Day: April 14, 2026

The Trump Administration’s Explanation of Why We Are at War With Iran…”We’re America Bitches”

We begin with how, while American presidents have had their sights on Iran for a long time, we are now at war with a senior Trump administration explaining the Trump doctrine, “We’re America, bitches.” Joining us is Daniel Immerwahr, a professor of history at Northwestern University and the author of Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development and How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States. He has an article at The New Yorker we discuss, “What’s Behind Trump’s New World Disorder?”

The History of Blockades and Their Impact on Global Trade

Then we discuss the US naval blockade of the Persian Gulf and assess how earlier blockades going back to World War 1 have impacted global trade as China warns the US that its blockade is “dangerous and irresponsible.” Joining us is Jamie Martin, a Professor of History and of Social Studies at Harvard University who previously was a professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of History at Georgetown University. His research focuses on the history of international political economy and empire, particularly during the era of the world wars and he is the author of The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Birth of Global Economic Governance. We discuss his article at the New York Times, “I Studied the Economic Fallout From World War I. This Could Be Worse Than We Expect.”

The State of Opposition Movements Against Iran’s Brutal Theocracy 

Then finally we examine the history of both the leftist opposition and the current widespread opposition to the Iranian government that is locked down under the brutal regime of the IRGC and Basij militia and speak with Maziar Behrooz, an Iranian/American historian who was born in Tehran and has taught at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. He is currently a professor of History at San Francisco State University and is the author of two books on the history of the Iranian left, Rebels with a Cause, followed by Perspectives on the History of Rebels with a Cause in Iran, a collection of interviews and articles on leftist movements in Iran that was translated into Persian and published in Iran. His latest book is, Iran at War: Interaction with the modern world and the struggle with imperial Russia.