2/7/20 Danny Sjursen on America’s Coming Battle for Eurasia

Danny Sjursen is back for part two of his conversation with Scott about America’s foreign policy disasters, this time focusing on what Sjursen calls “the coming battle for Eurasia.” According to an old theory of geopolitics, the power that controls central Eurasia—that is, eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East, with all its natural resources and strategic position—will be the dominant global hegemon. Obviously, certain figures in the American government would like to be in that position....

2/7/20 Danny Sjursen on Middle East Politics and the Missing Antiwar Left

Scott talks to Danny Sjursen about the many catastrophic failures of American foreign policy, and most recently the proposed plan to carve out an autonomous Sunni region in western Iraq, which the U.S. could use to help control the Middle East and prevent Iranian influence from spreading to the eastern Mediterranean. The plan, says Scott, would be a reversal of everything the American military has spent much of this century doing in its wars in Iraq, and could lead to the deaths of thousands...

2/7/20 Suadad al-Salhy on the Insane Plan to Divide Iraq in Two

Scott interviews Suadad al-Salhy about her recent piece on the proposed U.S. plan to create an autonomous Sunni state in western Iraq. This would theoretically allow the U.S. to continue to exert control in the country, preventing the dreaded “land bridge” connecting Iran to Syria and other allies in the Mediterranean. But this plan is idiotic for a number of reasons, say Scott and al-Salhy, not least of which being that America has been fighting on behalf of the Iraqi Shiites for years, and...

2/7/20 Peter Van Buren on Impeachment, Iowa, and Chelsea Manning

Scott talks to Peter Van Buren about impeachment and the fiasco at the Iowa Caucuses, and what they mean for the Democrats’ political prospects heading into the election. Van Buren says that although President Trump’s behavior with respect to Ukraine seems a little sleazy, nothing even remotely impeachable happened, and the trials in the House and Senate were little more than shows of partisan hatred or loyalty. He also says this victory for Trump will clearly be detrimental to the democrats...

1/31/20 Sheldon Richman on Trump’s New Apartheid Vision for Israel/Palestine

Sheldon Richman discusses President Trump’s new “Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People,” which is really just an update of last year’s “Deal of the Century.” The plan presents itself as generous and fair, but really, says Richman, it simply codifies much of the settlement and annexation of Palestinian land that Israel has been engaged in for decades, and would create what in practice would be an apartheid state. Richman says this plan is, for the most part, probably...

1/31/20 John Dennis on His Campaign to Replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress

Scott interviews John Dennis, a Republican congressional candidate from California challenging Nancy Pelosi in the upcoming election. Dennis, a businessman, says he wants to unseat Pelosi mainly because she’s terrible on issues of war and the intelligence state. These areas used to be strengths among Democrats, but since the Obama administration the left has been conspicuously silent. Dennis believes that not only are American Republicans coming around to become the antiwar party,...

1/31/20 Sam Jacobs on Lavoy Finicum’s Death and Washington’s Management of Federal Land

Sam Jacobs of Ammo.com discusses the 2016 Oregon standoff between federal agents and Ammon Bundy, Lavoy Finicum and their allies. Most listeners probably remember some of the details of the 2014 standoff in Bundy’s native Nevada, which ultimately resulted in a judge dismissing all charges with prejudice after it was shown that federal agents lied about their side of the story. Most probably aren’t as familiar with the details of a similar incident in Oregon, which led to Finicum’s death....

1/31/20 Joe Lauria on Canada’s Establishment Cold Warriors

Joe Lauria discusses the allegations that his website, Consortium News, is a puppet of the Russian government, recently leveled against them by both Canadian television network Global News, and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment. It seems that this is the now just the smear used by mainstream media and intelligence agencies against anyone who is willing to consider alternatives to their narrative. Lauria reiterates the need for a true nonpartisan consensus of libertarians,...

1/31/20 Michael Tracey on the Democrats’ New Cold War Impeachment Narrative

Scott discusses the impeachment proceedings against President Trump with journalist Michael Tracey, who says that there are some alarming allegations underneath the democrats’ blanket accusation of “abuse of power.” What they are really alleging, says Tracey, is that Trump is guilty of treason, a crime that carries the death penalty. Most alarming of all, though, is how pervasive the cold war rhetoric has become even among average democratic voters. People don’t seem to realize that this...

1/25/20 Daniel Lazare on the Democrats’ Paranoid Ukraine Fantasy

Daniel Lazare discusses the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Trump, which he calls nothing more than a continuation of the Russiagate delusion. He and Scott rehash some of the history that has led America to the point where it even feels like Russia is a serious threat to the U.S., namely the policies of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. If your version of history began yesterday, it’s easy to think something must be done in response “Russian aggression,” but if you...

1/24/20 Benje Graves on Evangelical Christian Pro-War Identity Politics

Scott talks to Pastor Benje Graves about the dominance of pro-war republicanism among American protestants. Graves says that these Christians think their belief in American empire comes from a good-faith reading of the Bible, but that really it’s wrapped up in an identitarian coalition political movement that uses selective reading of scripture to enforce what they have already chosen to believe. Graves maintains that the U.S. military intervention in the Middle East clearly goes against the...

1/24/20 Daniel McAdams on the Failure of the Juan Guaido Coup in Venezuela

Daniel McAdams talks to Scott about the failed attempt to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guiado. The U.S. government has made many claims about the illegitimacy of the latest elections, and has blamed the country’s current crisis on Maduro’s failures. Really, says McAdams, this is just another example of America’s State Department making false claims and conveniently exploiting existing problems to push their chosen political narrative. Fortunately...

1/24/20 Nozomi Hayase on Glenn Greenwald and the ‘Assange Precedent’

Scott talks to Nozomi Hayase about the movement to prosecute Glenn Greenwald for cybercrimes in Brazil. Greenwald is accused of helping to steal confidential text messages, as opposed to simply publishing information that had been hacked by someone else. This is exactly the same accusation being leveled against Julian Assange, says Hayase, but is really just a flimsy pretext for going after journalists that are trying to expose state malfeasance. Scott and Hayase are perplexed as to why...