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Danny speaks with Andrew deWaard, assistant professor of media and popular culture at UC San Diego, about his book Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture. The two discuss how the falling rate of profit shapes the modern media landscape, the increased drive toward consolidation in entertainment companies, the big movers like private equity firms, hedge funds, asset managers, and venture capitalists, artists' limited ability to defend themselves, the rise of IP, and more.
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Danny and Derek speak with Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about her recent article co-authored with Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, "How to Prevent Political Violence". They explore different types of political violence, the connection between online threats and real life action, the rise of political violence in the US since 2015, "violence entrepreneurs", polarization, the role of ideology, and more.
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Note: This interview was recorded December 3, 2024, i.e. one day before UHC CEO Brian Thompson was shot.
Recommended reading:
Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality by Renee DiResta -
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The news roundup is once again delivered to your temporal lobe. This week: 2024 is officially the hottest year on record (0:57), particularly because the Arctic is no longer a carbon sink, but rather a net carbon emitter (2:40); regarding the situation in Syria, an update on the political transition (5:16), renewed fighting between the SDF and Turkish proxies (10:56), and Israel makes a land grab for an extended "buffer zone" (15:01); in Israel-Palestine, Hamas makes a major ceasefire concession (18:22); rebels in Myanmar seize the Bangladesh border (21:29) while other factions call for a ceasefire (22:51); President Yoon of South Korea survives his first impeachment vote and chaos ensues (24:30); Ethiopia and Somalia strike a deal to settle their recent tensions (30:14); in Russia-Ukraine, Trump's demand for a ceasefire panics Zelenskyy (33:22); Romania's constitutional court annuls the first round of its presidential election (37:14); an armed group commits a massacre in Haiti (40:25); and the Biden administration is building migrant detention facilities (42:00).
Subscribe today and check out our in-depth specials on stories from this week:
South Korea, Martial Law, and President Yoon w/ Eun A Jo
The Fall of Bashar Al-Assad w/ Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi -
Danny and Derek speak with Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, about his series on US sanctions for the Post, "The Money War". They talk about the function of economic sanctions for the US and how that's changed over time, broader cases like Iran to targeted ones like Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, how sanctions can "disconnect" war from the public, the humanitarian impact, and more.
Subscribe now at Supporting Cast!
Also check out Jeff's podcast on John Brown, American Carnage.
And be sure to take a look at Jeff's work in "The Money War":
Part I: How 4 U.S. presidents unleashed economic warfare across the globe
Part II: Sanctions crushed Syria's elite. So they built a zombie economy fueled by drugs.
Part III: Trump White House was warned sanctions on Venezuela could fuel migration
Part IV: Washington targeted 'corrupt' mines. Workers paid the greatest price.
Part V: A new Washington influence industry is making millions from sanctions
Part VI: How a Russian oligarch's $90 million megayacht landed in US custody -
Derek once again speaks with translator and historian Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, this time to break down the ousting of Bashar Al-Assad from power in Syria. They discuss why the regime collapsed so quickly after this particular offensive, the armed groups at play, what this means for Syrian civilians, how support from outside actors factors into things, what kind of polity might emerge, and more.
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Check out Aymenn's forthcoming The Conquest of al-Andalus: a Translation of Fatḥ al-Andalus. -
Danny and Derek welcome back to the show Ben Fong of Arizona State University for the second part of their discussion about his book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge. In this episode, they explore psychedelic drugs and their journey from CIA attempts at mind control to modern biohacking, the bourgeois, neoliberal drug of cocaine, the cultural connotations of its powder form vs crack, marijuana and the "green rush", and the quick fix of both using drugs and attempts at suppressing their usage.
Check out more of Ben's work at his Substack on labor and logistics, On the Seams. -
Danny and Derek once again combine powers to find that they have none. This week: an update on the "ceasefire" in Lebanon (0:29); the situation in Syria progresses as rebels take Hama (4:38); in Israel-Palestine, Amnesty accuses Israel of genocide (12:34) as parties make another push for a ceasefire (14:27); South Korea's President Yoon (briefly) declares martial law (17:05); the Zamzam displacement camp is shelled in Sudan (19:59); Chad's government breaks a military agreement with France (21:46); in Ukraine, Zelenskyy broaches territorial concessions, but demands NATO membership in return (24:53); the Barnier government in France falls in a no confidence vote (27:49); NATO makes a new push to ramp up defense spending amidst concerns over sabotage (30:48); and President Biden makes his first (and last) trip to Africa (34:21).
Be sure to check out our special on South Korea with Eun A Jo. -
Danny and Derek welcome to the podcast Eun A Jo to talk about this week's events in South Korea, where President Yoon declared martial law after accusing the opposition of “anti-state activities”. They discuss why Yoon made this move, the mobilization of Koreans against the attempted coup, regional responses, the imminent vote on Yoon's impeachment, and more.
Eun A is an Edelson Fellow in international security at Dartmouth College’s Dickey Center for International Understanding and an incoming assistant professor of government at William and Mary. She works on questions of memory, democracy, and peace in East Asia, with a focus on South Korea and Taiwan.
Check out Eun A's explainer of the events. -
Derek is joined by translator and historian Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi to take a closer look at the past week's events in Syria. They delve into groups like Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Turkey's role and its current goals, the timing of the offensive, the quick seizure of Aleppo, the mood on the ground, and more.
Check out Aymenn's forthcoming The Conquest of al-Andalus: a Translation of Fatḥ al-Andalus. -
Danny and Derek welcome to the show Ben Fong of Arizona State University for a two-part discussion of his book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge. In this episode, the group covers everything from coffee to opiates to antidepressants, how they interact with capitalist society, the CIA, commodity fetishism, licit vs. illicit as distinct from legal vs. illegal, and more.
Check out more of Ben's work at his Substack on labor and logistics, On the Seams. -
Danny and Derek update everyone on this week's advance by rebel factions in northwestern Syria wherein they took control of Aleppo.
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Danny and Derek are back with Patrick Wyman, host of the Tides of History podcast and author of The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World, for the second part of their discussion about Ridley Scott's Gladiator films. This episode explores father-son relationships, Numidia, why the original film outshines the sequel and most depictions of Rome since, the military campaigns depicted in the movies, different types of gladiators, the Praetorian Guard, treacherous personal trainers, and more.
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Read Patrick's piece for Slate, "The Case for Gladiator II".
Be warned, this is full of spoilers. -
It's our bi-annual mailbag episode, where Producer Jake presents listener questions to Danny and Derek. Among the topics of this edition: If hierarchy is inevitable in human societies, how does status not based on wealth work? What would a US weapons embargo on Israel look like? Has neoliberal atomization led to a decline in the popularity of bands? What are Derek's bird feeding tips?
Subscribe now for benefits like mailbag submissions, weekly bonus episodes, and our new Discord server!
Speaking of the Discord, listeners have formed a book club that sends the following message:
"PrestigeHeads are organizing a book club for AP subscribers around military historian Donald Stoker’s 2024 book Purpose and Power: U.S. Grand Strategy from the Revolutionary Era to the Present. It will likely be a critical reading given Stoker’s affiliations and ideology, but the book should provide ample fodder for discussion. The plan is to read at most 50 pages a week and have ongoing discussions on the AP Discord for each chapter. We have people on board to read the introduction and first chapter by Friday, December 6th." -
Danny and Derek welcome David Silverman, professor of Native American, Colonial American, and American racial history at George Washington University, for a discussion of the historical Thanksgiving holiday. They get into the origin and proliferation of the holiday’s myth, the historical Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony, the Wampanoag Indians, their culture, politics, and relationship with the English settlers, who and what the holiday serves in modern America, and more.
Be sure to grab a copy of David’s book This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving!
Originally published November 22, 2022 -
Danny and Derek update us with what we need to know about Israel's ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
Subscribe now for the full episode. -
Anton Jäger, historian of political thought, returns to the program to speak with Danny about "the big picture" in the wake of the US election. They discuss the crisis of liberalism, the state of the left, where capital is in its own historical cycle, how the reactions to this election compare with that of 2016, hyperpolitics, empire, the view from Europe, and more.
Read Anton's latest piece in New Left Review, "Hyperpolitics in America".
Further reading:
Adam Tooze, "The Democrats' Defeat", The London Review of Books
Subscribe now and listen to our episode with Anton on hyperpolitics from last year. -
Patrick Wyman, host of the Tides of History podcast and author of The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World, is back on the program, this time to talk about Ridley Scott's Gladiator films. In this first part of the conversation, they largely focus on Gladiator II, delving into the actual historical merit of the movie, the figures it depicts, both films' commentary on modern masculinity vs the reality of ancient Rome, the political economy of gladiators, Ridley Scott's Orientalism, beast fights, differences in how the two movies portray ideas of democracy, and more.
Subscribe now for the full episode!
Read Patrick's piece for Slate, "The Case for Gladiator II".
Be warned, this is full of spoilers. -
One more news episode before us Yankees have a holiday. Note: Although we will not have a news roundup next week, we'll have other new content.
This week: In Israel-Palestine, the ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant (0:56) and the US vetoes another ceasefire resolution (6:11); US envoy Amos Hochstein is working on a ceasefire in Lebanon (8:50); in Sri Lanka, the leftist coalition wins a parliamentary majority (12:26); in Sudan, the RSF commits new atrocities (14:12) and Russia vetoes a ceasefire (16:33); in Russia-Ukraine, Biden gives Ukraine permission to use long-range US weapons in Russia (18:29), while Reuters reports that Putin is open to peace negotiations (23:19); the US recognizes opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez as president of Venezuela (24:55); a new armed group wreaks violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (27:09); and we have a New Cold War update featuring the final Biden-Xi meeting (29:10) and Biden’s last G20 summit (31:06).
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Watch the new documentary from Al-Jazeera's Fault Lines program, "All That Remains", which follows a 13-year-old amputee from Gaza named Leyan as she seeks treatment in the United States. -
Abby Mullen, assistant professor at the US Naval Academy, joins the program to talk about her book To Fix a National Character: The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800–1805. The group explores the conflict, American geopolitics in its infancy, the Barbary States and piracy committed on their behalf at the time, how US naval expeditions in an era without a global network of bases functioned, the myth of the war in "The Marines' Hymn", and more.
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Danny and Derek welcome back to the program Stephen Wertheim, senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, this time to talk about foreign policy and the election. They discuss the professionalization of the Democrats, the Harris campaign's decision to ally themselves with the likes of the Cheney family, national security FP, Trump as the "peace candidate", how defense spending might exceed $1 trillion going forward, the fate of Ukraine, Israel/Palestine/Lebanon, and more.
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Grab a copy of Stephen's book Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy. - Vis mere
