I started the old Weekend Interview Show on Radio KAOS 95.9 FM in Austin, Texas on April 12, 2003, three days after the fall of Baghdad. First up was Antiwar.com's heroic Alan Bock. Number 5,500 was of course with the Great Gareth Porter. Full archives here and at YouTube.
Interview #5,500! Scott talks to Gareth Porter about a range of U.S. foreign policy issues, beginning with the Biden administration's announcement that it will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11. To some extent, this is good news, but it obscures what the headline should be—that Biden has decided to break the Trump administration-brokered peace deal to leave by May 1 of this year. Since the Taliban have promised to start fighting again if that deadline is not met, staying another six months could seriously complicate things. Porter also brings us up to speed on America's...
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Experts will speak and take questions at the only annual national conference challenging the Israel lobby's repressive agenda while proposing better alternatives for America. IsraelApartheidCon is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). Celebrated Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa reveals how U.S. taxpayers and readers are beginning to understand that their tax dollars are supporting ethnic cleansing and apartheid....
Scott interviews Ted Carpenter about America's dangerous Ukraine policy. Carpenter explains how ever since the Obama administration helped right-wing extremists in Western Ukraine overthrow the elected Russian-aligned government in 2014, the U.S. has been behaving as though it had the right to dictate policy all over Eastern Europe. Thus when Russia moves troops around at its bases on the Western border, the story becomes about Russia threatening our allies in Ukraine, and how the U.S. must be ready to intervene. This is not only a ridiculous policy, Carpenter says, but also a dangerous one....
Jacob Sullum discusses the Biden administration's possible moves on gun control. Thanks to recent mass shootings, says Sullum, gun control is back in the public eye, resulting in some proposed new laws like background checks, increased "red flag" rules, an "assault weapons" ban and the reclassification of certain firearm accessories. Most of these laws, Sullum says, would do very little to reduce gun violence: most mass shooters, for instance, use common handguns—many also obtained them legally and would pass a background check. Leaving mass shootings aside, which constitute a tiny fraction...
Danny Sjursen talks about the absurdity of the recent announcement that America is sending special forces troops to Mozambique, a country that he says has basically no strategic relevance to the United States whatsoever. Those who argue that this is only a dozen operatives who will stay less than two months, he says, don't understand the way the U.S. military works. These operations always entail a vast number of support personnel and infrastructure, and they always find a way of exceeding their schedules. This is just the latest move in "The Great Game" that America plays for global...
Scott interviews Hassan El-Tayyab from the Friends Committee on National Legislation about the effort to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Although the Biden administration announced an end to support for "offensive operations" in Yemen, thanks to the Saudi blockade of the Hodedah port, the country is still experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The UN has estimated that 400,000 children could starve to death in 2021—it's entirely in the power of the U.S. government to stop it. Discussed on the show: "UN Warns 400,000 Yemeni Children May Starve To Death In 2021"...
Scott talks to Jay Schweikert about the promising developments in New Mexico, where a new state-wide law has been enacted that repeals qualified immunity as a legal defense for any public official. This is a similar move, says Schweikert, to legislation adopted recently in Colorado and New York City, but whereas in those places the new measures apply only to police officers, the New Mexico law covers all government employees. Scott and Schweikert consider this a great first step in eliminating the unjust privileges that protect public figures from being held accountable for their actions....
