The Scott Horton Show from The Libertarian Institute

Kelley B. Vlahos, executive editor of the American Conservative Magazine, returns to the show to discuss her latest article, "Neoconning the Trump White House." Vlahos details her research into the neocon creep into the Trump administration and does a deep dive into the state of neoconservative politics and institutions in Washington. Vlahos also explains why, despite Donald Trump's lip service, the anti-war right and the realists are fighting an uphill battle for influence in Washington.

Kelley B. Vlahos is the executive editor of The American Conservative. Follow her on Twitter @KelleyBVlahos.

Discussed on the show:

"The Return of the Stinger Missile," by Jason Ditz (The American Conservative)

National Security Strategy (White House)

"Meet Nadia Schadlow, Dina Powell's likely successor" (Axios)

Smith Richardson Foundation

Project for a New American Century (PNAC)

"Donald Trump's CIA director nominee Mike Pompeo is open to waterboarding" (The Independent)

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Zen Cash, The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

University of Toronto professor Greg Shupak joins Scott to discuss his article "Slapping An Israeli Soldier More Newsworthy Than Shooting A Palestinian Child In The Face." Shupak details the events that led up to Ahed Tamimi's arrest after her cousin was shot in the face with a rubber bullet by an Israeli soldier. Shupak then describes the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli military prisons, where torture of children is well-documented and 16-year-olds are tried as adults. Shupak then describes the outline of his newest book, "The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media." Finally Shupak and Scott discuss Israel's role in the rise of Hamas and how Palestinian political parties have been regularly coopted by Israel and the United States.

Greg Shupak is a professor of media studies at the University of Guelph in Toronto. He writes at FAIR.org and Jacobin. His books is The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media. Follow him on Twitter @GregShupak.

Discussed on the show:

The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel, and the Media, by Greg Shupak (OR Books)

Ahed Tamimi

"Most Palestinian Minors Arrested by Israel Claim Physical Violence During Detention" (Haaretz)

"Israel Secretly Probed Whether Family Members of Palestinian Teen Ahed Tamimi Are Non-related 'Light-skinned' Actors" (Haaretz)

Balfour Declaration

"Israel Tortures Palestinian Children, Amnesty Report Says" (Haaretz)

"Children in Israeli Military Detention" (UNICEF)

Palestinian National Authority

"How Israel helped create Hamas" (Washington Post)

"The Gaza Bomb Shell," by David Rose (Vanity Fair)

Oslo Accords

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Zen Cash, The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Reese Erlich joins Scott to discuss the latest developments in Iraq and Eastern Syria. Erlich details the growing tension between Turkey, a NATO country, and the United States and the Kurds who are getting caught in between. Erlich and Scott discuss the recent history of U.S. interventionism in Syria, how the Trump policy divulges from Obama's, and the current status of the Islamic State.

Reese Erlich is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect. Erlich’s revised edition of his book ”The Iran Agenda” will be published in 2018. In the meantime read his work at his website and follow him on Twitter.

Discussed on the show:

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

"Trump to Arm Syrian Kurds, Even as Turkey Strongly Objects" (New York Times)

"Remarks on the Way Forward for the United States Regarding Syria" (State Department)

“Lebanese prime minister stays silent as Donald Trump mistakenly says he is fighting Hezbollah” (The Independent)

Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare, by Gareth Porter

Yitzhak Rabin 

Israel's role in the Iran–Iraq war

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Zen Cash, The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Gareth Porter returns to the show to discuss his latest article "Why Trump's North Korea Bloody Nose Campaign Is A Big Bluff." Porter examines the Trump administration's approach to North Korea and explains why he thinks Trump's posturing about carrying out a preventative strike against North Korea is just that—posturing.

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on the national security state and author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Follow him on Twitter @GarethPorter and listen to Gareth’s previous appearances on the Scott Horton Show.

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

James Carden returns to the show to discuss his latest article "A New Poll Shows the Public Is Overwhelmingly Opposed to Endless US Military Interventions." Carden breaks down the different findings of the poll, including that a vast majority of people think military intervention should be used only as a last resort, that a preponderance of people think that military aid to foreign countries is counterproductive, and that there's particular antipathy directed at support for Saudi Arabia. Scott and Carden then discuss how the failed strategies of the Hillary Clinton campaign have been adopted by the "Resistance" movement during Trump's presidency. Carden says that the question people need to ask is: Is the world better off if the U.S. and Russia can find a way to cooperate or if they are enemies? He then reviews the history of NATO expansion toward Russia and the lies and broken promises that have accompanied it. Lastly Scott asks—what level of crisis do we have with Russia right now?

James Carden is the executive editor for the American Committee for East-West Accord and former adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department. He is a contributing writer at The Nation.

Discussed on the show:

Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy

"What Progressives Miss About Arms Sales," by Andrew Exum (The Atlantic)

Victoria Nuland

Center for a New American Security

"New Study: The Communities Most Affected by War Turned to Trump in 2016," by James Carden (The Nation)

"Journalists Described Hillary Clinton's Speech as 'Muscular'—Because Her Team Blackmailed Them" (Reason)

Robert Kagan

"NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard" (National Security Archive)

"Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," by Richard Cummings (CorpWatch)

"The Birth of the Global Nation," by Strobe Talbott (World Beyond Borders)

Alexei Navalny

Strobe Talbott

"Foreign Affairs; Now a Word From X," by Thomas Friedman (The New York Times)

George F. Kenan

The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy, by Strobe Talbott

"A Fateful Error," by George Kenan (New York Times)

"A Stark Nuclear Warning," by Jerry Brown (The New York Review of Books)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Documentary film maker Dan Gifford joins Scott to discuss the new television show documenting the Waco massacre, recalls how he became interested in revealing the truth of what happened at Waco, and says if there's one thing people take away from the interview it's this: never talk to the police without a lawyer present. Gifford then explains the role that gun control and religion played in the standoff negotiations and raid and the subsequent destruction and corruption of evidence in the aftermath. Finally Gifford describes the setting of the final day of the standoff and the actions of the government forces during the raid and the setting of the fire—and then the cover ups that followed. Gifford's latest article is "Will ABC really tell us what happened at Waco in 1993?"

Dan Gifford is the Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated producer of Waco: The Rules of Engagement and a former investigative reporter for CNN, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and other news outlets.

Discussed on the show:

Waco: The Rules of Engagement (documentary)

Waco: A New Revelation

The FLIR Project

Cliven Bundy

"Judge dismisses charges against Cliven Bundy, orders him freed from prison" (The Hill)

"Conviction: This Decade's Most Important Film," by Dan Gifford (Brentwood Patch)

Kalief Browder

Homer Cummings

Good 'Ol Boys Roundup

ATF officers displaying confederate flag

Janet Reno

Ashes of Waco, by Dick Reavis

"Andrew Breitbart's Death: Some Uncomfortable Reality," by Dan Gifford (Brentwood Patch)

Church Committee

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

JP Sottile, editor of NewsVandal.com , returns to the show to discuss his latest article, "The US Military is the biggest Big Government" entitlement program on the planet." Sottile argues that the U.S. military has developed constituencies throughout the country by employing millions of Americans and that Donald Trump's presidential victory was the result of paradoxically promising to grow the military and reducing U.S. intervention around the globe. (Guess which promise he kept.) Sottile then looks at American prospects for the future—whether the fall of the dollar may not come sooner than people expect, Michael Wolff's new book and the Trump phenomenon, and whether the United States' hard power approach to the world is being overtaken by the soft power approach of China. Finally Sottile looks forward to the coming 2018 and 2020 elections and explains why he's optimistic that a true third party might be on the horizon.

JP Sottile is a freelance journalist, published historian, radio co-host and documentary filmmaker. He runs the site NewsVandal.com. Follow him on Twitter @newsvandal and sign up for his email list.

Discussed on the show:

Revolution in Military Affairs

The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, by Nick Turse

"The American Way of War Is a Budget-Breaker," by William Hartung (TomDispatch.com)

"US Soldiers Are Relying on Millions of Dollars in Food Stamps to Survive" (Truth-Out.org)

"Give Up Your Domestic Empire or Live Under It," by Dan Sanchez (Antiwar.com)

"Myth-busting: Fleischer referring to "Operation Iraqi Liberation" (YouTube)

Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff

"More Bombs, More Boots, More Casualties: Trump's First Year as Commander-in-Chief" (Vice News)

Celinda Lake

"A foreign leader — Netanyahu — set Trump’s agenda in Middle East, Michael Wolff book says," by Phillip Weiss (Mondoweiss.com)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

Middle east correspondent Elijah Magnier returns to the show to discuss the U.S. presence in eastern Syria. Magnier explains what the United States' goals are, why they won't leave without guaranteeing a political transition and how they've, for the time being, partitioned the country along the Euphrates river. Magnier then details how the United States is essentially acting as the undeclared protector of the Islamic State for the time being as they've stopped bombing the Northeastern region of the country and barred other forces from doing so. Magnier also details the history of Iranian-Syrian diplomacy and the Iranian-Hezbollah presence that has been long established in Syria. Scott then asks about the al-Nusra Front and whether the CIA's role in aiding the so-called moderate rebels is truly over. Finally Magnier explains why the al-Qaeda in Syria is as formidable a fighting group as he's seen in the region.

Elijah Magnier is the chief international correspondent at Al Rai and a political and terrorism/counterterrorism analyst. Find all his work at elijahjm.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @ejmalrai.

Discussed on the show:

Kurdish YPG

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

Syrian Arab Army (SAA)

Al Hasakah

"Report: Israel Treating al-Qaida Fighters Wounded in Syria Civil War" (The Jerusalem Post)

Abu Mohammad al-Julani

Jamie McGoldrick of the United Nations joins Scott to discuss the latest developments in Yemen. McGoldrick gives an overview of the Yemeni political, sociological, and economic situation, explains why the official death count is certainly too low, and outlines what needs to be done to alleviate the suffering of the people of Yemen.

McGoldrick is the United Nations Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for the Republic of Yemen. Follow him on Twitter @jamiemcgoldric8.

Discussed on the show:

"Yemen critically short of food, fuel imports as war cuts supply lines" (Reuters)

"Yemen death toll has reached 10,000, UN says" (The Guardian)

"Yemen cholera cases reach one million - ICRC" (BBC)

"Yemen hospitals on the brink of closure as health system collapses leaving 8 million children without access to healthcare" (Relief Web)

"Suspected diphtheria cases in Yemen near 500: WHO" (Reuters)

"11/16/17 Scott Paul on the latest devastating Saudi blockade in Yemen" (The Scott Horton Show)

"Yemen's Hidden War," by Matthieu Aikins (Rolling Stone)

"Trump is 'fired up' about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen" (CNN)

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page

USC professor Muhammad Sahimi returns to the show to discuss the latest developments in the protests in Iran,  describes how the current regime is responsible for the justified grievances of the people protesting, and explains why some people fear regime change given the opportunistic nature of .the Trump administration, the aftermath of post-Gaddafi Libya, and the role of the Iranian far right in fomenting the protests. Sahimi then explains how the Iran Deal has backfired for Rouhani who over-promised and under-delivered on the economic benefits and the potential consequences of Trump killing the deal. Finally Sahimi explains why he thinks full-scale revolution is unnecessary, that the Supreme Leader is the problem with Iranian politics, and what he believes is necessary for peaceful reformation.

Muhammad Sahimi is the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California and a contributor at Antiwar.com and the Huffington Post.

Discussed on the show:

Hassan Rouhani

"The Iran Nuclear Deal Could Be Dead in 11 Days," by Spencer Ackerman (Daily Beast)

"Tenth Anniversary of Iraq Invasion: Lessons & Warnings for an Illegal War on Iran," by Muhammad Sahimi (Antiwar.com)

Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Iranian Green Movement (2009)

Mir-Hossein Mousavi 

Today’s show is sponsored by: NoDev, NoOps, NotIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; 3tediting.com; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and Darrin’s Coffee.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.