Just World Podcasts

Helena Cobban
  • 5.0 (4)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Just World Podcasts is an innovative podcast series on international affairs. In October 2025, we launched a new series titled "Gaza & the World." This series of public conversations hosted by Just World Ed president Helena Cobban explores the many intersections of the continuing Gaza crisis and the current deep shifts in the global balance.JWP is run by the non-profit foundation Just World Educational.

  1. 9H AGO

    The Iran Crisis #17: Richard Falk on his Meeting with Khomeini, International Law & More

    In this episode of the Iran Crisis series, Helena Cobban sat down with Professor Richard Falk, international law scholar and JWE board member, for a wide-ranging conversation that spanned nearly five decades of history. Recorded on April 29, the discussion moved from a remarkable personal meeting he had with Ayatollah Khomeini in January 1979 to the crisis of international law and the nuclear non-proliferation debate that are both unfolding right now.  This was latest episode in our continuing series on the Iran Crisis. Find the multimedia records of this episode and all its others at this Online Learning Hub on our website. Support the show

    58 min

  2. 2D AGO

    The Iran Crisis #16: Helena Cobban on Hormuz and 5,000 Years of Strategic Power

    In this special presentation for Just World Educational's Iran Crisis series, Helena Cobban, the president of Just World Ed, delivered a pre-recorded talk for the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center conference in Orinda, California, on April 25th. Unable to attend in person and having to record her remarks more than 24 hours before they would be delivered, she chose to take a long historical view of the crisis by tracing the Strait of Hormuz across 5,000 years of human history.  She traced Hormuz's  origins as a key node connecting the formative ancient civilizations in the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian, and as a central artery in the vast Indian Ocean trading zone that once stretched from East Africa to China. She described that pre-European world as a thriving, self-governed commercial network with its own norms and technologies, drawing on the work of historian Janet Abu-Lughod.  She then walked through the entry of five European imperial powers into that world: Portugal, Spain, England, the Netherlands, and France. She described what she called the "White Supremacist International," a succession of empire-building ventures driven by profit, looting, and the rise of finance capitalism. She traced Portugal's violent seizure of Hormuz in 1507 under Afonso de Albuquerque, followed by the London-based East India Company's takeover of the port in 1622, and drew direct parallels between those colonial methods and what Israel is doing in Palestine and Lebanon today.  Cobban closed by urging viewers to work toward curbing Western military power and ending the war. Support the show

    28 min

  3. 6D AGO

    The Iran Crisis #15: Dr. Moeed Pirzada on Pakistan's role and fears of renewed conflict

    On the evening of April 23, JWE president Helena Cobban sat down with Dr. Moeed Pirzada,  a prominent Pakistani journalist based in Washington, D.C. and founder-editor of Global Village Space magazine. Together they examined the rapidly shifting situation around the U.S.-Iran conflict, Pakistan's role as a mediator, and the broader geopolitical realignments taking place across West Asia and beyond. This was latest episode in our continuing series on the Iran Crisis. Find the multimedia records of this episode and all its others at this Online Learning Hub on our website. Support the show

    29 min

  4. APR 21

    The Iran crisis #14: Trita Parsi on the prospects, dynamics, as ceasefire end approaches

    On the day before the current two-week ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is due to end, the veteran scholar of Iranian and international affairs Trita Parsi sat down with JWE president Helena Cobban to review the prospects for war or peace in West Asia.  This was latest episode in our continuing series on the Iran Crisis. Find the multimedia records of this episode and all its others at this Online Learning Hub on our website. Support the show

    30 min

  5. APR 17

    The Iran Crisis #13: Mouin Rabbani on West Asia-wide and global implications of recent U.S. moves

    In this April 17 conversation, JWE president Helena Cobban and the veteran Palestinian political analyst Mouin Rabbani discussed the implications, for West Asia and the world, of some of Pres. Trump's crucial recent decisions regarding the ongoing crisis over Iran. Rabbani reviewed, in particular, the decision Trump took mid-week to publicly pressure Israel to accede to a ceasefire in Lebanon, which it had previously refused to do. He also explored what that decision, and Israel's speedy compliance with it, tells us about the nature of the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Cobban and Rabbani also reviewed (among other topics):  the history of the U.S. relationship since the beginning of the longer crisis sparked by Hamas's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood of October 2023,the prospects for the peace negotiations that were tentatively launched April 10-11 in Islamabad, Pakistan,the implications of the current U.S.-Iran and Israel-Lebanon ceasefires for the Palestinians of Gaza, and the big changes for the situations in West Asia and globally that were spurred by the U.S.-Israeli decision to launch the current War of Choice against Iran.This summer Rabbani will be publishing his first sole-authored book, Gaza Apocalypse: A Gencoide Diary (OR Books.) This conversation was the thirteenth in Just World Educational's ongoing series on the Iran Crisis/War. Find all the records of this project here. Support the show

    50 min

  6. APR 12

    The Iran Crisis #12: Rami Zurayk on Israel's ongoing assault against Lebanon

    In this April 12 conversation, JWE president Helena Cobban discussed with Prof. Rami Zurayk the impact on Lebanon of the violence that Israel has unleashed against the country for many months now. (Israel escalated that violence very notably on April 8, the day when it looked as if Washington was finally ready to sit down and negotiate a serious ceasefire with Iran.) Rami Zurayk is a researcher on ecological affairs and a social activist with deep family roots in South Lebanon. In 2011, Just World Books published War Diary: Lebanon 2006,  his short, engaging account of what he experienced during the very destructive invasion of Lebanon that Israel undertook in 2006. This conversation was the twelfth in Just World Educational's ongoing series on the Iran Crisis/War. Find all the records of this project here. Support the show

    52 min

  7. APR 9

    The Iran Crisis #11: Indi Samarajiva and Helena discuss the short-term & longterm impact of the week's tumultuous events

    In a week that started with Pres. Trump's outrageous genocidal threats against Iran, then saw him apparently agree to a ceasefire while Israel unleashed a torrent of violence against Lebanon... JWE president Helena Cobban was happy to be able to assess the broader impact of these events with Sri Lankan analyst Indi Samarajiva.  Indi's main writing platform is indi.ca. This was latest episode in our continuing series on the Iran Crisis. Find the multimedia records of this episode and all its others at this Online Learning Hub on our website. Support the show

    51 min

  8. APR 1

    The Iran Crisis #10: Amb. Chas Freeman on the China-Pakistan peace intiative

    In this April 1 conversation with JWE president Helena Cobban, Amb. Chas W. Freeman, Jr., discussed the impact and relevance of the 5-point peace initiative for the Iran conflict that China and Pakistan jointly announced on March 31. You can find more background about Amb. Freeman and about this new peace initiative at this post on JWE's Substack. Support the show

    41 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Just World Podcasts is an innovative podcast series on international affairs. In October 2025, we launched a new series titled "Gaza & the World." This series of public conversations hosted by Just World Ed president Helena Cobban explores the many intersections of the continuing Gaza crisis and the current deep shifts in the global balance.JWP is run by the non-profit foundation Just World Educational.

Information

  • Creator
    Helena Cobban
  • Years Active
    2010 - 2026
  • Episodes
    132
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Just World Podcasts
  • Show Website
    Just World Podcasts

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