Current Affairs

CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, along with national co-director Danaka Katovich, join Current Affairs to reflect on 25 years of the post-9/11 War on Terror, the founding of CODEPINK, and the politics of fear that have fueled endless war.

Rachel Cohen is an attorney and organizer who previously resigned from the law firm Skadden Arps amid the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against major law firms. She joins Current Affairs to discuss her article “Business as Usual at the Department of Injustice,” which examines how Trump has intensified the politicization of the Justice Department while relying on prosecutorial powers, institutional habits, and forms of state violence that long predate his administration.

Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a climate lawyer and contributing editor at The New Republic. They join Current Affairs to discuss how the right has begun co-opting animal welfare politics, why the left has neglected animal rights, and how abandoning climate politics risks leaving an opening for a much darker ecofascist response to ecological crisis.

Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer from Jerusalem, The Nation’s Palestine correspondent, and editor-at-large at Mondoweiss.

Track AIPAC is an advocacy and watchdog project that tracks AIPAC and other pro-Israel political spending in U.S. elections. Co-founders Cory Archibald and Casey Kennedy join Current Affairs to discuss how the Israel lobby intervenes in Democratic primaries, how its money is routed through a growing network of PACs and outside groups, and why more candidates are beginning to reject its support.

Dan Osborn is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska and a former union leader who first gained national attention during the 2021 Kellogg’s strike. He joins Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss why he rejects the two-party system, the crisis facing rural hospitals, healthcare reform and Medicare for All.

Eli Clifton is an investigative journalist and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and Ian Lustick is a political scientist specializing in U.S. foreign policy and Israel-Palestine. They join Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss their new book, Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power, which examines the history, methods, and influence of the Israel lobby on American politics and U.S. foreign policy.

Abby Martin is a journalist, filmmaker, and creator of The Empire Files. She joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss her new film, Cuba After Castro, which features a rare, in-depth interview with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Nathan J. Robinson returns to The Will Cain Show to defend Medicare for All, California’s proposed billionaire tax, and Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax.

Why should other people’s children be the ones who die in the wars he promotes?

Yasmin Nair is a writer, activist, and longtime contributor to Current Affairs. In this conversation with Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson, she discusses what Graham Platner’s rise reveals about misogyny on the left, why sexism is too often excused or minimized in progressive politics, and what the failures of liberal feminism can teach us about building a better left.

If he wins in November, this could be end of the road for AIPAC and the Democratic establishment.

Nathan J. Robinson appears on The Will Cain Show to discuss socialism and the future of the Democratic Party.

Whether a candidate can inspire people, organize them, and deliver for them matters more than where they stand on an imaginary ideological continuum.

Our politicians won't keep parasites out of our food, but they'll make it easier to buy guns through the mail.

We don’t think NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich knew what she was getting into when she invited Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson and Monte Mader on to debate socialism.

Daniel Ellsberg was the Pentagon Papers whistleblower whose decision to expose government lies about the Vietnam War changed American history. In this conversation with Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson, Michael Ellsberg, Jan R. Thomas, and Robert Ellsberg discuss Truth and Consequence, a new collection of Ellsberg's previously unpublished writings. They reflect on his thinking about nuclear war, conscience, patriotism, civil resistance, and why his ideas remain as relevant today as ever.

Trita Parsi is the co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and one of the leading analysts of U.S.–Iran relations. He joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to explain how the ceasefire between the United States and Iran unraveled, why he believes both Washington and Tehran miscalculated, and what the renewed fighting means for the prospects of diplomacy.

When you stand for nothing, nobody wants to stand with you.

Eric Beinhocker is a professor at the University of Oxford and executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Nick Hanauer is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and founder of Civic Ventures. Together, they are the authors of the booklet Markets Built for Humans. Beinhocker and Hanauer joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss why they believe neoliberal economics has failed, what the evidence really shows about the minimum wage and inequality, how bad economic ideas have shaped climate policy, and why they argue a thriving middle class is the foundation of a healthy economy and democracy.

The Israel lobby’s attempt to destroy Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign is a disturbing example of how money warps democracy.

Kshama Sawant is a socialist organizer, former Seattle City Council member, and candidate for Congress in Washington’s 9th congressional district. Sawant joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss Adam Smith’s record on war, why she believes Democrats cannot be relied on to fight for working people, and why revolutionary socialists should fight for immediate reforms while building power outside the two-party system.

There’s barely any pretense that Trump cares about Cuban democracy. This is about privatizing Cuba’s public assets and getting them into the hands of Trump’s cronies.

They rejected kings and were sincerely concerned about the possibility of a dictatorship. But we need to move past founder-worship and focus on justice.

Charles Booker is a former Kentucky state representative and the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. His campaign centers on Medicare for All, ending endless war, strengthening labor rights, raising wages, and building a multiracial working-class coalition from “the hood to the holler.” Booker joined Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss why Kentucky should not be written off as a “red state,” how progressive policies can win in places ignored by the national Democratic Party, what the left can learn from Mitch McConnell’s coalition-building, and why working people need leaders willing to fight for health care, peace, and economic justice.

Mark Graham is the director of the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, and Chris Freeland is the Internet Archive’s director of library services and one of the co-authors of the new report Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record. Their work focuses on preserving digital materials that might otherwise disappear. Graham and Freeland joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss why the internet is not forever, how digital culture vanishes through deletion, paywalls, broken links, platform decay, and corporate control, and what can be done to preserve public access to our collective cultural record.

Elon Musk is a miserable deadbeat whom no amount of money can make loved, cool, or happy.

Electoral victories by socialists around the country show that the Democratic establishment is weak and can be overthrown.

Jessica Burbank is an investigative journalist, content creator, and host of The Jessica Burbank Show. Her reporting for Drop Site News and The Counterprogramming Club has exposed the rapid spread of Flock Safety, a multi-billion-dollar surveillance company whose license plate readers and camera networks are being adopted by police departments and municipalities across the country.

Judith Butler is one of the world's leading scholars and philosophers on issues of gender, sexuality, and the cultural phenomena that surround them. They are the author of the landmark 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, and more recently the 2024 follow-up work Who's Afraid of Gender?

Molly Crabapple is an artist, journalist, and author of the new book Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. She joins Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the history of the Bund, its fierce anti-Zionism, its vision of Jewish self-determination without an ethnostate, and what this forgotten socialist movement can teach us about solidarity, self-defense, and fighting fascism today.

J. W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev are economists and authors of the new book Against Money. They join Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss why money is so widely misunderstood, how it shapes our lives in ways we often fail to see, and how rethinking money can change the way we understand debt, austerity, inequality, foreign investment, housing, and the limits of mainstream economics.

Chris Smalls is the co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union and author of the new book When the Revolution Comes. He joins Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic in Havana, Cuba, during the Nuestra América aid mission to discuss the U.S. blockade, labor organizing, his fight against Amazon, and why struggles from Cuba to Gaza to Staten Island are connected.

Norman Finkelstein is one of the leading scholars of the Israel-Palestine conflict and author of the new book Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places. He joins Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss Israel’s plan to make Gaza unlivable, the racism of Israeli society, Tony Blair and Trump’s colonial “Board of Peace,” why he refuses to condemn Hamas, and why he argues that governments, human rights organizations, and international legal authorities have helped enable the Gaza genocide.

Waqas Ahmed is a Pakistani journalist whose work has appeared in The Intercept and Drop Site News. He joins Current Affairs to discuss his recent reporting with Murtaza Hussain and Ryan Grim on the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, the ouster and imprisonment of Imran Khan, and how Washington went from suspicion of Pakistan to embracing its military-backed government.

Nicholas Enrich worked at USAID for more than 12 years, including in its Bureau for Global Health and Bureau for Management. He joins Current Affairs to discuss his new book, Into the Wood Chipper, a whistleblower account of how the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE allies shredded one of the most important humanitarian agencies in the U.S. government.

It’s not 2016 anymore. We can throw out the party’s sclerotic leadership.

Rania Khalek is a Lebanese-American journalist based in Beirut and the host of Dispatches on BreakThrough News. She returns to Current Affairs to give an update on Lebanon, where Israel has continued bombing, occupying territory, issuing displacement orders, and demolishing villages during what is being called a “ceasefire.”

Abdul El-Sayed is a physician, public health official, Current Affairs contributor, and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan. He joined Nathan Robinson to discuss his campaign, the fight over Gaza and AIPAC inside the Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer’s leadership, Medicare for All, corporate money in politics, and why he believes Democrats can win by rejecting the old theory of “electability.”

Sam Miller McDonald is a writer and longtime Current Affairs contributor. He joins Nathan Robinson to discuss his new book Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization—and Now Threatens to Destroy It, a sweeping critique of the belief that history is a story of constant improvement.

As Trump creates economic havoc and commits war crimes, the socialist mayor of New York City demonstrates what serious, responsible government looks like.

After being a leading Democratic enabler of the genocide of Palestinians, Cory Booker now has the audacity to publish a book about moral virtue.

Adam Johnson is a media analyst and co-host of the podcast Citations Needed, whose work has appeared in The Nation, The Intercept, and other major outlets. He joined Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan Robinson to discuss his new book How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza, an analysis of how U.S. corporate media covered Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Mouin Rabbani is a Middle East analyst and researcher, and one of the most incisive commentators on U.S. foreign policy in the region. He joined Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan Robinson to discuss the latest escalation in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and the broader Middle East, including ceasefire negotiations, U.S.-Israel relations, and the shifting balance of power.

Ben Cohen is the co-founder, along with Jerry Greenfield, of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream company. But he has also been involved throughout his life with a number of major activist efforts on issues of peace, social justice, anti-racism, and climate change.

Amy Goodman is the longtime host of Democracy Now!, the independent news program she helped launch 30 years ago, which has since grown from a small network of community radio stations into a global media institution. She spoke to Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan Robinson and Digital Editor John Ross, alongside filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, about the new documentary Steal This Story, Please!, which traces the history of Democracy Now! and Goodman’s career in independent journalism.

Dr. Butch Ware is a historian, public intellectual, and the Green Party candidate for Governor of California. He is an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, a former Green Party vice presidential nominee, and an advocate for universal healthcare, housing, and divestment from war. He spoke to Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan Robinson about his campaign to get on the ballot and what he describes as efforts by the Democratic Party to block third-party candidates.

Jasper Nathaniel is an independent journalist who recently returned from documenting Israeli settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where he has spent years reporting on land seizures, settler attacks, military raids, and the daily realities of life under Israeli military rule.

Afshin Matin-Asgari is an Iranian historian and professor of Middle East history at California State University, Los Angeles, and the author of Axis of Empire: A History of Iran–U.S. Relations. He spoke to Current Affairs about the long history of U.S. involvement in Iran—from the 1953 CIA-backed coup to the present conflict—and why foreign intervention has repeatedly strengthened authoritarian forces rather than weakened them. A participant in the 1978 revolution who opposed both the Shah and the Islamic Republic, Matin-Asgari offers a rare perspective on Iranian politics, the nuclear issue, and the current war, arguing that while the Islamic Republic is repressive, Iran’s future must be determined by Iranians themselves, not by the United States or Israel.

Donald Trump is trying to starve the island nation into submission, but an international coalition of volunteers is coming to Cuba’s aid. We’re joining them.

Rania Khalek is a journalist based in Beirut and the host of Dispatches on BreakThrough News.

Becca Rothfeld is a staff writer at The New Yorker, an editor at The Point, and the former nonfiction book critic at The Washington Post, where she wrote until the paper eliminated its books section amid sweeping layoffs. She explains why book reviews matter and how criticism can introduce readers to ideas they didn’t know interested them. Rothfeld also discusses the role of negative reviews, what it means for a book to be “instructively bad,” and why criticism should challenge rather than flatter its audience. She also argues that the growing use of AI risks degrading human thought, and reflects on beauty, “looksmaxing,” and the kind of intellectual and cultural life worth preserving.

Annelle Sheline is a research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and a former U.S. State Department official who resigned in protest over the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. In this conversation with Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson, she discusses why she chose to resign while other senior officials—including former USAID administrator Samantha Power—remained in their positions. Sheline also examines how U.S. policy and unconditional support for Israel helped lead to the current war with Iran, the devastating human toll of the conflict, and why the erosion of international law could have dangerous consequences for the future of global order.

Trita Parsi is the co-founder and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and one of the leading analysts of U.S.–Iran relations. In this conversation with Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson, he explains how the escalating U.S.–Israel war on Iran is affecting civilians, how sanctions and propaganda shaped the political climate leading up to the conflict, and why Israel and the United States may see the war very differently in strategic terms. Parsi also discusses why he believes the war is a mistake for Washington, how Trump ended up launching it, how the conflict might end, and how a very different path might have been possible if diplomacy had prevailed.

Trump's fake-anti-imperialism only works because Democrats refuse to embrace the real thing.

Our media’s sanitized coverage obscures the human toll. Are we able to confront the full sickening evil of what the U.S. is doing?

According to our elected leaders, we should be very scared of the possibility that Iran could get a nuclear bomb. But Israel already has them, and its government is increasingly unstable and belligerent.

In their new documentary “Earth’s Greatest Enemy,” Abby Martin and Mike Prysner reveal that the climate and anti-war movements are really one and the same—because the U.S. military is the worst polluter of all.

Daniel Bessner is a historian and professor at the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, and the co-host of the foreign policy podcast American Prestige. He’s also the editor of the new Cambridge University Press volume Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency, which examines how liberal elites built the U.S. national security state and justified global dominance during the Cold War. He joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss what the Cold War actually was, why the phrase “Cold War” obscures the mass violence it unleashed across the Global South, and what lessons this history holds for U.S. policy regarding contemporary tensions with China.

From slavery and child labor in the 19th century to the Iraq War and Gaza, the Left position has been accepted only after horrible human costs. Next time, how about listening before the damage is done?

Abigail Thorn is an actor, writer, and the creator of the widely acclaimed YouTube channel Philosophy Tube, where she explores politics, culture, and philosophy through performance and storytelling. She is currently starring in BLINK, a London stage play about livestreaming, voyeurism, and parasocial intimacy written years before those concepts entered mainstream discourse.

The core right-wing principle is a belief in hierarchy, not the limitation of state power.

For Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and other figures on today’s far right, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have become a cultural touchstone. Pity they don’t understand the first thing about them.

Brrrrr, it’s newsing outside.

The California representative talks Epstein, taxing billionaires, and Donald Trump’s war crimes.

The "Keep America Beautiful" campaign urged Americans to pick up their trash—so that companies could keep producing it.

Who let the news out?

Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines politics and ideology through popular film and television.

Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime?

In the fall of 2024, Zohran Mamdani was a long-shot challenger taking on New York City’s political establishment. Today, he’s the mayor. In this early interview with Current Affairs, recorded shortly after he announced his campaign, Mamdani lays out his vision for transforming the city.

John Sanbonmatsu is a professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves. The book is a response to Michael Pollan’s 2006 bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and as the title suggests, Sanbonmatsu thinks writers like Pollan are dead wrong about the ethics of food. He maintains that killing and eating animals is entirely indefensible, no matter how “humane” the process supposedly is.

Joshua Cohen is a political theorist and writer of the Ettingermentum Substack: an exceedingly thorough and insightful resource for anyone hoping to understand what the hell is going on in American politics these days. Cohen sat down with Current Affairs to discuss the recent government shutdown, what Democrats actually pay attention to, and what the future looks like for a party controlled by pundits.

Medea Benjamin is an anti-war activist and one of the co-founders of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She’s spent decades fighting the American military-industrial complex, organizing protests against the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s and interrupting speeches by both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She’s also the co-author, with David Swanson, of NATO: What You Need to Know. She joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the ongoing push for war, from the Middle East to Venezuela, and how ordinary people can organize and stand against it.

How can someone so delusional attract an audience of millions? What does it say about us that Owens is listened to by anyone other than a psychiatrist?

Right-wing megadonors flew mayors to an all-expenses-paid summit in New Orleans, where they pushed a policy framework that codified mainstream criticism of Israel as “antisemitic.”

Nina Turner is a former Ohio State Senator, national co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, and one of the most forceful advocates for working-class politics in the United States. She’s a longtime champion of economic justice and a leading voice in movements for peace and social uplift, including the new Up in Arms campaign challenging the power of the military-industrial complex. Turner joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss why the Democratic Party keeps failing to meet the needs of ordinary people, why insurgent primary challenges are essential to democracy, and how redirecting our vast military spending could transform the lives of millions.

Anthony Fantano is the biggest music critic on YouTube, and the self-described “internet’s busiest music nerd.” The New York Times calls him “The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You’re Under 25),” and his show The Needle Drop has over 3 million subscribers. Fantano is known for his provocative takes, like “AI Music is Evil” and “Taylor Swift is a Coward.” He joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and associate editor Alex Skopic to talk about the state of the music industry, how streaming platforms exploit artists, and whether Zohran Mamdani should rap again.

Yet again, the New York Times’ Bret Stephens advocates the overthrow of a sovereign government. Why do the readers of the “paper of record” tolerate this dangerous propaganda?

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mark the passing of a professional liar, war criminal, and mass murderer. Dick Cheney is dead. As you read this, his co-conspirator George W. Bush may be reading his eulogy in Washington National Cathedral. Yet the politics Cheney represented live on—and the media are busy trying to whitewash his record, depicting him as an honorable American statesman. Today, on the day of Cheney’s funeral, we’re joined by Adam McKay, the director of 2018’s Vice, who sets the record straight.

Cory Doctorow is the author of over 20 books, including The Internet Con, How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, and the science fiction novels Unauthorized Bread and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. He’s also an activist for civil liberties on the internet with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a prolific blogger at his website Pluralistic. Doctorow joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss his newest book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It.

Current Affairs presents a new “anti-woke” manifesto by Dr. Peter B. Jordanson, a man who refuses to be canceled even when nobody is canceling him, and who dares to angrily speak up for Facts in an age of mushy Feelings. The book is called The Silencing of Me: How Feminism, Wokeness, DEI, Marxism, Transness, and Several Other Things Brought Western Civilization To Its Knees, Ruined My Marriage, and Made Me Late For Work. Today, editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson reads selected excerpts.

The New York Times editorial board is wrong. Principled progressive politics on the Bernie Sanders model is still the path forward.

This is how you run. This is how you win. This is the politics we need right now. Democratic socialist candidates can inspire people again, and fight the right effectively.

The viral pistachio-filled candy bar is everywhere—but there’s nothing sweet about the United Arab Emirates and its human rights record.

John Fugelsang is a political commentator and author of Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. He joins Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss how right-wing Christian nationalism has twisted the teachings of Jesus into a tool of hate and domination.

A neo-Nazi is trying to fill the void left by the failures of the two major parties. Unless Americans are offered a visionary alternative, Fuentes’ toxic ideology may flourish.

David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his new book Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. They trace how corporate America seized control of U.S. politics, from the Powell Memo and Watergate to the rise of the Heritage Foundation, Roger Ailes, and the corporate capture of the courts.

Nathan J. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of Current Affairs, speaks with Nika Soon-Shiong, founder and Executive Director of the Fund for Guaranteed Income, and Alanah Odoms, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. They discuss their collaboration on The Cost of Freedom: Truth and Reconciliation Guaranteed Income Program, a pilot exploring reparations through direct cash payments. Together, they examine how economic justice underpins civil rights, the historical links between slavery and mass incarceration in Louisiana, and how guaranteed income can reshape policy around public safety and justice.

Supposedly, the world is divided into good, noble “lions” and evil, grasping “scavengers.” Guess which one Ben thinks he is?

As the FDA finally cracks down on kratom, decades of deregulation have already flooded shelves with questionable supplements and off-brand opioids.

Gianmarco Soresi joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to talk about his acclaimed new special Thief of Joy, the pressures of fame, and why "the court jester was never supposed to have a chair next to the king."

Hasan Piker, one of the most influential political streamers in the world, joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the failures of the Democratic Party, what they refuse to learn from the success of Zohran Mamdani, and how they are largely responsible for America's ongoing descent into fascism. They also discuss the shifting hasbara surrounding the Gaza genocide, dissect the framing of Hasan’s media profiles, and examine the compromises and contradictions of figures like AOC and Bernie while looking ahead to the future of the socialist left.

Kieran Andrieu is a British-Palestinian journalist, activist, and contributor to Novara Media. He joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his decision to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, the risks involved in confronting Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and why he believes powerlessness in the face of genocide is an illusion.

Tommy Marcus (@quentin.quarantino) is an activist and content creator who has raised over $30 million for charitable causes. He joins Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss his journey aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, the mission to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, and his response to official allegations that the flotilla is a “terrorist” operation.

You can be committed to dialogue without pretending the right are reasonable and while aggressively challenging their views.

Current Affairs editors Alex Skopic and Emily Topping join editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss their latest articles: the normalization of “selling out,” the weirdly viral “Dubai chocolate” craze, what GOP member podcasts reveal about right-wing propaganda, and why libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie outflanks most other Democrats on foreign policy.

Academia is not full of radicals. There just aren’t many Republicans, perhaps because Republicans despise the academy’s values of open-mindedness and critical inquiry.

Rahm Emanuel encourages us to fear China solely because this would unify the country. But what is the threat?