Jason Ditz talks about President Trump’s announcement that he wants American oil companies to take control of the oil fields in eastern Syria, which, beyond the troubling legality of such a move, implies that the U.S. might have to leave troops in Syria indefinitely. This is a rather dramatic turnaround from Trump’s apparent desire to get out of the war in Syria, as seemed to be the point behind the recent withdrawal from the northeast. Ditz also talks about the protests against Prime Minister...
10/31/19 Dan Cohen on America’s Treasonous Support for Revolution in Syria
Dan Cohen discusses what he calls one of the greatest scandals in modern American history, America’s role in helping start the Syrian civil war. Under President Obama, says Cohen, the CIA started funding and arming the “moderate rebels,” who actually were mostly members of Al-Qaeda and its offshoots. Cohen explains the various name changes that these jihadist groups have undergone, which have allowed the media and the public to pretend that America’s new alliance with these extremists...
10/25/19 Jon Schwarz on America’s Long History of Betraying the Kurds
Jon Schwarz gives us a brief history of America’s many betrayals of the Kurds since the end of World War I. In a recent article for The Intercept he describes at least eight separate times the U.S. government has used Kurdish fighters to its own advantage and then later allowed, or even encouraged, other countries to turn on them while America pulls its support. Although he thinks President Trump’s betrayal of our Kurdish allies this time around is bad, just like all the other times, he...
10/25/19 Kieren McCarthy on the FBI’s National Security Surveillance Lies
Kieren McCarthy discusses the recent revelation that the FBI has access to the NSA’s national security database, and has queried it tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of times. The database, gathered under special surveillance powers by the NSA and CIA, is not supposed to be accessible by other law enforcement agencies, except under special cases of investigating foreigners for purposes of national security. But it turns out that regular FBI agents have in fact been using it to gather...
10/25/19 Trevor Aaronson on the FBI’s Unconstitutional Investigative Powers
Trevor Aaronson discusses some of the FBI’s egregious abuses of its power over American citizens, most recently brought to light by their use of an informant to investigate a law-abiding militia group in California for years. Although the FBI claims to be concerned with acts of violence alone, and not ideology, cases like this are clear examples of their willingness to go after people only for their views, and despite the absence of any wrongdoing whatsoever. Most of the supposedly foiled...
10/21/19 Charles Glass on Syria, Turkey, Iran, and the Kurds
Scott interviews Charles Glass about America’s long involvement in Syria, starting with the Obama administration’s support for the insurgent side in the country’s civil war in 2011. This move, made partly with the intent to limit the influence of Iran and Russia in the Middle East, has actually ended up strengthening them, as their positions have been vindicated by the failure to overthrow the Assad regime. Glass outlines the many times the U.S. has used the Kurds for their own devices and...
10/18/19 Patrick Cockburn on Winding Down the War in Syria
Scott talks to Patrick Cockburn about the situation with the Kurds in Syria. Scott calls Syria a win-win-win-win: The Kurds have negotiated a deal with Assad that will give them some autonomy and protection from Turkey, Turkey gets a roughly 30-mile border buffer with Syria, the American people get a partial withdrawal from an unnecessary theater of war, and the Russians see their support for Assad more or less affirmed. The only real losers are those who want to see a perpetual American...
10/20/19 Q&A Show
Scott talks about Syria and Hillary's accusations against Tulsi Gabbard.
10/18/19 Peter Van Buren on the Impeachment Derangement in Washington
Scott interviews Peter Van Buren about his recent article in The American Conservative, “Finding a Vaccine for the Impeachment Derangement Virus.” Van Buren argues that whatever President Trump’s real crimes might be—most notably continuing to help the Saudis prosecute a war of genocide in Yemen—nothing that the Democrats have tried to nail him with is actually convincing at all. Of course, if Trump’s political opponents were serious about holding him accountable to the law, they would also be...
10/18/19 Doug Bandow on Avoiding Another Cold War
Doug Bandow comes back on the show to explain the importance of America taking a backseat with Ukraine, particularly with respect to its dispute with Russia over Crimea. Bandow reminds us that Crimea has historically always been a part of Russia, and that it was seized back from Ukraine with relatively little violence and general support of the population. Bandow sees it as oddly selective to vehemently oppose Russia’s authoritarianism when the U.S. seems perfectly willing to support other...
10/18/19 Dan McAdams on Partisan Outrage over Syria
Scott talks to Dan McAdams about the U.S. withdrawal from northeastern Syria, and the ensuing negotiations between Assad, the Kurds, and Turkey. McAdams reminds us that the whole crisis was only precipitated by America’s decision to intervene in Syria’s civil war, a thinly-veiled attempt to overthrow the Assad regime. Scott reminds us that, as usual, it’s really all about limiting Iran’s influence in the Middle East. Discussed on the show: “Veterans doubt value of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan in...
10/18/19 Elizabeth McAlister: Nuclear Winter and the Kings Bay Plowshares 7
Elizabeth McAlister of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 updates Scott on her legal situation, following an April 2018 incident in which she and other members of her organization broke into a Nuclear Submarine facility. The Kings Bay Plowshares are a group of Catholics dedicated to peacefully protesting America’s use of nuclear weapons, which, as McAlister reminds us, have the potential to end all life on Earth. McAlister was recently released from jail, and continues to await her trial. This episode...
To End the Wars, Attack the Right From the Right
Reposted from Antiwar.com. Sadly, the antiwar and anti-national security state inclinations of American liberals and progressives have weakened since the days of President George W. Bush. Partisan incentives during Barack Obama’s presidency combined with the FBI-CIA-Democratic Party-media plot to falsely accuse President Trump of high treason with the Russians, or at least terribly insufficient patriotism, for the last 3 years have done much to confuse liberals about where they should stand....
10/14/19 Ramzy Baroud on Israel’s Torture and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians
Ramzy Baroud joins the show for an update on Israel and Palestine. He wants to dispel some common misconceptions about Israel, starting with the fact that the country didn’t even exist before 1948, while Palestine has a history that goes back thousands of years. Today, Israel is commonly held to be the sole bastion of civilized liberal democracy in a sea of primitive radical Islamism, but Baroud says this too is incorrect. While Israel might be more advanced by certain metrics, they purposely...
10/14/19 Ben Freeman: How the UAE Wins in Washington
Ben Freeman joins Scott to talk about his new study on the Emirati lobby, which wields enormous power in Washington D.C. The UAE generally has a good reputation in America, usually being associated with glamor, cosmopolitanism, and vast oil wealth. In reality, their government—corrupt like Saudi Arabia—isn’t afraid to use torture and child soldiers, and is every bit as responsible for the genocide in Yemen. The reason for this difference in perception, says Freeman, is that the UAE has a huge...
