Turbulence

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We discuss the third anniversary of 10/7, the French school riots, Ansarallah’s continued offensive in Yemen, their use of FPV drones, the response from the Saudi-led “coalition,” and Iranian strikes on shipping in the Gulf.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow u...

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We discuss the upcoming Brazilian elections, US plans to invade Cuba, the end of the third (?) Iraq war, military escort missions in Hormuz, the detention of migrant children in Texas, and Netanyahu’s pre-election gambits.

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

In part two of our conversation with Nathan Tankus, we discuss the finance of settler colonialism—from the Ottoman Empire’s debt crisis to the foreign capital that financed Zionist settlement and facilitated Palestinian dispossession.

Nathan Tankus is a writer, researcher, and president of the publication Notes on the Crises. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Trump-Musk Payments Crisis: A 250-Year History, under contract with Viking Press. He is also the editor of We, Traitors: Bundist Writ...

Nathan Tankus joins us to discuss the monetary foundations of American empire, how sanctions weaponize the global financial system, the possibility of China-led de-dollarization, and what’s really going on with the oil futures market.

This is part one of a two part episode. Part two, A Financial History of Zionism, will be released later this week on our paid feed.

Works mentioned: A Spectrum Approach to Monetary Sovereignty and our Dollar World; Did the United States Really Invade Iraq Because it Started Pricing Oil in Euros?; Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Glob...

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This week we’re joined by returning co-host Alexander Aviña, as well as friend of the show Barry with the NED, to go in depth on Ansarallah’s major ground offensive in Yemen, the downing of a Saudi F-15, and the US’s escalating violence in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

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Hassan Ould Moctar joins us to discuss Europe’s externalized border regime, the colonial history of race and territory in Mauritania, and how migration control, counterinsurgency, and development policy have fused across the Sahel.

Works mentioned: After Border Externalization: Migration, Race, and Labour in Mauritania.

Hassan Ould Moctar is a Fellow at the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb, University of Tunis and former lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London. His research focuses on the relationship between migration, borders, and development processes, with a regional focus on...

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We discuss the expanding conflict in Hormuz, Ansarallah’s lightning advance in Yemen, Trump’s oil problem, the surging anti-migrant right across the North Atlantic, and why Javier Milei is ratcheting up Argentine claims on Las Malvinas.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

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Kai Bosworth joins us to discuss the strange politics of the data center revolt, the AI boom’s place in the global energy system, and what the rise and fall of the climate movement can teach us about the struggles taking shape in its wake.

Works mentioned: Where is the U.S. climate movement?, Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century, AI Data Center Development in Frackland, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, The Production of Space

Kai Bosworth is a geographer and political ecologist, and an Associate Professor at the School of World St...

We welcome Alex Aviña to Turbulence and discuss the Battle of Hormuz, Bessent’s economic D-Day for Iran, the US-Venezuela oil deal, the arrest of Fernando Cerimedo in Bolivia, and Trump’s war on the price of burger.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on p...

Josef Burton joins us to discuss the transformation of immigration under Trump, the bureaucrats who administer US machinery of repression, and what intensifying coercion at home and imperial retreat abroad mean for our political future.

Works mentioned: One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention

Josef Burton is a writer and former US diplomat who worked mainly on consular and immigration issues. He tweets at @PinstripeBungle

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take mone...

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In part two of our double episode with Mujamma Haraket, we discuss the history of Hamas, the relationship between Hamas and the Palestinian left, and how various factions of the resistance are approaching the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

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Arlene Eisen joins us to discuss the transformations in the anti-war movement across the Vietnam War, the interrelation of feminism and anti-imperialism, and what decades of state repression can teach today’s movements about security and survival.

Works mentioned: In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women

Arlene Eisen has been a militant in the struggle against imperialism since the 1960s—first as a protester facing tear gas and later as a teacher and writer. She edited The Movement newspaper, and was a leading voice in the anti-imperialist women’s movement of the 1970s. For the next h...

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We discuss Iranian threats to strike Bulgaria, Russia supplying Iran with explosives and ammunition, the possibility of an Israel-Turkiye war, and the US reducing its military footprint in the pacific. We also bid a fond farewell to our dear Séamus.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we res...

Mujamma Haraket joins us to discuss negotiations over Hamas’ disarmament, the collaborator militias in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya’s rise within Hamas, the movement’s evolving relationship with Ansarallah, and the future of Palestinian armed resistance.

Mujamma Haraket is a translator and academic researcher in political philosophy with a specialization in non-state actors, political Islam and the history of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss Trump “low-keying” the Iran war, Israel’s rejection of the Gaza disarmament deal and destruction of southern Lebanon, the expanding ICE deportation machine, Latin America’s rightward turn, and the Russia-Ukraine war extending to commercial shipping.

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Isa Blumi joins us to discuss Ansarallah’s renewed war with Saudi Arabia, whether pipelines can bypass Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, the Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement, and the Gulf powers’ long campaign to subordinate Yemen.

Works mentioned: Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World.

Isa Blumi is Professor at Stockholm University within the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University (2005) and a Master of Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York...

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We discuss an Iran-Oman agreement over the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE’s expanding footprint across the African continent, a horrific crisis at the Morocco-Spain border, and Trump’s saga with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss how the regional war has expanded north to the Caspian Sea and south to the Horn of Africa, Trump’s effort to break the oil market, a new Saudi coalition, Netanyahu’s visit to the US, and Lindsey Graham’s funeral.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we...

Aziz Rana joins us to discuss the Trump doctrine of foreign policy, the evolution of US hegemony since WW2, how the concept of freedom has animated American political thought and identity, and the challenge of political subjectivity.

Works mentioned: The Two Faces of American Freedom, The Constitutional Bind, Workshop on Internationalism and Relations with Liberation Struggles Around the World.

Aziz Rana is a professor of law and government at Boston College Law School, where his research and teaching center on American constitutional law and political development. In particular, his work focuses on how shifting notions...

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We discuss Iran’s pummeling of US bases in Jordan, the rollout of “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon, Ansarallah’s blockade of Saudi oil transits in the Red Sea, the US-Saudi nuclear agreement, and the status of Venezuela’s oil revenues.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to e...

Hakim Adi joins us to discuss the Black radicals who shaped the Comintern, the Black Belt Thesis and the national question, Pan-Africanism through decolonization, and whether the Alliance of Sahel States is a path to African sovereignty.

Works mentioned: Pan-Africanism and Communism, Black Bolshevik, Africa Must Unite

Prof. Hakim Adi is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of International History at the London School of Economics and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre of Pan-African Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Hakim was the first historian of African heritage to...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss the latest cycle of escalation between the US and Iran, the reopening of the Yemen front, ICE murders in Maine and Texas, the Trump administration’s latest attempts to crack down on the left, and Marco Rubio’s crusade against the ICC.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episod...

Matthew Petti joins us to discuss the crack-up within the Republican Party’s base over Gaza, Netanyahu’s plan to wind down US military aid, and what the US’s performance in the Iran War portends for the future of great power conflict.

Check out Matthew’s latest piece, published on Drop Site, here. You can read some of the other pieces mentioned in the interview here and here.

Matthew Petti is an assistant editor at Reason who covers U.S. national security policy and its interactions with American society and domestic politics. He has previous...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss the unravelling of the US-Iran MOU, the dissolution of Hamas’s civilian governing body in Gaza, Turkiye’s status in NATO, Rahm Emanuel’s Tel Aviv speech, and Mamdani’s persecution of the NYC Italian community.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-fund…

Nasser Elamine joins us to discuss the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, Hezbollah’s military reemergence, the unity of fronts strategy, and how regional states are responding to the rapidly shifting global order.

Works mentioned: Interim Contours, Hezbollah’s Gamble.

Nasser Elamine is a senior editor at Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a pan-Arab daily based in London, and a writer/researcher focusing on Middle Eastern geopolitics.

You can find him on X/Twitter here and on Instagram here.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from instit...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We are joined by Noah and Brendan to discuss the evolution of US foreign policy since World War II, the extent to which Trump marks a decline in American power, and lessons they have learned across six seasons of Blowback.

Works mentioned: The Yankee and Cowboy War; The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000.

Our Anti-4th of July Sale is live. For this week only (ending July 7th), you'll get 20% off both monthly and annual subscriptions. If you...

Noah Kulwin and Brendan James of Blowback join us to discuss their new mini-series on the history of the US-Israel relationship, how the Cold War turned into the War on Terror, and the current moment of tension over the Iran war.

Blowback’s first-ever mini-series, No Daylight, is available now for Blowback subscribers.

This is part one of a two-part conversation with Noah and Brendan. In part two, they reflect on the broader arc of the American century and what they have learned across six seasons of Blowback. Part two will be released on July 3rd...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss the passing of our dear friend Alan, a deconfliction mechanism in Lebanon, Israeli troop deployments to Somaliland, the victories of DSA-backed candidates in New York, the repression of anti-ICE protestors in Texas, and Séamus breaks his silence on Ice Cream Truck-Gate.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus epi...

Torkil Lauesen joins us to discuss the political economy of imperialism and trade, Arghiri Emmanuel’s theory of unequal exchange, political action in the imperial core, his years in prison, and the current geopolitical moment of hegemonic transition.

Works mentioned: Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future; Unequal Exchange.

Torkil Lauesen is a communist writer. In 1969 he joined a Maoist cadre organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It specialized in undercover material support work for liberation movements in The Third World. Besides this it provided political schooling and study groups analysing the world system for developing their st...

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In this special extended bonus episode, we go point by point through the Memorandum of Understanding to end the Iran War. We also survey some of the most charming reactions from US and Israel officials and media figures.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-fund…

Gerald Horne joins us to discuss writing history from below, whether the legacy of 1776 can be redeemed, settler colonialism as an analytic frame, the US’s Suez moment in Iran, and the challenges of contemporary left electoralism.

Works mentioned: The Counter-Revolution of 1776; The Capital of Slavery; The Counter-Revolution of 1836; Armed Struggle?; Abolition Democracy; Banquo’s Ghost; Comparative Settler Colonialism: Slavery & Indigenous Dispossession in the U.S. and Canada, the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia (forthcoming).

Dr. Gerald Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of H...

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We discuss the return of war to the Persian Gulf, negotiations over an MOU, “dark transits” through Hormuz, a proposed Syrian invasion of Lebanon, Graham Platner’s whole deal, and what the trainwreck at CBS News says about the US-Israel relationship.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond...

Lara Sheehi joins us to discuss the legacy of Franz Fanon, what psychoanalysis can offer liberation struggles, Zionism as the denial of Palestinian interiority, and the psychic dimensions of occupation and resistance.

Please consider donating to the Lebanon Emergency Relief Fund, here: Tanseqeye Shaabeye Lebanon.

Works mentioned: Black Skin, White Masks, Wretched of the Earth, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation, From the Clinic to the Streets, Molding Consciousness.

Lara Sheehi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of th...

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We discuss the latest flare-up in the Strait of Hormuz, China’s impact on the global oil market, the new “ceasefire” in Lebanon, the disarmament of militant groups in Iraq, a new plan to militarily integrate the US and Israel, and America’s 250th birthday.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus epis...

Adam Johnson joins us to discuss his work documenting how the mainstream media supported the Gaza genocide by sanitizing Israeli war crimes, obscuring the US’s role, and systematically dehumanizing Palestinians.

Works mentioned: Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?, How to Sell a Genocide.

Adam Johnson is co-host of the Citations Needed podcast and author of How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza which is now out from Pluto Press.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss Netanyahu’s non-strategy in Gaza and Lebanon, the draft memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, Trump’s last-ditch Abraham Accords push, and what’s going on with JD Vance.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previ...

José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth of Soberanía join us to discuss a potential US military assault on Cuba, updates from Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico, and the prospects for left internationalism in Latin America.

Check out José Luis and Kurt’s podcast, Soberanía.

Works mentioned: Despite Trump’s Oil Blockade, the Quiet Resistance of Daily Life Continues in Cuba; Hondurasgate; AMLO Wants a United Latin America; US Sanctions and the Sharp Rise in Infant Mortality in Cuba.

José Luis Granados Ceja is a journalist and political analyst based in Mexico...

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We discuss the scandalous reporting about a former Iranian president, the perils of situation monitoring, international outrage at Itamar Ben-Gvir, and what Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s fragrant encounter with Donald Trump means for the future of greater Israel.

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Aamer joins us to discuss the repressive crackdowns in Bahrain amidst the Iran war, the popular uprising in 2011, the history of leftist and Islamist movements in the country, and the shifting geopolitics of the Gulf.

Works mentioned: The View from Bahrain, Shouting in the Dark

Aamer is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on the Gulf. He looks at the Gulf states’ roles in broader geopolitical issues with a special focus on Bahrain.

He can be found on X/Twitter @IbnKhulthum.

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss Trump’s visit to Beijing, negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz, the budding UAE-Israel alliance, and advancements in Hezbollah’s drone warfare.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news a…