Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Thomas Fazi joins Steve to dissect the geopolitical and ideological structures that have rendered Europe strategically subordinate to the United States. Thomas argues that NATO’s true purpose, from its inception, was not to defend Europe but to ensure its vassalization by keeping “the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.” He contends that the war in Ukraine was a deliberately provoked conflict designed by US planners to sever Europe’s economic and energy ties with Russia, forcing the EU into deeper dependency on American energy and military infrastructure.
The conversation goes into the weaponization of media narratives and the management of dissent through censorship and “acceptable” politics, connecting the cultural Cold War to today’s crisis of hegemony. Ukraine, Greenland, and Europe’s energy self-sabotage aren’t anomalies, they’re features of an imperial system that requires subordination abroad and confusion at home.
Thomas Fazi is a “journalist/writer/translator/socialist” who lives in Italy. He is the co-director of Standing Army (2010), an award-winning feature-length documentary on US military bases featuring Gore Vidal and Noam Chomsky; and the author of The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent – and How We Can Take It Back (2014) and Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (co-authored with Bill Mitchell, 2017). His articles have appeared in numerous online and printed publications.
Find his work on Substack: thomasfazi.com
@battleforeurope on X
#NATO #coldwar #ukraine #russia #culturalhegemony #gramsci #propaganda #fascism #israel #imperialism
Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction & Episode Overview
2:42 – Meet Thomas Fazi
3:40 – What Happened to the Left?
6:10 – CIA & the Cultural Cold War
8:29 – The Neoliberal Counteroffensive
11:23 – Left vs. Right: Obsolete Labels
12:53 – Manufacturing Consent & Media Hegemony
16:33 – What Is NATO, Really?
19:30 – NATO's Eastward Expansion & the Ukraine War
24:00 – Nord Stream & Europe's Energy Vassalization
27:21 – Putin, NATO & the Limits of Realism
29:01 – Gramsci, Hegemony & Western Propaganda
32:30 – Social Media, Censorship & the Crisis of Hegemony
40:01 – Fascism Redefined & the Greenland Crisis.
49:11 – Europe as a US Vassal State
52:21 – Israel, Epstein & the Architecture of Imperial Power
1:04:50 – Closing Reflections
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
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Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
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We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
Thomas Fazi joins Steve to dissect the geopolitical and ideological structures that have rendered Europe strategically subordinate to the United States. Thomas argues that NATO’s true purpose, from its inception, was not to defend Europe but to ensure its vassalization by keeping “the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.” He contends that the war in Ukraine was a deliberately provoked conflict designed by US planners to sever Europe’s economic and energy ties with Russia, forcing the EU into deeper dependency on American energy and military infrastructure.
The conversation goes into the weaponization of media narratives and the management of dissent through censorship and “acceptable” politics, connecting the cultural Cold War to today’s crisis of hegemony. Ukraine, Greenland, and Europe’s energy self-sabotage aren’t anomalies, they’re features of an imperial system that requires subordination abroad and confusion at home.
Thomas Fazi is a “journalist/writer/translator/socialist” who lives in Italy. He is the co-director of Standing Army (2010), an award-winning feature-length documentary on US military bases featuring Gore Vidal and Noam Chomsky; and the author of The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent – and How We Can Take It Back (2014) and Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (co-authored with Bill Mitchell, 2017). His articles have appeared in numerous online and printed publications.
Find his work on Substack: thomasfazi.com
@battleforeurope on X
#NATO #coldwar #ukraine #russia #culturalhegemony #gramsci #propaganda #fascism #israel #imperialism
Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction & Episode Overview
2:42 – Meet Thomas Fazi
3:40 – What Happened to the Left?
6:10 – CIA & the Cultural Cold War
8:29 – The Neoliberal Counteroffensive
11:23 – Left vs. Right: Obsolete Labels
12:53 – Manufacturing Consent & Media Hegemony
16:33 – What Is NATO, Really?
19:30 – NATO's Eastward Expansion & the Ukraine War
24:00 – Nord Stream & Europe's Energy Vassalization
27:21 – Putin, NATO & the Limits of Realism
29:01 – Gramsci, Hegemony & Western Propaganda
32:30 – Social Media, Censorship & the Crisis of Hegemony
40:01 – Fascism Redefined & the Greenland Crisis.
49:11 – Europe as a US Vassal State
52:21 – Israel, Epstein & the Architecture of Imperial Power
1:04:50 – Closing Reflections
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Donorbox
donorbox.org/each-one-teach-one-3
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
Subscribe to our Substack:
realprogressives.substack.com
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
#mmt
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
