Going Underground Hosted by Afshin Rattansi

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert. He discusses Benjamin Netanyahu’s failures resulting from his persuasion of Trump to start the war on Iran which resulted in a US-Iran deal weaker than the JCPOA, his assertion that Israel committed war crimes in Iran but not genocide, Jewish terrorism by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Israeli government being to blame, why Israel’s actions in Lebanon do not serve Israel’s interests, Trump’s plan for Syria’s President Al-Sharaa to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Benjamin N...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Steve Keen, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy Resilience and Security at UCL. He discusses the severe risk of a global famine as a result of the Strait of Hormuz being shut creating a shortage of petroleum-based fertilisers, Epstein blackmail being one of the reasons for this war despite the disastrous consequences, the financial sector’s ignorance on the true consequences of this war, why a serious financial crisis is now looming for most of the world, the combination of stupidity and blackmail behind Trump launching the wa...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT and former Chief of Naval Operations Adviser at the Pentagon. He discusses the state of Donald Trump’s war on Iran and the pressure on him from the Israel lobby, why this is a war of existential survival for Iran and not a defensive war on the part of the US, the prospect of Donald Trump using nuclear weapons against Iran and why it is impossible for the US and Israel to fully destroy Iran’s nucl...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Chen Weihua, former China Daily EU Bureau Chief and Washington Correspondent. He discusses how the US’ hegemony and soft power stands after the war on Iran, Gaza genocide, and kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Maduro, whether US allies will continue remaining vassal states and China’s approach to a changing world, the view that the US-Israeli war on Iran is really a part of the war on China, why China hasn’t acted more forcefully to defend its interests as the US continues its campaign against China, how the US drastica...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He discusses why Russia continues to be a winner economically as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut after the US-Israeli war on Iran, the looming full ramifications of the energy crisis that will hit in August resulting in skyrocketing energy prices, why Europe must lift sanctions on Russia to escape the dire economic situation, why the US and Israel’s miscalculations in launching a war on Iran mean that Hormuz will remain shut, his predictions for the global economy th...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Zhang Weiwei, Director of Fudan University’s China Institute and former Translator for Chinese Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping. He discusses China’s current attitude to the Trump Administration amid the war on Iran, how China acted over decades to lessen the impact of the US’ attempts to control China’s access to energy via the war on Iran and regime change in Venezuela, why China is winning in the tech and trade race against the US, China’s position on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, China’s limitation o...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Paul Craig Roberts, former US Assistant Treasury Secretary for Economic Policy. He discusses why he believes Iran has prevailed in the US-Israeli war on Iran but made a mistake in agreeing to a ceasefire, why Iran’s ‘restraint’ against the hegemonic powers of the US and Israel is a flaw in their strategy, 9/11 as the US’ Pearl Harbour to wage war in support of the Greater Israel Agenda, why Trump and Netanyahu suffered humiliation by Iran in this war, the need for the Muslim world to confront the Greater Israel p...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Dr. Dmitri Trenin, Member of Russia’s Foreign and Defence Policy Council and former Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. He discusses the significance of Victory Day amid the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine, what ‘victory’ looks like for Russia in Ukraine and why it is likely to be a long war, whether Russia has failed to seize the opportunities presented by a Trump Presidency and Russia’s reasons for showing restraint, Europe’s increasing involvement in the proxy war, Europe’s use of hostility towards Russia to consolidate itself, why Trump ha...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to David Pyne, Deputy Executive Director of the US Taskforce on National and Homeland Security. He discusses Donald Trump’s war on Iran being a war based of lies for the Greater Israel project, the prospect of thousands of US soldiers dying in a ground invasion of Iran, Trump’s behaviour as an Israeli vassal, why he believes many in the Gulf States are angry at the US for the destabilisation caused by the war on Iran and the prioritisation of defending Israel, the extent of the damage against US bases in t...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Master Sgt. Wes Bryant Pentagon Whistleblower and Former Branch Chief of the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence. He discusses Pete Hegseth shutting down the department he worked for and the ‘revelling in death and destruction’ as civilians are killed and injured in Iran, the US’ bombing of civilian infrastructure and Trump’s threats to destroy the entire Iranian civilisation, the dramatic departure from targeting assessment protocol under the second Trump Administration, the extreme Christian nationalism and Zionism behind Pete Hegseth’s and Donald Trump’s support to the hilt of Israel...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Victor Gao, President of the Center for China and Globalisation. He discusses the rumours of China providing satellite data and weaponry to Iran as it fights the US and Israel, China’s support for Iran and why it hasn’t provided weaponry, China’s role in mediating between the US and Iran, Donald Trump’s coming state visit to China amid the war crimes committed by his administration, the possibility of a US-China war and the possible catastrophic consequences, why 2026 marks the beginning of the end of Pax Americana, China’s gradual...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Daniel Levy, former Israeli Peace Negotiator at the Oslo & Taba Talks. He discusses the threats of Israel’s Defence Minister Katz threatening to kill the rest of the Khamenei family, the Greater Israel Plan for regional hegemony not just territorial expansion, Israel’s horrifying end goal in Iran, Israel’s deliberate plan to drag the Gulf States into the battlefield of the war on Iran, the next target after Iran for Israel being Türkiye and the plan for total hegemony over the region, Israel being in a ‘use it or lose i...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to James Webb, Former Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Robert F. Kennedy Jr and US Marine Corps veteran. He discusses how the Trump Administration’s war on Iran has harmed the US’ reputation around the world, his disgust at assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei by Israel to drag the US further into the war on Iran, the long-standing desire for a war on Iran secured through Israel lobby donations, the systemic breakdown of the US’ political system shown by the war on Iran, US foreign policy clearly reflecting Israel’s interests rather than the...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William J. Astore, Author of ‘American Militarism on Steroids’. He discusses why he asesses that the US is losing its war on Iran, the ballooning US military budget for perpetual war and the decline of US empire, the decline of democracy in America as the US empire’s appetite only continues to grow, Pope Leo XIV’s stance against the war on Iran, why Israel and Netanyahu dragging the US into the war on Iran represents a threat to national security, mainstream media’s coverage o...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to former Israeli Acting President Avraham Burg. He discusses why the US’ ceasefire with Iran appears to be a divorce between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu as Iran is the clear winner of the war, why Donald Trump needed the war on Iran to end quickly in contrast to Netanyahu’s needs for the war to be prolonged, Israel’s continuing war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the impact of the Gaza genocide on the future of the Israeli state and politics, the omission of people who share his views in Israel from m...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to one of the UAE’s most prominent businessmen, Mishal Kanoo, Chairman of the Kanoo Group. He discusses like the headlines of ‘The Dubai Dream is Over’ in the Western press and the motivation for this coverage against the city, the desire among the UAE’s leadership circles for Iran and other neighbours to prosper despite the war, why the Gulf States didn’t retaliate against Iranian strikes against the GCC, his response to Iran’s premise of attacking GCC states for hosting US military bases, Iran’s assertion of control over the Strai...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Sgt. Brian McGinnis, US Senate Candidate for the Green Party in North Carolina, he had his arm broken while being dragged out of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing while protesting the war on Iran. He discusses how the US military-industrial complex and the Israel lobbyists have bought off US politicians to launch this war for Israel’s interests, the role of the Internet and social media to break through the US government’s propaganda and causing rising anti-war sentiment, Iran’s destruction of US assets in Iraq- a country which...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump’s Former White House Communications Director and Founder of SkyBridge Capital. He discusses whether Donald Trump is losing in his war on Iran and what his likely strategy will be, his belief that the decision-making in the Trump Administration is a ‘council of one’, the Epstein Files and whether the war is a distraction from the damaging revelations, the prospect of US boots on the grounds in Iran, his goals for the war on Iran despite his opposition to the war beginning, Joe Kent’s assertion that the...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Joel Rubin, Barack Obama’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. In a heated interview, Afshin Rattansi challenges him on his support for Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Iran and all of the justifications for it; ranging from Iran’s nuclear program, human rights, ballistic missile program, the failed negotiations with the United States, alleged corruption, and the underlying arguable hypocrisy behind the US’ foreign policy.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, Founder and Chairman of the Gulf Research Center. He discusses the anger of the Gulf States against the US and Israel for starting the war on Iran and Iran’s strikes against Gulf civilian and energy facilities, what President Trump meant by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is ‘fighting with us’, the Gulf’s position on defending their countries’ territory while not joining the war on Iran, the lack of any regional consultation from Washington towards the GCC since the JCPOA, the need for a new securi...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Brandon Weichert, Senior National Security Editor at 19FortyFive and Author of ‘The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy’. What has been Iran’s strategy of escalation against the US and Israel as it faces continued aerial bombardment? What are the risks of the war on Iran escalating to a nuclear third world war with Israel’s nukes? What does Joe Kent’s resignation over the war on Iran mean for the Trump Administration? Will Donald Trump put US boots on the ground in Iran? Why did Donald Trump pursue a war for Is...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Habib Al Mulla, Founder of Habib Al Mulla and Partners, and one of the UAE’s most respected legal authorities. He discusses NATO-aligned media’s coverage of Dubai as the US-Israeli war on Iran continues and the motives behind the narratives. He examines the state of international law as the US and Israel attack Iran, while Iran continues attacks on GCC states. He also discusses whether the UAE might join the US-Israel coalition, the GCC’s assertions that US bases are not being used for operations against Iran, and why Iran i...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the Former Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), William Fallon. In a heated interview, Afshin Rattansi challenges him on the justifications for the US-Israel War on Iran, the Minab Girls School strike which killed 175+, the parallels between this war of aggression and the 2003 Iraq War, the regional destabilisation unleashed on the Gulf States by the US-Israeli war, and much more.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Dr. Abdulaziz Alghashian, Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Gulf International Forum. Can the Gulf States trust the US after it, along with Israel, unleashed destructive regional destabilisation with the war on Iran? Is the US using Gulf States’ bases as Iran claims? How big a threat is the Greater Israel plan to the Gulf States? Can the Gulf States maintain neutrality after the genocide and war on Iran? All this and more on this episode of Going Underground.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Mohammed Baharoon, Director General of the Dubai Public Policy Research Center. What is the situation on the ground in Dubai as Iranian missiles and drones continue to target UAE? What is the state of the GCC’s alliance with the US after it plunged the region into its most destabilising war yet? Why has BRICS disappointingly not stepped up to mediate the crisis? What is the state of the Abraham Accords following the Gaza genocide and Israel’s wars on Iran? Are there any chances for peace and negotiations? All this...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Captain James Fanell, the Former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations at the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. Why did Donald Trump start this unpopular war against Iran? Did Israel drag the US into the war? Is America heading for victory or disaster? Why are the US and Israel targeting schools and hospitals in Iran? All this and more on this episode of Going Underground.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Rt. Hon. Norman Baker, former U.K. Home Office Minister for Crime Prevention and Privy Councillor to King Charles III. How has the Epstein Files scandal’s revelations about Peter Mandelson shaken the political establishment’s power in Britain? How morally bankrupt is Sir Keir Starmer and the political establishment? What was the Royal Family’s role in protecting Prince Andrew from the consequences of his crimes? Will the Epstein Files be the end of the British monarchy? All this and more on this episode of Going Underground.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Uri Bar-Joseph, Prof. Emeritus of International Relations at the University of Haifa. Can Israel survive an all-out Iranian retaliation as Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu prepare a second US-Israeli war on Iran? What are Trump’s and Netanyahu’s real motivations behind a war on Iran? Will Hezbollah join the war? How much damage could Israel suffer? All this and much more on this episode.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Cuba's Ambassador to the United Nations Ernesto Soberon Guzman, amid Donald Trump's unprecedented campaign to strangle the Cuban Revolution by intensifying the blockade. Can Cuba survive the maximum pressure? What now for Cuba with Venezuela now under US control? What measures is Cuba taking against the US cutting off fuel imports to the country? Is Cuba ready for a US military attack? All this and more on this episode of Going Underground.

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute. He discusses Europe’s self-entrapment over assisting Ukraine as the proxy war against Russia continues, European leaders deliberately lying to their people that Russia will imminently attack Europe and whether their populations believe them, Britain’s unexpected appearance in the Geneva Negotiations to end the Ukraine proxy war, and whether or not Europe is finally returning to a constructive role in international relations. In the second half, he discusses the Western media allegations that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to CIA Veteran Prof. Melvin Goodman. In an at times heated interview, Afshin Rattansi and Prof. Goodman cover the looming US war on Iran and why the focus will be Iranian ballistic missiles, Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, the Ukraine proxy war and one of the causes being NATO expansion to Russia’s borders, the beginning of a new Russia-China-US nuclear arms race after expiry of the START treaty, the Epstein Files and whether Israel is pressuring Donald Trump via blackmail, the US’ ‘takeover’ of Venezuela and regime change campaign against Cu...

n this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Alan Eyre, Former Senior Advisor for Iran at the US State Department and the First Persian-Language Spokesperson at the US State Department. He discusses the Trump Administration’s strategic ambiguity and inconsistency towards Iran regarding the nuclear program, missiles and regime change, whether China and Russia will come to Iran’s rescue for economic and military aid, the weakening of the Iranian economy by the US and structural economic problems, Iran’s continued deterrence via hypersonic missiles, whether Iran should pursue nuclear weapons as a deterrent against the US and nuclea...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Dr. Victoria Panova, Head of Russia’s BRICS Expert Council who participated at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, UAE. She discusses the shadow of a US war on Iran hanging over the region, the status of Saudi Arabia’s invitation to join BRICS and Javier Milei’s rejection of BRICS membership for Argentina, the launch of the BRICS New Development Bank as an alternative to the Washington-dominated World Bank and IMF, Brazil’s Lula Da Silva vetoing BRICS membership for Venezuela, the subsequent kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Fl...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Former Israeli Intelligence Officer Ari Ben-Menashe about the Epstein Files. He discusses his belief that Israel is holding sensitive information which they would release if they felt Donald Trump was threatening Israel, Jeffrey Epstein’s history of working as a Mossad agent to attain compromising blackmail on Western politicians, his allegations that MI6 is working with Israel amid the revelations about Peter Mandelson in the Epstein Files, the Western media’s claims that Jeffrey Epstein is a Russian agent and Israel being behind the cover-up, his belief that Benjamin Netanyahu woul...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s Minister of Business, Mineral Resources & Energy. She discusses the US’ betrayal of Greenland following Donald Trump’s plans to annex Greenland, her policies on banning uranium mining and natural resource extraction, Greenland’s membership of NATO and the accusation that it makes Greenland a target for Russia and China, her view of China as a competitor rather than a potential partner, whether Greenlanders see Trump’s annexation plan as leverage against Denmark to gain full independence, the lower rates of poverty rates in Denmark compared to Greenland...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to CMSGT. Dennis Fritz, Former Advisor to the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Richard Myers. He discusses the Trump Administration’s crackdown against anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota and how it’s a training ground for repression against the American population, Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and what the motivations are behind his threats, the looming threat of a US-led regime change war against Iran, the US’ failed use of unrest in Iran to bring down the Iranian government which makes war more likely, whether Saudi Arabia and the UAE can...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Tuomas Malinen, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Helsinki and CEO of GnS Economics. He discusses why it is likely President Donald Trump will fail to broker peace in the Ukraine proxy war thanks to the neoconservatives in his administration, the neocon faction’s priority shifting to stopping an alliance between China, Russia, and Europe, the Greenland crisis and whether NATO could actually break up over the crisis, the construction of 15 US bases in Finland since it became a full NATO member, how Georgia was a test fo...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Renowned Writer, Filmmaker and Activist Tariq Ali. He discusses the mainstream media’s obsession with the World Economic Forum in Davos and why we may be closer to the end of the organisation than we imagine, Donald Trump’s regime change kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro to start 2026, his thoughts on the new Acting President Delcy Rodriguez and the deals being made with Washington over Venezuelan oil, the worsening relationship between Brazil’s President Lula Da Silva and Nicolas Maduro which aided the US’ regime change campaign, the effects of...

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago for our final episode of the year and season. He discusses Donald Trump’s foreign policy failures of 2025, the 12-day Israeli war on Iran, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and how his former defence lawyer Alan Dershowitz attacked him for exposing the Israel lobby, the threat the Israel lobby poses to freedom of speech in the United States, the damage the Gaza genocide has done to Israel’s image abroad, whether a second US-Israel war on Iran is likely, Donald Trump’s growing disdai...

NewsPolitics

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Philip Pilkington, Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and Author of ‘The Collapse of Global Liberalism’. He discusses how the Ukraine proxy war has completely upended the Western economic and geostrategic calculus, the failure of the West’s logic in military procurement as proven in Ukraine and the Israel-Iran war, the collapse and dysfunction in Western European cities, the failure of markets and capitalism to solve the West’s problems, the origins of liberal capitalism and the evolution of imperialism, the rediscovery of civilisa...