Delete Your Account Podcast

Roqayah is off this week, so Kumars is joined from the top of the show by fan favorite Marvin Gonzalez and Delete Your Account debutantes Josef Burton and Luke to mark the conclusion of Andor.  NYC-based organizer Marvin, writer and former US diplomat Josef, and Luke, host of the medieval history podcast We’re Not So Different [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/were-not-so-different/id1551657923], discuss the show’s depiction of revolutionary movements, how the Star Wars IP legitimizes armed struggle, why conservatives are rehabilitating the Empire, post-Andor melancholy, and whether space aliens are a good metaphor for racism. In the final segment, Josef and Marvin square off in an all-new edition of the Star Wars quiz game. Follow Marvin on Twitter @sulliedsubjects [https://twitter.com/Sulliedsubjects], Josef @PinstripeBungle [https://x.com/pinstripebungle?lang=en] and Luke @lukeisamazing [https://twitter.com/lukeisamazing].  If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, including Roqayah’s new weekly column “Last Week in Lebanon,” you can subscribe on our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/deleteyouraccount] for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/delete-your-account%21/id1121355704]. We can't do this show without your support!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by an all-star panel of new and old friends of the show to discuss the growing threat of war against Iran and the challenges of renewed nuclear negotiations as well as the Islamic Republic’s commitment to Palestinian liberation and anticolonial solidarity. Assal Rad is an Iranian American historian, a fellow at DAWN and the author of State of Resistance: Politics, Culture and Identity in Modern Iran [https://www.amazon.com/State-Resistance-Politics-Culture-Identity/dp/1009193589].  Sina Toossi is an Iranian American policy analyst and fellow at the Center for International Policy [https://internationalpolicy.org/resource-author/sina-toossi/].  Sina Rahmani is an Iranian-Canadian historian as well as the creator and host of The East is a Podcast [https://www.youtube.com/@theeastisapodcast]. Navid Zarrinnal is an Iranian historian, assistant professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, and host of The Colony Archive [https://www.youtube.com/@TheColonyArchive] on YouTube.  Follow Assal on Twitter @AssalRad [https://x.com/assalrad?lang=en], Sina Toossi at @SinaToossi [https://x.com/sinatoossi?lang=en], Sina Rahmani at @UrOrientalist [https://twitter.com/UrOrientalist] and The Colony Archive @ColonyArchive [http://twitter.com/colonyarchive]. If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, including Roqayah’s new weekly column “Last Week in Lebanon,” you can subscribe on our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/deleteyouraccount] for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/delete-your-account%21/id1121355704]. We can't do this show without your support!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by returning guest Amanda Yee, an independent journalist and organizer based in Brooklyn. Amanda is also the co-host of The China Report on BreakThrough News and the managing editor of Liberation News. Her writing has appeared in Monthly Review Online, The Real News Network, CounterPunch, and Peoples Dispatch. Amanda talks us through the implications of Trump's “Liberation Day” tariff war on the global market as well as its impact on China, which has inflicted a 125% tariff on US products. Amanda discusses China’s defensive economic strategy under the leadership of Xi Jinping's, which has helped prepare China for a market showdown with the United States, and how China will weather potential setbacks. The crew also delves into China's cultural exchange of ideas and the deprogramming of Americans—namely on social media platforms like the Chinese platform RedNote [https://xiaohongshu.com/]—which has undermined the United States’ dissemination of anti-China propaganda. You can follow Amanda on Twitter @radiofreeamanda [https://x.com/radiofreeamanda?lang=en] and you can also follow Amanda's work over at The China Report [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwZtBKjGSMzWROz7Dbxc-vZDgVfEhENmN]. If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, including Roqayah’s new weekly column “Last Week in Lebanon,” you can subscribe on our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/deleteyouraccount] for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/delete-your-account%21/id1121355704]. We can't do this show without your support!!!

This is just a teaser for today's episode, which is available for Patreon subscribers only!   We can't do the show without your support, so help us keep the lights on over here and access tons of bonus content, including Roqayah's new weekly column "Last Week in Lebanon," by subscribing on our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/deleteyouraccount] for as little as $5 a month. While you’re at it, we also love it when you subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/delete-your-account%21/id1121355704].  This week, Roqayah and Kumars discuss the latest news from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran, including Israel bombing Beirut for the first time since the November ceasefire with Hezbollah, the real scandal of “Signalgate”, the Trump administration’s continued escalation against Yemen, the prospect of US strikes on Iran, and more signs that Gaza is not alone.

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined for the hour by Alexander Aviña, an expert on Mexican history and US imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University, contributor to the newsletter Foreign Exchanges on Substack [http://www.foreignexchanges.news], and author of Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside [http://www.foreignexchanges.news].  Alex shares his perspective on how the second Trump administration has actually changed immigration policy and enforcement, the Democrats’ legacy of border militarization, the high-profile detentions of Mahmoud Khalil and others, Dr. Phil’s deportation ride-along, the Marxist case for “open borders”, and the effectiveness of recent popular mobilizations against ICE.  Follow Alex on Twitter @Alexander_Avina [http://twitter.com/alexander_avina] and stay abreast of his latest analysis at foreignexchanges.news [http://www.foreignexchanges.news].  If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, including Roqayah’s new weekly column “Last Week in Lebanon,” you can subscribe on our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/deleteyouraccount] for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/delete-your-account%21/id1121355704]. We can't do this show without your support!!!