Neutrality Studies

Originally published on 9 Sept 2025.Europe's commitment to free speech is crumbling before our eyes. How can a public protest against a top EU official lead to arrest, fines, and even a "record" that could impact one's future, all while the official claims the protester is lucky to live in a free country in a show of absolute irony? Is "damage to an official" the new way to silence dissent, and what does the media's silence on this high-profile case reveal about the state of journalism in Europe?Today I’m talking to Armando Mema, the Former European Parliament candidate who hackled Ursula von der Leyen a few months ago during a speech and who was then arrested on camera while von der Leyen ironically was saying that he’s lucky living in a free country where his act is not a crime. We talk about the details of Armando's arrest, the perplexing legal charges, and the unprecedented court order restricting his future right to protest. Whether the freedom to speak out against power is truly protected in Finland and across the European Union, or if we are witnessing a concerning slide towards authoritarianism.Links:Video being discussed: https://x.com/eurodale/status/1953386...Armando's X (Twitter): https://x.com/ArmandoMemaNeutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 18 Oct 2025. Has the world finally woken up to Western hypocrisy? How do we understand the power dynamics that have shaped our world for 500 years? What happens now that the veil of a 'liberal world order' has been lifted for the 85% of the world living outside the West?To explore these questions, I'm joined by Chandran Nair, a Malaysian businessman and scholar. He is the founder of The Global Institute for Tomorrow, an independent think-tank based in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.In our conversation, we explore the deep roots of colonialism and racism in today's geopolitics, dissecting how events in Gaza have become a clarifying moment for the world. We also touch upon the shifting global economic order, Europe's subordination to the US, and the myth of deglobalization.Links:Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT): https://global-inst.com/Nair's Linkedin:   / chandran-nair-57184418a  Nair's X (Twitter): https://x.com/cnomicsNeutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 17 Oct 2025.Is Zionism a Jewish movement, or is it a form of European ethnic nationalism transplanted to Palestine? What if the idea of gathering Jews in the Holy Land was originally a Protestant Christian concept? We dive into these provocative questions, challenging everything you thought you knew about this ideology.To help us understand this, today I’m talking to Dr. Yakov Rabkin, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Montreal. His publications include over 300 articles and several monographs and edited volumes. His newest work is a short but highly fascinating account about “Israel in Palestine: Jewish Rejection of Zionism”.Together, we explore the deep-seated Jewish opposition to Zionism, tracing its violent underpinnings back to Russian revolutionary traditions. We'll uncover the surprising alliances between Zionists and anti-Semites, discuss how it uprooted ancient Jewish communities, and examine why this colonial project continues to receive unwavering Western support today.Links:Prof. Rabkin's latest book: https://israelpalestinebook.com/Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 8 Sept 2025.The situation in Armenia is alarming, where a self-proclaimed democratic leader is enacting Stalinist-style repressions, arresting archbishops, and silencing opposition. How can a "Velvet Revolution" so quickly turn into an autocratic nightmare, and why is the West, known for championing human rights, not only silent but actively supportive of this crackdown? Today I’m talking to Arthur Katchikian a political scientist and IR Scholars and Pietro Shakarian a lecturer of history at the american university in Yerevan.Today we discuss the alleged Western-engineered rise of Prime Minister Pashinyan, who is now accused of selling out the Armenian homeland, and how Armenia is now at risk of losing its statehood.Links:Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 7 Sept 2025.Are we truly past the unipolar era, and what new pillars are emerging to shape the multipolar world?Today I’m talking again to Dr. Michael Rossi, a lecturer at Rutgers University and visiting Prof at Foredom University and Pace University as well as Webster Uni Tashkent. Michael teaches political science and international relations, and is the host of the YouTube channel “Michael Rossi Pol Sci”, on which he publishes very valuable primary sources of Russian speeches and interviews.We discuss the profound implications of these developments and why the world might no longer be waiting for the West. We explore why non-Western states are increasingly asserting themselves, questioning the very definition of progress and prosperity beyond the traditional Western model, and how this redefines global leadership in 2025.Links:Michael's channel:    / @michaelrossipolisci  Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 15 Oct 2025.Is it a coincidence that every influential Swedish leader on the world stage—Bernadotte, Hammarskjöld, Palme—was assassinated? What if these aren't just tragic accidents, but evidence of a hidden system? We investigate the disturbing pattern of political murders targeting European figures who dared to work for peace.Today I’m talking again to Dr. Ola Tunander and Dirk Pohlmann. Dr. Tunander is an emeritus Professor of the Norwegian Peace Research Institute Oslo and Mr. Polmann is a german author and documentary film maker. I have talked to both of them separately before, but tonight we want to do a panel on the political murders in Europe throughout the Cold War and into the Unipolar Moment when people who worked for Peace and a political rapprochement with the East and the global South just died.Together, we trace the shadowy links between these deaths, uncovering a world of deep state networks, Nazi assassins repurposed by Western intelligence, and the brutal enforcement of an empire's unwritten rules. We explore why challenging the colonial order or building economic bridges to the East became a death sentence.Links:Ola Tunander’s 4 part series on the Olof Palme murder:https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...Dirk Pohlmann's filmography: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0688383/Neutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesGoods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 6 Sept 2025.What happened to the ancient arts of diplomacy and statecraft in Europe and North America? Why is it that there are no skilled foreign policy experts left in the West? Kaja Kalas, Marco Rubio, Annalena Baerbock, really? Is this the best we can get? And worse, think of the battalions of Rambo-Ambassadors the US sends all over the globe, who only insult foreign leaders, while the EU dashes out regulations that their embassy staff should only negotiate with autocratic states through written notes of protest—no real diplomacy allowed. What the hell happened?Well, there are explanations. A very important one is the silent murder of diplomacy as a profession in the West, by "securitising" foreign policy. While in the past, it used to be Foreign Ministry staff and their diplomats who crafted government reports and recommendations on how to approach the question of security and geopolitics, this has been largely usurped by the security crowd in the intelligence agencies, the defense departments, the military, and the military-industrial-complex linked think tanks. But there are other factors, too.In this talk, three former Ambassadors, José Zorrilla, Jean-Daniel Ruch, and Sandor Kusai, discuss the various reasons why the Euro-American world has lost not only its political but also its diplomatic skills.Links:Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesOur Shop: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 5 Sept 2025. Dr. George Szamuely reveals how the West's destruction of Yugoslavia in the 1990s became the blueprint for modern interventionism. From the illegal Badinter Commission to NATO's "humanitarian" bombing, Western powers violated international law to break up a sovereign state. This wasn't about human rights—it was about eliminating Russian influence in Europe and establishing total Western dominance. The precedents set in Yugoslavia directly enabled today's conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and beyond. Szamuely exposes the hypocrisy of the "rules-based order" and shows how arbitrary legal interpretations serve geopolitical interests, not justice.Dr. Szamueli is a Senior Fellow at the Global Policy Institute, the co-host with Peter Lavel of the podcast “The Gaggle,” and the author of the wonderful book “Bombs for Peace: NATO’s Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia.”Links:[Book] Bombs for Peace: NATO’s Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia: https://www.amazon.com/Bombs-Peace-NA...Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 13 Oct 2025.While western media pretends the latest Chinese announcement about export licensing restrictions is all about the trade war with the US, the real story is all about weapons. After the US emptied its stockpiles in Ukraine and West Asia, Beijing now strikes the USA where it seriously hurts: the ability to replenish their armaments. The US is now in a serious pickle, and the fact that they deflect from this, tells a lot. Links:Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesOur Shop: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...

Originally published on 4 Sept 2025.Tuomas Malinen, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Helsinki and CEO of GNS Economics, discusses Finland's dramatic shift from neutrality to NATO membership. One of President Alexander Stubb's first acts was signing a defense treaty with Ukraine, marking Finland's first military treaty with a nation at war with Russia since 1944. This represents a stark departure from Finland's historical policy of neutrality ("Finlandization").Finland is showing signs of military preparation, with airfields being expanded, military reserves planned to increase from 325,000 to 1 million by 2032, and aggressive rhetoric toward Russia unprecedented in Finland's 100 years of independence. Finland formally joined NATO on April 9, 2023 - symbolically the same calendar date as NATO's founding in 1949.Links:Tuomas’ Substack: https://mtmalinen.substack.comNeutrality Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudiesNeutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...