On this episode of American Prestige, we speak with Lydia Walker, historian at Ohio State University, about her book States-in-Waiting: A Counternarrative of Global Decolonization. The group discusses narratives of decolonization that Lydia wanted to challenge before exploring the “transnational advocacy network” and non-state actors she features in the book like Naga nationalist leader Angami Zapu Phizo, Indian politician Jayaprakash Narayan, anti-apartheid minister Michael Scott, the latter two’s World Peace Brigade and “anti-Algiers” initiative, and more.

On this week's news roundup from American Prestige: the terms and concerns of the Gaza ceasefire (0:30); Lebanon elects new PM Nawaf Salam (8:02); worries arise over foreign fighters in Syria’s new administration (12:21); in Sudan, the military takes Wad Madani, leading to reprisal killings (14:40); Somalia and Ethiopia agree to restore full relations (18:59); the TikTok saga continues (21:28); President Yoon of South Korea is finally arrested (23:55); in Russia-Ukraine, the US issues new sanctions (26:27) and Russia makes more advances (29:11); the US removes Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list (30:57); and Danny and Derek bid farewell to Joseph Robinette Biden (32:55).

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jathan Sadowski to discuss the relationship between technology and capitalism, and what lessons can be taken from the Luddites to properly assess and understand these systems.

Jathan Sadowski is is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism. He’s also the co-host of This Machine Kills and a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University.

As we prepare for Trump to take office next week, we're getting ready to challenge him and his people in the upcoming elections later this year. But before that, we have an important election in the next few weeks: the Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on February 1 to prepare for the battles and the campaigns to come. For our analysis we turn to John Nichols.

Also: Trump promises to deport millions of undocumented residents, while Republicans in Congress threaten a nationwide abortion ban. Meanwhile parts of the mainstream media are caving in to Trump. How can individuals help at this point? Katha Pollit has some suggestions about groups that deserve support.

On this episode of American Prestige, Udi Greenberg, associate professor of history at Dartmouth, is back on the podcast to talk about the state of politics within Israel. We discuss the major factors driving domestic politics, the ruling coalition, ultra-Orthodox military exemption, the “centrist” faction, Yoav Gallant, the politics around national security, Israeli media narratives about Gaza, resettling the Strip, and more.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer and Nora Loreto on how political disarray in Canada’s political elite in the face of MAGA taunting.

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek return to the newsroom for the first time in 2025! This week for our news roundup: the transition process continues in Syria (1:48) as the US government beginning relations with the new Syrian leadership (7:11), but fighting continues between Turkey and the SDF (10:25); in Lebanon, the IDF faces a withdrawal deadline (13:48) and the parliament finally elects a new president (15:46); yet more Gaza ceasefire talks are underway (19:37); the downing of a civilian aircraft strains Azerbaijan-Russia relations (22:54); Afghanistan and Pakistan exchange cross-border fire (26:05); South Korea is still trying to arrest impeached president Yoon while the interim president is also impeached (27:55); the Biden administration determines that the RSF is committing genocide in Sudan (31:13); as a new Ukrainian offensive is underway in Kursk (33:49), the Russians continue advancing in eastern Ukraine (35:36); Austria looks to be getting a far-right government (37:21); Justin Trudeau resigns as prime minister of Canada (40:21); and Donald Trump appears to warm up to the idea of conquering everything (43:12).

On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Will Tavlin to discuss how the Netflix model transformed film into the Typical Netflix Movie and how the company uses claims about data to deceive the public.

Will Tavlin is a New York-based writer who has written for n+1, Bookforum, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

On this episode of Start Making Sense: Trump’s ‘dictatorship on day one’ will feature executive orders to deport undocumented residents. Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law & Policy at UCLA Law School, will explain the legal strategy to be deployed by the sanctuary states and cities,

Also: Not everything is about Donald Trump. The Geneva Freeport, for example – where it doesn’t matter who is president of the US. The Freeport is a place where the world’s richest people hide art, jewelry, and other wealth from tax officials, creditors, and sometimes spouses. Atossa Araxia Abrahamian has our analysis--her new book is “The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World.”

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek speak with Colette Shade, who just released her debut collection of essays Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was). They discuss the fine line between ordinary nostalgia and lamenting the decline in material conditions, the advent of the internet and how it shaped a generation, how the millenials who grew up with the promise of the 90s compare with Gen Z and Alpha, the reality of globalization, how 9/11 magnified some of the more unfortunate trends of the 90s, the '08 recession, and more.

Go to Colette's website for more of her work and more information on her upcoming live appearances!

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Matt Duss on a popular right-wing fabulist.

Has former president Barack Obama secretly been running the American elite — including the media and wide parts of the government — for nearly 20 years? Has he been doing so on behalf of a subversive agenda to empower Iran and undermine American exceptionalism? That’s the argument made by David Samuels in a much-read piece in The Tablet. 

On this episode, I dissect Samuels arguments with two friends of the podcast, David Klion and Matt Duss. We not only look at the problems with Samuels’s reactionary fable, but also take up why it is so popular on the right and even draws on conspiratorial ideas that have a wider purchase among centrists and conservative liberals.