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Scott interviews Peter Van Buren to talk through the risk of a nuclear detonation related to the war in Ukraine. Both Scott and Van Buren think the use of nuclear weapons is unlikely, but they dig into the differences in their views of the situation. They also explore how a conventional escalation could play out. Lastly, they turn to North Korea where Van Buren sees the greatest chance of nuclear disaster originating. 

Discussed on the show:

• “Nuclear Chicken Is Overrated” (The American Conservative)
• “Inside the U.S. Effort to Arm Ukraine” (The New Yorker)
• “NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard” (National Security Archive)
• Fail Safe (1964)
• “What Jefferson’s Critics Miss” (The American Conservative)
• “Who is Winning the War in Ukraine?” (The American Conservative)

Peter Van Buren worked for 24 years at the Department of State including a year in Iraq. He is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People and the novel Hooper’s War. He is now a contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Thc Hemp Spot.

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Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses revelations that a CIA front group was behind Alan Gross’s cell phone distribution scheme in Cuba; why the US government has pushed for regime change in Cuba for 50+ years; how electoral politics brought on the Cuban Missile Crisis and nearly a nuclear war; the chance that Gross could be freed in a prisoner swap deal for “the Cuban Five;” and the significance of Germany’s gold repatriation.

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IPS News journalist Adam Morrow discusses the huge demonstrations in Egypt on the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square revolution; the Mubarak regime loyalists still entrenched in Egypt’s security services; how the Western media exaggerates religious conflicts between Muslims and Coptic Christians; and speculation that the CIA is behind either the Muslim Brotherhood, the secular protestors, the Mubarak loyalists, or all of them.

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Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked, discusses his article “How Cameron created the chaos in north Africa;” the consequences of NATO’s regime change operation in Libya; how our infantile leaders have created a foreign policy worse than old-style colonialism; and why we should be more worried about crusading Western governments than Islamic terrorism.

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Christopher Coyne, associate professor of economics at George Mason University, discusses his paper “The Overlooked Costs of the Permanent War Economy [PDF];” how military spending wastes resources (money, materials and human ingenuity); the downside of increased efficiency in warfare; the socialist nature of the military; and why centrally planned economies ultimately collapse.

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Tim Kelly of The Future of Freedom Foundation discusses why the charges against Bradley Manning should be dropped; the selective enforcement of the law; the government’s overuse of classification; and how the CIA has served the interests of big business since its founding.

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John Glaser, editor at Antiwar.com, discusses the unintended consequences from US intervention in Africa; why Mali is “the fastest blowback yet” in the war on terror;” the crippling and immoral sanctions on the Iranian people; how the US is creating new enemies in Yemen with drone strikes; and how Obama has usurped the right of due process under the law.

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Sheldon Richman, vice president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses his article “World War II Spending Did Not End the Great Depression;” using the standard of living (instead of GDP) to measure economic depressions; why most Republican economists are “military Keynesians;” and why even the Left believes that war is good for the economy.

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Philip Giraldi, Director of the Council for the National Interest, discusses the “Christian Zionism and American Islamophobia” conference on January 30 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.; the peculiar interworking of American end-times theology and Israeli politics; the CIA’s skepticism on the effectiveness of drone strikes; and how fleeing Syrians are creating a refugee crisis and security problems.

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