Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

As the US military pursued the Russian tanker Marinera in the North Atlantic, a village in South Tyrone might have been paying close attention.The world is not a safe place for many these days but in this time of danger, the residents of Fivemiletown are particularly at risk.On Free State today we look at why Fivemiletown appeared on a Russian strike list. What does it tell us about the drumbeats for war that the residents of the village are being told to prepare for nuclear annihilation?Meanwhile Dion prepares for a purity test as Joe decides to set a GAA quiz for him. Send your questions to [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Nicolás Maduro, the deposed Venezuelan leader, appeared in a federal courtroom in lower Manhattan, he insisted ‘I am still president of my country.’Maduro was labouring under a misapprehension, not just about his own country but about how things now work.On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the new age of empire as Donald Trump’s gangsterism spreads across the world.America now has Venezuela’s oil but it also has exercised muscle and for a bully like Trump that is its own reward.They explain why international law matters except when it doesn’t and they wonder what this means for the FIFA peace prize. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." On October 25 2023, novelist Omar El Akkad posted this message on X/TwitterOn Free State today Omar El Akkad joins Joe and Dionto talk about how the world looked away. His magisterial new book One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This details the complicity of the west. Gaza is enduring a famine and Israel maintains a blockade where children’s hunger is a weapon of war and an instrument of monumental cruelty. Omar’s voice is a compelling and necessary counterpoint.This episode originally aired on May 6th 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are those who believe Artificial Intelligence will lead to the extinction of mankind. There are those who believe AI will save the world.On Free State today, journalist and author of the Empire of AI Karen Hao explains why AI is an imperialist project and how the colonising is already taking place. She says why she believes the doomer vs boomer debate is a distraction and how Ireland is on the frontline of this imperialist project. Water and energy resources will be drained as empires are built while humans will be expendable.Karen also tells us why the term Artificial Intelligence was a marketing term in the first place which set the technology on a destructive path.This episode first aired on June 28th 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Toibin returns to the Free State studio for what is now the traditional Christmas interview.He reflects on the year when he turned 70, why there is too many men watching rugby on television and why it’s important to take the 99 out of Irish politics forever.He talks too about the death of his father when he was 12 and how the great Irish psychiatrist Ivor Browne tried to open him up to the trauma in the most extraordinary way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.