American Exception

  Aaron and Seamus discuss the deep state personage of James McCord and related issues from Jim Hougan’s masterpiece, Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat, and the CIA . Special thanks to Seamus McGuinness for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering! Music: " Til the Mornin " by Mock Orange Aaron and Seamus discuss the deep state personage of James McCord and related issues f...

Aaron and Seamus discuss and expand on a Watergate timeline from two critical luminaries—Jim Hougan (author of Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat, and the CIA ) and Peter Dale Scott . Because this is a unique episode in terms of the minutiae we cover, I created and posted a PDF of the timeline that might be helpful for anyone who is not steeped in this material. Special thanks to Casey Moore fo...

  We discuss The Power Elite —the scholarly masterpiece of sociologist C. Wright Mills—and how it informs our understandings of the imperial American deep state. This is Part 8 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinne...

  Aaron and Seamus discuss and expand on a Watergate timeline from two critical luminaries—Jim Hougan (author of Secret Agenda: Watergate, Deep Throat, and the CIA ) and Peter Dale Scott . Because this is a unique episode in terms of the minutiae we cover, I created and posted a PDF of the timeline that might be helpful for anyone who is not steeped in this material. Special thanks to Casey Moore...

  We discuss the dual state and Professor Michael Glennon’s double government. This is Episode 7 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series. Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode ar...

  We discuss American scholars and their failure to grapple with US imperialism. This is Episode 6 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuiness who is producing the series. Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and...

  We discuss the historians and historiography of the US empire. This is Episode 5 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuiness who is producing the series. Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria...

  Released in conjunction with the upcoming publication of Peter's "lost" (read "stolen by the CIA in 1970") article originally intended for Ramparts, we present a 2011 debate between the two top experts on the Postwar Southeast Asian heroin traffic: Professors Peter Dale Scott and Alfred McCoy. I add some context at the beginning which will hopefully be of interest to everybody! Peter Dale Scott...

  We discuss the concepts of hegemony and empire in relation to the USA!  [We updated the file after a slightly incomplete file was missing...basically without the very brief intro] This is Episode 4 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our ow...

  Aaron and guest cohost Brace Belden talk to David Talbot about his book, The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government . This episode is dedicated to our dear friend and colleague, Professor Peter Dale Scott. Peter Dale Scott and Ben Howard also both appear in this episode. Follow Ben on Twitter and check out his latest series on the Boston Bombing ov...

  We discuss the creation of the US national security state and the rise of US exceptionism! This is Episode 3 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuiness who is producing the series. Special thanks to Casey Moore for the epi...

  Aaron speaks with Daniel Ellsberg and Peter Dale Scott about key issues on the 50th anniversary of the Watergate arrests. Specifically, they discuss Nixon’s Vietnam strategy, the way these plans were threatened by the leak of the Pentagon Papers, and the mysteries around Watergate which collectively suggest that Nixon’s resignation was effected by forces to the right of Nixon himself. Daniel Ell...

    We discuss deep politics in the history of the USA. As per Peter Dale Scott, deep politics refers to “all those political practices and arrangements, deliberate or not, which are usually repressed rather than acknowledged.” This is Part 2 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host...

This is the first episode of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuiness who is producing the series. We discuss the book's origins and the main research questions that propelled the research and scholarship. Essentially: Why do...

  We discuss deep politics in the history of the USA. As per Peter Dale Scott, deep politics refers to “all those political practices and arrangements, deliberate or not, which are usually repressed rather than acknowledged.” This is Part 2 of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Be...

  This is the first episode of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuiness who is producing the series. We discuss the book's origins and the main research questions that propelled the research and scholarship. Essentially: Why...

  This is Part 4 of our Battleground Indonesia collaboration with TheKultureDotTV . Aaron and Hailey Rounsaville are again joined by our own Seamus McGuinness to cover the JFK era of US-Indonesia relations. The discussion picks up from the last episode where JFK’s plans for a sovereign West Papua under UN auspices were derailed by the assassination of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold. We cove...

This is Part 3 of our Battleground Indonesia collaboration with TheKultureDotTV . Aaron and Hailey Rounsaville are joined this time by our own Seamus McGuinness to cover the JFK era of US-Indonesia relations. Most notably, they discuss how American deep statesman Allen Dulles was able to utilize murderous clandestine arts to subvert US and UN policy so that control over Indonesia's vast riches cou...

  This is the 12th installment of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light, our oral history series with Professor Peter Dale Scott—the prolific poet, historian, and political theorist who gave us parapolitics as well as the deep politics approach. In this episode, we delve further into the confusion surrounding the structural deep event that we refer to simply as Watergate. Peter and I talk about...

  Aaron is joined by Kit Klarenberg--an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. We speak about his recent GrayZone piece with Max Blumenthal—the first in a series on the Paul Mason email scandal. The piece is entitled, Paul Mason’s covert intelligence-linked plot to destroy The Grayzone exposed . A follow-up article was also publish...

In this second episode of our Watergate double feature here on the 50th anniversary of that fateful botched burglary, Aaron talks with Jefferson Morley about his new book, Scorpions' Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate . Therein, Watergate is presented as a tale of two Dicks—Nixon and Helms. On the surface, Watergate was a notorious presidential scandal. The further one looks into t...

As a happy coincidence, we recorded this around on the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in and the arrest of the Plumbers. We talk about the deep politics of Watergate in this installment of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light, our oral history series with Professor Peter Dale Scott. Peter Dale Scott is the prolific poet, historian, and political theorist who gave us parapolitics as wel...

Joined by James DiEugenio, Aaron talks with Max Good about his new film, The Assassination and Mrs. Paine . The film features Ruth Paine herself—along with a number of other people that you may be familiar with--including, James DiEugenio, Peter Dale Scott, Max Holland, Gerald Posner, Priscilla Johnson-McMillan, and Vincent Salandria. Rent the film here on June 14: The Assassination and Mrs. Paine...

In this installment of Minding the Darkness, Minding the Light, our oral history series with Professor Peter Dale Scott, Peter talks with Ben Howard and me about some legendary figures in the history of American parapolitical research—namely: William Turner, Mae Brussell, and Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty. From there, we start to get into Watergate! Peter Dale Scott is the prolific poet, historian, a...

Aaron is joined by Lawrence Wilkerson and Peter Kuznick to discuss the Ukraine War in the context of America’s evaporating “unipolar moment.” Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired US Army Colonel, former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and current Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William & Mary: Peter Kuznick is Professor of History...