Michael Klare joins Scott to discuss his latest article for TomDispatch.com “The Trump Doctrine: Making Nuclear Weapons Usable Again.” Klare describes how the U.S. nuclear weapons stock has been upgraded, making them operational in any possible scenario. According to Klare the Americans and the Russians are racing to upgrade their nuclear weapons to make them more flexible—all of which increases the threat of nuclear war. There’s a great paradox at work here: Trump is on the one hand being accused of being too friendly with Vladimir Putin while on the other refusing to negotiate with the Russians on nuclear weapons. Klare and Scott then discuss whether the U.S. could attempt to use tactical nuclear weapons in North Korea—and why doing so would result in disaster. Scott reviews Barack Obama’s record on nuclear weapons—one of the few areas he wasn’t always awful. Finally Scott and Klare consider the atrocities of nuclear war and the subsequent fall out.

Michael Klare is the author of “The Race for What’s Left.” He is a regular contributor at TomDispatch.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Ronald Reagan’s Disarmament Dream” (The Atlantic)
• “How Russia Hawks Are Selling Trump On Sending Weapons To Ukraine” (BuzzFeed)
• James Mattis
• “War with North Korea would be ‘catastrophic,’ Defense Secretary Mattis says” (CBS News)
• “How Washington hard-liners helped to create the North Korean crisis” (Washington Post)
• “Remarks By President Barack Obama In Prague As Delivered” (White House)
• New START (Treaty)
• The Doomsday Machine, by Daniel Ellsberg
• “Foreign policy journalists are questioning a report claiming Trump’s national-security adviser said he has the intelligence of a ‘kindergartner’” (Business Insider)
• “Trump’s Nuclear Experience” (Slate)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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