Geopolitical Economy Hour

Radhika Desai
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Politics

As dizzying yet historically deeply-rooted developments transform the political economy of key countries and the world's geopolitical economy, we provide ongoing analyses of the foundations being laid for a multi-polar world beyond capitalism.

  1. The West Couldn't Break North Korea And Now They're Afraid | Keith Bennett and Radhika Desai

    2d ago

    The West Couldn't Break North Korea And Now They're Afraid | Keith Bennett and Radhika Desai

    President Xi Jinping followed up his summits with Presidents Putin and Trump with his first foreign trip of the year. The destination – North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a nation of some 26 million normally portrayed in the Western media as a dangerously authoritarian state, an economic basket case, worthy of attention only for its nuclear weapons – may seem a surprise to many. However, as veteran Korea observer, Keith Bennett and Radhika Desai discuss, neither the destination nor the timing should surprise anyone with a sense of the intertwined histories of the Chinese and Korean revolutions (not to mention the Soviet) and the continuing cooperation between the two countries, founded on socialist solidarity. Nor should it surprise them that, amid the chaos unleashed on the world by a declining West, China and North Korea are quietly renewing their relations for a new phase of history, and their common history. Keith and Radhika discuss the socialist foundations of one of the most enduring international relationships of the modern era, the myths Western journalists and scholars perpetuate about North Korea, and the unexpected twist the matter of Korean reunification has taken.

    1h 5m
  2. How Can a $1.5 Trillion Military Keep Losing? | US Military Analysis By KJ Noh & Radhika Desai

    3d ago

    How Can a $1.5 Trillion Military Keep Losing? | US Military Analysis By KJ Noh & Radhika Desai

    Is the US military worth the $1.5 trillion being spent on it? President Biden called the US militarily ‘the most powerful nation in the history of the world.’ On the campaign trail Kamala Harriss called it the ‘strongest most lethal fighting force in the world. President Trump has called it ‘the strongest military on the face of the earth’. Events, however, have belied this cross-party consensus. The Iran is clearly failing. The international relations specialist Stephen Walt today called on Trump to ‘just admit defeat’. And this most recent failure is not an exception. The ignominious defeat in Afghanistan recalled that in Vietnam, Iraq became a quagmire within a couple of years. Apart from overrunning tiny countries like Grenada and Panama, the US has no military successes to name. Before Vietnam, Korea ended in stalemate. How can such an astronomically expensive military fail so abysmally? That is the question I discuss with K J Noh, the superbly informed scholar, journalist and activist with a knack for excellent analogies…..

    54 min
  3. The End of NATO? The West Is Splitting Over War and Empire | Interview With Werner Rügemer

    Jun 10

    The End of NATO? The West Is Splitting Over War and Empire | Interview With Werner Rügemer

    The relationship between the United States and Europe is often portrayed as a partnership of equals. But has Europe instead become subordinate to American financial, political and military power? In this interview, German left-wing intellectual Werner Rügemer examines the historical foundations of U.S. dominance over Europe, drawing on his book Fatal Friendship: How the USA Conquered Europe. The conversation explores Wall Street’s role in reshaping Europe after the world wars, the growing influence of firms like BlackRock and Vanguard over European capitalism, NATO and EU expansion, the confrontation with China, and the deeper crisis of the transatlantic order. At a moment of intensifying geopolitical conflict and economic instability, this discussion asks whether Europe still acts in its own interests or increasingly in Washington’s.

    55 min
  4. Russia's Economy Isn't What the West Told You | Michael Hudson, Alan Freeman & Radhika Desai

    Jun 10

    Russia's Economy Isn't What the West Told You | Michael Hudson, Alan Freeman & Radhika Desai

    Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman discuss observations from their recent trip to Russia with Michael Hudson, analyzing the political economy of Russia today and situating its place in the shifting world order. The discussion covers Russia's efforts at Eurasion integration, the Chinese development model, prospects for multi-polarity, the connection between fascism and imperialism, and popular and political sentiment around the Ukraine War.

    58 min
  5. Capitalism Has Entered its Most Dangerous Stage | GEH with Clara Mattei

    Jun 2

    Capitalism Has Entered its Most Dangerous Stage | GEH with Clara Mattei

    Today, as capitalism takes ever more volatile, dangerous, destructive, environmentally devastating, unequal, racist, mysogynist, exploitative, and war-like dimensions, there has been renewed critique and, inevitably, it comes from many directions. In this Geopolitical Economy Hour, Radhika, who is among these critics, is joined by a prominent representative of a different tradition of critique, someone who has spoken about escaping from capitalism, underlined its fundamentally anti democratic character, insisted on its fascistic tendencies, and criticized the fairy tales of neoclassical economics that are decreasingly able to camouflage the ills of capitalism, Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order and Escape from Capitalism, President of the Foundation for Real Economic Emancipation (FREE) and Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa.

    53 min
  6. (Blocked) Paths to Dedollarization | GEH with Paolo Nogueira Batista

    Jun 1

    (Blocked) Paths to Dedollarization | GEH with Paolo Nogueira Batista

    What does the future look like for Dedollarization? How does BRICS play a role? Radhika takes a deep dive with co-founder of New Development Bank, Paolo Nogueira Batista.

    55 min
  7. Mohammad Marandi Reveals Iran's True Nuclear Power Goal

    May 21

    Mohammad Marandi Reveals Iran's True Nuclear Power Goal

    In this interview, Radhika Desai speaks with Mohammad Marandi about Iran’s nuclear programme, the latest escalation with the United States, and the wider geopolitical struggle behind the so-called “Iran nuclear threat.” Is Iran really trying to build a nuclear weapons, or is the nuclear issue being used once again as a pretext for sanctions, pressure and imperialism? Professor Marandi explains how Iran views its nuclear rights, why Western governments continue to portray Iran as a danger, and how the confrontation fits into the broader decline of US power and the crisis of the Western-led order.

    53 min
  8. Is NATO Falling Apart? Trump, Ukraine, Russia and the Crisis of the West | GEH w Kees Van der Pijl

    May 20

    Is NATO Falling Apart? Trump, Ukraine, Russia and the Crisis of the West | GEH w Kees Van der Pijl

    German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz says, before an audience of schoolchildren, that Iran has humiliated the US. Donald Trump announces the withdrawal of 5000 of its troops from his country. Meanwhile, Minister Donald​Tusk, Prime Minister of the most loyal of East European states loyal to the US and the Atlantic alliance, told the Financial Times that Europe's "biggest, most important question is if the United States is ready to be as loyal as it is described in our (NATO) treaties. The question is if NATO is still an organisation ready, politically and logistically, to react - for example, against Russia if they try to​attack." The trouble is not recent but in the first year and a half of Donald Trump’s second administration these strains now seem to be building up to breaking point. The two sides of the Atlantic find themselves on opposite sides of both the major conflicts of our time, that in Ukraine and that against Iran. Tariffs on the European Union are hurting its economy. There is increasing discussion particularly in Brussels, on how that body should seek an autonomous defence infrastructure. Europe and Canada are ramping up defence expenditure and if such an infrastructure were to be built, notwithstanding the interminable squabbles of EU member countries, it would represent a major reversal of the foundation of the post Second World War North Atlantic alliance, the security umbrella that the United States provided to Europe in acceptance of US leadership. Radhika Desai and Kees van der Pijl, foremost critical international relations scholar of the Atlantic Alliance discuss

    45 min
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As dizzying yet historically deeply-rooted developments transform the political economy of key countries and the world's geopolitical economy, we provide ongoing analyses of the foundations being laid for a multi-polar world beyond capitalism.

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