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On FPF #286, I update the claims of the Russiagate conspiracy. The Mueller probe has continued to indict and get plea agreements. However, no proof has been produced to prove any Russiagate claims. I examine the case of Maria Butina and what crimes she actually committed. 

Links

SHS - Reese Erlich

Caitlyn Johnstone - Narrative Control 

Curt Mills - Yemen 

Intercept - Texas Teacher 

Bloomberg - Maria Butina

Peter Van Buren - Russiagate

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 about 20,000 jobs. The Saudis have claimed that the many civilian deaths in their airstrikes have been accidental, but there are so many of them it's difficult to believe they're all really mistakes.

Discussed on the show:

"U.S. Military Support For Saudi Arabia And The War In Yemen" (LobeLog)

"10/20/18 Martha Mundy Gives an Update on Yemen" (Libertarian Institute)

"In Saudi Arabia’s War in Yemen, No Refuge on Land or Sea" (New York Time)

"U.S.-backed Saudi Airstrike on Family With Nine Children Shows “Clear Violations” of the Laws of War" (The Intercept)

Reagan National Defense Forum

Jamal Khashoggi

"Tomgram: Ben Freeman, The Saudi Lobby Juggernaut" (TomDispatch.com)

"Jimmy Carter Toasts the Shah" (Voices & Visions)

"From Arizona to Yemen: The Journey of an American Bomb" (New York Times)

William Hartung is director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, and the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex. Find him on Twitter @WilliamHartung.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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 opposition to the war also found that a significant number of Americans didn't even know the U.S. was involved in a war in Yemen. Scott and Erlich lament the way that the government and the media deliberately obfuscate many of our foreign conflicts so that it doesn't really feel like war to most Americans until there are significant troops on the ground and trillions of dollars wasted. This keeps people with essentially antiwar sentiments from very actively opposing America's wars, as does the Russiagate narrative, which Erlich explains pushes Liberals who should oppose Trump for his foreign policy right into the hands of the "intelligence community."

Discussed on the show:

"Sex, Russia, and Impeachment" (Progressive.org)

S.J.Res.54

War Powers Resolution

"A Middle East Monarchy Hired American Ex-Soldiers To Kill Its Political Enemies. This Could Be The Future Of War." (Buzzfeed)

"Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy, sources say" (The Guardian)

Reichstag fire

Reese Erlich is a freelance journalist who has reported from the Middle East for decades. His nationally distributed column, Foreign Correspondent, appears every two weeks. He is the author of The Iran Agenda Today: the Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis. Find him on Twitter at @ReeseErlich or at his website.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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 that it's starting to make him look bad—especially after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi—Arrabyee thinks he wants out. With both Saudi Arabia and America looking to end the war, he's optimistic that things could finally be changing.

Discussed on the show:

War Powers Resolution

S.J.Res.54

H.Con.Res.138

Jamal Khashoggi

Mohammad bin Salman

"From Arizona to Yemen: The Journey of an American Bomb" (New York Times)

"Yemen: 85,000 Children May Have Died from Starvation Since Start of War" (Save the Children)

"Press Release: Yemen War Death Toll Now Exceeds 60,000 According To Latest Acled Data" (Acled Data)

Nasser Arrabyee is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a, Yemen. He is the owner and director of yemen-now.com. You can follow him on Twitter @narrabyee.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

On FPF #285, I discuss Korean troops crossing the DMZ in peace. The Korean peace process continues to progress with Trump dragging his feet.

I explain how in Syria, the US is trying to balance its relationship with the Syrian Kurds and NATO ally Turkey. The US is also facing a growing insurgency. 

I update the movements to bring peace to Yemen. 

Links

BBC - Tear Gas

Trucking company scams DoD

On FPF #284, I discuss the arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada. Meng is the exec of Chinese communications giant Huawei. The arrest came as Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi. Trump and Xi agreed to a tariff truce. However, this arrest could harm that progress. 

Links

Ron Paul Liberty Report - Meng Wanzhou Arrest

Ted Snider details Israeli president 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 weapons program, because to do so would be to admit that the United States is giving aid to a country in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. They also discuss the war in Yemen, where a common narrative is that America is only supporting Saudi Arabia in order to check the power of Iran, on whose behalf the Yemeni Houthis are supposedly fighting. Scott points out the irony of this position: by withdrawing U.S. support, the government would be granting the Iranians a rhetorical victory they actually have little or no part in, precisely the opposite of their supposed goal.

Discussed on the show:

"Netanyahu’s latest corruption case could expose long hidden secrets about Israel’s nuclear weapons program" (Mondoweiss)

Arnon Milchan

Shimon Peres

Stealing the Atom Bomb: How Denial and Deception Armed Israel

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

"Groundbreaking poll: American support for one democratic state equal to support for two state solution" (Mondoweiss)

S.J.Res.54

"The Redirection" (The New Yorker)

Iran hostage crisis

"When All You’ve Got Is Bullying: A New Way of Dealing With America" (Antiwar.com)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Ted Snider has a graduate degree in philosophy and writes on analyzing patterns in U.S. foreign policy and history. He is a regular writer for AntiWar.com and ConsortiumNews.com.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU joins the show to talk about one of their clients, an American citizen detained in Iraq for over a year without charges because of allegations of his being an enemy combatant. Thanks to the efforts of Hafetz and his organization, this man is finally going free.

Discussed on the show:

U.S. Citizen, Detained Without Charge by Trump Administration for a Year, Is Finally Free

Habeas corpus

Anwar al-Awlaki

Jonathan Hafetz is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Center for Democracy. He teaches at Seton Hall Law School and has published many books. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanHafetz.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Peter Van Buren comes on the show to talk about his latest article on the Mueller investigation, which he believes is more conspiracy theory than truth. He points out that there's still no evidence of blackmail based on personal matters, and that none of the supposed Trump Tower business deals in Russia have been shown to be illegal. Moreover, if the Russians really have Trump in their pocket, they don't have a whole lot to show for it since Trump's policies really haven't been very friendly to Russian interests. Van Buren isn't even satisfied with the story that the GRU is responsible for the hacking of the DNC servers, pointing out that there's still been no evidence released, just a "report" from three intelligence agencies saying that's who the evidence pointed to. Scott and Van Buren consider a more general problem with the reaction to Trump, which is that according to his critics the big problem is that he's an outsider—in other words, they want someone from inside the system! This is probably the opposite of the appropriate reaction. Case in point: Trump (and his predecessors) can blow up kids in the Middle East and no one will bat an eye, but if he says something offensive or separates migrant families at the border, there will be 24/7 coverage claiming this is the worst violation of human rights anyone could have imagined. Scott also asks about the Korean peace negotiations, which Van Buren is hopeful about, but says need to move quickly, since the next president is unlikely to be willing to put up with the public pressure Trump has faced for his support.

Discussed on the show:

"Mueller’s Investigation is Missing One Thing: A Crime" (The American Conservative)

Muslim Brotherhood

Jamal Khashoggi

Abu Mohammad al-Julani

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Peter Van Buren worked for 24 years at the Department of State including a year in Iraq. He is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People and the novel Hooper’s War. He is now a contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

In this episode, we return to the basic tenets of the Voluntaryist philosophy by tipping our hat to Pete "Mance Rayder" Raymond of the Free Man Beyond the Wall Podcast.

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Show Notes:

Planks of the Nazi Party

Luke Rudkowski and Jeff Berwick Go to Venezuela

Hugo Chavez fires oil executives