Radio War Nerd EP #233 — The Arab Spring & 2020
Guest: "Cyrus", MENA researcher
Recorded: June 15, 2020
Are the nationwide protests across the US anything like the Arab Spring? We spoke to MENA researcher "Cyrus", who has spent much of the past two decades in the region researching the political changes from the US invasion of Iraq up through to today, to recount for us what he saw and learned during the Arab Spring, and what if any lessons there are for us today.
Total time: 2:38:34
Comments (15)
Great episode, and enjoyed the musical interludes 🙂
Agree with lilililili, there's something off about this dude. Also, when it comes to Syria, it seems you can throw out the words "Caesar Files" and "govt massacres" without specificity, evidence or scrutiny and get away with it.
ngl something abt this cyrus fellow felt off, educated as he might be on the subject (not disputing that) his perspective felt... well i mean he works for NGOs so
I get the same feeling. More than enough hints dropped thought the interview as to what he was doing in the Middle East. At best, this is someone who was able to leverage the mechanisms of U.S. power projection in the region for career development. But whereas previous guests with connections to the U.S. government have been clear about their affiliations and perspective, this person couches their narrative in vaguely leftist terminology. It comes off as suspicious.
Re John's comments on not understanding money, Christine Desan wrote a great legal history of money and the Royal Bank of England called "Making Money". I think it's very useful for thinking about how taxes and money work.
I strongly second that recommendation. Another good source of information on the topic of money and banking is Perry Mehrling's course on Coursera. After thinking about the connection between war and money, I think it is not too big a stretch to say that war is a big reason for money to exist.
Thanks for shout out to Brendon Anderegg. I just checked out his LP June. It's fantastic.
Really great moment re: jeffzkey composition
Gold is used heavily in electronics and high tech components
It is also widely used as jewelry. This is neither a "stupid" nor a "meaningless" use. There are a whole lot of otherwise intelligent people (OK, men) who don't understand that bodily adornment is an entirely practical and serious use for gold, or that the distinction between real and imitation gold is an important one in this use, or that the social function of jewelry runs a hell of a lot deeper than they seem to think it does, particularly in cultures other than their own (hint: go look up which countries consume the most gold for use in jewelry).
Fantastic episode. Should be made public, I think. Personally, I don’t share your cautious optimism about the current protest situation. Among many other things, I really do not like the identity politics in this. They are supposed to be against racism, so why are they constantly harping on about black and white, which is a completely facile and utterly stupid way of categorizing people? At least it supposedly has some practical utility to label someone with a nationality or ethnicity – like you can tell their language. But black and white? That is just… racist. I’d also say there is nothing radical about the way these protests are being organized, let alone the protest demands. It is the same old brand of “peaceful” protests (I put quotation marks around peaceful because I don’t think they are very peaceful in nature. “Unarmed protests” seem like a more fitting epithet), the same kind that failed last time and the time before that, and every time since they shot MLK. The same slogans, the same clenched fist. And then there is the support, the overwhelming, unhinged and delirious support, from the same liberal establishment which lost 2016, learnt nothing from it and decided to double down on status quo. So, why is it going to be different this time? The fact that corporate actors are trying to show their support for protesters by poking at the lowest hanging fruits they can find, does not comfort me in the least. I will readily admit being an outsider to all of this, so please tell me if I’m wrong, but the protests in the US seem to represent their time, rather than a change of times, or any change for the better.
The protests are anti-racist, but they exist within the context of an extremely racist country. They talk about black and white people because those are the categories that Americans care about. No one in the United States has any consciousness of any other identity, including class, even though police crimes happen along class lines as much as race lines. It is what it is.
Looking forward to your thoughts on the India-China conflict.
Especially since they already did an episode on the Sino-Indian War and this seems to be based on the same territorial dispute.
Can't wait for this to be available on my podcast app. Will have to listen on Patreon