John and I finish reading the chapter on tactics from Rules for Radicals

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Scott interviews Trita Parsi about the deal Trump has apparently made with the Iranians to end the war. They discuss the panic we’re seeing about it from the Israelis and what Trump must do to rein them in and prevent Tel Aviv from sabotaging the peace process. They also discuss Parsi’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show and The Free Press story that tried to start a deportation scare about him.

Discussed on the show:

Trita Parsi is the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author of Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy. Parsi is the recipient of the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Follow him on Twitter @tparsi  

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For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/43D82oY (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/4eMQblu

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/4a5fKvx

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This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tax Attorney Matt Sercely https://agoristtaxadvice.com; Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com; Expat Money https://expatmoney.com/; and Crowdhealth https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/ (use promocode Horton)

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Scott brings Jason Jones of the Vulnerable Peoples Project back on the show for an update on life for Christians living under the thumb of the IDF and Zionist settlers in the West Bank. Jones cites his personal experience and recent anecdotes from his organization. The two also discuss how the people of Gaza are faring.

Discussed on the show:

Jason Jones is a film producer, author, activist, popular podcast host, and dedicated human rights worker. And he is the founder and president of The Vulnerable People Project. Subscribe to his Substack. 

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Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show!

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tax Attorney Matt Sercely https://agoristtaxadvice.com; Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com

Sign up for the Scott Horton Academy of Foreign Policy and Freedom at scotthortonacademy.com

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I give my take of the UFC Whitehouse event and the politics surrounding the even

YouTube @YearZeroPod

tommysalmons.com

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Scott interviews Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute about Section 224 of the 2027 NDAA, which, if passed, would essentially integrate the entire US military industrial complex with Israel. Scott and Freeman dig into the consequences of such a change and how you can get involved in the ongoing effort to stop it.

Discussed on the show:

Ben Freeman is a Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute. He previously served as Director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative with the Center for International Policy. Read his work at Antiwar.com and Responsible Statecraft. Follow him on Twitter @BenFreemanDC. 

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Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show!

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tax Attorney Matt Sercely https://agoristtaxadvice.com; Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com

Sign up for the Scott Horton Academy of Foreign Policy and Freedom at scotthortonacademy.com

You can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow

The US Navy is lost at sea and in the thrall of exquisite platform that be the maritime tombs of tens of thousands of sailors in the coming wars of the 21st century.

The acquisition system is broken beyond repair, burn it down.

The aircraft carrier has been a signature component of US naval power and prestige for more than a century. The utility has continued to diminish since the end of WWII. The tremendous disadvantage of putting so much manpower and treasure into these single use leviathan systems in the modern world of distributed missile and PGM systems, emerging near-peer & peer adversaries and concentration of power in vulnerable systems is a recipe for future disaster.

The US Navy surface fleet is in tatters and shattered by readiness, maintenance and armament issues that are critical indicators of a navy totally unprepared.

More on the carrier dilemma in Chasing Ghosts Episode #034, WarNotes #10 and Dispatch #006.

Note: This post is published a little early due to my attendance at the Military Operations Research Society Annual Symposium in CO this week.

References:

Jeff Vandenengel National Policy and the Panoceanic Navy

Gregory Vistica Fall from Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy

Michael Junge Crimes of Command: in the United States Navy, 1945-2015

Gerry Doyle Carrier Killer: China’s Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles and Theater of Operations in the early 21st Century

David Lee Russell Early U.S. Navy Carrier Raids, February-April 1942: Five Operations That Tested a New Dimension of American Air Power

Jeff Vandenengel Questioning the Carrier: Opportunities in Fleet Design for the U.S. Navy

Jeff Vandenengel interview on Midrats with CDR Salamander

Ivan Gogin Fighting ships of the PEOPLE LIBERATION ARMY NAVY 1949 – 2023

Jerry Hendrix Retreat From Range: The Rise and Fall of Carrier Aviation

My Substack

Write me at [email protected]

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Joe Kent returns to the show to discuss the latest developments with the Iran war. Kent explains why he is pessimistic that a lasting deal can be achieved in the near future. He and Scott also talk about Israel’s spying on the US government, Tulsi Gabbard, the Charlie Kirk assassination, the new regime in Syria and more.

Discussed on the show:

Joe Kent is a retired Army Special Forces soldier who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in Trump’s second term until he resigned in 2026 over the war with Iran. Follow him on Twitter @joekent16jan19 

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com

Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show!

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tax Attorney Matt Sercely https://agoristtaxadvice.com; Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com

Sign up for the Scott Horton Academy of Foreign Policy and Freedom at scotthortonacademy.com

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Scott interviews libertarian activist Eric Fowler about the so-called Flock cameras being put up in cities to illegally surveil Americans. Fowler explains what the cameras are, how they work, what laws they violate and how libertarians in Arizona are fighting back.

Discussed on the show:

Eric Fowler is Chair of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party in Arizona and a Senior Software Developer specializing in big data analysis. 

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com

Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show!

For more on Scott’s work:

Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org

Check out Scott’s other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show

Read Scott’s books:

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com)

Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw

Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0

Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow

And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tax Attorney Matt Sercely https://agoristtaxadvice.com; Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com

Sign up for the Scott Horton Academy of Foreign Policy and Freedom at scotthortonacademy.com

You can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow

Here it is — the 2nd installment of CJ’s already-epic mini-series, ‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ set in the Peloponnesian War in 5th-century BC Greece.

Join CJ as he shares an overview of some of the events of the first half of the Peloponnesian War, including:

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The Iraq War didn’t just “happen” it was sold with a storyline, staffed by specific operators, and justified by a strategy that had been circulating for years. I’m joined by Scott Horton of the Libertarian Institute to unpack the Clean Break doctrine, what it tried to achieve for Israel’s right wing security vision, and how a set of wildly wrong assumptions helped push the US into a war that ended up strengthening Iran instead of containing it.

We walk through the mechanics of how the war case was built: exile sourcing, the Office of Special Plans, alternative intelligence streams, and the WMD and terrorism claims that made Baghdad sound like an urgent threat. Then we connect the fallout to today’s Middle East power map, where leaders are still trying to “fix” the original mistake, often by escalating in new arenas. Scott also explains why Israel’s objectives toward Iran can look less like clean regime change and more like limiting Iran’s ability to support Hezbollah and project power into the Levant, even if that means betting on destabilization.

From there we shift to the Trump era crisis: ceasefire fragility, Iran’s demand to release frozen assets as a trust test, and the hard technical reality behind the slogans about nuclear enrichment. We also talk about how Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank remain active fronts that can sabotage diplomacy at any moment, and what it would take for Washington to actually restrain Netanyahu if a real US-Iran deal is the goal. Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review, then tell us what you think: is a durable peace even possible with these incentives in place?