Download Episode.

Scott brings William Van Wagenen on to talk about his new book Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA’s Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government. They talk about why Wagenen was first drawn to the topic before digging into the details we know about covert US policy in Syria, Iraq and the region more broadly.  

Discussed on the show:

• Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA’s Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government by William Van Wagenen
• Why he was drawn to this topic
• “Questions Mount Over Failure to Hit Zarqawi’s Camp” (Wall Street Journal)
• Israel, Winner of the 2003 Iraq Oil War: Undue Influence, Deceptions, and the Neocon Energy Agenda by Gary Vogler
• “The Redirection” (The New Yorker)

William Van Wagenen is the author of Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA’s Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government. He has a BA in German literature From Brigham Young University and an MA in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. You can read his other writings on Syria for the Libertarian Institute here. Follow him on Twitter @wvanwagenen

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

Subscribe to the Substack.

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

Download Episode.

Max Blumenthal joined Scott on Antiwar Radio this week to explain why you should accompany them and an impressive lineup of speakers at the Rage Against the War Machine rally in Washington DC this Sunday, February 19th. Scott and Blumenthal run through everyone who will be speaking, and highlight some Sister Rallies that will be held simultaneously for those who cannot make it to DC. They also address some of the sectarianism that threatens this coalition of leftists and libertarians. Finally, Blumenthal discusses some of the investigative projects and articles published recently at The Grayzone. 

Discussed on the show:

• RageAgainstWar.com
• Rage Against the War Machine on Twitter
• List of Sister Rallies
• “Declassified intelligence files expose inconvenient truths of Bosnian war” (The Grayzone)
• “Zelensky’s diaspora delegation led by economic hit-woman who led plunder of Ukraine” (The Grayzone)
• “From the ‘Groyper Wars’ to ‘America First’: Nick Fuentes becomes a ‘somebody’” (The Grayzone)

Director and writer of “Killing Gaza,” Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project and the author Goliath, Republican Gomorrah and The 51 Day War. Follow him on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Scott interviews former Lt. Col. Daniel Davis about the war in Ukraine. Davis has been closely watching the daily developments on the ground in Ukraine. He gives an update on where things stand on all the fronts, shares his interpretation of the current Russian offensive and draws on his experience in Iraq War I to illustrate the futility of the recent NATO battle tank transfer. 

Discussed on the show:

• Davis’s author page on 1945
• Eleventh Hour in 2020 America by Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis

Daniel Davis did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan during his time in the army. He is a Senior Fellow at Defense Priorities 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.” Find him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Scott is joined by Patrick MacFarlane to talk about the alleged Chinese balloon that captured the American news cycle a week ago. MacFarlane wrote a piece for the Libertarian Institute digging into the details and arguing against the fearmongering that has predictably resulted. Scott and MacFarlane talk about this story as well as the broader Cold War with China. 

Discussed on the show:

• “An Overblown Balloon Headline Inflates False Narrative on China” (Libertarian Institute)
• “Who Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipelines? “Russia, Russia, Russia!” (Racket [formerly TK News])
• “Rep. McCaul Plans Taiwan Visit This Spring, McCarthy Later” (Antiwar.com)
• Wilson’s War by Jim Powell

Patrick MacFarlane is the Justin Raimondo Fellow at the Libertarian Institute where he advocates a noninterventionist foreign policy. He is a Wisconsin attorney in private practice. His work has appeared on antiwar.com and Zerohedge. Follow him on Twitter @patmacfarlane_

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Dave DeCamp was back on Antiwar Radio this week to go over the major report by Seymour Hersh that details how a U.S.-Norwegian covert operation was responsible for the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines last fall. Scott and DeCamp go through what Hersh reported and explain how the story compares to their initial expectations. They also revisit the absurd assertion made immediately by the legacy media hivemind that Russia must have bombed its own pipeline. 

Discussed on the show:

• “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline” (Substack)
• “Who Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipelines? “Russia, Russia, Russia!” (Racket [formerly TK News])
• “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 8, 2023” (Institute for the Study of War)
• “Former Israeli PM Bennett Says US ‘Blocked’ His Attempts at a Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal” (Antiwar.com)
• KPFK.org
• RageAgainstWar.com

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com and the host of Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp. Follow him on Twitter @decampdave

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Ted Snider is back to discuss his recent article for the Libertarian Institute. In it, Snider documents the many chances that were missed to avoid the war in Ukraine and a handful of opportunities to stop the war after Russia invaded. In this interview, Scott and Snider examine that history. They agree that the unnecessary nature of this war makes the present bloodshed that much more tragic. And that the war will probably end with similar conditions to what would have come about through talks and agreements before the war, which renders further fighting to be largely pointless.  

Discussed on the show:

• “The Missed Opportunities of the War in Ukraine” (Libertarian Institute)
• “Time is not on Ukraine’s side” (Washington Post)
• “The U.S. Approach to Ukraine’s Border War Isn’t Working. Here’s What Biden Should Do Instead” (Politico)
• “The First Months of U.S. Relations with the New Russia, 1992” (GWU National Security Archive)
• “Diplomatic Cables Show Russia Saw NATO Expansion as a Red Line” (ACURA)
• “Zelensky Flounders in Bid to End Ukraine’s War” (Foreign Policy)
• “Fact Checking Zelensky on Non-Alignment” (Antiwar.com)

Ted Snider has a graduate degree in philosophy and writes on analyzing patterns in U.S. foreign policy and history. He is a regular writer for Truthout, MondoWeiss and antiwar.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Scott talks with journalist Arthur Bloom about the case of Donald Reynolds. Reynolds is currently serving a life sentence plus 75 years in a Communications Management Unit (CMU), a prison for terrorists. But Reynolds is not a terrorist, he’s in on drug, weapons and money laundering charges. But Bloom does not find the case against Reynolds compelling. He explains why and gives his best guess for what’s really going on. Scott and Reynolds also examine the possible link between this case and the ATF’s Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal. 

Discussed on the show:

• “The Knoxville Kingpin Who Wasn’t” (The American Conservative)
• “More Odd Details in the Donald Reynolds, Jr. Case” (The American Conservative)
• “A Response to John Kiriakou” (Arthuriana Substack)
• Fast and Furious OAJ Report (2012)

Arthur Bloom is an editor, researcher, and amateur colonial historian. His work has appeared in The American Conservative, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Guardian, and many other outlets. Subscribe to his Substack Arthuriana and follow him on Twitter @j_arthur_bloom.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Scott interviews James Bamford about some of the stories he collected for his new book about the collapse of America’s counterintelligence apparatus. They start with Russiagate and talk about how, while the government and media were screeching about imaginary Trump-Russia collusion, the UAE had two spies in the Clinton Campaign. They also talk about how the NSA lost half a billion classified documents containing methods later used for the WannaCry ransomware attacks of 2017, the former FBI counterintelligence agent who is now facing charges for working with the Russians, a group of former CIA and FBI guys who were accidentally hired to help a Russian coup attempt, the lack of accountability for the intelligence failures of Iraq War II, the framing of Maria Butina and the mole in the FBI who spent two decades transferring documents to the Chinese government in the most blatant fashion imaginable. 

Discussed on the show:

• “The American intelligence community has no accountability — so how can it keep us safe?” (New York Post)
• Spyfail by James Bamford
• The Interview (IMDb)
• “How an Oligarch May Have Recruited the F.B.I. Agent Who Investigated Him” (New York Times)
• A Pretext for War by James Bamford
• “How China planted an FBI mole who was discovered only after gutting the CIA’s vast spy network” (Business Insider)
• “These Shady UAE Donors Gave Millions to Clinton and Trump While the Feds Dozed” (Daily Beast)

James Bamford is a journalist, professor, documentary filmmaker, and the author of Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency and A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies. Find him on Twitter @WashAuthor.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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

Download Episode.

Eric Margolis returns to the show to talk about the war in Ukraine. Scott reflects on some of his early interviews with Margolis about Ukraine back in 2014. Just as he had said back then, Margolis sees some disturbing parallels between the modern tension in Eastern Europe and the build-up to World War One. Scott and Margolis talk about the mission creep happening with the West agreeing to send more and more provocative weapons while Russia claims sovereignty over territory it doesn’t even control. Notably, the two talk about how Crimea may be the big flashpoint. Margolis also points out that Washington is making all the same mistakes over Taiwan. 

Discussed on the show:

• “Halt This Crazy Rush to All Out War” (EricMargolis.com)
• Scott’s early interviews with Margolis about Ukraine
• “America’s Pacific Century” (Foreign Policy)
• War at the Top of the World by Eric Margolis
• American Raj by Eric Margolis
• Scott’s debate with Bill Kristol

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.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; 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