History

Paul Jay – Reflections on Daniel Ellsberg and Nuclear War
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Paul Jay – Reflections on Daniel Ellsberg and Nuclear War

ByPaul Jay

How did a Cold War nuclear planner become one of its biggest critics? Paul Jay traces Daniel Ellsberg’s journey from nuclear war planner to discovering the lies behind the “missile gap” with the Soviets. Jay exposes how defense industry executives and government officials manufactured the Cold War to keep military spending flowing after World War II. While the Soviet Union posed an ideological challenge, its military threat was deliberately exaggerated. The real goal? Using massive defense spending to stimulate the American economy while suppressing domestic opposition. The nuclear systems Ellsberg warned about remain active today. Jay’s upcoming film exposes how Cold War thinking continues to endanger us all – and what we can do about it.

The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2
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The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, journalist Jonathan M. Katz discusses the financial elite and fascist sympathizers who were conspiring to undo FDR’s economic reforms in what is known as the foiled Business Plot of 1933. Retired U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler, who outed the coup plotters in Special House committee hearings in 1934, subsequently published War is a Racket, a pamphlet critiquing the monied interests behind America’s imperial war machine. Katz describes Butler’s transformation from “racketeer for capitalism” to anti-war critic and underscores the political salience of working-class issues in the Great Depression’s aftermath, as demonstrated in the Bonus March of 1932 and in FDR’s New Deal.

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

U.S. interventions at the turn of the 20th century were numerous and widespread, including bloody operations in Cuba against the Spanish and then against the Cubans themselves, in northern China against the Boxer Rebellion, and most notably, the Balangiga massacre on the island of Samar in the Philippines. General Smedley Butler, a decorated U.S. marine, was stationed on all these fronts and was subsequently involved in invasions of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti in 1915. Jonathan M. Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism, recounts the story of Butler and how he ultimately turned against the American war machine, describing himself as “a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism,” who had propped up the pillaging of Latin America by monopolists and bankers such as J.P. Morgan. 

Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2
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Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The current climate crisis emerged out of a specific set of historical and economic factors which have maintained capitalist accumulation and class inequalities to this day. Jason W. Moore, geographer and Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, explains how the development of capitalism fueled European colonialism and Western imperialism, resulting in a novel form of climate destruction.

Oppenheimer: U.S. Developed First-Strike Weapon and Used Japan to Prove it – Kuznick and Jay
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Oppenheimer: U.S. Developed First-Strike Weapon and Used Japan to Prove it – Kuznick and Jay

ByPaul Jay

Oppenheimer is a creative tour de force that sparks a necessary debate about today’s nuclear weapons. U.S. media still defends the false justification for a nuclear attack on Japan and the “first strike” underpinnings of U.S. policy. Peter Kuznick in discussion with Paul Jay.

A Personal Take on The Modern History of Iraq – RAI with Sabah Alnasseri (pt 4/6)

A Personal Take on The Modern History of Iraq – RAI with Sabah Alnasseri (pt 4/6)

ByPaul Jay

This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on May 30, 2017. On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Alnasseri explains why so many Shia fought for Iraq against Iran during a war that killed more than 1.8 million people; he continues the story of his family, and how from prison, his brother was able to help Sabah escape the country.

A Personal Take on The Modern History of Iraq – RAI with Sabah Alnasseri (pt 5/6)
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A Personal Take on The Modern History of Iraq – RAI with Sabah Alnasseri (pt 5/6)

ByPaul Jay

This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on June 1, 2017. On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Alnasseri says Trump’s strategy is to use the war against ISIS as an excuse to build up US troop levels in Iraq to control the oil and create a pro-American government.

American Exceptionalism and US Imperialism – Peter Kuznick on Reality Asserts Itself (pt 1/3)
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American Exceptionalism and US Imperialism – Peter Kuznick on Reality Asserts Itself (pt 1/3)

ByPaul Jay

This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced on October 15, 2013. On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Prof. Peter Kuznick, historian and co-author with Oliver Stone of the Untold History of The United States, looks at the ideas that justify American conquest and empire.

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