Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses federal judge Katherine Forrest’s amazing ruling against the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act; why the US is moving rapidly toward an authoritarian police state 10+ years after 9/11; how the PATRIOT Act and military commissions, both highly controversial in 2001, have become the new normal; the Justice Department’s refusal to say that journalists and activists aren’t subject to indefinite detention – even though the DOJ would have won in court...
05/21/12 – Dina Rasor – The Scott Horton Show
Dina Rasor, founder of the Project on Military Procurement (now called the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO), discusses her article “Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor;” the pilots who refused to fly anymore and went to 60 Minutes about the Raptor’s unexplained toxicity; how so-called stealth aircraft can be detected with outdated radar technology; the nearly half billion-dollar Raptor’s onerous maintenance requirements whenever it’s flown in the rain;...
05/21/12 – Steve Horn – The Scott Horton Show
Steve Horn, researcher and writer at DeSmogBlog, discusses the Chicago NATO Summit activists arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support for terrorism; the two informants who infiltrated the group and possibly planted or invented evidence; the home-brew kit Chicago police apparently “mistook” for a Molotov cocktail-maker; the activists held in solitary confinement and held without charge for days; why the cops and feds are so afraid of the Occupy...
05/18/12 – Kevjn Lim – The Scott Horton Show
Kevjn Lim, independent writer and humanitarian professional, discusses his article “Israel’s Reluctant Friend;” the alleged high-level leak within the US government that supposedly exposed Azerbaijan’s offer of airstrips for an Israeli attack on Iran; Azerbaijan’s uncertain motivation for doing such a thing – if it’s true – since it has no real enmity with neighboring Iran and would face serious military consequences; and how Azerbaijan shares Turkey’s role as a bridge between the Muslim world...
05/18/12 – Christopher Anders – The Scott Horton Show
Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel in the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, discusses the temporary legal injunction prohibiting enforcement of some provisions in the NDAA, specifically the indefinite military detentions that could apply to American dissidents like Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg; the vague definitions of “support for terrorism” and “associated forces,” which basically mean whatever the government wants them to; why most members of Congress are willing to...
05/18/12 – Neve Gordon – The Scott Horton Show
Neve Gordon, Israeli activist and author of Israel’s Occupation, discusses his article “Erasing the Nakba: Israel’s Tireless Efforts to Conceal the Historical Events Leading to Its Creation;” how the state propagates its own version of history through public education, popular culture and compliant media; why the “land without a people” myth of Israel’s founding is less convincing than ever; how 500,000 Israeli settlers have – by design – made a two-state solution all but impossible; and why a...
05/17/12 – Doug Bandow – The Scott Horton Show
Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, discusses his article “Mitt Romney: The Foreign Policy of Know-Nothingism;” the easier time Republicans have with diplomatic overtures since they don’t have to defend against “weakness” like Democrats; why you can’t be an Obama fan and morally principled; Glenn Greenwald’s lonely voice of dissent on the progressive Left; Romney’s empty sloganeering, like achieving “victory” in Afghanistan; and why Benjamin Netanyahu would be a de facto cabinet...
05/17/12 – John Feffer – The Scott Horton Show
John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the China-Phillipines fight over natural resources in the South China Sea; how China weakened its international legal position by signing the UN Law of the Sea treaty, ceding historical territorial claims to a new “exclusive economic zone” standard; US interest in protecting shipping lanes, especially for oil tankers; how collective security agreements seem like a good idea – until a world war...
05/17/12 – Ramzy Baroud – The Scott Horton Show
Ramzy Baroud, author of My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story, discusses his article “East Africa at the Brink;” the multidimensional conflict in Sudan/South Sudan and neighboring countries; newly independent South Sudan’s devastating loss of oil income – which is the war and famine-wracked country’s entire economy; how US foreign policy disasters (like the Libyan War) create regional instability that justifies further interventions; why US interests are more geared toward...
05/15/12 – Kelley B. Vlahos – The Scott Horton Show
Kelley B. Vlahos, featured Antiwar.com columnist and contributing editor for The American Conservative magazine, discusses retired General Stanley McChrystal’s generous retirement package, lucrative speaking fees, and new “teaching” position at Yale University; the celebrity status of retired military and government officials, even when they are notorious for torture, coverups, and being fired for insubordination; the missing-in-action campus antiwar movements in “liberal” American...
05/15/12 – Reza Marashi – The Scott Horton Show
Reza Marashi, Research Director for the National Iranian American Council, discusses the Wall Street Journal’s announcement that the MEK will soon shed its “terrorist group” status in the US; the State Department’s de-listing evaluation process, which requires that the MEK publicly renounce violence and disarm; how the Bush Administration used Saddam Hussein’s hosting of terrorist groups, especially the MEK, to justify the Iraq War in 2003; the foreign and domestic opponents to friendly...
05/15/12 – Noam Sheizaf – The Scott Horton Show
Noam Sheizaf, journalist at 972mag.com and keeper of the Promised Land blog, discusses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s super-coalition government – the strongest since Israel’s founding; why Israel’s settler movement has nothing to fear from current political conditions in Israel and the US; how Israel’s citizens have lost interest in the West Bank occupation, much like Americans who couldn’t care less about Afghanistan; and why the occupation of Palestinian lands is best described...
05/14/12 – Scott Horton – The Scott Horton Show
The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses his article “Yoo, Latif, and the Rise of Secret Justice;” the Ninth Circuit Court’s legally indefensible ruling that John Yoo is immune to Jose Padilla’s torture lawsuit because, at the time, torture was a confused legal issue; “torture memo” co-author Jay Bybee’s convenient new gig as a Ninth Circuit Court judge; why Italian prosecutors wish John Yoo would resume...
05/14/12 – James Bovard – The Scott Horton Show
James Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy, discusses his article “TSA – Tenth Anniversary of a National Nightmare;” why individual TSA employees are part of the problem, since they could choose a non-coercive line of work; the expensive “bad attitude” fines for mouthing off to a TSA agent; the many air travelers who are grateful for their creeping totalitarian state; the lack of any significant success stories to justify the TSA’s immense budget, and how the 9/11 Commission betrayed...
05/14/12 – Francis Boyle – The Scott Horton Show
Francis A. Boyle, Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, discusses the conviction of former President Bush, Dick Cheney and six members of the administration for war crimes (in absentia, in a Malaysian court); why the “torture memos,” concocted by John Yoo and Jay Bybee, amount to criminal conspiracy and can’t be excused as legal counsel; the Ninth Circuit Court’s questionable rejection of Jose Padilla’s torture suit against Yoo; evidence that the Obama administration hasn’t...
