I enjoyed the show for a bit and I was generally tolerant about the host's dislike of the USSR because they were still somewhat left adjacent. But now that Liam is pretty much the defacto co-host every episode that includes Russia amplifies the shit-take-meter. I get that Joe is Armenian so he's probably got some legitimate grievances with the USSR but motherfucker calls himself a socialist and calls out US propaganda all the time but can't even take the time to do some self-crit of his sources?
Sakai's overall theory is basically that the Western sphere leftist doesn't have the potential for revolutionary change since the imperial Core will always:
1-make sure via it's state of exception to prevent it from happening 2-Make sure that you give enough welfare to the majority of the proles (in their framing the white settler working class) so that it becomes a labour aristocracy. By creating a welfare state, you can still keep the local people content while keep piling the skulls of the global south. The white proles will just develop a chauvinistic outlook in regards to Stalinist Hellhole like the USSR, China, VUVUZuela , etc.
The point is not wrong but it does go into that kind of argument bordering racial essentialism that some readers doesn't like.