Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, we revisit the subject of Steve Bannon, who was recently arrested along with his business partners Andrew Badolato, Brian Kolfage, and Timothy Shea were arrested on charges related to fraudulent skullduggery in relation to their "We Build the Wall" campaign. In this conversation we turn away from the legal controversies to discuss the ideas that undergird Bannon's thinking. Many journalists, including previous Parallax Views guest Jean Guerrero, believe that Bannon is a bit of an empty shell intellectually. Which is to say that he is less an ideologue than a conman or a grifter. Our guest on this edition of the program, however, Prof. Benjamin R. Teiltelbaum, author of War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers, argues otherwise. Teitelbaum makes the case that Bannon, who he conducted 21 hours of interviews with for the book, is influenced by a radical right-wing spiritual/political ideology known as Traditionalism. This would put Bannon in line with such strange thinkers today as Brazil's Olavo de Carvalho and Russia's Alexander Dugin, as well as past thinkers like the Perennialism Rene Guenon and the self-described "Super-Fascist" Julius Evola (who, during the WWII era criticized the Nazis from the RIGHT; in other words, he didn't see them as going far enough in their aims). These thinkers, says Teitelbaum, believe in a cyclical vision of history and time. They believe, he argues, that the Progressive vision of history has led us to a Dark Age, or what the Hindu faith knows as the Kali Yuga, and that, eventually, this age will overturned... either naturally or by force. Put country simple, the radical Traditionalists in War for Eternity are seeking a rollback of modernity.
In addition to covering how all these thinkers connect with Bannon we also cover, briefly, how War for Eternity led Teitelbaum down a strange path investigating a private intelligence firm known as Jellyfish. One of the company's leaders, Michael Bagley, was interested in a project of building micro-cities for refugees, but was busted by the FBI after allegedly seeking to work with Mexican drug cartels like the Sinaloa cartel. Bagley and Jellyfish, which it should be noted was co-founded by a number of figures involved with Blackwater, it turns out had tie into the story of the "Alt Right" and attempts to start something called "Alt Right Corporation" with far-right personalities Richard Spencer, Daniel Frieberg, Henrik Palmgren of Red Ice, and Jason Reza Jorjani. Jorjani, who was seeking to influence the Trump administration to form alliances with Iranian ultra-nationalists, came to believe that Jellyfish was part of an intelligence operation. One of Teitelbaum's anti-fascist sources, it turns out, was also spooked by some things he found out about Jellyfish. With that in mind is there more to this story than Jorjani potentially having sour grapes? Teitelbaum weighs in on this matter later on in the conversation.
This Episode Brought to You By:
The War State:
The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963
by
Michael Swanson
of
The Wall Street Window
Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists w/ Aaron J. Leonard
I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom w/ Norman Finkelstein
True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South during the Civil War and Reconstruction w/ Clayton J. Butler
Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence w/ James Bamford
The British Marxist Historians w/ Harvey J. Kaye
Amityville: An Origin Story w/ Jack Riccobono
We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland w/ Fintan O’Toole
The Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians by Turkey-Supported Azerbaijan w/ Peter Bahlawanian
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Saudi Struggle for Iraq w/ Katherine Harvey
In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace w/ Christopher J. Coyne
On the Brink: Jenin’s Rising Resistance (Armed Resistance in the Jenin Refugee Camp) w/ Yumna Patel
REPLAY: The Israel/Palestine Conflict and The Specter of Meir Kahane w/ Yossi Gurvitz
Pro-Israel & Right-Wing Groups Accused of Collaborating to Stifle Academic Freedom: The Case of Dr. Lara Sheehi w/ Dr. Lara Sheehi
The Russian Far-Right and the Neo-Nazi Attack in Bryansk w/ Dr. Marlene Laurelle
Birds of Prey: Hitler’s Luftwaffe, Ordinary Soldiers, and the Holocaust in Poland w/ Philip W. Blood
Silicon Valley Bank and the Economy w/ Mike Swanson/Corporate Media, Big Tech, and Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2023 w/ Mickey Huff
Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, & Human Rights w/ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Calls for ”Wiping Out” Palestinian Village of Huwara w/ Estee Chandler of Jewish Voice for Peace
John Quincy Adams and American Foreign Policy w/ David C. Hendrickson
The Russian Antiwar Movement and the Crackdowns Against It w/ Ilya Budtraitskis
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Dairyland Frights
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL