Rania Khalek Dispatches

When most people in the West think of the war in Ukraine, they think of February 24, 2022 when Russia launched its invasion. But for 8 years prior, there had been a war raging in the eastern part of the country that received little attention because its reality was inconvenient for mainstream Western narratives. In the Donbas region, an estimated 15,000 people had died following what many there de...

To discuss the war on whistleblowers, the U.S. government’s prosecution of Julian Assange and how the case against him poses a threat to journalism everywhere, Rania Khalek spoke to Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof, co-host of the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast and author of the newly published book “Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange.”  You can purchase...

Whatever happened to Ukraine’s foreign fighters? What are the parallels between Syria and Ukraine? And where does the Cold War against China fit into it?  To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by investigative journalist Seth Harp, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and author of the forthcoming book The Delta Force Murders, which will be published by Viking Press. Seth’s articles...

Africa’s Sahel region is experiencing historic shifts as anti-colonial sentiment sweeps across the region, with the French military being kicked out of one country after another after failing to rout insurgencies fueled by their own policies. France and its allies have responded by blaming disinformation, authoritarianism, and the west’s favorite boogeyman: Russia. Meanwhile the security situation...

The Middle East is drowning in anti-Iran propaganda emanating from Western, Gulf and oligarch-funded outlets that seek to turn the populations in the region against Iran and other institutions deemed to be “backed by Iran.” In Lebanon this plays out in a sectarian narrative that portrays Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy and depicts Shias as agents of an Iranian occupation of the country. This pattern...

Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh joined Rania Khalek on Dispatches to discuss his latest bombshell on how the Biden administration destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline using remotely triggered explosives with the help of the CIA, US Navy divers, and NATO member Norway. This means the US targeted the critical energy infrastructure of its most important European ally, a major viola...

Two years into his presidency, Biden’s foreign policy has been defined by the war in Ukraine and a weakening American hegemony, one that also characterized Trump’s time in office. Some argue the American empire is in decline no matter which party is in control. So where will U.S. foreign policy go from here as the new Cold War era drags on? Does it even matter which party is in charge anymore? How...

With the United States hyper focused on Russia and China, it’s easy to forget that the empire is still up to its old tricks in the rest of the Global South. What does the insatiable U.S. imperialist appetite mean for the resource-rich countries of Latin America? After all, that copper, gold, zinc, silver, lead, iron, and natural gas in Peru, the lithium in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, and the oil...

To understand how this new Cold War might play out, we have to understand the foundations of the original Cold War of the 20th century. What was NATO’s role? What did it mean for the Third World back then? What does it mean for the Third World today, particularly those countries that seek an independent, sovereign path? What is the danger of rising fascist movements? And what are the lessons for a...

It’s widely accepted that humans are driving climate change and environmentalism has become mainstream. But what if “humanity” in the abstract isn’t to blame? Is it true that humans are inherently bad for nature? What if the real culprit is the systems we’re forced to operate under — capitalism, imperialism, colonialism— perpetrated by particular sections of humanity over others?  So who, or what...

Bitcoin, Stablecoin, Tether, Blockchain, Coinbase, Binance, Etherium, Luna, Celsius, Circle, FTX,  NFTs: What’s all this crypto jargon really about? What stage of capitalism does it mean we’re in? How has digital currency been impacted by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine? What are the geopolitical implications for the US cold war with China? And what’s the significance of the downfall of Sam Ba...

The year 2022 was defined by the war in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO, and continued encirclement of China as the U.S. prepares for “great power conflict.” But the US empire is so overstretched, that sanctions have become the favorite form of warfare— to disrupt and isolate many countries at once. Could they backfire in 2023? To discuss this and more Rania Khalek was  joined by Bikrum Gill, who t...

According to Western media, China can’t do anything right. First it was doing too little to address COVID, then it was doing too much and needed to reopen, and now it’s wrong to open up as it is. But if you look at things objectively, and take off the Western-colored glasses, is all the criticism really warranted? While the rest of the world rushed to fully reopen, it took three years to study and...

Why is the US willing to risk a nuclear apocalypse to weaken Russia and China? Our leaders say it’s about protecting the international rules based order from an authoritarian axis of evil. But this is just a guise. It’s actually about maintaining US unipolar hegemony over the world, which requires preventing or at the very least delaying the integration of Europe and Asia, an integration that is l...

It’s springtime for fascists in Israel as the secular war criminals are being replaced by an alliance of the far-right, with religious extremists and organizers of racist mob violence. The head of America’s Union for Reform Judaism called the appointment of Itamar Ben Gvir as public security minister akin to “appointing David Duke, one of the heads of the KKK, as attorney general.” To discuss this...

The US-dominated unipolar world has rapidly eroded, and the recent victory of Lula in Brazil provided a new lift for those struggling against imperialism in the Global South.  Are imperialist powers less able to impose themselves on the Global South with past tools of invasion, coups, assassinations?  To discuss the past and present tools used by the United States against popular movements and rev...

BT’s Rania Khalek sat down with Palestinian icon and revolutionary Leila Khaled in Beirut, Lebanon to discuss her life and participation in the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

The US and Europe have tried to make Africa a battleground in their Cold War against Russia and China. They‘ve even labeled Africa as NATO’s “Southern Neighborhood” and are using AFRICOM as a mechanism to control the continent under the guise of protecting it from malign Chinese and Russian influence. What does this mean for sovereignty and independence across Africa and how are African countries...

Iran’s protests have been more enduring than previous waves. Some call it a CIA-backed color revolution while others say it is a popular movement. There have been significant incidents of armed violence. And there is no doubt that Iran’s enemies will take advantage of any sign of weakness as they do in all countries deemed rogue.  To better understand what's going on and what we can expect, R...

Rania Khalek is joined by UN Special Rapporteur Prof. Alena Douhan who returned from a 12-day visit to Syria where she assessed the negative impact of sanctions across the country. Upon her return, she called for the sanctions, which she deems illegal and a violation of human rights, to be lifted immediately. Prof. Douhan holds the UN position of Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilat...

The US is trying to reshape NATO into an anti-China alliance while demanding that the EU join in. So far the US has been somewhat immunized from the consequences of cutting economic ties with Russia. For Europe though, the outcome of sanctions has been much more dire as winter approaches.  A decoupling from China would be even more devastating to Europeans, as indicated in the recent meetings with...

The crisis of Western capitalism has led to the election of an ultra-right party in Sweden, with historical connection to the Nazi movement. The drive for escalation with Russia prompted Finland and Sweden to join NATO, placing themselves on the frontlines of a war in which they have nothing to gain. While it may appear that NATO is all about countering Russia, the U.S. is in the process of reconf...

How did 9/11 change the direction of the US left? What about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the election of Obama and then Trump, the Arab Spring, Russiagate and now the war in Ukraine? How has the new Cold War against Russia and China created new lines of differentiation and what is the path forward? Brian Becker, host of The Socialist Program, joined Rania Khalek to talk about this and more i...

Katie Halper joins Rania Khalek to talk about the aftermath of her getting fired from The Hill for criticizing Israeli apartheid as well as the ongoing cynical weaponization of anti-Semitism to discredit advocacy for Palestinian human rights.  The segment that got Katie fired from The Hill: https://youtu.be/_3xLOxx1ggQ Listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. A...

When the war in Ukraine began, Western officials bragged that they were going to “turn the ruble into rubble” and bring Russia to its knees. Seven months later, as the war and sanctions drag on with no end in sight, it’s the Euro that is turning to rubble and Europe being brought to its knees. It turns out sanctioning your largest gas supplier with no alternative in place, following years of stagn...