Gareth Porter talks Trump, Syria, and America’s relationship with Israel. Porter says there are quite a few instances so far in Trump’s presidency where he’s made a public announcement about his plans, and then his aides work behind his back to thwart him. In many of those cases the aides are successful. Porter believes that in the case of withdrawal from Syria, however, Trump is serious about making this happen, and despite an initial delay he’s telling his generals to get it done in about...

Dr. Ron Paul joins the show for an assessment of President Trump’s foreign policy so far, about half way into his first term. Paul says that compared with Bush and Obama, Trump doesn’t look too bad. His instincts are better, especially in the way he questions why America even has troops in some of the countries it does, but Paul points out that despite good instincts, most of the bad policies remain in place and there’s been very little troop drawdown so far. President Trump has, however,...

Daniel Lazare comes on the show to talk about Hillary Clinton and her staff’s role in America’s latest wars in the Middle East. He says the story really goes back to Bill Clinton, who broke with Democratic Party tradition by supporting generally right-wing positions on issues like foreign policy, the war on drugs, and Wall Street. Hillary continued to do this, and became one of the most hawkish people in Washington. Where Bill was able to garner centrist popularity, however, Hillary could not,...

Hunter DeRensis talks about his recent article on Bill Kristol’s new publication, The Bulwark, which he sees as a direct successor to the Weekly Standard, and a new home for the “Never Trump” movement. The Standard made a name for itself by pushing for the invasion of Iraq, and more recently has supported America’s other wars in the Middle East. Because the publication opposes President Trump on basically every issue, they’ve been on the wrong side of his recent plans to withdraw troops as...

Mike Swanson joins the show for an update on the U.S. economy. He says that some investors think the recent 20 percent drop in the stock market was the needed “correction,” and that the economy is now healthy. But Swanson warns that we’re far from out of the woods, and he believes the real crash is yet to come, even after the temporary rally we’re seeing now. This is exactly what happened in 2000 and 2007. Finally, he cautions against being fully invested in stocks, despite the advice of some...

Winslow T. Wheeler explains earmarks in the federal budget, a process by which representatives can subtly direct money away from what it’s actually been requested for, often into projects that will go straight contractors in their districts. These firms then make political contributions to help the representatives get and stay elected. Wheeler says these earmarks divert over $19 billion per year, and the phenomenon is only getting worse. Discussed on the show: “Those Porky Pentagon Earmarks...

Gareth Porter comes back on the show to respond to claims that he’s an apologist for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In explaining his 1975 book, Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution, he identifies a dangerous trend surrounding American wars abroad, which he himself fell victim to: The propaganda from U.S. war planners is often so egregious that dissenters are inclined to take precisely the opposite position, even when that position is also wrong. Scott cites the example of claiming Saddam Hussein...

Gareth Porter tells Scott why he’s optimistic that the war in Yemen will soon be coming to an end. For one thing, says Porter, the War Powers resolutions in both congress and the senate have created political pressure to end America’s backing of the Saudis, even if they don’t legally stop President Trump. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi also seemed to provide impetus that wasn’t there before, because it brought the war sharply into focus for Americans. Porter explains that the military and...

Cato Institute fellow Ted Galen Carpenter talks about his latest article, “NATO Partisans Started a New Cold War With Russia.” He lays out the prevailing narrative about Russian aggression: Nixon and Kissinger were able to defuse the threat of global communism by negotiating with China, and shortly thereafter the Soviet Union collapsed, solving the Russian threat once and for all—that is, until Vladimir Putin began instigating conflicts with Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade. Carpenter...

Journalist Elijah Magnier joins the show for his analysis of President Trump’s pulling troops out of Syria. Although Trump has backed down from his original demands and acquiesced to a slower timeline for withdrawal, Magnier explains that it doesn’t matter much in terms of the overall war; ISIS really is all but defeated, and now the Kurds have made their own deal with Assad, getting protection from him in exchange for their support. Other insurgent forces are still active all over the region...

Matthew Hoh talks about Trump’s move to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, something Hoh hoped President Obama would do instead of sending even more troops into Iraq. Hoh explains the difficulties of “winning” any kind of war in Afghanistan. The main problem is that most Afghans see Americans as an occupying force, and they’ll even support the Taliban over a foreign occupation. He thinks a war in Iran would go the same way, except probably even worse. Danny Sjursen also joins the...

Neta Crawford discusses her work on the Costs of War project, which tries to assess the costs, in both lives and dollars, of America’s wars in the Middle East. The project has estimated the 500 thousand have been killed due to combat, which includes American soldiers, enemy combatants, and civilians. It doesn’t include what’s known as “excess deaths,” meaning civilians who die from deprivation, lack of medical care, and destroyed or degraded infrastructure as a result of the war. These deaths...

Alex Kane joins the show to talk about his latest article, which explores how the Leahy Law might be applied to U.S. assistance to the Israeli military. The Leahy Law is supposed to prevent American support to any military units that have committed human rights violations, which seems probable in the case of Israel given the number of Palestinian protestors that have been killed. The Leahy Law does not apply to American support for Israel in general, which is just as well since it seems...

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis joins the show to discuss President Trump’s announcements that he wants to pull troops out of both Syria and Afghanistan. Davis is pleased with this news, and addresses the common but unfounded concern that if America pulls out of certain countries, terrorist activity will rise up there. For one thing, he explains, terrorist planning and coordination still goes on under the nose of American troops even when they are occupying a country. More importantly,...

Doug Bandow joins the show to talk about all four of his recent articles, covering China, Cuba, Yemen, and Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The entire foreign policy establishment is melting down over the announcement, but Bandow says this is unequivocally the right move; American presence in the Middle East has accomplished basically nothing good and has only provoked more radicalism and unrest. Because everyone around Trump disagrees with him right now, Bandow...