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Max Blumenthal joins Scott to talk about his recent viral interaction with Biden Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Blumenthal talks about using the Secretary’s final press conference as an opportunity to tell him what he really needed to hear, explains the blatant falsehoods in the official narrative about the effort to reach a ceasefire and talks with Scott about where he sees things in Palestine going from here.

Discussed on the show:

• The clip of Blumenthal in the briefing room

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: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Gareth Porter discusses the recent announcement that the Biden administration will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year. This is obviously a violation of the May 1 withdrawal agreement made under the Trump administration, but Porter is optimistic that Biden and his team are serious about getting out by this fall. Scott and Porter also talk about the latest negotiations in Vienna regarding American sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal. Porter worries that the U.S. is taking too hard a line, thinking they can get away with continued sanctions, and that the negotiations may fall apart as a result.

Discussed on the show:

• “Opinion | Is Leaving Afghanistan the Right Move?” (The New York Times)
• “Osama’s Prodigal Son” (Rolling Stone)
• “General: Afghan military will collapse without some US help” (AP News)
• “Vienna talks reveal Biden team’s attachment to sanctions that would torpedo Iran deal” (The Grayzone)
• “Israeli officials will object to restoration of Iran deal in D.C. visit” (Axios)

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare and, with John Kiriakou, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Scott interviews Edward Hasbrouck about the effort to finally abolish America’s “selective service” requirement, the modern-day remains of what was once the draft. Hasbrouck explains how, after Nixon abolished the draft in the 1960s, Jimmy Carter reinstituted the system we have today, partially to combat national anxiety over the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis. Hasbrouck says that what the draft really is is an assurance to America’s war planners that there will always be an unlimited supply of infantry troops to fight any war the government decides to wage. Taking this power away means putting some of the power to decide when the U.S. will actually fight a war back in the hands of the American people, where it belongs.

Discussed on the show:

• “‘Selective Service Repeal Act’ Introduced in Congress” (Antiwar.com)
• “Red Dawn (1984)” (IMDb)
• Bill Texts: US SB1139

Edward Hasbrouck is a regular writer at Antiwar.com and maintains the blog, Resisters.info.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Scott interviews Ray McGovern about America’s perilous foreign policy stance in Eastern Europe. Over the last few years, the U.S. has increasingly thrown its support behind Ukraine—and specifically the pro-Western, anti-Russian forces in that country. This policy has shown itself to be extremely dangerous, given Russia’s clear willingness to go to war to defend its interests in Crimea and on its own border. Luckily, explains McGovern, the Biden administration seems to have backed down for the time being from a commitment to a full defense of Ukraine against Russia.

Discussed on the show:

• “Biden and Blinken Blink on Ukraine” (Antiwar.com)
• “White House: Intel on Russian ‘bounties’ on US troops shaky” (wfmz.com)
• “Our Work with the DNC: Setting the record straight” (CrowdStrike)
• The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam
  
• “Why America Can’t End Its ‘Forever Wars’” (Newsweek)
• “[Letter from Washington] | A Very Perfect Instrument, by Andrew Cockburn” (Harper’s Magazine)
• “In Midst of War, Ukraine Becomes Gateway for Jihad” (The Intercept)
• “Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call” (BBC News)
• “”F the EU!” – Victoria Nuland phoning with Geoffrey Pyatt” (YouTube)
• “Nyet Means Nyet” (WikiLeaks)

Ray McGovern is the co-creator of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and the former chief of the CIA’s Soviet analysts division. Read all of his work at his website: raymcgovern.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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William Arkin discusses the changing nature of America’s military, specifically the way that operations have shifted away from traditional “boots on the ground” and toward drone strikes, special forces, civilian contractors and intelligence analysts. In fact, for every soldier on the ground in the Middle East today, Arkin estimates that there are at least one hundred other people around the world to support that soldier. This has led to a Faustian bargain for the American people: the number of American troops getting killed and injured overseas is relatively low—on the other hand, this hugely built-up military complex makes it almost impossible to unwind any of our country’s forever wars. In the latest case of Biden’s supposed withdrawal from Afghanistan, Arkin thinks that this, too, is mostly theater: even if all “combat troops” come home, the U.S. will stay heavily involved in Afghanistan in other ways for years and years to come.

Discussed on the show:

• The Generals Have No Clothes: The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars
  
• “Why America Can’t End Its ‘Forever Wars’” (Newsweek)
• “Facing the Facts of War with Russia” (The American Conservative)

William Arkin is a military intelligence analyst, activist, author, journalist, academic and consultant. His award-winning reporting has appeared on the front pages of The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He is the author of American Coup: How a Terrified Government Is Destroying the Constitution and The Generals Have No Clothes: The Untold Story of Our Endless Wars. Follow him on Twitter @warkin.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Dan McKnight talks about the “Defend the Guard” movement, a set of bills that would mandate that a state’s national guard troops not be deployed overseas without an official declaration of war from congress. The legislation has sponsors in 31 states so far, and that number is growing. None of this, McKnight stresses, is a radical reinterpretation American law—it is just an attempt to follow the process that the constitution already lays out. It’s ridiculous, he says, that national guard troops are spending their time helping the American empire occupy countries halfway across the globe when their own states already need help.

Dan McKnight is the founder and Chairman of Idahoans to Bring Our Troops Home. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, three years active duty with the U.S. Army and ten years with the Idaho Army National Guard, including a one-year deployment to Afghanistan in 2006.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Scott talks to Grant Smith about the upcoming Israel Lobby Con, the annual conference hosting a range of expert speakers who offer opposing views to the mainstream zionist position that dominates American polite society. This year’s conference consists of two sessions, the first on Saturday 4/17 and the second on Saturday 4/24, and will be hosted on Zoom. Sign up for the conference at www.IsraelApartheidCon.org, watch live on YouTube or listen to the podcast afterward.

Discussed on the show:

• “Expert Speakers to Discuss Israel, its U.S. Lobby and Apartheid April 17 & 24” (PR Newswire)
• Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy
• IsraelApartheidCon
• “‘Cut Aid Over Israeli Apartheid’ Say Americans: Poll” (Antiwar.com)
• “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid” (B’Tselem)
• Oslo Accords
• “IRmep Policy Brief: ‘Clean Break’ or Dirty War?” (IRMEP)
• Mornings in Jenin: A Novel
  
• The Blue Between Sky and Water
  
• Against the Loveless World: A Novel
  
• Facebook, we need to talk.
• “Neoconservativism in a Nutshell” (LobeLog)
• State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel

Grant F. Smith is the author of a number of books including Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America, Divert!, and most recently The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. He is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Interview #5,500! Scott talks to Gareth Porter about a range of U.S. foreign policy issues, beginning with the Biden administration’s announcement that it will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11. To some extent, this is good news, but it obscures what the headline should be—that Biden has decided to break the Trump administration-brokered peace deal to leave by May 1 of this year. Since the Taliban have promised to start fighting again if that deadline is not met, staying another six months could seriously complicate things. Porter also brings us up to speed on America’s relations with Iran, Vietnam and China.

Discussed on the show:

• “Biden to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021” (The Washington Post)
• Obama’s Wars
  
• “Pentagon campaign to recruit Vietnam as military ally against China exposed delusions of US war strategy” (The Grayzone)

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state. He is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare and, with John Kiriakou, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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Scott interviews Ted Carpenter about America’s dangerous Ukraine policy. Carpenter explains how ever since the Obama administration helped right-wing extremists in Western Ukraine overthrow the elected Russian-aligned government in 2014, the U.S. has been behaving as though it had the right to dictate policy all over Eastern Europe. Thus when Russia moves troops around at its bases on the Western border, the story becomes about Russia threatening our allies in Ukraine, and how the U.S. must be ready to intervene. This is not only a ridiculous policy, Carpenter says, but also a dangerous one. At some point Russia will draw a line in the sand, and if America crosses it, the result could be nuclear war.

Discussed on the show:

• “Joe Biden’s Ukraine Policy: A Repeat of George W. Bush in Georgia?” (The National Interest)
• “Ukraine’s Top Commander Invokes NATO’s Article 5 Military Assistance Clause as West Continues to Oversee Ukraine’s War in the Donbass” (Antiwar.com)
• “Nyet Means Nyet” (WikiLeaks)

Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Carpenter has written 10 books including America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan and most recently NATO: Dangerous Dinosaur. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative Magazine and the National Interest.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

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