Muhammad Sahimi, co-founder and editor of Iran News & Middle East Reports, discusses the resounding defeat of hard-liners in Iran's nationwide elections, and the implications for Iran's relations with the West.

Peter Van Buren, author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, discusses Hillary Clinton's email problem, and why she resembles a political "Pigpen," with clouds of scandal surrounding her at all times.

Nick Giambruno, Senior Editor of International Man, discusses the hidden agenda at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; and how a war on cash makes it easier for world leaders to impose negative interest rates - an impossible feat in a free market.

Gareth Porter, an award-winning investigative journalist, discusses why the Syrian ceasefire is going better than he expected, and why the US doesn't have any reasonable military options to support anti-Assad forces and change the situation on the ground.

Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute, discusses how the Fed is responsible for economic booms and busts; the increase of economic inequality after the gold standard was abandoned in 1971; and the introduction of negative interest rates.

Sheldon Richman, a senior fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society, discusses his article "The Constitution and the Standing Army," and why the US Constitution - not the post-WWII National Security Act - created the basis for our current national-security state.

Jason Ditz, news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses his article "ISIS and the End of Cash: How the war on terror became a war on real money," as government officials get serious about eliminating the $100 bill - and then maybe all other physical currency as well.

Marcy Wheeler, a blogger at emptywheel.net, discusses the FBI's fight with Apple about making an alternate iPhone operating system that would allow the government to see the contents of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rezwan Farook's phone - after the FBI screwed up their first chance to get the information.

Grant F. Smith, director of research at the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, discusses the IRmep-sponsored polls showing that Americans, and particularly young Jewish students, have an increasingly less favorable view of Israel. Reminder: On March 18, 2016, Grant F. Smith and many notable journalists and academics will participate in the "Israel's Influence: Good or Bad for America?" conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Listeners of this podcast will receive a...

Daniel Larison, a senior editor at The American Conservative, discusses his article "How the GOP Failed to Stop Trump," and why establishment-favorite candidate Marco Rubio isn't going to save the party.

Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent for The Independent, discusses the emerging winners and losers in the Syrian conflict - although the end isn't yet in sight.

Jon Schwarz, a journalist with The Intercept, discusses Donald Trump's proclamation in the South Carolina Republican debates that George W. Bush lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the 2003 war, and the profound effect Trump has had on the core belief system of American conservatives.

John Feffer, the director of Foreign Policy In Focus, discusses South Korea's decision to close the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the last remaining economic link between North and South Korea; and how this brings the "sunshine policy" era to a close.

Gareth Porter, an award-winning independent investigative journalist, discusses why the Obama administration continues to pretend the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front qualifies as one of the "legitimate opposition groups" in Syria that should be exempted from Russian air strikes.

Charlotte Silver, an independent journalist and regular writer for the Electronic Intifada, discusses the plight of Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq, who has been on a hunger strike for 3 months in protest of being held in administrative detention in Israel.