Phil Giraldi is the executive director for the Council for the National Interest. His latest article for Unz.com is “Boy Is This Stupid or What?” Giraldi details how the fight against ISIS in east Syria took a strange turn after the U.S. and coalition forces had reduced Raqqa, the capital of the caliphate, to rubble. After backing ISIS into a corner the coalition struck a deal with the remaining local fighters to leave under a conditional truce. Scott worries that scattered ISIS fighters—many of whom returned to their home countries—only makes blowback more likely. Giraldi then addresses the wild situation in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia where the Prime Minister resigned under clear pressure from Saudi Arabia, all of serves only to increase the simmering tensions in the region.

Phil Giraldi is a former CIA Case Officer and Army Intelligence Officer who spent twenty years overseas in Europe and the Middle East working terrorism cases. He is the executive director for the Council for the National Interest and writes regularly for Unz.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Raqqa’s Dirty Secret” (BBC)
• “Lost in reverie: Mattis claims UN let US intervene in Syria, although it never did” (RT)
• Washington’s Secret Wars, by Phil Giraldi (Antiwar.com)
• NATO vs. Syria, by Phil Giraldi (The American Conservative)
• “Trump erroneously says Lebanon is ‘on the front lines’ fighting Hezbollah, a partner in the Lebanese government” (Chicago Tribune)
• “Arab League designates Hezbollah as terrorist organisation, increasing regional tensions” (The Independent)
• “Lebanon PM forced by Saudis to resign, says Hezbollah” (BBC)

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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