Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, veteran journalist Barnes Carr joins us to discuss an underdiscussed aspect of WWI history: the U.S.-backed plot to assassinate Vladimir Lenin and install a Western-friendly dictator in Russia. In his new book, The Lenin Plot: The untold Story of America's Midnight War Against Russia, Carr lays out the details of the madcap true-life story of spycraft that's one part film noir and another part "Keystone Cops" thanks to it's cast of exceedingly eccentric characters. Some of the character's in this strange saga, particularly the mysterious Sidney Reilly and Bruce Lockhart, are believed to have served as an inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond. It's a story that contains not only double agents and spies (from the U.S., Britain, France, and Russia!) but even a femme fatale. Barnes Carrs discusses all these elements with as well as the Bolshevik Revolution, the extent of U.S. involvement in the plot, how he stumbled upon the story, the research he undetook with it, and much, much more! We even manage to talk briefly about Carr's exploits as a jounralist including his research into the MLK assassination and the KKK's attempt to murder him!

On this edition of Parallax Views, it was announced earlier this week that the May deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan has been changed. President Joe Biden has announced that the troops will be withdrawn by September 11th, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Maj. Danny Sjursen, the "Skeptical Vet" of the Fortress on a Hill podcast and the Eisenhower Media Network and author of Patriotic Dissent, served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Since that time he has become a voice against imperialism that supports antiwar sentiments. He joins us on this edition of Parallax Views to discuss the war in Afghanistan and Joe Biden's announcement regarding the new withdrawal date.

On this edition of Parallax Views, for nearly 50 years Troma has been the independent movie studio with an uncompromising vision that has alternately grossed out, offended, and entertained audiences from around the world with such features as The Toxcic Avenger franchise, the Class of Nuke Em High series, Troma's War, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Tromeo and Juliet (penned by James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy fame), and, most recently, #ShakespeareShitstorm among others! They've also distributed such madcap films as Surf Nazis Must Die, Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town (starring before-he-was-famous Billy Bob Thornton), and Monster in the Closet (starring a before-he-was-famous Paul Walker) as well as such challenging and controversial cinema as Story of a Junkie, Combat Shock, and the experimental films of Giuseppe Andrews (Detroit Rock City, Cabin Fever).

Joining us to discuss the little movie studio that could is Lloyd Kaufman, co-founder of Troma alongside Michael Herz. Be forewarned, Lloyd is irreverent, non-pc, and speaks his mind. As I say in the show intro "You will be triggered".

In the course of our conversation Lloyd and I discuss a number of topics including what a Troma film is (for the unfamiliar), how Lloyd went from attending Yale in the hopes of becoming a social worker to catching the film bug, whether or not people confuse Troma for being a right-wing "shock jock" enterprise like Breitbart or the antic of Steve Bannon, Hollywood's silence on the New Jim Crow laws of Georgia, Lloyd's appearance on the Morton Downey Jr. Show, the influence of French cinema and Auteur Theory on Lloyd and Troma's work, Troma films as being steeped in satire and often based on events and social issues of the day, the influence of Andy Warhol on Lloyd and the Troma's movie Sugar Cookies (starring cult actress and Warhol factory girl Mary Woronov), working on the big budget Hollywood movie The Final Countdown w/ Kirk Douglas, working on John G. Avildsen's Rocky and Saturday Night Fever, C. Wright Mills' Power Elite theory and Lloyd's theory of the elite, the problem of Hollywood, the influence of Stan Lee and Marvel on Troma, Lloyd's socialist relatives and their influence on him growing up (we talk about Cuba, Fidel Castro, etc.!), Lloyd's love of the underdog, LGBTQ+ fans of Troma, Lloyd's appearance in The Last Blockbuster, a story about Lloyd's problem with Hollywood involving the great actor and writer Trent Haaga, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, one of the world's foremost philosophers, Slavoj Zizek, joins us to discuss the global crises civilization faces today, from the COVID pandemic and global warming to digital suveillance and mass mental health struggles in an era of jungle capitalism, and how we must face these crises while holding onto hope and letting go of fear and the depression these crises may inspire in us. Among the topics we broach our the COVID-19 pandemic, digital surveillance, the corporate "Great Reset" advanced by Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum, catastrophic climate change, Frederic Jamison's advice to Slavoj on pessimism vs. depression, the potential of the Left and what its strategy must be facing the future and dangerous times ahead, the conflict between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and elements of the socialist left, Biden's COVID relief package, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the mighty Ken Silverstein of Washington Babylon, the website covering "Shocking True Stories and Political Sleaze", joins us to discuss a potpourri of topics. We begin by talking about the return of Washington Babylon after a period of dormancy and the death of the Royal Family's Prince Phillip, for whom Andrew Stewart wrote an "anti-obituary" on Washington Babylon.

From there we discuss the Iraq War, the 18th anniversary of which occurred this past March, and Ken's reflections on how the media reacted to the war. In particular Ken discusses working for the LA Times during the early days of the war and recalls the reaction to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit by the media of the day during that time. As a side-note to this portion of the conversation we discuss the story of Gary Webb and how he was treated by the media after his Dark Alliance series delving into the crack epidemic and Iran/Contra.

From there we delve into the recent sex scandal involving Matt Gaets, Venmo, and a 17 year old girl. Ken recently raised questions about Gaetz's dark money ties and how it may relate to this latest scandal. And finally we discuss the issue of evictions and the possibility of a coming economic crisis like the one we saw with the Lehmann Brothers. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.

On this edition of Parallax Views, the always interesting and oft controversial Daniel Hopsicker joins us for an update on his investigations into the seedy underbelly of Sarasota County in Florida and how it relates, in his estimation, to right-wing grifters and transnational organized crime. Agree or disagree with his conclusions on transnational organized crime, the Russian mob (particularly the "Boss of Bosses" Semion Moglivech), and government malfeasance, Hopsicker has ferreted out infamous figures like Huffman Aviation's Rudi Dekkers and Steve Bannon partner Andrew Badolato before they allegations against them hit the mainstream. Although Parallax Views can't vouch for and doesn't necessarily agree with all of Hopsicker's conclusions, the fact that Hopsicker was on the trail Andrew Badolato before the alleged fraud of "Build the Wall" have proven of interest to the program. The bottom line for Hopsicker is that as long as the War on Drugs goes on so will transnational organized crime. Get ready for a whirlwind ride as Hopsicker and I delve into money laundering and financial crimes by "hyena packs", drug trafficking, cover-ups, international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, the curious case of Andrew Badolato's Sarasota beach house, Russiagate, Donald Trump, and a slew of other matters and characters.

On this edition of Parallax Views, multiple global crises currently appear to be at play in the opening decades of the 21st century. Fake news and disinformation. Terrorism and radicalization. Unregulated capitalism and the dark money-fueled corruption of politics. The COVID-19 pandemic and the possibility of future pandemics. And, of course, the looming threat of potentially catastrophic forms of climate change.

Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, Special Investigations Reporter for Byline Times, author of A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization, and co-producer/writer of the documentary The Crisis of Civilization, joins us on this edition of Parallax Views to unpack these various crises and how we may be better able to approach them through the lens of systems theory. We also discuss global disinformation networks, COVID-19, peak oil theory, Koch money, identity politics, woke vs. anti-woke culture wars, post-capitalism, 9/11 and the War on Terror, Syria and the material basis of revolutions, far-right radicalization, ISIS, and much, much, more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, Emil Draitser joins us to give a personal account of not only growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union but also working as a satirist in the Soviet Union. Emil has written about his Soviet adventures in books such as Shush! Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin: A Memoir, Farewell, Mama Odessa: A Novel, and, most recently, In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir. Emil discusses at length his experiences facing antisemitism in the Soviet Union, explain the history of antisemitism in Russia from the Protocols of Zion to the Doctor's Plot of the Stalin era, and the discrimination he faced from antisemitism. Additionally, Emil and I will delve into what it meant to write satire in the Soviet Union and his experiences working for the Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil. And Emil will describe what it was like growing up in Odessa specifically. One thing that is striking about Emil's experiences is how relatable they may feel despite cultural differences between the Soviet Union and countries like the United States.

On this edition of Parallax Views, a little bit of a change of pace. Mike IX Williams of the pioneering NOLA metal and sludge metal band Eyehategod (also: Corrections House and Arson Anthem) joins us for a chat about music, growing up punk, poetry, transgressive art, race relations, Black Lives Matter, empathy, his industrial-styled band Corrections House, live sets vs. studio recordings, the influence of bands like Black Flag and Swans on his music, Christian protests against Eyehategod, Charles Bukowski, and much, much more! Check out Eyehategod's new album A History of Nomadic Behavior!

On this edition of Parallax Views, the long-time, sometimes controversial, and always fascinating geopolitical commentator Pepe Escobar joins Parallax Views to discuss some of the events the lead up to his the current decade we face, which he calls "The Raging Twenties". Although this conversation was initially intended to cover Pepe's new book Raging Twenties: Great Power Politics Meets Techno-Feudalism, Pepe and I ultimately went in a different direction. Our conversation became less focused on the details of the book and more an overview of the events, geopolitically, that lead to our current moment where tensions are rising between the U.S. and it allies against China, Russia, and Iran. As Pepe put it in the course of our conversation, our conversation serves as a preamble to many of the topics discussed in his new book (which is basically Pepe's coverage of the year 2020 from the death of General Soleimani to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Among the many topics we discuss:

- The Russia/Ukraine situation
- The Nordstream II pipeline, Germany, and Russia,
- The Iraq War and neoconservatives
- Pepe's interest in the ideas of Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze; Deleuze's concept of the rhizome
- Zbigniew Brzezinski and The Grand Chessboard of Geopolitics
- The Quad, India and Modi
- Euranianism, Putin, and China
- COVID-19, Giorgio Agamben, and the surveillance society
- The decline of the American Empire; Pax Americana and the Mongolian Empire
- Why Pepe references and uses imagery from David Lynch's Twin Peaks in his work
- The Belt and Road Initiative; the New Silk Road
- The multipolar world and what it means; the failures of the War on Terror; the corrosion of the Empire