Under Putin’s Thumb: War, Repression, and Resistance

Under Putin’s Thumb: War, Repression, and Resistance

Over the last two decades, Vladimir Putin has transformed his government in Russia from a managed democracy into an authoritarian regime. Many now view it as neofascist. Abroad, it has launched war after war to rebuild Russia’s former empire, while, at home, it has crushed the democracy movement, repressed all protests against Putin’s imperialist war in Ukraine, and jailed thousands of political prisoners. Two Russian dissidents, Ksenia Kagarlitskaya and Ilya Budraitskis join Ashley Smith in this episode of Solidarity Without Exception. Resource links: * Freedom Zone: https://www.futurerussia.ch/en/freedom-zone [https://www.futurerussia.ch/en/freedom-zone] * Posle Media: https://www.posle.media/?page_id=136&lang=en [https://www.posle.media/?page_id=136&lang=en] * Ilya Budraitskis, Dissidents Among Dissidents, https://www.versobooks.com/products/913-dissidents-among-dissiden [https://www.versobooks.com/products/913-dissidents-among-dissidents]ts [https://www.versobooks.com/products/913-dissidents-among-dissidents] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Become a member and join the Solidarity Without Exception Supporters Club today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support] Follow Solidarity Without Exception on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DVBYAiQXVKTodh31d42N1?si=d37c833faf0a47e7] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-without-exception/id1798347437] Sign up for our newsletter [https://therealnews.com/newsletter-pod] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/]

Venezuela and the challenge of international solidarity

Throughout 2025, the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has faced growing and violent pressure from the United States, with President Trump’s administration deploying naval fleets in the Caribbean, ordering lethal and illegal strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels departing from the Venezuelan territory—and, most recently, seizing a massive oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. In response, Maduro has invoked emergency powers, mobilized militias, and signaled that his regime is preparing for military confrontation rather than compromise with the US, all while Trump and Maduro face waves of popular dissent and unrest within their own countries. In this urgent episode of Solidarity Without Exception, co-host Blanca Missé speaks with Venezuelan journalist and researcher Simón Rodríguez about the decades-long path that has led us to the brink of war between the US and Venezuela, and about the need for working people around the globe to oppose Trump’s imperialist aggression and stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people without excusing or ignoring the political crisis within Venezuela itself.   Guests:  * Simón Rodríguez is a Venezuelan journalist, researcher, and editor at Venezuelanvoices.org [http://venezuelanvoices.org]. Credits:  * Pre-Production: Blanca Missé * Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Become a member and join the Solidarity Without Exception Supporters Club today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support] Follow Solidarity Without Exception on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DVBYAiQXVKTodh31d42N1?si=d37c833faf0a47e7] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-without-exception/id1798347437] Sign up for our newsletter [https://therealnews.com/newsletter-pod] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/]

The US never stopped treating Mexico like an imperial colony

From military invasions, occupations, and annexations of Mexican territories in the 19th century to the post-NAFTA capture of Mexican industries, resources, and labor markets by American companies and investors, US-Mexico relations have always been defined by American imperial domination. “Mexico's economy has been economically dominated and incorporated as a kind of subsidiary or an extension of the US economy,” labor activist and scholar Justin Akers Chacón says, and that relationship of domination “determines the politics of Mexico” to this day. In this episode of Solidarity Without Exception, co-host Blanca Missé speaks with Chacón about the colonial roots of US–Mexico relations, how that relationship has evolved over the past two centuries, and how it continues to shape the politics, economics, and immigration policies of each country today. Guest: * Justin Akers Chacón is an activist, labor unionist, and Professor of Chicana/o History at San Diego City College who lives in the San Diego-Tijuana border region. He is the author of The Border Crossed Us: The Case for Opening the US-Mexico Border [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1655-the-border-crossed-us] and Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/987-radicals-in-the-barrio]; he is also the co-author, with Mike Davis, of No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1086-no-one-is-illegal-updated-edition]. Credits: * Pre-Production: Blanca Missé * Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Become a member and join the Solidarity Without Exception Supporters Club today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support] Follow Solidarity Without Exception on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DVBYAiQXVKTodh31d42N1?si=d37c833faf0a47e7] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-without-exception/id1798347437] Sign up for our newsletter [https://therealnews.com/newsletter-pod] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/]

Palestine, genocide, and the imperialist lie of the 'rules-based international order'

Israel’s US-backed genocidal destruction of Gaza has exploded the fiction of the “rules-based” international order and exposed the violent, people-destroying, land-grabbing imperialism it was always based on. Over the last two years, the US and Israel have carried out a genocidal war in Gaza, officially killing over 60,000 people, bombing Gaza’s cities to smithereens, and displacing 90% of its 2.1 million people. Their blockade of almost all aid has caused a famine that threatens to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to invade and occupy all of the territory while he greenlights more repression and colonial settlement in the West Bank. In this episode of Solidarity Without Exception, Palestinian scholar-activist Eman Abdelhadi speaks about how we reached this grim threshold, and what comes next. Abdelhadi details the history of imperialist support for Israel’s colonial conquest of Palestine up to the current genocide, the Palestinian people’s steadfast resistance, and the urgency of global solidarity with their freedom struggle. Guest: Eman Abdelhadi [https://www.instagram.com/eabdelhadi/?hl=en] is a Palestinian academic, activist, and writer who thinks at the intersection of gender, sexuality, religion and politics. She is an assistant professor and sociologist at the University of Chicago, where she researches American Muslim communities. She is co-author of Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052 – 2072 [https://www.commonnotions.org/everything-for-everyone?srsltid=AfmBOoptUSiFw7jQXuBZNggW4Ccv1zhHzqZaBE0pJyFVMVWXQ3J-n3t2]. Additional resources:  * The Real News Network, Israel’s War on Palestine [https://therealnews.com/tag/palestine] * Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams / The Real News Network, "‘Colossal level of destruction’ as Israel ethnically cleanses Gaza City neighborhoods [https://therealnews.com/colossal-level-of-destruction-as-israel-ethnically-cleanses-gaza-city-neighborhoods]" * Spectre Journal, Building the Palestine Solidarity Movement - An Interview with Eman Abdelhadi [https://spectrejournal.com/building-the-palestine-solidarity-movement/] * Spectre Journal, Palestinian Liberation: “We Teach Life” - An Interview with Rafeef Ziadah [https://spectrejournal.com/palestinian-liberation-we-teach-life/] Credits: Hosted by Ashley Smith Studio Production: Ashley Smith Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Music Credits:  Venticinque Aprile (“Bella Ciao” Orchestral Cover) by Savfk | https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic [https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic] Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com [https://www.free-stock-music.com/] Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Become a member and join the Solidarity Without Exception Supporters Club today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support] Follow Solidarity Without Exception on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DVBYAiQXVKTodh31d42N1?si=d37c833faf0a47e7] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-without-exception/id1798347437] Sign up for our newsletter [https://therealnews.com/newsletter-pod] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/]

Caught between the US and China, Taiwan’s future is uncertain

Today, Taiwan is caught in the crosshairs of two imperial rivals: the US and China. This is nothing new for the island nation, which has been a battleground for competing empires for centuries, but what is new is the critical role Taiwan plays in the 21st-century world economy. For example, Taiwan manufacturers 90% of the world's most advanced microchips—the key component in everything from consumer electronics to the US military’s F-35 fighter jets. In this episode of Solidarity Without Exception, co-host Ashley Smith speaks with Brian Hioe, journalist and editor of New Bloom magazine, about the history of Taiwanese struggles for self-determination, the country’s position in the contemporary US-China rivalry, the increasing threat of imperial war, and the urgency of building solidarity among working-class people in Taiwan, the US, and China.Guests: * Brian Hioe is a freelance journalist, translator, and one of the founding editors of New Bloom, an online magazine featuring radical perspectives on Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, Hioe has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018 and is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Studies Programme, as well as board member of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club. Additional resources: * New Bloom website [https://newbloommag.net/], Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/newbloommag], X page [https://www.twitter.com/@newbloommag], and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/newbloommag] * Eli Friedman, Kevin Lin, Rosa Liu, & Ashley Smith, Haymarket Books, China in Global Capitalism: Building International Solidarity Against Imperial Rivalry [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2295-china-in-global-capitalism] * Brian J. Chen, Boston Review, “Semiconductor Island: The colonial making of Taiwan’s chip supremacy [https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/semiconductor-island/]” Credits: * Pre-Production: Ashley Smith * Studio Production / Post-Production: TRNN Music Credits:  Venticinque Aprile (“Bella Ciao” Orchestral Cover) by Savfk | https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic [https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic] Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com [https://www.free-stock-music.com/] Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Become a member and join the Solidarity Without Exception Supporters Club today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/solidarity-without-exception--6535723/support] Follow Solidarity Without Exception on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DVBYAiQXVKTodh31d42N1?si=d37c833faf0a47e7] or Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solidarity-without-exception/id1798347437] Sign up for our newsletter [https://therealnews.com/newsletter-pod] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/]