The Nation Podcasts

Paris Marx is joined by Laleh Khalili to discuss Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, the structural factors that allowed him to build an empire, and the many ways he’s shaped the modern tech industry.

Laleh Khalili is Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and the author of Sinews of War and Trade and her forthcoming book Extractive Capitalism.

J D Vance said it most clearly: for the Trump people, “The universities are the enemy.” That’s why Trump is cutting billions of federal funding and making impossible demands that threaten dozens of universities. But universities have begun to resist. Michael Roth comments-- he's president of Wesleyan, and was the first university president to speak out against Trump’s attacks.

Also: Trump is not the worst president when it comes...

On this episode of American Prestige, we once again speak with Mohammad Alsaafin, journalist at AJ+, this time to talk about where things stand in Gaza and the West Bank. We discuss the collapse of the January ceasefire, the blockade on Gaza aid, the push for outright ethnic cleansing in Gaza, what country would be willing to aid Israel in that effort, what it would mean for Hamas to disarm, Israel taking the same approach to Jenin...

Even as he imposes authoritarianism on the United States, Donald Trump has given a new lease on life to the center left in many other countries. Canada is holding an election at the end of April under the shadow of the American presidents threat to turn it into the 51st state. Until Trump’s inauguration, the Conservative Party of Canada had a commanding lead. But voters are changing their minds fast and it now looks like the Libera...

One last news roundup without Derek, but Danny and Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute are on the case!

This week: the RSF announces plans to form a parallel government in Sudan (1:33); US-Iran nuclear negotiations continue in Oman (7:21); the US and Saudi Arabia discuss giving the Kingdom access to nuclear technology (14:19); the Trump trade war continues despite him dialing back certain tariffs (18:40); Xi Jinpi...

Paris Marx is doing a solo episode this week to bring together some important issues that have been on his mind lately. This is a recording of a talk Paris gave in Auckland, New Zealand on how Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump forces us to reassess the politics of the internet and challenge our collective dependence on US tech as it embraces the project of American empire.

While Trump’s attacks on the universities have broadened, and while Columbia is submitting to his requirements, Harvard’s president has declared that Harvard will not comply with the Trump’s demands in exchange for keeping its federal funding. David Cole comments - he recently stepped down as National Legal Director of the ACLU to return to teaching law at Georgetown.

Also: Elon Musk’s obsession with rockets and robots sounds futuri...

Please listen to our Sino-Soviet primer episode for some background!

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome back Jeremy Friedman, assistant professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy at Harvard, to talk about the Sino-Soviet Split. They lay out the state of play in the mid-1950s, the potential for détente, how the two powers are reconciling with their increasingly compe...

On this episode of American Prestige, We reluctantly approved Derek’s vacation time, but the news marches on, so Danny welcomes back to the show Alex Jordan of the Quincy Institute to help bring you headlines from around the world. They first take some time to catch up about where things stand with Trump 2.0 and critique what they see as premature analyses of this administration before getting into the news.

This week: Trump goes ba...

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Aline Blankertz to discuss whether Europe is going to finally make a serious push to end its dependence on US tech and how different European interests are trying to take advantage of those debates.

Aline Blankertz is an economist working on digital policy. She currently works with Rebalance Now and was previously at Wikimedia Germany.

Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail – but the alternative is not a return to the free trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, combined with government support for reindustrialization.

Also on this episode: A major lawsuit challenging Trump over his efforts to deport p...

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome to the show Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation, for a wide-ranging discussion on this moment in politics. They delve into the radicalization that led to Trump, the Democrats’ devotion to the Third Way, the need for a coherent leftwing media structure, Ukraine, NATO, the “Pivot to Asia”, the US empire, and what comes next.

By helping the Republicans pass a spending bill that made no compromises with the Democrats and extend Donald Trump’s power over the government, Chuck Schumer has made himself widely unpopular in his own party. Anger at Schumer is so intense that he had to cancel parts of his tour to promote his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning. David Klion, Nation columnist and frequent guest on the podcast, reviewed this volume for The...

This week on American Prestige's news roundup: the US and Iran are making moves risking escalation to a conflict (0:43); Israel rejects another Gaza ceasefire as it plans to carve up the Strip (7:28); the IDF resumes bombing Beirut (11:41); Myanmar suffers a devastating earthquake (13:44); the South Korea supreme court will rule on Yoon’s impeachment today (17:16); the Sudanese military secures the capital, K...

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by JS Tan to discuss his experience seeing first hand how Microsoft deployed its cloud and machine learning services to help Chevron extract more oil and gas, and the state of tech worker organizing around climate change. 

JS Tan is a PhD student at MIT, researching cloud computing in the US and China. He’s a a member of Collective Action in Tech and writes the Value Ad...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election tested the political power of Musk’s money, and voters rejected his candidate. The results have huge implications for the midterms. John Nichols has our analysis. 

Also: A big victory in federal district court: Trump cannot shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Rob Weissman of Public Citizen will explain.