The Independent Riot
Independent Riot
Recent Episodes
(Re-Release of KGB Spy Jack Barsky Interview)
If you’ve ever watched the hit television show The Americans, you’ve probably been simultaneously terrified and mesmerized by the concept that a hostile foreign government could successfully plant undercover spies into your friends, your neighbors, your family. Well, it doesn't just make great fiction, it's proven fact.
Jack Barsky is a former KGB spy from the "Soviet illegals" program. Under orders and training from the most clandestine division of Russian intelligence, Jack left East Germany in his 20s to successfully infiltrate the United States with the intent to bring about our end. Jack lived, worked, and created an entirely false identity of family and friends during a decade long period in which he secretly took orders from the KGB.
(Interview Begins at 11:20)
- Jack's Autobiography "Deep Undercover"
- "The Agent" podcast about Jack's life.
- 60 Minutes interview with Jack
If you've ever wondered about the realities of international espionage, this is an interview you do not want to miss. Jack's life is not only fantastic and thrilling, but inspirational. Over time he came to understand the horrors of communism, defect from the USSR for love of his daughter and his life in America, and eventually not only found a spiritual faith, but became an advocate of United States' democracy.
In this fascinating interview Jack gives insight into his extremely interesting life, but also uses his incredibly unique experience of living in both systems of communism and democracy to provide thoughts on where modern America is possibly going wrong. This interview covers everything from undercover spy work, to the Putin invasion of Ukraine, to American politics, cancel culture, and God.
So give it a listen, and then pick up a copy of Jack's autobiography "Deep Undercover" to learn more about his life, or listen to the excellent podcast series "The Agent."
And please don't forget to give a 5-star ranking to the show, as it helps other people find it. Thanks!
Trust us, former CIA spy and counter-terrorism chief John Kiriakou’s life is far more fascinating than the majority of what's on Netflix. And even if you don’t immediately recognize his name, you are definitely aware of his impact.
For 15 years John worked in the highest levels of US intelligence and government, advising war-time Presidents, military leaders, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and even serving as a CIA spy in field operations overseas. After 9/11, he personally led the first successful counter-terrorism raid in Pakistan to capture the highest ranking Al Queda official to date.
Shortly thereafter however, John Kiriakou gained international scrutiny as a CIA whistle-blower, intentionally confirming to a global audience via ABC News that the US was violating our own stated ethical beliefs, and international law, by illegally torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay through water-boarding. This principled stand led John’s former employer to charge him with espionage, and forced him to serve two years in prison even as the truth of illegal US water-boarding became common knowledge and independently confirmed.
From being a CIA spy, to a middle east expert, author, speaker, film consultant, and even a prisonor battling the very national-security behemoth he once loyally served, John Kiriakou has led one of the more amazing lives imaginable, and his knowledge on fascinating and complex topics is as deep as it is rare.
Please join us in this conversation as former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou gives us invaluable insight into the way the national-security apparatus operates, accesses the current middle east flashpoints, and tells some great stories in between. And then, make sure to check out John’s excellent daily news podcast “Political Misfits” for a non-partisan take on domestic and geo-politics by signing up for his substack here:
John’s Substack “Loud and Clear with John Kiriakou”
This is a link to his radio show:
Here's where you can buy all his books here:
And please remember to share this episode with a friend. Thanks for listening!
(RE-RELEASE of Past Episode 22)
From George Orwell's 1984, to the movie Minority Report, there are countless fictional warnings showing those in power snuffing out the average person's free will through the use of surveillance, advanced technology, and pitting innocent citizens against one another. Welp, investigate journalist Geoffrey Cain has discovered the future is already here!
(Interview Begins at 15:30)
Geoff Cain's new book, The Perfect Police State, details how the Chinese Communist Party is already operating a high-tech system in the Xinjiang region able to congeal all those different dystopian nightmares into one highly-efficient real-life horror show, which is not only ahead of schedule and already in operation, but exceeding all pure-evil expectations of crushing human will and enslaving entire populations.
Geoffrey Cain is an investigative journalist who has infiltrated numerous authoritarian regimes including Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba for his reporting to appear in prestigious publications such as the Financial Times and The Economist. In this interview, Geoff details his extensive undercover investigation into the workings and ramifications of the artificial intelligence surveillance system of the Xinjiang area by visiting it, as well as interviewing numerous Chinese escapees and tech experts.
Through his courageous work, Geoff discovered the Chinese Communist Party has already figured out how to combine the greatest hits of Communisms' past like torture, re-education centers, and getting citizens to turn each other over to the authorities, with new cutting-edge technological twists such as artificial intelligence, digital payments, and social credit scores, to create the most horrifically efficient population enslavement system of all time.
The book is a ground-breaking work of investigative journalism, which is not only packed full of substance on how the entire system works, but emotionally gut-wrenching, as it is told through the eyes of those real-life people experiencing its horrors. Please give this episode a listen, share it, and then buy a copy of Geoff's book, so we can hopefully force more mainstream discussion of this topic, before the same hellish system ends up spreading out of Xinjiang and around the world.
How much do you know about America's LSD-taking, goat-owning, hippie-dad who also happened to orchestrate the stalking, poisoning and mind-destroying torture of countless innocent US citizens?
Well, today's episode will quickly get you up to speed on the United States' most powerful, and troubling, government official that you've probably never heard of, Sydney Gottlieb, the head of CIA's MK Ultra project. And, buckle up, because it's a wild ride!
Boston Globe and New York Times' award-winning investigative-journalist Stephen Kinzer has had a lauded, multi-decade career as war correspondent, author, professor, and perpetual speaker-of-truth-to-power through reporting on over 50 different countries, but his most recent book, Poisoner in Chief, is possibly his most provocative work yet.
Poisoner in Chief brings to light an incredible amount of new information about the previously unscrutinized head of one of America's most secretive, and disturbing, intelligence programs, Sydney Gottlieb.
Get ready for a discussion of Nazis, LSD, poisonings, torture, club-feet, whore-houses, stalking and drugging of American citizens, corrupt cops, assassinations, mind-control experiments, communists, history of the CIA, and a bloody wake of ignored civil-liberties and pointlessly shattered lives all in the name of the "greater good." In short, it's about as feel good, fuck-yeah-America, patriotic of an episode as you can get!
And, if listening to it gets your red, white and blue blood proudly pumping, consider also checking out any of Stephen's other truth-seeking non-fiction books, like:
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and their Secret World War
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
You can also find additional Stephen Kinzer articles and information at his website stephenkinzer.com, and follow him on Twitter/X at https://twitter.com/stephenkinzer
Last, if you support independent thought and discussion, please consider telling someone about the Independent Riot Podcast, and leaving us a 5-star review on whatever podcast player you use.
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Senator Bobby Kennedy was brutally gunned down on the very same 1968 evening he secured the front-runner status for being the next President of the United States. As can be heard in the opening clip from Senator Kennedy's son, RFK, Jr, there are many smart, principled people that think the conventional narrative around what happened is a lie.
Interview with William Klabber begins at 9:00 minutes
Much like with his brother JFK's death five years earlier, myriad questions still haunt the events of RFK's assassination, and reasonable doubts as to the conventional explanation continue to swirl over 50 years later. Please join us as we discuss the vast inconsistencies, and possible real answers, as to what occurred that night with the extremely knowledgeable investigator, and host of the MLK Tapes, William Klabber.
Author, researcher, journalist, radio and podcast host William Klabber is one of the world's leading experts on the three earth-shaking 1960's assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and Robert F. Kennedy. In this amazing interview, Bill Klabber graciously continues his discussion from episode 27 of the Independent Riot, and explains why the truth behind Senator Robert Kennedy's death is like nothing you've been led to believe. You can also check out Bill Klabber's book on the death of RFK, "Shadowplay," on Amazon.
And check out this full, recent valuetainment interview with RFK, Jr, (from which the opening clip was taken) summarizing his own beliefs about who killed his father and uncle.
If you are intrigued by this interview, we highly encourage you to check out episode 27 of the Independent Riot for our first interview with Bill Klabber about MLK's assassination coverup, as well as episode 28 where hosts Jim and F-Cat diver deeper into the subject matter around all of the 1960's political killings.
If you like independent thinking, and find anything useful about the show, please do remember to leave us a positive review on your podcast player, and share the show with a friend. It definitely helps a lot. Thanks!
Bill's multi-part series on the reality of Dr. Martin Luther King's murder can be found here MLK Tapes.
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