Journalist and author Daniel Lazare returns to the show to discuss his latest article for Consortium News, “Israel’s Alarm over Syrian Debacle.” Lazare explains that while ISIS and al-Qaeda are on the verge of being defeated in Syria, there are new conflicts brewing over Israel’s concern about Hezbollah’s power on the Syrian border, which has led them to provide different aid for the anti-Assad Syrian rebels. Lazare believes that Israel has made a major miscalculation in Syria that has empowered its Muslim opponents. Lazare and Scott then detail how the U.S. has flirted with Islamic jihad as a tool against the greater enemy going all the way back to the Eisenhower presidency and the elephant in the room, which Lazare says has driven policy in Washington: oil. Lazare believes that the U.S. sees its imperial future tied directly to control over the Persian Gulf, which helps explain many of their awful alliances with brutal dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia—and that the great fear of the U.S. is that either Russia or China could someday control the Arabian peninsula and the oil flow. Lazare bangs the drum for War Machine, which he says everyone should watch. Finally, Lazare details what he would tell Donald Trump if he were the named the new National Security Advisor.

Daniel Lazare is the author of The Frozen Republic: How the constitution is Paralyzing Democracy and a regular contributor at Consortium News. Follow him on Twitter @dhlazare.

Discussed on the show:

• “Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad,” (New York Times)
• Likud 
• Hezbollah
• “How Hezbollah Defeated Israel,” by Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry (CounterPunch)
• “Israel Struck Hezbollah Targets in Syria Dozens of Times, Netanyahu Reveals in Hot-mic Remarks” (Haaretz)
• “Obama to Iran and Israel: ‘As President of the United States, I Don’t Bluff’,” by Jeffrey Goldberg (The Atlantic)
• “How CIA and Allies Trapped Obama in the Syrian Arms Debacle,” by Gareth Porter (The American Conservative)
• Michael Oren & Jeffrey Goldberg: “Sunnis vs. Shiites and the Lesser of Two Evils” (YouTube)
• “The Burden of Fighting in Afghanistan Will Fall on Trump’s Supporters” (Breitbart)
• Robert Gates
• David Petraeus
• Daniel Drezner: “I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler.” (Twitter)
• “At CIA, a watchful eye on Mike Pompeo, the president’s ardent ally” (Washington Post)
• “Saudi Arabia facts and figures” (OPEC)
• “A Question For the Obama Administration” (Time)
• “Do We Need to Go to War For Oil?” by David Henderson (CATO Institute)
• Rex Tillerson
• War Machine
• The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, by Michael Hastings
• Resource Curse
• “The Secret Saudi Ties to Terrorism,” by Daniel Lazare (Consortium News)

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