Matt Taibbi talks about the bizarre origins of the Ukraine impeachment inquiry being conducted in Congress. He carefully explains the distinction between real whistleblowers like Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning, who risked their lives and freedom to expose genuine...
Scott talks to Danny Sjursen about President Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, which Sjursen views as the first instance of him actually following through on a major promise made on Twitter. Sjursen says that to surprise the generals and war...
Chas Freeman talks about America’s relationship with Taiwan, which the U.S. has long considered an official part of China. Since 2018, however, our stance has begun to change in what Freeman considers a dangerous way. Because American policy prevents direct arms sales...
Daniel Davis discusses President Trump’s recent announcement that he wants to withdraw American troops from Syria. He made a similar announcement a year ago, and just like back then, he’s now being met with fierce opposition, along with claims that to leave now would...
Dan McKnight joins Scott to discuss his very important organization, Bring Our Troops Home, which argues against America’s endless wars in the Middle East from a constitutional conservative position. Scott explains how the left has always been pretty good on the war...
Scott interviews Reese Erlich about the situation in Turkey, where the government is beginning to carry out a plan to get rid of the country’s Kurdish population in a kind of soft genocide that consists mostly in displacing native Kurds with Syrian refugees. Scott and...
Andrew Cockburn talks about what he calls the legal corruption of the U.S. government and various lobbying industries. Whether it’s arms manufacturers, steel, farmers, or health insurance, practically every major industry in the U.S.—and some industries abroad—works...
Adam Wunische joins the show to discuss his work in assessing the true costs of the war in Afghanistan and the future of the American military there. He and Scott remind us that most metrics used to describe the costs of war assume that you can put a value on the loss...
Scott interviews Sheldon Richman about his new book, Coming to Palestine, a collection of Richman’s essays on the founding of Israel. Richman was raised in a Jewish household to believe that Israel’s cause was just and worthy of support. He now believes that the...
Nasser Arrabyee is back with an important update from Yemen, where Houthi forces are now claiming to have captured thousands of Saudi soldiers in a battle in August. They likely view this as leverage in a possible peace negotiation, but Scott fears that it could also...
Mark Perry discusses some of the disasters of America’s foreign policy for the last 20 years, particularly U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in their war in Yemen and repeated cases of empowering Iran by starting or supporting ill-advised conflicts that end up making Iran...
Daniel Lazare rehashes some of the details of “Russiagate”, focusing on the obvious media malfeasance and bias against President Trump, and the theory that the so-called “intelligence community” was doing everything they could to sabotage him. The latest episode in...
Jonathan Fenton-Harvey talks about President Trump’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia and his corresponding push against Iran. Trump seems uniquely willing to come out and say his real reasons for this closeness—that it’s all about money. Trump likes that Saudi...
Ali Demirdas talks about the Syrian YPG, a Kurdish organization associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which America has supported against Assad in Syria. Demirdas thinks this partnership is ill-advised, and that the YPG’s chances of ruling significant parts of...
Patrick Cockburn discusses the recent attacks on a Saudi oil facility, an American drone, and two Japanese tankers, all of which have been pinned to various degrees on Iran. It’s unclear to what extent Iran actually was involved—it’s always possible that this is a...
Scott interviews Sheldon Richman about his new book, a collection of essays on the history of Israel and Palestine. He explains that almost everything we’ve heard about the official narrative of the founding of Israel is wrong—far from a country of peaceful Jews...
Nasser Arrabyee comes back for an update on the war in Yemen. Saudi forces continue to bomb Yemeni cities, and American neocons continue to insist that the war is being justly prosecuted against the Iran-backed Houthis. Arrabyee says these claims of Iranian support...
Scott interviews Hannah Cox, from Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, who explains why anyone who favors smaller government should oppose the death penalty. Among the problems she cites: one in nine death penalty convicts are later outright exonerated,...
David Stockman talks about the recent drone strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility and America’s sanctions war in Iran. For some reason, everything in the Middle East seems to be about Iran, as far as American neocons are concerned. They will do anything to turn a...
Max Blumenthal recounts his recent trip to Syria, where he witnessed firsthand the destruction wrought by the proxy war fought there with the support of the U.S. To this day, willingness to negotiate with the Assad regime makes you a pariah in Washington, as we’ve...
