Neutrality Studies

Originally published on 18 Jul 2025. Today I’m talking to a former Hungarian Diplomat, His excellency, Ambassador Sandor Zoltan Kusai. Ambassador Kusai served his country in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office in various capacities, most importantly he spent a total of 18 years in China, including in the top position as Ambassador between 2008-2014. He is now working as...

15 Jun 2025A second night of all out war between Israel and Iran has produced large-scale destruction not only in Tehran but also in Tel Aviv, Haifa and other Israeli cities. The "iron dome" is not able to shoot down Iranian projectiles and the operation won't be as much of a cake walk the neocons might have thought it will be. At the same time, this is a new low even for US standard...

Originally published on 16 Jun 2025. Today I’m joined again by Professor Seyed Marandi, a Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. I am extremely grateful for him coming online as his country just went through a second night of all-out warfare with Israel after an absolutely sneaky surprise attack on Iran in the early hours of Friday.

Originally published on 17 Jun 2025. Today we once more need to discuss the fresh war that Israel and the US plunged Iran into after the sneaky surprise attack on Tehran and other Iranian cities last Friday. To discuss the situation from one of Iran’s northern neighbours I’m joined by Dr. Arthur Khachikian. Arthur holds a PhD in International Relations from Stanford University, and currently teach...

Originally published on 17 Jun 2025. In a Truth Social Post that was subsequently posted on the White House Twitter page Trump announced that the time had run out for Iran and that many people will die. He urged that everybody should leave Tehran, a city of 10 million people. In the meantime, Iran targets and kills Journalists and the media infrastructure of Iran while blocking reporting from the...

Originally published on 18 Jun 2025. Bevan Ramsden and Ann Wright are members of the Pacific Peace Network, which recently launched a peace and solidarty campaign calling on Pacific Rim countries to declare their neutrality for the sake of preventing a US-China war. JOIN THE CALL NOW! Sign the Petition. Sign the Neutrality Petition:  https://worldbeyondwar.org/declareneu... Pacific Neutrality Camp...

Originally published on 18 Jun 2025. On the fifth day of the new Middle East War all is not lost yet. The expected swift regime-change in Tehran is not happening and the Iranians are actually getting better at their air defence against the Israeli aggression. In the meantime, Trump seems erratic and pushed into a corner of his own making, lashing out against the defectors in this circle. Will he p...

Originally published on 19 Jun 2025. Today I’m talking to Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa, a Hong Kong based geopolitical analyst and EU - Asia consultant with many years experience in unpacking European shenanigans. He also contribute to academic initiatives at the University of Hong Kong, and beyond. He recently wrote a very good analysis of what he calls the EU’s “Anti-Diplomacy” - in which he...

Originally published on 20 Jun 2025. Today (18.6.2025) I’m talking to Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, the Director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History at Bethlehem University. Dr. Yumsiyeh got a PhD from Connecticut University and then taught for many years in the US, including Tennessee Duke and Yale University. He returned to Palestine in 2008 where he is also right now. Links:Mazin Qumsiyeh's...

Originally published on 21 Jun 2025. Today I’m talking to Stanislav Krapivnik, a former US Army officer, supply chain executive and military-political expert who always provides valuable insights especially on security affairs in and around Russia. We are talking today on June 19th, 6 days after Israel’s attack on Iran and with the imminent threat of the US also launching an all-out military assau...

Originally published on 21 Jun 2025. While Tel Aviv is getting hit harder and harder, the Israeli's are getting desperate to finally push the US into a direct military attack on Iran. But for now, Donald Trump says he has not taken a decision. It might be an another lie to then hit Iran unexpectedly, or it might be an indication for a political battle inside Washington. Another indication of t...

Originally published on 21 Jun 2025. Today I’m talking again to Pietro Shakarian, an Armenian historian at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg who has analysed the Russian-Iranian relationship for a while. We are talking on June 19th, only 6 days after Israel’s sneak attack on Iran and currently everybody is waiting for what the US will do, but a direct military attack seems likely—at...

Originally published on 22 Jun 2025. The USA just announced with a lot of fanfare that it bombed the three nuclear sites in Iran, Forod, Natanz and Isfahan. But is that true? Did it actually deliver bombs with its airplanes as the president said? The Iranians are not yet confirming what happened and some limited reports have been out about the strikes actually not doing much more damage than what...

Originally published on 15 May 2025. Today I’m talking again to Dr. Dr. Alfred de Zayas, a Professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy, who used to work as a senior lawyer in the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and later became the first UN Independent Expert on International Order, serving in that capacity from 2012 to 2018.Two years ago, Alfred wrote an important scholarly...

Originally published on 13 May 2025. War is not a choice. War is a system—a self-perpetuating process. And in the US we have a deadly principe of mass-slaughter and violence baked into the logic of the economic organisation of the nation. Listen to Professor Radhika Desai dismantling the core of the imperial logic with her Geopolitical Economy approach to Marxist theory. Many of you will know her...

Originally published on 11 May 2025. You know you are nearing the end of empire when the chief extortionists start asking for ever more money for ever less return. The US is caught in a spiral of economic and moral bankruptcy. To help us take a step back and look at the big picture, I've got today Arnaud Bertrand back on the channel, one of Twitter/X’s best and most profound political analysts...

Originally published on 9 May 2025. The emperor is naked by now in so many areas that it is difficult to still find even just a shred of fabric somewhere. Even financially, there is no more sweet talking the situation. The US economy is only weeks away from a real supply shock that the bond marked it not playing ball with Trump's trade wars. Today I’m talking to Sean Foo. Many of you will prob...

Originally published on 8 May 2025. Today I’m talking to Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran, an advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, and a prolific commentator here on YouTube and on other platforms. Professor Marandi always offers important Iranian viewpoints as well as realist analysis, so I’m happy he agree...

7 May 2025 Interviews Did Pakistan lose control of the terrorism it created in the name of the USA or is the escalation of recent days part and parcel of how the politics of regional terrorism is conducted? To discuss all this, today I'm talking to Dr. Hazrat Bahar. Dr. Bahar is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University in Germany...

Originally published on 6 May 2025. I‘ve been wrestling with the question of how to vest approach the Yugoslav wars and finally decided to ask someone who is not from the region but studied it for decades. Today I’m talking to Susan Woodward, a professor of political science at the City University of New York (CUNY). Professor Woodward is the author of “Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after...

Originally published on 5 May 2025. Last week there were rather large protests in the capital Taipei against the ruling TPP party and President William Lai. This news got suprpisingly little coverage in western media, which usually is so keen on showing all kinds of “people’s power” movements when they occur against governments the west doesn’t like. But this time, rather a wave of silence. To dis...

Originally published on 3 May 2025. Today I'm talking again to Michael Brenner. Michael is Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and a Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Jogn Hopkins. Links:Goods Shop: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth... Timestamps: 00:00:00 Preview 00:00:51 Intro 00:01:13 Connection between USA's internal politic...

Originally published on 2 May 2025. In the part 2 of the conversation with Jyotishman Mudiar, we discuss the US-China relation, Asia, and the future of Global Power. Jyotishman Mudiar is the host of the very successful YouTube Channel “India and Global Left”. He has been producing great content over there for many years already, so I highly recommend checking it out. Links:Jyotishman's channel...

Originally 1 May 2025. What is fueling the current tensions between India and Pakistan? What is the historical root of this conflict? How do the Indian and Pakistani media narratives differ? And where does this conflict sit in the global context? To answer all this and more, today I’m talking to Jyotishman Mudiar, the host of the very successful YouTube Channel “India and Global Left”. Jyotishman...

Originally published on 30 Apr 2025. Today I’m talking to Ali Borhani, a Geopolitical Strategist and the cohost of the BRI-Diaolgue podcast on which he talks to, experts, decision makers, and academics about all thins geopolitics and especially China’s Belt Road Initiative. In fact, Ali has been watching China very closely and included his findings in a report entitled “The Rise of Chinese Multina...