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Scott was joined by Daniel McAdams to talk about the domestic politics of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. They start with the retirement of Victoria Nuland before getting into the regime’s recent shift in Ukraine rhetoric. They also talk about the war in Gaza and how it’s impacting American politics.

Discussed on the show:

• “Did ‘Toria’ Jump…Or Was She Pushed?” (Ron Paul Institute)
• “US House Goes Full ‘Gangster’ With Tik Tok Ban” (Ron Paul Institute)

Daniel McAdams is the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and the co-host of the Ron Paul Liberty Report. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLMcAdams and read all of his work over at Antiwar.com.

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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Matthew Hoh, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy and a former State Department official, discusses why he resigned his post in protest over Afghanistan policy in September 2009; the continuing futility of 16 years of US occupation in a country that never was an important terrorist safe-haven; the startling ignorance of super-hawks John McCain and Lindsey Graham; and how informal veterans groups are stepping up to help prevent suicides among their vulnerable peers, since the VA isn’t up to the job.

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Robert Murphy, an author, scholar, and professor, discusses the core premises of Austrian economics; the artificial business cycle of booms and busts; fractional reserve banking and the Federal Reserve System; and lending policy and business decisions.

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Jeffrey Carr, an international cybersecurity consultant, discusses the low evidentiary standard the US government and media has used to make very serious accusations about Russian hacking of Ukrainian military software and, by extension, the DNC emails. Carr says that CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity report – the basis for all these accusations – is the worst he has ever read.

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Muhammad Sahimi, a Professor of Chemical Engineering at USC, discusses Iran’s upcoming presidential elections and why the Iranian “deep state” wants a reactionary hardliner to replace the current moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Sahimi says that sanctions and tough talk from American presidents help boost the economic and political fortunes of Iran’s military and theocratic hardliners – exactly the same people US political leaders claim to be fighting against.

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Philip Giraldi, former CIA officer and Director of the Council for the National Interest, says that “military and intelligence personnel,” “intimately familiar” with the intelligence, say that the narrative that Assad or Russia did it is a “sham,” instead endorsing the Russian narrative that Assad’s forces had bombed a storage facility. Giraldi’s intelligence sources are “astonished” about the government and media narrative and are considering going public out of concern over the danger of worse war there. Giraldi also observes that the Assad regime had no motive to do such a thing at this time.

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Andrew Bacevich, author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, discusses US Central Command leader General Joseph Votel’s charge-ahead mentality on the current counterterrorism plan, despite evidence that it is counterproductive and harmful to American security. Bacevich also laments the fact that there are no great antiwar leaders today of the caliber that opposed WWI.

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Patrick Osgood, Kurdistan Bureau Chief for IraqOilReport.com, discusses the referendum on Kurdish independence, battling ISIS in Mosul and beyond, the impact of low oil prices on Iraq’s economy, and whether Iraq can become a cohesive functioning state without a perpetual US military presence.

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Peter Van Buren, a writer and retired US Foreign Service Officer, discusses his fictional account of an alternate WWII where the US invades Japan, in an exploration of how war creates moral injuries that never heal. He also discusses President Trump’s increasing use of drone strikes, why taking out ISIS won’t end Iraq’s problems, and the partisan stupidity that dominates American politics.

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