Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, discusses the enormous and expanding U.S. defense budget amidst a general economic collapse, the army of defense lobbyists ready to fight against any spending cuts, how military spending diverts economic resources away from beneficial uses and how defense contractors make the largest and most dubious defense projects into sacred cows by spreading production to as many congressional districts as possible.
02/03/09 – Doug Bandow – The Scott Horton Show
Doug Bandow, author of Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire, discusses the Bush administration’s foreign policy legacy, why maintaining a U.S. military presence in S. Korea makes less sense than ever, the difficulty of negotiating alternative U.S. supply routes to Afghanistan while taking a hard line on Russia and Iran, the high cost in Iraqi lives for their 'liberation' from one authoritarian government to another and the demise of Bush’s two-state solution for Israel and...
02/02/09 – Justin Raimondo – The Scott Horton Show
Justin Raimondo, editorial director for Antiwar.com, discusses Vladimir Putin's red-baiting of Soviet America, the U.S. military's use of old Soviet supply lines into Afghanistan, how the incredible U.S./Russia role reversal confirms the existence of Bizarro World, why the crumbling U.S. economy won't stop an Afghanistan surge or prevent new interventions in Africa and how the use of logical deduction in figuring out U.S. foreign policy goals only leads to wild speculation.
02/02/09 – Gareth Porter – The Scott Horton Show
Gareth Porter, author of the article 'Generals Seek to Reverse Obama Withdrawal Decision', discusses the rift within the military on the issue of troop withdrawal from Iraq, the apparent attempt by Robert Gates and Generals Petraeus and Odierno to undermine Obama’s planned Iraq withdrawal timeline, the NIE Iran report and the Iranian nuclear hedging strategy and the fight over control of the foreign policy narrative and who ultimately is to blame for historical failure.
02/02/09 – Stephen Zunes – The Scott Horton Show
Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, discusses his recent article 'Obama Gathering a Flock of Hawks to Oversee U.S. Foreign Policy,' the mixed-bag of appointments from holdover Bush Republicans to recycled Clinton-era staffers, the particularly terrible work history of Richard Holbrooke and the importance of organized political pressure in ensuring that Obama is the agent of change he claims to be. to be.
