The Truth

The US has taken a stake in Intel chipmaker as part of a push to secure domestic production and reduce reliance on China. The acquisition is the most significant intervention in private business since the 2008 financial crisis. Supporters call it a smart industrial policy that will protect jobs and national security. But critics warn that this could mark a shift in the relationship between governm...

Under the glow of filters and flawless selfies, a growing number of people are reshaping their bodies to match online beauty ideals. This episode looks at how platforms like Instagram and TikTok, along with celebrity influence, are fuelling a global surge in cosmetic procedures. Why are so many heading overseas for treatments? We expose the risks behind the glossy advertisements, from botched surg...

Filmmaker Huibert van Wijk explores the complexities of international adoption through the lens of his own family’s experiences. His adopted brother, Tim, and their father, Lex, have been estranged for years due to tensions surrounding Tim’s adoption. While Lex saw adoption as a good deed, Tim was left with deep psychological scars. As the Netherlands plans to phase out international adoption, bot...

Outrage in Lebanon after the US envoy calls journalists 'animalistic'. Tom Barrack's comments come at a time when the US president has stepped up his attacks on media he dislikes. So, what's behind this hostility towards journalists within the Trump administration? And are there wider implications beyond the US? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-truth--648749...

Thousands of US troops are on warships heading to Venezuela’s coast. President Donald Trump says the move is part of his administration’s fight against drug cartels that the US has labelled terrorist organizations. In response, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has ordered troops to the border and called on citizens to mobilize to defend the country. Is Trump’s aggressive move about fighting dru...

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have triggered a mechanism to reimpose sanctions on Iran after a series of meetings failed to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme. The three European countries, collectively known as the E3, had been warning Tehran for weeks that United Nations sanctions could be reimposed by October. This is when a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and m...

Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, joins the show to discuss Israel’s bombing of Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar, as they gather to discuss Trump’s “ceasefire” proposal. Qatar, which hosts the US military's Central Command, condemned the Israeli strike, but did not militarily respond. Cafiero will discuss the unprecedented Israeli attack on a regional US security partner, the dubio...

An independent commission of inquiry investigating violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territories warns it can’t continue its work. Severe funding shortages are derailing the body established by the UN’s Human Rights Council in 2021. The US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year. Now -- his administration owes $1.5bn in fees to the UN. What then is the...

The Smithsonian museums are now the focus of a review ordered by US President Donald Trump targeting exhibits on slavery, immigration and LGBTQ history. The White House told The Take taxpayer money should not fund displays that divide Americans and the Smithsonian Institution should present history in an accurate, factual way. Can Trump reshape the largest museum complex in the world? Become a sup...

President Nayib Bukele introduced a state of emergency in El Salvador, using it to dismantle the violent gangs that had terrorised the Central American country for decades. Thousands of alleged gang members have been rounded up and locked away, many of them in CECOT, a huge, purpose-built high-security prison. The streets are now safe, but at what cost? Government forces are accused of arbitrarily...

On September 3, Beijing commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII with a massive military parade in Tiananmen Square. What message was China trying to send with this parade? This week, Tings Chak joins Amanda Yee to discuss China’s overlooked contributions to stopping the spread of global fascism during WWII, the battle for historical memory, and how we can remember its sacrifices as th...

U.S. military veteran Greg Stoker joins Dispatches from the ship deck of the Global Sumud Flotilla, comprised of dozens of boats that just launched from Barcelona with the goal of breaking Israel’s starvation siege on Gaza. Stoker, who served in the U.S. Army, explains why he chose to risk his life by joining the flotilla, how his military experience radicalized him on Palestine, and what it means...

Dana “Showtyme” Burton from Detroit is considered the “godfather of Chinese hip hop.” This week, Burton joins KJ Noh to discuss what took him to China 25 years ago, what he saw there, and the experience of being Black and Muslim in China. They also discuss how hip hop culture developed in China, what it looks like now, and why Burton fights anti-China propaganda. Our understanding of China — and U...

Amanda Seales’s viral Jubilee Surrounded episode drew millions of views and ignited fierce debate about the politics of Black America. But the real conversation runs deeper. BT’s Eugene Puryear sits down with Amanda to break down the myth of rising Black conservatism, the limits of identity politics, the power of Black history and international solidarity, and what Jubilee missed about Black Ameri...

Trump is trying to prop up the failing Intel corporation with government investment, but without addressing the fundamental relationship between the public and private sector this measure will do little to stop the relative decline of the U.S. economy. Prof. Wolff explains why the U.S. hasn’t been able to keep up with the rapid development of China’s hybrid system. Become a supporter of this podca...

Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute, joins the show to discuss takeaways of the 25th SCO Summit in Tianjin. Leaders from China, Russia, India, Iran, and Central Asia condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the West’s unilateralism. Prashad will discuss the summit’s resulting 10-year plan to boost South-South cooperation, the blowback of Trump’s tariff wars and the US’...

Closing Remarks & Cultural Night with the Palestinian Youth Ensemble Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-truth--6487495/support .

The Palestinian people face worsening conditions as Zionism seeks to expand its colonial project and scrambles to regain its image and suppress internal divisions. Across historic Palestine—from the West Bank to Gaza—Palestinians endure escalating settler violence, territorial expansion, annexation, starvation, siege tactics, and sustained military bombardment. This session explores the multifacet...

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that 1.6 million immigrants have left the United States since Trump took office due to the reign of terror the administration has perpetrated. Trump has also sued the Maryland federal judiciary for making him follow proper deportation procedures. Professor Richard Wolff & Brian Becker discuss the terror against immigrants, the military in the...

Chicago is mobilizing as Trump ramps up the ICE deportation war and threatens to bring in the National Guard. Watch the "ICE Out of Chicago" emergency rally livestream here at 5pm CT Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-truth--6487495/support .

During its genocidal assault on Gaza, the occupation has systematically attacked all foundations of life, focusing its violence especially on the medical system. From abducting doctors to bombing Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, Israel has pursued a strategy of genocide by destroying the Gaza’s capacity to even heal its wounded. What does it mean to destroy a healthcare system? What does this mean...

Cultural Night with Wishah Popular Dance Troupe and Baladi Dance Group The Wishah Popular Dance Troupe and the Baladi Dance Group are two Palestinian dabke troupes from Al-Bireh, Ramallah, and Beit Jala, Palestine. Wishah and Baladi’s performances are a living archive of Palestinian resistance. Dabke carries, across generations, the stories of the Palestinian people: of land, exile, return, and st...

This session uses large-scale, tactile maps to trace the deliberate targeting and destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure that sustains life, before and after October 7. By documenting the annihilation of Gaza’s education, healthcare, energy, water, and food systems, this session confronts Zionist lies and exposes the last two years as a calculated campaign of genocide. Panelists will discuss the arc...

In response to the last two years of Zionist genocide in Gaza, a powerful mass movement has erupted. From the streets to the workplace, from university campuses to the classrooms, millions of people across North America and the world have been exposed to injustice in Palestine and in their own lives. In this panel, leaders in the movement for Palestinian liberation in North America will reflect on...

In the past two years, Gaza has divided the world in two. It has forever divided the world between the forces who support genocide and fascism and the forces who oppose it: those who organize to fight and win against genocide. The slogan of this conference is “Gaza is the compass" because Gaza has become a litmus test for humanity itself. Speakers will discuss the significance of this slogan in re...