Doug Bandow discusses the state of U.S. relations with Russia, an issue of increasing relevance these days as some figures in American government try to leverage Russophobia for political purposes. Bandow reminds us that Russia is virtually no threat to the United States, so long as we don’t provoke them first, but that because of their nuclear stockpile, peace is absolutely critical for the safety of humanity. For some reason Trump’s opponents seem to ignore this fact, jumping at every...

Scott talks to Dave DeCamp about a new audio recording of Julian Assange released by Project Veritas, which proves Assange’s contention that he tried to warn the State Department before the famous leak of the state department cables in 2010. For years, government officials have claimed that Assange and Chelsea Manning endangered the lives of American agents by recklessly releasing these confidential documents. In reality, Assange and his team worked around the clock to redact personal...

Ray McGovern reflects on the ways America’s foreign policy and national security state have changed since his time in the CIA. In particular, he warns that Michael Morell, one of Joe Biden’s top picks to head the CIA, is categorically unqualified to do so based on his record in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq and as an apologist for torture during the early years of the war on terror. In general, says McGovern, Biden’s people conform far too much to the worst of the modern foreign policy...

Aaron Maté is back with yet another update on the cover-up of the investigation into the supposed chemical attack in Douma, Syria. An initial investigation by the OPCW appeared to verify that the 2018 attack was indeed a chlorine gas attack, which must have been carried out by the Syrian government. This report justified the retaliatory American bombing of Syrian government targets. But it quickly emerged, thanks to whistleblowers within the OPCW, that the official report contradicted the...

Scott talks to Chris Woods from Airwars about some of the difficulties in assessing civilian casualties from U.S. bombs in Iraq. Woods estimates very conservatively that between eight and thirteen thousand civilians have been killed during the war in Iraq, but coalition governments only admit to about 1,400. When factoring in excess deaths from the secondary consequences of war, some have estimated that civilian deaths could be as high as one million. Sadly this is not an issue that receives...

Danny Sjursen is back for a look at Biden’s foreign policy team, in particular his new National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Sjursen says that Sullivan fits right in with many of Biden’s other cabinet picks: extremely talented, well-credentialed, respectable people who use their talents to advance horrible policies while deflecting criticism for them. Sullivan, a war hawk, worked closely with Hillary Clinton during Obama’s presidency, especially on the intervention in Libya. He appears to...

rd have been punished. Now Pollard is on the verge of joining those others who walked free for their crimes. Discussed on the show: “The Jonathan Pollard Exception” (Antiwar.com Original) “The Traitor” (The New Yorker) The Samson Option: Israel, America and the Bomb Grant F. Smith is the author of a number of books including Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America, Divert!, and most recently The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. He is...

Gilbert Doctorow talks about Biden’s pick for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, particularly his famous stepfather, Samuel Pisar. Pisar is well-known these days for being a holocaust survivor rescued by American GIs during World War II, but is less known for his decorated international career afterward. Doctorow brings up Pisar’s past because of his prominent role as a representative for American companies in Europe, and especially in the Soviet Union. Pisar’s view was that commerce is an...

Gareth Porter discusses the recent assassination of Iranian defense official Mohsen Fakhrizadeh by the Israeli government, which continues to claim that Fakhrizadeh was a “top nuclear scientist” in Iran. In reality, explains Porter, Fakhrizadeh was not a nuclear scientist, and this assassination is part of a years-long campaign to convince the world that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. No doubt the assassination was intended to provoke some kind of response from the Iranians before President...

Scott talks to Stephen Zunes about Joe Biden’s track record on foreign policy, and its potential implications for his presidency. Zunes rehashes some of the bad parts of Biden’s record, beginning with his support for the invasion of Iraq. Although many Democrats voted for the war, Biden specifically and energetically advocated for it. Zunes worries that Biden is a true believer in the American empire, whereas President Trump doesn’t really have firm beliefs about anything. This made Trump...

Frank Ledwidge, a British former intelligence officer, discusses the futility of the war in Afghanistan (and the rest of the terror wars), which many of the world’s countries have now been mired in for nearly two decades. Ledwidge begins by reminding us just how much the Afghans hate foreign armies. Like most people, they don’t take kindly to an occupying military force telling them how to live; unlike most people, a huge percentage of the rural villagers, especially in the Helmand Province,...

Scott interviews Dan Caldwell of Concerned Veterans for America about President Trump’s plans to withdraw troops from the Middle East in what are looking to be his final weeks as president. The appointment of Colonel Douglas Macgregor to a senior role in the Pentagon gave hope to many in the antiwar movement, speculating that Trump might be trying to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for good before he left office. Now that future is less clear; although he plans to order a few thousand...

Scott talks to Jacob Sullum about the allegations of widespread fraud in November’s presidential elections. Sullum concedes that errors in counting, illegal votes and deliberate obfuscation do sometimes happen in isolated situations—but maintains that the widespread conspiracy alleged by the Trump team would be basically impossible. Even in the handful of cases where Trump has won temporary legal victories, they simply don’t amount to anything close to what he would need to reverse the results...

Kevin Gosztola discusses the abominable record of some of Joe Biden’s key transition team officials, people who are likely to become high-level members of Biden’s eventual cabinet. This list includes the usual war hawks and D.C. insiders, who are sure to return the country to the bipartisan foreign policy consensus of the last few decades, including increased sanctions on Iran and Russia, regime change in Venezuela and Syria, and increased troop levels in the Middle East and Eastern Europe....

Gareth Porter is back for a retrospective on Trump’s foreign policy. Despite campaigning on a relatively non-interventionist platform, and indeed despite explicitly denouncing the policies of the Bush and Clinton families along the way, Trump has not been especially effective in delivering on his promises to bring American troops home from the forever-wars. Porter lays the blame for this failure primarily on the fact that Trump surrounded himself with terrible people who worked to actively...