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Scott is joined by Andrew Cockburn for a high-level discussion of the neoconservative movement and the military-industrial complex. They talk about an article Cockburn wrote on the emergence of neoconservatism, reflect on the origins of Iraq War I and utilize Cockburn’s years of studying the military-industrial complex to analyze where things stand with the war in Ukraine.

Discussed on the show:

• “The Birth of the Neocons” (Spoils of War)
• Scott’s debate with Bill Kristol 

Andrew Cockburn is the Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine and the author of The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine and Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins. Follow him on Twitter @andrewmcockburn.

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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Major Danny Sjursen comes back on the show to talk about the blowback from America’s many wars in the Middle East. He explains a process with which listeners of this show will no doubt be familiar, by which the U.S. sets itself up for future wars by arming and training a generation of young rebels to help fight the current wars. All too often, the veterans on America’s side of the war then become either extremists or a part of the next brutal regime that takes the place of the old one—justification for more war either way.

Discussed on the show:

• “Backfire, a Generation of American Folly” (TomDispatch.com)
• Haqqani network
• CIA backing of Al-Nusra
• Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
• Fortress on a Hill Podcast

Danny Sjursen is a major in the U.S. army and former history instructor at West Point. He writes regularly for TomDispatch.com and he’s the author of “Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge.” Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Filmmaker Dan Cohen comes back on the show to discuss his latest project, “The Syria Deception,” a short documentary exposing the propaganda campaign in Hollywood and the media to rehabilitate Al-Qaeda in the eyes of the American public. Cohen and Scott discuss America’s role in instigating the war in Syria and how, more broadly, U.S. intervention triggers ever worse violence by inciting blowback from Middle Eastern civilians bent on vengeance.

Discussed on the show:

• Killing Gaza
• Grayzone Project
• The Syria Deception: Al-Qaeda Goes to Hollywood
• Bana al-Abed
• Northern Storm Brigade
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Ahmed Chalabi
• Manchester Arena bombing
• ‘America can easily be moved’
• White Helmets
• “Right Said Fred perform anti-Assad version of ‘I’m too sexy’” (Independent)

Dan Cohen is a correspondent for RT American, as well as a filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor. His website is dancohenmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @dancohen3000.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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William Hartung joins the show to give his views on President Trump’s proposed Space Force. He explains that American satellites are in fact vulnerable to attack by foreign powers, but that a space force is a highly impracticable approach to protecting them, and one that is more likely to provoke attack than to prevent it. The idea of a Space Force is popular, however, because the arms contractors know it will mean more money for them, the existing efforts at space warfare within the Air Force (which are considerable) would get more funding and authority with their own branch of the military, and finally, Trump himself knows it’s just a popular talking point that his supporters are enchanted with.

Discussed on the show:

• “9/21/18 William Hartung on the Military-Industrial Complex and Yemen” (Libertarian Institute)
• “Trump’s Space Force: Smoke and Mirrors or a Step Towards War in Space?” (tomdispatch.com)
• “F-35B Stealth Fighter Bombs Ground Target in Afghanistan” (The Diplomat)
• “F-35 strike fighter crashes in South Carolina” (Burlington Free Press)
• Outer Space Treaty
• Boeing YAL-1
• Edward Teller
• Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States
• Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America

William Hartung is director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex. Find him on Twitter @WilliamHartung.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Daniel Lazare joins Scott to talk about his recent article in for the American Conservative Magazine about the war on drugs. He explains many of the practical reasons to end the war, demonstrated by America’s own history. For instance, alcohol prohibition tended to replace beer with stronger, more dangerous options that were easier to smuggle, like homemade gin. Just so with cocaine replacing marijuana and fentanyl supplanting heroin. Drug prohibition also tends to make violence a requirement of doing business, since parties to the exchange can’t rely on police or the justice system if things go wrong. This endemic violence is a leading cause of the mass migration from areas of Central America to the United States. Despite some good rhetoric in President Trump’s past, Lazare is unhopeful that he will make any progress on this issue.

Discussed on the show:

• “Mexico Must Stand Up to America’s Drug War” (The American Conservative)
• Mérida Initiative
• Los Zetas
• Sinaloa Cartel
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador
• “Hillary Clinton Said Children Of Illegal Immigrants Should Be Sent Back In 2014 CNN Interview” (Newsweek)

Daniel Lazare is the author of The Frozen Republic: How the constitution is Paralyzing Democracy and a regular contributor at Consortium News. Find all of his work at his website and follow him on Twitter @dhlazare.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Asa Winstanley from The Electronic Infitada is interviewed on a documentary produced by Al Jazeera about the Israel Lobby. Al Jazeera managed to send two undercover reporters into the Israel lobby in the UK and in the US. The documentary was ultimately censored by the government of Qatar, owners of Al Jazeera, and now articles are leaking out about the content of the documentary. You can read some details in his article with Ali Abunimah “Censored film reveals The Israel Project’s secret Facebook campaign”

Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist living in London who writes about Palestine and the Middle East. He has been visiting Palestine since 2004. He writes for  Palestinian news site The Electronic Intifada where he is an associate editor. He also writes a regular column for the Middle East Monitor.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Joe Lauria is interviewed on the New York Times article “The Plot to Subvert an Election“, the New York Times’ 10,000 work expose on the supposed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and his response in “The New York Times as Judge and Jury“. The embarrassing article from the Times is detailed and debunked, and the role of the media in public discourse is discussed at length.

Joe Lauria is the editor at Consortium News. He is a former UN correspondent and wrote at the Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal. You can follow him on Twitter @unjoe.

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

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Sheldon Richman discusses an unusual topic for the show: the life and philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. Richman’s latest installment of TGIF looks at Spinoza’s thought and encourages us to apply his teachings to today’s politics.

Discussed on the show:

• “TGIF: Spinoza – A Man for Our Troubled Times” (Libertarian Institute)
• Benedict de Spinoza
• Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
• Leviathan
• Two Treatises of Government
• Thirty Years’ War
• The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute and the author of America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Follow him on Twitter @SheldonRichman.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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Trita Parsi gives his opinion on the recent Ahvaz attack, which he believes was not coordinated by ISIS, even though they have claimed responsibility. Instead, it has the trappings of a coordinated political ploy, possibly by Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Parsi and Scott also lament President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement.

Discussed on the show:

• Iran nuclear deal framework
• President Trump’s UN conference
• “The Ahvaz terror attack in Iran may drag the US into a larger war” (Middle East Eye)
• People’s Mujahedin of Iran

Trita Parsi is the president of the National Iranian American Council and the author of Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy. Parsi is the recipient of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Follow him on Twitter @tparsi.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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