As Trump vows to resume nuclear explosive testing, Hans Kristensen — Director of the Nuclear Information Project at FAS, the world’s most authoritative source on global nuclear arsenals — joins host Barry Stevens for an urgent conversation. Kristensen calls the move “chest-thumping,” with no strategic justification, warning it would likely trigger a disastrous chain reaction of testing by China and others.

Dick Cheney, architect of the Iraq War, died on November 3rd. The next day, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won New York's mayoral race. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff, calls the timing symbolic of America's potential turning point. Speaking from inside the Bush administration, Wilkerson delivers a scathing account of how Cheney became "co-president," systematically lied about Iraqi WMDs, and led the nation into an illegal war. He explains why Powell's UN presentation was built on false intelligence, how the administration abandoned international law and authorized torture, and why Obama failed to hold anyone accountable. "We should have all been tried for war crimes," Wilkerson states. From the lies that killed a million Iraqis to complicity in Gaza's genocide, this is essential viewing on American empire and accountability.

Complete recording of filmmaker Paul Jay's presentation and Q&A at UMass about his upcoming documentary "How to Stop a Nuclear War," based on Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg's book "The Doomsday Machine." Moderated by historian Christian Appy, Jay traces American militarization from slavery and westward expansion through the Manhattan Project to today's trillion-dollar nuclear modernization. The discussion explores why nuclear threats remain taboo in public discourse, BlackRock's role in nuclear financing, how the climate crisis amplifies nuclear risk, the dangers of AI-controlled missile defense, and why elite interests might actually align with working people on this issue.

In this episode, Jay Shapiro opens with a fast essay on kayfabe, heels and faces, and why the ring is the best way to read the national psyche. He looks at Trump’s WWE arcs, from Battle of the Billionaires to the “I bought Raw” storyline, and how that performance grammar ported into real politics. Then Jay Shapiro speaks with Paul Jay about the theater of power, the post-9/11 security state, nuclear policy, and why the official script keeps breaking.

In part two of this interview, historian Peter Kuznick — co-author (with Oliver Stone) of The Untold History of the United States — joins Barry Stevens to reflect on the USA’s lost chances for peace. He traces a throughline from the sidelining of VP Henry Wallace to the aggressive Cold War policies of Eisenhower and Reagan, who, while avoiding outright nuclear war, escalated militarism to unprecedented levels. Today’s panic over China, Kuznick argues, revives that same dangerous playbook — but with even fewer constraints and less public awareness.

Raj Patel and his fellow IPES-Food experts stress the centrality of addressing food systems, a key pillar of the Action Agenda for the COP30. The message uncovered by Lula’s bold policies is clear: ending hunger rather than perpetuating it under agribusiness goes hand-in-hand with tackling inequality and climate change. Lynn Fries interviews Raj Patel on GPEnewsdocs.

In part one, Peter Kuznick warns that Trump 2.0 is more dangerous than the original. The generals and advisors who once called him a "moron" are gone — replaced by sycophants in what Kuznick calls a “kakistocracy,” government by the worst people. From threatening to seize Panama, Greenland, and Canada to leading the most corrupt administration in U.S. history, Trump now faces little resistance from Congress, courts, or his own party. Kuznick and Barry Stevens explore how the takeover of cultural institutions mirrors past fascist movements — and how America’s lack of historical memory leaves it vulnerable to repeating old disasters. The most urgent threat: Trump’s unpredictable stance on Ukraine could trigger the war he claims to oppose.

In this episode, Paul Jay and Col. Lawrence Wilkerson analyze a chilling message from Donald Trump to roughly 800 generals: a straight-up demand for loyalty — “If you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future... we know everything about everybody.”

Fall in line or be purged — as Trump lays out a plan to use U.S. armed forces to occupy large American cities labelled “radical left” strongholds.

In this talk, Jay exposes the hidden history of U.S. nuclear policy—built on lies, profiteering, and Cold War paranoia—and explains how those same forces shape today’s politics, from NATO and Trumpism to the growing danger of war with China.

Journalist and filmmaker Paul Jay speaks at the Emergency NGO conference in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Sign up for the “How to Stop a Nuclear War” mailing list at stop-nuclear-war.org.

Paul Jay joins Patrick Lovell to trace how Wall Street profiteering—from slavery and the Civil War to J.P. Morgan in World War I and today’s BlackRock and Vanguard—created the militarized economy driving nuclear risk.