Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, Christopher Mott, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy and author The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia, joins Parallax Views to discuss his recent CovertAction Magazine piece "Samantha Power and the Cosmopolitan Crusaders". Applying his knowledge as someone who has worked inside the U.S. State Department, Chris explains the foreign policy thought of the diplomat and government official Samantha Power, whose influential book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide was foundational to R2P (Responsible to Protect) doctrine. R2P, Mott explains, holds that powerful nations (ie: the U.S. and NATO-aligned states) have a duty to stop human rights abuses around the world. Although a noble cause in theory, Mott argues that R2P in practice has not always worked perfectly in practice. In this regard Mott examines the Obama-era intervention into Libya on humanitarian grounds and how Libya has turned into a chaotic failed state that's led to the return of the slave trade to North Africa. In addition to all of this Mott and I also discuss:
- Fear of another Weimar moment haunting beltway foreign policy circles and the role that plays in driving interventionist policymaking
- The question of isolationism, the specter of WWII, and Stephen Wertheim's Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy
- Foreign policy realism and its variations including offensive realism and defensive realism
- Sun Tzu, the risks of war, diplomacy vs. military force, and the question of grand strategy
- The role of ideological, systemic, and economic factors in U.S. foreign policy
- Democratic Peace Theory, American exceptionalism, and Kantian liberal cosmopolitanism
- Sanctions, the potential critique of their effectiveness in achieving state policy goals, and the Iran deal/JCPOA; sanctions as a form of economic warfare
- Jihadism, cosmopolitanism, and state collapse
- U.S.-China relations, human rights rhetoric, and whataboutisms
- American exceptionalism as having a right, left, and center form
- U.S. foreign policy, puritanical morality plays, and protagonist syndrome
- Tyler Cowen's Bloomberg op-ed arguing for using "Wokeism" (a very vague term removed from its original context on Black Twitter) to rebrand American exceptionalism
- And much, much more!
BrexLit: The Problem of Englishness in Pre- and Post-Brexit Referendum Literature w/ Dulcie Everitt
The Universe is On Our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life w/ Bruce Ledewitz/Russia (& Ukraine) Lobbying & Influence-Peddling in D.C. w/ Ben Freeman & Nick Cleveland-Stout
The Stock Market, Inflation & the Crypto Crash w/ Mike Swanson/The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality w/ Eric Cech
The Atlantic Realists: Empire and International Political Thought Between Germany and the United States w/ Matthew Specter/French Post-Election Analysis w/ Marlon Ettinger
Wall Street, the Supermob, and the CIA w/ Jonathan Marshall
PREVIEW: Failed State Update - Gabriel of Urantia Warns of the Apocalypse… But This Time We’re Afraid He Means It
The Supreme Court, Abortion, & ”Deeply-Rooted Tradition” w/ William Hogeland/Yemen & the Ceasefire w/ Nasser Arrabyee/Israel, Palestine, & the Question of Apartheid w/ Yumna Patel
Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy w/ Carl Rhodes/The Podcaster’s Dilemma: Decolonizing Podcasters in the Era of Surveillance Capitalism w/ Nolan Higdon
Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor/Labor Struggle, MMT, and Resisting the ”Doom Pill” w/ Steve Grumbine
The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism w/ Suzanne Schneider
Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out w/ Ramzy Baroud & Ilan Pappé
The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders w/ Ari Rabin-Havt/The Global Financial Crisis, the Fed, & Quantitative Easing w/ Thomas Hoenig
The Al-Aqsa Mosque Uprising, Israel, and Palestine w/ Richard Silverstein
Attack of the 50 Ft CamGirl w/ Ivy Smith & Jim Wynorski
The Slow Erosion of Pax Americana w/ Doug Bandow/Ernst Jünger, The Human Cost of War, and the Global War on Terror w/ Casey Chalk
Santa Claus is Running for Congress w/ Santa Claus
MONARCH: A Novel w/ Candice Wiehle
The FBI, PATCON, and the Oklahoma City Bombing w/ Ken Silva
UN Report Alleges Apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory w/ Michal Lynk
The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World w/ Dr. Kara Cooney/Gems and Jewels: The Religions of Pakistan w/ Dr. Amineh Hoti
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