Media Roots co-host Robbie Martin presents the newest installment in his documentary film series about Washington, DC neoconservatives who aim to widen the rift between Russia and the United States.
A Very Heavy Agenda Part 2: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Neocons , Out Now on Video On Demand and DVD
After the Cold War, the US-NATO reach expanded significantly to take in most of the old Soviet Union clients in the Warsaw pact. Neoconservative darling Robert Kagan and his diplomat wife Victoria Nuland played key roles inside and out of various administrations as they greased the skids for a US-sponsored coup in Ukraine. The infamous neoconservative Washington DC think-tank ‘The Project for the New American Century’ was re-branded for the Obama era into ‘The Foreign Policy Initiative’ acting as a outside agitator pushing the envelope on what the US should do in the new Cold War landscape. Part 2 shows the resurrection of old Reaganites from beltway depths to deliver blatant propaganda with techniques reminiscent of a red scare era that had only just faded from memory. US-funded outfits like Radio Free Liberty are pitted against Russia’s RT as each nation accuses the other of waging an ever more desperate and transparent “Information War”.
Most people know Ralph Nader as the insurgent third-party Presidential candidate in the 2000 elections, where the popularity of his stand against corporate hegemony struck fear into establishment politics.
But hundreds of millions experience Nader’s legacy everyday. Most notably, how virtually every automobile safety measure, from seatbelts to airbags, are the product of his relentless campaign against auto industry giants. His contributions as a consumer advocate span disability rights to exposing corporate pollution.
A long-time political figure with unique experience fighting from the center of Washington, Nader joins Abby Martin on The Empire Files to discuss today’s political climate, the corporate government and rigged elections.
Ralph Nader and Abby Martin on US Corporate Rigged Elections
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Nader describes the invasion of Washington by Wall Street as the way in which the government has been indentured by corporatism; the Democrats are dialed into the same corporate interests as Republicans and both work to crush third party representatives from getting on the ballot.
Nader argues that Bernie Sanders gave up his bargaining power when he pledged to endorse Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee. “He probably knows that the democratic party machinery is controlled by the Clintons.” Nader says Sanders needs to use his grassroots support to make demands of the Democratic Party, and his followers need to start organizing beyond the campaign.
Hillary Clinton is a “corporate criminal”, who has never met a war or weapons system she doesn’t like. Her hawkish foreign policy casts light on her tendency to chase after war, and her support of Wall Street. “She’s a militarist and a corporatist,” says Nader. Her blind ambition of seeking power will likely push the United States into more wars.
The Clinton Foundation, which is funded by Gulf monarchies and mining magnets, saw an increase in donorship once Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, showing just how close the Clinton’s ties are to the most oppressive regimes and corporations. While Hillary’s campaign has been supported most passionately by those calling for more women-led leadership, this brand of ‘Clinton feminism’ has latched onto something that is nothing more than an upwards career move, not a substantive movement towards equal representation.
Media Roots is proud to present the followup to American Anthrax, A VERY HEAVY AGENDA by Robbie Martin.
A VERY HEAVY AGENDA follows the trajectory of neoconservative ideologues behind George W. Bush’s foreign policy and who continue to influence the Obama presidency.
The documentary will be released in three parts, starting with Part 1: A Catalyzing Event which comes out Thursday October 15th on DVD & Video on Demand
Post-9/11, the War on Terror had outlived its usefulness.
the U.S. needed a new enemy, so they chose an old one – Russia.
Part 1: A Catalyzing Event 10.15.15
Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld were ubiquitous in the news media as they took every opportunity to market an aggressive preemptive war policy to America. But from where did their ideas originate? A tightly knit and eminently well placed group of neoconservative thought leaders, chief among them Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.
Part 1 begins in the panicked weeks after 9/11, as Kagan et al. seized upon the hysteria surrounding the anthrax letter attacks to further shape America’s perception of reality, planting the seeds for endless future military engagements. George W. Bush may have been understandably perceived as an idiot, but watching these wonks and academics drive the ideological engine for his administration belies a much more sophisticated strategy.
Part 2: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Neocons 11.1.15
After the Cold War, the US-NATO reach expanded significantly to take in most of the old Soviet Union clients in the Warsaw pact. Neoconservative darling Robert Kagan and his diplomat wife Victoria Nuland played key roles inside and out of various administrations and think tanks as they greased the skids for a US-sponsored coup in Ukraine.
Part 2 shows the resurrection of old cold warriors from beltway depths to deliver blatant propaganda with techniques reminiscent of a Red Scare era that had only just faded from memory. US-funded outfits like Radio Free Liberty are pitted against Russia Today as each nation accuses the other of waging an ever more desperate and transparent “Information War.”
Part 3: Maintaining the World Order 11.15.15
“When the Berlin wall fell, our work wasn’t finished.” – Victoria Nuland, November 2013
“Fuck the EU.” – Victoria Nuland, February 2014
While stage managing the American empire has undoubtedly proved to be a more difficult task now than in the bipolar world of the Cold War, it is not for lack of greed or hubris that the Kagans and others continue to sell their vision. Did they create these ideas because they truly believe in America’s right to be the dominant force in the world? Or, do these ideas help sell weapons and control resources like oil and rare minerals?
Part 3 shows footage of an obscure PNAC member (Thomas Donnelly) taking credit for the ominous “New Pearl Harbor” phrasing in the notorious ‘Rebuilding America’s Defenses’ document. But the evidence shows the genesis of the concept to be patriarch Don Kagan, in conjunction with his son Fred, in prior writings that call for ‘a catalyzing event’. Other newly sourced footage shows the pair advocating for a US military ground invasion of Palestine on September 12th, 2001 and displaying an unnerving prescience about the 9/11 attacks and subsequent anthrax letter attacks.
“We’re an empire now and when we act we create our own reality, and while you’re studying that reality—we’ll act again, creating other new realities which you can study too. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do” – Karl Rove
When you take stock of the mindset of people who not only have access to the nexuses of power, but who trade in forming and widely disseminating arguments that justify bringing America closer to a potential nuclear confrontation with Russia, it shows something more plainly Machiavellian at work, with an aim ultimately much more sinister than simply spin.
Produced/Edited/Created by: Robbie Martin Scored by Empire Files theme song composer: Fluorescent Grey
Despite bizarre allegations that Freddie Gray killed himself by those trying to justify abominable police brutality, a medical examiner’s report officially ruled Gray’s death a homicide.
After more than two weeks of sitting idly while the city erupted into protest, Baltimore’s chief prosecutor charged six officers with crimes including murder and manslaughter.
The arrests are likely due to enormous community pressure, as largely peaceful crowds continue to swell and solidarity marches spark up across the country.
Robbie and Abby Martin discuss the Baltimore Uprising and murder of Freddie Gray on Media Roots Radio: institutionalized racism abetting pockets of mutiny; rampant police unaccountability; the convoluted narrative of the war in Syria; huckster Liz Wahl’s insane testimony to Congress about Russia “weaponizing” information.
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Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.
Saudi Arabia’s American backed war in Yemen continues, yet it is massively failing to achieve its stated objectives.
The Houthis continue to advance in the region, and the instability is causing Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to gain more ground.
Bombing civilians in the poorest country in the Arab World is only exacerbating the crisis. Before the bombing campaign even started, two thirds of Yemen’s population was already in need of aid, and almost half food insecure.
Since the assault started on March 26, more than 1,000 people have been killed, half of which are civilians, according to the United Nations. At least 115 of the victims have been children, according to UNICEF.
Despite the recent collaborative wave of aggression, the US government has already been carrying out covert operations in Yemen for over a decade. Many have pointed out that the ongoing destabilization of Yemen is a direct result of US’ drone bombing there since the advent of the War on Terror.
Director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, Ali Al-Ahmed, talks to Media Roots Radio about the American backed war in Yemen and unyielding partnership between the two countries; the Saudi export of terrorism and ultra orthodox Wahhabism; and the political bribery on behalf of Gulf States to maintain a culture of silence.
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After the death of King Abdullah, Ali came on Breaking the Set to discuss the oppressive Saudi Arabian monarchy and dissect why the corporate media covered him as a great reformer.
King Abdullah’s Saudi Arabia: Slavery, Terror & Women as Property
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In the past four months, Saudi Arabia has already beheaded 71 people. Amnesty International has called the upswell in executions a “macabre spike”, having already ranked the country among the top three executioners in the world in 2014.
Last year, I gave an extensive outline of the country’s extensive human rights record and repressive theocracy by discussing the open discrimination against women, public executions for petty crimes and harsh sentencing for government critics.
Saudi Arabia’s Tyrannical Death State
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The toxifying partnership between the US and Saudi Arabia exemplifies the utter hypocrisy of the War on Terror, and the faster it’s exposed as the fraud it is, the faster we can galvanize to stop it.
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Saudi Arabia’s American backed war in Yemen continues, yet it is massively failing to achieve its stated objectives.