Bill Buppert is the Smedley D. Butler Fellow for Military Affairs at the Libertarian Institute and host of Chasing Ghosts: An Irregular Warfare Podcast. He served in the military for nearly a quarter century and was a combat tourist in a number of neo-imperialist shit-pits planet-wide. He can be found on Twitter at @wbuppert and reached via email at cgpodcast@pm.me.

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.comYou can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/ https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow

11/12/21 Dave DeCamp with Updates on Russia, Iraq, Yemen and Taiwan

Scott is joined by Antiwar.com’s Dave DeCamp for a rapid fire review of what’s been happening around the world. They start with Russia where the U.S. has told its European allies an invasion of Ukraine could be imminent. DeCamp explains that, if there’s any truth to the Russian troop movements within Russia, it’s likely a response to NATO military activity in the Black Sea region. Next they discuss Iraq. The Iraqi Prime Minister was apparently the target of a drone attack that plenty of hawks were quickly, and baselessly, blaming on Iran. Then they talk about Yemen, where the war appears to have become a bloody stalemate with neither side likely to give in. Finally they discuss China and how the war drums in Washington are beating for Taiwan.

Discussed on the show:

Antiwar.com News

Dave DeCamp is the assistant news editor of Antiwar.com. Follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

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; EasyShip; Dröm; Free Range Feeder; Thc Hemp Spot; Green Mill Supercritical; Bug-A-Salt; Lorenzotti Coffee and Listen and Think Audio.

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11/12/21 Daniel Davis: We Shouldn’t Send American Soldiers to Die for Taiwan

Scott interviews Daniel Davis about an article he recently published at 19fortyfive.com about Taiwan. Davis does believe there is a solid chance that China will invade Taiwan. At the same time, he does not think there is anything the U.S. can actually do about it. Davis explains that, while the American military is much more powerful on a global scale, the Chinese have enough firepower pointed off their coast to overwhelm the U.S. Navy if it gets close to Taiwan. Scott and Davis agree that it would be a costly and ultimately doomed fight. And both stress that the National Security “experts” pointing to nuclear deterrence as the answer are playing a very dangerous and very stupid game.

Discussed on the show:

“Why Should American Soldiers Die For Taiwan?” (1945)
“America Needs To Stop Demanding North Korea Give Up Its Nuclear Weapons” (1945)

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.

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11/12/21 Daniel Larison on Iran, Sanctions and Great Power Competition

Scott brings Daniel Larison back to the show to discuss a handful of articles he’s written recently for Antiwar.com. First they discuss his piece pointing out that there is no legal basis for any action the U.S. takes against Iran, a fact that ought to be brought up more in our public discourse. Scott and Larison also discuss how American foreign policy itself is a rather large incentive for Iran to become a nuclear power. We’ve killed leaders who gave up their nukes. And those who have them, we tend to just criticize from afar. Next they tackle sanctions. The pain caused by American sanctions is as real as the pain caused by American bombs, but it’s not as easy to visualize. Larison explains what we should picture. Lastly they discuss Great Power Competition and predict what will happen as America’s global military power shrinks.

Discussed on the show:

“Attacking Iran Would Be a Crime” (Antiwar.com)
“Sanctions Are an Inherently Indiscriminate Weapon” (Antiwar.com)
“Dispensing With Indispensability: The US Failed To Improve the World” (Antiwar.com)
“The Bankruptcy of ‘Great Power Competition’” (Antiwar.com)
The Stupidity of War by John Mueller

Daniel Larison is a contributing editor at Antiwar.com, contributor at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and former senior editor at The American Conservative magazine. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLarison or on his blog, Eunomia.

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11/12/21 Hunter DeRensis on America’s History of Hating War Profiteers

Scott is joined by Hunter DeRensis to discuss a recent longform article he wrote for The American Conservative. The article was the culmination of months of research DeRensis did on the history of the American public’s perception of weapons manufacturers. DeRensis identifies the period between the World Wars as being the age with the most resistance to the war profiteers. Interestingly, that resistance was largely led by middle-class conservatives. Scott and DeRensis point to Joe Kent, who’s running for Congress in Washington State, as an example of the return of this right-wing resistance to the military-industrial complex.

Discussed on the show:

“Merchants Of Death” (The American Conservative)

Hunter DeRensis is communications director for BringOurTroopsHome.US and a regular contributor to The American Conservative. Find him on his website or on Twitter @HunterDeRensis.

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11/4/21 Peter Zeihan on American Power and China’s Coming Collapse

Scott interviews author and geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan. Zeihan does not believe China will be a nation state ten years from now. One reason, he argues, is that China’s economy is completely dependent on the disappearing American presence keeping the peace on the world’s oceans. This, of course, leads to a back and forth between him and Scott over just how much America’s presence overseas has been disappearing these last few decades. Zeihan also points to the policies the CCP used to regulate the birthrate, which he explains has led to an insufficient number of childbearing aged people to maintain the Chinese population. On top of that, the economy is built on a pile of debt that puts the country’s economy in jeopardy. Zeihan predicts the CCP will take an ultranationalist turn in response to all of these mounting problems. Something that may make war more likely.

Discussed on the show:

Zeihan’s Presentation on Youtube

Peter Zeihan is an American geopolitical analyst, author, and speaker. He analyzes data from geography, demographics, and global politics to understand economic trends and make predictions. His books and newsletter can be found here at his website.

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10/29/21 Ryan McMaken on the Economy, the Money Supply and the Labor Shortage

Scott is joined by Ryan McMaken from the Mises Institute to talk about the state of the economy. McMaken describes how we are still living with the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis as well as the response to it. However, while the government created a ton of new money back then, they took steps to avoid flooding the entire economy with those new dollars. But McMaken explains that those steps have been absent during the aggressive money printing that’s occurred since the pandemic began. Something that has likely played a major role in the inflating prices of goods we are seeing now. Lastly, McMaken touches on what’s going on with the national labor shortage and why it’s surprising him.

Discussed on the show:

The Creature from Jekyll Island by G.W. Griffin
Engine of Inequality by Karen Petrou
The Case Against 2 Per Cent Inflation by Brendon Brown
“Why the Fed’s 2 Percent Inflation Standard Is So Bad” (Mises Wire)

Ryan McMaken is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. He has degrees in economics and political science from the University of Colorado, and was the economist for the Colorado Division of Housing from 2009 to 2014. He is the author of Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.

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10/29/21 Kevin Gosztola on the Cruelty Julian Assange Could Face in America

Kevin Gosztola is back to give an update on the appeal hearing against Julian Assange. Back in January, a UK judge ruled against Assange’s extradition to the U.S., citing his mental health. The U.S. government appealed that decision, leading to this hearing. Gosztola, who was able to watch, gives Scott an update on what arguments were presented. He then explains the numerous ways that, if he’s extradited, the U.S. could strip Assange of his basic liberties and isolate him from friends and family. After hearing the prosecution’s arguments, both are a bit optimistic about Assange’s chance of again avoiding extradition. But the decision is not expected to be known for weeks.

Discussed on the show:

“Appeal Hearing: Prosecutor Attacks Judge’s Decision, Which Blocked US From Extraditing Assange” (The Dissenter)
“Appeal Hearing: CIA’s War On Assange, Their ‘Most Prominent Critic,’ Takes Center Stage” (The Dissenter)
“Inside the CIA’s secret war plans against WikiLeaks” (Yahoo News)

Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” Follow him on Twitter @kgosztola.

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10/26/21 Cheryl Rofer on the Shoddy Science behind Havana Syndrome

Scott is joined by writer and chemist Cheryl Rofer. Rofer penned an article back in May that debunked the increasingly popular theory that numerous American intelligence and diplomatic personnel were in fact the victims of a targeted microwave weapon. Rofer points out that all of the supposed evidence can be explained away. On top of that, the theoretical weapon itself does not even make any sense and can certainly not explain the alleged cases.

Discussed on the show:

“Claims of Microwave Attacks Are Scientifically Implausible” (Foreign Policy)

Cheryl Rofer is a writer of scientific and political commentary. She was a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 35 years.

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10/31/25 Bill Buppert on the Follies of American Militarism

Recommended reading

11/12/21 Dave DeCamp with Updates on Russia, Iraq, Yemen and Taiwan

11/12/21 Daniel Davis: We Shouldn’t Send American Soldiers to Die for Taiwan

11/12/21 Daniel Larison on Iran, Sanctions and Great Power Competition

11/12/21 Hunter DeRensis on America’s History of Hating War Profiteers

11/4/21 Peter Zeihan on American Power and China’s Coming Collapse

10/29/21 Ryan McMaken on the Economy, the Money Supply and the Labor Shortage

10/29/21 Kevin Gosztola on the Cruelty Julian Assange Could Face in America

10/26/21 Cheryl Rofer on the Shoddy Science behind Havana Syndrome

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