Current Affairs

Epizode

• The Anti-Zionist Jewish Movement Israel Doesn’t Want You to Know About (w/ Molly Crabapple) 15.06.2026 43min

  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.
• Money Is a Measure of Nothing But Itself 09.06.2026 38min

  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.
• The Fight to Unionize Amazon Isn’t Over (w/ Chris Smalls) 02.06.2026 31min

  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 on the Insane Racism of Israeli Society and the Plan to Erase Gaza 31.05.2026 1h 55min

  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.
• Secret Cable Exposes U.S. Role in Imran Khan’s Ouster 27.05.2026 38min

  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.
• The Heinous Evil of Cutting USAID 20.05.2026 34min

  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.
• The Democratic Establishment Can Be Defeated 16.05.2026 11min

  It’s not 2016 anymore. We can throw out the party’s sclerotic leadership.
• Israel OCCUPIES Lebanon During Fake "Ceasefire" (w/ Rania Khalek) 09.05.2026 42min

  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 GOES AFTER Trump, AIPAC, and Corporate Dems 07.05.2026 22min

  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.”
• “Progress” Is Making Things Worse (w/ Sam Miller McDonald) 05.05.2026 41min

  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.
• Meanwhile, Zohran Is Just Getting Things Done 30.04.2026 11min

  As Trump creates economic havoc and commits war crimes, the socialist mayor of New York City demonstrates what serious, responsible government looks like.
• The Phony Virtue of Cory Booker 25.04.2026 31min

  After being a leading Democratic enabler of the genocide of Palestinians, Cory Booker now has the audacity to publish a book about moral virtue.
• Liberal Media Helped Destroy Gaza (w/ Adam Johnson) 21.04.2026 59min

  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.
• Trump Has No Idea What He’s Doing (w/ Mouin Rabbani) 18.04.2026 39min

  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 and Jerry's Co-Founder Takes on America's War Machine (w/ Ben Cohen) 16.04.2026 45min

  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. 
• How Media Silences Anti-War Voices (w/ Amy Goodman) 12.04.2026 36min

  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.
• California’s Democratic Field Is Embarrassingly Weak (w/ Dr. Butch Ware) 09.04.2026 41min

  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.
• Israel’s Most Genocidal Law Yet (w/ Jasper Nathaniel) 02.04.2026 1h 1min

  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.
• Iran Historian: War Makes The Government "MORE REPRESSIVE" (w/ Afshin Matin-Asgari) 28.03.2026 46min

  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.
• Current Affairs Is Going to Cuba 22.03.2026 15min

  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.