Grant Smith joins the show to promote his upcoming conference, Transcending The Israel Lobby At Home And Abroad, to be held in Washington D.C. this May. The conference, as with most of Smith’s work, is focused on exposing the power the Israel Lobby wields in America to control the narrative on both Israel-Palestine, and American relations with Israel. Smith laments the fact that any opposition to the policies of the Israeli government is so easily depicted as mere anti-semitism. He is...

Daniel Lazare discusses the problems facing Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who is dealing with a troubled economy, declining political popularity at home, and failing military excursions abroad. Lazare and Scott also talk about the failure of President Trump to deliver on his foreign policy promises, instead allowing himself to be bought by zionist donors like Sheldon Adelson, just like any other Republican. Trump's presidency has been characterized by the same pro-Israel, pro-Saudi,...

Scott talks to Trita Parsi about an event being hosted next week by Parsi’s organization, the Quincy Institute, which will pit advocates of a restrained foreign policy against war hawks in a series of panel discussions. The event is Wednesday, February 26 in Washington D.C. Parsi says that although much of the American populace favors a restrained foreign policy, the beltway is dominated by pro-war neoconservatives. Valuable as it is to have outsider writers and activists calling for...

Gareth Porter comes on the show to promote his new book, The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War, cowritten with John Kiriakou. Porter and Scott recap the entire modern history of U.S. relations with Iran, focusing on the inflated threat of their nuclear program. Discussed on the show: The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of WarDevil’s Game1953 Iranian coup d’étatIran Hostage CrisisIran-Contra Affair“When the...

Cliff Maloney of Young Americans for Liberty joins the show to talk about the “Defend the Guard” movement popping up in state legislatures around the country. The legislation on which the movement is based calls for an end to the calling up of states’ national guard troops to federal service without an explicit declaration by congress. These “Defend the Guard Acts” are one avenue by which Maloney’s organization hopes to reduce the scope of the federal government’s abusive overreach and help...

Danny Sjursen is back for part two of his conversation with Scott about America’s foreign policy disasters, this time focusing on what Sjursen calls “the coming battle for Eurasia.” According to an old theory of geopolitics, the power that controls central Eurasia—that is, eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East, with all its natural resources and strategic position—will be the dominant global hegemon. Obviously, certain figures in the American government would like to be in that position....

Scott talks to Danny Sjursen about the many catastrophic failures of American foreign policy, and most recently the proposed plan to carve out an autonomous Sunni region in western Iraq, which the U.S. could use to help control the Middle East and prevent Iranian influence from spreading to the eastern Mediterranean. The plan, says Scott, would be a reversal of everything the American military has spent much of this century doing in its wars in Iraq, and could lead to the deaths of thousands...

Scott interviews Suadad al-Salhy about her recent piece on the proposed U.S. plan to create an autonomous Sunni state in western Iraq. This would theoretically allow the U.S. to continue to exert control in the country, preventing the dreaded “land bridge” connecting Iran to Syria and other allies in the Mediterranean. But this plan is idiotic for a number of reasons, say Scott and al-Salhy, not least of which being that America has been fighting on behalf of the Iraqi Shiites for years, and...

Scott talks to Peter Van Buren about impeachment and the fiasco at the Iowa Caucuses, and what they mean for the Democrats’ political prospects heading into the election. Van Buren says that although President Trump’s behavior with respect to Ukraine seems a little sleazy, nothing even remotely impeachable happened, and the trials in the House and Senate were little more than shows of partisan hatred or loyalty. He also says this victory for Trump will clearly be detrimental to the democrats...

Sheldon Richman discusses President Trump’s new “Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People,” which is really just an update of last year’s “Deal of the Century.” The plan presents itself as generous and fair, but really, says Richman, it simply codifies much of the settlement and annexation of Palestinian land that Israel has been engaged in for decades, and would create what in practice would be an apartheid state. Richman says this plan is, for the most part, probably...

Scott interviews John Dennis, a Republican congressional candidate from California challenging Nancy Pelosi in the upcoming election. Dennis, a businessman, says he wants to unseat Pelosi mainly because she’s terrible on issues of war and the intelligence state. These areas used to be strengths among Democrats, but since the Obama administration the left has been conspicuously silent. Dennis believes that not only are American Republicans coming around to become the antiwar party,...

Sam Jacobs of Ammo.com discusses the 2016 Oregon standoff between federal agents and Ammon Bundy, Lavoy Finicum and their allies. Most listeners probably remember some of the details of the 2014 standoff in Bundy’s native Nevada, which ultimately resulted in a judge dismissing all charges with prejudice after it was shown that federal agents lied about their side of the story. Most probably aren’t as familiar with the details of a similar incident in Oregon, which led to Finicum’s death....

Joe Lauria discusses the allegations that his website, Consortium News, is a puppet of the Russian government, recently leveled against them by both Canadian television network Global News, and Canada’s Communications Security Establishment. It seems that this is the now just the smear used by mainstream media and intelligence agencies against anyone who is willing to consider alternatives to their narrative. Lauria reiterates the need for a true nonpartisan consensus of libertarians,...

Scott discusses the impeachment proceedings against President Trump with journalist Michael Tracey, who says that there are some alarming allegations underneath the democrats’ blanket accusation of “abuse of power.” What they are really alleging, says Tracey, is that Trump is guilty of treason, a crime that carries the death penalty. Most alarming of all, though, is how pervasive the cold war rhetoric has become even among average democratic voters. People don’t seem to realize that this...

Daniel Lazare discusses the ongoing impeachment proceedings against President Trump, which he calls nothing more than a continuation of the Russiagate delusion. He and Scott rehash some of the history that has led America to the point where it even feels like Russia is a serious threat to the U.S., namely the policies of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. If your version of history began yesterday, it’s easy to think something must be done in response “Russian aggression,” but if you...