Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf State Analytics, joins the show to break down Trump’s Middle East tour. During his four-day trip, Trump struck a massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia, met with Syria’s new head of state and former al-Qaeda leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, and made a deal with the UAE to commit $1.4 trillion to the US's AI sector. Trump’s major dealmaking is happening absent of any input or face time with Netanyahu – a move Cafiero sees as a shift in Middle East policy that shifts power away from Israel.

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China has pledged $9 billion toward investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Colombia signs onto the Belt and Road Initiative. These are just two major developments from last week’s China-CELAC Forum held in Beijing. Zoe Alexandra, journalist and editor of People’s Dispatch, joins Amanda Yee to discuss the significance of this summit, the mainstream media claim that China is encroaching on “America’s backyard,” and what the chaos brought on by Trump’s trade war of the last month and half means for the future of U.S. and China relations with LAC countries.

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Brian Becker and Layan Fuleihan field questions from listeners on the AI hype, Trump charting a new U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, a socialist view of organizing tactics, and more. 

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Jaylen Strong, an organizer with Artists Against Apartheid, joins the show to discuss the entertainment industry's retaliation against Kehlani and other artists speaking out for Palestine. Kehlani’s upcoming concert in NYC was canceled after pressure from Mayor Eric Adams' office. This comes weeks after hip hop Irish group Kneecap was investigated by UK police for their performance at Coachella in solidarity with Palestine, and The Crown actor was investigated for attending a Palestine protest. Strong explains, "The ruling class in the US is deeply afraid of people like Kehlani, like Macklemore, artists with big platforms sifting through the fog and seeing the reality of the situation in Palestine, but also domestically."

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Professor Jared A. Ball, host of the podcast iMiXWHATiLIKE and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, joins the show to discuss the centennial of Malcolm X’s birth. He discusses Malcolm’s revolutionary fight for Black liberation, his critique of capitalism and imperialism, and the ongoing effort to whitewash and distort Malcolm and the movement he represented.

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The European Union isn’t just complicit in the U.S. empire — it’s helping drive it. In this episode of Dispatches, Rania Khalek speaks with Marc Botenga, a Belgian Member of the European Parliament with the Workers’ Party of Belgium, about how Europe became a willing footsoldier for NATO’s wars, U.S. economic domination, and Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

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China & Russia released a joint declaration on the need for global strategic stability, which included an explicit condemnation of the US's nuclear counterforce strategy. Historian Peter Kuznik and filmmaker Regis Tremblay join us to discuss the risks of nuclear war in the current moment and the historical implications of the Russia-China alliance.

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Drin Shapiro, one of seven University of Michigan students targeted for participating in the campus Gaza Encampment last spring, joins the show to discuss the repression. In a win for the students, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has dropped the felony charges. Shapiro describes the chilling effect of the surveillance, jail time, and other repression students faced for exercising their First Amendment rights to protest a genocide.

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Trump went to the Middle East this week, securing trillions in investment commitments that will line the pockets of the capitalists but do nothing to solve the dire crises in the United States. He also publicly denounced U.S. intervention in the Middle East, but then declared his intention to turn Gaza into a US-controlled “freedom zone.” Brian and Layan discuss Trump's Middle East trip, the dangerous chaos at Newark airport, and more.

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Trump’s trade war is causing stock market chaos and may trigger a ‘capital war’ – or even a military war – and seems to be an act of desperation in the face of a declining U.S. empire. Brian Becker and Professor Richard Wolff discuss this rapidly shifting global economy, and what may come next.

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