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...

Aaron Maté talks about the latest with the Russian collusion investigation, which he looks at skeptically. He observes that the aim of the investigation does not seem to be to get to the truth, but rather to scare people, which generates clicks and views for the media and helps justify the existence of the military-industrial complex. Maté also points out that factually the case doesn’t add up—certain incidents might seem plausible, like Russian hacking of the DNC email server, but each of the...

Sharon Tennison of the Center for Citizen Initiatives tells her incredible story of citizen diplomacy in the 1980s, when she made dozens of trips to the Soviet Union hoping to meet and befriend regular Russian civilians. She reminds us that over 90 percent of Russians were not Communist Party members—by and large they were just like the average American, and were eager to get along with American visitors. Although Tennison’s focus was not on Russian politicians, she did meet some, including a...

Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss.net joins the show to talk about the Israel Lobby’s influence over Bill Clinton’s 1992 defeat of George Bush Sr., and the ways the lobby continues to assert itself in American politics. Weiss tells the story of Bush deliberately standing up to Israeli lobbyists, thinking he didn’t need their support to win, but ended up realizing that the move probably cost him the election—to this day the lobby has a tight hold on the Republican Party, and even many democrats....

Eric Margolis gives an update on the “yellow vest” protests in France over recent fuel taxes announced by President Macron. The protests have caused Macron to back down from some of his policies, which Margolis says has left him looking weak. Macron’s future as leader of France looks uncertain. Margolis explains that Americans, conservatives in particular, have a skewed image of the French, remembering only that America “saved them” in two World Wars—never mind the fact that U.S. intervention...

Michael Klare joins Scott to talk about his recent article, “Alexa, Launch Our Nukes!”, about the dangers of a future where our weapons systems are controlled by artificial intelligence—indeed they already are to an ever greater extent. Computers of course have a big advantage over humans in processing lots of data quickly, so they can conceivably do a much better job calculating when and where to fire weapons, running simulations of different battle scenarios, distinguishing valid targets...

Mark Perry joins the show to talk about President Trump’s bombshell news that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Perry says most people in the military think this is absolutely the right move, despite many loud claims to the contrary from pundits on both left and right. Perry considers it eminently reasonable to take the position that American military presence probably can’t singlehandedly shift the political landscape in Syria—not to mention the fact that our presence endangers the...

William Hartung comes on the show to discuss the latest in Yemen, particularly with respect to the political relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. He explains that the Saudis finally have an opportunity to use all the American weapons they’ve been buying for the last few decades, essentially as a stimulus program for America. President Trump loves to claim that these sales are great for the economy, but the deals aren’t nearly as big as he sometimes claims, in reality supporting only...

Reese Erlich talks to Scott about the war in Yemen and about his latest article on the Russiagate controversy. Erlich thinks we can be cautiously optimistic about Yemen now that public pressure against the war is mounting (a recent poll found that 75% of Americans oppose it), and with the senate passing its resolution invoking the War Powers Act. This resolution doesn’t actually make the war illegal, but politically it may force President Trump’s hand. The same poll that showed public...

Nasser Arrabyee gives the latest on the war in Yemen, following the recent peace talks in Sweden where the UN negotiated a ceasefire in Hodeidah. Despite only moderate political pressure from the United States to end the war, Arrabyee thinks that increased media attention and public awareness of the war has helped create pressure on Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the UN. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman started this war to help make his reputation as a strong leader, explains Arrabyee, but now...

Ted Snider details Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s intriguing and complex past helping to steal nuclear parts from America, for which he is now being investigated in Israel. Although most of the investigation and press coverage focuses on the associated corruption scandal and not the truly shady history, Snider believes Netanyahu could be in real political trouble. Even if he gets removed from office, neither Snider nor Scott thinks it likely that much will be made of Israel’s secret nuclear...