Scott interviews activist Basir Bita about the economic calamity that’s hit Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal this past summer. With the U.S. and IMF freezing Afghan government funds as well as widespread market corrections after the fall of the previous regime, Afghanistan has been thrown into turmoil. Food prices have tripled since the summer and many Afghans face issues with food security. Bita argues that the Biden Administration and others should get over their hesitation to work with the new government of Afghanistan. And that a refusal to do so reveals how little they truly...
Vietnam War
12/30/21 Daniel Larison: US Militarism Should Have Died With the Soviet Union
Scott is joined by Antiwar.com contributing editor Daniel Larison to discuss his most recent piece. Larison argues that the period following the peaceful breakup of the USSR was the best moment for the U.S. to shed the militaristic blob it had built up in the name of fighting communism. Instead, the military-industrial-congressional complex scrambled to find a new enemy. And the next thirty years of meddling in the Middle East and Eastern Europe have resulted in today’s messy geopolitical status quo. Discussed on the show: “US Militarism Should Have Died With the Soviet Union”...
12/22/21 Gareth Porter on Iran and Afghanistan
Scott celebrates eleven years on the radio by interviewing Gareth Porter about Biden’s first year in office. They discuss the negotiations between the Administration and Iran over a return to the JCPOA. Despite many crossovers with the team that reached an agreement with Iran back in the Obama years, Biden’s people appear set on squeezing more concessions out of the Iranians. But Porter points out that, as he had predicted, the U.S. reluctance to return to the deal led to hardliner victories in Iran’s last elections. But even with a more anti-American regime, Porter sees no evidence...
Episode 480: American War and Propaganda From WW2 to Kosovo w/ Scott Horton
90 Minutes PG-13 Scott Horton is Managing Director of The Libertarian Institute, host of Antiwar Radio for Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles and KUCR 88.3 in Riverside, podcasts the Scott Horton Show from scotthorton.org, and is the Editorial Director of Antiwar.com. He’s conducted more than 5,000 interviews since 2003. He is also the author of Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan (2017) Scott joins Pete to go through the major American conflicts from the WW2 through Kosovo concentrating on how the government, with the help of the press, used propaganda to gain public...
Episode 441: The Rise Of The Military Industrial Complex w/ Mike Swanson
59 Minutes Suitable for All Audiences Mike Swanson is the author of "The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963." He joins Pete today to give an overview of the MIC's origins, and how it has grown into the leviathan we see today. The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963 WallStreetWindow.com Link to Richard Grove's Autonomy Course Donate at the Libertarian Institute Pete's Patreon Pete's Books on Amazon Pete's Books Available for Crypto Pete on Facebook Pete on...
Would Governments Ever Use Bio-Weapons Against Civilians?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxHR18f2A1I The gravest crimes in the State’s lexicon are almost invariably not invasions of private person or property, but dangers to its own contentment, for example, treason, desertion of a soldier to the enemy, failure to register for the draft , subversion and subversive conspiracy, assassination of rulers and such economic crimes against the State as counterfeiting its money or evasion of its income tax. Or compare the degree of zeal devoted to pursuing the man who assaults a policeman, with the attention that the State pays to the assault of an...
Two Reasons the ‘Gold Standard’ Had to Go
When one brings up the “Gold Standard” in discussion nowadays it’s almost treated as quaint. “Oh, I remember reading about that, that was a different time,” or, “Do you know how much “wealth” has been created since we abandoned that dinosaur?” And that’s just with the “normie” crowd. Don’t you dare get the cryptocurrency people going. In the past, the GS was of such importance that it became a phrase in popular culture to describe everything from household products, to the performance of elite athletes. It is still used in that way to describe those things, so why has its original...
Christian Cold-Warriors’ Faustian Bargain
What motivated the legions of bureaucrats in the US Gov during the Cold War? As a child of the 90s, and former Boy Scout, I can tell you that the answer is incredibly clear in the minds of that generation: defeating evangelical atheism. I wouldn't discount the notion that in the 50s and 60s, countless immoral acts were rationalized by American bureaucrats on the basis that such acts were necessary to preserve religion. Ironically, the immorality and hypocrisy of the Cold War soured the milk of America's moral teet for her children. The Red Army didn't turn America's next generations...
2/2/18 Major Danny Sjursen on the Vietnam War’s legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan
U.S. army major Daniel A. Sjursen joins Scott to talk about his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, the supposed military tactics of "The Surge," and his latest piece on the legacy of the Vietnam War, "The War That Never Ends (for the U.S. Military High Command)." Sjursen draws parallels between the Vietnam War and the Iraq and Afghan Wars and makes the case that misconceptions about the Vietnam War have persisted into the tactical approach to the forever wars of the present. Finally Sjursen explains why the ingrained orthodoxies in the military make any attempt at a shift in focus...
2/2/18 Major Danny Sjursen on the Vietnam War's legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan
U.S. army major Daniel A. Sjursen joins Scott to talk about his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, the supposed military tactics of "The Surge," and his latest piece on the legacy of the Vietnam War, "The War That Never Ends (for the U.S. Military High Command)." Sjursen draws parallels between the Vietnam War and the Iraq and Afghan Wars and makes the case that misconceptions about the Vietnam War have persisted into the tactical approach to the forever wars of the present. Finally Sjursen explains why the ingrained orthodoxies in the military make any attempt at a shift in focus...