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In the second FPF episode, I cover the resignation on General Flynn, Russia and US relations, the Iran nuke deal, Israel, Yemen, and Syria.  Foreign Policy Focus is now on iTunes. Please subscribe and leave the show a nice rating and review.  Articles Discussed

Flynn Resigns [Link]

Congressman Kucinich on Flynn Resigning [Link]

Russia and US relations [Link]

Trump demands Russia return Crimea [Link]

NATO troops in Romania [Link]

Israel removes its Ambassador to Egypt [Link]

Trump will not move Israeli Embassy [Link]

Iran is following nuke deal [Link]

Kim Jong Un’s brother assassinated [Link]

Stats on US involvement in Yemen [Link]

Turkey kills citizens in al-Bab [Link]

Al-Qaeda and ISIS fight in Syria [Link]

The first episode of Foreign Policy Focus is out! I start the show with giving some background on myself and the importance of understanding US interventionism. I then talk about some news in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia. 

James Bovard, the author of many books including Attention Deficit Democracy, discusses the 70+ fusion centers funded by the Department of Homeland Security, that specialize in wasting money, publishing worthless reports on non-existent terrorism threats, and violating the privacy of Americans. Jim also discusses the media’s hand-wringing about Trump’s fearmongering, even though the practice has a long history among US presidents looking to menace the public with “an endless series of hobgoblins.”

Tom Collina, the policy director for Ploughshares Fund, discusses why the Trump administration is planning to spend $100 billion to replace hundreds of old ICBMs deployed across Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming, even though they are part of an outdated ‘nuclear sponge’ plan designed to draw Russian missiles to America’s upper Midwest in the event of nuclear war. Tom goes on to explain why ICBMs don’t make any strategic sense and should be phased out entirely – and why Trump just might be the president who can do it.

Greg Thielmann, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, discusses the Trump administration’s overblown protestations of Iran’s ballistic missile testing; the US government’s tendency to corrupt intelligence reports and exaggerate threats to start conflicts – like the 2003 Iraq War; and why the Iranian nuclear deal is a great diplomatic achievement by both sides and a victory for nuclear non-proliferation advocates.

Joe Lauria, an independent international affairs journalist, discusses the Iraqi army’s long struggle to finally retake eastern Mosul from the Islamic State; the very difficult upcoming battle for the remainder of the city; the fate of Mosul’s internally displaced refugees; and Trump’s worrying consideration of Elliott Abrams for Deputy Secretary of State.

Daniel Lazare, author of The Frozen Republic: How the constitution is Paralyzing Democracy, discusses how Trump’s new administration – including US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and national security adviser Michael Flynn – is thwarting his most promising foreign policy changes on Russia and Syria, and steering him back to the Washington consensus of endless war.

Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni journalist based in Sanaa, discusses President Trump’s first authorized special forces raid in Yemen that resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL, many Yemeni civilians, and Anwar al-Awlaki’s daughter – continuing the nearly two-year war in Yemen where the US alternates between helping and attacking AQAP.

Trevor Aaronson, a contributing writer at The Intercept and executive director of the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, discusses the classified FBI documents obtained by The Intercept showing that the FBI has expanded its role far beyond federal law enforcement after 9/11, and that it is now a domestic and foreign intelligence agency with “extraordinary secret powers.”

Some of the notable articles include:

* The FBI Gives Itself Lots of Rope to Pull in Informants

* The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement

Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, discusses his guide to Trump’s executive order limiting migration for people from a list of countries supposedly at risk of exporting terrorists to the US; the overly-broad definition of “terrorism-related crimes” used by Jeff Sessions and others to justify the visa ban; and how ill-defined executive orders like this create capricious and arbitrary government.

Correction: the story about an Iraqi woman dying due to Trump’s travel ban was untrue.