Unregistered 255: Max Blumenthal, Aaron Maté, Michael Tracey, Clint Russell & Sam Husseini 

Max Blumenthal always brllliant and uber knowledgeable on so many complex subjects. Great panel and audience participation. 'Normies' similarly uneducated here in the UK. I'm forever grateful to independent journalists of this calibre.

Bravo Max. Michael Tracey has always loved the sound of his own voice. He’s pathologically argumentative.

Thank you Aaron for speaking up - That guy on the left so wrong about Scott Ritter wanted to destroy Ukraine - that really makes me wonder about him

That was fantastic. Thank you to everyone who made this discussion happen. All “normies” should see this broadcast, preferably all at about the same time. That would demonstrate if people’s minds are gone or not, if you ask me. I want to say a special thank you to Max, for the way that he accurately, passionately, and quite comprehensively, talked about the plight of the people of the Donbas, and then beautifully juxtaposed it with the plight of the Palestinians. It was a great history lesson, and irritant to the humane conscience. Thanks friends.

Max and Aaron showed their masterful ability to wield dialectic materialism.

Thank you so much, Max and Aaron. Scott Ritter has spoken so forcefully against the destruction of Ukrainian lives and the horror of the destruction of the state that he has made me cry before. The allegations against him here border on slanderous. I watch every interview and he is the opposite of pro-war. He's extremely angry because of the uselessness and unnecessary nature of this war that Putin and Russians have been forced into. And this conversation about "morality" and anti-war positions demonstrates the actual deep immorality of some in the anti-war movement. There's also some ivory tower s*it going on here. When has "morality" ever excluded realism? Morality always requires context. Abortion is a choice I'd never make. But individual living, human contexts provide the moral force behind leaving it a choice -- not for me but, with compassion, maybe for thee. Also, thank you in your remarks, Max, about the Viet Cong. Yes, if you have any understanding you know it was a nationalist, anti-colonialist movement. I'm "anti-war" but to ask Palestinians to never respond to their oppression is disgusting. We all have a, yes, moral right to defend ourselves against occupation and to defend the life of our community and people. When peaceful resistance is brutally put down, and please for negotiation callously ignored, a human being living a real life has hard decisions to make. Surely there's a place for me in the so-called anti-war movement even if I would take up arms against my oppressor when I am left with no other REALISTIC choice.

“Why is it the closer a country is to Russia, the bigger problem they have with Russia?” asks Thaddeus Russell, Euromyopically. China’s border with Russia is longer than all of Eastern Europe. There’s a reason Finland and Sweden refused to let their own populations vote on NATO membership. It would’ve been a resounding No.

This is fantastic. Max is a human truth calculator.

Enjoyed the panel, although it was probably too crowded. Max was clear, incisive, and is always a charismatic speaker. Clint didn't add much, Michael actually detracted. Would have liked to hear more from Sam. He delivered some sound insights when he could get a word in. Many thanks for uploading!

Max is boss and they all know it. They can't honestly counter anything he says with facts.

There is intelligent life left in America.

Blumenthal is such a boss

Great discussion. Always nice to see a respectful mix of agreement and genuine debate. You never see this kind of discussion in the mainstream media.

So happy the algorithm-mic gods bestowed this manna on me. I needed this today. God bless the RU-vid.

I didn't agree with Max about Covid because of my age and fear, but then I read The Real Anthony Fauci and I had my head turned around by the case Kennedy makes. We need The Grayzone and others very desperately.

Scott Ritter's tour of Russia was not sponsored by Sputnik. It was supported by the Russian publisher of his book who translated it into Russian. Get your facts straight.

A Grayzone tour de force. Brilliant from Max and Aaron.

An interesting discussion BUT the main problem, in my opinion, are the references to "The Left". The participants seem to regard the The Democrats, Hilary Clinton, Obama etc. as "Left" !! WTF. The Democrats are one of two parties of the US capitalist ruling class / oligarchy. How can they be regarded in any way as "Left"? It would be much more interesting to discuss the political positions of the real "Left" i.e. socialists. And they do exist, even in the USA. Similarly this whole thing about identity politics. It is abundantly clear that identity politics is a project of the ruling class.

Excellent discussion! Thanks.

Totally unfair characterisation of Scott Ritter. I follow him on most places he speaks and especially his twice weekly show. His position is pro-Russia in the sense Russia is pro negotiation. The invasion was a last resort to bring the parties back around the negotiating table following 8 years of ethnic Russians being murdered by nazis and successive Ukranian presidents. Minsk 1 & 2 were entered into in good faith by Russia, but not by the west. In so far as the war continues, Scott seems to view it as inevitable giving how far off the west has made a negotiated settlement, but also that it is justified to hunt down the nazis, though he then discusses how Russia might enact that and discusses how that is some form of martial law that is hard to fathom. He regularly shows great admiration for ordinary Ukranian soldiers and his heart breaks for the people of Ukraine. If you guys are going to nitpick, Scott Ritter appears to be completely antiwar until there is one.

Mate is level headed, something others on this panel should aspire to.

Great panel. Max is right, but since this is a metaphysical/moral question. We all agree war is bad. Next time let's ask why and go deeper

The host is so wrong on Ritter it's hard to take him seriously and I can barely listen to the bloviating of Tracey.

Brilliant discussion, I had so many questions. One is: do Max and Aaron disagree about the Minsk agreement? I love the comments by the public educators in the audience, they have a very tough job. Love Clint Russell and Aaron answering about how to talk to our Normie friends.

I'm anti-war but I'm in favor of self defense. Russia's actions ARE justified.

Agreed. He seems to have his own bias against Ritter who speaks with such heartbreak over the senseless deaths of so many men as sacrifice for US Empire.

This was a great discussion. Thanks Thad 👍👍👍

Other than the pompous moderation, a worthwhile discussion was had by all.

Michael Tracey was tripping. Smart guy, but he has gone over the edge.

39:35 - 39:44 This is it right here. This is the articulation which cuts through all others to arrive at the heart of the issue The Americans will never leave well enough alone; might actually be incapable of doing so as a result of their national character No matter what they will see themselves as a shining city on a hill and will seek to propagate whatever it is that they deem popular. Even if their city is not actually shining they'll ignore reality and pretend that it's shining anyway. Take any contortion of speech and thought to arrive at the pretense And if you try to prove them wrong, _they get mad about it._

This should have more views. Killer line up.

Doing some mindless photoshop work today. Saw this pop up. Day instantly got better.

Great panel. Max's brain is like a computer. He literally knows everything. Aaron is great too. I've learned a lot. Thanks for this.

Michael Tracy never shuts up. Blather.

Thank you, Max - love you!!! And Aaron!!!

What a Stupendous chat by especially Max n Aaron for the duration. Fun fact: all successful standup comics have higher than average IQ. Max is keen on standup. He’s smart as hell. He can be hilarious. (“ what,.. you gonna use a code pink march to stop it” or something like that. He could do 2hr standup shows of bulleting off his political/ journalistic views to crowds while making them laugh. It’s Jimmy D’s area, and I hope max has jimmy’s blessing, bc the 2 of them could draw those for a new party. Max will be an absolutely brilliant standup.

Tracey is like somebody claimed, he likes to hear his own voice.Russia has talked peace and negotitation since late 1990s

Re Mark Sleboda analysis is often very critical of Russian government, which is a national sport in Russia. He is a Russian citizen and he is clear that he support military intervention [ note wife is from Crimea] . Still, he has Ph.D. from LSE and lectures IR at Moscow Univ and provides an intelligent analysis of the conflict. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-__sVuhjJPOY.html

Excellent food for thought

Would haven been great to have Glenn Greenwald there

Like stalin stated the American left feel exceptional. The US should admit they have no left, just a right wing and far right party.

Scott Ritter talks facts. That why the greyzone is one of the greatest journalists in the world

I supported Max with patreon, I thought he was going to be on substack, but I'll help Aaaron on substack and others,too. Media is insane.

Trump has always had been involved with Politics and Politicians. As was his Father. Great friends with the Banksters too. It's 1 Giant UniParty Worldwide. But especially in Canada and the US. Corruption has been normalized. There's no fixing this shit show. Respect to President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

By the way, there’s nothing wrong with Trotskyism in and of itself. It’s a great Marxist tradition that should be honored. Some trotskyists are even tankies, like Michael Hudson who supports Russia just as much as Scott Ritter. But then of course you have all the trotskyists who are basically neocon imperialist war mongers. So the trotskyists are a very diverse group.

"We live in a psyop-cracy." Lol.

The Pro-Vietnam left was correct Mr. Russell. Was Saddam worse than President Bush?

This host and Tracey are annoying Max is great

Fantastic discussion!

Tracey: if one takes the position that there WAS an alternative to combat, please enlighten us as to what that was.

Great discussion. 2:20 ...when Michael Tracy picks his ear and looks to see what's on his finger. :0)

As a university student I supported the Viet Cong fighting for their liberation...no brainer

Most of the 🌎is glad 🇷🇺stood up to the global hegemon and praying for 🇷🇺total victory.

Neil Oliver on GB news weekly always questions the U.K. official policy towards Russia.

True, Scott had never stated that he wanted the deappearance of Ukraine. Scott does Not belong to a fashion nor is McGregor. As far as I can see that is an EXCUSE. IT IS BEING Used in Israel for decades. The Palestinian land is disappearing. What about it? If Palestine had the WEAPONS TO DEFEND ITSELF I WOULD SUPPORT A WAR. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Great conversation, but god Michael gets on my nerves sometimes

This is an intense, insightful, interesting, informative and thought provokingly humbling panel. And I'm only halfway through. Just watched the other half. What a mess this world is in. For a bunch of trustfund babies with elitist educations, your not so bad. Maybe us "normies" can give you a chance. Joking aside. Thank you all for trying to change the world. Hopefully more people will be inspired by you all to do the same.❤. What's that saying "If not me, who"? If not now, when?". I guess when it happens it will be in the now.

great show!

I had a *total* Russiagate meltdown with a cousin (Professor of Psychology). Breaking out of the "blue jail" has always been problematic with many I know, but this was the pinacle of the new McCarthyism, in my experience. -- CA Putin Stooge PS I've been on the left for a while now, but I never got the "Trotskyist 101"... if someone could give me a pointer... Thx Regardless of "support for Z", I think the *essential* clarification is *Abolish NATO*. "Moneyprinting" is an insufficient explanation for inflation. Failure to tackle monopoly & windfall profits is the likely outcome of such obsession.

The allegations about Scott Ritter, unacceptable and his trip was not sponsored by Sputnik.

Max is fing hilarious😂

Great panel. The psychological shift of Thaddeus Russel is fascinating.

What happened to Ben Burgis? Why wasn't he there?

Great stuff

People inside empire don't want empire to crumble. It's hard to face reality the whole thing.

This panel is pretty awesome, and the stage was already crowded, but I wish one more person could have been included, who would have made it even more fascinating: Mark Crispin Miller.

I'm with Max, and Mearsheimer' argument. Russia was forced as he was surrounded.

Shut it down! Love it.

1:53:10 - The problem with this argument is that it is massively incomplete to the point of being mostly incorrect. The US maintains the _only_ sovereign currency, the "exorbitant privilege" afforded by being the "global reserve currency" (as stated immediately after the first contention), the US positioning itself as the "consumer of last resort" at the end of the global supply chain to absorb inevitable overproduction of capitalism through cheap consumption or of course our favorite activity of war/arms sales (military Keynesianism, the only button we can push clearly), launching itself to hegemony post-WWII via imposing the Bretton-Woods international financial system with the US dollar as the "global reserve currency" using the leverage of being the only industrialized nation-state _not_ bombed to shit and taking the imperial baton from the British and their pound sterling. As noted by Nixon's treasury secretary John Connally, _"the dollar is our currency, but your problem."_ By the "fiscal responsibility" logic presented, QE should have spurred inflation a decade ago. What accounts for this transient price stability? More to the point, what grounds the US dollar (spoiler: oil/war, hence the situation we find ourselves in)? So merely think through the logic here - inflation, by definition, is simply a rise in commodity prices. Who sets commodity prices? The capitalist/employer class. Another angle to illuminate this is to ask the _only_ political question: _cui bono?_ *_Who benefits?_* To Wall Street and its backers, the solution to any price inflation is to reduce wages and public social spending (austerity). The orthodox way to do this is to push the economy into recession in order to reduce hiring (for precedent, see: Volcker shock). Rising unemployment will oblige labor to compete for jobs that pay less and less as the economy slows. As some guy put it (like 150 years ago btw...): _"Big industry constantly requires a reserve army of unemployed workers for times of overproduction. The main purpose of the bourgeois in relation to the worker is, of course, to have the commodity labour as cheaply as possible, which is only possible when the supply of this commodity is as large as possible in relation to the demand for it, i.e., when the overpopulation is the greatest. Overpopulation is therefore in the interest of the bourgeoisie, and it gives the workers good advice which it knows to be impossible to carry out. Since capital only increases when it employs workers, the increase of capital involves an increase of the proletariat, and, as we have seen, according to the nature of the relation of capital and labour, the increase of the proletariat must proceed relatively even faster. The above theory, however, which is also expressed as a law of nature, that population grows faster than the means of subsistence, is the more welcome to the bourgeois as it silences his conscience, makes hard-heartedness into a moral duty and the consequences of society into the consequences of nature, and finally gives him the opportunity to watch the destruction of the proletariat by starvation as calmly as any other natural event without bestirring himself, and, on the other hand, to regard the misery of the proletariat as its own fault and to punish it. To be sure, the proletarian can restrain his natural instinct by reason, and so, by moral supervision, halt the law of nature in its injurious course of development."_ - some guy (Marx, to not be pointlessly facetious) This class-war doctrine is the prime directive of neoliberal economics. It is the tunnel vision of corporate managers and the 1%. The Federal Reserve and IMF are its most prestigious lobbyists. As is consistent with bourgeois (liberal) discourse, public discussion of today’s inflation is framed in a way that avoids any sort of political lens, where the antagonistic class interests which define capitalism as a mode of production necessitate a zero-sum material benefit between capital/labor are flattened into banal nebulous speculation/manipulation with 0 reference points or substantive explanation supporting such shots in the dark. Particularly egregious is the media framing of economics being somehow universally "good" or "bad" (entirely normative, rather than descriptive) - again, _never_ asking the *only* political question _"cui bono?"_ (who benefits?), which allows us to anchor back to a material reality and broaden the aperture of consideration - reframing the statement, the economy is "good" _for whom?_ The entire blame for inflation is placed on wage earners, and the response is to make them the victims of the coming austerity, as if their wages are responsible for bidding up oil prices, food prices and other prices resulting from the crisis. The reality is that they are too debt-strapped to be spendthrifts. The pretense behind the Fed’s recent increase in its discount rates is that raising interest rates will "cure inflation" by deterring borrowing to spend on the basic needs that make up the Consumer Price Index and its related GDP deflator. But banks do not finance much consumption, except for credit card debt, which is now less than student loans and automobile loans. Banks lend almost entirely to buy real estate, stocks and bonds, not goods and services. Some 80 percent of bank loans are real estate mortgages, and most of the remainder loans are collateralized by stocks and bonds. So raising interest rates will not lead wage-earners to borrow less to buy consumer goods. The main price effect of less bank credit and higher interest rates is on asset prices - deterring borrowing to buy homes, as well as for arbitragers to buy stocks and bonds. Like seriously, gotta get a marxist on here to cut through the rhetorical jargon/euphemisms cuz the reality inherent to capitalism necessitates a zero-sum class war, a "conspiracy" largely hidden in plain sight, only one side even being aware of this at this point using the idealistically "neutral" arbiter of the state as a further cudgel to permanently entrench such "full spectrum domination" both domestically and abroad, as some guy put it like 150 years ago in logically concluding the outcome of political paralysis we viscerally intuit but are discplined to not understand through abstractions like neoclassical (neoliberal) economics, _"the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie."_ Which is all to echo Rosa Luxemburg from interwar Germany, before of course being executed by the freikorps paramilitary (later becoming the SS, shocker) at the behest of Ebert's ostensibly _social democratic_ SPD party, almost immediately resonating the truth of such a succinct political dichotomy to this day: *_socialism or_* [continued] *_barbarism._* Some books coming to mind to fill in the historical context/continuity if anyone actually cares: Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky/Herman, The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins, Killing Hope by William Blum, Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, The Devil's Chessboard by David Talbot, American Exception by Aaron Good, anything by Michael Parenti, etc.

Thanks for recording this, but I hope you can hire an audio engineer next time.

Neoconservative is the perfect term because of the movement’s rise in the hegemonic moment and their insistence that it be indefinitely prolonged.

45m Sam got it right. Nice shirt too Sam.

So what happened to Ben Burgis? I was looking forward to him make an ass out of himself.

On being anti-war : There is a moral and partly abstract stance on war that views this age-old human behavior { particularly wars of aggression } as morally wrong and embarrassingly primitive and idiotic. That is my view. But living in a world in which war is a common reality, one can also be cognitive of one side being more justified in it's actions than the other. While Russia did indeed invade Ukraine, being the military aggressor, one needn't view it's action in an ahistorical vacuum. Russia was pushed into considering military action toward Ukraine for decades by increasingly reckless and antagonizing behaviour on the part the U.S. and NATO countries; crossing a "red-line" that Putin repeatedly warned the West about. Being anti-war doesn't necessarily preclude the rejection of pacifism when a nation has reasonable national security concerns. That said, I'm not entirely sure if Russia had no other options than taking military action. But, given that a war is underway, I would prefer Russia "winning", to the U.S.A. succeeding in endangering all life on earth by having a hostile, defacto NATO state in it's backyard.

When the word moral comes up you are done . Pragmatism wins every time .

max gets it. russia had no choice. nato kept piling on provocation until no rational person would have taken it. you cannot be for peace when there is no possibility of it. ukraine has to be beat.

Since the late 60s as a hippies and anti-war civil rights ally I have fought Imperialism. Tracy and more of him hearing the sound of his own voice JFC.

44:07 Julius Caesar was officially "the most powerful person" in Rome.

seeing a group of all white men sit around and say "because black people are virtuous at all times" makes me really nervous. Also assuming democrats aren't right wingers, the democratic party is a right wing party, the United States is the farthest right country in the world. Oh what about Eugene Debs in WW1?

I am not “anti-war”, whatever that means, I’m anti-imperialist. I support the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just like Scott Ritter or Mark Sleboda. But I agree with Michael Tracey that people should be honest and explicit about where they stand: are you actually anti-war or really pro-Russia?

I think Thad is confusing the communist Russia (strictly speaking, Soviet Union, or Vietnam) from the 60s with the current Russia, and the political reasons that were then and now in play.

For the al·go·rithm

Max brain always working, Katie Halper is also,both are sharp as tacks.

Max is the only one I completely agree with, next is Aaron. Some are just preachers who can be easily shaken with a few questions, some just want a utopia which is impractical. The one who keeps saying your journalism depends on where you stand...I'm sorry but I think journalism is about bringing out the truth on all sides, whether or not it aligns with your personal ideology.

Max is most clear sighted. Aaron still suffers from TDS

I’m gonna be honest, I would not want a dude who bitches about fighter jets over a baseball game to teach my kid lol

Max the slayer. No war but war

Blumenthal and Mate have the clearest, most realistic view of the war (and the world generally) than a couple of people who seem to be purists in their camp. Life is life, Putin is not an evil dictator and he had little recourse unless he was to watch the ethnically Russian people who should have been asked if they wished to remain part of Ukraine in 1991 rather than jam them in a country in which they are considered "cockroaches." I don't see any of you as Putin puppet just for writing the truth about the war. It is what realism is unless there are really huge differences in American standards that I haven't observed. Truth doesn't equate to being a 'puppet' of some person or thing. I do know that I don't follow purists because it is too hard to always be pitch perfect.

About a half hour in it is posited that they support American Hegemony because they are patriotic. America is not the primary beneficiary of Hegemony. If you look at reliance on the international system we're near the bottom of the list. You should note that the largest concentration of anti-war sentiment is on the Nationalist faction.

“I’m a U.S. American.” Yes!! Why do so many on the left use “America” and “United States” interchangeably? As someone born in the U.S. and married to a Mexican, I find this deeply offensive and ignorant. The one conservative you heard from in the audience had some of the most interesting things to say, as opposed to two teachers who wonder how more anti-imperialist content can be taught in public schools. As if! Don’t they know that real world issues and struggles-outside the LBGT realm, that is-are not welcome in public schools because if kids were taught about resistance to oppression elsewhere they might start to question why THEY put up with being warehoused and micromanaged in school all day? Pride and all that is so prominent in our schools for the same reason it’s been embraced by the corporate world and the CIA: keep people focused on superficial stuff and they’ll be too distracted to see that you’re controlling their politics and economy, or, as in the case of school, kids’ education and gigantic chunks of their time that should instead be spent playing and being outdoors. Teachers LOVE kids with purple hair. Kids who get up and move around and go to the bathroom when they need to? Not so much. (That’s what we have Adderall for.) This is why you will never ever see anything more radical than the Montgomery Bus Boycott taught in public schools. Teachers who don’t understand this (which is almost all of them) simply don’t understand the institution that employs them. Kind of like the guys on this panel….

Michael Tracey remains the uber troll

lol - the host of this panel said a lot of stupid stuff

Tracey and his manic foot. He always gets so worked up.

27:53

Stalin was Georgian NOT Russian!!!

Re: Scott The Critter To think he's in bed with the kremlin is hilarious. If anything Rotter is one big MIC advert for "guys, we're gonna lose unless we get more guns! Make more guns!"

“America’s Secret Establishment”-Antony Sutton

Too many panelists come on

ALL YOU JEWS UP THERE NEED TO READ THE TALMUD AND SEE WHERE RASHKIN COMES FROM. IN FACT ALL THESE SEXUAL THINGS ARE RESOLVED BY THE RABBIS.