Renowned analyst Alastair Crooke brings his wealth of diplomatic experience and analysis to the pressing geopolitical developments in West Asia/Middle East, including Tucker Carlson's revelation on the dangers of a coming nuclear strike on Iran, why this next attack threatens to unravel the region and world order, and why the US and Israel are planning on launching it anyway.
Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat and the Founder of the Conflicts Forum based in Beirut.
This episode is about where consciousness begins. Mark Solms, neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst at the University of Cape Town, joins to explain why he thinks it begins not in the cortex but in raw feeling from the upper brainstem.
We discuss patients who lost REM sleep but kept dreaming, what that means for Freud’s wish theory, and children born without a cortex who still giggle and startle. He argues the hard problem was tackled from the wrong end, starting with visual perception instead of feeling.
The conversation also covers dual-aspect monism, Markov blankets and the free energy principle, his attempt to engineer an artificial agent that feels, and why he thinks that at death the second law wins.
TIMESTAMPS: - 00:00 - What Is Consciousness? - 07:00 - Why Would We Self-Sacrifice? - 15:37 - The Beggar: Care vs Rage - 22:33 - What Is Neuropsychoanalysis? - 31:15 - Why Do We Dream? - 45:42 - Affect, Sentience, Consciousness - 51:57 - Can You Betray Your Feelings? - 56:58 - Hidden Motives and Willpower
Poland is facing a judicial coup, as Donald Tusk used police to seize control of the courts while President Nawrocki was flying abroad. In this episode we explain how Brussels is tightening its grip on Poland's judiciary ahead of the 2027 elections, and why the same crisis is unfolding in Belgium, Germany, France and the UK as Project Ukraine drains Europe. Is Washington quietly waiting to take control of Russian gas and leave Europe in total checkmate?
The Duran: Episode 2663 00:00:00 Poland judicial coup and Europe's crisis 00:01:55 Project Ukraine and the deeper cause in Brussels 00:03:56 Why this is a judicial coup 00:04:30 Law and Justice reforms backstory 00:05:42 Tusk suspends judges, riot police at the court 00:08:14 Brussels, the ECJ and control of national courts 00:09:03 The Romania precedent and Georgescu 00:12:06 Tusk's strategic blunder 00:13:03 Poland's 2027 elections, the euro and migration 00:14:18 EU control of central banks, the Greek lesson 00:17:11 2030 and the Russia confrontation 00:20:05 Nawrocki, sovereigntists and Polish public opinion 00:22:22 Bulgaria's euro entry as a template 00:23:46 Germany, Belgium and France in crisis
Col. Jacques Baud, on Dialogue Works, discusses Tucker Carlson's warning that a nuclear strike on Iran may be imminent.
Book:Wars Against Iran — Jacques Baud, English edition
Max Milo, 2026. 304 pages. ISBN 9782315028689.
Why is Iran, which has not attacked any country in more than two centuries, cast as the main threat in the Middle East? Jacques Baud draws on official documents, reports from international organizations, and the military record. He reconstructs how the United States, Israel, and Iran reached open confrontation, and how Tehran has answered since 2024.
Patrik Baab interviews Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News for his show Gegen den Strom, asking who really governs the United States.
Who really governs the United States? The elected politicians — or the economic interests that fund their election campaigns?
The U.S. midterm elections are on Tuesday. According to American journalist Joe Lauria, Donald Trump is coming under increasing pressure. Yet, the problems extend far beyond the incumbent president.
Lauria is the editor-in-chief of Consortium News. In a conversation with Patrik Baab, he analyzes the political and social crisis in the United States.
His thesis: American democracy is increasingly shaped by powerful economic lobbies, the arms industry, and the interests of large corporations. On key issues, Democrats and Republicans differ less than their public disputes might suggest.
Lauria is particularly critical of American foreign policy. He discusses the prospect of continued war with Iran, the support for Israel, the war in Ukraine, and Europe's role within Washington's geopolitical strategy.
He also identifies profound problems in the domestic sphere. What has become of Trump's promise to rebuild American industry? Why do many workers feel abandoned by both major parties? And what consequences might artificial intelligence and digitalization have for the labor market?
A key focus is the role of the media. Lauria argues that major media outlets do not merely report on political conflicts but actively contribute to social division. He also warns of authoritarian trends and discusses potential threats to democratic institutions and elections.
Finally, the discussion addresses a fundamental question: How do Americans perceive their own country? And what would need to happen for the political landscape to truly change?
A conversation about power and money, war and democracy, the crisis within American society, and the future of the United States.
Patrik Baab is a German journalist and author of several books, including Auf beiden Seiten der Front: Meine Reisen in die Ukraine [On Both Sides of the Front: My Travels in Ukraine] (2023).
Timeline:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:13 U.S. Midterm Elections: Outlook & Power Dynamics
00:03:07 U.S. Foreign Policy, Iran & the Role of Israel
00:06:15 Who Really Governs the U.S.? Political Parties & Lobbying Power
00:09:22 The Role of Big Tech and AI in the Defense Sector
00:10:48 U.S. Economy: Jobs, Tariffs & the Working Class
00:14:58 Loss of Trust & Political Representation of the Working Class
00:17:35 Mainstream Media, Polarization & Shaping Public Opinion
00:22:02 Geopolitical Strategy: Proxy Wars & Allies
00:24:38 Cult of Personality, Symbols of Power & the Constitution
00:29:36 Potential Succession in the White House: Vance or Rubio?
00:34:30 U.S. Security Strategy & Networks in Europe
00:36:01 Social Division & the Myth of the 'Noble Lie'
Emile Alexandrov is an assistant professor of philosophy, formerly at the University of Tyumen in Russia, and currently a visiting scholar at Waseda University in Tokyo. He is author of The Other Platonist Beginning and Metaphysics and Ineffable.
Emile explores the concept of the soul across Greek philosophy, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jungian psychology, and other intellectual traditions, examining how ideas of intellect, awareness, desire, individuality, and transcendence have changed throughout history.
He discusses rebirth, karmic continuity, the Buddhist doctrine of anatta, the possibility of survival after death, and the difficult question of whether anything that survives remains individually identifiable. Alexandrov concludes by considering Russian cosmism, physical resurrection, transhumanism, and the possibility that the deepest continuity underlying the changing idea of the soul may be awareness itself.
(Recorded on Saturday, August 15, 2026)
Timeline:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:07:30 Soul and rationality
00:14:00 Desire and suffering
00:21:00 Silence and bliss
00:28:00 Enlightenment and reason
00:35:00 Tragedy and transcendence
00:42:00 Awareness and existence
00:49:00 Resurrection and survival
00:56:00 Universal resurrection
01:00:54 Conclusion
We know the problem: the multi-trillion dollar war machine that continues to march on, stealing wealth from the masses and giving it to the military-industrial contractors. So, what's the solution? Today on #SolutionsWatch, James talks to Ken Schoolland and Michel Chossudovsky about what can be done to stop the war machine in its tracks.
Europe, Alpha, casualties and society. Martyanov calls alpha the share of losses a unit can take and keep fighting, says the United States as a society cannot absorb casualties the way he says Iran did, and treats Europe as irrelevant at any negotiating table.
“Finish the job this time.” Sources close to Tehran and Islamabad say that is what Iran’s Supreme Leader told his commanders it is their obligation to do if the US strikes — and that “geographical constraints do not exist.” Larry Johnson’s sources say Trump’s option after Tuesday’s midterms is seizing Kharg Island, a gamble Pepe Escobar calls “absolutely suicidal.” Escobar, from Shanghai after midnight, and Zulfiqar Ali.
Timeline:
00:03:01 Washington’s option: Kharg Island, according to sources cited by Larry Johnson
00:17:29 “No traction”: Tehran’s answer to the Vance letter, per our host’s sources
00:20:51 The orders: “All have their orders, down to the level of the commander who’s going to push the button.”
00:21:24 Dimona: who decides, and on what trigger — per our host’s sources
00:33:03 Riyadh fears it’s next: the Saudi defence minister agreed in Tehran, per Mohsen Rezaei
00:40:52 Hormuz: “not gonna be a petrodollar oil chokepoint” — why Escobar says oil is splitting into blocs
Poland's Donald Tusk failed in a national address and blamed Russian bots and Dmitry Medvedev for his failed takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal, while Donald Trump floated a first Putin and Zelensky meeting at the G20 in Miami. Alex breaks down the US Embassy tipping off the FSB about a Moscow plot, Estonia defying Elbridge Colby, Zelensky asking Erdogan for money, and Germany's Gen Z protests against Merz. Is Europe finally cracking under the weight of Project Ukraine?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Intro from Athens
00:00:28 US Embassy warns Russia of Moscow plot
00:03:11 Trump vs CIA over oil refinery strikes
00:06:21 Estonia defies Colby on Russia rhetoric
00:09:04 Zelensky asks Erdogan for money and weapons
00:12:20 Trump hints Putin Zelensky meeting at G20
00:14:26 Tusk meltdown over Constitutional Tribunal
00:18:42 Tusk blames Russian bots and Medvedev
00:22:58 Rubio signals support for Nawrocki
00:26:11 France protests and Germany Gen Z revolt
00:30:23 Binance hack and North Korea claims
00:32:12 France data tax and BBC YouTube tax
00:34:24 EU parcel fees and new taxes
00:35:54 Turkey social media ban for under 15s
00:36:58 Clown world: Greenland and Lavrov at G20
A top election analyst says if Trump loses just the House on Tuesday his era is over. Would a Democratic House have the guts to cut Iran war funding? Plus an update on the uprising in France. Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter.
Ray McGovern is a former C.I.A. Russia analyst and presidential briefer, Scott Ritter is a former U.N. weapons inspector, intelligence officer and author. Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News. Cathy Vogan is executive producer of CN Live! and The World This Week.
Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiation team. He discusses U.S. war plans toward Iran and a last-minute off-ramp.
Timeline:
00:00:00 Introduction and Context of Current Tensions
00:02:50 Iran's Intelligence and Military Preparedness
00:10:09 Consequences of Potential Conflict
00:13:08 Iran's Strategic Moves and US Midterm Elections
00:18:05 Negotiation Dynamics and Off-Ramps
00:24:49 Potential Outcomes and Global Implications
00:27:48 The Escalating Tensions in the Middle East
00:31:22 The Political Landscape in Israel
00:36:31 The Regional Chessboard: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Beyond
00:41:09 The Future of U.S. Influence in the Middle East
00:49:57 The Global Implications of U.S. Foreign Policy
Russia has finally begun striking the Dnieper bridges, and the missile strike that closed Kyiv's South Bridge could reshape Ukraine's entire supply picture. On this episode we break down why the bridge campaign took so long, how Operation Vivaldi gains are being reversed near Lyman as the Zaporizhzhia and Sloviansk Kramatorsk fronts shift, and why the consistent 10 to 1 body exchange ratio and a new academic casualty study challenge the Western narrative. If the bridges fall, can Ukraine's armies in the east hold?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Intro: bridges, front lines and Operation Vivaldi
00:00:53 Why Russia never hit the Dnieper bridges
00:02:18 Strikes on Kyiv's South Bridge and Zaporizhzhia
00:04:54 What losing the bridges means for Ukraine
00:06:10 Did the West overestimate Russian capabilities?
00:09:08 Politics, BRICS pressure and Ukrainian air defense
00:11:13 Ukraine's economy and missile programs falter
00:13:53 Zaporizhzhia, Orikhiv and the southern push
00:15:47 Operation Vivaldi reversed; Lyman offensive
00:17:35 The 10 to 1 body exchange ratio
00:21:02 New King's College study on casualties
00:25:21 The West's four legged narrative table
00:28:00 What would change Western perceptions
00:30:05 Final thoughts
Vance signed the letter. Iran’s intelligence believes Trump wrote it, a source close to Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei says — and Pepe Escobar challenged that on air.
The same source says that after an hour with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Pakistan’s army chief has taken over the talks, and Iran’s answer is its money back and the blockade gone before any nuclear talks. Qatar remains the public mediator.
Pepe Escobar, from Shanghai, on the $6 billion, the order that blocks a deal, and the strike plans after Tuesday’s midterms. Zulfiqar Ali brings his source.
Timeline:
00:19:14 Inside the room with Iran’s leader — per our host’s source.
00:20:12 Pakistan takes the talks.
00:25:05 Vance signed. Trump wrote? Iran’s assessment — and the on-air challenge.
00:27:43 $6 billion back, blockade gone, nuclear talks last.
Poland is in a full blown constitutional crisis after Donald Tusk sent police to take over the constitutional tribunal, forcing President Nawrocki to turn his plane around as PiS warns of a judiciary coup. Alex breaks down what Brussels stands to gain from control of Poland's courts, plus the G20 family photo fiasco in Atlanta, Lavrov's verdict on Europe, and the Axios report on Iran talks ahead of the midterms. Did Tusk just make the biggest political blunder of his career?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:40 Poland constitutional crisis explodes
00:04:41 Tusk suspends tribunal chief and sends in police
00:06:57 Judiciary coup claims and street protests
00:07:56 EU pressure on Poland's courts, borders and the euro
00:10:17 Nawrocki turns his plane around
00:13:45 Sikorski admits it was not elegant
00:14:51 G20 Atlanta family photo fiasco
00:18:20 Lavrov says Europe blew its chance
00:19:24 Iran talks, Qatar mediation and the midterms
00:23:35 Oleshky evacuation completed
00:25:45 Patriot PAC 3 deal delayed until after 2030
00:27:36 The Flamingo missile grift
00:29:57 Clown world: Kallas and Carney
00:33:31 Daily Mail doomsday space nuke
Joseph McMoneagle is a world-renowned remote viewer who has worked professionally in the field for almost four decades – both within the military and as a private contractor.
He is author of Mind Trek, The Ultimate Time Machine, The Stargate Chronicles: Memoirs of a Psychic Spy, and Remote Viewing Secrets. He is also coauthor of ESP Wars: East and West.
He is the recipient of a congressional Legion of Merit Award for his remote viewing work within the U.S. government military intelligence services. He has successfully demonstrated remote viewing on television, both live and taped, on numerous occasions.
In this video, rebooted from 2016, he points out that he is comfortable working with “honest skeptics” in the media. He prefers such individuals to “true believers”.
On the other hand, working with hostile scoffers is a waste of his time. He describes several examples in which he demonstrated remote viewing for television audiences both in the United States and Japan.
He explains many of the difficulties that people in the media have in presenting parapsychological phenomena. In many instances, they are afraid of ridicule if they appear to endorse the reality of the phenomena.
Thomas Fazi is an Italian journalist and author focusing on economics and geopolitics.
He discusses NATO's hybrid warfare, deception, and permanent war with Glenn Diesen.
Timeline:
00:00:00 Thomas Fazi on European politics and hybrid warfare
00:02:18 Why Fazi calls hybrid warfare a dangerously vague concept
00:05:05 A counter-database of disputed Russian-war claims
00:08:26 Baltic cables, a Lithuania plane crash, and Heathrow
00:12:15 The drone-sighting wave and what investigations found
00:16:05 Stray drones, the von der Leyen claim, and evidence
00:18:02 Nord Stream and the consequences of misattribution
00:23:24 Threat narratives, domestic politics, and rearmament
00:28:06 Information warfare, censorship, and Romania’s election
00:30:01 Gladio and the danger of manufactured threats
00:35:58 RussiaGate and the persistence of disputed claims
00:42:09 Public opinion, propaganda, and rising repression risks
Russia's Black Sea blockade has quietly expanded into the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria, with sea drones sinking cargo ships bound for Ukraine near Constanta and Varna while NATO stays silent. Alexander breaks down the strikes on the Dnipro bridge and railway station, the Starlink feud between Elon Musk and the US intelligence community, the 500 PAC 3 interceptors Ukraine will not see until 2030, and Lavrov's sharp exchange at the G20 in Atlanta. Has the Black Sea become a Russian lake while the West looks the other way?
Timeline:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:35 Fresh Russian strikes on Kiev
00:01:07 Dnieper bridge in Dnipro hit
00:04:33 Kiev South Bridge and Zaporozhye bridge status
00:06:39 Dnipro railway station struck
00:11:00 Eleven cargo ships sunk in the Black Sea
00:14:28 Ships hit in Romanian and Bulgarian waters
00:15:28 The Bulgarian presidential election angle
00:18:44 Russian sea drones and the Turkish Straits
00:22:57 Black Sea becomes a Russian lake
00:27:08 Russian satellite over Kiev during the strike
00:30:43 Rassvet satellites and Iskander precision
00:35:45 Ukraine refinery strikes defy Trump
00:41:51 The Atlantic, Elon Musk and the Starlink fight
00:48:31 500 PAC 3 interceptors that do not exist yet
00:58:43 Lavrov at the G20 in Atlanta
01:03:32 Lavrov rebuffs Deutsche Welle on Putin and Zelensky
01:07:18 Oleshky ceasefire and front line advances
01:16:55 Europe far behind on diplomacy and Abu Dhabi
01:19:21 Iran island plans and the Snake Island lesson
America lost. Iran didn’t win. Vijay Prashad, back from Brazil and China, says that is why neither side will make the first concession — Iranian nuclear material or American bases.
Our host’s sources say Iran will ask China and Russia to act as guarantors of the Trump administration’s conduct — a task the host himself calls impossible. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s defence minister sat down in Tehran, and Prashad says what a real UN chief would do: “set up the UN headquarters in Gaza.”
Timeline:
00:18:01 Who could guarantee Trump? China, Russia and the Islamabad MoU — per our host’s sources.
00:25:53 “You can lose a war without the other side having won it”: Vijay Prashad’s verdict.
00:42:15 Move the UN to Gaza: “we dare you to bomb us.”
The US and Israeli build up to another round of strikes on Iran that's happening in front of our eyes is being concealed by talks of intense mediation efforts from Qatar and other regional actors. Geopolitical analyst Mark Sleboda joins the show to discuss what this build up actually looks like, what it means for the geopolitical landscape, and provides his expert military analysis on the theaters of war from West Asia/Middle East to Ukraine.
Scott Ritter tells Judge Napolitano that the Pentagon plan is a raid on Iran's energy sites at Kharg and Qeshm, meant to collapse the Iranian economy and target its leadership, not an occupation of the islands.
He says Iran would answer by striking Gulf energy infrastructure, including Saudi Arabia, and that Senator Chris Murphy should reveal the plan and try to stop what Ritter calls an illegal war.
Einar Tangen is a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and at CIGI. With Glenn Diesen he discusses China's new economic strategy versus the West's ideological trap.
Timeline:
00:00:00 Introducing Einar Tangen and China's fifth plenum
00:02:40 Anti-corruption and the question of political legitimacy
00:08:10 Prescriptive versus performative governance
00:13:27 Western politics, planning, and recurring promises
00:21:30 Ideological certainty versus a willingness to learn
00:25:10 China's shift toward shared gains and social development
00:31:31 Environmental rights, consumption, and small business
00:34:25 Digital tools and opening international markets to SMEs
00:38:15 AI productivity and the prospect of shorter workweeks
00:42:07 Markets, extraction, and public investment
00:44:37 Dollar alternatives, US debt, and economic vulnerability
Anders Otteson of Uncanny Expeditions gives a part-one update on the Northrop Tejon radar test range at the west end of California's Antelope Valley. He recaps the site, which official records mothballed in 2011, along with later local accounts and UFO sightings, and says part two is due Sunday.
