Scott talks to Jason Hartwig about how to end the civil war in Somalia, where he recommends negotiating with Al-Shabaab as the best chance for peace. Like other countries where the U.S. military is involved, a decisive victory by one side might not be realistic, and will cost far more in blood and treasure. Discussed on the show: “How To End The Civil War In Somalia: Negotiate With Al-Shabaab” (War on the Rocks) This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles...

Harry Kazianis discusses the negotiations between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. Kazianis says that although North Korea has some nuclear weapon capability, they’re not a real threat to America, because the moment they launched a missile they would be wiped off the map in minutes. Their economy is also so small that they pose no possible economic threat. He says the very best thing for everyone involved—especially the North Korean people—is to try to reach a peace deal,...

José Niño talks about his new book, How Socialism Destroyed Venezuela. He explains the debate between critics of socialism, who claim that the economic system is responsible for Venezuela’s problems, and its defenders, who maintain that socialism was working well until America and its allies began imposing sanctions and trying to take control of the country’s oil. Niño clarifies, however, that Venezuelans have been living under socialism for much longer than most people realize, and that they...

Curt Mills discusses John Bolton’s plans for provoking a war with Iran and the differences in policy and philosophy between Bolton and Trump. Discussed on the show: “Is Bolton’s War With Iran Becoming A Reality?” (The National Interest) “Iran Nuclear Deal Exit Strategy — John Bolton Memo to Trump” (National Review) Curt Mills is the Washington Editor for Spectator USA and a foreign affairs columnist for The National Interest. Follow him on Twitter @CurtMills. This episode of the Scott Horton...

Muhammad Sahimi talks war with Iran, which he says the Ayatollah, and certainly the Iranian people, do not want. They understand that even though America would never outright win a war like that, it could practically destroy the entire country of Iran. The puzzling thing is that such a war would also do tremendous harm to the U.S., much in the way the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, and yet the neocons in the Trump administration seem keen as ever on starting it. Luckily Trump himself has...

Gareth Porter explains the overblown claims of Iran’s threat to the United States, which are constantly being used as a pretext for war by American and Israeli neocons. Discussed on the show: “John Bolton’s Nefarious Plot for War With Iran” (Truthdig) “Did Iran Kill 600 Americans in Iraq War II?” (The Libertarian Institute) Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state, and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare....

Andrew Cockburn comes back on the show to discuss his recent piece, “The Military-Industrial Virus.” Cockburn describes how the war planners, and even many of the officers, don’t care all that much about the men they’re sending off to fight and die in America’s wars. Mostly they’re waiting to cash in on comfortable pensions or work on the civilian side at a firm like Raytheon or Boeing. Cockburn laments how President Trump ran against the wars and the military-industrial complex, but hasn’t...

Ray McGovern and Bill Binney, both of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for sanity, discuss their findings on the supposed Russian hack of the DNC email server. They explain their detailed testing of the claim that the emails were hacked and transferred over the internet, in which they conclude that it wouldn’t have been possible to do it this way, and it must have been done physically and in person. Most analysts are more concerned with making the facts fit the narrative they are already...

Scott talks to Steven Woskow about recent anti-BDS legislation at both the state and federal level. The issue has been going back and forth in the courts because on the one hand, a boycott is just an expression of personal first amendment freedoms, but on the other, it could be argued that it constitutes discrimination against a religious group. Scott and Woskow, however, agree that the religious discrimination argument is totally illegitimate because this is a political and human rights...

Scott talks to Daniel Lazare about the ongoing fiasco of the Mueller report, this time digging deeper into Mueller’s past as FBI director. Lazare says even though the report is now out, the fun is just beginning. Discussed on the show: “Top Ten Questions About the Mueller Report” (Consortiumnews) “4/26/19 Daniel Lazare on Julian Assange and Guccifer 2.0” (The Libertarian Institute) Operation Mockingbird Daniel Lazare is the author of The Frozen Republic: How the constitution is Paralyzing...

Scott talks to Ken Silverstein about what’s really going on in Venezuela. The mainstream media will tell you that the country is starving and in chaos, but Silverstein has been there himself and says that most people actually have food and support Maduro more than the opposition. The negative coverage, says Silverstein, is an attempt to build support for a U.S.-backed coup, which he thinks is unlikely to actually ever succeed. Discussed on the show: “Why a Coup Is Unlikely in Venezuela” (The...

Airwars’ Chris Woods joins the show to discuss the recent findings that coalition airstrikes recently killed over a thousand civilians in Raqqa. The UN also estimates that although most residents were able to escape the city, 70% lost all their property in the bombings. The casualty numbers are 10 times higher than what U.S. officials have admitted. Discussed on the show: “Syria: Unprecedented investigation reveals US-led Coalition killed more than 1,600 civilians in Raqqa ‘death trap’”...

Scott talks to Congressman Ro Khanna about the bipartisan efforts in congress to end the war in Yemen. Despite a lack of popular awareness of this issue, explains Khanna, the humanitarian disaster in Yemen is horrific, and the U.S. should end its support for the Saudis immediately. He says that President Trump’s good instincts on getting out of pointless wars have not carried through into sound policy, probably because the cabinet and the national security state actually control his foreign...

Robert Gaines, an Afghan war combat veteran and co-author with Scott of a few recent articles for Breitbart.com and The National Interest, discusses America's continuing war in Afghanistan and the possible reasons for hope, as peace talks there are advancing further than they ever have. Scott and Gaines agree that it would probably make the most sense not to try to have a single state at all. If the various tribes and ethnic groups were allowed to govern their own areas, instead of a central...

Scott talks to Greg Palast about Venezuela, Deepwater Horizon, and the importance of whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning. Palast explains that most Venezuelans still basically support President Maduro, and that the prospect of Guaidó—a wealthy white guy—ruling reminds them of the apartheid of their past. He also laments that prominent journalists at the New York Times and elsewhere, who have won awards thanks to Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, happily go along with their arrests as though...