Heart Yoga Radio

LAO TZU 55

This podcast considers chapter 68 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. In this chapter, Lao Tzu deals with the application of non-doing, wu-wei, to combat and warfare. [Free. 10 minutes.]

LAO TZU 48

In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 61 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. We relate the description of the power dynamics between states given in Chapter 61 to current affairs, Reich's connection of sexual repression with fascism and the consequences of an inflamed reverence for sacred books and other fetish objects. [Free. 20 minutes.]

UKRAINE & THE FOG OF WAR 2 - INTERESTING TIMES 51

In this podcast, I examine important historical antecedents to the war in Ukraine. In particular, I appraise the argument that the eastward spread of NATO bears some responsibility for what is now so catastrophically unfolding. [Free. 1 hour, 12 minutes.]

UKRAINE & THE FOG OF WAR 1 - INTERESTING TIMES 50

This episode of Interesting Times considers the war in Ukraine and the informational fog around it. I pay particular attention to the proceedings of the United Nations Security Council and the address to the European Parliament given by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. I also briefly engage with views as diverse as those of Republican  military man Col Larry Wilkerson and radical journalist Ben Norton. Further episodes to follow on the history of the region and analyses of the public discourses in circulation. [Free. 29 minutes.]

LAO TZU 40

This podcast deals with Chapter 40 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. We concentrate on the amazing relevance this chapter has to our current political, economic and spiritual emergencies. In a few short lines, Lao Tzu diagnoses the condition of the working people of his time as subjection to violent and militarily oriented 'robber barons' whilst they themselves are the creators of value and the necessary goods to sustain life. This is exactly our condition too. Lao Tzu offers a meditation to counter the fragmental [non-holistic, non-systemic thinking] which is the ideological counterpart to a kleptocratic economy. [Free. 29 minutes.]

THE COLD WAR WITH CHINA - INTERESTING TIMES 31

This podcast deals with economic, military and propaganda aspects of the developing cold war with China. [Free. 1 hour 25 minutes.]

LOOKING BACK OVER 2020 AND FORWARD TO 2021 - INTERESTING TIMES 19

On New Year's Day 2021, we pause to look both backwards and forwards. We identify and discuss four themes: the defeat of Trump and what that means for the global right Internationale, the fragmentation of the left and signs in movements around the world of its incipient re-emergence, the intensifying struggle to control information and particularly the internet, the impact of certain technological developments such as AI and CRISPR. We indicate how these developments are interlocked and how that points towards what is to be done. [Free.  47 minutes.]

POST TRUTH THIS WEEK - INTERESTING TIMES 16

In this edition of our Interesting Times series, I consider three different manifestations of the widespread disregard for truth which is now a feature of our public discourse. These are Trump's refusal to concede the US Presidential election, the suspension, re-instatement and fresh suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the UK Labour Party, and the increase in defence spending announced by UK PM Boris Johnson. [Free. 41 minutes.]

US ELECTION AND THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE - INTERESTING TIMES 14

This brief episode of Interesting Times takes a  brief look the general chaos in the US and the UK before outlining the undemocratic nature of the US electoral college. [Free. 15 minutes.]

WHAT IS FASCISM? 2 - THE PRESENT DAY UK & USA

In this podcast, I ask the question, "Are the US and UK fascist?" I attempt to address this question by checking if any of the features I identified in the first podcast of this series are observable in the current situations in the UK and the US. [I leave aside the matter of the economy for a future podcast.] I conclude that many of the elements of fascism are present and that some are venerable, others incipient and some are being actively cultivated. I suggest briefly what needs to be done about this dangerous situation. [Free. 1 hour 2 mins.]