GenZedong

The entire trio of the Deprogram podcast have somewhat more western-compatible views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict than many of us here do, whether this is because they genuinely think this is a "both sides bad" situation or because they can't afford to come off too pro-Russian and alienate their largely western audience i don't know. It is clear they really don't like modern day bourgeois Russia and Putin. This is understandable obviously, we would all prefer if the Soviet Union was still around, and Putin besides not being exactly fond of communism is also quite socially reactionary which makes it difficult to defend critical support of Russia to a western audience. If you ask me i think that since they spend so much of their time immersed in what's going on politically in the west they could not avoid being influenced by some of the liberal left's narratives about Russia's intervention in Ukraine, i.e. that it's an "imperialist" invasion, that they are using Ukraine's Nazi problem as a pretext, that they are committing atrocities, etc. For Hakim especially being Iraqi and having been invaded by the US i imagine it can be difficult to not at least be extremely skeptical of any military intervention.

I think they are all three pretty decent Marxist-Leninists, Hakim in particular is very well educated in the theory classics. I just get the impression they haven't exactly followed the conflict very closely and have not been exposed to the Russian perspective that much. As for having Russian Marxists as guests on, that doesn't tell us very much, there are plenty of self-described Marxists in the west especially in academia - Trotskyists, etc. - who buy into US imperialist narratives and whose overall views and ideology are really quite liberal. Russia similarly has a liberal, anti-Putin left, and some of them do claim to be Marxists. But they are a small minority, most Russian communists may be critical of Putin but they generally take the KPRF's line which is that the intervention is not just justified but should have happened much earlier. Unfortunately in the west the KPRF is smeared as controlled opposition, that's an easy way to discount them without ever having to honestly engage with what they are saying and where they stand.