Bungacast

/416/ Aufhebonus Bonus (sample)

On your questions & criticism regarding pro-Palestine protests.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

In this episode we focus on the discussion generated by our episode that came out in early May on the protests on US campuses. We discuss the issues along a few axes:

• How do ideas of victimhood relate to the material reality of international politics?

• What really are the aims of the protesters and how likely are they to achieve them?

• Are we cynical in our approach or conclusions?

• How do the protests relate to populism and the end of the End of History?

• What is the proper basis of nationhood?

• How do these protests relate to the millennial Left?

We also deal with your points on Civil War, the state funding of culture, and whether Joe Rogan is a good male role model.

 

Readings:

• Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, Northern Star

• The victimological imagination, Matthew B. Crawford, Substack

 

UNLOCKED: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality

 

Previously a Patreon Exclusive. For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

• Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
• What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
• How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
• Why were the realists right?
• How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
• Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
• And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

• Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

Excerpt: /378/ Reading Club: Globalisation (II)

On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century

 

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

 

We discuss the Part 2 of this landmark book from 2008, debating theories of Western economic decline: Robert Brenner's, and Arrighi's critique of it.

 

Points discussed:

• Are you 'Team Brenner' or 'Team Arrighi'?
• Was neoliberalism a counter-revolution? A passive revolution? A restoration?
• How does the depression of the 1870s compare to that of the 1970s or the post-2008 period?
• What are the characteristics of our own Belle Époque (1993-2007)
• What matters more in explaining the downturn: inter-capitalist global competition? Upward wage pressure? The role of the global South?

Links:

• Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008)

Excerpt: /376/ AufheBonus Bonus - Nov 2023

On your criticisms.

 

[Patreon Exclusive - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

We respond to your points made in the comments on Patreon over the past few months. The first section is of course dedicated to the Gaza war, followed by discussion on hyperliberalism, neutrality, big tech, outsourcing, and drugs.

 

Now available also as video on Patreon.

Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality

 

[Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

• Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
• What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
• How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
• Why were the realists right?
• How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
• Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
• And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

• Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

/370/ Dead Ends in Israel & Palestine ft. Alex Gourevitch

On violence and the lack of political resolution.

 

Regular guest Alex Gourevitch joins us to discuss why the Israel/Palestine conflict is so intractable – and why it draws so much attention. Alex then explains why, lamentably, there is no side worth choosing.

 

We then delve into various key points: 

• why Hamas was becoming irrelevant and how the 7 October attack was an attempt to combat that; 
• why violence is necessary but the Palestinians are in a catch-22; 
• how the West is implicated in the violence and callousness on show; 
• why the Palestinians are the most oppressed and forgotten people; 
• why Hamas is not an anticolonial freedom struggle; and 
• what is the right way to compare this to Ukraine.

Links:

• No end in sight: Israel’s search for a Gaza strategy, Lawrence Freedman, FT (attached)
• The House of Zion, Perry Anderson, NLR
• Whither Palestine, David Polansky, Strange Frequencies

 

/369/ Information-War and War-Politics ft. Jacob Siegel

On the war on disinformation and the war in Gaza. 

 

Jacob Siegel, senior editor at Tablet, joins us to talk about Hamas's attack on Israel and Israel's assault on Gaza. We also discuss how the US crusade against 'disinformation' has led it to apply counterinsurgency tactics to its own citizens.

 

Why did Hamas attack when it did? Has it been successful in stopping Israeli-Saudi rapprochement? How much will this change Israeli society? And what does Israel want to achieve in bombing - and soon invading - Gaza? 

 

Meanwhile, how has domestic politics become war? The state has meshed with corporate power to create an almighty surveillance apparatus. How can we start dismantling it? 

 

And how do we escape the postmodern hall of mirrors in which high diplomacy and low culture-war merge, in which domestic and international, and peace and war, all blur into each other?

 

Links:

• On disinformation: A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century, Jacob Siegel, Tablet
• A trap has been set for Israel, Jacob Siegel, Unherd
• End US Aid to Israel, Jacob Siegel & Liel Leibovitz, Tablet
• On data: The Nanny vs. The Nanny State, Jacob Siegel & John Robb, Tablet
• Manifesto Podcast, Jacob Siegel & Phil Klay

/367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos

On sovereign debt and taking back control.

 

The leading candidate in Argentina's election this month wants to avoid defaulting on the country's debt at all costs. But back in 2001, after a mass revolt, Argentina reneged on its debts – one of the very rare cases over the past 70 years of unilateral default. 

 

Why are nations so eager to pay back creditors nowadays, especially when it means endless austerity and little prospect of economic development?

 

We talk to scholar Jerome Roos about his book, Why Not Default? and discuss a range of cases: Mexico, Greece, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana - and of course Argentina. We find that the old free market system used to accept that reneging on your debts was a risk creditors had to take. No longer: transnational institutions make sure that creditors get paid every time. 

 

How might countries free themselves from international financial dictatorship?

 

For part two of the interview and the After Party, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Links:

• Why Not Default?: The Political Economy of Sovereign Debt, Jerome Roos
• Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide), film on 2001 debt crisis and uprising in Argentina (many versions available online)
• /83/ Now It’s Syrizous (episode on Syriza's defeat in Greece)
• The World in One Country: Greece, Jonas Kyratzes (part of ep.200)

UNLOCKED /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

On geopolitical competition over Africa.

 

This episode was originally for subscribers only. To join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

 

In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more.

 

If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today?

 

Links:

• /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua
• /304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua
• Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles
• Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute
• Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift
• Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT
• Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House
• Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog
• /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

 

/331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian

On cracked-up capitalism.

Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras.

We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing?

For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

• Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian
• The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian
• /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
• As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator
• Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator

• Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter

Excerpt: /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

On geopolitical competition over Africa.

[Patreon Exclusive]

In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more. 

If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today?

Links:

• /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua 
• /304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua 
• Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles
• Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute
• Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift
• Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT
• Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House
• Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog
• /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

/321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi

On The Covid Consensus.

 

We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action? 

 

And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion?

 

In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm.  

 

For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast 

 

Links:

• The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi
• /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze
• /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

Excerpt: /307/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Dec 2022)

On your questions & criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

We debate what kind of work 'shared-labour socialism' would involve in a complex society, and what role 'dispossession' or 'expropriation' has in the contemporary economy. Plus: strategies on Ukraine – backing independence, guerilla warfare, and what an 'anti-NATO' stance actually looks like; and whether the forces exist for exiting the EU.

Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNLTVLB 

/303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua

On Mali and the Sahel.

 

French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next?

 

Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do these various political forces intersect with the political economy of aid and smuggling networks?

 

[Part 2 is available to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Readings:

• Norms, non-combatants' agency and restraint in Jihadi violence in Northern Mali, Yvan Guichaoua and Ferdaous Bouhlel, International Interactions
• The bitter harvest of French interventionism in the Sahel, Yvan Guichaoua, International Affairs

Music: Nous Non Plus / Bunga Bunga / courtesy of Sugaroo!

Excerpt: /302/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Nov 2022)

On your questions & criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

The weakness of anti-EU forces; the implications of defending Ukrainian sovereignty; what should we call the new far-right and what does it *do* in power? And the gravity of nuclear war

 

Also, is Phil okay?