Moderate Rebels

US government-backed corporate censorship is escalating online, while France's neoliberal President Emmanuel Macron lurches hard right, cracking down on civil liberties, protests, and the Muslim community.

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada about attacks on alternative media and independent journalism by Western "democracies", and how Silicon Valley companies are censoring Palestinians.

We then discuss the French government's discrimination against Muslims, repression of anti-neoliberal protests, and attempt to criminalize filming police brutality.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=w7-nuuSeTKg

Show notes and links: moderaterebels.com/western-authoritarian-censorship-france

Part 2 of 2

(Episode recorded November 25, 2020)

US president-elect Joe Biden has filled his transition team with hawkish neoliberal war-profiteering holdovers from the Barack Obama administration. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada about how the specter of Obama haunts America - and controls the Democratic Party.

We review passages from Obama's new memoir "A Promised Land," and how they expose his sociopathic imperial worldview. We also discuss how Rahm Emanuel's neoliberal model in Chicago is being copied nationwide.

And we address Biden's cabinet picks, including liberal interventionist Antony Blinken and neocon Michele Flournoy, as well as Democratic support for Israeli apartheid.

Links and show notes: moderaterebels.com/obama-biden-warmongering-neoliberal

Part 1 of 2

(Episode recorded November 25, 2020)

President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is full of war hawks and weapons industry shills. We speak with US Army veteran Danny Sjursen, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an anti-imperialist activist and journalist, about what a Biden-Harris administration foreign policy would look like.

Sjursen, who previously taught at the United States Military Academy, also discusses how warmongering members of the West Point Mafia dominate the US government and military-industrial complex.

Follow Sjursen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/skepticalvet

Sjursen's website: https://skepticalvet.com

Sjursen's The Nation article "How the 'West Point Mafia' Runs Washington": https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/esper-pompeo-west-point

Ben Norton speaks with Andrés González Berdecía, a senatorial candidate from the Puerto Rican Independence Party, about the November 3 election and referendum, US colonialism, the unelected neoliberal junta that controls Puerto Rico's economy, the similarities between Republican and Democratic administrations, and why he wants his nation to be independent.

You can listen to Andrés' podcast Radio Independencia at https://www.radioindependencia.net, and support it at https://www.patreon.com/radioindependencia.

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton report from La Paz, Bolivia, where we observed the historic landslide victory of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party of former President Evo Morales.

We speak with human rights lawyer Thomas Becker about the horrific crimes and repression of the coup regime that has ruled Bolivia since the military overthrew Evo in November 2019.

We also discuss the deep colonial racism of the Bolivian right-wing, and indigenous resistance against authoritarianism and imperialism.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=NHXc6WrMGYQ

Follow Thomas on Twitter at twitter.com/mrtommybecker

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald about what a Joe Biden presidency would mean for US-Russia relations. We also remember late scholar Stephen F. Cohen, who spoke out against the new cold war. And we debunk the ridiculous "red-brown alliance" myth spread by pro-NATO trolls.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=x-qe8FnRkUM

SECTIONS 0:00 Intro 3:35 Remembering pro-peace scholar Stephen F. Cohen 16:58 NATO trolls' absurd 'red-brown alliance' myth 31:00 What would a Joe Biden presidency mean for US-Russia relations?

Part 2 of 2

Follow Bryan MacDonald on Twitter: twitter.com/27khv

(Episode recorded on September 22, 2020)

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton start off with an exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording we were leaked of Russian President Vladimir Putin's phone calls.

Then we speak with journalist Bryan MacDonald, who lives in Russia, about the very suspicious alleged poisoning of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny, and what his real, xenophobic politics are.

We also discuss the NATO/EU attempt to orchestrate a so-called color revolution in Belarus and install a pro-Western neoliberal regime.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=9ow9-w8nvJM

SECTIONS 0:00 Exclusive, bombshell intercepted recording 8:33 Poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny 45:00 Belarus color revolution attempt 1:21:30 Outro

PART 1 OF 2

Follow Bryan MacDonald on Twitter: twitter.com/27khv

(Episode recorded on September 22, 2020)

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak about the dystopian show trial going on against political prisoner Julian Assange with journalist Kevin Gosztola, who is covering the UK court hearings to potentially extradite the WikiLeaks publisher to the US.

We discuss the major threat this case poses to the freedom of the press -- yet how it is being criminally under-reported and whitewashed in the corporate media.

LINKS:

Read Kevin's reporting at shadowproof.com

Follow Kevin on Twitter at twitter.com/kgosztola

Max's report "'The American friends': New court files expose Sheldon Adelson's security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange": thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/american-sheldon-adelsons-us-spy-julian-assange

Max's report "Exclusive images from inside British court expose Assange's un-democratic treatment, physical deterioration": thegrayzone.com/2020/05/29/british-court-assanges-physical-deterioration

(Episode recorded on September 11, 2020)

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with the hosts of Redspin Sports, Nathanial Wallace and Michael Sampson, about the historic one-day NBA strike, capitalist oligarchs' exploitation of largely Black athletes, and what American sports look like with an anti-imperialist perspective.

VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=TmaAtHMLObg

Redspin Sports on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCdjXZ5L7lkf8da6zFH4Dqgw Redspin Sports on Facebook: facebook.com/RedspinSports Redspin Sports on Twitter: twitter.com/RedspinSports

(Episode recorded on August 31, 2020)

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with Aaron Maté; about the new cold war on China and Russia and the US government-backed campaign to silence anti-war voices. We discuss the growing censorship of independent outlets on social media and the defamatory corporate media smears of our factual reporting.

Video: youtube.com/watch?v=s1k_GnT0sFI

Part 2 of 2

(Episode recorded on August 19, 2020)