The Scott Horton Show from The Libertarian Institute

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 in World War I prevented a likely negotiated resolution, gave the Allies an overwhelming military victory, and set up catastrophic economic conditions for Germany that would later give rise to Hitler and World War II. We also forget about France's long history as a military and imperial power before the 20th century, including their indispensable aid to American revolutionaries in defeating the British. Scott and Margolis also talk about the first Iraq War, and the history of America's military intervention in the Middle East.

Discussed on the show:

Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II

"A Big Step for a Greater Israel" (Unz.com)

Deterring Democracy

April Glaspie

"12/3/18 Barry Lando on the First Iraq War" (Libertarian Institute)

"The Redirection" (The New Yorker)

"Baghdad Delenda Est." (National Review)

A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm

The 9/11 Commission Report

Sykes–Picot Agreement

Eric Margolis is a foreign affairs correspondent and author of War at the Top of the World and American Raj. Follow him on Twitter @EricMargolis and visit his website, ericmargolis.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.

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 based on image recognition, etc. What they can't do is make the type of decision that might involve losing a conventional war rather than starting a nuclear war. Moreover, computers are only as good as the humans programming them, and those humans can and do make mistakes. Unfortunately we have a tendency to trust computers as inherently immune to mistakes.

Discussed on the show:

"“Alexa, Launch Our Nukes!”" (Unz.com)

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

Cuban Missile Crisis

"Expelled for Possession of a Butter Knife" (ABC)

"‘The Business of War’: Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon" (New York Times)

Michael Klare is the author of The Race for What’s Left and a regular contributor at TomDispatch.com. Find him on Twitter @mklare1.

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.

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 relationship with Turkey, a NATO member and our ally. Perry and Scott also talk about Yemen, where President Trump has similarly promised an end to U.S. support. In Yemen, and almost everywhere else the United States tries to intervene, explains Perry, we've ended up strengthening and emboldening the Iranians, often expressly the opposite of what was intended.

Discussed on the show:

"Saudi Arabia’s Blood Pact With a Genocidal Strongman" (The American Conservative)

"Trump’s Decision to Leave Syria Was No ‘Surprise’" (The American Conservative)

"12/17/18 Reese Erlich on All Trump’s Wars" (Libertarian Institute)

"US generals: Saudi intervention in Yemen ‘a bad idea’" (Al Jazeera)

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

"The Redirection" (The New Yorker)

Chinese Civil War

Anbar campaign

Second Intifada

Jamal Khashoggi

Mark Perry is the author of Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies and The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur. His most recent book, The Pentagon’s Wars was released in October. Read his work at The American Conservative Magazine and follow him on Twitter @MarkPerryDC.

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.

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.

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.

David Swanson discusses Pearl Harbor with Scott, an event that has become sanctified as a U.S. holiday, and, worse than that, is used as part of the perpetual narrative that America is always the victim and every war we fight is just. Swanson unveils some of the true history of the attack on Pearl Harbor, beginning with the fact that Roosevelt's administration had numerous warnings and lots of intelligence that the Japanese were planning an attack. Newspapers in Hawaii were even predicting it several days in advance, and yet little was done to prepare. Swanson believes this is evidence that Roosevelt was looking for a way to get the U.S. into the war, particularly after repeated failed attempts to goad Germany into a similar attack. World War II's legacy as the "just war", explains Swanson, has done lasting damage to the American consciousness, as it is continually used to justify war in general.

Discussed on the show:

"The Ancient Mythical Rites of Pearl Harbor Day" (DavidSwanson.org)

"Tomgram: Aviva Chomsky, Making Native Americans Strangers in Their Own Land" (TomDispatch.com)

RMS Lusitania

McCollum memo

A Dangerous Idea

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, radio host, and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. He is the author of War is a Lie and When the World Outlawed War. Find him on Twitter @davidcnswanson.

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.