theAnalysis.news

U.S. interventions at the turn of the 20th century were numerous and widespread, including bloody operations in Cuba against the Spanish and then against the Cubans themselves, in northern China against the Boxer Rebellion, and most notably, the Balangiga massacre on the island of Samar in the Philippines. General Smedley Butler, a decorated U.S. marine, was stationed on all these fronts and was subsequently involved in invasions of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti in 1915. Jonathan M. Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism, recounts the story of Butler and how he ultimately turned against the American war machine, describing himself as "a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism," who had propped up the pillaging of Latin America by monopolists and bankers such as J.P. Morgan.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and Paul Jay analyze Trump's 2024 victory, attributing Harris's failure in part to a campaign that avoided progressive policies that would lower the cost of living - to please billionaire donors.

Wilkerson warns of a climate catastrophe and a draconian Trump administration that leads to the collapse of American society. Jay argues Harris's defeat creates an opening for a broad democratic, independent movement that takes control of the Democratic Party at state and local levels.

Both emphasize organizing in major cities in Democratic-controlled states, focusing on mobilizing the working poor, urban and rural, who usually don't vote - a potentially game-changing constituency the Democratic establishment has ignored.

TranscriptListenDonateSubscribeGuestMusic

Paul Jay

Hi, welcome to theAnalysis.news. I'm Paul Jay. As you'll notice, I'm in my brand new artificial intelligence studio. In the last interview I did with Larry Wilkerson, I got so many complaints about how everything looked. Justly so. I did something about it, so I hope this is at least an improvement. Joining me in just a few seconds will be Larry Wilkerson. We're going to talk about the election results.

Don't forget, there's a donation button you can click. If you'rae on YouTube, please subscribe. Although most of our subscribers are constantly complaining that YouTube never notifies them of a new video and continues to try to suppress what we do. The best way to watch us is on the website at theAnalysis.news. If YouTube takes down any of our videos, which they have done in the past, we have other ways to feed the website. You'll always get to see us there. We'll be back in a few seconds with Larry Wilkerson.

Now, joining us to talk about the election results in the United States, which is the beginning of a new era of a return- was that back to the future? Now, joining us is Larry, who doesn't need any introduction to our normal viewers and to most people who follow the news. Thanks for joining us, Larry.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

Good to be with you, Paul. By the way, did you get my cheque?

Paul Jay

No.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

I mailed it about 10 days ago, so it should be getting there.

Paul Jay

Oh, well, thank you. Yeah, that's terrific. If people want to donate, that'd be great. All right, so let's talk about what happened. I'm blown away at what an awful campaign the leadership of the Democratic Party conducted. It wasn't something I said once I saw the results. I was saying it all through the campaign. Kamala Harris simply would not answer in any straightforward way almost any real question, but particularly the most important economic question. She would not answer why inflation is coming down, but the cost of living is not on the whole, especially food, rent, and other basic necessities. She never answered why that's happening, and she never said what she would do about it. There's some talk about price gouging, but she actually never said how she would stop that and more or less stopped talking about that as the campaign came to its conclusion.

The most important things that need to be talked about, i.e., the existential threats facing America and the world, the climate crisis, almost not a word, and the issue of the threat of nuclear war. In fact, the only person to mention it at all, really, was Trump, and only when he's talking about his crazy Iron Dome proposal to create a new anti-ballistic missile system, which we'll talk about as we get into the interview.

In the course of this, let's talk about these three things I'd like to talk about. But first, just your basic reaction, and then we can get into these three areas.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

Frankly, I was stunned by the results, and not because I wasn't watching the polls. I was, but I don't trust the polls anymore. They're too much aligned with interests that back them.

In part 2, Bob Pollin, economist and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), lays out policies to increase workers’ wages and bargaining power and bring down the price of food items such as eggs. He tackles the issue of U.S. government debt, as well as fiscal conservative and MAGA Republican claims that China owns most of this debt. These falsehoods deflect from Trump’s massive tax cuts for the rich and his high military expenditure, which ran up U.S. debt far more than under the Biden administration. Pollin asserts the best way to reduce high-interest payments on U.S. debt and support social services is to increase government revenue via capital gains and income taxes.

Following the inflationary period of the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation is largely down and currently at 2.1% in the U.S. Bob Pollin, economist, and Co-Director at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), explains the causes of inflation, including demand-side and supply-side factors. He illustrates how the economic models used to tackle inflation are essentially tools to chip away at workers' bargaining power. Pollin recounts the history of policies of inflation control, tracing their development to the era of globalization and neoliberalism championed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan.

Former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, says if he lived in a swing state, he would vote for Harris, in spite of having no sympathy for the leadership of the Democratic Party. He analyzes how America's social fabric is unraveling and how this explains Trump's mass appeal. He warns that rebellion within the military remains possible, discusses the role of Christian nationalism in the armed forces, and examines how economic inequality has destabilized American society.

Donald Trump called himself a “self-funder” in 2016 in an effort to show Americans he could not be bought off like the rest of Washington. Eight years later, Trump has yet to pledge even a dime of his own money to his campaign, instead relying heavily on the big-money donors he said could never influence him as president.

In part 2, Member of Israeli Knesset Dr. Ofer Cassif discusses the regional class interests that actively oppose Palestinian statehood and equality for Israelis and Palestinians. He describes the U.S.-backed bilateral Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, and Israel and Bahrain, as agreements to further entrench class inequalities and capitalist military-industrial interests in the Middle East and foreclose the possibility of Palestinian self-determination.

This episode of Oats for Breakfast Podcast interviews journalist and filmmaker Paul Jay.

Paul discusses why a second Trump term would be significantly more dangerous than previous Republican presidencies, including Trump’s first term in office. He also talks about what it might take, over the long term, to beat back the advances that the far-right has been making in the U.S. and Canada.

The Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), which the United States was a signatory to but abandoned under former President Trump, is unlikely to be revived. Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center and journalist with extensive experience reporting from Iran, underscores Iran's desperate need for sanctions relief. She argues that the JCPOA is an outdated framework, given President Biden's refusal to sign an executive order to bring the U.S. back into the deal, and that current twisted American foreign policy greenlights Israel's maniacal plans to target Iran.

Following Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, U.S. President Joe Biden asserted that Sinwar’s death could represent an opportunity to reach a political settlement in Gaza. Yet member of Israeli Knesset Dr. Ofer Cassif argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue his spree of massacring Palestinians and Lebanese with impunity. Cassif represents the Hadash-Ta’al political faction, which is a union of the Arab-Jewish far-left party Hadash, and the Arab nationalist party Ta’al – comprising the only remaining opposition in Israel’s right-wing political sphere.