CLASS ANALYSIS

BRUCE LERRO—Calling a society a “liberal” democracy smuggles in other questionable assumptions. For example, it throws into question whether it is possible to have a “conservative” democracy. In their history reactionary conservatives have supported three institutions prior to and after the Great French Revolution – the king, the aristocracy and the church. These conservatives are far more honest than liberals about their class origins and their suspicions about democracy. Yet, they too have been swept up in the wave of democracy which crested at the end of the 19th century. Even conservatives have to mumble that they are democrats if they want to receive votes.

BRUCE LERRO—ith the recent kidnapping of President Maduro by Yankee imperialists, I wonder about how BRICS nations and other countries sympathetic to them such as North Korea and Iran will respond. Venezuela has made an attempt to join BRICS and clearly they are in the socialist camp so I would expect it would be especially important to China. Were BRICS countries and their allies aware of the build-up for the kidnapping and what kind of help did they offer?

ERIC ZUESSE—Europeans have spent their lives under Russophobic propaganda; and, so, widely believe that NATO is necessary in order to PROTECT them from Russia. It is a deep-seated and widespread prejudice in the U.S. empire, nurtured constantly by the billionaires’ media. That BBC documentary was an exception because the Soviet Union had just ended in 1991 and there wasn’t yet enough time passed for the “not one inch to the east” pretense to start publicly to be trashed.

ERIC ZUESSE—The U.S. government, under Trump, is demanding capitulation from countries like Venezuela, Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. This includes forcing Venezuela to partner only with the U.S. on oil and attempting to buy Greenland from Denmark. Despite these aggressive actions, U.S. allies in NATO and the EU remain silent, highlighting their complicity with the fascist-imperialist regime.

DW—The dialogue expands to the broader European context, where the United States’ Cold War–driven strategy dominates, forcing Europe to isolate Russia and China economically while subordinating its own industrial and trade interests to US demands. This results in Europe’s deindustrialization, economic decline, and political instability, as governments struggle to maintain social welfare amid budget constraints and growing opposition from left-wing and labor movements. The attempt to relocate European industry to the US is met with practical challenges due to America’s unstable socio-political environment and high costs.