Steve Ellner discusses the economic and political situation in Venezuela, and the U.S. role in pushing the country to where it is today. Ellner dispels a common misconception, which is that foreign influence has had little to do with Venezuela’s recent problems compared to mismanagement by the socialist governments of Chavez and Maduro. This has certainly played some role, Ellner concedes, as have falling oil prices, but he insists that by far the greater factor has been U.S. meddling during...

Scott interviews Gareth Porter about the competing attitudes toward Iran in American foreign policy. During his presidency, Trump was sometimes the voice of restraint against those who favored a more aggressive stance toward Iran and in some cases even advocated outright war. In particular, says Porter, CENTCOM chief General Kenneth McKenzie was constantly moving to keep troops on the ground in Iraq and American ships in surrounding waters, all to demonstrate U.S. power and increase tensions...

Hassan El-Tayyab discusses the prospects for an end to the war in Yemen under the incoming Biden administration. President Biden and Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken have both signaled that they’d like to end U.S. participation in the war right away, though as of this interview, the new administration hasn’t made any moves yet. Still, opponents of the war are hopeful that Biden will follow through on his promise, especially given the renewed efforts in Congress to end both the war and...

Scott talks to Matt Agorist about police violence in America. Agorist is adamant that although police brutality is disproportionately a problem in black communities, this is an issue that affects us all, and Americans should be unified in opposition to growing police power. If anything, movements like Black Lives Matter end up deflecting the blame from where it should be aimed: rather than admitting that there’s a widespread problem with the way police are empowered to abuse Americans without...

David Swanson discusses the foreign policy of the incoming Biden administration. On the positive side, he thinks there’s a good likelihood of ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen, lifting some of America’s oppressive economic sanctions and better relations with Iran and Cuba. But on the other hand, many of Biden’s key appointments have been people who support more war and international hegemony for the United States at any cost. In particular, this means expanding NATO even farther into...

Scott interviews journalist Andrew Quilty about his recent piece for the Intercept, which details the horrific violence being carried out in Afghanistan by U.S.-backed militia groups. In several recent attacks, these “death squads” have raided religious boarding schools known as madrassas, and murdered dozens of the boys who studied there. Although these madrassas are sometimes thought to be Taliban recruiting grounds, Quilty explains that this kind of violence only drives regular Afghans...

Scott talks to Kelley Vlahos about America’s 30-year nonstop bombing campaign of Iraq, and the prospects for ending it. The destruction of Iraq, says Vlahos, has followed a familiar trend: American politicians sell the public on the need to get involved in some country with what looks to be a brutal dictator in charge, then the military intervenes, usually by bombing indiscriminately, and finally the country is left far worse than it was before. In recent memory, America has done this to Iraq,...

Kalmen Barkin discusses the deplorable situation of Palestinians in Israel today, a people whose lands and rights are being slowly taken away from them by the Israeli government, while the delusive promise of a two-state solution vanishes along with them. Barkin believes Netanyahu may be in political (as well as legal) trouble these days, though he has been able to survive nearly every challenge to his regime thus far. Even if Netanyahu is replaced by another prime minister, it is unlikely...

Scott talks to Bob Murphy about the economic side of all the covid policies this past year. Most obvious are the huge spending bills, which dwarf even the stimulus measures taken after the 2008 recession. Murphy reminds us that this kind of rampant spending really means the federal reserve and the treasury have “created” new money out of thin air. This money enters through the financial sector, slowly making its way through the rest of the economy, where it can cause price inflation,...

rial from his personal life, but concedes that that has little to do with his father’s election as president. More importantly, the laptop has records of many of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including, most notably, hundreds of millions of dollars from companies in Ukraine and China. In the case of both countries, Hunter was peddling the appearance of access to his father—meetings and photo ops with the Bidens in turn granted these foreign companies political connections within their own...

Scott interviews Kevin Gosztola about the breaking news that a British judge has denied the request to extradite Julian Assange from England to the United States. The prosecutors will appeal, says Gosztola, but this ruling opens the possibility that Assange could be released within a few days. Although the decision is a big victory for Assange and his supporters, it is not necessarily a victory for press freedom. The problem with the judge’s ruling, Gosztola explains, is that it sides with...

Scott talks to Alan MacLeod about the bizarre and troubling trend in both media and government where Russia is the automatic target of blame for everything these days. Every hack and cyber attack, of course, is automatically ascribed to the Russians, as are more mundane things, like CIA operatives getting mysterious migraines overseas. This reminds MacLeod of the old Cold War hysteria, where people thought Soviet agents were hiding in every area of American life. Increased hostility toward...

Mark Perry talks about General Lloyd Austin, Biden’s pick for Secretary of Defense. Austin is a military man through and through, but he isn’t your run-of-the-mill war hawk, explains Perry—instead, Austin has shown himself to be a strong advocate for diplomacy and restraint, likely the reason Biden has chosen him. Perry is optimistic about the potential foreign policy of the Biden administration: although Biden was a prominent cheerleader for the war in Iraq, he has moderated his positions...

Scott interviews Ted Carpenter about his recent coverage of America’s sanctions policies around the world. Carpenter begins by explaining that economic sanctions are both ineffective and inhumane. For one thing, the theory that when a population is pressed hard enough they will rise up and overthrow their government has never been successfully borne out in practice. What’s more, it is never the ruling class that suffers under a sanctions program, since they will be able to ensure security and...

Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud discusses a series of recent articles he’s written on the status of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and the long history that informs the situation today. It has now become clear, says Baroud, that the once-promised two-state solution is off the table. The Israeli government has realized that it can pretty much continue to expand its settlements into the dwindling Palestinian lands and keep oppressing its people, all with very little pushback in the...