Barbara Slavin, Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor, discusses the Obama administration's trial-balloon proposal for a possible Iran nuclear deal; gauging the reactions of Congress, Iran and Israel; and the worrisome inclusion of a built-in Authorization for Use of Military Force - just in case the deal goes bad.

Tyler Cullis, a Policy Associate for the National Iranian American Council, discusses whether US sanctions will scuttle a nuclear deal with Iran or not; the unworkable process of having Congress - not the president - in charge of micromanaging temporary sanctions relief; and why Congress is eager to grant Obama the authority to start a war but won't allow him to make peace.

Gareth Porter is an award-winning independent journalist and historian. This is the ninth part in a series of interviews on Porter's new book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Porter discusses the evidence that Iran's alleged nuclear bomb test chamber at the Parchin military complex was actually designed for making nanodiamonds; the 2009 change in IAEA leadership with US-asset Yukiya Amano replacing independent Mohamed ElBaradei; and Israel's ability to...

Adam Morrow, an IPS News journalist based in Cairo, discusses Field Marshall al-Sisi's announced candidacy for president and his main competition; the Egyptian government's bad reputation on the world stage for its mass death sentences; and the how Egypt's turmoil is causing rifts between Gulf monarchies.

Ray McGovern, a retired CIA analyst turned political activist, discusses why the US media thinks a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent; and Victoria Nuland's successful regime change operation as her guy "Yats" becomes interim prime minister and paves the way for IMF austerity.

Nathanael Ferguson, executive director of Texas Public Policy Action, discusses the criminal justice reforms coming from the political right; the detrimental and cascading effects of too many laws and the war on drugs; and former NYPD boss Bernie Kerik's change of heart after his stint in federal prison.

Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the ACLU, discusses her Tomdispatch article "Big Data and the Internet of Things Means the Surveillance of Everything."

Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, discusses the fake reforms in Congress' NSA bills; the millions of innocent people caught in the NSA's practice of collecting phone records two or three "hops" away from the suspect; and why Rep James Sensenbrenner's NSA reform bill is the best of the lot.

Syndicated columnist Eric Margolis discusses the 528 Muslim Brotherhood supporters sentenced to death by an Egyptian judge; continuing US financial support for Egypt despite army chief al-Sisi's purge of political dissidents; the possibility of an armed uprising by Egyptian army defectors; and whether or not Israel will join the war in Syria.

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi discusses the belligerent Americans itching for conflict with Russia and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's increasingly desperate behavior ahead of elections.

Gareth Porter is an award-winning independent journalist and historian. This is the eighth part in a series of interviews on Porter's new book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Porter discusses the CIA's flawed assessment of Iran's nuclear program; re-using the "fix the facts around the policy" strategy from the Iraq war; the good guys in the CIA like Paul Pillar; why wrongheaded National Intelligence Estimates go unchallenged; and the high-level coverup of a...

Gareth Porter is an award-winning independent journalist and historian. This is the seventh part in a series of interviews on Porter's new book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Porter discusses the mystery of the MEK-delivered "smoking laptop" documents, the circumstantial case that the documents were Mossad forgeries based on flawed assumptions on Iran's uranium enrichment and Shahab-3 missile programs; and the German intelligence officials who advised the...

Robert Blumen, an independent enterprise software consultant based in San Francisco, discusses his article "Say's Law and the Permanent Recession" at Mises.org; the macroeconomic balance of supply and demand; Keynes' thoughts on recessions and stimulus spending; the merits of social support in a kleptocratic economy; and Robert Higgs' "regime uncertainty" theory.

Sheldon Richman, vice president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses Robert Kaplan's article "In Defense of Empire" in The Atlantic; why the US uproar over Russia's anti-gay law is only making it worse for gay Russians; how the NED and other "pro-democracy" groups make legitimate opposition parties look like American stooges; and whether team Obama blundered or conspired in Ukraine.

Gareth Porter is an award-winning independent journalist and historian. This is the sixth part in a series of interviews on Porter's new book Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. This interview covers the IAEA's failed attempts to "catch" Iran violating the NPT and pursuing nuclear weapons, and debunks the many accusations leveled at Iran's nuclear program over the years by Olli Heinonen, David Albright, and other Iran-hawks.