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Turbulence

Turbulence is a podcast about the end of the American empire, or the end of the world—whichever comes first. Join Dylan Saba, M Ceniza, and friends as they navigate the geopolitical chaos of a world-system in flux.

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Yesterday · 1 hr 25 min
Episode 42: Dollar Imperialism w/ Nathan Tankus
Nathan Tankus joins us to discuss the monetary foundations of American empire, how sanctions weaponize the global financial system, the possibility of China-led de-dollarization, and what’s really going on with the oil futures market. This is part one of a two part episode. Part two, A Financial History of Zionism, will be released later this week on our paid feed. Works mentioned: A Spectrum Approach to Monetary Sovereignty and our Dollar World; Did the United States Really Invade Iraq Because it Started Pricing Oil in Euros?; Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Global Lending Rules; The Oil Market is a Conventional Wisdom Processor; Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire; The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Nathan Tankus is a writer, researcher, and president of the publication Notes on the Crises. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Trump-Musk Payments Crisis: A 250-Year History, under contract with Viking Press. He is also the editor of We, Traitors: Bundist Writings on Zionism, Palestine, and Socialism, forthcoming from Haymarket. Nathan has created a 70% off annual subscription discount for Turbulence listeners! Access here: https://www.crisesnotes.com/turbulence. You can find Nathan on Bluesky or on Instagram. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
Thursday · 5 min
BONUS: Operation Allah is Stronger in Might and More Severe in Punishment w/ Alexander Aviña and Barry
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com This week we’re joined by returning co-host Alexander Aviña, as well as friend of the show Barry with the NED, to go in depth on Ansarallah’s major ground offensive in Yemen, the downing of a Saudi F-15, and the US’s escalating violence in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
September 16 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode 41: Mauritania at Europe’s Frontier w/ Hassan Ould Moctar
Hassan Ould Moctar joins us to discuss Europe’s externalized border regime, the colonial history of race and territory in Mauritania, and how migration control, counterinsurgency, and development policy have fused across the Sahel. Works mentioned: After Border Externalization: Migration, Race, and Labour in Mauritania. Hassan Ould Moctar is a Fellow at the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb, University of Tunis and former lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London. His research focuses on the relationship between migration, borders, and development processes, with a regional focus on West and North Africa. He is the author of After Border Externalization: Migration, Race, and Labour in Mauritania, which is available open access from Bloomsbury Publishers. To support migrants in Senegal and those facing deportation and border violence, consider donating to Boza Fii. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman Researcher: KC This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
September 10 · 5 min
BONUS: Houthi Takeover w/ Alexander Aviña
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss the expanding conflict in Hormuz, Ansarallah’s lightning advance in Yemen, Trump’s oil problem, the surging anti-migrant right across the North Atlantic, and why Javier Milei is ratcheting up Argentine claims on Las Malvinas. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
September 8 · 1 hr 23 min
Episode 40: Counter-Space and the Data Center Revolt w/ Kai Bosworth
Kai Bosworth joins us to discuss the strange politics of the data center revolt, the AI boom’s place in the global energy system, and what the rise and fall of the climate movement can teach us about the struggles taking shape in its wake. Works mentioned: Where is the U.S. climate movement?, Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century, AI Data Center Development in Frackland, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, The Production of Space Kai Bosworth is a geographer and political ecologist, and an Associate Professor at the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century. His current book project is provisionally entitled Protectors of the Subsurface: Militant Investigation and Critical Imagination in Anti-Oil Activism. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman Researcher: KC This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
September 3 · 57 min
BONUS: The Chud International w/ Alexander Aviña
We welcome Alex Aviña to Turbulence and discuss the Battle of Hormuz, Bessent’s economic D-Day for Iran, the US-Venezuela oil deal, the arrest of Fernando Cerimedo in Bolivia, and Trump’s war on the price of burger. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
September 2 · 1 hr 42 min
Episode 39: The Bureaucracy of Repression w/ Josef Burton
Josef Burton joins us to discuss the transformation of immigration under Trump, the bureaucrats who administer US machinery of repression, and what intensifying coercion at home and imperial retreat abroad mean for our political future. Works mentioned: One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention Josef Burton is a writer and former US diplomat who worked mainly on consular and immigration issues. He tweets at @PinstripeBungle To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
August 27 · 4 min
BONUS: Before the Flood w/ Mujamma Haraket
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com In part two of our double episode with Mujamma Haraket, we discuss the history of Hamas, the relationship between Hamas and the Palestinian left, and how various factions of the resistance are approaching the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
August 25 · 1 hr 13 min
Episode 38: Militant Women w/ Arlene Eisen
Arlene Eisen joins us to discuss the transformations in the anti-war movement across the Vietnam War, the interrelation of feminism and anti-imperialism, and what decades of state repression can teach today’s movements about security and survival. Works mentioned: In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women Arlene Eisen has been a militant in the struggle against imperialism since the 1960s—first as a protester facing tear gas and later as a teacher and writer. She edited The Movement newspaper, and was a leading voice in the anti-imperialist women’s movement of the 1970s. For the next half century, she joined the anti-apartheid movement, the movement for justice in Palestine, including the olive harvest in the West Bank, the struggle for the right to return to New Orleans after Katrina, the movements against fascist U.S. police and their deputized militias and against the holocaust in Gaza—always standing in solidarity with national liberation struggles both inside and outside the U.S. Empire. She is the author of Women of Viet Nam, Women and Revolution in Viet Nam, and the influential report Operation Ghetto Storm, which documented police killings of Black people in the United States. Her latest book, In The Worldwide Family of Militant Women, is a social history and memoir of revolutionary movements from 1962 to 1982. You can find her work here. Please consider donating to the Meera Center for Gazan children in Egypt. To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
August 20 · 2 min
BONUS: The Pivot From Asia
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss Iranian threats to strike Bulgaria, Russia supplying Iran with explosives and ammunition, the possibility of an Israel-Turkiye war, and the US reducing its military footprint in the pacific. We also bid a fond farewell to our dear Séamus. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
August 18 · 1 hr 33 min
Episode 37: After the Flood w/ Mujamma Haraket
Mujamma Haraket joins us to discuss negotiations over Hamas’ disarmament, the collaborator militias in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya’s rise within Hamas, the movement’s evolving relationship with Ansarallah, and the future of Palestinian armed resistance. Mujamma Haraket is a translator and academic researcher in political philosophy with a specialization in non-state actors, political Islam and the history of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). To support Palestinians in Gaza, consider donating through The Sameer Project. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
August 14 · 4 min
BONUS: Doing Bad Things to Bad People
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss Trump “low-keying” the Iran war, Israel’s rejection of the Gaza disarmament deal and destruction of southern Lebanon, the expanding ICE deportation machine, Latin America’s rightward turn, and the Russia-Ukraine war extending to commercial shipping. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That me…
August 11 · 1 hr 27 min
Episode 36: The Battle For South Arabia w/ Isa Blumi
Isa Blumi joins us to discuss Ansarallah’s renewed war with Saudi Arabia, whether pipelines can bypass Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, the Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement, and the Gulf powers’ long campaign to subordinate Yemen. Works mentioned: Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World. Isa Blumi is Professor at Stockholm University within the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies from New York University (2005) and a Master of Political Science and Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York (1995). We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
August 6 · 3 min
BONUS: Migration Blackmail
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss an Iran-Oman agreement over the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE’s expanding footprint across the African continent, a horrific crisis at the Morocco-Spain border, and Trump’s saga with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
July 30 · 4 min
BONUS: Is it a World War?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss how the regional war has expanded north to the Caspian Sea and south to the Horn of Africa, Trump’s effort to break the oil market, a new Saudi coalition, Netanyahu’s visit to the US, and Lindsey Graham’s funeral. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
July 28 · 1 hr 40 min
Episode 35: All-American Empire w/ Aziz Rana
Aziz Rana joins us to discuss the Trump doctrine of foreign policy, the evolution of US hegemony since WW2, how the concept of freedom has animated American political thought and identity, and the challenge of political subjectivity. Works mentioned: The Two Faces of American Freedom, The Constitutional Bind, Workshop on Internationalism and Relations with Liberation Struggles Around the World. Aziz Rana is a professor of law and government at Boston College Law School, where his research and teaching center on American constitutional law and political development. In particular, his work focuses on how shifting notions of race, citizenship, and empire have shaped legal and political identity since the founding. He is the author of two books: The Two Faces of American Freedom and his most recent book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document that Fails Them. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
July 23 · 6 min
BONUS: All Your Base Are Belong To Us
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss Iran’s pummeling of US bases in Jordan, the rollout of “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon, Ansarallah’s blockade of Saudi oil transits in the Red Sea, the US-Saudi nuclear agreement, and the status of Venezuela’s oil revenues. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
July 21 · 1 hr 5 min
Episode 34: Black Bolsheviks w/ Hakim Adi
Hakim Adi joins us to discuss the Black radicals who shaped the Comintern, the Black Belt Thesis and the national question, Pan-Africanism through decolonization, and whether the Alliance of Sahel States is a path to African sovereignty. Works mentioned: Pan-Africanism and Communism, Black Bolshevik, Africa Must Unite Prof. Hakim Adi is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of International History at the London School of Economics and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre of Pan-African Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Hakim was the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain. His most recent books are Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919-1939 (Africa World Press, 2013), Pan-Africanism: A History (1804 Books, 2023), and, as editor Black British History: New Perspectives (Zed, 2019), Black Voices on Britain (Macmillan, 2022) and Many Struggles: New Histories of African and Caribbean People in Britain (Pluto, 2023). His most recent publication, Africa and Caribbean People in Britain: A History (Allen Lane, 2023) was shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize in Britain in September 2023. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe
July 16 · 5 min
BONUS: Strait's Still Closed
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com We discuss the latest cycle of escalation between the US and Iran, the reopening of the Yemen front, ICE murders in Maine and Texas, the Trump administration’s latest attempts to crack down on the left, and Marco Rubio’s crusade against the ICC. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman
July 14 · 1 hr 20 min
Episode 33: President Lindsey Graham w/ Matthew Petti
Matthew Petti joins us to discuss the crack-up within the Republican Party’s base over Gaza, Netanyahu’s plan to wind down US military aid, and what the US’s performance in the Iran War portends for the future of great power conflict. Check out Matthew’s latest piece, published on Drop Site, here. You can read some of the other pieces mentioned in the interview here and here. Matthew Petti is an assistant editor at Reason who covers U.S. national security policy and its interactions with American society and domestic politics. He has previously reported for the BBC (in Persian and English), The Intercept, The Daily Beast, New Lines, Responsible Statecraft, Middle East Eye, and The National Interest, among other publications. You can find him on Substack and on X/Twitter. Please consider donating to families in need in Gaza: here, here, or here. We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded. For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world. Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week. Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017) Art: Vivek Venkatraman This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe

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