[Music] you're now watching around the horn the weekly internationalist news update with author and historian gerald horn today is june 25th 2025 welcome everyone to the weekly series entitled around the horn which is an internationalist news update with historian and professor gerald horn dr horn's latest book which was just released and is now in print and now available on the international publishers website is entitled the capital of slavery washington dc from 1800 to 1865 dr horn is also a permanent guest on the radio show the horn report which airs on black power 96 radio on sundays at 3:30 p.m eastern time and dr horn also hosts a radio show entitled freedom now which airs on kpfk90.7 fm in los angeles on saturdays at 11:00 a.m pacific and replays of both shows can be found on the activist news network dr horn thank you for coming back on the show and welcome back to around the horn thank you for inviting me horn before jumping into the questions with much anticipation and excitement we first want to ask you about your latest and by our count your 51st book that as noted is was just released and is now in print and available on the international publishers website entitled the capital of slavery washington dc from 1800 to 1865 which seems to be sort of a prequel to the book you published in 2023 entitled revolting capital: racism and radical radicalism in washington dc 1900 to 2000 dr horn can you please give us a sneak peek into your latest book the capital of slavery washington dc from 1800 to 1865 well thank you for that question it's it's also a sequel to the book the counterrevolution the 1776 slave resistance the united states of america because for those who still entertain the delusion that the creation of the united states was a great leap forward for humanity uh they may want to debate that if they could with the africans who did everything in their power to destabilize the united states of america during its early history particularly in august 1814 when they tried to overthrow the government in league with native americans particularly the shaune under tecumpsa and the red coats and burned down the white house burned down a good deal of washington dc and then fled on british boats to trinidad and tobago uh i could go on at length about this book but it's probably best to stop there and direct our audience to the website where it can be ordered horn as we go around the horn we want to ask you about the news from this past monday afternoon june 23rd wherein us president donald trump posted on his social media platform truth social that a ceasefire had been agreed to by israel and iran the us president's social media post was met with widespread skepticism and uncertainty shortly after the ceasefire announcement israel launched its most extensive attack on thrron since the war started with multiple air strikes exploding across the iranian capital in response president trump conveyed via colorful language he was particularly unhappy with israel after the israel and iran traded accusations of truce violations they both stated that they will not break the ceasefire unless the other does so first and at least for now it seems that the ceasefire has held but dr horn what is your reaction and assessment of a ceasefire and how do the recent events between israel and us against iran shape your analysis of the changing global correlation of forces and what if any domestic impact as all of this had within the us well the executive summary as alert listeners may recall may recall is that june 12th june 13th in a sneak attack uh israel assaulted iran supposedly they were seeking to dislodge overthrow their nuclear program because they said that iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons as the week and days proceeded they expanded their mandate to include the idea that they should overthrow the regime itself or at least instigate regime collapse in light of the fact that the intelligence analysis of the united states and which has been reported in the us mainstream press suggests that at best any nuclear program that iran had been developing has been delayed not obliterated to use mr trump's current verb and in light of the fact that the regime is still standing not on the verge of collapse it's fair to say uh that this was a failure on the part of the israeli authorities particularly in light of something mr trump has mentioned of late which is the devastating damage inflicted upon major israeli cities like hifa and tel aviv just to name a few and i think that we can fundamentally come to the conclusion we already suspected which is that israel to put this in boxing terms is a very good featherweight contender not unlike willie pep for those who are familiar with the sweet science but iran a country about 10 times the size of israel and about seven time 70 times the size in terms of territory 10 times the size and population is like a bruising middleweight like marvelous marvin haggler or sugar ray leonard for example and when a good featherweight gets in the ring with a good and bruising middleweight the results are predictable which is what we have just witnessed that is to say that it's clear that israel was able to exact a punishing body blow against iran iran is leaving the ring with a bloody nose but fundamentally given the fact that israel had a wider agenda and their wider agenda was not accomplished despite the assistance of uncle sam suggest that this is a major blow uh for israeli expansionism it's a major blow with regard to the settler colonial project in israel itself and that i say notwithstanding the james bond type escapade which led to the liquidation of a number of nuclear scientists a number of leaders of the revolutionary guard corps etc and we should also keep in mind that the poor planners in israel uh launched this war without realizing as reported in the washington post and the wall street journal in recent days that soon they would be running out of these missile interceptors which helps to explain this damage inflicted by iran iranian missiles on israel itself now with regard to mr trump and so-called midnight hammer this attack on the facilities nuclear facilities in iran i think a better term would be midnight scammer and in light of the fact that as noted despite the alleged purported obliteration uh that is not the case according to most objective observers and it's also unveiled a rift in his base the zionist billionaires on the one hand led by miriam adlesen who of course is part of a gambling conglomerate that also controls the dallas mavericks basketball team not to mention casinos in macau an administrative region of the people's republic of china and on the on the other hand uh the maga base the make america great base which we've alluded to uh including tucker carlson steve bannon and marjorie taylor green but i think that at the end of the day perhaps the most significant blow uh to mr netanyahu and also to a degree the forces around mr trump was this stunning victory just yesterday in terms of the democratic party primary for who will be the mayoral contender to run gotham to run city hall the victory by zoronwami mandaniwami of course named afterwami and kruma this is very significant because mr mandami mr mandani in previous interviews has suggested that if mr netanyahu shows up in new york he'll be arrested and most likely bundled off to the h where he'll receive sweet justice in terms of being prosecuted for war crimes in the international criminal court given the depradations inflicted upon gaza uh this is highly significant and right now it looks like mr mandani will prevail in november's election but stay tuned because this is really shaken up the zionist establishment which is headquartered in gotham not to mention the trump team in washington dc in just a a moment or two uh let me share a few details about mr mandani uh that has escaped by and large the attention of the press you might be familiar with his mother and of course her stellar film mississippi masala which in some ways is my favorite denzel washington film uh along with for queen and country uh it's a very affecting story about the expulsion of south asians uh from uganda and how some of them wound up in mississippi and that's where the story takes off as this poster tends to suggest and mr mandani himself was born in uganda his father makmoud mdani is a leading scholar of africa and taught at mccary university one of the continent's leading institutions of higher learning uh mr mandani also grew up in cape town south africa where his father taught at the university of cape town mr mandani uh metriculated at bowden college in maine which happens to be the alma mater of john russworm you may recall that he is the jamaican man who helped to found freedom's journal in 1827 the first us negro publication of note which is still being consulted by scholars of various ranks and means and i should also point out that uh the black american vote was not shall we say overwhelming for mr mandani i laid that at the doorstep of many of the black leaders particularly jim kleinburn of south carolina gregory meeks of southeast queens in particular who by the way has been carrying quite a bit of water for the us ruling elite and of course these figures and forces are all in bed with the zionist elite certainly they need to be subjected to primary challenges particularly gregory meeks because i think that the mandani victory shows that he can be taken down without that much difficulty in any case uh mr mandani while a student at bowden college helped to found a chapter of the students for justice in palestine he's referred to what the israelis are doing in gaza as genocide for example it takes quite a bit of courage to say that in a city like new york city which once again is the headquarters of the zionist elite and so uh this event the mandani victory the fact that israel was not able to establish a victory a clear-cut victory over iran uh these are withering and staggering blows to the settler project in israel which will inevitably ricochet across the atlantic and impact the settler regime in washington dc and we should also pay attention to other uh consequences for example you may have seen the media posts the social media posts by the former uh russian president metv he was president uh under during the time of barack obama where he suggested that at the end of the day there will be friends of iran which will supply iran with nuclear weapons because one of the lessons we can easily infer from the events of the last 10 to 12 days is that the regimes like north korea that have nuclear weapons generally speaking are not subjected to bombing attacks for fear of how they were retaliating now he said that russia would not be the regime that would do so it was suggested that pakistan might be the regime but in light of the fact that the pakistanis are scrambling because they know that the israelis are quite upset as a result of these kinds of inferences they've nominated mr trump for the nobel peace prize in order to get on his good side in any case we trust that the russians will help to bulk up the uh air missile defense of the iranian authorities because the israelis claimed that after about 24 to 48 hours they had superior superiority in the skies over iran with regard to china there have been credible news reports that china has been supplying iran perhaps through pakistan perhaps through turk menistan perhaps through this recently completed railway that runs from china into iran that we've reported on in previous programs perhaps uh through airflights that have caught the attention of a number of credible media sources and the united nations does not come out of this event smelling like a rose i'm speaking of the international atomic energy association a un affiliate as we've reported previously their leader raphael gross has been exposed as an agent of israel basically uh sending inspectors to nuclear sites and then oftentimes turning over the intelligence to the israeli authorities not to mention the fact of allegations that he helped to send to israel the coordinates of israeli excuse me of iranian nuclear scientists so they could be more easily assassinated it's clear that iran has a real problem with regard to internal security and i would hope and imagine that they would consult with the comrades in cuba with regard to how to beef up their internal security not to mention the comrades in venezuela uh likewise i think that going forward perhaps the israelis might determine that the better part of wisdom is not this kind of aerosol but basically building upon that initial success of infiltrating their agents uh into iran establishing drone bases executing car bombs executing iranian leaders and in this regard what we're going to have to watch out for is the collaboration of israel and us imperialism with sunni extremists who of course have a theological bone to pick with the mostly shia iranian population it did not garner sufficient attention that just this past sunday the sunni extremists that the united states and turkey and israel helped to put into power in damascus that their comrades went into a church and executed the 24 or more christian worshippers uh it's quite remarkable that this did not receive more attention in this country where supposedly christianity is the the reigning faith they're putting the ten commandments of the christian faith in classrooms for example in the state of texas and other places in the south and we're all familiar with the fact that it's become even a part of fashion if you look at carolyn levit the white house spokesperson like many in this country she wears the sign of the cross a christian symbol around her neck you have celebrities like uh sean combmes who wear a christian earring dangling from their ear and so uh it's quite remarkable that their fellow co-religionists can be massacred as a direct result of us foreign policy and they have not a word to say uh this is hypocrisy if not ignorance of the highest order perhaps the iranian authorities in order to prepare for this second onslaught of takuris and salifists and sunni extremists and israelis and us imperialists uh by calling an international conference in solidarity with iran perhaps if not iran itself perhaps in a neighboring country it would be useful if the egyptian authorities could be persuaded to open their doors for such a conference but in light of the fact that they tried to styy uh that uh procession uh from egypt into gaza of late uh that might be wishful thinking on my part but in any case we need uh exceedingly strong solidarity with iran because i'm not sure if our audience even recognizes how close we came to the brink of world war three this past 10 to 12 days and how easily we can return to that perilous point unless and until the solidarity movement begins to flex its muscles to horn as we go around the horn speaking of a changing global correlation of forces we wanted to ask you about the nato summit which took place yesterday and today june 24th and 25th in the netherlands the north atlantic treaty organization member countries pledged today to back the big increase in defense spending that president trump had demanded and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit in the netherlands the central outcome of the summit a pledge by members to boost defense spending to 5% of gdp in a decade up from the current target of 2% is exactly what trump has been demanding over the past several years the final communicate in which the spending target will be affirmed was dramatically shortened omitting any controversial language that might spark resistance from trump while trump got what he wanted at the annual meeting that was tailor made for him speaking to reporters aboard air force one trump stopped well short of offering a fullthroated endorsement of the alliance's cornerstone article 5 pledge of collective defense trump said quote "it depends on your definition." there are numerous definitions of article 5 i'm committed to being their friends and i'm committed to helping them while this was not quite the show of support many european leaders had hoped for few eu officials voiced surprise at trump's comments and while european leaders gathered in the netherlands for the nato leader summit notably absent was the japanese prime minister shagiru oshiba australian prime minister anthony albanese and the new south korean president lee jamong while japan australia and south korea are not a members of nato they were invited to join the summit in addition many analysts have forecasted that this year's nato summit will be the most significant nato summit since the cold war dr horn what should our audience know about the nato summit and do you think that the summit that took place yesterday and today was in fact the most significant nato summit since the cold war well the nato summit reflects fragmentation in the north atlantic block for example take this 5% figure first of all as suggested a percentage of that 5% can be devoted to building sturdier bridges presumably so that tanks can roll over them or beefing up uh emergency rooms and hospitals for example so in in some ways it's rather fraudulent but for the most part it intends from mr trump's point of view of further transfers of capital from so-called allies to the us military-industrial complex that is to say to buy more jet fighters from lheim m martin for example and then the fragmentation comes with regard to what was just suggested concerning japan japan is quite upset uh with regard to how they're being treated so shabily by us imperialism with regard to nippon steel of japan seeking to buy us steel and being treated like they're some sort of enemy uh despite the fact that they're supposedly close allies and us military forces still occupy a good deal of japanese territory likewise australia uh had cut this deal with regard to us imperialism with regard to the building of submarines and now mr trump is waffling on that that after australia had backed out of a similar deal with france in order to sign this deal with us imperialism the south koreans of course are being hammered like japan for example with regard to the so-called trump tariff war what we're going to have to watch out for is whether many nato countries or more nato countries follow the example of spain uh which has decided that it's a bridge too far to demand this 5% of gdp being spent on defense which once again is just a benefit to the us military-industrial complex and of course spain has been in the forefront with regard to trying to bring israeli misleaders to justice uh you be recall what we reported on the spanish leadership attending an arab league meeting in baghdad iraq just a few weeks ago and just as with the g7 meeting in canada prior to that meeting the former italian leader mario monty said that the g7 might evolve into a g6 where the united states will either leave or be asked to leave and i think that the way nato is involving evolving is that the united states might be leaving nato which of course mr trump has bruted in previous speechifying uh but if that is the case it could be quite dangerous particularly in light of germany rearming at breakneck speed particularly in light of the fact the united states has antagonized canada and there's been talk in canada about canada joining the european union for example and so at the end of the day this could lead to a very dangerous national security quagmire for us imperialism and per usual mr trump has not thought through the consequences of his actions and misdeeds horn as we go around the horn we also want to ask you about mali first this past monday june 23rd mali and russia signed agreements to bolster their economic and trade relations including a cooperation deal on nuclear energy mali's interim president asami goya met russian president vladimir putin during a 5-day official visit to moscow that began this past sunday june 22nd the two leaders also signed an agreement on the creation of an intergovernmental russia mali commission for trade economic scientific and technical cooperation and on june 17th mali announced that it had begun building a new gold refinery backed by russia a move that government officials say will help the country gain greater control over its natural resources speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony president guides said the facility is part of broader efforts to require all mining companies to refine gold domestically under a revised mining code dr horn as we have been speaking today about a changing global correlation of forces what is your reaction to this news regarding mali and russia was obviously significant it's a follow on to the moscow visit of the leader of bikina faso speaking of ibrahim trayor who was greeted like a rock star during his visit to moscow on may 9th the holiest day on the russian calendar marking the anniversary of the victory over fascism in 1945 uh certainly mali is deserving of our solidarity and as we pointed out before it's in conflict with canadian mining interests who may be forced to rely upon the muscle of us imperialism not to mention french imperialism in order to resolve its disputes with the bamako regime but perhaps the most important aspect of this visit is that the malian authorities will probably be getting a further and deepening assistance from the russians concerning fighting religious zealatry recall that russia has quite a bit of experience in this field with regard to the unfortunate uh example of what happened with the moscow intervention in afghanistan some decades ago not to mention the conflict in cheschna in recent decades and in light of the fact that we just made reference to the notion that the us and the israelis will be beefing up the sunni extremists the takuries the salifists in order to go after iran inevitably there will be a spillover with regard to africa and that spillover as the new york times reported just a few days ago could ultimately seep in to french and us allies speaking of coat devoiris uh speaking of northern nigeria in the first place the horn as we go around the horn we also wanted to ask you about nigerian president bolatinubu's upcoming 4-day visit to st lucia according to various analysts president tinubu's trip to st luca offers much more than just an escape from nigeria's political heat to a beautiful caribbean island nation but also presents a window to deepen economic cultural and social ties with a region that is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world while st luca itself is a small island nation with a population of just under 200,000 it holds outsized importance as the headquarters of the organization of eastern caribbean states a regional body of seven nations dedicated to economic integration and cooperation st luc sha is also a valued member of the caribbean community which comprises 15 countries with a combined gdp of approximately 130 billion us caraccom represents a significant regional market analysts conclude that this visit by president tinubu to st lu sha is a strategically important milestone that can deepen nigeria's partnership with the caribbean unlocking broad economic cultural and social opportunities across the entire region particularly due to the fact that these are two regions with shared histories and futures dr horn turning the mic back over to you what is your analysis of president tinubu's upcoming trip to st lucia and do you think this trip could signal the start of a new chapter in relations between the two regions was highly profound you have to put it in the context of this upcoming september 2025 meeting in outba ethiopia of the african union and the caribbean community of which st lucia is a constituent element with the agenda being reparations speaking of reparations we know that as we speak in motion is a visit by caraccom to brussels and to london once again with reparations on the agenda one of the parts that's missing from this very scintillating and thrilling story is the absence i'm afraid to say of many black american organizations and leaders who in some ways have the most to gain from this kind of solidarity and certainly the most to gain with regard to the accomplishment and attainment of reparations for the centuries long unlamented african slave trade but i'm afraid to say we've reached the end of the road we state these facts only to let you know that those of us who are revolutionary panafricanist is not because we love revolution it is historically determined and we have no alternative but to follow history and to use history for the benefit of our people power [Music] to the people free political prisoners free political prisoners all political prisoners [Music]