Scott brought Kyle Anzalone on Antiwar Radio to discuss what’s happening in Syria. The two explain who just took power in Syria, outline the historical context of these developments and speculate over what this means for US policy in the region. They finish with a discussion about Gaza and the possibility of a terrorist attack on Americans.

Discussed on the show:

Scott’s debate with General Wesley Clark

Kyle Anzalone is news editor of the Libertarian Institute, opinion editor of Antiwar.com and co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Will Porter and Connor Freeman. Follow him on Twitter @KyleAnzalone_

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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12/4/20 Danny Sjursen: The Case Against Jake Sullivan

Danny Sjursen is back for a look at Biden’s foreign policy team, in particular his new National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Sjursen says that Sullivan fits right in with many of Biden’s other cabinet picks: extremely talented, well-credentialed, respectable people who use their talents to advance horrible policies while deflecting criticism for them. Sullivan, a war hawk, worked closely with Hillary Clinton during Obama’s presidency, especially on the intervention in Libya. He appears to favor all the same foreign policies from those years now that he’s a part of the Biden Administration. Sjursen bemoans the Democratic voters who feel relieved to be “returning to normal,” reminding us that “normal” is years and years of unilaterally-decided, unofficial drone campaigns and regime change wars that have been disastrous both for the countries America has destroyed, and for the American taxpayer.

Discussed on the show:

“Biden’s Hawk: The Case Against Sullivan” (scheerpost.com)
The Management of Savagery: How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump
Fear
Rage

Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. army major and former history instructor at West Point. He is the author of Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge and Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War. Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

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12/4/20 Grant Smith on the Jonathan Pollard Exception

rd have been punished. Now Pollard is on the verge of joining those others who walked free for their crimes.

Discussed on the show:

“The Jonathan Pollard Exception” (Antiwar.com Original)
“The Traitor” (The New Yorker)
The Samson Option: Israel, America and the Bomb

Grant F. Smith is the author of a number of books including Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America, Divert!, and most recently The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. He is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

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12/4/20 Gilbert Doctorow: Will Antony Blinken’s Past Catch Up With Him?

Gilbert Doctorow talks about Biden’s pick for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, particularly his famous stepfather, Samuel Pisar. Pisar is well-known these days for being a holocaust survivor rescued by American GIs during World War II, but is less known for his decorated international career afterward. Doctorow brings up Pisar’s past because of his prominent role as a representative for American companies in Europe, and especially in the Soviet Union. Pisar’s view was that commerce is an important feature of peaceful diplomatic relations, even with semi-hostile countries. Doctorow hopes that this will be Blinken’s attitude as well as he is tasked with taking the lead in America’s foreign policy toward countries like Russia and China. But with the general hawkishness of Biden’s cabinet, the future remains in doubt.

Discussed on the show:

Memoirs of a Russianist, Volume I: From the Ground Up
“Will Antony Blinken’s Past Catch Up With Him?” (Antiwar.com Original)

Gilbert Doctorow is an independent political analyst and was the European Coordinator of The American Committee for East-West Accord. He writes regularly for Consortium News. His latest book is Does the United States Have a Future?

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12/3/20 Gareth Porter on the Assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Gareth Porter discusses the recent assassination of Iranian defense official Mohsen Fakhrizadeh by the Israeli government, which continues to claim that Fakhrizadeh was a “top nuclear scientist” in Iran. In reality, explains Porter, Fakhrizadeh was not a nuclear scientist, and this assassination is part of a years-long campaign to convince the world that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. No doubt the assassination was intended to provoke some kind of response from the Iranians before President Trump leaves the White House. It will also make it harder, he says, for President Biden to renegotiate the Iran nuclear agreement, a clear goal of Israel and its allies in Washington.

Discussed on the show:

“How Israel deployed an intelligence deception to justify killing scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh” (The Grayzone)
Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States
Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare and, with John Kiriakou, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

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11/27/20 Stephen Zunes on Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy

Scott talks to Stephen Zunes about Joe Biden’s track record on foreign policy, and its potential implications for his presidency. Zunes rehashes some of the bad parts of Biden’s record, beginning with his support for the invasion of Iraq. Although many Democrats voted for the war, Biden specifically and energetically advocated for it. Zunes worries that Biden is a true believer in the American empire, whereas President Trump doesn’t really have firm beliefs about anything. This made Trump unpredictable, but also probably less dangerous on the issue of foreign wars. Zunes speculates that Biden’s cabinet picks will be bad; all the same establishment figures that have been running America into the ground for at least 25 years.

Discussed on the show:

“The Other Reason Biden Shouldn’t Run” (Progressive.org)
The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers

Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution and Civil Resistance Against Coups: A Comparative and Historical Perspective. Find him on Twitter @SZunes.

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11/27/20 Frank Ledwidge on Losing the War in Afghanistan

Frank Ledwidge, a British former intelligence officer, discusses the futility of the war in Afghanistan (and the rest of the terror wars), which many of the world’s countries have now been mired in for nearly two decades. Ledwidge begins by reminding us just how much the Afghans hate foreign armies. Like most people, they don’t take kindly to an occupying military force telling them how to live; unlike most people, a huge percentage of the rural villagers, especially in the Helmand Province, have never even heard of 9/11 or the war on terror. The goal of “winning hearts and minds” in a place like Afghanistan, says Ledwidge, is utterly futile. Experts like Ledwidge have been trying to warn their governments about these mistakes for years, but no one, it seems, has learned their lesson.

Discussed on the show:

“Australian special forces involved in murder of 39 Afghan civilians, war crimes report alleges” (The Guardian)
“Kabul War Diary” (WikiLeaks)
“The Crimes of SEAL Team 6” (The Intercept)
“An abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan undermines the fragile peace” (Washington Post)
“Guns and poses” (The Economist)
“The Afghanistan Papers” (Washington Post)
The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and the Making of a New Eratitle

Frank Ledwidge is a former military officer who served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Losing Small Wars and Investment in Blood.

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11/18/20 Dan Caldwell: Trump Should Get Out of Afghanistan Before Inauguration Day

Scott interviews Dan Caldwell of Concerned Veterans for America about President Trump’s plans to withdraw troops from the Middle East in what are looking to be his final weeks as president. The appointment of Colonel Douglas Macgregor to a senior role in the Pentagon gave hope to many in the antiwar movement, speculating that Trump might be trying to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for good before he left office. Now that future is less clear; although he plans to order a few thousand troops to come home from Aghanistan, and a smaller amount from Iraq, Caldwell says that Trump has not orchestrated a full end to these wars. Even worse, he has little confidence that Joe Biden will abide by these withdrawals as president, especially considering how hawkish his foreign policy team is shaping up to be.

Discussed on the show:

“Trump Should Get Out of Afghanistan Before Inauguration Day” (The American Conservative)
“Trump Wants to Withdraw Troops From Afghanistan. The Antiwar Movement Is Cheering Him On.” (Mother Jones)
“11/18/20 Kevin Gosztola on the Profiteers and War Hawks of the Biden Transition Team” (The Libertarian Institute)

Dan Caldwell is the Executive Director of Concerned Veterans for America. Find him on Twitter @dandcaldwell.

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11/18/20 Jacob Sullum on Trump’s Flimsy Election Fraud Case

Scott talks to Jacob Sullum about the allegations of widespread fraud in November’s presidential elections. Sullum concedes that errors in counting, illegal votes and deliberate obfuscation do sometimes happen in isolated situations—but maintains that the widespread conspiracy alleged by the Trump team would be basically impossible. Even in the handful of cases where Trump has won temporary legal victories, they simply don’t amount to anything close to what he would need to reverse the results of the election. Sullum is no fan of Biden, but still realizes that it’s bad if half of the country considers the results of the election illegitimate.

Discussed on the show: