American Exception

Episode 82: Ike’s Imperial Crisis Management (EDS 16) [TRAILER]

 
We look at how Eisenhower and the Dulles Brothers handled two geopolitical hot spots of the Cold War: Indonesia and Egypt.
This is the 16th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange
We look at how Eisenhower and the Dulles Brothers handled two geopolitical hot spots of the Cold War: Indonesia and Egypt.
This is the 16th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

Episode 81: The Politics of Sexual Blackmail

 
Nick Bryant discusses his prolific efforts to expose sexual blackmail as, in effect, a deep state institution.
Nick is the author of The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal and co-author of Confessions of a DC Madam The Politics of Sex, Lies, and Blackmail. He also has a new book coming out in a few months entitled The Truth About Watergate: A Tale of Extraordinary Lies & Liars.
Nick’s website is here.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: “Payroll” by Mock Orange
Nick Bryant discusses his prolific efforts to expose sexual blackmail as, in effect, a deep state institution.
Nick is the author of The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal and co-author of Confessions of a DC Madam The Politics of Sex, Lies, and Blackmail. He also has a new book coming out in a few months entitled The Truth About Watergate: A Tale of Extraordinary Lies & Liars.
Nick’s website is here.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: “Payroll” by Mock Orange

Episode 80: Imperial SUCCESS (EDS 15) [TRAILER]

In this episode we briefly discuss what the deep state is and is not before looking at the Eisenhower administration’s imperial chicanery in Guatemala and Vietnam.
This is the 15th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange
In this episode we briefly discuss what the deep state is and is not before looking at the Eisenhower administration’s imperial chicanery in Guatemala and Vietnam.
This is the 15th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

Episode 79: Who Likes Ike? (EDS 14) American Exception - Episode 79.mp3 [TRAILER]

 
In this episode we look at Eisenhower’s ties to Big Oil and how they influenced Operation AJAX--the CIA conspiracy which overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Mohammed Mossedegh in order to install a US puppet, the Shah of Iran.
This is the 14th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Check out the attached PDF to see the slides we refer to.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange
In this episode we look at Eisenhower’s ties to Big Oil and how they influenced Operation AJAX--the CIA conspiracy which overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Mohammed Mossedegh in order to install a US puppet, the Shah of Iran.
This is the 14th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Check out the attached PDF to see the slides we refer to.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

Episode 78: NSC-68 and the Permanent War Panacea (EDS 13)

 
[Update: We fixed and replaced the original audio file which had a problem around the introduction]In this episode we look at the history behind NSC-68, the seminal document of the US military industrial complex.
This is the 13th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
The latter portion of this episode was already posted on YouTube because we thought it was so timely after the Nord Stream attack. I hope the larger, book-related portion of the episode also provides good context for this. Strangely enough, I added that extra material to the episode plan because I thought that all of the historical exegesis from the book was really relevant to our current moment. With the Nord Stream bombing, it turned out that I was more correct than I knew.
Check out the attached PDF to see the slides we refer to.
Special thanks to Seamus for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange
[Update: We fixed and replaced the original audio file which had a problem around the introduction]In this episode we look at the history behind NSC-68, the seminal document of the US military industrial complex.
This is the 13th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
The latter portion of this episode was already posted on YouTube because we thought it was so timely after the Nord Stream attack. I hope the larger, book-related portion of the episode also provides good context for this. Strangely enough, I added that extra material to the episode plan because I thought that all of the historical exegesis from the book was really relevant to our current moment. With the Nord Stream bombing, it turned out that I was more correct than I knew.
Check out the attached PDF to see the slides we refer to.
Special thanks to Seamus for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

Episode 77: The Devil’s Grand Chessboard (LS9/11 Part 2) [TRAILER]

Ben Howard and Aaron continue the Long Shadow of 9/11 series with a discussion on the history of USUK imperial support for reactionary Islamism.
The first article in the series is now up at American Exception: “Prequel to Terror: The 9/9 Massoud Assassination.”
Special thanks to Seamus McGuinness for his editorial work on the article and to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "High Octane Punk Mode" by Mock Orange
The image in the episode art is of the Al-Baqi cemetery before its 1926 demolition by the Saudis.
The episode title is a mishmash of three relevant book titles: Dreyfuss' 'Devil's Game', Talbot's The Devil's Chessboard, and Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard.
Ben Howard and Aaron continue the Long Shadow of 9/11 series with a discussion on the history of USUK imperial support for reactionary Islamism.
The first article in the series is now up at American Exception: “Prequel to Terror: The 9/9 Massoud Assassination.”
Special thanks to Seamus McGuinness for his editorial work on the article and to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "High Octane Punk Mode" by Mock Orange
The image in the episode art is of the Al-Baqi cemetery before its 1926 demolition by the Saudis.
The episode title is a mishmash of three relevant book titles: Dreyfuss' 'Devil's Game', Talbot's The Devil's Chessboard, and Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard.

Episode 76: The Imperial Behemoth (EDS Part 12)

 
In this episode, we begin our historical exploration of the post-World War 2 US empire. As explained in the book and in previous episodes of this history, the history of the post-World War 2 US empire is essentially the history of the US deep state.
This is the 12th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Check out the attached PDF to see related images.
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange[Edit: The original episode file was missing the introduction as well as the final minutes.]
In this episode, we begin our historical exploration of the post-World War 2 US empire. As explained in the book and in previous episodes of this history, the history of the post-World War 2 US empire is essentially the history of the US deep state.
This is the 12th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration of my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Check out the attached PDF to see related images.
Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

Episode 75: Crackpot Wokeism

Aaron is joined by Christopher Mott to discuss his recent article, “Woke Imperium: The Coming Confluence Between Social Justice and Neoconservatism.”
Christopher Mott is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy and the author of The Formless Empire: A Short History of Diplomacy and Warfare in Central Asia. Follow Christopher on Twitter and check out his personal website: geotrickster.com.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Stuck In" by Mock Orange

Episode 74: Dark Power and the American State (EDS Part 11) [TRAILER]

 
In this episode, we wrap up our social science exploration of imperial criminality.
We discuss dark power—i.e., top-down or despotic political power. Dark power is to be contrasted with open or democratic power—power derived from consensus and persuasion.
This is the 11th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Seamus for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange
In this episode, we wrap up our social science exploration of imperial criminality.
We discuss dark power—i.e., top-down or despotic political power. Dark power is to be contrasted with open or democratic power—power derived from consensus and persuasion.
This is the 11th installment of our Empire and the Deep State series--an in-depth exploration on my new book American Exception: Empire and the Deep State. I am again joined by series co-host Ben Norton of Multipolarista as well our own Seamus McGuinness who is producing the series.
Special thanks to Seamus for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Too Good Your Dreams Don't Come True" by Mock Orange

UNLOCKED Episode 73: Deep Scholasticism

 
Aaron and Ben Norton of Multipolarista discuss Establishment scholar Francis Fukuyama and his strange intervention into deep state discourse.
I am hoping that Fukuyama is just building up to addressing the deep state construct in future installments because he does mention some important aspects of the emergence of the state, even as he leaves out many other angles:
Valuing the Deep State, Part I
Valuing the Deep State Part II: The Origin of States
Special thanks Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: “Nine Times” by Mock Orange
Aaron and Ben Norton of Multipolarista discuss Establishment scholar Francis Fukuyama and his strange intervention into deep state discourse.
I am hoping that Fukuyama is just building up to addressing the deep state construct in future installments because he does mention some important aspects of the emergence of the state, even as he leaves out many other angles:
Valuing the Deep State, Part I
Valuing the Deep State Part II: The Origin of States
Special thanks Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: “Nine Times” by Mock Orange