The Infrastructure of Autocracy
Welcome to month ten of post-Capitol attack America in which no elite operatives have been punished for the worst attack on the Capitol since 1812! This includes fascist felon Steve Bannon, who turned his surrender for subpoena dodging into a reality TV show starring himself. We discuss Bannon’s brazen criminality and why the lack of urgency from agencies tasked with accountability is so dangerous. In times of extreme threat, complacency is complicity. It is not a victory for democracy that a coup architect who has expressly declared his intent to destroy a government he once served – and whose state secrets he now possesses – gets a slap on the wrist. It is not a victory for democracy that Bannon still faces NO consequences for the original crime of violent insurrection: a crime that continues today. We also discuss Bannon’s ties to transnational organized crime, exemplified by his choice of mobster lawyer David Schoen to represent him.
Then we turn to Russia’s increasing aggression in Ukraine and Poland, the latter via its proxy state, Belarus, all of which is taking place while US pundits blather about the threat of “woke culture” and other nonsense. Andrea breaks down the disaster of the Nordstream 2 deal and the history of global kleptocracy underlying it, and we ponder the strange phenomenon of professional asshole Ted Cruz being on the right side of an issue. We also discuss the MIA status of NATO and what should be done to defend vulnerable European countries from Kremlin aggression, which has moved from digital warfare to on the ground operations and even into outer space! Andrea concludes the show with her best Andy Rooney imitation as she contemplates the infrastructure plan, climate change, and American materialism.
Download Transcript
President Joe Biden:
We've talked about having the best economy in the world. We've talked about asserting American leadership around the world with the best and the safest roads, railroads, pords, airports. Here in Washington, we've heard countless speeches and promises and white papers from experts, but today, we're finally getting this done. So my message to the American people is this: America is moving again and your life is going to change for the better.
Sarah Kendzior:
I'm Sarah Kendzior, the author of the bestselling books, The View From Flyover Country and Hiding in Plain Sight.
Andrea Chalupa:
I'm Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker, and the writer and producer of the journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones about Stalin's genocide famine in Ukraine.
Sarah Kendzior:
And this is Gaslit Nation, a podcast covering corruption in the United States and rising autocracy around the world.
Andrea Chalupa:
It's finally infrastructure week, as you heard from our opening clip of President Biden finally signing an infrastructure package. Happy infrastructure week, everyone! Infrastructure week is much like Shark Week, but with more sharks, because this was a bipartisan infrastructure bill supported by Republicans, including Mitch McConnell. To be clear, the Republicans in the House who are a trashier version of the Republicans in the Senate are moving to harass and punish, along with their Trumpian base, their Republican colleagues who dared to help their constituents by voting for the bipartisan infrastructure package. If that sounds ridiculously stupid, we keep telling you that autocrats and aspiring autocrats are ridiculously stupid, and in a lot of ways, self-destructive. Putin, for instance—who we'll get to later in the show—may wield a lot of power as a global terrorist, but Russia continues to suffer, its economy shrinking and poverty on the rise, fueling political arrest that's being met by increasingly brutal repression. That pattern cannot sustain itself. Something eventually has got to give.
Andrea Chalupa:
We'll discuss more of that on this week's early show, our Patreon special available to listeners at the Truth Teller level and higher. We will, as alway, be answering questions from our listeners at the Democracy Defender level and higher, but more so this week, Sarah and I are finally doing our long awaited Free Britney Special, where we talk about how Britney Spears, through the power of a grassroots movement, overcame the patriarchy, overcame the legal industrial complex that was profiting off of her to the tune of millions of dollars, enriching her scumbag father. And so if you're reading about how the conservatorship, an abusive one that lasted for 13 years, literally enslaving Britney Spears, forcing her to perform under the threat of losing rights to visit her children, of treating her essentially like Dumbo in the Disney film or some circus animal. She is finally freed because of grassroots power. This is a very inspiring story. It's an important story. And it's one we hope continues with the dismantling of all the predatory practices of conservatorships.
Sarah Kendzior:
Yes, we are genuinely happy for Britney Spears. This is not an ironic commentary and we are genuinely impressed by the grassroots movement that made this happen. There's this kind of thing that happens on social media where people police each other's emotions. They tell people, you know, “Be happy about this. Don't be happy about that.” I don't do that. I'm sometimes accused of it when I'm just merely stating facts that make people unhappy (which I'm going to get into a whole bunch of those in a minute), but I will say, this is a genuine moment of jubilation here on Gaslit Nation. That Britney, our millennial icon, has been freed. So, hallelujah. And now I am going to go into the opposite of this situation, which is the ongoing criminal impunity of Steve Bannon, which has everybody talking and debating on Twitter and elsewhere this week.
Sarah Kendzior:
So, let's review a little timeline of events here. On November 13th, Steve Bannon was finally indicted after three weeks of subpoena dodging. He was held in contempt of Congress on October 21st after blowing off a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee that was sent on September 24th. So, we are now two months into the Steve Bannon subpoena dodging process and nearly 10 months from the Capitol attack—or actually, yeah, we're past that. We're now over 10 months from the Capitol attack. And so the indictment of Bannon was met with just ridiculous jubilation (by some) because expectations of basic accountability have fallen as political cults of personality have risen. These cults span the political spectrum and their culture of supplication and obedience has been a friend to fascism. In times of extreme threat, complacency is complicity. It is not a victory for democracy that a coup architect and a violent, fascist felon who has expressly declared his intent to destroy a government he once served—and whose state secrets he now possesses, by the way, since Bannon was Trump's National Security Advisor and Campaign Advisor—gets a slap on the wrist for subpoena dodging.
Sarah Kendzior:
It is not a victory for democracy that Bannon still faces no consequences for the original crime; a violent insurrection, a crime that is still ongoing. Remember that the goal of the subpoena was to get Bannon to testify about his role in violently attempting to illegally overturn the results of a legitimate election in order to install an authoritarian kleptocrat. This was not spontaneous. This was not an act of emotion. This was a carefully formulated plot that nearly succeeded. It was so out in the open that, as you know—we've reminded you many times—we did a January 6th capital attack preview special because people like Bannon had announced this so blatantly. So, what do they do with this ongoing major threat to democracy? Not much.
Sarah Kendzior:
After turning himself in on Monday, Bannon was released. He used that opportunity to get free media publicity for his crusade, trying to portray himself as some sort of noble Avenger. This is bullshit. Steve Bannon is not some lowdown renegade seeking to rectify a corrupt system by destroying it completely. He is a criminal elite. He is an oligarch lackey and a dictators’ apprentice. He is part of a transnational operation that is seeking to strip the United States down and sell it for parts and has been aiming at this goal for decades. Steve Bannon is the same as the rest of the Trump crime cult. They are the worst of the establishment posing as the establishment’s enemy. They are the dregs of the deep state posing as the deep state’s enemy. They are everything that they profess to be against. Steve Bannon spent his life working for Goldman Sachs, Hollywood, the U.S. government, studying at Harvard and then working for Breitbart, a website which was started in 2007 by right-wing elites in Israel, including Netanyahu himself, who was at the founding meeting.
Sarah Kendzior:
This is not a rebel. This is a sociopath who is very good at manipulating pundits and politicians. Bannon made millions of dollars working in media and has tremendous insight into the weaknesses of mainstream and digital media, which is why he was able to turn his subpoena dodge into a reality show starring himself. Steve Bannon is not a hard guy to understand because he tells you everything he's doing. And he does that because he also understands that flaunting criminality is an act of power. We are living in an era where people are drawn to power, just raw power in its own right, regardless of what that power intends to achieve. They are drawn to power because the chaos and trauma of two years of a pandemic and the tepid response to the criminal elite and their violent actions from the Biden administration and Congress has left people disillusioned and confused. When people are frightened and they are willing to disregard their own moral core, they cling to power, particularly when it arrives in the form of a populist demagogue, or someone posing as one.
Sarah Kendzior:
This is the dictator’s playbook. This is what Hitler, Mussolini, Milosevic, and others did when their countries were in chaos. And it worked. Bannon announced the January 6th attack on the Capitol in advance on his podcast. He helped plan the attack. He bragged about the attack after it happened. He bragged about dodging the subpoena. And on Monday, he bragged that the U.S. government had “messed with the wrong guy” and that he was going to destroy the Biden administration. You should take this threat seriously, not because Bannon is some sort of mastermind, but because destroying the Biden administration doesn't seem particularly challenging. The agencies that can enforce accountability have been refusing to do so, even in the face of this very obvious threat. As we've covered on the show in detail, Merrick Garland's Department of Justice has in fact been enabling the Trump Crime Cult, not only letting them get away with crimes, but actively abetting them, serving as a personal attorney for Trump, serving as a protector for crime cult members like Bill Barr.
Sarah Kendzior:
The same is true of Christopher Wray’s FBI. Bannon needed to be investigated years ago, and the deference shown to him is what really needs scrutiny because Bannon himself is not enigmatic at all. Furthermore, the consequences that Bannon currently faces are minimal. If he is convicted, he would face between 30 days to a year of prison on each charge, as well as fines of up to $100,000. This is chump change for Bannon, a guy who was backed by an international alliance of oligarchs and plutocrats, and was last arrested on a $28 million yacht. So, he is going to continue his crimes until he gets what he wants or until he is curtailed instead of coddled. And I've got some stuff to say about his choice of attorney, David Schoen, who he showed up with yesterday. But I've been talking for a while. Andrea, do you have any thoughts about Bannon or should I roll with the lawyers?
Andrea Chalupa:
No, keep going.
Sarah Kendzior:
Alright. So yesterday, Bannon showed up with a new attorney, one that is rumored to have been chosen by Trump, which makes sense because he previously represented Trump. Bannon chose mobster lawyer David Schoen to represent him. This is the guy who represented Trump at the second impeachment hearing. Now, why would I call David Schoen a mobster lawyer? Because he is one and he told you himself. Here is a quote from him: “I represented all sorts of reputed mobster figures. The alleged head of the Russian mafia in this country, Israeli mafia, and two Italian bosses, as well as a guy the government claimed is the biggest mafioso in the world.” I'm kind of curious about that because it sounds a lot like Semion Mogilevich, who we've discussed on this show many times and who is closely linked to many members of the Trump Crime Cult, as well as to Epstein and Maxwell and others.
Sarah Kendzior:
Anyway, that's a quote from the Atlanta Jewish Times who did an interview with David Schoen. We'll put a link to that in the show notes, so you can see for yourself. And so yes, everyone deserves legal representation—even mobsters—but there is a certain type of lawyer who goes out of their way to represent the worst people in the world. Trump's mentor, Roy Cohn, was that kind of lawyer and David Schoen is that kind of lawyer, too. And as we've mentioned previously, Merrick Garland's mentor, Jamie Gorelick, the woman who got him his job and remains an influence on his decisions, is also that kind of lawyer. They seek out evil clients, not out of legal principle, but because they are part of the same evil circle, profiting off of or participating in the same crimes as their clients. So, for example, what else has David Schoen been up to?
Sarah Kendzior:
He was Roger Stone's lawyer—Roger Stone, another coup plotter roaming free—and Schoen was the last person to see child trafficker and serial rapist, Jeffrey Epstein, alive. Schoen had volunteered to represent Epstein, and we have discussed the ties between Epstein and Trump's network many times, among them that Trump was accused in court of raping a 13-year-old girl forced into sexual slavery by Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. One of Trump's other legal advisors, Alan Dershowitz, was a close Epstein friend and Epstein's lawyer, and was also accused in court of raping a child procured by Epstein. And so, you know, there's incredible continuity here in how Trump chooses his attorneys. His lawyers are usually members of his criminal circles and this pattern dates back to Cohn, but we also see it with Michael Cohen, with Rudy Giuliani, with Dershowitz, and with others.
Sarah Kendzior:
Trump does not look for lawyers, he looks to flaunt his criminality through a lawyer, and now Steve Bannon is using the same tactic with the same lawyer. And you should note that because it is meant to send a message. There's been an attempt by Bannon and especially by Bannon's acolytes to try to distance Bannon from the core of the Trump Crime Cult, which is a mafia state network. It is Trump, Kushner, Stone, Manafort, various Russian mafiosos and oligarchs tied to the Kremlin, Netanyahu, and Israeli mercenary outfits like Black Cube or NSO. The defenders of Bannon want to pretend that he is primarily an ideologue and that there is some sort of internal rift between Bannon and these elements. This is not true. The selection of Schoen is another indicator that this is not the case. This is one transnational crime cult, and none of them are working for the interests of the United States.
Sarah Kendzior:
So Bannon, irredeemable as he is, had some good advice yesterday as he played the lead in his reality TV show arrest. He said, “I want you guys to stay focused, stay on message. Remember signal, not noise. I don't want anyone to take your eye off the ball, of what we do every day.” He was giving that advice to his neo-fascist acolytes, but it's actually really great advice for those who oppose him: Do not take your eyes off the transnational crime cult or the lack of accountability for its actions. Do not fall for personality cult PR tactics that tell you that justice has already been served when it has not. Trust your eyes and ears and demand the full truth and real accountability.
Andrea Chalupa:
So I think that is a chilling way to set up the next conversation, which is checking in on Trump's America, also known as Putin's Russia, because we need to remind everyone what the end game is for all of these elitists masquerading as populists. Bannon, the Trump family, all of their dismantling of our social safety net when they came into power, as Republicans tend to do, and tax breaks for the rich, that is a common theme among these elites who tend to not only not actually care about the people, but side with dictators who definitely don't care about the people. That is one of the themes of what we're about to break down now, which is an overview of the latest on Russian aggression and Russia's useful idiots in the west helping with that aggression. Russia is currently building up troops on Ukraine's border, threatening to escalate Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Andrea Chalupa:
Russia is deliberately driving up gas prices in Europe by reducing its supply of gas to force Europe to hurry up and allow Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline that's economic warfare against Ukraine because it cuts Ukraine out of much-needed transit fees. This is a gas pipeline made primarily by Russian companies with the help of thirsty blood money European companies that creates a transit line directly from Russia to Germany. By bypassing Ukraine entirely, that's a big hit for Ukraine for transit fees and it also furthers Europe's dependency on Russian gas, which is certainly backfiring today, given gas prices. This was a project overseen by a former Stasi agent—that's the secret police of East Berlin—who reportedly worked with Putin during his KGB days during the Cold War. They are Cold Warring together once again with their Nord stream 2 project by turning energy into a weapon and blackmail. The Kremlin has done this against Ukraine, turning off Ukraine's gas in the dead of winter, and is now using gas as a weapon against the European union.
Andrea Chalupa:
I know I'm repeating myself a lot. When I repeat myself like this, it means I'm bashing my head against the wall, right? Because this, of course, was predictable and could have been avoided if Merkel and other EU leaders had stood up to the greed machine: Putin's blood money industrial complex and its cronies in the west like former German Chancellor Schroder, a friend of Putin's who got this whole geopolitical crisis started in 2005 after he had essentially left office. Not doing so great in that election, Schroder quickly signed off on the Nord Stream 2 project for his buddy, Putin, and upon leaving office jumped to managing the project. The German people had voted for this guy’s opposition and he left them with this massive vulnerability. Why?, you might ask. Simple. Schroder over the years has made a bunch of money serving Putin's interests, including serving on the board of Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft, when it was under US sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine and other ongoing hostilities by Russia.
Andrea Chalupa:
This was at a time when Putin was attacking Germany's election, the same way it had just attacked the US presidential election in 2016, helping bring its puppet Trump to power. So, to repeat: On his way out of office, Schroder sold out his country and Germany's allies for greed, leaving behind a mess that plagues Europe and its allies to this day, empowering the mass murdering xenophobic regime of Putin's mafia state. By the time the Biden administration came in, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was 99% complete. And while Biden was outspoken about Nord Stream 2 being a Russian geopolitical weapon that would create dangerous leverage over Germany, an important US ally, the Biden administration decided not to pass sanctions because doing so, they figured, would create tensions with Germany, which wanted the pipeline to move forward.
Andrea Chalupa:
So, Germany under Merkel could have stopped this, but didn't. And Biden's team made the calculation that, after years of Trump being a wrecking ball against the Western Alliance, that they wanted to operate with greater comradery towards our European allies. So, no sanctions. This has created protest in Congress that remains united in its opposition to the project. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a Democrat, introduced legislation to stop Nord Stream 2. And Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a lizard person, is blocking Biden's nominations that are critical to the functioning of America's national security, including appointments to the State Department which, in principle, might seem like an admirable and ruthless thing to do in the name of good, but it's really not helping anymore and Ted Cruz needs to stop his destructive and poorly thought out protest. Ted Cruz is essentially hurdling Molotov cocktails at US national security. So, stop blocking the nominations, Ted Cruz.
Sarah Kendzior:
I just have to say, I was going to ask what you thought about this because it is very weird to see Ted Cruz on the right side of an important issue. And, of course, the real solution to this would be for the Biden administration to stop backing Nord Stream 2, thereby satisfying everyone. But it's amazing to me that Cruz has this objection, rightfully, to Nord Stream 2, which he expresses as a concern that Putin and the Kremlin are going to have too much influence over the U S economy and over the US government, yet was completely content to have an actual Kremlin asset as the President of the United States, backed up by a Russian oligarch and mafia syndicate network, which has also ensnared quite a lot of his colleagues; Kevin McCarthy, Dana Rohrabacher, Devin Nunez. I mean, I can just go on, you know, we'll be here all day. Ron Johnson. It's an interesting thing. I mean, do you have any insight into why this is happening, why he sees the light on this? Is it about Texas oil? Is it about a sense of competition? And, you know, why isn't Biden listening to the wisdom of this lizard person?
Andrea Chalupa:
I think that's a really good point. I think Texas oil did take a beating, as we covered last year, where the Russians deliberately flooded the market with oil, which drove down the price of oil, which led to an economic crisis among oil companies, oil refineries, and so forth. In states like Texas, it was a big crisis. I remember we covered that, I believe in early 2020. And so certainly Ted Cruz must have a lot of Big Oil donors in his ear complaining about Russia. And so this must certainly be some showboating for their benefit and just usual showboating trying to use whatever leverage he can have to essentially terrorize the Biden agenda because he's pretty much a terrorist himself. Remember he filibustered on the floor, reading Green Eggs and Ham or something for several hours?
Sarah Kendzior:
I mean, yeah, we could do a whole show of the asshole moves of Ted Cruz. Remember when he went to Cancun when Texans were freezing to death? This is someone who is utterly unconcerned with doing abhorrent things, hurting the American public, hurting America's national security by backing all of these goons, yet has strangely seen the light and this. And I think you're right. I think it must be pressure from Texas oil and gas donors, you know, who are donors to his campaign and campaigns of other Republicans. But that's an interesting thing though. That's a little tension there, a little in chink in the transnational crime syndicate armor, competing interests, be cause that's really a lot of how this crisis began is that you've always had all these different, disparate, terrible individuals, organizations, corporations, and so forth that now have agreed to work together. What happened with Gerhard Schroder in his post chancellor career was an example of that. The same is true of Tony Blair. They're all willing to work with the Russians for their own financial gain, regardless of how it affects the national security of their country, regardless of what it does to global democracy. And then you’ve gotTed Cruz throwing down, but I do not think that it is in the interests of the public good. It is very much in the interest of Ted Cruz
Andrea Chalupa:
Without question. His Green Eggs and Ham filibuster, for instance, which lasted 21 hours, that was against Obamacare. But ultimately the Nord Stream 2 debacle is Germany's doing. The latest news on that, which is heartening, is that Germany has temporarily suspended the certification process for Nord Stream 2 due to escalating Russian aggression. That's a great thing and sends a strong message to Putin. Finally, Merkel and Germany are showing some backbone… But wait, there's a catch. Russia can still rely on a subsidiary in Germany to get around the suspension. As always, it's the loopholes that allow corruption to flourish and criminals to avoid accountability. Leadership, especially during times of crisis, is never easy, but it's worth considering Merkel's positions over the years that have allowed Putin to get this far. It really falls on her. She could have stopped Nord Stream 2, but she simply did not have the will to.
Andrea Chalupa:
In addition to Putin's artificially created gas prices hitting Europe, Europe also faces an escalating refugee crisis as Russia and its increasingly dependent proxy state, Belarus, have recruited thousands of desperate refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the middle east to Belarus with the promise that they could enter the EU that way. Once again, Putin is weaponizing refugees. He did this by deliberately bombing civilians while propping up his puppet, the mass murdering dictator Assad, in Syria and worsened a refugee crisis already straining Europe, and financially propped up far-right anti-immigration parties across Europe to vilify and dehumanize the refugees and any European leaders who dare to offer them asylum, unleashing a torrent of lies and vicious scapegoating through a Blitzkrieg of Kremlin propaganda. So, basically, the Kremlin is still at it. Putin is using the same old weapons against the West, holding a gun to Ukraine's head, weaponizing gas, weaponizing refugees, and yet the West looks the other way as Russian oligarchs, as you said, throw their money around in Western capitals and, as I mentioned, allow European companies to rake in blood money building Nord Stream 2.
Andrea Chalupa:
Putin continues not only to weaponize all those things, but also space. The Russians recently shot down a Soviet era satellite, producing a massive amount of space debris that's dangerous to other satellites in space and to people and buildings here on earth, not to mention several astronauts who had to take emergency shelter on a craft docked to the International Space Station. Putin continues to wave his gun around in the air like a deranged terrorist in a hostage situation, acting destructive and belligerent to bully and threaten the West into backing down. So what is the solution? Well, I agree with this take by Andres Aslund, an economist and author. He provides some common sense solutions here that you've often heard on this show. He writes on Twitter, “The West needs to respond to Russia's aggression with asymmetric warfare using its advantages. One, expose and freeze the rulers’ offshore money. Two, sanction Nord Stream 2. Three, invite Ukraine to join NATO.”—Germany and France have stood in the way of that. You know, I just want to reassure the pro-Putin yet anti-imperialist Left. These are not war escalating tactics. This is just simply corruption fighting tactics, namely the first two. Yes, Nord Stream 2 should be sanctioned. It doesn't matter if the project's already been built, Biden. Slap some sanctions on that to funk up the place. Make it a persona non grata in the pipeline world. That sends a chilling message. Expose the astronomical wealth that these guys are stealing from the Russian people.
Sarah Kendzior:
I see all of this is connected. And one thing that's been concerning me is that, as we deal with the lack of accountability for all of the Trump administration crimes, not just the attempted Capitol attack on January 6, but also how they handled COVID, allowing it to spread, profiting off of mass death, the obstruction of justice charges in the Mueller Report, everything having to do with the 2016 election itself, we're still contending with incredible domestic chaos. And, of course, we're still dealing with a pandemic and the aftermath of that, and a lot of other things that are, you know, it's basically so many crises that things get lost in the process. And if I were Putin or an oligarch or a plutocrat or any kind of corrupt actor, this is when I would make my move for invasion.
Sarah Kendzior:
And when I look at what's happening on the borders of Poland and Belarus and we look at this previous pattern of Putin using refugees to destabilize Europe, which we saw during the war in Syria, during Obama's second term, especially I'm worried that, you know, Eyes are not on all the balls here, uh, to quote Steve Bannon, and that the connections between these are not being seen and that there's just, there's a big opening here. It's very unnerving to watch this escalating aggression on so many fronts from the Kremlin, as you said, on land in Europe, in outer space, in financial markets. It’s everywhere you go
Andrea Chalupa:
[laughs] In your mind. In the matrix.
Sarah Kendzior:
With their ray guns and their-
Andrea Chalupa:
Oh, God. Microwave guns, a real legitimate issue.
Sarah Kendzior:
Microwave guns meltin’ your brains. This show is proof of their success. Anyway, I keep wondering like, where's NATO? Besides, you know, not letting Ukraine in, where's NATO? This is the sort of situation for which NATO was created. It's the sort of situation that people thought we would not have to deal with after the alleged end of the Cold War, which much like the Civil War did not really end, but went underground and is newly emerging. Are they gonna do anything? Like you said, we do not want war. We do not want military violence, but countries are basically being invaded. They're certainly being manipulated. They're certainly being pushed toward violence by the Kremlin, and the violence is what we want to avoid. So what actions are they taking or can they take?
Andrea Chalupa:
Well, I think being bold and bringing Ukraine into the Alliance would be a major step. They're already using Ukraine as a way to study Russian aggression. They're there on the ground. They do exercises with Ukraine and so forth, so there is a partnership there and I think that's what's helped Ukraine in large part, given how decimated its military was over several corrupt regimes, including Putin's puppet Yanukovich. Ukraine needed NATO's help, and it got it, and it's getting it. But I think allowing [Ukraine] into the Alliance would really step up the pressure to Putin in a massive way. Putin responds to strength. He likes strength, like any dictator. He doesn't like mealymouthed statements. He laughs at those. Those are invitations for more aggression, but a bold action, like letting Ukraine into NATO, would certainly send chills through him.
Andrea Chalupa:
They would freak out. They'd be like, Oh my God, the West is finally figuring it out. Not only that, it would force the West to be united and bold in standing up against Kremlin aggression, because so far they've been selling Ukraine out as this Nord Stream 2 project shows. If Ukraine were a NATO partner, Ukraine would have more leverage and the Alliance would have to pressure Germany to say, You can't say yes to this. Yeah, sure, the money's good for some people in Germany, but you've got to turn this down. You can't do this. This is a Russian bribe to essentially take golden handcuffs that are gonna come back and haunt you. Don't think of Ukraine joining NATO as a ramp up to a hot war. It certainly wouldn't be. It would basically put pressure on the EU to stop selling Ukraine out, which it has been doing for years.
Andrea Chalupa:
There's been a lot of horrific, half-hearted attempts at peace deals, which dance around the issue of the fact that Ukraine—a much smaller nation with a much smaller military—is being invaded by Russia. They can't even bring themselves to do that in a lot of these negotiations and statements. So I think NATO membership for Ukraine would just force the European Nations to finally—finally—call a spade a spade and say, Oh yeah, it's Putin that is doing all this and here are all the ways we're going to stand up to it; blocking Kremlin propaganda outlets, ramping up cybersecurity for all NATO members, being more aggressive on that front, basically icing Russia out as much as possible in isolating Russia as much as possible, which is what Putin hates, because any dictator wants to be heroic on the world stage and be seen by their people on the world stage glorified before the eyes of the world. “Look how powerful I am.” and flaunting. That’s why they can get away with all these things.
Andrea Chalupa:
That's why Biden's joint press conference—that summit with Putin—was so appalling.
Sarah Kendzior:
Oh, God. I feel like I blocked that out.
Andrea Chalupa:
Yeah, that was really rough. That was a very emotional day for a lot of us who have covered the crisis for years and seen the mass murder that Putin has left in countries like Ukraine, Syria, even Venezuela by propping up Maduro whose corruption and repression has produced a massive famine in Venezuela, Venezuela that now has a refugee crisis that rivals the one in Syria. What is the link between Syria and Venezuela? They're both essentially propped up by Putin. So again, Ukraine needs to join NATO for the simple fact that NATO needs to wake the fuck up and stop selling out Ukraine, and stop gaslighting Ukraine, and finally do something heroic to isolate Putin economically, to ramp up cybersecurity measures, to ramp up anti-disinformation measures and so forth, and be United on that front. They haven’t been so far.
Andrea Chalupa:
Before we move off from this, I do want to just share some words of the Russian people themselves because they're, of course, victims of all this. Putin’s repression continues to ramp up at home. Memorial, the hugely respected civil society group and Russia's oldest, is a fearless organization that documents Soviet crimes in Russia and helps Russians confront and learn from the darker chapters of their history. Namely, the mass murder and repression of dictator, Joseph Stalin, a history that has been glorified and whitewashed under Putin, like Republican's glorify and whitewash the Confederacy. After years of repression by Putin's regime, Memorial may finally be shut down. It has been in the news for several years as one of its directors, a historian who uncovered a mass grave in Russia from Stalin's terror, was arrested on trumped up charges, his life destroyed, he and his colleagues relentlessly harassed by authorities.
Andrea Chalupa:
In Moscow recently, Memorial hosted a screening of my film, Mr. Jones, which exposes the worst genocide by Stalin out of the several genocides Stalin committed. The Mr. Jones screening was a powerful event of Russian and Ukrainian solidarity, which is the last thing Putin wants. Authoritarians and aspiring authoritarians depend on sowing division, turning people against each other, scapegoating enemies. Memorial, for instance, for all their human rights work, is labeled—like so many NGOs inside Russia—a foreign agent, because clearly, if you fight for human rights in Russia and freedom of the mind, you're essentially labeled a traitor. In response to Memorial being shut down, Russian writer Lyudmila Petrushevskaya returned a literary award she had been given by Putin's government years ago and released this statement: “Memorial is being taken away from me. The memory of those convicted and executed, of those who were thrown under a truck or who died of starvation, of those who froze to death in trucks on the road from one camp to another, of those tortured, of those who were just recently beaten in the streets or in police vans or precinct stations, of those sitting in prison because of falsified cases, of thousands of such prisoners who are so dangerous to the authorities.” Autocrats and aspiring autocrats want to rewrite history so they can justify carrying out the same crimes today; mass political repression and mass death.
Andrea Chalupa:
That's what Putin is doing to Russia and in his invasion of Ukraine and, as I mentioned, propping up Assad in Syria and Maduro in Venezuela, which continues to suffer a famine, as I mentioned. So, it's no wonder that Trump's Republican Party, which deliberately leveraged its power against its political opponents to worsen the pandemic crisis, furthering mass death, and violently attempted to overthrow our democracy, loves Putin so much. We're going to end on a positive note. Biden signed the infrastructure bill, allowing Kyrsten Sinema to open the remarks on behalf of Congressional leaders, which seems like a bribe to get her to vote for the Build Back Better package. That's the real meaningful one for fighting climate change and building a social safety net. If that's the case, I'm fine with it. The infrastructure bill will fix pipes to get lead out of drinking water, expand broadband in rural areas, fix dangerously deficient bridges, and could create millions of jobs according to a report by Georgetown University Center, and education in the workforce.
Andrea Chalupa:
But what about the reconciliation package? Will that pass? A framework was agreed to after many weeks of good faith negotiations. The House will vote on the reconciliation package this week, possibly as late as Saturday. Nancy Pelosi has told House democratic leadership, according to NBC News, they will not leave Washington for Thanksgiving until they pass the reconciliation package, and this is otherwise known as the Build Back Better agenda, President Biden's agenda which was made possible with the support of progressives. As part of a deal with moderates in the House, the vote was delayed to wait for information from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, otherwise known as the CBO score, to see if the bill will cost as much as Democrats say it will and, in fact, be paid for in part by strengthening IRS enforcement against tax dodgers. Biden's team doesn't believe the CBO score will derail the Build Back Better Act and even Manchin, who has raised concerns about inflation which is being driven by the supply chain crisis, has said that inflation will remain an issue into next year whether or not Congress passes the reconciliation package. Inflation, which means broadly prices go up, is at a 30-year high. Inflation is being caused by the fact we're living through a once in a century pandemic. That's it. Don't let armchair economists or right-wing think tanks try to convince you otherwise.
Andrea Chalupa:
From CNN: “In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 spread, it was like pulling the plug on the global economy. Factories around the world shut down. People stopped going out to restaurants. Airlines grounded flights. Millions of people were laid off as business disappeared practically overnight. The unemployment rate in America shot up to nearly 15%. It was the sharpest economic contraction on record. By early summer, however, demand for consumer goods started to pick back up, and rapidly. Congress and President Joe Biden passed a historic $1.9 trillion stimulus bill in March that made Americans suddenly flush with cash and unemployment assistance. People started shopping again. Demand went from zero to 100, but supply couldn't bounce back so easily. When you pull the plug on the global economy, you can't just plug it back in and expect it to start humming at the same pace as before.”
Andrea Chalupa:
So gas prices are also up due to a spike in demand. More Americans are traveling again now that the vaccines have given us a better handle on the pandemic. Climate change is also to blame. Hurricane Ida shut down oil drilling and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, curtailing the US’ ability to produce oil. And then there's OPEC, a cartel that includes several gas station dictatorships like Russia and Saudi Arabia. OPEC is refusing to release more oil to help drive down prices because that's what gas station dictatorships like to do: cause pain whenever they can because their sadists towards the world, sadists towards their own captive citizens. But mostly, it's the pandemic and the sudden increase in consumer demand driving up prices. So just remember that. When the idiots on cable TV blamed Biden's stimulus package for inflation, they're blaming Biden for putting much-needed money in people's pockets, which drives up spending, which drives up prices at a time when the supply chain has been greatly disrupted by the pandemic. Even buying a sofa today can be complicated because, due to the supply chain, there's a shortage in foam production (the foam that goes into couch cushions).
Andrea Chalupa:
I've been hearing about this all year from a friend who works in home goods and interior design. So, no, the inflation is not Biden's fault. The inflation is Trump's fault for failing to stop a once in a century pandemic. And with all due respect to my co-host, who is based in Missouri, the land of barbecue, beef prices are going up. Good! People need to lay off the beef. It's bad for you. If you eat beef, it should be done in moderation anyway-
Sarah Kendzior:
Ehhhh-
Andrea Chalupa:
I'm talking. I'm talking. [laughs]
Sarah Kendzior:
Moderation's fine.
Andrea Chalupa:
So there you have it.
Sarah Kendzior:
Beef is fine, too.
Andrea Chalupa:
Look for the silver lining. Plus, we all need to stop shopping so much. Americans compared to the rest of the world are hoarders. We consume to fill some empty void inside. We create landfills with fast fashion, cheap clothing that's made by economically enslaved people and meant to be disposable so consumers keep consuming to keep up with the latest trends.
Andrea Chalupa:
Our modern American lifestyle is unsustainable for our planet and that comes back to choke us, as we're seeing with the worsening climate crisis. So make the most of the silver lining and focus on our holistic health and wellbeing by rethinking our values as a nation. You're not going to hear this on cable TV, where the Jeff Zucker bloodsport of American politics is trying to turn inflation into a three-headed lion. The gladiators of the Democratic Party have to fight to the death in the Roman arena. Yes, there are always going to be concerns and serious issues over the rise in the cost of basic goods, and that deserves thoughtful and non sensationalized discussion. But at the same time, with popular TV shows like Marie Kondo and Hoarders, we also need to turn crisis into an opportunity and ask how much do we really want America's prevailing culture to be consumerism?
Andrea Chalupa:
How healthy is that for our families and the planet? It's not. I grew up watching Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, and it shows.
Sarah Kendzior:
[laughs]
Andrea Chalupa:
Meanwhile, Ronald Klain White House Chief of Staff, writes on Twitter: “Cutting the cost of childcare in half, reducing costs for elder care, capping seniors out of pocket for drugs, and tax cuts for most families with kids, 17 Nobel prize economists have said that the Build Back Better Act will ease and inflationary pressures.” We're going to leave on that optimistic note, to know that times may be dark, but look at all the great public servants we have fighting back. And remember, we must join them, because grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left. And for more on that, join us on Patreon for our Free Britney Spears Special.
Britney Spears:
It’s embarrassing and demoralizing what I've been through, and that's the main reason I've never said it openly. And mainly, I didn't want to say it openly because I honestly don't think anyone would believe me. To be honest with you, the Paris Hilton story, on what they did to her, to that school, I didn't believe any of it. I'm sorry. I'm an outsider and I'll just be honest, I didn't believe it. And maybe I'm wrong. And that's why I didn't want to say any of this to anybody, to the public, because I thought people would make fun of me or laugh at me and say, “She's lying. She's got everything. She's Britney Spears.” I'm not lying. I just want my life back. It's been 13 years and it's enough. It's been a long time since I've owned my money and it's my wish and my dream for all of this to end, without being tested. Again, it makes no sense whatsoever for the State of California to sit back and literally watch me, with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people and pay so many people—trucks and buses on tour on the road with me—and be told I'm not good enough. But I'm great at what I do, and I allowed these people to control what I do, ma'am, and it's enough. It makes no sense at all.
[Roll Credits]
Andrea Chalupa:
Our discussion continues and you can get access to that by signing up on our Patreon at the Truth Teller level or higher.
Sarah Kendzior:
We want to encourage you to donate to your local food bank, which is experiencing a spike in demand. We also encourage you to donate to Oil Change International, an advocacy group supported with a generous donation from the Greta Thunberg foundation that exposes the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitates the ongoing transition to clean energy.
Andrea Chalupa:
We also encourage you to donate to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian relief organization helping refugees from Afghanistan. Donate at rescue.org. And if you want to help critically endangered orangutans already under pressure from the palm oil industry, donate to the Orangutan Project at theorangutanproject.org. Gaslit Nation is produced by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. If you like what we do, leave us a review on iTunes. It helps us reach more listeners. And check out our Patreon. It keeps us going. And you can also subscribe on YouTube.
Sarah Kendzior:
Our production managers are Nicholas Torres and Karlyn Daigle. Our episodes are edited by Nicholas Torres and our Patreon exclusive content is edited by Karlyn Daigle.
Andrea Chalupa:
Original music on Gaslit Nation is produced by David Whitehead, Martin Vissenb\erg, Nik Farr, Demien Arriaga and Karlyn Daigle.
Sarah Kendzior:
Our logo design was donated to us by Hamish Smyth of the New York-based firm, Order. Thank you so much, Hamish.
Andrea Chalupa:
Gaslit Nation would like to thank our supporters at the Producer level on Patreon and higher...