Turbulence

Stuart Schrader joins us to discuss the Cold War origins of modern policing, the ongoing ICE and CBP deployments, and Zohran Mamdani’s attempts to reform the NYPD.
Stuart Schrader is an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, where he is the founding director of the Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism. He is the author of Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves, to be published by Basic Books in April 2026. He is also the author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. He lives in Brooklyn.
Twitter/X: @stschrader1
Read the full statement from the family of Jabez Chakraborty here.
We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.
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Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.
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Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)
Art: Vivek Venkatraman


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We discuss the blockade of Cuba, the US-Iran negotiations, an anti-immigration plebiscite in Switzerland, ICE’s prospective mass detention centers, and CBP shooting down a party balloon with a laser in El Paso.
We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.
For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.
Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.
Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com
Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod
Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)
Art: Vivek Venkatraman

Andreas Krieg joins us to discuss the United Arab Emirates’ regional rivalry with Saudi Arabia, its cultivation of an ‘Axis of Secessionists,’ and what its network-centric geopolitical approach portends for the future of the world system.
Texts mentioned: A Thousand Plateaus by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.
Dr. Andreas Krieg is an associate professor at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London and a Fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. His research focuses on network-centric statecraft, information operations, and security dynamics across the Middle East. He has been seconded to the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2018. Dr. Krieg has published extensively on networked statecraft, proxy warfare, and the weaponization of narratives, with a particular emphasis on Gulf security and the geopolitical rivalry between regional actors. He is the author and coauthor of several books, including Subversion, Surrogate Warfare and Socio-Political Order & Security in the Arab World. He is the director of the London-based geostrategic risk consultancy MENA analytica since 2019.
We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.
For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.
Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.
Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com
Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod
Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)
Art: Vivek Venkatraman


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit turbulencepod.substack.com

We discuss the US-Iran negotiations in Muscat, the end of nuclear non-proliferation, the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Libya, oil deals in Syria, and what the Epstein files have revealed about our ruling class.
We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-fu…

Abby Martin of Empire Files joins us to discuss the devastating environmental impacts of US militarism, the murder-suicide pact embraced by our ruling class, and Israel’s ecocide in Gaza. Check out Abby’s new film, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, which is on tour now. Abby’s art is available here.
Abby Martin is an investigative journalist, filmmaker, and activist whose work focuses on U.S. militarism, empire, and the political economy of war. She is the creator and host of Empire Files, an independently produced documentary series examining US foreign policy, corporate power, and global resistance movements.
Works referenced: The Sunlight Managers by Sofia Menemenlis
We’re committed to independence and will never run ads or take money from institutions. That means Turbulence is entirely listener-funded.
For $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to weekly news analysis bonus episodes, where we respond to events as they unfold, follow up on previous discussions, and draw connections across the conflicts shaping our world.
Most importantly, paid subscriptions make it possible for us to keep doing this work independently, week after week.
Subscribe today at turbulencepod.substack.com
Follow along on Twitter/X and Instagram @turbulence_pod
Theme: Eye for an Eye, Haram (2017)
Art: Vivek Venkatraman


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit turbulencepod.substack.com/subscribe