Eli Clifton discusses the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan study group, a panel of national security experts and former officers giving recommendations on whether the U.S. should get out of Afghanistan on the Trump administration’s withdrawal timeline. Some of these experts have recommended that we pull troops out soon, but the majority have counseled against a hasty withdrawal—which of course in practice could very well mean staying indefinitely. Clifton points out the obvious problem with...

Ray McGovern talks with Scott about the lies and malfeasance of the national security state during the “Russiagate” fiasco. McGovern begins by rehashing the FBI’s lies that first led to a FISA warrant on Carter Page, who they failed to disclose to the court was already a CIA asset who was delivering them information about the Russians. McGovern also reminds us that Comey himself lied about the reliability of the evidence in the Steele dossier, which in private he revealed that he knew to be...

Scott interviews Gareth Porter about his coverage of the recent and widespread claims of a Chinese genocide of the Uyghurs. Many of these accusations have relied on the work of one man, Adrian Zenz, whose research Porter calls into question. Porter wrote a piece with Grayzone collaborator Max Blumenthal covering the many instances of data manipulation on Zenz’s part, all of which undermine the case that the Chinese government is perpetrating a genocide. To be clear, says Porter, China is an...

Scott talks to Ben Wizner of the ACLU about the ongoing Julian Assange saga. Assange’s attempted prosecution under the Espionage Act is practically unprecedented, says Wizner. While it’s true that many leakers of government secrets have been charged for violations of secrecy agreements, no journalist or publisher has ever been successfully prosecuted for putting those secrets out to the public. The Obama administration considered going after Assange, but realized that to do so would set a...

Nathan Robinson shares his story of being fired from the Guardian after posting a sarcastic tweet about Israel. After joking about the amount of military aid the U.S. government sends to Israel, Robinson was immediately labeled an anti-semite and swiftly fired from his position as a columnist at the Guardian. He is hardly the first to endure such treatment. Robinson points out how ironic the favorable treatment of the state of Israel is by world governments and the mainstream media, all while...

Phil Weiss is back to discuss Israel, beginning with the observation us that now that the two-state solution is essentially off the table for good, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Israel is an apartheid state that has enshrined in law its subjugation of the Palestinians. Part of this growth in Israel’s boldness can be lain at the feet of Donald Trump, who was unusually loyal to Israel, even by the standards of American politics. But Weiss doesn’t expect much in America’s Israel policy...

Scott talks to Mike Swanson about some of the problems in the U.S. economy and what we can expect in the near future. Scott points out the emerging real estate booms in places like Austin, Texas, as wealthy residents of states with severe lockdowns seek relief in states with less strict policies. These price spikes represent real demand, no doubt, but they come at the expense of local residents who can no longer afford to live in their home cities. Swanson adds that the real unemployment...

Nasser Arrabyee discusses the heavy fighting going on outside of Ma’rib, the last stronghold of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen. The Houthi “rebels” are closing in on the city, says Arrabyee, and may capture it within a few days—doing so could give them the bargaining chip they need to finally negotiate an end to Saudi aggression against their country and their people. Arrabyee hails the recent announcement of an end to American support for Saudi “offensive operations” as very good news,...

Scott interviews Patrick Jaicomo of the Institute for Justice about the case of José Oliva, a Vietnam veteran who was assaulted by police officers at a VA hospital in 2016. Because of doctrines like qualified immunity, it has taken years just to reach the point where Oliva can make his case against the officers in civil court. In America, government officials are virtually immune from civil prosecution, even in cases like this that seem so obviously unjust. Jaicomo and his group work...

John Kiriakou discusses an alarming new trend in the government and the media, in which the American right is freely compared to some kind of domestic terrorist or insurgent movement. Kiriakou describes the way that a small group of radicals like those who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January are being used to justify a crackdown on anyone on the right. So far this crackdown has manifested mostly in the controlling of speech online and calls for Donald Trump and his allies to be held directly...

Scott talks with Danny Sjursen about President Biden’s foreign policy moves during his first few weeks in office. Most notably, the administration has announced an end to all support for “offensive operations” in Yemen. Sjursen agrees that this is great news, but urges some caution so that we don’t too readily accept a declaration that could still allow loopholes. The news isn’t all good: the Biden administration has also hinted that they will cancel the Afghanistan withdrawal deal that was...

Alan Macleod talks about the unholy alliance between government and social media. In an alarming number of cases, says Macleod, companies like Facebook and Twitter end up hiring former government officials to high-ranking positions, creating a revolving door that makes it hard to separate the public sector from “private” media companies. Macleod explains that it was officials like these who had a hand in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story, who perpetuate the idea that anything that runs...

Hassan El-Tayyab discusses the great news out of Washington last week: the Biden administration has announced an end to all support for Saudi offensive operations in Yemen, and is appointing an envoy to help negotiate a peace deal. This is a great victory for all the grassroots peace activists who have worked tirelessly over the last few years to put an end to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. But there is still work to be done—the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthis as a...

Scott talks to Lyle Goldstein about the U.S.-Russia relationship and the future of global nuclear arms negotiations. Goldstein says that after the Cold War, the world’s nuclear weapon situation was mostly under control—as a result, people today have forgotten how dangerous these weapons are, as evidenced by the American government’s willingness to let old treaties lapse. Today, explains Goldstein, there’s almost nothing preventing another buildup and proliferation of nuclear weapons. Given the...

Scott interviews Bette Dam about her reporting on the war in Afghanistan. Dam explains how faulty intelligence about enemy “combatants” has led to many unjustified killings, notably the war crimes by Australian special forces in Oruzgan Province in recent years. In such cases, the “Taliban” label can be used to justify the killing of any fighting-age male, even when many of these are innocent civilians. But of course even calling them Taliban is begging the question of who our enemy is. It was...