Listen live Fridays 8 to 10 Eastern on Revolution.Radio later archived at https://kevinbarrett.substack.com
First hour: Wise guy guru Swami Beyondanonda and his alter ego straight man Steve Bhaerman run the WakeUpLaughing website, “your one-stop spot for consciousness comedy, new age humor, political comedy and satire, healing laughter, new science and evolutionary up-wising.” I was reminded that it was way past time to bring back the Swami & Steve Show when someone forwarded a meme from them via NYU anti-propaganda prof Mark Crispin Miller:
So I asked myself: Is Swami doing my kind of dark, mordant satire now instead of his New Age comic-cosmic schtick? Better get him on the show and find out!
Second hour: Binoy Kampmark recently published a good article on Daniel Hale, the drone whistleblower recently sentenced to 45 months in prison. Hale’s alleged crime “was to reveal classified documents revealing the distinct viciousness, and essential senselessness, of the US military’s drone program. His motivation: ‘to dispel the lie that drone warfare keeps us safe, that our lives are worth more than theirs.'”
Dr. Kampmark followed the Hale article with one on “Afghanistan, Failure and Second Thoughts.” His pessimistic prognosis:
“The emptying of the barracks does not put an end to the prying and meddling from non-Afghan personnel. The country will still host a myriad of special forces and intelligence officials. Excuses for maintaining some militarised footprint will be traditional: the threat posed by terrorism; the thriving opium trade. The contractor business will also boom. A Taliban victory promises a slice of violence for everybody, but so does the presence of this feeble Afghan government.”
Contrast that perspective with Zia Sarhadi’s “Gloomy Projections for Afghanistan Not Based on Reality.”