American Exception

Episode 84: Denouement: Allen Dulles, Sukarno, JFK, and G30S w/Greg Poulgrain [TRAILER]

 
Aaron talks to the tireless and iconoclastic historian of post-colonial Indonesia, Greg Poulgrain. In this final part, they discuss how JFK, Dag Hammarskjold, and Sukarno were unable to stop Allen Dulles’ murderous grand strategy to turn Indonesia into world history’s most valuable neocolony—under imperial US auspices.
Greg Poulgrain teaches history at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is the author of The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945-65, The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles, as well as the more recent JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Old Man" by Mock Orange
Aaron talks to the tireless and iconoclastic historian of post-colonial Indonesia, Greg Poulgrain. In this final part, they discuss how JFK, Dag Hammarskjold, and Sukarno were unable to stop Allen Dulles’ murderous grand strategy to turn Indonesia into world history’s most valuable neocolony—under imperial US auspices.
Greg Poulgrain teaches history at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is the author of The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945-65, The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles, as well as the more recent JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Old Man" by Mock Orange

Episode 83: Allen Dulles’ Long Game in Indonesia w/Greg Poulgrain

 
Aaron talks to the tireless and iconoclastic historian of post-colonial Indonesia, Greg Polugrain. In this first of two episodes, they discuss Allen Dulles' dark influence over US policy in Indonesia up through the Eisenhower administration.
Greg Poulgrain teaches history at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is the author of The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945-65, The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles, as well as the more recent JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Old Man" by Mock OrangeArtwork: From the cover of TIME, Dec. 23, 1946
Aaron talks to the tireless and iconoclastic historian of post-colonial Indonesia, Greg Polugrain. In this first of two episodes, they discuss Allen Dulles' dark influence over US policy in Indonesia up through the Eisenhower administration.
Greg Poulgrain teaches history at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is the author of The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945-65, The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles, as well as the more recent JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia.
Special thanks to Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!
Music: "Old Man" by Mock OrangeArtwork: From the cover of TIME, Dec. 23, 1946

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