in the protests in Myanmar with Brian Berletic, and how Washington seeks to weaken a neighbor of China and key ally in Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.

We discuss the coup by the Tatmadaw military, the NED-funded Burmese networks calling for R2P ("Responsibility to Protect") foreign intervention, eerie parallels to the regime-change operations targeting Syria and Libya, and how the violence risks a dangerous destabilization of Southeast Asia.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=Hr24DLS16C8

- Check out Brian's website Land Destroyer: landdestroyer.blogspot.com

- Follow Brian's YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/LandDestroyerReport

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Ajit Singh and Aaron Maté to discuss the new cold war on Beijing, and how the US government is funding far-right extremist Uyghur armed separatists, to try to divide and balkanize China.

We also debunk the absurd Western accusations of genocide in Xinjiang province, and pick apart the propaganda of Adrian Zenz and other charlatans.

-- Link to Ajit's The Grayzone article "'Wipe out China!' US-funded Uyghur activists train as gun-toting foot soldiers for empire": thegrayzone.com/2021/03/31/china-uyghur-gun-soldiers-empire

-- Link to Ajit's other The Grayzone article "China detaining millions of Uyghurs? Serious problems with claims by US-backed NGO and far-right researcher 'led by God' against Beijing": thegrayzone.com/2019/12/21/china-detaining-millions-uyghurs-problems-claims-us-ngo-researcher

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Aaron Maté to discuss the dirty war on Syria, how murderous US/EU sanctions have destroyed the country's economy and led to many civilian deaths, and Washington's military occupation of its oil/wheat-rich territory.

We respond to a ridiculous open letter that smears the anti-war movement, signed by regime-change operatives and fake "leftist" imperialists like Gilbert Achcar.

-- Link to Ben's The Grayzone article "Elite UK military unit secretly trained by leftist regime-change advocate Gilbert Achcar and other academics": thegrayzone.com/2019/10/03/leftist-regime-change-activist-gilbert-achcar-academics-train-uk-military

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Aaron Maté to discuss the radlibs in academia who pretend to be radical but use anti-materialist post-modern philosophy and neoliberal identity politics to defend Western imperialism, from Ecuador to Syria, China to Venezuela. We also make fun of Bernard-Henri Lévy, who has never seen a US war he didn't love.

-- Link to Ben's article "Coup-supporting academics spread lies to censor The Grayzone reporting exposing Ecuador's pseudo-left candidate Yaku Pérez": thegrayzone.com/2021/03/01/academic-letter-censor-grayzone-ecuador-yaku-perez