Journalist Mel Frykberg discusses the Libyan government's involvement in kidnapping their own prime minister; the Egyptian military's large scale operation in Sinai; the Muslim Brotherhood's limited political options; and Al Qaeda's involvement in nearly every Middle East-North Africa armed conflict.

Michael Swanson is the author of The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963. This is the second interview in a series of in-depth discussions about the book.

Amy Hagopian, Associate Professor at the University of Washington's School of Public Health, discusses the Public Library of Science's (PLOS) study on mortality in Iraq from the 2003-2011 war and occupation; the results of other comparable studies done by different groups since 2007 or so; and the public's gross underestimation of the human costs of war.

Barbara Slavin, a journalist with Al-Monitor, discusses the centerpiece of Iran's new nuclear proposal; the concessions Iran is willing to make in exchange for seeing an "endgame" plan from the US; the unhappy hardliners on both sides; and why Iran's uranium enrichment serves little purpose other than as a bargaining chip.

Trevor Timm, co-founder and executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, discusses the launch of SecureDrop, an open-source submission platform for whistleblowers; Glenn Greenwald's media venture with billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar; and the bombshell revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that haven't been revealed yet.

Reza Marashi, Research Director for the National Iranian American Council, discusses the promising US-Iran talks that are no longer dominated by hardliners on both sides; the most cohesive Iranian political environment since the 1979 revolution; and George W. Bush's failure to make a deal 10 years ago when Iran's nuclear program was far less developed than it is now.

Former FBI agent Coleen Rowley discusses how whistleblowers check excessive government power and secrecy; NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's Russian exile; and Senator Diane Feinstein's claim that the current NSA spying program would have prevented 9/11.

Flynt Leverett, professor at Penn State University's School of International Affairs, discusses the concessions and guarantees needed to make a deal on Iran's nuclear program; whether the UN Security Council's decrees supersede Iran's NPT/sovereign rights; Obama's willingness (or not) to use political capital to fight obstructionists; and the legal impediments to lifting sanctions, even if Iran capitulated to all demands.

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, Counsel to the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program, discusses what the government does with Americans' data; how the "fusion centers" established after 9/11 to fight terrorism quickly expanded their focus to all manner of criminal activity; whether public backlash can dial back the government's power; and the NSA's lies about oversight and the legality of their spying activities.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern discusses his trip to Russia to present NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence.

Philip Giraldi, executive director of the Council for the National Interest, discusses CNI's fight against the Israel lobby's undue influence on US foreign policy; why a Syrian solution is not as hard as it seems; and how improved US-Iran relations would greatly reduce Middle East tensions.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, discusses the popular opposition to US intervention in Syria; the difficult job of destroying all of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile; the lessons Obama should have learned from Libyan regime change; and the prospects for a non-interventionist US foreign policy.

David Vine, author of Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia, discusses how Italy became the Pentagon's launching pad for future wars in Africa and the Middle East; the bloody results of the military's effort to keep busy; and the ebb and flow of the US's empire of bases.

Patrick Cockburn, a journalist with The Independent, discusses why the media doesn't cover the chaos and violence in post-Gaddafi Libya; how Libyan sovereignty has been degraded by the abduction of terrorist suspect Anas al-Liby in a US commando raid; and the cascading failures of US foreign policy in the Middle East since the Iraq War.

Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, discusses Ron Paul's plan for an instant $1.6 trillion reduction in the national debt; why we need to lower, not raise, the debt ceiling; the dangers of a depreciating dollar; why the NSA's spy data is more useful for blackmail than fighting terrorism; the Fed's money creation shell game; and why empire is a money-losing proposition.