Special - The LA Fires and Lifeboat Capitalism w/ Hamilton Nolan

Danny and Derek with your pre-Shabbat news roundup. This week: the terms and concerns of the Gaza ceasefire (0:30); Lebanon elects Nawaf Salam as its new PM (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). Subscribe now for an ad-free experience and more content, including our in-depth special on the Gaza ceasefire! Take a look at journalist Sam Hosseini confronting Antony Blinken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny and Derek welcome back to the program Mohammad Alsaafin, journalist at AJ+, to talk about the ceasefire in Gaza. They go into detail about the ceasefire itself, the reaction in Gaza, the respective roles of the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration, what the ruling body might look like in Gaza following this, the implications for normalization with Israel, and more. Read Mohammad's piece on the ceasefire for The Nation, "We Have a Ceasefire Deal, but This Isn’t the End". Subscribe now for the full episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Udi Greenberg, associate professor of history at Dartmouth, is back on the podcast to talk about the state of politics within Israel. They 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. Subscribe now for bonus episodes and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny and Derek welcome back Lyle Jeremy Rubin, veteran of the war in Afghanistan, host of the Bang-Bang podcast, and author of the memoir Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine’s Unbecoming, to talk about the January 1 attacks allegedly perpetrated by two former American servicemen. They discuss the attacks themselves (one in New Orleans and one in Las Vegas), the manifesto from the New Orleans attack, domestic violence, the ideologies at play, and more. Subscribe now for the full episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt, associate professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus, is back to conclude the series on his book The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. The group delves into the aftermath of the 1963 coups, American narratives that formed around the Middle East in light of "petro dollar Christianity", President Abdul Salam Arif, the founding of the Iraq National Oil Company, the Ba'athist return in the 1968 17 July Revolution, and the state of play in US-Iraqi relations in the 1970s. Subscribe now for the full episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! Our dear paid subscribers also get access to the additional "Overtime" conversation and a discounted membership to Nonzero, so subscribe now for that and much more content! Video 0:00 The NonZero-American Prestige punk-rock crossover continues 1:49 Is it time to freak out about Trump? 9:06 Are international norms eroding? 21:16 Jimmy Carter’s legacy 28:38 Heading to Overtime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny and Derek return to the newsroom for the first time in 2025! This week: 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). To help support people in LA: Los Angeles Tenants Union A comprehensive list of mutual aid resources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny and Derek speak with journalist Hamilton Nolan about the current LA fires, how we contend with climate change under capitalism, the prospect for labor organizing to help move things in a more sustainable direction, and more. More of Hamilton's work: Read Hamilton's piece "Lifeboat Capitalism". Also take a look at his book The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor. Follow him on Bluesky. To help support people in LA: Los Angeles Tenants Union A comprehensive list of mutual aid resources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Subscribe now for ad-free episodes and much more content! Go to Colette's website for more of her work and more information on her upcoming live appearances! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt, associate professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus, joins Derek to continue the series on his book The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. This episode delves into the February 1963 coup, Abdul-Karim Qasim and his ideology, the US role in the coup itself, the tenuous Nasserist-Ba'athist coalition, the subsequent November 1963 coup, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices