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Scott brings Daniel Davis back on the show to update us on multiple ongoing conflicts. They start with where things stand in Ukraine before moving on to the situation in Gaza and ending with a quick look at the fighting between factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Trump’s moves against Venezuela.

Discussed on the show:

• Daniel Davis Deep Dive

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 @DanielLDavis1and subscribe to his YouTube Channel.

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.com

You 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

Ted Carpenter discusses the harmful effects of drug prohibition in America, both at home and abroad. First of all, he points out, prohibition simply doesn’t work. We learned this during alcohol prohibition, when consumption remained high but prices and violence skyrocketed, and we continue to see it now, with ubiquitous street drugs, gang violence and millions of people in prison for nonviolent crimes. The public health problem of drug use is very real, Carpenter readily concedes, but that doesn’t in any way imply that the answer is to use the police force and the penal system to try to solve it. In fact, countries like Portugal provide case studies in the ways that decriminalization can lead to lower levels of drug use and far lower levels of the secondary problems caused not by drug use per se, but by the fact that drugs are made to be black market commodities: turf wars, violent crime, dangerously adulterated supplies and police abuse. The failed war on drugs, he says, has had even further-ranging consequences, including being responsible, in large part, for America’s immigration crisis.

Discussed on the show:

• NATO: Dangerous Dinosaur
  
• “Bloodbath in Mexico: Another gift of US drug and drone wars” (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)

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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Scott interviews Doug Bandow about the U.S. relationship to Ukraine, perhaps the perfect case study in America’s foreign policy arrogance. Ukraine, of course, has very little direct strategic relevance to daily life in America—and yet the U.S. government considers Ukraine one of its closest allies. In practice, what this means is that the United States would have to be prepared to go to war with Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, if there were a sufficiently severe provocation. But as Bandow points out, this is an absolutely crazy policy: Russia, remember, has nuclear weapons, and any war between nuclear-armed countries would at some point be liable to go nuclear. And so when it comes down to it, the American government is potentially risking human life on planet earth over a single alliance with a small country halfway around the world.

Discussed on the show:

• “US Should Close the Door to Ukrainian Membership in NATO” (Cato Institute)
• “Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call” (BBC News)
• “Nyet Means Nyet” (WikiLeaks)
• “12/4/20 Gilbert Doctorow: Will Antony Blinken’s Past Catch Up With Him?” (The Libertarian Institute)
• The Putin Interviews
• “Opinion | The Strange Death of Liberal Russophobia” (The New York Times)

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a regular contributor at Forbes Magazine, the National Interest, and elsewhere. He’s on Twitter @Doug_Bandow.

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 William Hartung about America’s nuclear policy and the shocking profit motives that end up determining it. Hartung draws particular attention to land-based ICBMs, which, he explains, aren’t nearly as effective, since they’re fixed in one place, and for that same reason are especially vulnerable to the possibility of an accidental launch. When a country’s government thinks their missile silos are being attacked, they have very little time to decide whether to launch those missiles in a counter-strike before losing the opportunity forever. This is why cutting back on ICBMs is one of the most important steps in reducing the risk of nuclear war. Unfortunately, leading voices in the U.S. government actually want to expand the nuclear arsenal, and since the money for such programs is often spread out in local political districts, opposition can be nearly impossible.

Discussed on the show:

• “Inside the ICBM Lobby: Special Interests Or the National Interest?” (Arms Control Association)
• “George Carlin: Jammin’ in New York (TV Special 1992)” (IMDb)

William Hartung is director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex. Find him on Twitter @WilliamHartung.

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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Kalmen Barkin is back for an update on Israeli politics. Naftali Bennett has just taken over as Israel’s prime minister, following Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to successfully form a coalition government. Bennett, explains Barkin, is quite far on the right, yet he and Netanyahu are bitter rivals—indeed, Barkin says, this whole election was less about specific policy issues than it was about mutual desire to oust Netanyahu. And so the new ruling coalition has elements from both the left and the right, and, for the first time, Arabs. Mainstream Israeli political parties have traditionally refused to work with the Arabs, even when it would have given them a political edge. Whether the Arab party working with Bennett in the new government will be able to successfully advocate for Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories remains to be seen.

Discussed on the show:

• “In Just a Month, Illegal Settler Outpost Sprouts Up on Palestinian Lands” (Haaretz.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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Scott interviews Ray McGovern about the Biden-Putin summit. It was not exactly a groundbreaking meeting, says McGovern, though Biden and Putin did agree on at least one crucial point: America and Russia must never fight a nuclear war, since the results would be beyond catastrophic. It used to be the case, McGovern explains, that nuclear-armed powers recognized the concept of mutually assured destruction, and for that reason would never have countenanced a nuclear first strike. But the Reagan administration seemed to think that anti-ballistic missile systems could keep the U.S. safe from Russian strikes, and therefore give them an advantage in the arms race. In fact there is no missile defense system that can truly keep a country safe from all threats, and so we have a situation where MAD has been compromised, without any real advance in safety. However lackluster the recent summit between Biden and Putin, it’s good to see them at least acknowledge that nuclear war should be off the table, period.

Discussed on the show:

• “Trust Lacking at Blah Summit” (Antiwar.com Original)

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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Ray McGovern is back to talk about America’s relationship with Russia. President Biden met with Putin recently, McGovern explains, which is good for Biden’s stance toward Russia, and, of course, for world peace. War with Russia is sometimes held out as an actual possibility, especially over supposed acts of provocation like Russia’s annexation of Crimea or the various cyberattacks of recent months. But since Russia has nuclear weapons, there’s simply no world in which we could fight a full scale war—the consequences could be the destruction of the entire human race. Whatever Biden’s foreign policy legacy is over the rest of his term, maintaining peace with Russia must be at the top of the list.

Discussed on the show:

• “Biden-Putin Summit: Boon or Bust?” (Antiwar.com Original)
• The Best and the Brightest
  
• “Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call” (BBC News)
• Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden
  
• “Biden and Blinken Blink on Ukraine” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “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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Scott talks to Sam Hussini about the sudden popularity of the coronavirus “lab leak” theory. For about a year straight, Husseini reminds us, anyone discussing the possibility that the coronavirus originated in a lab—even credentialed scientists—were ridiculed in the media and kicked off internet platforms for promoting conspiracy theories. Now, it’s suddenly acceptable to propose that this might have been the real origin of the global pandemic of the last year. But for those who have been paying attention, says Husseini, this controversy is nothing new: governments have been conducting “gain of function” research on deadly viruses for decades, and leaks are more common than people think. Husseini considers the danger to humanity from these pathogens comparable to the dangers from nuclear weapons.

Discussed on the show:

• “Questioning the CDC: Is it a Complete Coincidence That China’s Only BSL4 Is in Wuhan?” (Sam Husseini)
• “Averting Our Gaze from Biowarfare: Pandemics and Self-fulfilling Prophecies” (Organic Consumers)
• “Sam Husseni: Contrary to claims, the pandemic may have come from a lab — and regardless, it exposes the threat of biowarfare arms race” (Washington Babylon)
• “Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19” (The Lancet)
• “Opinion | An Engineered Doomsday” (The New York Times)
• “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence” (Nature Medicine)
• Anthrax Vaccine Blog
• Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century
  
• “#1640 – Josh Rogin – The Joe Rogan Experience” (Spotify)
• “The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins” (Vanity Fair)
• “Wormwood (TV Mini Series 2017)” (IMDb)
• 9/11 Commission Report
• “Why the Covid-19 ‘Lab Leak Theory’ Needs Another Look” (Medium)
• “Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate on Covid-19 Origin” (WSJ)

Sam Husseini is a writer and political activist. He is the communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and formerly worked at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and at the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Follow him on Twitter @samhusseini.

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 Annelle Sheline about her work on the war in Yemen. Sheline says that negotiating an end to the war has proven difficult, since both the UN framework and the U.S.-Saudi mentality is totally inconsistent with the situation on the ground. Neither will confront the fact that the Houthi “rebels” have actually been in control of most of the country for the last few years already, and the Hadi “government” is really a group of men in a hotel room in Saudi Arabia. Asking for concessions from the Houthis at this stage simply isn’t realistic. And so the status quo continues: a near-total blockade, supposedly to stop weapons from getting into the hands of militants, but which really just prevents food and basic medicine from getting to a civilian population suffering from a devastating famine and multiple outbreaks of otherwise easily preventable illnesses.

Discussed on the show:

• “Washington Has Yemen Policy Backward” (Foreign Policy)

Annelle Sheline is a Research Fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute and an expert on religious and political authority in the Middle East and North Africa. Follow her on Twitter @AnnelleSheline.

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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