Episode

7/17 NATO, Ukraine, & The American Empire w/ Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

July 17, 2023

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma host Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison, co-hosts of the American Prestige podcast, to discuss last week’s NATO summit in Lithuania. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on labor action across the US, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, AIPAC Dems’ attacks on Jayapal, and Ron DeSantis, before watching AOC help pump up a crowd of UPS Teamsters in the lead-up to a potential strike. Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison then run through a brief history of NATO since the fall of the USSR, exploring how the US dealt with the disappearance of its only hegemonic challenger – choosing to push a mass expansion of the anti-Soviet (and pro-US) NATO alliance, and ramping up their levels of military action across the globe as the project for a New American Century began. Bessner and Davison then look to the 2004 NATO expansion alongside NATO action in Afghanistan as a continuation of US tactics of hegemonic expansion during the Cold War, particularly the country’s shift towards a capitalist-focused foreign policy that maintains the dominance of the US Dollar. After looking at the US and NATO’s stance towards Ukraine, and how the decision to tempt them with acceptance completely bit the organization in the ass, they wrap up by assessing the US’ slow pivot to the Pacific, and looking at what role the US can (and should) play in promoting peace in Ukraine.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch Ron Pearlman’s killer response to Bob Iger’s comments about using the strike to force actors into homelessness, before tackling the incredibly spineless and corrupt response by Democrats to Rep. Jayapal’s statements on Israel’s apartheid state. Jim Jordan defends the little man (Elon Musk) against constant attacks (emails) from the oppressor (Lina Khan), Jody from MA dives into the problems with assisted living, and Miles from Minneapolis dives into his experiences with the Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien. Sam and Emma also address RFK’s odd anti-Semitic and sinophobic COVID claims, plus, your calls and IMs!

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