Explore every episode of the podcast Turbulence

We discuss the upcoming Brazilian elections, US plans to invade Cuba, the end of the third (?) Iraq war, military escort missions in Hormuz, the detention of migrant children in Texas, and Netanyahu’s pre-election gambits.

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In part two of our conversation with Nathan Tankus, we discuss the finance of settler colonialism—from the Ottoman Empire’s debt crisis to the foreign capital that financed Zionist settlement and facilitated Palestinian dispossession.

Nathan Tankus is a writer, researcher, and president of the publication Notes on the Crises. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Trump-Musk Payments Crisis: A 250-Year History, under contract with Viking Press. He is also the editor of We, Traitors: Bundist Writings on Zionism, Palestine, and Socialism, forthcoming from Haymarket.

Nathan has created a 70% off annual subscription discount for Turbulence listeners! Access here: https://www.crisesnotes.com/turbulence.

You can find Nathan on Bluesky or on Instagram.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

Full Bibliography for parts 1 and 2:

Beardsley Ruml, “Warm Springs Memorandum,” April 1, 1938, Box 1, Series II, Ruml Papers (University of Chicago Special Collections)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QX-moCOXe3sdIdb-D6nahgsZWDAP6gMe/view?usp=sharing

Collins, Robert M. The business response to Keynes, 1929–1964. Columbia University Press, 1981.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krr_0HETyEGSS47b5tbNnd4yXf_Jciqi/view?usp=sharing

Blackstone, William E. “The Blackstone Memorial.” 1891. “To Show Kindness to Israel”: The Blackstone Memorial, Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives

https://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/BlackstoneMemorial/intro.htm

Blackstone, William E. Jesus is Coming. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1898.

https://archive.org/details/JesusIsComing-raptureByWilliamW.e.b.Blackstone

Hudson, Michael. Super imperialism: The origin and fundamentals of US world dominance. Pluto Books, 2003 [1972].

https://www.crisesnotes.com/june2018manchesterspectrumofmonetarysovereignty/

https://www.crisesnotes.com/did-the-united-states-really-invade-iraq-because-it-started-pricing-oil-in-euros/

https://www.crisesnotes.com/the-oil-market-is-a-conventional-wisdom-processor/

Sabbagh-Khoury, Areej. Colonizing Palestine: The Zionist left and the making of the Palestinian Nakba. Stanford University Press, 2023.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c19cza2D0HpckCDmMUvamOVS2TnHIwYk/view?usp=sharing

Beirich, Eyshe, ed. We, Traitors: Bundist Writings on Palestine 1925–1938. Translated by Eyshe Beirich. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2027.

Parks, B. C., Zhang, S., Escobar, B., Walsh, K., Fedorochko, R., Vlasto, L., Zimmerman, J., Sickell, J., Bury, E., Joshi, A., Thome, L., Pandey, O., & Raja Manuri, V. P. R. 2025. Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Global Lending Rules. Williamsburg, VA: AidData at William & Mary

https://docs.aiddata.org/reports/chasing-china/Chasing_China_Full_Report.pdf

“We are a rich Nation; we can afford to pay for security and prosperity without having to sacrifice our liberties into the bargain. In the first century of our republic we were short of capital, short of workers and short of industrial production, but we were rich, very rich in free land, and free timber and free mineral wealth. The Federal Government of those days rightly assumed the duty of promoting business and relieving depression by giving subsidies of land and other resources. Thus, from our earliest days we have had a tradition of substantial government help to our system of private enterprise. But today the Government no longer has vast tracts of rich land to give away and we have discovered, too, that we must spend large sums of money to conserve our land from further erosion and our forests from further depletion.”

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “April 14, 1938: Fireside Chat 12: On the Recession.” Miller Center, University of Virginia, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-14-1938-fireside-chat-12-recession

Herzl, Theodor. The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl. Edited by Raphael Patai, translated by Harry Zohn, vol. 1, Herzl Press / Thomas Yoseloff, 1960.

Herzl, Theodor. The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl. Edited by Raphael Patai, translated by Harry Zohn, vol. 2, Herzl Press / Thomas Yoseloff, 1960.

Herzl, Theodor. The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl. Edited by Raphael Patai, translated by Harry Zohn, vol. 3, Herzl Press / Thomas Yoseloff, 1960.

Portnoy, Samuel A., ed.. Vladimir Medem. The Life and the Soul of a Legendary Jewish Socialist. New York: Ktav, 1979.

Milgrim, Michael R. “An Overlooked Problem in Turkish–Russian Relations: The 1878 War Indemnity.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 9.4 (1978): 519-537.

Forstater, Mathew. “Taxation and primitive accumulation: the case of colonial Africa.” (2005).

https://web.archive.org/web/20100728002121id_/http://cas.umkc.edu/econ/economics/faculty/Forstater/papers/Forstater2005/RiPE%20Forstater.pdf

Merrino, Serena. “Currency and settler colonialism: the Palestinian case.” Review of International Political Economy 28.6 (2021): 1729-1750.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290.2020.1803951

Darity Jr, William. “African American reparations, Keynes, and the transfer problem.” Keynes for the Twenty-First Century: The Continuing Relevance of the General Theory. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 199-205.

Darity Jr, William A., and Andrea Kirsten Mullen. From here to equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the twenty-first century. UNC Press Books, 2022.

Nathan Tankus joins us to discuss the monetary foundations of American empire, how sanctions weaponize the global financial system, the possibility of China-led de-dollarization, and what’s really going on with the oil futures market.

This is part one of a two part episode. Part two, A Financial History of Zionism, will be released later this week on our paid feed.

Works mentioned: A Spectrum Approach to Monetary Sovereignty and our Dollar World; Did the United States Really Invade Iraq Because it Started Pricing Oil in Euros?; Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Global Lending Rules; The Oil Market is a Conventional Wisdom Processor; Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire; The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.

Nathan Tankus is a writer, researcher, and president of the publication Notes on the Crises. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Trump-Musk Payments Crisis: A 250-Year History, under contract with Viking Press. He is also the editor of We, Traitors: Bundist Writings on Zionism, Palestine, and Socialism, forthcoming from Haymarket.

Nathan has created a 70% off annual subscription discount for Turbulence listeners! Access here: https://www.crisesnotes.com/turbulence.

You can find Nathan on Bluesky or on Instagram.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

This week we’re joined by returning co-host Alexander Aviña, as well as friend of the show Barry with the NED, to go in depth on Ansarallah’s major ground offensive in Yemen, the downing of a Saudi F-15, and the US’s escalating violence in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Hassan Ould Moctar joins us to discuss Europe’s externalized border regime, the colonial history of race and territory in Mauritania, and how migration control, counterinsurgency, and development policy have fused across the Sahel.

Works mentioned: After Border Externalization: Migration, Race, and Labour in Mauritania.

Hassan Ould Moctar is a Fellow at the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb, University of Tunis and former lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London. His research focuses on the relationship between migration, borders, and development processes, with a regional focus on West and North Africa. He is the author of After Border Externalization: Migration, Race, and Labour in Mauritania, which is available open access from Bloomsbury Publishers.

To support migrants in Senegal and those facing deportation and border violence, consider donating to Boza Fii.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Researcher: KC

We discuss the expanding conflict in Hormuz, Ansarallah’s lightning advance in Yemen, Trump’s oil problem, the surging anti-migrant right across the North Atlantic, and why Javier Milei is ratcheting up Argentine claims on Las Malvinas.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Kai Bosworth joins us to discuss the strange politics of the data center revolt, the AI boom’s place in the global energy system, and what the rise and fall of the climate movement can teach us about the struggles taking shape in its wake.

Works mentioned: Where is the U.S. climate movement?, Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century, AI Data Center Development in Frackland, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, The Production of Space

Kai Bosworth is a geographer and political ecologist, and an Associate Professor at the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century. His current book project is provisionally entitled Protectors of the Subsurface: Militant Investigation and Critical Imagination in Anti-Oil Activism.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Researcher: KC

We welcome Alex Aviña to Turbulence and discuss the Battle of Hormuz, Bessent’s economic D-Day for Iran, the US-Venezuela oil deal, the arrest of Fernando Cerimedo in Bolivia, and Trump’s war on the price of burger.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Josef Burton joins us to discuss the transformation of immigration under Trump, the bureaucrats who administer US machinery of repression, and what intensifying coercion at home and imperial retreat abroad mean for our political future.

Works mentioned: One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention

Josef Burton is a writer and former US diplomat who worked mainly on consular and immigration issues. He tweets at @PinstripeBungle

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

In part two of our double episode with Mujamma Haraket, we discuss the history of Hamas, the relationship between Hamas and the Palestinian left, and how various factions of the resistance are approaching the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Arlene Eisen joins us to discuss the transformations in the anti-war movement across the Vietnam War, the interrelation of feminism and anti-imperialism, and what decades of state repression can teach today’s movements about security and survival.

Works mentioned: In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women

Arlene Eisen has been a militant in the struggle against imperialism since the 1960s—first as a protester facing tear gas and later as a teacher and writer. She edited The Movement newspaper, and was a leading voice in the anti-imperialist women’s movement of the 1970s. For the next half century, she joined the anti-apartheid movement, the movement for justice in Palestine, including the olive harvest in the West Bank, the struggle for the right to return to New Orleans after Katrina, the movements against fascist U.S. police and their deputized militias and against the holocaust in Gaza—always standing in solidarity with national liberation struggles both inside and outside the U.S. Empire.

She is the author of Women of Viet Nam, Women and Revolution in Viet Nam, and the influential report Operation Ghetto Storm, which documented police killings of Black people in the United States. Her latest book, In The Worldwide Family of Militant Women, is a social history and memoir of revolutionary movements from 1962 to 1982. You can find her work here.

Please consider donating to the Meera Center for Gazan children in Egypt.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss Iranian threats to strike Bulgaria, Russia supplying Iran with explosives and ammunition, the possibility of an Israel-Turkiye war, and the US reducing its military footprint in the pacific. We also bid a fond farewell to our dear Séamus.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Mujamma Haraket joins us to discuss negotiations over Hamas’ disarmament, the collaborator militias in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya’s rise within Hamas, the movement’s evolving relationship with Ansarallah, and the future of Palestinian armed resistance.

Mujamma Haraket is a translator and academic researcher in political philosophy with a specialization in non-state actors, political Islam and the history of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Isa Blumi joins us to discuss Ansarallah’s renewed war with Saudi Arabia, whether pipelines can bypass Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, the Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement, and the Gulf powers’ long campaign to subordinate Yemen.

Works mentioned: Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World.

Isa Blumi is Professor at Stockholm University within the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University (2005) and a Master of Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York (1995).

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss an Iran-Oman agreement over the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE’s expanding footprint across the African continent, a horrific crisis at the Morocco-Spain border, and Trump’s saga with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss how the regional war has expanded north to the Caspian Sea and south to the Horn of Africa, Trump’s effort to break the oil market, a new Saudi coalition, Netanyahu’s visit to the US, and Lindsey Graham’s funeral.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Aziz Rana joins us to discuss the Trump doctrine of foreign policy, the evolution of US hegemony since WW2, how the concept of freedom has animated American political thought and identity, and the challenge of political subjectivity.

Works mentioned: The Two Faces of American Freedom, The Constitutional Bind, Workshop on Internationalism and Relations with Liberation Struggles Around the World.

Aziz Rana is a professor of law and government at Boston College Law School, where his research and teaching center on American constitutional law and political development. In particular, his work focuses on how shifting notions of race, citizenship, and empire have shaped legal and political identity since the founding. He is the author of two books: The Two Faces of American Freedom and his most recent book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document that Fails Them.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss Iran’s pummeling of US bases in Jordan, the rollout of “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon, Ansarallah’s blockade of Saudi oil transits in the Red Sea, the US-Saudi nuclear agreement, and the status of Venezuela’s oil revenues.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Hakim Adi joins us to discuss the Black radicals who shaped the Comintern, the Black Belt Thesis and the national question, Pan-Africanism through decolonization, and whether the Alliance of Sahel States is a path to African sovereignty.

Works mentioned: Pan-Africanism and Communism, Black Bolshevik, Africa Must Unite

Prof. Hakim Adi is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of International History at the London School of Economics and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre of Pan-African Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Hakim was the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain. His most recent books are Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919-1939 (Africa World Press, 2013), Pan-Africanism: A History (1804 Books, 2023), and, as editor Black British History: New Perspectives (Zed, 2019), Black Voices on Britain (Macmillan, 2022) and Many Struggles: New Histories of African and Caribbean People in Britain (Pluto, 2023). His most recent publication, Africa and Caribbean People in Britain: A History (Allen Lane, 2023) was shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize in Britain in September 2023.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the latest cycle of escalation between the US and Iran, the reopening of the Yemen front, ICE murders in Maine and Texas, the Trump administration’s latest attempts to crack down on the left, and Marco Rubio’s crusade against the ICC.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Matthew Petti joins us to discuss the crack-up within the Republican Party’s base over Gaza, Netanyahu’s plan to wind down US military aid, and what the US’s performance in the Iran War portends for the future of great power conflict.

Check out Matthew’s latest piece, published on Drop Site, here. You can read some of the other pieces mentioned in the interview here and here.

Matthew Petti is an assistant editor at Reason who covers U.S. national security policy and its interactions with American society and domestic politics. He has previously reported for the BBC (in Persian and English), The Intercept, The Daily Beast, New Lines, Responsible Statecraft, Middle East Eye, and The National Interest, among other publications.

You can find him on Substack and on X/Twitter.

Please consider donating to families in need in Gaza: here, here, or here.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the unravelling of the US-Iran MOU, the dissolution of Hamas’s civilian governing body in Gaza, Turkiye’s status in NATO, Rahm Emanuel’s Tel Aviv speech, and Mamdani’s persecution of the NYC Italian community.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-fund…

Nasser Elamine joins us to discuss the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, Hezbollah’s military reemergence, the unity of fronts strategy, and how regional states are responding to the rapidly shifting global order.

Works mentioned: Interim Contours, Hezbollah’s Gamble.

Nasser Elamine is a senior editor at Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a pan-Arab daily based in London, and a writer/researcher focusing on Middle Eastern geopolitics.

You can find him on X/Twitter here and on Instagram here.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We are joined by Noah and Brendan to discuss the evolution of US foreign policy since World War II, the extent to which Trump marks a decline in American power, and lessons they have learned across six seasons of Blowback.

Works mentioned: The Yankee and Cowboy War; The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000.

Our Anti-4th of July Sale is live. For this week only (ending July 7th), you'll get 20% off both monthly and annual subscriptions. If you choose an annual plan, you'll also receive our usual $5 annual discount, giving you a full year of Turbulence at our lowest price. If you've enjoyed listening over the past eight months and you're in a position to support our work, your subscription helps us keep this show independent and sustainable.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com

Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod

Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Noah Kulwin and Brendan James of Blowback join us to discuss their new mini-series on the history of the US-Israel relationship, how the Cold War turned into the War on Terror, and the current moment of tension over the Iran war.

Blowback’s first-ever mini-series, No Daylight, is available now for Blowback subscribers.

This is part one of a two-part conversation with Noah and Brendan. In part two, they reflect on the broader arc of the American century and what they have learned across six seasons of Blowback. Part two will be released on July 3rd, exclusively for Turbulence’s paid subscribers.

Our Anti-4th of July Sale is live. For this week only, you'll get 20% off both monthly and annual subscriptions. If you choose an annual plan, you'll also receive our usual $5 annual discount, giving you a full year of Turbulence at our lowest price. If you've enjoyed listening over the past eight months and you're in a position to support our work, your subscription helps us keep this show independent and sustainable.

Brendan James is a writer, musician, and former producer of the hit podcast Chapo Trap House. Noah Kulwin is a reporter and editor who has written for The New York Times, New York, The Drift, Jewish Currents, and elsewhere. Together, they host the political history podcast Blowback.

Works mentioned: Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict; High Noon in Washington: The Shootout over the Loan Guarantees; Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance; Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the passing of our dear friend Alan, a deconfliction mechanism in Lebanon, Israeli troop deployments to Somaliland, the victories of DSA-backed candidates in New York, the repression of anti-ICE protestors in Texas, and Séamus breaks his silence on Ice Cream Truck-Gate.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Torkil Lauesen joins us to discuss the political economy of imperialism and trade, Arghiri Emmanuel’s theory of unequal exchange, political action in the imperial core, his years in prison, and the current geopolitical moment of hegemonic transition.

Works mentioned: Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future; Unequal Exchange.

Torkil Lauesen is a communist writer. In 1969 he joined a Maoist cadre organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It specialized in undercover material support work for liberation movements in The Third World. Besides this it provided political schooling and study groups analysing the world system for developing their strategy and praxis. This work continued for nearly 20 years until their cover was blown in 1989. He turned the years in prison into a long field study, writing a master thesis in political science about the prison system. After being released, he continued anti-imperialist activism and took up writing for publishing in an effort to pass on their experience. He is a member of anti-imperialist net and a board member of the Arghiri Emmanuel Association.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

In this special extended bonus episode, we go point by point through the Memorandum of Understanding to end the Iran War. We also survey some of the most charming reactions from US and Israel officials and media figures.

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Gerald Horne joins us to discuss writing history from below, whether the legacy of 1776 can be redeemed, settler colonialism as an analytic frame, the US’s Suez moment in Iran, and the challenges of contemporary left electoralism.

Works mentioned: The Counter-Revolution of 1776; The Capital of Slavery; The Counter-Revolution of 1836; Armed Struggle?; Abolition Democracy; Banquo’s Ghost; Comparative Settler Colonialism: Slavery & Indigenous Dispossession in the U.S. and Canada, the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia (forthcoming).

Dr. Gerald Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He has written over 40 books dealing with the confluence of African American History, Communist History, the struggle for liberation, internationalism, imperialism, colonialism, racism, white supremacy, and fascism.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the return of war to the Persian Gulf, negotiations over an MOU, “dark transits” through Hormuz, a proposed Syrian invasion of Lebanon, Graham Platner’s whole deal, and what the trainwreck at CBS News says about the US-Israel relationship.

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For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Lara Sheehi joins us to discuss the legacy of Franz Fanon, what psychoanalysis can offer liberation struggles, Zionism as the denial of Palestinian interiority, and the psychic dimensions of occupation and resistance.

Please consider donating to the Lebanon Emergency Relief Fund, here: Tanseqeye Shaabeye Lebanon.

Works mentioned: Black Skin, White Masks, Wretched of the Earth, Psychoanalysis Under Occupation, From the Clinic to the Streets, Molding Consciousness.

Lara Sheehi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of the Psychic Militancy podcast. Lara’s work focuses on psychoanalysis, the psychic refusals central to liberation struggles and life-making in the Global South, the psychic dimensions of resistance and revolution, and critical Zionism studies. She is the author of From Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures (Pluto, 2026) and co-author with Stephen Sheehi of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022). Lara is a member of the founding collective for the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and is on the advisory board for Forensic Architecture.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/psychicmilitancy

IG: @psychicmilitancypod & @psychoanalystactivist

Website: larasheehi.com

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the latest flare-up in the Strait of Hormuz, China’s impact on the global oil market, the new “ceasefire” in Lebanon, the disarmament of militant groups in Iraq, a new plan to militarily integrate the US and Israel, and America’s 250th birthday.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Adam Johnson joins us to discuss his work documenting how the mainstream media supported the Gaza genocide by sanitizing Israeli war crimes, obscuring the US’s role, and systematically dehumanizing Palestinians.

Works mentioned: Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?, How to Sell a Genocide.

Adam Johnson is co-host of the Citations Needed podcast and author of How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza which is now out from Pluto Press.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss Netanyahu’s non-strategy in Gaza and Lebanon, the draft memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, Trump’s last-ditch Abraham Accords push, and what’s going on with JD Vance.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth of Soberanía join us to discuss a potential US military assault on Cuba, updates from Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico, and the prospects for left internationalism in Latin America.

Check out José Luis and Kurt’s podcast, Soberanía.

Works mentioned: Despite Trump’s Oil Blockade, the Quiet Resistance of Daily Life Continues in Cuba; Hondurasgate; AMLO Wants a United Latin America; US Sanctions and the Sharp Rise in Infant Mortality in Cuba.

José Luis Granados Ceja is a journalist and political analyst based in Mexico City. He is co-host of the Mexican public television show Sin Muros, and currently covers Latin America for Drop Site News, and writes a monthly opinion column for the Mexico Solidarity Project. Follow him on Twitter @granadosceja

Kurt William Hackbarth is a writer, playwright, journalist, and translator. He is co-host of the program Sin Muros on Canal Once TV and a panelist on Masiosare, a co-production of Canal Once and Canal 22. He is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast, as well as its interview program El Taller. He is the Mexico correspondent for Jacobin magazine and a regular contributor to Breakthrough News. He is the author of the books We Interrupt This Program (Editorial Ficticia, 2012), Symphony #1 (Matanga Taller-Editorial, 2019; second edition, 2025), and Journey to Monpratior (Matanga Taller-Editorial, 2022). Follow him on Twitter @kurthackbarth

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss the scandalous reporting about a former Iranian president, the perils of situation monitoring, international outrage at Itamar Ben-Gvir, and what Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s fragrant encounter with Donald Trump means for the future of greater Israel.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That mean…

Aamer joins us to discuss the repressive crackdowns in Bahrain amidst the Iran war, the popular uprising in 2011, the history of leftist and Islamist movements in the country, and the shifting geopolitics of the Gulf.

Works mentioned: The View from Bahrain, Shouting in the Dark

Aamer is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on the Gulf. He looks at the Gulf states’ roles in broader geopolitical issues with a special focus on Bahrain.

He can be found on X/Twitter @IbnKhulthum.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss Trump’s visit to Beijing, negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz, the budding UAE-Israel alliance, and advancements in Hezbollah’s drone warfare.

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For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news a…

Salman Abu Sitta joins us to discuss his memories of the Nakba, a practical program for the return of Palestinian refugees, Zionist continuities with the Nazis, and the meaning of intergenerational resistance.

Texts mentioned: Mapping My Return, The Atlas of Palestine (1917-1966), I could have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7, Point of No Return.

Dr. Salman Abu Sitta is a Palestinian historian, geographer, and researcher. He is the president of the Palestine Land Society in London. He has authored hundreds of papers on Palestinian refugee affairs.

To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Navid Zarrinnal joins us from Tehran to discuss the popular mobilizations in support of the war effort, national resilience in the face of economic siege, the prospects of diplomacy with the West, and Iranian support for the Axis of Resistance.

Navid Zarrinnal holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University’s Department of Middle East Studies, and has taught in the Global South for the past three years. He is currently based in Tehran and his war updates can be viewed on Instagram @navidwahraman

Intro clip with subtitles:

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For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We discuss Trump’s most recent “plan” for the Iran war, the price of oil, the UAE leaving OPEC, Haredi anti-draft riots in Israel, and the latest updates from Gaza.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Basil Farraj joins us to discuss Israeli carceral violence, the evolution of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, and the life and thought of Walid Daqqa.

Texts mentioned: “Parallel Time”: Cultural Productions from the Small Prison to the Large Prison; My Father Is One of Thousands Disappeared in Israel’s Prisons.

Basil Farraj is the Director of the Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies, and an assistant professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University.

Basil is working to establish a fellowship specifically for research on Israel’s carceral regime. To support that effort, donate at this link and select “Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute Donations” from the drop down menu “Programs/Campaigns.”

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We continue our coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran with a discussion of Trump’s unilateral ceasefire extension, the US naval blockade, the prospects for renewed hostilities, and the looming economic crisis.

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For $5 …

Adam Hanieh joins us to discuss the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, how the petrodollar system shaped US-Gulf relations, the role of oil in US foreign policy, the economic rise of China, and what the war on Iran means for the climate crisis.

Texts discussed: Crude Capitalism, Venezuela’s Oil in the Grip of US Empire. Also check out Hanieh’s latest in the FT, The Coming Global Food Crisis.

Adam Hanieh is Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute and Professor in the Development Studies Department at SOAS, University of London. His current research looks at the interplay of fossil fuels, capitalism, and the climate emergency, with a particular focus on the Gulf states of the Middle East. He is the author of four books, including Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which won the 2019 British International Studies Association IPE Group Book Prize and Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market (Verso 2024), which was co-winner of the 2025 Best Book by an International Scholar, Global and Transnational Section of the American Sociological Association.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We continue our coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran with a discussion of the diplomatic smoke and mirrors around renewed ceasefire talks, the US blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz, and the Israel-Lebanon direct negotiations.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Karim Makdisi joins us to discuss the recent widespread Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the re-emergence of Hezbollah as an active fighting force in the broader regional war, what the Lebanese government is hoping to achieve with diplomacy, and the future of Israel’s struggle for hegemony.

Karim Makdisi is an Associate Professor of international politics at the American University of Beirut, and the co-host of the Makdisi Street Podcast. His research focuses on the international politics of the Middle East, politics and history of the United Nations, and disarmament. He is currently working on a book project centered around Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We continue our coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran with a discussion of the “ceasefire” “agreement” brokered by Pakistan, the rescue operation following the downing of an American fighter jet, and Israel’s genocidal attacks on Lebanon.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

In the second installment of our Political Economy of Genocide series, we are joined by Tim Barker to discuss the role of the defense industry in the US economy, how the trade in weapons shapes foreign policy, and whether the war on Iran is following a capitalist logic.

Texts mentioned: Merchants of Death by H.C. Engelbrecht & F.C. Hanighen; How To Ensure Israel Has the Weapons it Needs; The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”; Adjusting Certain Delegations Under the Defense Production Act. See also Weapons of the Week #4: White Phosphorus.

Tim Barker is a historian who writes the Substack Origins of Our Time. His book on the political economy of the Cold War is forthcoming from Verso.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

We continue our coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran with a discussion of the strategic landscape, Trump’s address to the nation, and whether the US is about to do something extremely stupid.

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Laleh Khalili joins us to discuss the mechanics, strategy, and economics of Iran’s wartime closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Laleh Khalili is a professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and the author or editor of seven books, including Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge 2007), Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (Verso 2020), and Extractive Capitalism: How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy (Profile Books 2025).

We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.

For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.

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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)

Art: Vivek Venkatraman