Trailer - Welcome to the Crusades: The Second Crusade

Subscribe now for the full episode. Derek welcomes back to the program Horn of Africa political analyst Mohamed Kheir Omer for a conversation about renewed fighting in Ethiopia and the risk of a wider regional war. They talk about the collapse of the Pretoria Agreement, the TPLF's new rebel alliance, the Ethiopian military's advance in Tigray, Eritrea's involvement in the conflict, Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed's pursuit of access to the Red Sea, Ethiopia's role in Sudan's war, and the influence of Egypt, the UAE, and the United States. Read Mohamed’s piece for Al Jazeera, “Ethiopia’s new rebel alliance faces an old problem.” Don't forget to pre-order the second season of our collaboration with Eleanor Janega and Luke Waters, ⁠Welcome to the Crusades: The Second Crusade⁠, premiering Tuesday, October 27! Use promo code CRUSADES15 for 15% off of the second season. (Offer valid through 10/27.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Metallica says they stay out of politics, so Danny and Derek are reassessing their approach to the show. In this week’s news: Navi Pillay wins the Nobel Peace Prize, angering Trump (3:51); Ansar Allah strikes Saudi airports and oil facilities (7:58) while fighting continues on multiple fronts in Yemen (11:35); attacks on commercial ships escalate near the Strait of Hormuz (13:45), and the U.S. prepares a new bombing campaign against Iran (15:59); Israeli forces kill at least eight people in Gaza on the first anniversary of the “ceasefire” as the Palestinian Authority postpones elections until at least September 2027 (19:12); in southern Lebanon, Israeli forces demolish dozens of towns and villages (22:22); China’s trade surplus grows at a record pace (24:04); Egyptian drone strikes kill at least 72 gold miners in Sudan (25:43); Ethiopian forces advance toward the Eritrean border (28:20); former Congolese president Joseph Kabila forms a new rebel coalition with M23 (31:38) as the country’s Ebola outbreak surpasses 9,000 confirmed cases (33:27); Trump suspends sanctions on Russian diesel exports and clashes with Zelensky (34:24); Trump declares a Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire that fails to take hold as Ukraine reports several days without Western intelligence on Russian airstrikes (37:40); Ukrainian forces report temporary restrictions on Starlink service (38:52); and the U.S. seeks control of frozen Russian assets held in Europe (43:07). Don’t forget to pre-order Welcome to the Crusades: The Second Crusade with promo code CRUSADES15 for 15% off. Offer is valid through October 27! More of Danny’s work at Imperialist Realism. More of Derek’s work at Foreign Exchanges. Catch a replay of last night’s livestream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pre-order now!!! Nearly 50 years after the First Crusade made major gains in the Levant, the Crusader states found that they might have bitten off more than they could chew. Danny and Derek, along with Eleanor Janega and Luke Waters of the We're Not So Different pod, return to bring you the story of the Second Crusade. Season premiere Tuesday, October 27! Pre-order now with promo code CRUSADES15 to get season 2 for 15% off! Welcometothecrusades.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek speak with historian Stuart Schrader about the history and political power of police unions in the U.S. They discuss the rise of police unions in the 1960s, their relationship with organized labor, resistance to the civil rights movement and affirmative action, the role of race in policing, bipartisan support for policing and the 1990s crime bills, the growing political influence of the Border Patrol union, and the future of police reform and abolition. Get your copy of Stuart’s book Blue Power: How Police Organize to Protect and Serve Themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode. Danny and Derek speak with Norman Finkelstein about his intellectual and political journey, in part one of a conversation about his new book, Gaza's Gravediggers. They discuss his years as a Maoist, graduate school at Princeton, how Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon led him to study Zionism, exposing Joan Peters's From Time Immemorial, being blacklisted and his years as an adjunct at Brooklyn College, Mao and the Chinese revolution, the Marxist tradition and Noam Chomsky's influence, his parents' experience in the Warsaw Ghetto and his rejection of nationalism, and why he argues that what's happening in Gaza is a genocide, not a war. Read Norman Finkelstein's book, Gaza's Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Derek has returned, but he keeps trying to get Danny to go to some seminar led by a charismatic “mentor” he encountered in his travels. In this week’s news: war breaks out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region (0:43); Flavio Bolsonaro wins the first round of Brazil’s presidential election as the right makes major gains (6:46); in Yemen, the government’s counteroffensive against Ansar Allah stalls (9:51), the group attacks airports in Saudi Arabia and Yemen (12:40), and Saudi Arabia seeks outside military support (13:42); the U.S. prepares to resume its war against Iran as the Islamic Republic intensifies attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz (17:44); in Japan, a U.S. Marine’s arrest for alleged murder sparks protests against the American military presence on Okinawa (22:18); Sudan’s military advances in North Kordofan (25:20) and Sudanese military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejects peace talks (28:06); in Mali, Tuareg rebels withdraw from Kidal as government forces retake the town (29:54); the U.S. and the WHO seek information about suspected plague cases at a Russian lab (29:54); Russian attacks across Ukraine kill at least 25 (32:57); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls a snap election (35:00); the U.S. bombs another alleged drug boat in the Caribbean (37:12); and Trump creates a new AI task force called the Super Intelligence Force (38:12). Note: Since recording, Trump has said that the U.S. will not attack Iran before the November midterm elections. Watch a replay of last night’s livestream with journalist Michael Fox about Brazil’s elections. Subscribe and check out our History of Modern Palestine series with Rashid Khalidi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome back to the show Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of Palestine: A Primer, to talk about changes in the regional and political landscape of Palestine since October 7. They discuss adapting The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine for a younger audience, the devastation of Gaza, Hamas’s October 7 strategy and its miscalculations, the Biden administration’s support for Israel, changes in the Middle East after the war with Iran, shifting American attitudes toward Israel and Palestine, the prospects for Palestinian resistance, and the destruction of Gaza’s cultural and historical heritage. Be sure to grab a copy of Palestine: A Primer, an adaptation of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine aimed toward a younger audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for the full episode. Danny speaks with Eli Clifton, senior advisor at the Quincy Institute, and Ian Lustick, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, about how the Israel lobby helps shape American politics and foreign policy. They discuss the changing nature of the Israel lobby, billionaire donors and campaign finance, Christian Zionism and declining evangelical support for Israel, U.S. support for Israel after October 7, suppression of criticism of Israel, shifting generational attitudes toward Israel, antisemitism and right-wing opposition to Israel, and Donald Trump’s relationship with pro-Israel megadonors. Grab your copy of Eli and Ian’s book Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now for an ad-free experience and all of our episodes. As Derek completes the final phase of his vision quest, Alex Jordan of the Always at War podcast fills in once more. In this week’s news: U.S.-Iran talks stall over the order of concessions (1:28); Gulf oil exports return to prewar levels (4:34); Netanyahu uses an attempted seizure of a FlyDubai flight to reinforce his agenda as an election approaches (11:15); in Iraq, the U.S. ends its counter-ISIS mission (16:06); Pete Hegseth launches Project Meridian to study the “future of warfare” (21:35); Trump hosts tech leaders who pledge “tremendous” self-regulation (24:49); British police arrest five men near RAF Fairford amid claims of Iranian involvement (27:23); U.S. intelligence says Saudi Arabia is keeping a nuclear weapons option open (30:06); Russia warns NATO of a nuclear response if Kaliningrad faces a blockade (33:09); Germany’s foreign minister meets Russia’s foreign minister as Russian attacks hit Ukraine’s energy grid (37:27); and Brazil prepares for a presidential election between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro (41:13). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes. Danny and Derek welcome Simon Ball, professor of international history and politics at the University of Leeds, to the show for a discussion about the history of political assassination in the modern era. They talk about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, political killing as a tool of statecraft, assassination and British imperial rule, its use by Western powers during World War II, the CIA and Cold War assassination programs, the JFK assassination and its surrounding conspiracies, the investigations of the 1970s and Gerald Ford’s ban on the practice, the rise of counter-assassination security, and the strategic limits of assassination. Be sure to grab a copy of Simon’s book Death to Order: A Modern History of Assassination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices