Marx Engels Institute – Details, episodes & analysis

Dr Dermot Hudson returns to the programme to talk about the recent policy change made by the Supreme Peoples Assembly of the DPRK towards the occupied south.  

Outro Music is the DPRK Military Choir performing the song 'Reunification'

Matteo Capasso returns to discuss the war on Gaza. We also discuss how Palestine is at the heart of liberation movements against US imperialism.

An audio study guide for Engels often neglected 1847 work 'The Principles of Communism'.

The second part of our talk with climate change skeptic Ben Pile. We speak about the politics and economics of the hydrocarbon industry, and we ask Ben what we REALLY should be worrying about.

Find more of Ben's work here: https://www.climate-resistance.org/

Ben's Twitter: @clim8resistance

We talk with climate change skeptic Ben Pile to get his critical view on climate science and the politics undergirding it (Twitter: @clim8resistance). Part 2 will be coming out next week.

Find more of Ben's work here: https://www.climate-resistance.org/

We've unlocked the second part of our interview with James Smith, of The Popular Show, in which we look at the use and abuses of the term "fascism", the position of the petit bourgeoisie and the usefulness of the "left-right" distinction in today's politics.

Check out The Popular Show on twitter @thepopularpod

In the weekend edition we look at the history of plastic surgery, why it developed, which layers in society have embraced it the most and why it has become ever more popular.  The answer as to why it has become ever more popular are disturbing and afford us an insight into the atomised, alienated and constantly marketised nature of certain areas of life in the western world today.

Episode Image is from Brazil - Directed by Terry Gilliam (1985)

In this episode we start off by examining the P&O Ferries dispute before turning to look at the latest on inflation and the idea that we are in a "long depression" since 2008. You can find out more about the P&O workers dispute on the link below. https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/pando-crisis/

We are unlocking one of our regular 'Ask Us Anything' episodes from October last year where we take questions from subscribers and from twitter. If you like this content you may want to subscribe for a whole lot more of it over on our patreon page.

Is the "rules based" international order collapsing? Has the Russian action in Ukraine ended for good the period of the unipolar world? What are we to make of President Vladimir Putin adopting the rhetoric of "responsibility to protect" arguments previously so beloved of US and British politiacal leaders? 

All this and much more are subjects of our discussion with Tara McCormack who is a lecturer in international relations, sovereignty, security, intervention and the relationship between foreign policy and the structure of the state at the University of Leicester. 

Be sure to follow Tara on twitter - @McCormack_Tara