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Scott talks with journalist Mohamed Elmaazi about the latest Assange hearing before the UK High Court. The hearing, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, saw the Assange team requesting the ability to make an appeal on the order extraditing the Wikileaks founder to the United States. Elmaazi, who attended the trial, explains the arguments each side is using at this stage. He and Scott also take a step back and talk about how ridiculous this case against Assange is, bringing up and shooting down all the common myths used to smear this heroic journalist.

Discussed on the show:

• “Assange Is No ‘Ordinary Journalist’: US Opposes Request For Appeal” (The Dissenter)
• “UK High Court Finally Hears Assange’s Request For An Appeal” (The Dissenter)

Mohamed Elmaazi is a journalist who has covered all of Julian Assange’s hearings. His work has appeared in The Dissenter, Consortium News, Jacobite and Electronic Intifada. He is the new editor-in-chief of Truth Defence.

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

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Nasser Arrabyee returns to the show to discuss recent Saudi massacres in Sana’a, the worsening cholera epidemic, and how despite Saudi Arabia’s brutal tactics, they are no closer to achieving their goals. Arrabyee explains how the Saudis have tried to create a split between Yemeni president Saleh and his on-again, off-again Houthi allies. Arabyee details how Saudi Arabia has pressured the Yemeni people, many of whom have been denied their salaries for months on end, to stage a popular uprising. Arabyee explains why the “legitimate government” in Aden is a big lie, the role Iran is playing in the conflict and explains why it’s wrong to consider what’s happening a civil war.

Arrabyee is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a, Yemen. He is the owner and director of yemen-now.com. You can follow him on Twiiter @narrabyee.

Discussed on the show:

• Ali Abdullah Saleh
• Houthis
• Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
• Sana’a
• “Saudi Coalition Airstrikes Near Yemen’s Capital Kill Civilians” (New York Times)
• “Young Yemeni Girl Is Sole Survivor After Airstrike Topples Her Home” (New York Times)
• “Saudi-led air strikes hit Yemen hotel killing 60 people including civilians and rebels” (The Independent)
• “8/28/17 MSF’s Clair Manera on the cholera epidemic in Yemen” (Scott Horton Show)
• “Suspected Cholera Cases Pass 300,000 In Yemen, Red Cross Says” (NPR)
• “Yemen sees growing divisions between allied rebel groups” (Al Jazeera)
• “Yemen war: Why Houthis and Saleh forces are trading insults and bullets” (Middle East Eye)
• “Yemen blames Iran for war, says it can’t be part of solution” (Washington Post)
• Al Hudaydah (port)
• “Gerald Feierstein, a Gulf-funded expert pushing catastrophic war on Yemen, appears to have lied to Congress,” by Ben Norton (Salon.com)

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Claire Manera from Médecins Sans Frontières returns to the show to discuss the cholera epidemic in Yemen, which has somehow gotten much worse. When Manera was on the show less than two months ago there were an estimated 30,000 cholera cases; today there are more than 300,000. So many people are sick that they aren’t able to get to the hospital and many are dying in their homes without the critical care they need. Manera explains how cholera spreads and why the Saudi-U.S. war in Yemen has exasperated the impoverished conditions. The epidemic has gotten so bad, particularly among children, that in some cases patients die within just a few hours of contracting the disease. The case fatality rate is growing as the disease spreads rapidly and many people can’t get transport to hospitals. Tragically Manera expects the upcoming rainy season to make the dire situation even worse. Finally, Manera explains how people can help Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, including by helping to provide chlorine and saline.

Claire Manera is the coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières in Yemen.

Discussed on the show:

• “Suspected Cholera Cases Pass 300,000 In Yemen, Red Cross Says” (NPR)
• Doctors Without Borders (Yemen)
• Clair Manera on the Scott Horton Show

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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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Eric Margolis returns to the show to discuss his recent heroic trip to the Middle East where he helped save starving zoo animals from Aleppo with Four Paws International. Margolis recounted his trip and the incredible rescue he helped bring about in his latest article “Escape from the Aleppo Zoo.” After filling Scott in on his role in the rescue, Margolis discusses the current situation in Syria, Israel’s role in the Syrian war, and whether there’s any merit to the rumor that the Russians are funding the Taliban against the United States in Afghanistan. Finally Margolis explains what the U.S. is really trying to accomplish in Afghanistan by training the Afghan army and why India makes Pakistan is an unreliable ally in Afghanistan.

Eric Margolis is a foreign affairs correspondent and author of “War at the Top of the World” and “American Raj.” Follow him on Twitter @EricMargolis and visit his website, ericmargolis.com.

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Whistleblower Daniel Davis returns to the show to discuss his latest article, “Trump Wants You To Write Him A Blank Check For War in Afghanistan. Don’t.” Davis explains why military victory in Afghanistan is impossible, and how current U.S. presence in Afghanistan appears to be indefinite. Danny discusses the differences during his two tours of duty in Afghanistan 2005 and 2010-11 and how much worse the situation is today than it was a decade ago. Davis goes back down memory lane and explains the process of his decision to blow the whistle on David Petraeus’s lies. Scott and Danny slam Donald Trump’s rhetoric about why the U.S. is remaining in Afghanistan and how candidate Trump has been betrayed by president Trump. Davis makes it clear that no matter when the U.S. finally pulls out of Afghanistan the work being done there will be nullified. Scott and Danny discuss why there hasn’t been more blowback from the Afghan war; Davis warns that there’s an incubation period and that we’ll still be suffering from the consequences for the next decade-plus.

Retired lieutenant colonel Daniel Davis did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during his time in the army. He writes a weekly column for National Interest and is the author of the reports “Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort” and “Go Big or Go Deep: An Analysis of Strategy Options on Afghanistan.” Follow Davis on Twitter @DanielLDavis1. His website is www.daniel-l-davis.com.

Discussed on the show:

• “Trump’s challenge: A wall of public skepticism on Afghanistan War” (Politico)
• Helmand Province
• Nangahar Province
• Green Berets
• Afghan National Army (ANA)
• Camp Leatherneck
• Abdullah Abdullah
• Jalaluddin Haqqani
• Abdul Rashid Dotsum
• Mazar-i-Sharif
• Tajiks
• Uzbeks
• Hazaras
• “Truth, lies and Afghanistan,” by Daniel Davis (Armed Forces Journal)
• H.R. McMaster
• Karl Eikenberry
• “Trump’s National Security Advisor Challenged Over Human Rights Record” (Libertarian Institute)
• “The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual” (University of Chicago)
• Joseph Dunford
• Erik Prince: “The Taliban are operating inside our decision loop” (YouTube)

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Gareth Porter returns to KPFK radio to discuss Trump’s recent announcement that the United States will extend and escalate the war in Afghanistan. Porter explains that the permanent war state in the United States grinds on and claims another victory with Trump’s decision, which overturns his strong rhetoric in opposition to the Afghan war in the past.

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter.

Find all of Gareth Porter’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show and buy Scott’s new book “Fool’s Errand: Time To End the War in Afghanistan.”

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Sheldon Richman, the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute, joins Scott to discuss his article, “TGIF: Trump’s ‘Fire and Fury’ Wouldn’t Be the First for North Korea.” Richman details how Americans’ understanding of the Korean War has been utterly distorted and the atrocities the United States carried out upon the North Koreans have been whitewashed. Scott and Sheldon discuss how the United States pushed the North Korean regime into aggressive posturing through continued intervention and simulated aggression and wonder how the U.S. can now come up with a realistic solution to the problem. Richman explains that history shows that you need nuclear weapons to deter the United States from seeking regime change and why it’s ultimately a good thing that no one (outside of Lindsey Graham and John McCain) believe there’s a legitimate military option. Finally Richman details why there’s good reason to doubt that the missiles North Korea has could successfully deliver the nuclear bombs.

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.

Discussed on the show:

• M*A*S*H
• Napalm
• “Americans once carpet-bombed North Korea. It’s time to remember that past,” by Bruce Cumings (The Guardian)
• “Truman refuses to rule out atomic weapons” (History.com)
• Battle of Inchon
• 38th Parallel (Korea)
• “Why Did Truman Really Fire MacArthur? … The Obscure History of Nuclear Weapons and the Korean War Provides the Answer,” by Bruce Cumings (History News Network)
• Korean Armistice Agreement
• “The Korean War, A History. With Bruce Cumings – Part 1” (YouTube)
• Mao Zedong
• Kim Il-sung
• Syngman Rhee
• “This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations,” by Bruce Cumings (The Nation)
• Shinzō Abe
• Kim Jong-un
• Anthony Gregory
• Nobusuke Kishi
• “U.S., South Korea start annual war games that infuriate North Korea” (CBS News)
• Doug Bandow
• “North Korea: US not seeking regime change, says Rex Tillerson” (BBC)
• “How the miserable death of Moammar Gadhafi factors into Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions” (CNBC)
• “Chronology of U.S.-North Korean Nuclear and Missile Diplomacy” (Arms Control Association)
• Axis of Evil (David Frum)
• Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Peter Lee (@ChinaHand)
• “Trump: ‘China is stealing from us’” (Forbes)
• “North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say” (Washington Post)
• “Will Ripley: ‘[Nuclear weapons] are an insurance policy to keep the current government in power [in Pyongyang] and to prevent outside attack’” (CNN Transcript)
• “Krauthammer: Public missing point of Trump threats” (YouTube)
• RayMcGovern.com
• Leonid Breshnev
• Seoul
• Dennis Rodman
• United States Forces Korea
• Theodore Postol

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Andrew Bacevich, author of “America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History” joins Scott to discuss his article for The American Conservative “Yes Congress, Afghanistan is Your Vietnam.” Bacevich explains that the division between Trump’s advisors on how to proceed in Afghanistan has created a stalemate in the Oval Office. It’s noteworthy, Bacevich says, that there hasn’t been a comprehensive report from the Trump administration outlining the United States’s foreign policy mission. On the one hand it seems like Trump has handed the reigns over to the military in certain conflicts and has been controlling in others, which has created disarray Bacevich says. Bacevich contrasts Donald Trump with his predecessors George W. Bush and Barack Obama who, by comparison, are intellectual stalwarts. Bacevich says the one possible benefit of Trump’s erraticism is that he has, so far, rejected U.S. foreign policy of the past 25 years. But while Trump may have noninterventionist tendencies, his lack of a coherent, principled plan means that he often veers off course into violent conflicts all the same.

Andrew Bacevich is a Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University. He is the author of a number of books including “America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History” and is a regular contributor at The American Conservative and TomDispatch.com.

Don’t forget to check out Scott’s new book Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan.

Discussed on the show:

• “Thousands More Troops Needed To Break Afghanistan ‘Stalemate,’ General Warns” (NPR)
• Erik Prince
• “Bannon & Kushner Want to Outsource Afghanistan to Mercenaries,” by Mark Perry (The American Conservative)
• James Mattis
• H.R. McMaster
• “The Knives Are Out for Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster” (Foreign Policy)
• “I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money — rebuild the U.S.!” (Donald Trump, via Twitter)
• John Bolton

Quote of the show: “In comparison to Trump, George W. Bush looks like Bismark.” —Andrew Bacevich

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