While it may appear an inevitability, how did capitalism come to take hold in the US? Was slave production in the American South actually capitalist or something else? What was the nature of the Civil War and the emergence of sharecropping in the conflict's wake? Marxist sociologist Charles Post weighs in on these questions, which have been hotly debated for many years on the left, with significant consequences for how we see capitalism's permanence and the nature of racial oppression today.

Inequality in our society seems somehow natural and permanent. Hence thinking about the inverse -- equality -- may be a bit of a challenge, especially if one lives in the United States. Geographer Danny Dorling discusses the myriad benefits of equality, from housing to education, physical wellbeing to the environment. He explores how societies have been made more equal in the past and explains why he supports the idea of a basic income.

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan by the US and its allies--and the country is in shambles and conflict rages. Award-winning journalist Jonathan Steele, who has reported from Afghanistan for thirty years, discusses how the United States has ignored the lessons from the Soviet occupation of that country. And he argues that the US needs to negotiate a settlement and exit entirely, rather than leaving advisors behind.

It's incredibly bloody -- and incredibly misunderstood. What has come to be known as the Mexican drug war, but would be better viewed as the US-Mexico drug trade, has claimed 40,000 lives since 2006, including those of many journalists. Mexico-based writer John Gibler talks about the politics and economics of an industry that involves enormous sums of money, territorial violence, mega-profits, and the collusion of governments and banks.