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This week on Talk World Radio, we're discussing a new book called Strung Up: How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children. The author, our guest, Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist, author, college professor, historian, and nationally recognized child advocate. Her scholarship and advocacy challenge corporal punishment in homes and schools and examine the historical relationship among childhood, race, violence, and power. Patton’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and other national outlets. She is also the author of Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America.

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about U.S.-Iranian relations with two guests who recently visited Iran from the United States, Nuri Ronaghy and Alan Shorb. Nuri Ronaghy was born in Iran in 1940, and has been an activist for peace for over 70 years. She came to the United States nearly 60 years ago, and got her Masters degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin while teaching Farsi there. She has been a member of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and was active in the Iranian Student Association during her student days. On a visit to Iran in the waning days of the Shah’s regime she was put into solitary confinement in the infamous Evin Prison of the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK. Nuri has been an organizing member of peace delegations to Iran both in the Fall of 2024 as well as in the Spring/Summer of 2026. During those delegations she has been a strong supporter of a school for Afghani children, refugees from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. Alan Shorb, Nuri's husband, was born in Baltimore in 1938. He participated in the 1963 March on Washington and peace demonstrations over the years, and in recent years has been a full-time peace activist, including being an anchor of the weekly Peace Vigil in Ojai, California for the last 11 years, and participating in the peace delegations to Iran.

This week on Talk World Radio, we're talking about corporate power, the freedom of speech, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Ben of Ben & Jerry's, Ben Cohen, who has spoken out for years dramatically, creatively, and powerfully for peace and for a moral federal budget. Ben Cohen has frequently pushed the topic of obscene military spending and the wars it creates into the public discourse using reports, statements, creative props, getting himself arrested in Congress, and the work of several organizations including the Ben & Jerry's Foundation. He has also helped World BEYOND War put up antiwar billboards. We speak with Ben Cohen in a moment when the U.S. government is working on the biggest shift we've seen of resources from useful projects to war, and when the corporation called Magnum (which owns Ben & Jerry's) is trying to prevent Ben & Jerry's from opposing a super unpopular genocide. https://freebenandjerrys.com https://boycottmagnum.com

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about the influence of the Israeli government, not just on the U.S. government but on government at the state level here in Virginia, and some of the things that can be done about it. We welcome two guests. Dr. Alex Hilert is a Jewish-American anti-zionist activist and organizer with the Richmond Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Virginia Coalition of Human Rights. Dr. Hilert works as a community mental health counselor and professor in Richmond, VA. He is on the steering committee for the Dismantle VIAB and VRS Divest campaigns. Dr. Philip Farah was born and raised in Jerusalem. He is a Palestinian who came to the United States in 1978. He has lived, and worked in several Arab countries. A founding member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, Dr. Farah has spoken widely on West Asia justice issues, and his writings have appeared in several publications. Philip has relatives in Gaza who were among the victims of Israel’s genocidal war. He recently retired after a 35-year career as a public sector economist. Divesting the Virgina Retirement System https://vrsdivest.org Upcoming Event on September 19, 2026, in Richmond, Virginia https://bit.ly/vrsrichmond

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about one of the ways in which the Israeli government has been murdering children in Gaza. Our guest, Dr. Mimi Syed, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician from the U.S. with extensive experience in managing trauma and critically ill patients in both urban and rural settings. She is an assistant clinical professor at University of Washington and Washington State University and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Syed served months in Gaza in 2024 at both al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Hospital, where she documented severe injuries from drone strikes. She has firsthand experience treating civilians targeted by the Israeli military. And she is coauthor of a new report from the Costs of War Project at Brown University: Lethal Precision Without Accountability: Israeli Government "Quadcopter” Use in Gaza by Mimi Syed, Wes J. Bryant, Charles O. Blaha, Stephanie Savell https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/sites/default/files/Syed_Quadcopter_June2026_CostsofWar.pdf

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about how obeying Trump's demand to move mountains of money into militarism is working out for European nations that had been doing much better than the United States in health and happiness by spending money on things other than wars. Our guest, Mikael Book, lives in Finland which has seen some dramatic changes in the past two years.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking with the great journalist, activist, and now candidate for the U.S. Congress, my friend Sam Husseini. Sam has been tossed out of more fancy events than most of us have ever attended, including I believe a Trump Putin meeting at a palace in Finland, a U.S. State Department briefing, and recently a Chuck Schumer speech at the National Press Club. We'll talk about getting kicked out of things, getting into things, and what the name of this country should be. You can find Sam Husseini at https://husseini.substack.com https://bethatempty.org https://samhusseini.com

This week on Talk World Radio, we're talking about the DNC, the Democratic National Committee, which is meeting in Austin, Texas, August 12-15, and will be voting on some interesting resolutions, and refusing to vote on at least one other. Key resolutions were drafted by our guest, Michele Johnson, who is a project manager by trade. She is an elected member of her local parish Democratic party council as well as on the executive board of the Louisiana Democratic Party where she serves as the DNC Committeewoman. Outside of work she organizes around food access, clean air and environmental justice issues and consults on field strategy for political campaigns.

This week on Talk World Radio, my recent thoughts on Robert Kagan, Christopher Nolan, Gabriele D'Annunzio, and Donald Trump.

This week on Talk World Radio, we're discussing wars, migrations, and borders with Josephine Solanki who is a project coordinator at the Transnational Institute where she works on the militarisation of the European Union, EU migration and border policy, and related topics. She is also a member of the international Abolish Frontex network. She will also be a speaker at the online annual conference of World BEYOND War coming up in November which is on the topic of borders. LINKS: World BEYOND War's upcoming annual conference https://worldbeyondwar.org/nowar2026 Recent articles by Josephine Solanki: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/military-and-related-spending-in-the-mff-2028-34-proposal https://www.tni.org/en/publication/eu-military-spending-until-2027 https://www.tni.org/en/war-and-pacification/border-wars https://abolishfrontex.org/ https://www.tni.org/en/publication/natos-35-spending-goal

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about a new documentary called An Ordinary Insanity (which you can see at https://www.anordinaryinsanity.com ) which focuses on Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg’s calls to action about the global threat posed by nuclear weapons. Our guest, the maker of this and a number of other wornderful films is Judith Ehrich, film director, writer, and producer. Her 2009 film The Most Dangerous Man in America, also about Daniel Ellsberg, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won a Peabody Award.

This week on Talk World Radio we are talking about nuclear insanity with Dr. Ivana Nikolić Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (see https://wagingpeace.org ) and a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Chemistry at Columbia University. You can find her at https://nuclearinsanity.substack.com

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about Venezuela after the earthquakes. Our guest Gabriel Aguirre is Latin America Organizer for World BEYOND War, is from Venezuela, and is currently based in Caracas. He has been an activist and advocate for peace, social justice, international solidarity and human rights, and has more than 13 years of experience in social and community work. He has participated in multiple international events and activities on five continents, always in defense of a stable and lasting peace. He has been a representative to the United Nations to defend the foundations of a more just world without wars or sanctions. His work experience includes participation in several international missions of solidarity to countries that have had military, economic, political, and social conflicts. He has also been an organizer of various campaigns for the closure of military bases, and the lifting of sanctions on countries that suffer their consequences. He holds a degree in Political Science, with a specialization in International Relations, and a master’s degree in Public Policy. He can be contacted through his email: gabriel @ worldbeyondwar.org

This week on Talk World Radio we're talking about whether opposing genocide in the UK is now a serious criminal offense and perhaps terrorism. Our guest, Tony Greenstein, is a leading Jewish anti-Zionist in Britain and founding member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods. His books include Zionism During the Holocaust and A History of Fighting Fascism in Brighton and the South Coast. He has written for numerous outlets, including a recent article in Al Jazeera called "The anti-Semitism smear that ruined Corbyn’s Labour now targets the Greens".

This week on Talk World Radio, we're talking about U.S. military spending. Greg Williams is the director of the Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight. The Project on Government Oversight has worked with a number of friends of this program to put out a report called The True Total U.S. Military Budget. See: https://www.pogo.org/reports/the-true-total-u-s-military-budget