Download Episode.

Nasser Arrabyee returns to the show to give some on-the-ground insight into the U.S.-U.K. air campaign against Yemen. Arrabyee then explains the true level of influence that the Iranian regime has in the country. They also discuss some of the internal politics in Yemen and delve into the path to peace.

Discussed on the show:

• “US Blocks Yemen-Saudi Peace Deal” (Antiwar.com)

Nasser 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 Twitter @narrabyee.

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.

Get Scott’s interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

Kelley B. Vlahos joins Scott to discuss her latest article on the failures of the nuclear weapons industry for the American Conservative Magazine, “Dr. Strangelove and the Los Alamos Nuclear Fiasco“. Vlahos details how the government has corporatized nuclear labs with near disastrous effects. Crony capitalism has diminished competition as contracts are handed back and forth, which gives companies no incentive to improve their services or cut their costs. Workers are often subjected to poor working environments and inadequate training. Despite a constant stream of issues, the Bechtel Corporation has been making $2 billion on their deal with the U.S. government for the past 10 years while taxpayers foot the bill. Scott wonders whether Donald Trump might not be able to get revenge on liberal Russia hysteria by negotiating a nuclear disarmament deal with Russia.

Vlahos is the managing editor of The American Conservative. Follow her on Twitter @KelleyBVlahos.

Discussed on the show:

• Los Alamos National Security
• Bechtel Corporation
• “Safety lapses undermine nuclear warhead work at Los Alamos,” by Patrick Malone and R. Jeffrey Smith (Center for Public Integrity)
• “A near-disaster at a federal nuclear weapons laboratory takes a hidden toll on America’s arsenal,” by Patrick Malone (The Center for Public Integrity)
• Los Alamos Study Group
• “Bombs Versus Budgets: Inside the Nuclear Weapons Lobby,” by William D. Hartung
• “Obama’s Russian Rationale for $1 Trillion Nuke Plan Signals New Arms Race” (The Intercept)
• “Trump’s Nuclear Experience: In 1987, he set out to solve the world’s biggest problem,” by Ron Rosenbaum (Slate)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

John Feffer, of Foreign Policy in Focus, joins Scott to discuss whether the escalating war of words (and missile tests) between North Korea and the United States is just bluster or something more sinister. Feffer explains how China and Russia help mitigate conflict, why the U.S. would be heavily incentivized to use conventional weaponry if war were to break out, and in what circumstances the United States might use nuclear weapons in North Korea. According to Feffer the U.S. has three unpalatable options: ignore North Korea, go to war, or negotiate. Scott wonders how North Korea would respond to a truly non-interventionist U.S. foreign policy and Feffer explains how the Bush administration jettisoned a working deal with North Korea that had paused their nuclear proliferation and how Obama’s negligent attitude toward North Korea killed momentum toward non-proliferation.

Feffer is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus and author of the dystopian novel Splinterlands. His latest article for FPIF.org is “Honoring Otto Warmbier.” Follow Feffer on Twitter @JohnFeffer.

Discussed on the show:

• Trump tweets red line for North Korea
• “North Korea successfully tests missile that experts say could hit Alaska” (Business Insider)
• Stumbling backward into war
• Moon Jae-in
• Transcript: Defense Secretary James Mattis on “Face the Nation,” May 28, 2017
• “Chronology of U.S.-North Korean Nuclear and Missile Diplomacy” (Arms Control Association)
• Siegried S. Hecker
• Six-party talks
• “How U.S. Used a Bank to Punish North Korea” (Wall Street Journal)
• Christopher Hill
• “Leap Day in North Korea” (Foreign Policy)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nasser Arrabyee returns to the show to share his reporting on the war in Yemen. The war dates back to March 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its U.S.-led coalition began raining death on Yemen in an attempt to reinstall the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who Hillary Clinton empowered in 2012. Arrabyee discusses his experience the outbreak of cholera, how Southern Yemen has fallen into state of lawlessness as ISIS and al-Qaeda’s power has continued to grow, and how Saudi Arabia fights alongside al Qaeda and ISIS and Sudanese mercenaries throughout the country. While Saudi Arabia is the face of the war in Yemen, this is very much an American 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:

• Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
• Ali Abdullah Saleh
• Houthis
• Aidarus al-Zoubaidi (UAE puppet)
• Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
• “Death in Al Ghayil: Women and Children in Yemeni Village Recall Horror of Trump’s ‘Highly Successful’ SEAL Raid,” by Iona Craig
• “5/31/17 Clair Manera, coordinator of MSF project Yemen, is interviewed on the Cholera outbreak.” (Scott Horton Show)
• “Yemen cholera cases pass 300,000 mark, ICRC says” (Reuters)
• “A young prince may cost Syria and Yemen dear,” by Patrick Cockburn
• Al Hudayadah (port)
• “Over 17 million people are under threat of famine in war-torn Yemen” (ForeignPolicy.com)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

James Carden joins the show to talk about his latest article, “A Fateful Encounter: On Today’s Meeting Between Presidents Trump and Putin,” on Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit. Carden also discusses how Liberal Twitter is off its hinge, how the U.S. is the worst of all foreign election meddlers, why tensions with Iran make it impossible for a lasting agreement between Russia and the United States, why no one understands what’s happening in the Ukraine and the United States’ role in the mess, how all of the pundits screeching about Trump’s connections to Russia were the same pundits who supported the case for WMDs in Iraq, and that regime change in Russia is the ultimate goal for many in Washington.

Carden is a contributing writer at The Nation. He is executive editor for the American Committee for East-West Accord and former adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department.

Discussed on the show:

• “For Russia, Trump-Putin Meeting Is a Sure Winner,” New York Times
• “The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries,” Los Angeles Times
• “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin,” by Timothy Snyder
• “Did Endless War Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency? A new academic paper says yes.” Reason.com
• CNN/ORC poll (March, 2017)
• Kurt Volker
• “John McCain and Paul Ryan Hold ‘Good Meeting’ With Veteran Ukrainian Nazi Demagogue Andriy Parubiy,” by Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal
• Minsk Agreement
• “Former Soviet states stand up to Russia. Will the U.S.?,” by Carl Gershman

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Joe Lauria returns to the show to discuss the battle for Mosul, and the degree to which the Iraqi army has defeated the Islamic State. Lauria details the awful destruction of the war: thousands of civilians have been killed, and at least 850,000 people have fled since the fighting started last October, though the origins of the conflict trace back to George W. Bush’s decision to invade in 2003 and the role of the U.S. in aiding ISIS’s rise. Lauria then discusses what’s next: a referendum in Irbil for Kurdish independence from Iraq, the United States attempt to break up the “Shia crescent” between Iran and Syria, and how Donald Trump’s uncertain but aggressive plan in the Middle East makes the situation somehow even more volatile.

Lauria is the author of “How I Lost By Hillary Clinton” and a contributing writer 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.

Discussed on the show:

• Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
• Al Nuri Grand Mosque (Mosul)
• Baath Party (Iraq)
• Raqqa (Syria)
• August 2012 intelligence report predicting rise of ISIS
• Leaked audio of John Kerry saying U.S. tried to “manage” rise of ISIS in Syria
• Pesh Merga
• Al Nusra
• Ayad Allawi
• Haider al-Abadi
• Nouri al-Maliki
• “Iraqi Kurds Build Washington Lobbying Machine to Fund War Against ISIS,” New York Times
• “The Sunni rise again: Uprising in Syria emboldens Iraq’s minority community,” by Patrick Cockburn
• “U.S. military says it conducted airstrike on pro-government forces in Syria,” LA Times
• “Inquiry Points Toward a Pentagon Plot to Subvert Obama’s Syria Policy,” by Gareth Porter

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Mark Perry returns to the show to discuss his latest article in the American Conservative, detailing how Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has the president’s ear in the Middle East and how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have been attempting to clean up Kushner’s mess in the Gulf States. Perry also discusses why war with Iran has some supporters in the White House, but many in the Pentagon and military have grown wary of constant intervention in the Middle East—not to mention that regime change in Tehran would be all but impossible. And the never-ending war in Afghanistan: While Trump is skeptical about adding troops in Afghanistan, it looks likely that the U.S. will send 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan to continue fighting a war that’s already been lost.

Perry is the author of Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies and The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur. His next book, The Pentagon’s Wars will be released in October. Mark Perry is on Twitter @MarkPerryDC.

Discussed on the show:

• 1996 coup in Qatar supported by the Saudis
• “White House Officials Push for Widening War in Syria Over Pentagon Objections,” ForeignPolicy.com
• “James Mattis’ 33-Year Grudge Against Iran,” by Mark Perry
• “The White House’s Warning To Syria Was Kept Close — But Not From Russia,” Nancy Youssef
• Islamic Dawa Party
• (4,000) More troops in Afghanistan

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Doug Bandow returns to the show to discuss his latest article for the National Interest, “I was in Pyongyang When Otto Warmbier Was Released.” Bandow discusses how Pyongyang has changed since he was last there 25 years ago, why North Korea won’t give up their nuclear weapons, and why military engagement would have massive implications for Seoul, which is located just 30 miles from the DMZ. Bandow suggests that the solution is Trump stepping outside the box and reasserting his unconventional approach to US foreign policy. Scott wonders whether the American troops stationed in South Korea aren’t deterrence from American politicians starting a war, which would lead to significant American casualties and whether we could ever live in a world without nuclear weapons.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a regular contributor at Forbes Magazine, the National Interest, and elsewhere. He’s on Twitter @Doug_Bandow.

Discussed on the show:

• Lindsey Graham: “If there’s a war between us and North Korea now it will be over there not here.“
• Seoul proximity to the DMZ makes it vulnerable to heavy shelling.
• “U.S. Nuclear War Planning for a Hundred Holocausts,” Daniel Ellsberg
• “Rodman ‘trying to open door’ in North Korea“
• “Kim Jong Eun inherited an eccentric obsession with basketball from father Kim Jong Il“
• “Trump Says He’d Meet With Kim Jung Un Under Right Circumstances“

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Bob Logan joins the show to discuss his article for Antiwar.com: “Understanding ISIS in the Philippines.” Logan explains the recent uptick in violence in the Philippines and how it’s connected to the history of oppression of Muslims in the Philippines both by colonialist powers and also by the Filipino state. The government has not lived up to its peace agreement with moderate separatists—predicated largely on who controls local natural resources—which has inspired a more radical, violent group of fighters who have aligned themselves with ISIS. Logan details the demands of the Southern separatists and the devastation being carried out by the government—aided by American forces—in its attempt to suppress the opposition.

Robert Logan has a PhD in economics and is a contributing author at antiwar.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download