The Anglo-Americans blamed the Germans for World War I, and won. Now they would impose terms. But if they sought too high an indemnity, Germany’s economy would collapse and they would never pay. If they helped Germany rebuild, what kind of punishment would that be? In the end, the Allies chose a path that guaranteed … Continue reading "Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt4 – Germany"

The Balkans are where the Great War began; there were two Balkan wars before the Great War and there was a Balkan war in the Great War. In Paris, delegations from the region made their cases, the Great Powers made their dispensations. New countries formed and new borders drawn, which would be changed again in … Continue reading "Civ 1919: Treaty of Versailles pt3 – the Balkans"

Andy Zaltzman is joined by Andrew Maxwell, Zing Tsjeng, Jessica Fostekew and Pierre Novellie to unpack the upcoming local elections, the Conclave in the Vatican, Trump's planned UK visit, and Yorkshire Gladiators.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Chris Ballard, Cody Dahler, Eve Delaney and Alice Fraser. Producer: Rajiv Karia Executive Producer: Richard Morris Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.

Ryan and Emily discuss Trump bullies Amazon into major cave, US GDP shrinks amid tariffs, MAGA influencers go full cult in WH event, Trump falls for his own MS13 photoshop, US jet falls off ship dodging Houthi strikes, NYC woman attacked by Zionist mob speaks out, African journo says USAID does more harm than good.

 

Chernoh Bah: https://www.amazon.com/Ebola-Outbreak-West-Africa-Multinationals/dp/0996973923

 

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We have on returning guest, independent journalist Hanno Hauenstein to talk about Germany today, the Berlin Four and Namibia.

Find our guest:

https://x.com/hahauensteinhttps://hannohauenstein.substack.com/

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Support Corner Späti

Rania Khalek hosts a special live episode of Dispatches with Ali Abunimah, executive director of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine.

They dive into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the global silence enabling it, and why this brutal new phase was always Zionism’s endgame. From U.S.-funded fascism abroad to rising repression at home, nothing is off the table.

Multi-award winning comedian and author Mark Watson continues his probably doomed, but luckily funny quest to make sense of the human experience.

This series is about time - the days of the week, the stages of our existence - and the way we use it to make sense of things. We make our way through the working week, tonight considering 'hump day' - Wednesday. Wednesday's child, famously, is full of woe. Both Mark and Esther are in this category. Is the woe a real issue or merely a fairy tale? What is the bleakest joke ever told by a four-year-old? And what would Thomas Hardy make of this series?

Expect jokes, observations and interactions galore as Mark is aided, and sometimes obstructed, by the sardonic musical excellence of Flo & Joan. There's also a hand-picked comedy colleague each week - here, we welcome Esther Manito.

Producer: Lianne Coop

An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), who was part of the movement known as phenomenology. While less well-known than his contemporaries Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, his popularity has increased among philosophers in recent years. Merleau-Ponty rejected Rene Descartes’ division between body and mind, arguing that the way we perceive the world around us cannot be separated from our experience of inhabiting a physical body. Merleau-Ponty was interested in the down-to-earth question of what it is actually like to live in the world. While performing actions as simple as brushing our teeth or patting a dog, we shape the world and, in turn, the world shapes us. With

Komarine Romdenh-Romluc Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Thomas Baldwin Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of York

And

Timothy Mooney Associate Professor of Philosophy at University College, Dublin

Produced by Eliane Glaser

Reading list:

Peter Antich, Motivation and the Primacy of Perception: Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Knowledge (Ohio University Press, 2021)

Dimitris Apostolopoulos, Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Language (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019)

Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails (Chatto and Windus, 2016)

Thomas Baldwin (ed.), Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Basic Writings (Routledge, 2004)

Thomas Baldwin (ed.), Reading Merleau-Ponty (Routledge, 2007)

Renaud Barbaras (trans. Ted Toadvine and Leonard Lawlor), The Being of the Phenomenon: Merleau-Ponty’s Ontology (Indiana University Press, 2004).

Anya Daly, Merleau-Ponty and the Ethics of Intersubjectivity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

M. C. Dillon, Merleau-Ponty’s Ontology (Northwestern University Press, 1998, 2nd ed.)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (trans. Alden L. Fisher), The Structure of Behavior (first published 1942; Beacon Press, 1976)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (trans. Donald Landes), Phenomenology of Perception (first published 1945; Routledge, 2011)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Sense and Non-Sense (first published 1948; Northwestern University Press, 1964)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Signs (first published 1960; Northwestern University Press, 1964)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible (first published 1964; Northwestern University Press, 1968)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (trans. Oliver Davis with an introduction by Thomas Baldwin), The World of Perception (Routledge, 2008)

Ariane Mildenberg (ed.), Understanding Merleau-Ponty, Understanding Modernism (Bloomsbury, 2019)

Timothy Mooney, Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception: On the Body Informed (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Katherine J. Morris, Starting with Merleau-Ponty (Continuum, 2012)

Komarine Romdenh-Romluc, Merleau-Ponty and Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge, 2011)

Komarine Romdenh-Romluc, The Routledge Guidebook to Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge, 2011)

Jean-Paul Sartre (trans. Benita Eisler), Situations (Hamish Hamilton, 1965)

Hilary Spurling, The Girl from the Fiction Department (Penguin, 2003)

Jon Stewart (ed.), The Debate Between Sartre and Merleau-Ponty (Northwestern University Press, 1998)

Ted Toadvine, Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature (Northwestern University Press, 2009)

Kerry Whiteside, Merleau-Ponty and the Foundation of an Existential Politics (Princeton University Press, 1988)

Iris Marion Young, On Female Body Experience: “Throwing Like a Girl” and Other Essays (Oxford University Press, 2005)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Andy Zaltzman is joined by Zoe Lyons, Mark Steel, Athena Kugblenu and Hugo Rifkind to unpack bin workers strikes in Birmingham, pop stars popping to the stars, talks of tariffs, steeling oneself in Scunthorpe, and how Toby took his carvery one step too far.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Mike Shephard, Christina Riggs, Eve Delaney and Ben Pope. Producer: Rajiv Karia Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Production Coordinator: Beanna Olding Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4

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Derek makes his grand return to the AP newsroom! This week: Pope Francis dies (0:30); India sees the worst attack on civilians in Kashmir in years, prompting fallout on India-Pakistan relations (6:35); the US carries out its deadliest airstrike on Yemen to date (14:39); Qatar and Egypt propose a new ceasefire plan for Gaza (18:07); the US and Iran see progress in their nuclear talks, but the Trump administration continues to demand zero enrichment (21:27); Trump has once again changed course on tariffs (26:28); in Sudan, the RSF closes in on Al-Fashir (29:46); it is unclear whether peace talks for the DRC-M23 conflict are making progress (32:30); Russia’s operation in Kursk nears its end (35:10); Vladimir Putin offers to halt the war at the current front line, but this and Trump’s peace proposal meet resistance from Zelensky (36:33); the US State Department releases a reorganization plan (45:13); and more leaks and discord are apparent at the US Department of Defense under Pete Hegseth (48:01).

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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 Jinping tours Southeast Asia (22:44); President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador visits the White House amid the controversy of Kilmar Ábrego García’s deportation (27:15); ICE is ramping up the arrest of pro-Palestine voices in the US (31:14); center-right candidate Daniel Noboa wins the presidential election in Ecuador (32:56); American envoy Steve Witkoff says a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia is imminent (34:36) and President Vladimir Zelenskyy appears on 60 Minutes (40:42); and the Israeli government announces that it will escalate its attack on Gaza (43:13). 

Danny then speaks with Afeef Nessouli, a volunteer currently in Gaza working with Glia, a medical organization that “empowers low-resource ​communities to build sustainable, locally-driven healthcare projects.”

Please consider donating to Glia to help Afeef and Palestinians doing medical work in Gaza. Afeef also works with Shabab Gaza, a local project that provides food for victims of the genocide. You can donate if you DM them @shababgaza1 on Instagram.

If you’d like to follow Afeef please check out his Instagram handle @afeefness, where he’s been sharing his experiences in Gaza.

And catch Alex Jordan on X/Twitter @alexjordanatl and on the Quincy Institute’s upcoming YouTube program “Always at War," which he will co-host with Courtney Rawlings.

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Democracy Now! 2025-04-23 Wednesday

• Headlines for April 23, 2025
• "America, América": Greg Grandin on Latin American History, from Colonization to CECOT to Pope Francis

Download this show

Back again for another year! Ciarán runs through all the ESC songs this year and gives you his takes. Fuck the EBU. Don't watch the Eurovision. Watch Gyrovision.

BUY GYROVISION TICKETS:

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Support Corner Späti

Quinn Slobodian, author of Hayek’s Bastards, talks about the IQ- and race-obsessed goldbugs of second generation neoliberalism.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Just added to my radio archive (click on date for link):

April 17, 2025 Quinn Slobodian, author of Hayek’s Bastards, talks about the IQ- and race-obsessed goldbugs of second generation neoliberalism

Jon Holmes remixes the news into a current affairs comedy concept album. News meets popular culture in a multi-award-winning mash up. This week: Charlie XCX is bumpin' that with Donald Trump, Minecraft Movie vs Russia, and Starmer: Man of Steel.

Producer: Jon Holmes An unusual production for BBC Radio 4

Donald Trump's trade war went nuclear, hitting China with 145% tariffs, aimed at economic decoupling. This is already backfiring on the US economy, which is heavily reliant on Chinese imports. The volatility also fueled a crisis in the bond market, with Treasury yields rising. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9k7132Iyeo Trump advisor reveals tariff strategy - Force countries to pay tribute to maintain US empire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnajhDMAWVA Topics 0:00 Economic war 0:51 Tariffs of 145% on China 1:56 China defends itself 2:41 Decoupling 3:49 (CLIP) Howard Lutnick attacks China 4:14 Scott Bessent on China 4:48 US trade with China 7:05 USA will lose trade war 8:02 China's manufacturing dominance 9:47 China's trade 10:33 High risk 11:35 Trump's arrogance 12:06 (CLIP) Trump: countries are "kissing my ass" 12:18 Mafia behavior 13:02 US empire demands tribute 13:35 (CLIP) Stephen Miran: US demands tribute 13:59 Threatening the world 15:55 China stands up 16:34 Trump admin's China hawks 17:47 (CLIP) Marco Rubio on new cold war 18:30 Biden admin targeted China too 20:01 US bond market shock 21:39 Treasury note yields 25:01 Interest payments on US national debt 26:05 Hedge fund margin calls 28:35 Trump's billionaires 28:53 Elon Musk 29:42 Bill Ackman 29:59 Jamie Dimon 30:35 Market manipulation? 32:21 Trump meme coins 32:58 Outro

Yoni Appelbaum, a deputy executive editor at The Atlantic, joins the program to talk about his book Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. They discuss mobility in the US and how that might sacrifice community for opportunity, the “frontier” as a way of taking land and easing class antagonism, the birth of American zoning from anti-Chinese practices in 19th century California, the move toward the single-family home and it being a symbol of the American identity, how we can make homes accessible once more for working Americans, and more. 

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Bastien Guerry has a longish post on how he uses Org mode for task management. If you’ve been around Org mode for any amount of time, Guerry will be familiar to you. He took over the maintainership of Org mode when Carsten Dominick decided he needed to get back to Astronomy, which is, after all, his profession. Since then, Guerry has stepped in when Org needed him and has continued to be a presence in the project.

His years of working on Org mode internals have given him a first rate understanding of how Org works and the best way to use it. Therefore his post on how he uses Org to manage his tasks is must reading for all Org users. Guerry will be the first to tell you that his system may not be what you need but his reasoning for why he made the choices he did is instructive for us all.

I don’t really use Org to manage my tasks to the extent that Guerry does. For me, my agenda is more of a display of my daily log although some tasks do find their way into my agenda. Regardless, I found his discussion of his organization of tags to be very helpful.

No matter how you use Org mode, you should take a look at Guerry’s post. He has a lot of good ideas that you may find useful.

Co-hosts John Dolan & Mark Ames

The Naked Week team are back to place satirical news-tariffs on current events with a mix of correspondents, guests and, occasionally, live animals.

This week we mourn the death of globalisation, take a tour of Keir's new theme park, and play a game of BBC Balance Local Elections Naked Week Joke Twister.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

Written by: Jon Holmes Katie Sayer Gareth Ceredig Sarah Dempster Jason Hazeley.

Investigations Team: Cat Neilan Louis Mian Freya Shaw Matt Brown

Guests: Freya Parker and Alicia Fitzgerald.

Production Team: Laura Grimshaw, Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, Katie Sayer, Phoebe Butler.

Executive Producer: Philip Abrams Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4

The Naked Week team are back to place satirical news-tariffs on current events with a mix of correspondents, guests and, occasionally, live animals.

This week we 'woop woop' at the sound of the Thought Police, enjoy a spot of 'tariffic' retaliation, and bang a gong for the local elections.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

Written by: Jon Holmes Katie Sayer Gareth Ceredig Sarah Dempster Jason Hazeley.

wth additional material.

Investigations Team: Cat Neilan Louis Mian Freya Shaw Matt Brown

Guests: Larry Budd, and Felicity Hannah out of off of Radio 4's Moneybox Live.

Production Team: Laura Grimshaw, Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, Katie Sayer, Phoebe Butler.

Executive Producer: Philip Abrams Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4.

In the 1970s, an eccentric anti-tax crusader launched a radical campaign to dismantle California’s tax system — a movement that still defines American politics today.

This is Part 1 of Tax Revolt, a new mini-series from Lever Time revealing how free-market radicals hijacked American politics and set the stage for Elon Musk, DOGE and Donald Trump’s presidency.

Want more? Become a paid subscriber to get ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content — and support independent journalism: levernews.com/subscribe

Plus, read a bonus companion article about the anti-tax zealot behind Proposition 13, written by producer Ariella Markowitz. 

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Made in the rubble of postwar Japan, RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMAN (1947) finds Yasujirō Ozu exploring his familiar preoccupations of family and modernity through a different kind of setting. PLUS: Is the Canadian election a done deal? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

Read more...

US President Donald Trump wants to use tariffs as part of a plan to save the dominance of the dollar as the global reserve currency. His top economic advisor Stephen Miran outlined the Trump administration's strategy to force other countries to pay the USA to maintain its imperial financial and military order. Ben Norton explains the idea behind the hypothetical "Mar-a-Lago Accord". VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnajhDMAWVA Topics 0:00 Trump's top economic advisor 0:42 Trump wants to save dollar hegemony 1:04 (CLIP) Trump on US dollar 1:21 Dedollarization 2:01 BRICS 2:46 (CLIP) Trump threatens BRICS 3:15 Tariffs 3:50 Bretton Woods system 4:38 Keynes' Bancor proposal 5:07 US exorbitant privilege 5:39 Nixon shock, gold standard, petrodollar 6:43 Financialization 7:35 Billionaires 8:01 Deindustrialization 8:10 Current account deficit 8:33 Trump advisor Stephen Miran 9:17 Overvaluation of US dollar 10:30 Stephen Miran's plan 11:16 Mar-a-Lago Accord 12:59 Economic nuclear war 14:07 Trump admin's goals 15:20 Paying for US empire 17:30 Trump admin's 5 demands 20:25 (CLIP) Sharing costs of US empire 21:13 China 21:32 (CLIP) Decoupling from China 21:55 Hudson Institute 23:58 US financial crisis of 2008 25:42 Manufacturing 26:02 Trump hits China with 104% tariffs 27:23 Economic game of chicken 27:50 Can USA win trade war? 30:04 (CLIP) Miran: US has leverage over China 30:59 China vows "to fight to the end" 32:00 US economic dependence on China 33:00 Chinese exports 34:01 China's top export destinations 34:36 ASEAN is China's top trading partner 35:16 Indonesia 36:08 China is world's top trading partner 36:54 China's trade with Russia 38:34 Can USA reindustrialize? 38:52 (CLIP) "We can make stuff at home" 39:09 Reindustrialization is very difficult 41:40 Trade war will hurt Americans 42:17 Moving taxes from rich to poor 43:15 Do other countries pay US tariffs? 43:34 Dollar falls 44:38 Yield on US Treasury securities 46:10 Mortgage rate spread 46:42 Credit card interest rate 47:14 Interest payments on US national debt 48:37 Backlash on US economy 49:51 Danger of blowback 50:31 Plaza Accord revisited 51:16 Changes in global economy 52:50 China learned from Japan crisis 54:33 Imperial hubris 55:12 Vietnam in a multipolar world 58:07 Outro

Uma and Ciarán talk to recurring guest and all around Frankreichversteher, Olly, about Le Pen's five year ban from politics. We also talk about liberation day and Vance in Greenland.

FIND OUR GUEST:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/flep24-french-legislative-elections-podcast-2024/id1752354722 or find FLEP24 wherever you get your pods

https://ollyhaynesjournalist.mystrikingly.com/

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Support Corner Späti

Subscribe now for the full episode!

Danny and Derek welcome back to the program Ben Fogel, head of publishing at the Alameda Institute and contributing editor at Jacobin, to chat about South Africa. They get into the struggling coalition government, the stories of “white genocide” stemming from eminent domain policies, Musk and how South Africa helped make him the man he is today, the roles of neoliberal and racialized ideologies there, and more.

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In anticipation for our two-part conversation on the Sino-Soviet split, we're reposting the episode we did laying the groundwork.

Danny and Derek welcome Jeremy Friedman, Marvin Bower associate professor at Harvard Business School, for a discussion about the Sino-Soviet split. They talk about the early days of the revolutionary states’ relationship, the differences in their ideologies, the external forces shaping each nation’s trajectory, the heyday of their cooperation, and the beginning of the fissure in the mid-1950s.

Grab a copy of Jeremy’s great book Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World!

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Matt and Daniel are joined by returning champion Brace Belden (TrueAnon) to examine Betar’s one-time figurehead - the oddly shaped Ross Glick - as well as Brace’s aversion to the Ivy League and whether Tarantino’s Bear Jew presupposes the existence of twink and otter Jews.

Donate to the Palestine Red Crescent Society: https://www.palestinercs.org/en

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