Challenging the West’s Superiority Complex & Erasure of History, w/ Prof. Joseph Massad

Mainstream media coverage of the war in Ukraine has sought to erase the U.S. and NATO role in setting the stage for the conflict, the Western history of attacking Russia, and Europe’s violent and racist past and present.

Joseph Massad, Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, joins Dispatches with Rania Khalek to remind us of the hypocrisy and history the West has attempted to erase as it escalates the war against Russia in Ukraine.

TIME CODES:
0:00 Intro
2:37 Why Joseph Massad is covering Russia and Ukraine
6:23 Historical parallels to anti-Russia bigotry in the United States
11:15 Why did Russia invade Ukraine? Historical context
22:00 The illusion of a more civilized & peaceful Europe
26:17 How Nazis learned from colonialism and America
29:24 Whitewashing Ukraine’s far right
35:24 Liberal cold warriors and white supremacy
40:33 Groupthink, conformity & censorship in liberal western democracies
49:48 Ukraine, Palestine & double standards
52:48 Our dictators vs theirs: Saudi Arabia executes 81 people