USA

111: Death and Corruption in the Shadows - The Global Arms Trade

While the global arms industry may only account for about one percent of global trade, it’s important to note what that one percent actually buys. Beyond the price tags on the weapons themselves, arms and arms sales have a tremendous impact on all other aspects of global trade, and on relations between trade partners and competitors.

This week's episode is a collaboration between journalist Paul Cochrane and Latitude Adjustment Podcast.

Our guest, Andrew Feinstein, is the author of the best-selling book, "The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade", published in 2011. In his review Noam Chomsky writes, "This shocking expose unveils a shadow world of corruption, greed, slaughter, and other horrors, tawdry and gruesome in its criminality. It must be brought to a quick and final end".

 
Shadow World was turned into an award winning documentary film, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.

Andrew currently resides in the UK with his wife and children, and much of his current work is focused on Shadow World Investigations, an investigative news website focused on global corruption, often involving, but not limited to, the global arms trade. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

106: From Kabul to Canada (2 of 2)

 This is the second of a two-part series about Basir Bita’s escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August, 2021. In this second half of his story, Basir shares his experiences getting from Pakistan to Canada, the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, the double-standards in Western moralizing, and navigating the prejudices and stereotypes that refugees often face. Be sure to listen to part one, about the fall of Kabul and about his family’s escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August of 2021.

Also be sure to listen to our interview with Afghan photographer and interpreter Abdul Saboor, who escaped overland to France.

And our field reports and interviews with refugees in Greece.

 
 
 
 

102: The Military Industrial Complex

The US military industrial complex describes the relationship between the US armed forces, weapons and military systems corporations and, though they are often omitted from the phrasing, the Legislative and Executive branches of the US government. 

This episode is dedicated to examining the interests at play in maintaining the US military budget as an unquestionable and sacred burden on the US taxpayer and its impact on democracy, even when our national infrastructure is in tatters, education and medical costs are exploding, the gap between rich and poor is ever-widening, wages have stagnated, and a pandemic has ravaged our economy and our lives.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is the Quaker's Peace Lobby. Allen Hester leads the FCNL's Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending portfolio. This means that he develops legislative strategies and lobbies Congress for reductions in Pentagon spending, strengthened arms control regimes, and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.

 
 
 

Revisited: Human Trafficking in the US

Rosine Hounakey is from Togo but she was trafficked to the US at 13 years old. Forced to work for free on both coasts of the US, she was later coerced into an abusive marriage until she was freed with her two young sons as the result of an ICE raid when she was just 17 years old.

She then had to go through foster care in various American cities, waking up at 5am every day to take her kids to school before completing high school herself, after years with no formal education, having taught herself English along the way.

We also discuss the entrepreneurial spirit of Togolese women, annoying stereotypes about Africa and Africans, tension and solidarity with the African American community, and moving forward with life in the US after a deeply traumatic start.

Be sure to check the links below for critical facts on Human Trafficking, as well as organizations that can provide immediate assistance.

 

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women

 
 

94: Anarchism, A US History

Kenyon Zimmer is an associate professor of History at the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Zimmer specializes in transatlantic migration, political radicalism, and labor history in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. His research centers on the connections between migration, race and ethnicity, and radical social movements.  

For today’s show we’ll be focusing on the history of Anarchism as a political philosophy, how Anarchism has manifested itself as a political movement in US history, and we’ll spend a good deal of time breaking down what Anarchism is, what it is not, and how its principles can be implemented, both by individuals and by groups.

 
 
 
 

77: How Counter-Terrorism Laws Harm Minorities

Less than a week after the January 6th attack on the US Capital building attorneys Diala Shamas and Tarek Ismail co-authored a piece for the Washington Post titled, "Calling the Capital riot 'terrorism' will only hurt communities of color." 

Our conversation explores some of the less publicized consequences of anti-terrorism legislation and law enforcement priorities going back decades, to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Diala Shamas is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and Tarek Ismail is an associate professor at the CUNY School of Law.

 
 
 
 
 

Episode 66: Ralph Nader

ralph-nader.jpg

Ralph Nader is a five-time candidate for US president and a public servant who has improved the lives of Americans and of many people around the world through his 6 decades of work as a consumer advocate and civil liberties defender.

We speak about the current status of civil rights protests, coronavirus, Palestine, corporate corruption, and about his new cookbook and the connection between our kitchens and the health of our communities. And we share a little about our own work on The Virtual Dinner Guest Project.

Listen

 

Learn more about Ralph Nader

 

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Episode 53: The Protests - Iraq

The current protests in Iraq began at the start of October. Much like the ongoing protests in Lebanon, the protests in Iraq have largely been mobilized by youth, with no clear leadership, and with a decidedly anti-sectarian focus, with demands to address chronic unemployment, and to reform entrenched corruption and rule by political elites.

They are also the largest protest in Iraq since the end of the Saddam Hussein regime. Unlike Lebanon, protests in Iraq have seen a heavy handed response from the government that has already led to more than 300 deaths.

We speak with political analyst Raed Jarrar to get more context, and to learn what and who are behind the protests and just who is running Iraq these days.

This episode is the second in a series that Latitude Adjustment podcast will be putting out on current protests around the world. Be sure to check out the other episodes in the ongoing series.

#LatitudeAdjustment_Protests

 
 
 
 

Episode 27: Protester. Prisoner. Student. Syrian Woman

This month marks the 8th anniversary of the popular demonstrations in Syria that ultimately led to the war. Assil Alnaser’s story takes us from the early days of those protests to her harrowing experiences as a prisoner, and then her escape and her struggles to find a home and a future in Jordan and Turkey, and later in the US, where she was subjected to the "Muslim Ban" twice after winning a scholarship. Assil's story provides a needed reminder of how the conflict in Syria started, it forces us to confront the double-victimization that many women face from their own communities after suffering sexual violence, and puts a human face on the ordeals faced by many Syrian refugees right up to the present.

Check below for more information on where you can help support Syrians and refugees, and for more about Assil’s story and about the Syrian community.

Latitude Adjustment is 100% listener supported. If you agree that we need more independent media that prioritizes curiosity and connections over fear and divisions then please support us with a monthly donation through our Patreon page. Thanks!


Opening Remarks - Host: Eric Maddox
Interview starts at 6:45

 

The following are charitable organizations that we’ve found to be reputable and effective. We are not affiliated with them or sponsored by them, nor have we been provided with any incentives to promote them. We advise you to do your own research before donating to any organization.

 
 

Episode 21: Anonymous in Iran

We hear a lot about Iran in the Western press and from Western politicians, but we rarely hear from the Iranian people. Our guest lives in Tehran where she works as a documentary photographer.

We agreed to keep her identity private in order to allow for a more open discussion about Iran and its relationship to the world, and we closed our conversation with a question from our guest:

”“How responsible do you feel about the situation in Iran right now? And what do you think you can do about it?”

If you would like to answer this question you can do so by using the hashtag:

#LatitudeAdjustmentPodcast_Iran

and tagging our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram accounts. Links to those accounts can be found here on the website. You can also visit our accounts and simply leave your answers in comments.

It’s time that we as citizens step forward and start a conversation where our governments have failed.

And, we’ve just launched a Patreon page for Latitude Adjustment podcast. The show will remain free to the public, but if you find value in it then please consider supporting us with a dollar or more per month to help make our efforts sustainable. And remember to tell your friends about us! Thank you for your support!