Talk World Radio

This week on Talk World Radio, we are talking about U.S. threats and acts of war against Venezuela. Speaking with us from Venezuela is Gabriel Aguirre, Latin America Organizer for World BEYOND War, where I also work. Gabriel is from Venezuela, but is often in Colombia. He has long been an activist and advocate for peace, social justice, international solidarity, and human rights. World BEYOND War is working to pass local resolutions and host a webinar on January 7 and deliver this petition to the U.S. Congress on January 14 — as well as to hold a global day of actions against war on Venezuela on January 17. You can help share useful information on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking with Norman Solomon about his brand new book, The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy. The book is free online at BlueRoad.info. It includes wonderful cartoons by Matt Wuerker. Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction, where I also work, and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of more than a dozen books, many of them previously discussed on this program, including War Made Invisible, and War Made Easy.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about a book from New Zealand called Hidden Stories of Heroism for a Peaceful Planet. Our guest is the book's author Linda Hansen, a New Zealand based author of books for both adults and children, whose website is lphansen.com.

This week on Talk World Radio, we are talking about Native Nations: A Millenium in North America with its author Kathleen DuVal who is a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she specializes in early American and Native American history. DuVal is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her website is at kathleenduval.net.

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about a jarring new book called The Devil's Castle: Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry's Troubled History Reverberates Today. The author Susanne Antonetta is our guest.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about the damage that's done when Donald Trump opens his mouth or uses social media, in this case to make confused and ignorant utterances about nuclear testing. Our guest, Greg Mello, is executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about the collapse of societies with the author of one of the best books I've read in a long time. The book is called Goliath's Curse. The author is Luke Kemp, who is also a Research Affiliate & Former Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking with Guy Feugap who is Africa Organizer for World BEYOND War. He is a secondary school teacher, writer, and peace activist, based in Cameroon. He has long worked to educate youths for peace and non-violence. His work has put young girls in particular at the heart of crisis resolution and awareness raising on several issues in their communities. He joined WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) in 2014 and founded the Cameroon Chapter of World BEYOND War in 2020. The upcoming Imagine Africa Beyond War conference is here https://worldbeyondwar.org/africa2025

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking with Sam Husseini who writes at husseini.substack.com and one of whose recent articles was titled "They Have Torn Down the East Wing of the White House. They Should Keep Going." See https://husseini.substack.com/p/they-have-torn-down-the-east-wing You can find all kinds of projects Sam is working on at http://husseini.org

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about military bases and the law with Martha Schmidt who is a co-chair of the Human Rights Framework Project and member of the Anti-Militarism Working Group of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). Martha Schmidt holds law degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. She wrote a thesis was on the illegality of nuclear weapons in the oceans. Before “retirement”, she practiced labor rights, equal employment and juvenile law in Washington and Illinois. She chaired the World Peace Through Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association several times and led a successful effort for a Bar resolution supporting US ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She also co-chaired NLG subcommittees on Peace and Disarmament, the Hawaiian Kingdom (illegally occupied by the US), and the Task Force on the Americas. She is also part of the Task Force of the People’s Academy of International Law, which was created by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, which is the NLG’s affiliate organization. They have been providing free courses on various topics of international peace and humanitarian and human rights law. She also serves as a board member of the Center for World Indigenous Studies.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about so-called authorizations to use force. Brett Heinz is a policy researcher and freelance writer based in Washington, DC, where his work focuses on economic justice, political inequality, corruption, and U.S. foreign policy. He is currently the Global Policy Coordinator for Economic and Climate Justice at the American Friends Service Committee. You can find his writings at brettheinz.com.

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about opening borders with John Washington, author of a terrific book called The Case for Open Borders. John Washington is a staff writer at Arizona Luminaria, a community-focused media outlet where he writes about the border, climate change, democracy, and more. He has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Nation, and The Intercept.

This week on Talk World Radio, we're speaking with Abby Martin about her new film, Earth's Greatest Enemy. Earth’s Greatest Enemy, the second feature film project by Abby Martin, is a groundbreaking anti-imperialist environmental documentary. Exempt from international climate agreements and rarely scrutinized in mainstream reporting, the Pentagon is the world’s single largest institutional polluter—spewing carbon, contaminating water, and scarring landscapes across the globe. Combining investigative journalism, striking visuals, and stories from impacted communities, this film challenges audiences to rethink the hidden costs of a global military empire and its planetary consequences. Provocative, urgent, and eye-opening, this is a documentary that will change how you see both the military and environmentalism. See: https://earthsgreatestenemy.com

This week on Talk World Radio, we are welcoming back Alfred de Zayas, who is a law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and served as a United Nations Independent Expert on International Order from 2012 to 2018. He is the author of twelve books including “Building a Just World Order”, “Countering Mainstream Narratives”, and “The Human Rights Industry”. You can find his columns at CounterPunch.org. See also: https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/09/action-by-the-80th-session-of-the-un-general-assembly-to-stop-the-genocide-of-palestinians https://worldbeyondwar.org/one-year-after-icj-ruling-un-experts-urge-states-to-confront-inaction-over-israels-unlawful-occupation https://worldbeyondwar.org/14-badly-needed-and-1-catastrophically-dumb-things-your-country-can-do-for-gaza https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-case-against-a-military-intervention-to-stop-the-gaza-genocide

Kathy Kelly on Frontline Voices on WBAI Pacifica Radio by David Swanson

This week on Talk World Radio, we are talking about war, peace, and politics with RootsAction's Political Director Sam Rosenthal. Sam is an organizer and researcher based in Washington, DC. He recently served three years on the steering committee of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Electoral Commission.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about abolition -- of all things in need of it. Our guest, Ray Acheson is an organizer, activist, and writer. They are Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament program of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). They served from 2008–2024 on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Ray Acheson is the author of Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy and of Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages. Ray Acheson will be speaking at the online annual conference of World BEYOND War on October 24-26 which will explore various abolition movements. See: https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2025

This week on Talk World Radio, we are talking about a new film called Neelan: Unsilenced. Our guest, Pitasanna Shanmugathas, is the director, writer, and producer. Shanmugathas was previously a guest on this program regarding his co-directed six-part documentary series titled "Truth to the Powerless: An Investigation into Canada's Foreign Policy," which interviewed Canadian politicians, academics, and activists to examine Canada’s colonial history, its role in international conflicts, and the impact of its foreign policy on global communities. See: https://neelanunsilenced.com

This week on Talk World Radio, we're talking about working to stop weapons shipments, in particular to Israel, and in particular from Canada. Our guest, Rachel Small, is the Canada Organizer for World BEYOND War, where I am the Executive Director. See also: https://armsembargonow.ca/report https://worldbeyondwar.org/canada

This week on Talk World Radio, we're talking about what actually killed the dinosaurs. Our guest, Gerta Keller, is Professor of Paleontology and Geology Emeritus in the Geosciences Department of Princeton University. Her new book is called The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs.