Current Affairs

A convoy to Cuba, Grok doxxes a sex worker,  Mamdani cuts the library, Pakistan has really fast jets, MGP declares war on sea lions, Andrew is arrested, and bugs are more popular than Trump.

Abigail Thorn is an actor, writer, and the creator of the widely acclaimed YouTube channel Philosophy Tube, where she explores politics, culture, and philosophy through performance and storytelling. She is currently starring in BLINK, a London stage play about livestreaming, voyeurism, and parasocial intimacy written years before those concepts entered mainstream discourse.

EPA to stop animal testing, Palestinians go on general strike, Ye apologizes for his Nazism again, TikTok claims apparent censorship was caused by a power outage, and the government repeals workplace protections because they protect trans people.

Ro Khanna is the U.S. representative for California’s 17th Congressional district, more commonly known as “Silicon Valley.” He was a co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2020, and there’s been speculation he may run for president himself in 2028. He joined Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss his bipartisan efforts to release the Epstein files, a “new FDR moment” for the Democratic Party, and the dangerous state of U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump.

The "Keep America Beautiful" campaign urged Americans to pick up their trash—so that companies could keep producing it.

Climate change is sinking posh London homes, pro-Palestine protesters face felony charges, Ugandan president cuts internet during election, Trump’s new Board of Peace, and Nike’s tone-deaf MLK Day basketball shoe.

Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines politics and ideology through popular film and television.He is the author of Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, a critical reappraisal of the famously maligned filmmaker that challenges conventional ideas of “bad” art and cultural taste. Sloan joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss Ed Wood’s films, queer cinema, and what the politics of taste reveal about Hollywood, capitalism, and outsider art.

Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime?

In the fall of 2024, Zohran Mamdani was a long-shot challenger taking on New York City’s political establishment. Today, he’s the mayor. In this early interview with Current Affairs, recorded shortly after he announced his campaign, Mamdani lays out his vision for transforming the city.

John Sanbonmatsu is a professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves.The book is a response to Michael Pollan’s 2006 bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and as the title suggests, Sanbonmatsu thinks writers like Pollan are dead wrong about the ethics of food. He maintains that killing and eating animals is entirely indefensible, no matter how “humane” the process supposedly is.0:00-7:19 The Horror of Meat7:19-13:02 Comparisons to Slavery13:02-17:50 The Omnivore's Deception17:50-20:16 Lab-Grown Meat20:16-25:15 Evasion of Moral Responsibility25:15-33:24 Erosion of Moral Decency33:24-40:33 The Path Forward

Joshua Cohen is a political theorist and writer of the Ettingermentum Substack: an exceedingly thorough and insightful resource for anyone hoping to understand what the hell is going on in American politics these days. Cohen sat down with Current Affairs to discuss the recent government shutdown, what Democrats actually pay attention to, and what the future looks like for a party controlled by pundits. 

Medea Benjamin is an anti-war activist and one of the co-founders of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She’s spent decades fighting the American military-industrial complex, organizing protests against the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s and interrupting speeches by both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She’s also the co-author, with David Swanson, of NATO: What You Need to Know. She joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the ongoing push for war, from the Middle East to Venezuela, and how ordinary people can organize and stand against it.