Category Archives: Social Justice

John Fugelsang SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds

Our guest is actor, comedian, writer, political commentator, pod-caster and television host, John Fugelsang. His range is very wide … from hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos in the 1990s to his current show, Tell Me Everything, on Sirius XM Insight since 2015. His unpretentious, natural charm enabled him, for example, to lengthen his interview with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, which led to Harrison’s impromptu last public performance at the VH1 Studios in NY city.

His book, SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds, was published in early September, 2025 and quickly became a NY Times best seller. At a time when Christian Nationalist extremists have taken control of many of our institutions in government, education, and information, claiming that what they do is in the name of Jesus, Fugelsang’s book is timely and crucial in reclaiming what Jesus actually preached. Whether one is religious, atheistic, or indifferent, one can’t escape the impact on our lives, our democracy and the health of our biosphere of their machinations.

I keep thinking of a statement by Gandhi, “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.”

John Fugelsang has the gift of seeking and telling truth with an open heart and in a humorous way that helps his message get through. As he says at the very beginning of his book, “I’ve come to view Jesus the way I’ve come to view Elvis. I love the guy, but some of the fan clubs terrify me.”
We spoke with him on October 6, 2025 via Zoom.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

‘ICE Goes Masked for a Single Reason’ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/opinion/ice-masks-immigration.html

George Harrison July 24th 1997 VH1 Studios New York City NY. VH1 News Special “The Last Performance” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ1ytZo88IQ

‘Vertical Morality’ Might Describe Why MAGA Christians Seem So Unchristian https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vertical-morality-maga-christians_l_68dc8386e4b0b11989f00fb8?origin=home-life-unit

Pope Leo Issues Pointed Message About Immigrants After Donald Trump Critique https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-leo-donald-trump-immigration_n_68e38176e4b08634f761fd72?origin=home-whats-happening-unit

Sarah Mullally is named as first female archbishop of Canterbury https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/03/sarah-mullally–named-first-female-archbishop-of-canterbury

Bishop Budde Expected More Pushback After Asking Trump for ‘Mercy’ https://sojo.net/articles/interview/reconstruct/bishop-budde-expected-more-pushback-after-asking-trump-mercy

Christian group ‘deceived’ supreme court about LGBTQ+ research, cited scholars say https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/06/alliance-defending-freedom-supreme-court-conversion-therapy

He’s Young, Talented and Openly Religious. Is He the Savior Democrats Have Been Waiting for? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/opinion/james-talarico-religious-left.html

Why MAGA Evangelicals Can Cheer Love and Hate at the Same Time https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/opinion/erika-kirk-charlie-trump-miller.html

Pope Leo Breaks Down Why MAGA Is ‘Not Really’ Pro-Life https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-leo-breaks-down-why-maga-is-not-really-pro-life_n_68dd802ae4b0c450ba64c434?origin=home-zone-c-unit

Transgender Americans are seeing a wave of hate unleashed by Charlie Kirk’s killing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/25/transgender-americans-are-seeing-a-wave-of-hate-unleashed-by-charlie-kirks-killing

Autistic people could teach Donald Trump a thing or two about focus, facts and empathy https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/28/autistic-people-donald-trump-autism-us-president-rfk-jr

Oklahoma superintendent who put Trump Bibles in classrooms resigns https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/25/oklahoma-superintendent-resigns-ryan-walters

We Need to Think Straight About God and Politics https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/opinion/kirk-trump-christianity.html

The Republican Effort To Remake Schools In God’s Image https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-republicans-christianity-public-schools_n_68d6b186e4b0185d00688d38

Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”
New directive targets “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” and “anti-capitalism” opinions https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs

Ann Fagan Ginger, Tireless Defender of Civil Liberties, Dies at 100 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/ann-fagan-ginger-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1

John Trudell on the Christian World View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhpYEvZ-Oz4

Michael Brownstein & Alex Madva SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change

Our guests today on this edition of Forthright Radio are co-authors of a new book, SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING: HOW ANYONE CAN HELP CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE, published by MIT Press.

Michael Brownstein is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at John Jay College, as well as Professor of Philosophy at The Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He is the author of THE IMPLICIT MIND: Cognitive Architecture, the Self, and Ethics.

Alex Madva is Professor of Philosophy , Director of the California Center for Ethics and Policy, as well as Co-Director of the Digital Humanities Consortium at Cal Poly Pomona. He is a co-editor of An Introduction on Implicit Bias: Knowledge, justice, and the social mind.; and THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES: Philosophical Perspectives.

Not joining us, but also co-author of SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING is Daniel Kelly, Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University and author of YUCK! THE NATURE AND MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DISGUST.

They explore the question “Climate Change, racial injustice, systemic inequality – it’s all so huge – What difference can one person make?” They write, “We’re not wonks. We’re three philosophers frustrated by the wrong lessons we were taught about these problems.”

We spoke with them via Zoom on September 22, 2025.

Keep America Beautiful: The Crying Indian (1970) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0sxwGlTLWw

Keep America Beautiful – Crying Indian on Horseback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_QGBWaD-A4

Controversial 1970s “Crying Indian” ad donated to the National Congress of American Indians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfH72-SziMA

Climate activists gather in New York for ‘Sun Day’ solar energy and anti-billionaire rallies https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/22/sun-day-climate-new-york

Trump DoJ seeks to kill Vermont law that makes big oil pay for climate harm https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/17/trump-vermont-oil-climate-superfund-act

I have now been a journalist for 40 years. The forces ranged against my profession have never been so powerful https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/20/journalist-40-years-forces-profession-power

Political Violence Isn’t New. But Something About This Moment Is. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/magazine/tyler-robinson-political-violence.html

I Look at This Country and I See a Stranger by M. Gessen https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/opinion/trump-kirk-trans-people-russia.html

From Nazi Germany to Trump’s America: why strongmen rely on women at home https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/21/fascism-women-homemaker-trad-wife

Judith Butler is being targeted by the US government. We must stand up https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/22/judith-butler-is-being-targeted-by-the-us-government-we-must-stand-up

Sarah Schulman: The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity

Sarah Schulman, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, nonfiction writer, and AIDS historian is the Ralla Klepak Professor of English at Northwestern University.

She was a member of ACT UP, New York from 1987 to 1992, and a co-founder of the Lesbian Avengers. Today she serves on the Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace, and is co-director of The ACT UP Oral History Project ( https://www.actuporalhistory.org/).

She is the author of 21 books, including Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York 1987-1993; Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair; and The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness To A Lost Imagination.

Her latest book is THE FANTASY AND NECESSITY OF SOLIDARITY, published by Thesis.

We spoke with her on September 4, 2025.

This edition ends with excerpts from the text of a talk given by Bernice Johnson Reagon at the 1981 West Coast Women’s Music Festival in Yosemite, titled: COALITION POLITICS: TURNING THE CENTURY. https://www.rootsofjusticetraining.org/uploads/1/3/9/1/139148852/coalition-politics.pdf

The Zionist consensus among US Jews has collapsed. Something new is emerging https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2025/oct/07/american-jews-zionism

President of Northwestern, a School Attacked by the G.O.P., Will Resign https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/northwestern-president-resigns.html?searchResultPosition=1

President of Northwestern University quits amid layoffs forced by Trump cuts https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/04/northwestern-university-president-resigns-trump-cuts

‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/14/harvard-journal-israel-gaza-cancellation

The chilling effect of Title VI investigations: the professors accused of antisemitism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/campus-investigations-professors-gaza-antisemitism

UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/uc-berkeley-trump-administration-antisemitism

US imposes sanctions on Palestinians for requesting war crimes inquiry https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/04/us-sanctions-palestinian-human-rights

US reportedly suspends visa approvals for nearly all Palestinian passport holders https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/31/palestine-passport-visa-approval-suspension

Ursula von der Leyen calls for suspension of EU trade with Israel https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/10/ursula-von-der-leyen-suspension-eu-trade-israel

From Washington to Westminster, the populist right needs to erase history to succeed. It’s up to us to resist https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/09/washington-westminster-populist-right-smithsonian-nigel-farage

Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/01/leaked-gaza-riviera-plan-dismissed-as-insane-attempt-to-cover-ethnic-cleansing

Palestinians warned of a genocide in 2023. Why weren’t we believed? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/30/israel-gaza-palestine-genocide

Democrats Wrote Off Anti-War Activists In 2024. Now Concern For Gaza Is Unavoidable. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-failure-gaza-big-lesson_n_68acd3a5e4b0495eade021bf

Norway wealth fund sells Caterpillar stake over Israel allegations https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/26/norway-wealth-fund-excludes-caterpillar-over-israel-allegations

From the streets of Baghdad, I saw a clear line to the bloodshed in Gaza https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/26/gaza-iraq-baghdad-west-war-crimes

Trump unlawfully cancelled $2.2bn in Harvard research grants, judge rules https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/03/trump-administration-harvard-funding-cut

Howard French THE SECOND EMANCIPATION: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide

Joining us once again is journalist, author and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Howard French. He has been a decades long New York Times reporter, serving as its bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America from 1990 to 1994, covering Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and other countries. He was one of the Times’ first black foreign correspondents, and from 1994 to 1998 he covered West and Central Africa, reporting on wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Central Africa, with particular attention to the fall of the longtime dictator of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko. From 1998 to 2008 he served as the Times bureau chief for Japan, Korea and Shanghai, from which experiences he wrote Everything Under the Heavens: How China’s Past Helps Shape its Push for Global Power; and China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.

His latest book, THE SECOND EMANCIPATION: NKRUMAH, PAN-AFRICANISM, AND GLOBAL BLACKNESS AT HIGH TIDE, is being released on August 26, 2025 by Liveright. The link to our earlier interview when his book, BORN IN BLACKNESS: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, was published is below.

His very well documented books are packed full of information and insights rarely seen outside the academic world. Best of all, his writing style is lucid, fluid and a pleasure to read.

We spoke with Howard French via FaceTime on August 19, 2025.

Links to articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

The Man Who Saw the Future of Africa https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/opinion/africa-future-kwame-nkrumah.html

Mali’s junta arrests generals and French national over alleged coup plot https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/mali-junta-arrests-generals-and-french-national-over-suspected-coup-plot

Howard French BORN IN BLACKNESS: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War https://forthright.media/2022/12/22/howard-french-born-in-blackness-africa-africans-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world-1471-to-the-second-world-war/

Stuart Reid THE LUMUMBA PLOT: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination https://forthright.media/2023/12/08/stuart-reid-the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination/

Adam Shatz THE REBEL’S CLINIC: THE REVOLUTIONARY LIVES OF FRANTZ FANON https://forthright.media/2024/03/12/adam-shatz-the-rebels-clinic-the-revolutionary-lives-of-frantz-fanon/

Birth of Ghana Lord Kitchener https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=057BmLQ9MfU&list=RD057BmLQ9MfU&start_radio=1

E.T. Mensah-Ghana Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sivj_40ZaHc&list=RDSivj_40ZaHc&start_radio=1

Why Trump’s ‘anti-woke’ attack on the Smithsonian matters https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/27/why-trumps-attack-on-the-smithsonian-matters

The Guardian view on Africa and maps: drawn true, its scale and promise can’t be ignored https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/22/the-guardian-view-on-africa-and-maps-drawn-true-its-scale-and-promise-cant-be-ignored

Equal Earth • Political Wall Map https://equal-earth.com/equal-earth-projection.html

David Daley Texas Redistricting & Our Democracy

When Governor Greg Abbot called The Texas Legislature into special session ostensibly to deal with the aftermath of the devastating flooding of the Guadalupe River, but instead listed first on the agenda a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting to re-gerrymander the already gerrymandered redistricting after the 2020 Census, with the stated intention of providing 5 more Republican seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm election; and After enough Democratic members fled Texas to deprive the Republican majority of the necessary quorum to do this, we invited Dave Daley back to help us understand what the heck is going on.

We had him on in September, 2024 when his book, Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections, came out; and in 2022 right after the midterms; and in 2020 when his book, Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, was published.

We spoke with him on August 5, 2025 via Zoom.

Also included are excerpts from an interview with Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works. Here is a link to the full interview: https://forthright.media/2025/08/06/alex-lawson-90th-anniversary-of-the-social-security-act/

Links to our earlier interviews with David Daley: https://forthright.media/2024/09/27/david-daley-antidemocratic-inside-the-far-rights-50-year-plot-to-control-american-elections/

From 2020: https://forthright.media/2020/06/06/david-daley-unrigged-how-americans-are-battling-back-to-save-democracy/

From 2022: https://forthright.media/2022/11/12/david-daley-paul-pierson-post-midterms-2022/

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Judge Rules Utah Must Redraw Its Congressional Map, Frustrating Republicans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/us/utah-congress-gerrymander-redistricting.html

State voting rights acts recognize proportional ranked choice voting as a way to protect voters https://fairvote.org/state-voting-rights-acts-recognize-proportional-ranked-choice-voting-as-a-way-to-protect-voters/

Gov. Greg Abbott’s options to force a redistricting vote are more limited than they appear https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/greg-abbott-texas-democrats-redistricting-00492100

California moves to dismantle GOP map — and Trump’s grip https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/04/california-fires-back-at-texas-redistricting-00493314

Federal court says Alabama must use map that creates 2nd Black majority district https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/07/federal-court-alabama-must-use-map-black-majority-district-00499369

The America We Knew Is Rapidly Slipping Away https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/opinion/columnists/friedman-trump-labor-firing.html

The Supreme Court Has Finally Found a President It Likes https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/opinion/supreme-court-trump-administration.html

The Origins of the Political Power Grab in Texas https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/us/politics/texas-redistricting-politics.html

Group releases text of proposed Montana Constitutional amendment to curb dark money https://dailymontanan.com/2025/08/01/group-releases-text-of-proposed-montana-constitutional-amendment-to-curb-dark-money/

Donald Trump’s golf tab for taxpayers continues to skyrocket. Here’s the eye-popping new estimate https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/08/donald-trumps-golf-tab-for-taxpayers-continues-to-skyrocket-heres-the-eye-popping-new-estimate.html

Democrats sound alarm over Trump’s reported $1bn plan to retrofit gifted Qatari jet https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/07/trumps-qatar-jet-retrofitting-democrats-letter

Malcolm Harris WHAT’S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis

On this edition of Forthright Radio our guest is journalist, author, activist and critic, Malcolm Harris.

After being arrested in the October 2011 Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge, his court case became “a significant focus of attention for its involvement of posts to social networking sites and legal arguments over who controls that material” as the prosecution sought to undermine his defense using his own Twitter posts which he had deleted.

His books include Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials; Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World; and most recently What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis, published in Spring, 2025 by Little, Brown.

We spoke with Malcolm Harris about his latest book, which includes a reference to Judi Bari, on July 21, 2025 via Zoom. He was very patient and kind, re-connecting after a couple of disruptive technical problems.

Articles, etc. pertinent to this interview:

Gil Duran on Trump, Tech, and “The Nerd Reich” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W3tmCBEnE

What’s the Matter with Abundance? https://thebaffler.com/latest/whats-the-matter-with-abundance-harris

Kurdish leader Ocalan issues message from prison, urging PKK to disarm to make peace with Turkey https://apnews.com/article/turkey-pkk-ocalan-peace-talks-68decd55c35fa537f04b117bc9736128

Kurdish leader Ocalan told the PKK to disband, it did: Here’s what to know https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/13/kurdish-leader-ocalan-told-the-pkk-to-disband-it-did-heres-what-to-know

Trump fossil-fuel push setting back green progress decades, critics warn https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/trump-energy-environment-agenda

The Revolutionary and Radical Tenderness of Andrea Gibson https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/opinion/andrea-gibson-poetry.html

Andrea Gibson – Homesick: A Plea For Our Planet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsmKDa2qQ-w&list=RDJsmKDa2qQ-w&start_radio=1

Andrea Gibson – Say Yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfh3z55AL9s

Andrea Gibson MAGA HAT IN THE CHEMO ROOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCX-0zJTEbk&list=RDWCX-0zJTEbk&start_radio=1

Andrea Gibson – Living Proof https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADJJ4W9p3c

When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-republican-party-democracy.html

Has America learned anything from the George Floyd uprisings? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/13/has-america-learned-anything-from-the-george-floyd-uprisings

Nearly 300 pages of Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ records released after first-of-its-kind ruling https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/atlanta-police-foundation-cop-city-records

Is Decarbonization Dead? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jesse-jenkins-jane-flegal.html

‘We were heard’: the Pacific students who took their climate fight to the ICJ – and won https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/25/pacific-students-who-won-climate-case-icj-international-court-of-justice-hague

Caribbean leaders hail ICJ climate ruling as ‘historic’ win for small island states https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/25/caribbean-leaders-hail-icj-climate-ruling-as-historic-win-for-small-island-states

Anand Pandian SOMETHING BETWEEN US: The Everyday Walls and How to Take Them Down

Anand Pandian is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in Earth & Planetary Sciences.

His books include A Possible Anthropology: Methods for Uneasy Times, and Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and How to Take Them Down, published in May, 2025 by Stanford University Press.

He has written that he sees these books as chapters in an ongoing anthropology of the open mind, a mind open to the differences and uncertainties of a wider world, committed to the significance of transformative encounters and relations. Openness of mind, he believes, is a necessary foundation for environmental ethics, the cultivation of ecological sensibility, the pursuit of livable relations with the natural world, a critical resource for the ecological trials of our time.
He serves as a curator of the Ecological Design Collective, a community for radical ecological imagination and collaboration.

We spoke with Anand Pandian on July 7, 2025 via FaceTime from his home in Baltimore, MD.

Articles pertinent to our conversation:

I crisscrossed America to talk to people whose views I disagreed with. I now have one certainty https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jun/01/united-states-polarization

What I learned from an unlikely friendship with an anti-masker https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/19/anti-masker-unlikely-friendship

New Mexico sues US air force over Pfas pollution from military base https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/10/new-mexico-us-air-force-pfas

Landmark US study reveals sewage sludge and wastewater plants tied to Pfas pollution https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/04/pfas-pollution-sewage-wastewater

Trump administration yanks $15m in research into Pfas on US farms: ‘not just stupid, it’s evil’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/11/trump-pfas-research-funding-farms

‘Alligator Auschwitz’: Nickname for new ICE facility renews debate over Nazi comparisons https://www.timesofisrael.com/alligator-auschwitz-nickname-for-new-ice-facility-renews-debate-over-nazi-comparisons/

Vali Nasr IRAN’S GRAND STRATEGY: A National History

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. His books include THE DISPENSABLE NATION: AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN RETREAT; THE SHIA REVIVAL: HOW CONFLICTS WITHIN ISLAM WILL SHAPE THE FUTURE, and (with Ali Gheissari) DEMOCRACY IN IRAN: HISTORY AND THE QUEST FOR LIBERTY.

His latest book, IRAN’S GRAND STRATEGY: A POLITICAL HISTORY, which was published by Princeton University Press in late May, 2025.
We spoke with Professor Nasr from Brussels, Belgium via FaceTime .

We spoke with Professor Vali Nasr on Monday, June 9th, 2025. On Thursday, June 12, The International Atomic Energy Agency declared that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, the first time the UN watchdog has passed a resolution against the country in 20 years. A few hours later, Israel launched what Defense Minister Israel Katz called “preemptive strikes” simultaneously in many places Iran, hitting both civilian and military targets. One remembers Supreme Leaders Khamenei’s skepticism of the value of diplomacy, when this happens as the talks in Vienna were happening.

Then, on June 21, 2025 the US military under orders of Donald Trump executed a night time bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

The Ayatollah Has a Plan (by Vali Nasr) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/opinion/iran-nuclear-ayatollah-cease-fire.html

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/opinion/iran-israel-attack-global-struggle.html

How Iran and Israel are rethinking strategy https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/22/world/video/gps-0622-us-iran-israel-middle-east

Trump’s ‘total obliteration’ of Iran’s nuclear capabilities isn’t ‘100% accurate’: Scott Lucas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzLo1emW6Oc