Scott talks to Giorgio Cafiero about the devastating catastrophe facing the people of Yemen in the form of the coronavirus pandemic. Cafiero describes the way that a virus—or indeed any natural disaster—has the potential to decimate a country like Yemen, where it’s hard to count on the distribution of even basic necessities like food, water and medicine. To make matters worse, the divided powers in Yemen seem unwilling to temporarily put aside their differences in the name of fighting the...

Phil Weiss joins the show to discuss what he views as the internal collapse of Zionism, especially in America. It is starting to become obvious to everyone, as signaled by a recent Peter Beinart piece, that the idea of a two-state solution has pretty much been an empty promise all along, used to placate Palestinians and to win the support of liberal Jews in America. Despite the growing clarity into what the Israeli government is really doing, Trump continues to be one of the most permissive...

Scott interviews Wayne McElrath about the proliferation of military equipment in America’s police forces, and its harmful effect on police practices. McElrath describes the process by which local police departments are given “outdated” equipment from the military, like body armor, automatic weapons and armored vehicles. To prove how alarmingly easy it is to get hold of this equipment, McElrath and his team created a fake police department and submitted deliberately vague and spurious requests...

Ted Carpenter talks about the Russian bounties story, including all the ways it has been misreported by the media. Carpenter reminds us that the original intelligence that was leaked to the press was based on very flimsy anonymous sources, and may have been obtained via torture. Almost as soon as the CIA introduced the narrative, the NSA came out to publicly assert their skepticism about the credibility of the intelligence. And the Department of Defense, which thoroughly investigates every...

Doug Bandow discusses America’s failing world empire and the “threats” posed by rival powers like Russia and China. These countries, of course, don’t pose a plausible threat to the safety and security of citizens in the United States, but they do pose a very real threat to America’s ability to control everyone else’s affairs around the globe. Bandow thinks that the supposed “aggressive posturing” by Russia and China really represents fairly moderate steps to counter America’s rather extreme...

Kelley Vlahos talks about prominent Democratic national security official Michele Flournoy, whom she calls “The Queen of the Blob.” The Blob, explains Vlahos, is the group of politicians, advisors, lobbyists and pundits who advocate for the continuation of America’s foreign policy status quo—often greatly enriching themselves in the process. The ideology behind their position, she and Scott speculate, is probably based on the idea that these policies are actually good for the United States and...

Scott interviews Gareth Porter about the Russian bounties story, or “Bountygate” as it has come to be known. Porter describes attempts by outlets like the New York Times to portray this as a well-sourced story with consensus among America’s intelligence agencies—in reality, he says, the NSA and CIA have rated the intelligence with only low- to medium-confidence, and even the Department of Defense, which thoroughly investigates every U.S. death in Afghanistan, hasn’t found evidence to support...

Bas Spliet is back to discuss the disaster that was America and the UN’s involvement in Libya after 2011’s Arab Spring. Spliet reminds us that Libya was once one of the wealthiest countries in north Africa, ruled by a secular dictator with relative liberty and prosperity. After the Obama administration decided to begin a bombing campaign there in support of a regime change, however, the country quickly disintegrated into one of the most chaotic and violent places in the world. Today there are...

Scott talks to Ryan Dawson about cancel culture and the latest wave of deplatforming, of which Dawson himself is a victim. Dawson, who spends much of his time fighting against the neoconservative ideology, has come under fire over and over again for the alleged thought crimes of racism and anti-semitism. In reality, of course, Dawson is the furthest thing from a racist, having devoted much of his life to advocating things like police reform and the abolition of the war on drugs. But he has...

Scott interviews Jeffrey Kaye about Avril Haines, a former Obama administration adviser and Deputy Director of the CIA recently appointed as a foreign policy adviser to Joe Biden. Haines has been described as a “superstar”, and clearly has a future as a well-connected national security insider. But Kaye says people should be alarmed by her past, most notably her probable connections to the CIA’s torture and “kill list” programs. Despite appearances—Haines is known for her more compassionate,...

Grant Smith discusses the Israel lobby’s deep involvement in the U.S. economy, this time as regards the American firms in the business of promoting Israeli interests, who have recently received large sums of money through special coronavirus relief programs. Smith cross-referenced the list of companies receiving such aid with pro-Israel lobbying groups from his previous research, finding a great deal of overlap, particularly among the recipients of large “loans” (which under certain...

Scott interviews Ramzy Baroud about the Israeli annexation of Palestine, including Trump’s role as perhaps the most acquiescent president in American history in going along with the agenda of the Israeli government. Most recently this has meant acceding to Netanyahu’s plans for massive annexation of the West Bank. Although Israel has appeared to back down slightly from its aggressive annexation plan, Baroud is adamant that this is merely a public posture to deflect international criticism,...

Ron Enzweiler exposes some of the falsehoods behind the developing story about supposed Russian bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan. For one thing, outlets like the New York Times have implied that there is consensus among America’s intelligence agencies on this story—in reality, says Enzweiler, the NSA, who monitor nearly all Taliban cell phone traffic, “strongly dissented” from the CIA’s initial claims. Even the Department of Defense, which thoroughly investigates every U.S. death...

Trita Parsi discusses John Bolton’s tenure in the Trump administration, during which time he worked tirelessly to sabotage any form of negotiation between the United States and Iran. Bolton is a fierce advocate for America’s alliance with Israel, says Parsi, which often means acting in ways that are actually quite harmful to American interests. Netanyahu, Parsi explains, worries that any peace between the U.S. and Iran would threaten Israel’s position as the dominant superpower in the Middle...

Scott talks to Tom Woods about his latest free ebook, The Pentagon vs. The Economy. Woods examines the many ways America’s military-industrial complex distorts the economy, often applying Frederic Bastiat’s principle of “seen vs. unseen” to demonstrate just how many resources are diverted away from the productive economy, toward the project of killing foreigners abroad. Woods has written the book with minimal political slant, so that readers on both the left and the right can find agreement on...