Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the war in Ukraine and the crisis as it unfolds. Recorded on Monday the 7th, 2022, the episode features a conversation with John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. We discuss the move Putin has made invading Ukraine, Putin's claims of genocide in the Donbass, the NATO expansion question, and much, much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

On this edition of Parallax Views, long-time war reporter Patrick Cockburn returns to the show to discuss the gamble Putin has made in Ukraine and how it could endanger his political survival in Russia. Additionally, Patrick will talk about the way hubris afflicts political leaders leading to disastrous military interventions, comparing Putin's invasion of Ukraine to the Western interventions in Iraq and Libya, the Russian political elite, sanctions, the calls for NATO to institute no-fly zones, Putin's claims about genocide and what they may indicate about his endgame, and more!

NOTE: Had a massive flub that may have been due to noise reduction process during editing of the intro. Appears to have said "military inventions" rather than "military interventions"

We continue our Ukraine coverage, this time with Zachary Paikin, a non-resident fellow for the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy and a research for the EU affairs-focused think tanks CEPS. We'll discuss the invasion, thoughts on Putin and his decision to invade, the psychoanalysis of Putin and the ideas (prior to the invasion) that he was a master of the Grand Chessboard vs. the idea that he's gone mad with the invasion, the EU, NATO, No-Fly Zone debate, sanctions, the potential political aftermath on a global scale after this is all said and done, diplomacy, and much, much more.

In the second half of the program, David Swanson of the global antiwar movement World Beyond War joins us to discuss the situation further as well as to express the concern over this conflict becoming a nuclear war.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we continue our examination of the Ukraine crisis, Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Kuba Wreszniewski, a National Security commentator associated with This is Revolution, joins us to discuss a number of matters. This conversation was recorded on 2/28/22 7:00 pm EST. Further notes forthcoming.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a former advisor to the State Department, James W. Carden, joins us to discuss Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the crisis around it as well as the questions around NATO, Putin's motivations for this war, the American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord's condemnation of the invasion, and much, much more.

(Further Show Notes Forthcoming)

From ACURA (American Commitee for U.S.-Russia Accord):

On Thursday March 3 at NOON EST, please join former Governor of California Jerry Brown; Professor David Hendrickson, author of Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition; and the American Committee for US-Russia Accord’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and James W. Carden for an in-depth discussion on the current state of the war in Ukraine and the approach outlined by President Biden in Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

ZOOM LINK HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89427125478

On this edition of Parallax Views, Thaddeuss Russell and Kamasi Hill of Renegade University join Parallax Views to discuss the course their teaching for RU on 1970s Blaxploitation cinema from Superfly and Shaft to Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song, Cleopatra Jones, and Foxy Brown starring the Queen of Blaxploitation herself Pam Grier. We discuss the significance of this kind of cinema, how Thad and Kamasi became interested in the genre; the idea of black working class culture vs. black middle class culture; sexuality in black cinema; masculinity in blaxploitation; drugs dealing, and crime in blaxploitation, blaxploitation's influence on pop culture and hip hop culture; the music of blaxploitation cinema and its influence on sampling in hip hop; the problem of stereotypes and blaxploitation cinema; Civil Rights leadership and the NAACP's deriding of blaxploitation film; Rudy Ray Moore and Dolemite; the history of hip hop, the projects, and the way blaxploitation can change our perspective on cinema; blaxploitation and the meaning of freedom; Sidney Poitier and the portrayal of African Americans in cinema before the 70s; Bill Cosby; Melvin van Peebles; and much more!

You can sign up for the Renegade University course on Blaxploitation here!

On this edition of Parallax Views, later on in the program we'll be talking to one of the most prominent leaders in the Palestinian liberation movement, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. Dr. Ashrawi was the first woman to be elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009, served as the official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process from 1991-1993, and participated in the 1991-1992 Madrid peace conference as a member of the Palestinian Leadership Committee delegation. Hanan will join me to discuss the Palestinian struggle, human rights, and U.S. policy on Palestine with a focus on said policy during the Presidencies of Donald J. Trump and now Joe Biden. We'll also discuss Dr. Ashrawi's encounter with the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, the expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, the human rights and international law approach to Israel/Palestine, the propaganda matrix around Israel/Palestine, hope for the future of the Palestinian cause, and much, much more!

That, however, will be in the second segment of today's show.

First, Grant F. Smith of IRmep (Institute for Research: Middle East Policy) returns to the show to discuss the upcoming Israel Lobby Con (Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad) on March 3rd. Speakers include the aforementioned Dr. Ashrawi, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, Paul Noursi of the Virginia Human Rights Coalition, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Rev. Don Wagner, academic Sut Jhally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) Edward Ahmed Mitchell, and Palestine Legal's Radihka Sanith. The conference will cover a number of topics such as Christian Zionism, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement), human rights and Democracy in Israel, Israel and the U.S. national security state, free speech for Palestinian activists, and much, much more. You can attend the conference by visiting the Israel Lobby Con website and purchasing a ticket.

The Annual Israel Lobby Con at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on March 3rd (IRL and Zoom tickets available)

On this edition of Parallax Views, the noted genocide studies scholar A. Dirk Moses joins us to discuss his provocative book The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression. In said book, Moses argues that the way in which we conceptualize the legal concept of genocide structures the way we think about "acts that shock the conscience of mankind" and how this in turn may lead us to have blind spots in considering how other heinous acts and crimes against humanity also should shock our conscience. We begin by discussing how Moses became involved in genocide studies and the treatment of indigenous Australians under colonialism. Additionally, Moses gives a history of the term genocide from WWII and the Holocaust on through to the Cold War and the War on Terror. In this regard, we discuss genocide and the ways in which it has been utilized as a concept to political, and especially foreign policy ends. During this portion of the conversation Moses and I talk a little bit about U.S. foreign policy heavyweight Samantha Power and her influential book The Problem from Hell. Additionally, Moses and J.G. talk about:

- The concept of permanent security, its liberal and illiberal variants, the utopian nature of pursuing it, and the problems that arise from it
- Drone warfare and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen
- The Holocaust, the debate over Germany and Holocaust Memory and what Moses calls the "German Catechism" as well as the response famed philosopher/sociologist Jurgen Habermas made to Moses's writing on the subject
- The Nigerian Civil War and the Republic of Biafra
- And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Presidential historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky joins us to discuss her book The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution. If you ever found history unexciting Dr. Chervinsky will have you reconsidering that as she takes you through the turbulent days of the early American Republic from the inauguration of George Washington to the 1791-1794 violent tax protest known as the Whiskey Rebellion. Lindsay and I discuss the formation of Washington's Cabinet which was Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Lindsay explains how the institution of the Cabinet came to be and how the vision of it changed over the years. Additionally, Lindsay and I discuss the recent news that Donald Trump was shredding Presidential documents in the dwindling days of his Presidency. Moreover, Lindsay and I discuss other Presidential cabinets such as that of President John F. Kennedy, the problem of nepotism in the Cabinet historically, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ambassador Akbar S. Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., joined Parallax Views for an enlightening and uplifting conversation about how the golden age of Islamic philosophy can show us a bridge that exists between East and West, Muslim and non-Muslim. Amb. Ahmed's latest book deal with this specific subject and is entitled The Flying Man, Aristotle, and the Philosophies of the Golden Age of Islam: Their Relevance Today. Amb. Ahmed has written a number of books, including The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam and Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization among others, have attempted to deal with questions related to Islamic in modernity, relations between the Western and Islamic worlds, and attempting to foster understand between cultures and interfaith dialogues. His latest book is no exception and discusses a number of philosophers, poets, and intellectuals including the physician Avicenna and his "Flying Man" thought experiment among others. Amb. explains how these figures from Islamic culture cross-pollinated with Western thought and how their ideas were often in line with those of the Enlightenment and the humanist tradition. He also notes how "New Atheists" like Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry have a blind-spot in regards to their dismissal of the Islamic world's contributions to culture, from philosophy to art.

In addition to disccussing all of this, Amb. Ahmed and I also discuss his attempt to chronicle the life and significance of the Pakistani statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who could be considered the George Washington of modern Pakistan. In this regard, Amb. Ahmed tells us a little about the origins and troubles with the cinematic biopic of the statesmen, simply known as Jinnah, which starred the late world-renowned British actor Christopher Lee (Sarumon the White in the Lords of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies; Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones; the title character in a number of the Hammer Studios Dracula films) in the lead role. Amb. Akbar talks about the negative portrayal of Jinnah in the Ben Kingsley-starring Gandhi, misconceptions he sees many as having about Jinnah, and his thoughts about Pakistan, India, and Muslim-Hindu unity. Along with all of this, Amb. Ahmed briefly comments on the situation of Afghanistan as someone who extensively studies the Pashtun people there.

*CORRECTION: In this episode I neglected to mention that Ambassador Ahmed was co-scriptwriter with Jamil Dehlavi for Jinnah rather than the sole writer.

Then in the second segment of our show, Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. and its Inequality.Org joins us to discuss his decades-spanning work investigating the problem of global wealth inequality and how that inequality has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Chuck describes how he was "born on third base" to a wealthy family (the Oscar-Mayer meatpacking family to be exact) and how it gave him a "front row seat" to the problem of wealth inequality. We discuss what the ultra-wealthy are and aren't, wealth taxes, common arguments against taxing the ultra-wealthy, the World Economic Forum and Davos, wealth inequality as a cause of political polarization and social destabilization, the problem with charity as a fix for global wealth inequality, and much, much more!

"‘This gift list is completely disconnected from the reality of our society’: Here are the most charitable billionaires in America" by Leslie Albrecht - MarketWatch -2/8/22

"REPORT: Gilded Giving 2020: How Wealth Inequality Distorts Philanthropy and Imperils Democracy" by Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery - 7/28/20

"Updates: Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses and Pandemic Profiteers" by Chuck Collins - 10/18/21

"Taxing extreme wealth could lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty" by Chuck Collins - CNN - 1/19/22