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Scott talks with Trita Parsi about the hollowness of Biden’s efforts to improve things in Gaza. They start with the Administration’s ridiculous framing, which seeks to admit that there are distasteful aspects of Israel’s Gaza campaign, but then to blame those aspects solely on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They also talk about how the war is affecting Democratic voters and the risk that this war will expand to southern Lebanon.

Discussed on the show:

• “The US is trying to force the Israeli government’s collapse” (Al Jazeera)
• “Israel Abandons Its Tortured Soldiers Too” (Substack)
• “U.S. Support for Israel’s War Has Become Indefensible” (The Atlantic)

Trita Parsi is the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft 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: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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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“

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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.

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Robert Murphy returns to the show to discuss how the new GOP healthcare bill compares to Obamacare, why pre-2007 healthcare was far from a free market, and how the Democrats are misleading people when they claim repealing Obamacare will literally kill people. Murphy also explains why he expects the next financial crisis to happen in Europe, how the Fed is raising rates in an unusual way, and why price stability may be an indicator of a bubble. And, of course, how the Fed helps finance America’s wars.

Murphy holds a Ph.D. in economics from New York University, and is a Research Assistant Professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University and a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is the author of many books, including Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action.

Discussed on the show:

Austrian Business Cycle Theory

“The Economics of ObamaCare,” by Robert Murphy

“No, Obamacare Has Not Saved Lives,” by Oren Cass

“The Effects of Medicaid Expansion Under the ACA,” Kaiser Family Foundation Study

“Why Government Doesn’t Work,” by Harry Browne

“For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto,” by Murray N. Rothbard

“How the Fed Helped Pay for World War I,” by John Paul Koning

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Gareth Porter returns to discuss his important new article, “How the US Armed Terrorists in Syria,” the evidence, former-CIA Director Petraeus pushed the scheme to arm rebels in Syria, leading to the rise of Islamic State and the current war there.

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Ray McGovern, former chief of the CIA’s Soviet analysts division, explains why he is far from impressed by CIA/Washington Post‘s latest claims about the Trump-Russia election interference/collusion story.

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Adam Johnson from FAIR discusses his recent articles about biased media coverage of the anniversary of the 1967 war and its aftermath for the Palestinians, as well as feigned media amnesia of previous intervention every time the U.S. attacks national or allied forces in Syria.

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Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, the new Managing Editor of The American Conservative magazine, discusses her great new job and the terrible ongoing war in Afghanistan.

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Historian and journalist Gareth Porter, author of Manufactured Crisis, discusses Trump, Mattis and McMaster’s coming escalation of the Afghan war and why it cannot be won.

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