Juan Cole, author of Engaging the Muslim World, discusses the civil war in the Mandate for Palestine after the British Empire's dissolution in the late 1940s, Gaza's transformation into a blockaded prison, Israeli officials implicated in Gaza war crimes who risk arrest if they travel abroad, Egypt's complicity in detaining human rights activists bringing aid to the occupied territories, the lingering effects of WWII devastation that are evident in the geopolitical passivity of European...

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for Inter Press Service, discusses the Iran 'nuclear trigger' documents published in the Times of London that are only remade excerpts of an unknown original, how Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh went from university lecturer to purported head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, loss of US interest in diplomacy with Iran while internal strife makes regime change possible and how Iran is purposefully creating uncertainty about its nuclear...

Michael Scheuer, author of Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq, discusses why he thinks the al Qaeda threat will continue to grow while the US occupies Muslim countries, why the Israel/Palestine dispute isn't worth sacrificing American blood or treasure for, how US disengagement from the Middle East will allow Muslims to concentrate on their own considerable internal problems, humanitarian warmongers on the Left who are pushing for intervention in Africa, al Qaeda's thorough...

Karen Kwiatkowski, columnist at LewRockwell.com and retired USAF lieutenant colonel, discusses the dogged determination of Bush supporters who still believe the Iraq war lies, the laser-like neoconservative focus on Middle East policy, how several well-placed neocons hijacked the US government and started the war in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s ultimate success at establishing military outpost 'lily pads' and how George W. Bush let loose the neocon 'crazies in the basement' his father warned about....

Matthew Harwood, author of the article  'New Year’s resolution for Guantanamo,' discusses some of the positive steps Obama has taken to restore constitutional government, the US public’s simultaneous distrust of the government and adoration of the military, the seldom discussed Military Commissions Act of 2009 and how the US culture of fear and paranoia is stoked by politicians and the media.

Former CIA and DIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the likely circumstances that allowed a Jordanian triple-agent to kill seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan, how the CIA's limited ability to overcome cultural and language barriers forces a dangerous reliance on foreign intelligence services, Hillary Clinton's declaration that Yemen is now a threat to the whole world, growing foreign and domestic opposition to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, newly discovered problems with the...

Former FBI contract translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds discusses the corruption of 'political termite' former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, the systemic rot indicated by the disappearance of accountability and oversight in all levels of US government, pervasive political self-dealing and foreign espionage based in Chicago, bribes and lucrative salaries given to current and former US politicians by Turkish operatives, ignorant or apathetic voters that keep voting...