Hunter DeRensis joins the show to talk about his recent article for the American Conservative Magazine. He cites Stein’s law, named for economist Herbert Stein, which says that if something can’t go on forever, it will stop. This seems obvious, but people frequently avoid its conclusions when looking at an issue like the American empire. DeRensis worries that the U.S. is too extended and too far in debt to keep going on our current track for much longer. At some point the big crash simply has...

Max Blumenthal talks about the Azov Battalion, a U.S.-backed Neo-Nazi group in Ukraine, and their efforts to train and educate American sympathizers. Once funded by the Obama administration, the group now wields some real power in their region and hopes to spread their ideology in ours. For all their talk about the rise of white supremacy, Blumenthal explains, the U.S. media refuses to cover this scandal because it undermines Obama’s policies. Scott mentions that much of the strife in Eastern...

Tom Woods comes back on the show to promote his flagship product, Liberty Classroom, an adult enrichment program designed to correct “educational malpractice”. Scott Horton Show listeners can use the promo code “HORTON” to take $200 off the master membership, which includes all the courses Tom did for the Ron Paul Home School curriculum. Scott will also throw in a signed copy of Fool’s Errand. Liberty Classroom features courses in history and economics taught by prominent libertarian scholars...

Ramzy Baroud comes back on the show to talk about the continuing injustice suffered by the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli government. The death toll of protestors shot by Israeli gunmen is now over 200, with thousands more wounded. Many Americans look at the situation and think that Israel has every right to defend its border. But Baroud explains that that’s not how we should be thinking about it—Israel is basically laying siege these people, controlling their movements along...

Scott interviews Ray McGovern about James Clapper’s new memoir, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence. They touch on Clapper’s role in the buildup to the Iraq War, which he now admits, including one all-too-predictable phenomenon: Once a certain amount of time and money had been invested in mapping and other intel efforts in the Middle East, it became impossible to shut them down. Now determined to justify their own existence, these agencies were happy to provide whatever...

Gareth Porter rejoins the show to talk North Korea, the New York Times, and the insidious influence of arms contractors on United States foreign policy decisions. Porter explains how easy it is for journalists to make claims like "North Korea has an illicit nuclear program" without needing to provide hard evidence. Most people don't pay close enough attention to be able to question claims like that, but they can easily be used as evidence for the need for military intervention. Much of the...

John Feffer joins the show for an update on the peace talks between North and South Korea. He optimistically describes the nascent process of dismantling parts of the DMZ, including guard towers and mine fields, and also establishing a no-fly zone there. As usual, the American media is happy to ignore all of this. Feffer reminds us that South Korean President Moon Jae-in is really the driving force behind the negotiations, but he seems happy to give lots of credit to President Trump, who...

Patrick Martin, of the World Socialist Web Site, comes back on the show for an update on his last appearance. 11 of the democratic candidates he mentioned last time won their congressional races, and 7 more came very close, which he says is a fairly strong performance but probably not quite the one they had hoped for. These new representatives all come from backgrounds in the military or intelligence agencies, and instead of using their experience as a principled basis for opposing war, they...

Sheldon Richman talks about his latest article for the Libertarian Institute, in which he spotlights a new documentary exposing the smear efforts of various pro-Israel groups against anyone standing up for the rights of Palestinians, particularly on American college campuses. These groups conflate anti-Zionism—which itself has allies among many secular and religious Jews—with outright anti-semitism or support for terrorism. Never mind the fact that Palestinians are also a Semitic people, and...

The great Tom Woods joins the show in honor of the hundred-year anniversary of Armistice Day to give a rundown of World War I. Decades of complex alliances and arms races, he explains, led to the powder keg that erupted catastrophically in 1914 with a single assassination. After many bloody months with little to show for it, the countries of Europe were on the breaking point, and a “peace without victory” looked imminent…that is, until the U.S. entered the war. Because the politics of Europe...

Andrea Carboni from ACLED Data comes on the show to talk about their casualty estimates for the war in Yemen. “10,000” is the number that has been used for the last few years, but that’s exactly why it can’t possibly be right. ACLED estimates that there have actually been at least 50,000 combatant plus civilian deaths, but that is a very conservative estimate and the number is likely much higher, perhaps around 80,000. Of course, accurate counts are difficult, particularly in remote and rural...

James Carroll discusses President Trump’s intent to withdraw from the INF treaty, which he thinks could usher in a new age of nuclear expansion. The INF helped reverse the buildup of nuclear weapons that was taking place between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and its reversal might mean a return to the same kind of arms race we saw during the cold war. Most alarmingly of all, nobody in the mainstream seems to care about this and no media outlets will give it much attention. Discussed on the...

Cato’s John Glaser joins the show to talk about the new oil sanctions on Iran. He and Scott discuss what this means for U.S. relations with Iran, beginning with the fact that sanctions only achieve the policy desired by the imposing nation about 30% of the time, and a dismal 5% of the time when the concern is security, as opposed to economic. In general, says Glaser, President Trump has taken the wrong approach to negotiating with foreign countries, even though his instincts are often good. He...

Arnold Isaacs joins the show to discuss the flawed ways the Vietnam War is remembered and commemorated. All too often, he explains, American crimes are whitewashed or left out altogether. If we don’t face up to the deeds of our military and government in previous wars though, we risk repeating the same mistakes in future ones. Discussed on the show: “8/1/18 Arnold Isaacs on Fake Islamophobia in America” (Libertarian Institute) “Tomgram: Arnold Isaacs, Misremembering Vietnam” (Tom Dispatch)...

Brian McGlinchey talks about the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act and the lobbying campaign by the Saudi government against it. The Saudis spread a false narrative among American veterans that this type of legislation could open up American soldiers for prosecution under foreign laws, when in reality it would do no such thing. This act was President Obama’s only overridden veto. Discussed on the show: The 28 Pages S.2040 – Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act Jamal Khashoggi...