AEP 91: Kung Fu Yoga – US withdraws from Afghanistan and panics about China, with Carl Zha

US withdraws from Afghanistan and panics about China, with Carl Zha

Another episode of Kung Fu Yoga with Carl Zha, where we talk about the Indian and Chinese angles on world events. With the US withdrawing from Afghanistan like thieves in the night, the greatest agent of chaos may be gone (or mostly gone, for now) and country’s neighbours (Iran, Russia, the Central Asian republics, Pakistan, India, and China) will be playing a bigger role in the future, and so, evidently, will the Taliban. We talk about the differences we see between the Taliban of today and the Taliban of 2001 in terms of the movement’s apparent support in rural areas and ability to win many of them over without fighting; in terms of the Taliban’s perhaps independence from Pakistan; and in terms of the Taliban’s diplomatic agenda in the region. With the US panic about China taking up where the US left off, we consider China’s relationship with Pakistan (eg., the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) and whether that has any insight to offer about what the China-Afghanistan relationship might look like in terms of priorities like infrastructure, the Belt & Road initiative, and China’s concerns with stability and terrorism on the border with Xinjiang. As well as India’s seeming irrelevance to the situation.

Civilizations 37f – Yankee Imperialism pt6 – “The more you burn and kill the more it will please me”: The US assault on the Philippines

The US takes the Philippines

General Jacob Smith was reprimanded for his order to commit atrocities in the war against the Philippine Republic, but he was not alone in giving such orders. The US war in the Philippines set the stage for more than a century of counterinsurgency, atrocities, and pretexts like the civilizing mission and the responsibility to protect. Using Renato Constantino’s work, also talk about some of the amazing characters on the Filipino side, like Bonifacio and Aguinaldo.

AEP 90: Cuba demonstrations and Cuba blockade, with Reed Lindsay

The US embargo on Cuba is the problem

Joe Emersberger and I talk to Reed Lindsay, journalist and filmmaker with Belly of the Beast, a media organization focusing on Cuba and Cuba-US relations. Among their films is a 3-part series called the War on Cuba available on YouTube. Reed was at the recent demonstrations and counter-demonstrations in Havana and talks about how the scarcities and difficulties of life have everything to do with the 60-year, ever-intensifying economic blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States. 

AEP 89: Haiti Assassination Aftermath – Cherizier: Hero or Villain? With Kim Ives

Among other things we discuss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier with Kim Ives

Kim Ives from Haiti Liberte joins me and Joe Emersberger to analyze Haiti two days after the assassination of President Jovenal Moise by Colombian and Haitian-American mercenaries. We talk about the new details that have emerged about their Nissan vehicles (from whose dealership?), the class antagonisms inside Haiti, and US interests in re-occupying the country. Kim talks about his meeting with Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the former police officer who announced a revolution from the poor neighbourhoods. We also spend some time debriefing Kim’s recent appearance on Democracy Now! and the ideological differences within the solidarity movement, which we try to unpack.

AEP 88: My comments at the Teaching Palestine / Say Palestine event June 30, 2021

Say Palestine!

On June 30, 2021, I was honored to be among the speakers on a panel for educators called “Say Palestine”. The entire panel, which was moderated by the wonderful Javier Davila (who I address directly at the beginning of the talk), is available on YouTube. I talk about the dilemmas faced by educators who want to teach about Palestine and who want to #SayPalestine.

AEP 87: Haiti’s president Jovenal Moise assassinated, with Chris Bernadel

Haiti’s president Jovenal Moise assassinated

An emergency joint broadcast with The East is a Podcast about the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenal Moise on July 7, 2021. 

Chris Bernadel is on the Haiti Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. We talk a little bit about the assassination and the background of protests and massacres in Haiti that have gone on for years now. 

Civilizations 37e: Yankee Imperialism pt5 – the theft of Panama out of Colombia

Panama was carved out of Colombia

A complex multinational megaproject with layers of government corruption and massive government funds. A separatist movement created and sponsored by the US. A chunk of territory carved out of an existing country for imperialist use. Workers exploited to death. And a shining imperialist possession at the end. We talk about the creation of Panama and the Panama Canal, another prototypical imperialist operation that offers many warnings for the next 120 years.

Civilizations 37d: Yankee Imperialism pt4 – Puerto Rico’s thwarted autonomy

Puerto Rico wasn’t won by US arms – it was handed over for free

Through their own efforts, Puerto Rican revolutionaries won a charter of autonomy from Spain and were on their way to winning independence. Then Spain handed its colony over to the US, and the US has colonized it ever since. We talk about how the US invented the concept of “odious debt” to avoid paying Spain’s colonial debt, then promptly saddled Puerto Rico with an odious debt of its own.

Civilizations 37c – Yankee Imperialism pt3 – Cuban Independence vs the US Empire

Cuba’s Struggle for Independence and the Spanish American War

We tell the story of Cuba’s movement for independence from Spain following the remarkable career of Jose Marti from his teenage years to his unlucky demise. We pick up the story of the Spanish American War in Cuba from the USS Maine incident (“To Hell With Spain! Remember the Maine!”) and the possibility that it was faked. Part 3 of our series on Yankee Imperialism.

Special Broadcast: Canada in the World with Tyler Shipley and The Brief

Settler Canada

A Canada Day reckoning as Indian Residential School properties become crime scenes with the (re)-discovery of mass graves of Indigenous children. We are joined by author of Canada in the WorldTYLER SHIPLEY to discuss Canada’s first foreign policy – its genocide of the Indigenous nations in the path of capitalist settlement.

This broadcast is a co-production of The Brief Podcast and The Anti-Empire Project. Production by Pierre Loiselle and music by Greg Wilson.

Episode: Settler Canada (special broadcast)
Date: 29 June 2021 | Length: 59:58