Episodes

  • UNLOCKED: UK Diplomat Ian Proud Full Interview

    UNLOCKED: UK Diplomat Ian Proud Full Interview
    Jul 12 2024

    For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com

    Watch Thursday Throwdown: NYT accidentally exposes Biden's big debate lie https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nyt-accidentally-exposes-bidens-big?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.

    By popular demand, we are unlocking the extended interview with Ian Proud. Watch the full chat here:

    From July 2014 to February 2019, veteran diplomat Ian Proud was posted to the British Embassy in Moscow where he advised UK Ministers on sanctions against Russia.

    His embrace of diplomacy over war made him a Misfit in Moscow.

    Proud joins Useful Idiots to explain how British diplomacy failed in Russia, and how a strategy other than aggression and saber-rattling could have averted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He gives a complex history of the conflict, beginning with the 2014 West-backed coup in Ukraine, and culminating in Boris Johnson’s infamous in person threat to Zelensky that he must reject a peace deal.

    We ask Ian if it was Biden who instructed Johnson to do so.

    And today, with a (“so-called”) peace summit convened by the Ukrainian government and Putin making his most concrete peace offer to date, Ian’s long history as a British diplomat in Moscow gives us a chance to pull back the curtain on the talks that could potentially end the proxy war.

    Subscribe to hear the full interview with Ian Proud where he explains:

    •How the US’s Victoria Nuland undermined peace talks at every step since 2014

    •Boris Johnson’s admission that the proxy war is about “defending western hegemony” (and his embarrassing meeting with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion)

    •The UK’s role in the dirty war in Syria

    •The UK’s role in aiding Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza

    •How much the British government and its allies invest in propaganda (or, as they call it, strategic communications) to deceive the public into going along with their proxy wars

    •And the 2024 US presidential election: Would there would be any foreign policy difference between Biden and Trump?

    Useful Idiots is off this week, so we are unlocking a fan-favorite episode. Thanks for your support!



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    49 mins
  • Israel is heading for "national suicide" says Jewish Arab Israeli

    Israel is heading for "national suicide" says Jewish Arab Israeli
    Jul 5 2024
    Click here for the full interview with Alon Mizrahi: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israel-is-heading?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: NYT accidentally exposes Biden's big debate lie https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/nyt-accidentally-exposes-bidens-big?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    55 mins
  • The one way to stop Israel – w/ Diana Buttu

    The one way to stop Israel – w/ Diana Buttu
    Jun 28 2024
    For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: CNN compares Keffiyehs to Confederate Flags https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/cnn-compares-keffiyehs-to-confederate?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. 265 days into Israel’s mass assault on Gaza, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization Diana Buttu joins us from Haifa, Israel with a stark warning: Things are going to get worse. “For Netanyahu,” she explains, “he needs to open up another front in order to maintain his power. He's made it clear that he's not going to push for a ceasefire. He doesn't care about the Israeli captives. And so it's pretty clear to me that he's going to go ahead and attack Lebanon.” Israel has no aim to rescue its hostages. It never did. “If they actually cared about them, they would have done what should have been done very early on, which is negotiate a ceasefire. Instead, they’ve done the opposite. And this is why you can look at these ceasefire proposals with such skepticism. Because instead, what they’ve done is bombed Gaza to virtual smithereens.” Diana, whose father survived the Nakba in 1948, moved to Haifa in 2000. And like many others, she believed what the media told everyone to believe: that with a simple peace plan, Palestine would be fixed. Then she arrived in Palestine and saw the true reality. “All of the things that had been dismissed by the mainstream media,” she says, “I had dismissed too. I had dismissed this idea of settlements and the impact of settlements. And I kept thinking, it'll be undone. It'll all be undone. I dismissed the harm of what it means to be a Palestinian political prisoner, to be somebody who's abducted in the middle of the night. I dismissed the harm of the checkpoints. I dismissed a lot of things. And so when I arrived here, it was the first time that I had to confront the reality that this political process was not going to undo any of those harms.” Stopping the bombs is one thing. Stopping settlements, returning land, granting rights to Palestinians, and removing the literal wall that cages them is another. “They talk about reconfiguring the prison, reconfiguring the occupation, but they never talk about ending the occupation because this mentality of control permeates deep inside Israel.” There’s only one way this ends, Diana says. “It's going to end when the world says that it's enough. And that's it.” Diana also shares haunting stories of Palestinian children who were kept in Israeli torture prisons for months, and the ways that western corporate media has worked to cover it up. This week’s interview with Diana Buttu will not be paywalled. We hope you’ll listen to and share her important perspective. Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: CNN compares Keffiyehs to Confederate Flags, where Van Jones claims that wearing a keffiyeh around Israeli government supporters is as much a call for violence as waving a confederate flag in Harlem. And we celebrate the freedom of Julian Assange, a rare victory that couldn’t have happened without supporters of independent media like you. Thanks for your support, we’ll see you next time. 00:00 Intro 00:37 The Four Food Groups of News 18:10 Diana Buttu interview 18:52 Will Netanyahu attack Lebanon? 23:17 Why Netanyahu needs the war 24:50 Does Israel care about the hostages? 28:24 Is the peace process bogus? 33:01 Responding to Israeli talking points 42:10 Israeli is torturing child prisoners 52:10 How does the occupation end? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    58 mins
  • UK diplomat reveals NATO STARTED the WAR in Ukraine

    UK diplomat reveals NATO STARTED the WAR in Ukraine
    Jun 21 2024
    Click here for the full interview with Ian Proud: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/uk-diplomat-reveals-nato-started?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: White House would NEVER pause shipments to Israel, reports White House https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/white-house-would-never-pause-shipments?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. From July 2014 to February 2019, veteran diplomat Ian Proud was posted to the British Embassy in Moscow where he advised UK Ministers on sanctions against Russia. His embrace of diplomacy over war made him a Misfit in Moscow. Proud joins Useful Idiots to explain how British diplomacy failed in Russia, and how a strategy other than aggression and saber-rattling could have averted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He gives a complex history of the conflict, beginning with the 2014 West-backed coup in Ukraine, and culminating in Boris Johnson’s infamous in person threat to Zelensky that he must reject a peace deal. We ask Ian if it was Biden who instructed Johnson to do so. And today, with a (“so-called”) peace summit convened by the Ukrainian government and Putin making his most concrete peace offer to date, Ian’s long history as a British diplomat in Moscow gives us a chance to pull back the curtain on the talks that could potentially end the proxy war. Subscribe to hear the full interview with Ian Proud where he explains: •How the US’s Victoria Nuland undermined peace talks at every step since 2014 •Boris Johnson’s admission that the proxy war is about “defending western hegemony” (and his embarrassing meeting with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion) •The UK’s role in the dirty war in Syria •The UK’s role in aiding Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza •How much the British government and its allies invest in propaganda (or, as they call it, strategic communications) to deceive the public into going along with their proxy wars •And the 2024 US presidential election: Would there would be any foreign policy difference between Biden and Trump? 00:00 Intro 01:11 The Four Food Groups of News 15:17 Ian Proud interview 16:05 Peace talks in Ukraine 18:26 What the media gets wrong about Putin 23:06 The bridge that could have prevented a war 27:26 Did Biden instruct Johnson to threaten Zelensky? 33:10 Censoring his new book 38:02 Was the west involved in the 2014 coup? 40:50 Victoria Nuland undermines it all Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    45 mins
  • Former Israel negotiator Daniel Levy: THIS is Israel's real goal

    Former Israel negotiator Daniel Levy: THIS is Israel's real goal
    Jun 14 2024
    Click here for the full interview with Daniel Levy: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/former-israel-negotiator-daniel-levy?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Brian Stelter warns Trump will arrest Rachel Maddow https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/brian-stelter-warns-trump-will-arrest?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web President of the US/Middle East Project Daniel Levy used to be an Israeli peace negotiator. Today, he’s a leading critic of the Israeli government. This former insider talks to us about the real goals behind Israel's assault on Gaza, why the U.S. is so enabling of Israel, and the political impact this will have on Biden. He describes Israel's depressingly narrow political spectrum: “from apartheidists with a smiley face, through to ‘reoccupy Gaza permanently,’ through to the expulsionist eradicationist camp.” It’s a bleak but increasingly undeniable reality that what was once considered the left in Israel and the US has now become ‘the right but nicer about it.’ And what is Netanyahu's plan? “Right now I'm not sure that Netanyahu has a plan of what his morning-after looks like. To the extent to which there is an ongoing Israeli position, it’s ‘entrench the control,’ it's ‘maximum land,’ and it's this matrix of domination which is going to prevent any Palestinian freedom rights. The idea is push them out and resettle Gaza now.” Daniel also blasts the so-called peace process: “What they’re essentially saying,” Daniel explains, “is ‘let's go back to the status quo ante,’ which is a regime accurately described by Palestinians, Israeli human rights NGOs, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and the International Court of Justice as meaning the bar of a legal definition of apartheid.” Subscribe to hear the full interview with Daniel Levy where he explains what the US gets out of its enabling of Israel, Hamas’s new goals, and how he went from Israeli government official to leading critic. 00:00 Intro 04:36 The Four Food Groups of News 29:12 Daniel Levy interview 29:37 What's going on with the ceasefire? 34:35 Netanyahu's real goal 38:04 Israel's real goal 42:36 A refuge of scoundrels 46:34 How does peace happen? 52:42 Will Palestinians have rights? 57:31 Why is the US fueling this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    59 mins
  • Pulitzer Winner Nathan Thrall on Israel’s ceasefire ruse

    Pulitzer Winner Nathan Thrall on Israel’s ceasefire ruse
    Jun 7 2024
    Click here for the full interview with Nathan Thrall: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/pulitzer-winner-nathan-thrall-on?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Aaron Maté debunks the Washington Post's Grayzone propaganda https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/aaron-mate-debunks-the-washington?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “Netanyahu has messaged over and over again that he will not end this war. Israel absolutely and categorically refuses to end the war until Hamas is totally defeated.” This is the analysis of Nathan Thrall, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and writer who lives in Jerusalem. What’s surprising, however, is the newly announced deal brokered by Israel and the US which stipulates that Israel would agree to a ceasefire if the hostages were returned. “The giant loophole in this deal,” explains Thrall, “is that it comes in three phases. A permanent ceasefire comes in the second phase. The first phase is a limited prisoner exchange, and so Hamas has very little reason to believe that Israel will go into this and actually see it through to the end of the three phases.” Israel’s intransigency and unyielding occupation makes Thrall loath to talk about the potential of a one state or two state solution. “The discussion about solutions and about one-state-versus-two has served to distract people from the real present day reality. What that distraction has allowed people to do is to treat the present reality, the more than half century long present reality, as though it's temporary.” Focusing on the one or two state solution allows people to “debate the fantasy Utopia” and perpetuates the lie that the occupation is “only temporary. Clearly it can't last, they say, Israel is going to have to choose either to give Palestinians citizenship or give them a state” The reality is that “Israel doesn't have to choose. It will require a revolution in the way that the world treats Israel for it to have to choose, and maybe we're on the road to that now but it's a very long road.” Subscribe to watch the full interview with Nathan Thrall in which he discusses his Pulitzer-winning book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, which tells the story of a deadly school bus crash caused by harsh restrictions imposed on Palestinians living in Jerusalem. Thrall also updates us about how the main characters have been affected by Israel’s response to October 7. For example, Abed recently told Thrall “in all his life and experience of this occupation, these are the greatest restrictions on movement he has ever seen. It can take hours to travel distances that used to take half and hour inside the West Bank.” Also in the extended interview: For people who claim that Hamas broke the ceasefire, what was the state of violence in the occupied West Bank prior to October 7? What is life like in Gaza, where he spent 6 weeks. What’s it like being an American Jew in Gaza? And what kind of revolution would have to happen to reach peace? 00:00 Intro 01:08 The Four Food Groups of News 17:57 Nathan Thrall interview 19:00 Is the ceasefire real? 22:15 What's going on in Jerusalem? 23:40 Israel's goal 26:14 Hamas's goal 32:12 Life for Palestinians in Jerusalem 38:48 A Day in the Life of Abed Salama 43:02 The crime of saving children Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    46 mins
  • UN Rapporteur accuses Israel of sexual violence against Palestinian women

    UN Rapporteur accuses Israel of sexual violence against Palestinian women
    May 31 2024
    Click here for the full interview with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/un-rapporteur-accuses-israel-of-sexual?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: John Kirby feels "perfectly comfortable" with Israel bombing Rafah https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/john-kirby-feels-perfectly-comfortable?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “They knew,” repeats Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. “They knew this would result in killing. They knew this would result in immense physical and mental harm. They knew that by declaring a siege with no food, no water, no fuel, no medicines, people would be destined to die.” She continues, citing the definition of genocide: “These are conditions calculated to ‘bring about the destruction of a group in whole or part,’ and this is why it's genocide.” Working at the UN, Francesca Albanese released a groundbreaking report titled Anatomy of a Genocide, which concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide has been met. And Albanese is not alone in her conclusions. The International Court of Justice found plausible grounds for the genocide case against Israel. And the International Criminal Court has sought arrest warrants for Israeli officials over genocide. “The reason,” Francesca explains, “why Israeli leaders are being investigated and hopefully one day prosecuted by the ICC is because Israel has proven unwilling and unable to comply with international law [related to] war crimes against humanity, genocide, and oppression.” And the Biden administration is complicit: “The US administration considers the ‘red line’ as a sort of movable geometry. They keep on pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable, they keep on pushing the red lines further and further in order to justify their lack of action. The current administration is embroiled in this catastrophe in a way that words can’t say but justice can fix.” Subscribe for the full interview with Francesca Albanese where she responds to the argument that Israel has a right to defend itself, explains how mainstream media has censored her accounts of sexual violence against Palestinian women, and details the threats the ICC has received from Israel over their war crimes inquiry. 00:00 Intro 00:32 The Four Food Groups of News 19:32 Francesca Albanese interview 20:16 Can the ICJ stop Israel? 25:01 Anatomy of a Genocide 27:46 No red lines for John Kirby 34:55 The trick of humanitarian camouflage 40:59 Does Israel have a right to defend itself? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    43 mins
  • How Israel Spies on the World – with Antony Loewenstein

    How Israel Spies on the World – with Antony Loewenstein
    May 24 2024
    The first 50 people to click this link get 30% off ONE YEAR of Useful Idiots: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/first50 See the full interview with Antony Loewenstein here: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/how-israel-spies-on-the-world-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web The Palestine Laboratory: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2684-the-palestine-laboratory Not in My Name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOSMdSYZtMw&ab_channel=ABCNewsIn-depth For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Blinken's Neo N*zi Pizza Party https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/blinkens-neo-nzi-pizza-party?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web “Israel makes a killing from the occupation,” says journalist Antony Loewenstein in his new book The Palestine Laboratory, which uncovers how Israel has profited off the terror it reigns over Palestinians. “Israel's military uses the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they then export around the world to despots and democracies.” And with this scheme, he explains, Israel is able to genocide three birds with one stone. First, most obviously, they achieve their goal of control and carnage in Palestine, making the territory unlivable for the indigenous people in an effort to take the land. Second, Israel’s military industrial complex is vastly enriched from the sale of weapons and tech. And third, Israel’s weaponry allows them to to commit mass terror in Gaza: “After 1967, there were many nations that publicly opposed what Israel was doing, but the insurance policy is that Israel has been selling weapons and surveillance tech to so many countries for so long that those nations were less likely to criticize Israel where it matters, like the UN.” And the vast extent of this insurance policy is likely greater than we realize. “No one even knows, by the way, how many countries Israel has sold weapons to. I calculate anywhere between 125 and 145 nations, which is the majority of nations on the planet, have bought some form of Israeli weapons, surveillance tech, or repressive technology.” But since October 7, Antony explains, Israel’s grip over the world is slipping. Subscribe to hear the full interview in which Antony explains why “Israel is a house of cards,” how companies like Google and Amazon “are directly complicit in potential war crimes,” and why Israel’s potential war on Hezbollah “would make what's happening in Gaza seem like kindergarten.” 00:00 Intro 00:49 ICC wants to arrest Israel: The Four Food Groups of News 20:31 Antony Loewenstein interview 21:38 How Israel exports the technology of occupation 24:24 Israel's insurance policy 28:25 The Palestine laboratory 32:49 Israeli surveillance of Gaza 36:57 How the US uses IDF tactics to silence protesters 43:10 Google and Amazon war crimes? 49:26 What is Israel's goal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    52 mins