Henry Giroux GANGSTER CAPITALISM AND CORRUPTION IN TRUMP’S AMERICA

“A new administration must screen out those who regard Government service as the door to power or wealth, those who cannot distinguish between private gains and public trust, and those who believe that old-fashioned honesty with the public’s money is both old and out of fashion.”
John F. Kennedy, 1960

Returning to be our guest again is internationally renowned public intellectual, writer, and cultural and political critic, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest, & The Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy – Professor Henry Giroux.

He has authored, or co-authored over 65 books, written several hundred scholarly articles, delivered more than 250 public lectures, been a regular contributor to print, television, and radio news media outlets, and is one of the most cited academics working in any area of Humanities research. His books have been translated into many languages.

Henery Giroux is on the editorial and advisory boards of numerous national and international scholarly journals, and he co-edited a series on education and cultural studies with Paulo Freire for a decade. He is on the Board of Directors for Truthout. He is interviewed regularly on a number of different media including Democracy Now! Despite these illustrious credentials, he is never dull in conversation, and he certainly isn’t in this one, which was recorded via Zoom on June 5, 2026.

Liz Helenchild from the 2018 Mendocino Poetry Celebration Photo by Dan Roberts

This edition of Forthright Radio ends with a poem by Mendocino poet and radio colleague, Liz Helenchild‘s, poem: SLICE. Thanks to Dan Roberts for broadcasting it on Rhythm Running River (6-7-26) and for permission to include it. It was recorded at the 2026 Mendocino Poetry Celebration.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

GANGSTER CAPITALISM AND CORRUPTION IN TRUMP’S AMERICA https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/29/gangster-capitalism-and-corruption-in-trumps-america/

Never again in the age of historical amnesia https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2PAID9HDNCTR7EKQXXBR/full?target=10.1080/00131857.2026.2671081

We Must Resist the Collapse of Conscience in the Age of Trump https://truthout.org/articles/we-must-resist-the-collapse-of-conscience-in-the-age-of-trump/

War Becomes Spectacle in Trump’s Horrific Propaganda Promoting War in Iran https://truthout.org/articles/war-becomes-spectacle-in-trumps-horrific-propaganda-promoting-war-in-iran/

The Myth of the Apolitical University: Education, Power and the Lie of Neutrality https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/24/the-myth-of-the-apolitical-university-education-power-and-the-lie-of-neutrality/

War on DEI’s Aim: Normalizing White Nationalism https://flaglerlive.com/dei-war/

Donald Trump’s apocalyptic and profane threats against Iran expose the unhinged language of war https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-apocalyptic-and-profane-threats-against-iran-expose-the-unhinged-language-of-war-279801

Trump’s Crusade: Christian Nationalism and the Making of a Holy War https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/20/trumps-crusade-christian-nationalism-and-the-making-of-a-holy-war/

MAGA Aesthetics and Fascist Power: Spectacles of White Supremacy https://socialistproject.ca/2026/03/maga-aesthetics-and-fascist-power/

He’s Very Unwell” – Marsh Family parody of Chuck Berry’s “Never Can Tell” from Pulp Fiction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WWjjVlr7M&list=RD2J95CTmZUUM&index=2

Welcome to ‘the Claw’: the White House fighting cage captures Trump era rot https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/trump-ufc-fighting-cage

‘We call it the P-word’: Chicago professor suspended after assignment mentions Palestinians https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/05/professor-suspended-assignment-mentions-palestinians

‘We were attacked as bad Jews’: Columbia faculty who supported Gaza protests file claims with Trump’s antisemitism fund https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/03/columbia-jewish-faculty-protests-settlement-fund

Police want to decide which journalists can cover the Delaney Hall protests. That’s not their job https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/03/delaney-hall-new-jersey-protests-police

Trump’s UFC fight at White House combines punches and politics https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-ufc-fight-white-house-combines-punches-politics-2026-06-05/

Gal Beckerman HOW TO BE A DISSIDENT

Gal Beckerman is an author and a staff writer at The Atlantic. His latest book is HOW TO BE A DISSIDENT.
Before coming over to The Atlantic, whose books section he also ran, he was an editor at the New York Times Book Review for six years. He also served as the opinion editor at the Forward newspaper and a staff editor and writer at the Columbia Journalism Review. His writing has appeared in a number of places over the years, including the Washington Post, The New Republic and Bookforum.

His previous books include The Quiet Before, which was a New York Times Notable pick in 2022, and When They Come for Us We’ll Be Gone, which won two major book awards and was chosen as a book of the year by The New Yorker and the Washington Post.

Over the years he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, lived in Berlin as a German Chancellor Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and broke his arm almost in half while biking across France.

We spoke with him via Zoom on May 18, 2026.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Our show with U. of MD Law Professor, Leigh Goodmark, from 2023 is about women in US prisons for murdering their abusers. https://forthright.media/2023/03/09/leigh-goodmark-imperfect-victims-criminalization-and-the-promise-of-abolition-feminism/

Trump and His Advisers Clearly Haven’t Actually Read Thucydides https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/trump-xi-iran-war.html

Sarah Wynn-Williams and Virginia Giuffre jointly win freedom to publish prize at British book awards https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/11/sarah-wynn-williams-and-virginia-giuffre-jointly-win-freedom-to-publish-prize-at-british-book-awards

A mask can’t hide you from God’: can you shame an ICE agent into quitting? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/16/ice-agents-quit

I.R.S. to Drop Audits of Trump and Family https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/us/politics/trump-irs-doj-lawsuit-audit.html

Exclusive: FBI Files Counter Government Argument om Texas “Antifa” Trial https://inthesetimes.com/article/prairieland-antifa-trial-protest-repression-fbi

Lawrence Douglas THE CRIMINAL STATE: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice

Our guest today is Amherst College’s Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Lawrence Douglas. He is the author of seven books, including the nonfiction books, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust; and Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown in 2020; as well as the novels, The Catastrophist, and The Vices.

The recipient of major fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Institute for International Education, and American Academy in Berlin, and the Carnegie Foundation, he has lectured throughout the United States and in more than a dozen countries, and has served as visiting professor at the University of London and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

His latest book, THE CRIMINAL STATE: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice, was just published by Princeton University Press. It’s a re-interpretation of international law’s reckoning with Nazi aggression and atrocity. He shows how the Nuremberg trials challenged centuries of thought—rooted in Hobbes and other canonical thinkers—that shielded sovereigns from legal scrutiny. Yet Nuremberg’s bid to frame aggression as the cornerstone of a new order of international criminal law largely failed, giving way to a system now centrally concerned with crimes against humanity and genocide—and leaving unresolved the legality and effectiveness of using force to stop the worst violations of human rights. It’s a provocative history of the struggle to bring perpetrators of state violence to justice, which is certainly relevant to the current conflicts around the world and, sadly, increasingly here at home, as well.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Trump says US navy like ‘pirates’ while seizing a ship in Iranian blockade https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/02/trump-us-navy-pirates-iran-blockade

Hope out of chaos: how the dark era of Trump is creating a new approach to global politics https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/02/dark-era-trump-creating-new-approach-global-politics

André Cerdini, Judge in Trial of Nazi Klaus Barbie, Dies at 96 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/world/europe/andre-cerdini-dead.html

Meet the New Leader of the Free World https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/opinion/zelensky-ukraine-trump-nato-leader.html?searchResultPosition=1

James Comey’s reindictment is the product of a twisted justice department https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/01/james-comey-indictment

Trump’s militarization of the DC police was just an opening salvo https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/27/january-6-trump-chicago-military

Trump-Appointed Judge Calls Administration’s Behavior ‘Appalling’ In 24-Page Ruling https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doj-immediately-appeals-to-subpoena-trans-patients-health-records-after-judge-blocks-attempt_n_6a063dcde4b098065be8a659?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Suzanne Simard WHEN THE FOREST BREATHES: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World

Returning to Forthright Radio is Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia, Suzanne Simard. You may remember our interview with her in 2021, when her book, FINDING THE MOTHER TREE: DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE FOREST was published. You can hear that interview here: https://forthright.media/2021/05/04/suzanne-simard-finding-the-mother-tree-discovering-the-wisdom-of-the-forest/

She is a pioneer scientist on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; who conveys complex, technical ideas in ways that are inspiring and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers such as James Cameron’s “Tree of Souls” in Avatar. She has demonstrated that trees interact and communicate using below ground fungal networks, and that forests have elder trees, that she calls Mother Trees, which are large, highly connected trees, who play an important role in the flow of information and resources in a forest.

Her current research investigates how these complex relationships contribute to forest resilience, adaptability and recovery and has far-reaching implications for how to manage and heal forests from human impacts, including climate change.

She writes about this in her latest book, WHEN THE FOREST BREATHES: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World, published by Knopf.

We spoke with Suzanne Simard on April 3, 2026 via Zoom.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this episode:

The Mother Tree Project & Program https://mothertreeproject.org/

My ideas are a little revolutionary’: ecologist Suzanne Simard on intelligent forests, the climate and her critics https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/14/my-ideas-are-a-little-revolutionary-ecologist-suzanne-simard-on-intelligent-forests-the-climate-and-her-critics

B.C. government aims to permanently protect Fairy Creek https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-fairy-creek-protection-pledge/

Economic Valuation of Old-Growth Forests on Vancouver Island https://ancientforestalliance.org/old-growth-economic-report/

Hereditary Chiefs vs. Elected Chiefs: What’s the Difference? https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/hereditary-chiefs-vs-elected-chiefs

‘It’s path-breaking’: British Columbia’s blueprint for decolonisation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/09/british-columbia-blueprint-decolonisation

‘A living collective’: study shows trees synchronise electrical signals during a solar eclipse https://theconversation.com/a-living-collective-study-shows-trees-synchronise-electrical-signals-during-a-solar-eclipse-255499

Biruté Galdikas, 79, Who Worked to Save Wild Orangutans in Borneo, Dies With Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, she was one of three prominent researchers of great apes who were sometimes called the “tirmates.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/science/earth/birute-galdikas-dead.html

Elaine Ingham, Who Taught That Soil Is Alive, Dies at 73 A scientist and leader in the organic farming movement, she popularized the “soil food web,” and understanding that soil is a complex realm of microorganisms. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/science/earth/elaine-ingham-dead.html

Desmond Morris, 98, Dies; Explored Humans’ Animal Instincts in ‘the Naked Ape’ https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/science/desmond-morris-dead.html

Pages devoted to climate change have disappeared from key Yellowstone guidebook https://montanafreepress.org/2026/04/03/pages-devoted-to-climate-change-have-disappeared-from-key-yellowstone-national-park-guidebook/

‘Hybrid organ’: how a union of trees and fungi could revolutionise forest management https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/20/hybrid-organ-trees-fungi-union-loblolly-pines-startup-forest-management

Christopher Mathias TO CATCH A FASCIST: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right

Our guest today is journalist, Christopher Mathias. His recent book is TO CATCH A FASCIST: THE FIGHT TO EXPOSE THE RADICAL RIGHT, published by Atria. It’s a deep dive into the resurgence of white nationalist and Neo-Nazi movements in the US, that centers on anti-fascist groups working to expose and stop their violence and intimidation.

Demonized as “extremist” by both conservatives and liberals, “antifa” became a bogeyman during Donald Trump’s first term. However, few Americans understood the dangerous work antifa was doing to disrupt and unmask a new generation of white supremacists, or listened when antifa sounded the alarm about these white supremacists taking positions of power. Now this underground network of militant anti-fascists continues in their determination to stop the rising tide of fascism in America.

We spoke with Christopher Mathias on April 7, 2026 via Zoom.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Trump is Coup-Proofing the Military https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQgLFsKjLJjrqMSbvDlXvRVmVKn

‘People should be scared’: convictions in US ‘antifa’ trial set dangerous precedent https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/29/texas-leftwing-antifa-activist-trial

Trump Administration Plans Summit Targeting Antifa: Report https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-counterterrorism-officials-plan-antifa-summit_n_69cba0ffe4b010178ee6f1f3?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Antifa used to unmask neo-Nazis, now it’s exposing ICE: ‘Predators don’t get anonymity’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/30/antifa-unmasking-ice

NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM/NSPM-7 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/

Members of neo-Nazi ‘active clubs’ join combat events at secretive Virginia compound https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/07/neo-nazi-virginia-combat-event

‘Racist ideology lodges itself amid austerity politics’: newly elected French mayor on tackling far right https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/04/bally-bagayoko-austerity-politics-french-mayor-tackling-far-right

Italian council buys Mussolini’s villa to keep it away from ‘fascist nostalgics’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/04/italian-council-buys-mussolini-villa-riccione-fascist-nostalgics

Pete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/10/pete-hegseth-christianity-iran-war-crusade

Man Charged By Trump Admin After Removing Tear Gas From Crowd Found Not Guilty https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jonathan-caravello-not-guilty_n_69d801e6e4b048dba44c0d5f?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Revealed: FBI opened domestic terrorism investigations into anti-ICE activity across US https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/19/fbi-terrorism-investigations-anti-ice-activity

Bozeman’s Hidden History with the Ku Klux Klan https://sherilyndecter.com/bozemans-hidden-history-with-the-ku-klux-klan/

GRANDMOTHER FACES TRIAL IN ALABAMA FOR WEARING PENIS COSTUME TO NO KINGS PROTEST When the viral video cooled off, people thought the case against the 62-year-old would be dropped. Prosecutors doubled down. https://theintercept.com/2026/04/03/penis-costume-no-kings-protest-alabama-censorship/

Mark Twain’s War Prayer: Recited by Hal Holbrook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGu69C2wqc

Mark Twain “War Prayer” Jesse Welles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO0Uuhzti-U

Charles G. Curtin PLACE-BASED SOLUTIONS: The Power of Regenerative Thinking in the Face of Crisis

Dr. Charles G. Curtin is the director of Regenerative Conservation Design.

He is the author of The Science of Open Spaces: Theory and Practice for Conserving Large, Complex Systems and the coeditor of Complex Ecology: Foundational Perspectives on Dynamic Approaches to Ecology and Conservation. His latest book is PLACE-BASED SOLUTIONS: THE POWER OF REGENERATIVE THINKING IN THE FACE OF CRISIS, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. His books explore the intersection of ecology and culture and focus on how the word’s messiness leads to uncertainty and unexpected outcomes, and what to do about it.

Not merely a world renowned ecologist with conservation collaborations including cross-cultural conservation exchanges from the Middle East and Africa to the fisheries of Maine. His Two-Cowboys Project involves cross-continent learning networks between Maasai pastoralists in Kenya and US ranchers in the New Mexico/Arizona and Mexico borderlands, as well as Montana’s Blackfoot Challenge. The Crown of the Continent Partnership is a collaboration project on the borders of Montana, Alberta, British Columbia and the Salish and Kootnai Confederation. You can find out more about this ecosystem here: https://www.crownmanagers.org/about-the-crown

We spoke to him via Zoom from his home in Ranchos de Taos, NM on March 23, 2026.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

How Minnesota Beat Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/opinion/columnists/minneapolis-ice-trump-neighbor.htm

Grasslands: Where Resilience Takes Root https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/stories-in-mn-nd-sd/grasslands/

Radical Ruralism: Regeneration on the Edge https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/fb86a-radicalrural-meandermagazine28229.pdf

Fear and Loathing Near Las Vegas https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/d39e6-greenfire1.pdf

New Mexico Wildfires: The Gift That Keeps Giving (Fear and Loathing Near Las Vegas Part 2) https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/50c35-greenfire2.pdf

Charting a Pathway Toward Long-term Fire Recovery https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/7f438-gft_janfeb2026_7-10.pdf

Fireshed-Watershed-Foodshed: Reenvisioning Agriculture in the Face of Climate Change https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/6fedb-beyondfiresheds.pdf

Fire, Power and Privilege in the Pyrocene https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/37aef-fire2cpower2candprivalegeinthepyrocene.pdf

The Sangre de Cristo Mountain Initiative: An Audacious Commonsense Proposal https://forthright.media/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/d18c1-greenfire328129.pdf

Alfred McCoy COLD WAR ON FIVE CONTINENTS: A Global History of Empire and Espionage

One month ago today, on February 13, 2026, our guest was the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Alfred McCoy. We discussed his latest book, COLD WAR ON FIVE CONTINENTS: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE AND ESPIONAGE, published by Haymarket Books.

With the US and Israel’s continuation of the war against Iran, which began last June, 2025 and lasted 12 days, and then recommenced on February 28, 2026, I asked him to return to share his insights and analysis.

For well over five decades he has specialized in the foreign policy of the United States, European colonization of Southeast Asia, and CIA covert operations and illegal international drug trade. In June of 1972, he testified before the US Senate Committee on Appropriations’ Foreign Operations Subcommittee, testifying that American officials were condoning and even cooperating with corrupt officials at the highest levels in Southeast Asia’s illegal drug trade out of political and military considerations. He testified that the CIA chartered Air America aircraft and helicopters in northern Laos to transport opium harvested by their “tribal mercenaries”.

His multiple awards winning books include, THE POLITICS OF HEROIN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: CIA COMPLICITY IN THE GLOBAL DRUG TRADE; A QUESTION OF TORTURE: CIA INTERROGATION, FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE WAR ON TERROR; IN THE SHADOWS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF US GLOBAL POWER; and TO GOVERN THE GLOBE: WORLD ORDERS AND CATASTROPHIC CHANGE. He was also our guest when those last two were published in 2017 and 2021 respectively.
We spoke with him via Zoom on March 9, 2026.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Iran threatens to escalate war after Trump says ‘many countries’ will send warships to strait of Hormuz https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/13/trump-military-kharg-island-iran-oil-export

U.S. Navy Tells Shipping Industry Hormuz Escorts Not Possible For Now https://www.huffpost.com/entry/navy-shipping-industry-strait-of-hormuz_n_69b0e208e4b0f0830ae5ad8c

Fire damage, clogged toilets, and sinking morale: USS Gerald R Ford to set sail for repairs in Crete https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/18/onboard-fire-uss-gerald-ford-aircraft-carrier

How ignorance, misunderstanding and obfuscation ended Iran nuclear talks https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/18/ignorance-misunderstanding-obfuscation-iran-nuclear-talks-trump

How Iran has used the strait of Hormuz to throttle oil and gas – a visual guide https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/11/how-iran-has-used-the-strait-of-hormuz-to-throttle-oil-and-gas-a-visual-guide

Hegseth ignored military officials when he slashed offices that limit risk to civilians https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/military-leaders-warned-hegseth-not-to-gut-offices-that-limit-risk-to-civilians-00827722?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Hasty redeployment of US missiles from South Korea to Middle East leaves Seoul rattled https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/11/redeployment-us-missiles-thaad-south-korea-middle-east-seoul-iran

Russia Provided Iran With Information That Can Help Tehran Strike U.S. Military: AP Report https://www.huffpost.com/entry/russia-provided-iran-information-that-can-help-tehran-strike-us-military-ap-report_n_69ab27f8e4b0bda876a95108

Why Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil hub is still untouched by US-Israel bombers https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/11/why-irans-vital-kharg-island-oil-hub-is-still-untouched-by-us-israel-bombers

U.S. May Have Committed War Crime In Sinking Of Iranian Ship https://www.huffpost.com/entry/submarine-torpedo-geneva-conventions_n_69ab102ae4b03ae2f88670fb

‘A very dangerous person’: alarm as Pete Hegseth revels in carnage of Iran war https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/08/pete-hegseth-pentagon-trump-iran

Timothy Snyder’s substack 3-8-26 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQfCMpRXkRbBnRgjCghVqTKhtFB

From Bush Sr to Trump: the risks, lessons and legacy of US interference in the Middle East https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/mar/08/us-interference-middle-east-iraq-iran-conflict-legacy-lessons

Trump vows to use US military force against cartels across Latin America https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/07/trump-military-cartels-latin-america-iran-00818070

Viral International Media Coverage of MRFF’s Revelation that End-Times-Happy Commanders are Telling Troops Iran War is Part of God’s Plan to Bring Jesus Back https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2026/03/viral-international-media-coverage-of-mrffs-revelation-that-end-times-happy-commanders-are-telling-troops-iran-war-is-part-of-gods-plan-to-bring-jesus-back/

US may not have capacity to take down full barrage of Iranian drones, officials warn https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/us-interceptors-iranian-drones

Trump’s “Warflation” Has Just Begun https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQfCDWVDjXZwvgNhKSxHmbQdzst

The US/Israeli Attack Was to Prevent Peace Not Advance It https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/02/the-us-israeli-attack-was-to-prevent-peace-not-advance-it/

12 days: How 2025 Iran blueprint trapped US, Israel in longer war https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/3/11/12-days-how-2025-iran-blueprint-trapped-us-israel-in-longer-war

Trump Gutted the Minesweepers. Then Trump Started the Mine War. https://www.flyingpenguin.com/trump-gutted-the-minesweepers-then-trump-started-the-mine-war/

Supercarriers Deployed To The Middle East Leave The US Navy Spread Thin https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2026/03/04/supercarriers-deployed-to-the-middle-east-leaves-the-us-navy-spread-thin/

The (ancient) history of now: Israel and Iran https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/the-history-of-now-israel-and-iran

Christine Webb THE ARROGANT APE: THE MYTH OF HUMAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND WHY IT MATTERS

Dr. Christine Webb is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, where she is part of the Animal Studies program. Her research is driven by growing awareness that the ecological crisis demands a profound shift in how we understand other animals and our place among them.

Her work seeks to elucidate the complex dynamics of animal social life, and to apply this knowledge to foundational questions in animal ethics and conservation. She investigates how animals manage and mitigate social disruptions, the emotional and motivational states that underlie those processes, and the cultural influences shaping them, with a focus on nonhuman primates.

She also studies how prevailing societal norms, values, and institutions shape contemporary scientific knowledge of other animals. As you will hear, her work examines the pervasiveness of the belief in human exceptionalism, and how this ideology—oftentimes hidden—biases scientific exploration of the more-than-human world.

She asks: How are cutting edge scientific insights revealing striking interdependencies among different species? How has anthropocentrism fueled an essentially competitive, hierarchical view of Nature? How does this in turn obscure our understanding of evolution, and of ourselves, in ways that perpetuate notions of human exceptionalism?How has this emphasis on competition led people to misinterpret and misuse evolutionary theory to explain the current anthropogenic crisis of life on earth? And How can a less anthropocentric understanding help us re-imagine it?

She explores these questions and more in her book, THE ARROGANT APE: THE MYTH OF HUMAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND WHY IT MATTERS, published by Avery. We spoke with Professor Webb on February 24, 2026 via Zoom as she, and many others were snowbound in New York.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Bonobos enjoy pretend tea parties and chimps think rationally: why apes are more like us than we ever thought https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/23/apes-behaviour-bonobo-chimpanzee-humans-science-aoe

Desmond Morris, 98, Dies; Explored Humans’ Animal Instincts in ‘The Naked Ape’ https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/science/desmond-morris-dead.html

Scientists recorded a sperm whale birth up close for the first time. They discovered something extraordinary. The marine mammals act like midwives, supporting mothers and their calves through delivery. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/sperm-whale-birth-video?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Sperm whales live in culturally distinct clans, research finds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/10/sperm-whales-live-in-culturally-distinct-clans-research-finds

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/sperm-whales-alphabet-vocalizations-similar-humans

How Brainless Slime Molds Redefine Intelligence https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brainless-slime-molds/

Baby chicks link certain sounds with shapes, just like humans do https://www.npr.org/2026/02/19/nx-s1-5717039/baby-chicks-link-certain-sounds-with-shapes-just-like-humans-do

Chimpanzees pick up communication styles from their moms, not their dads https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5502642/chimp-moms-babies-human-language-communication-style

Is your dog bilingual? A new study suggests their brains can tell languages apart https://www.npr.org/2022/01/06/1070710852/is-your-dog-bilingual-a-new-study-suggests-their-brains-can-tell-languages-apart

Evidence for representation of pretend objects by Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz0743

Butterflies crossing oceans, moths navigating by the stars: unravelling the mysteries of insect migrations https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/mar/18/butterflies-crossing-oceans-moths-navigating-stars-insect-migrations-aoe

Alfred McCoy COLD WAR ON FIVE CONTINENTS: A Global History of Empire and Espionage

Our guest on this edition of Forthright Radio is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Alfred McCoy.

His multiple awards winning books include, THE POLITICS OF HEROIN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: CIA COMPLICITY IN THE GLOBAL DRUG TRADE; A QUESTION OF TORTURE: CIA INTERROGATION, FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE WAR ON TERROR; IN THE SHADOWS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF US GLOBAL POWER; and TO GOVERN THE GLOBE: WORLD ORDERS AND CATASTROPHIC CHANGE. He was our guest when those last two were published. His latest book is COLD WAR ON FIVE CONTINENTS: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE AND ESPIONAGE, published by Haymarket Books.

As in his earlier books, he reiterates the importance of maintaining dominance over the heartland of the “World Island,” comprised of Eurasia and Africa, which was articulated in Halford John Mackinder’s 1904 article, “The Geographical Pivot of History.”

Articles pertinent to this interview:

‘We wasted a lot of lives’: CIA spymaster’s caution over past Iran intervention resurfaces from beyond the grave https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/apr/20/cia-spymaster-agent-peter-sichel-caution-over-iran-intervention-resurfaces-us-middle-east

America Is Waving the White Flag in the New Cold War https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/opinion/us-china-cold-war-tariffs-trump.html

‘The powerful have their power. We have the capacity to stop pretending’: the Canadian PM’s call to action at Davos https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/21/mark-carney-davos-canadian-prime-minister-donald-trump-new-world-order

A War Foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/20/a-war-foretold-cia-mi6-putin-ukraine-plans-russia

How Trump is Demolishing U.S. Global Power and Its World Order https://tomdispatch.com/in-the-autumn-of-americas-empire/

Energy Policy and the Politics of American Decline https://tomdispatch.com/ozymandias-on-the-potomac/

Thousands of Chinese Fishing Boats Quietly Form Vast Sea Barriers https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/16/world/asia/china-ships-fishing-militia-blockade.html

Expiry of nuclear weapons pact between US and Russia risks new arms race https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/03/expiry-nuclear-weapons-pact-us-russia-arms-race

C.I.A. World Factbook Ends Publication After 6 Decades https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/us/world-factbook-cia.html

The Secret History of the Deep State https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/opinion/trump-nixon-watergate-radford.html

The risk of nuclear war is rising again. We need a new movement for global peace https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/08/nuclear-war-risk-rising-global-peace

5 Times the US Invoked the Monroe Doctrine https://www.history.com/articles/times-the-usa-invoked-monroe-doctrine?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/further-back-to-the-future-neoroyalism-the-trump-administration-and-the-emerging-international-system/ABB12906CA345BBCA5049B544363D391#article

How to Read Scrooge McDuck in the Age of Donald Trump https://tomdispatch.com/trumps-foreign-policy-the-comic-book-edition/

Firesign Theater Temporarily Humboldt County https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqUyI5IIDOM&list=RDFqUyI5IIDOM&start_radio=1