Middle East

Jeremy Scahill

Scott Horton Interviews Jeremy Scahill

Jeremy Scahill discusses Yemen, President Saleh, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Al Qaeda, Obama, Bush, Ed Schultz, Libya.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Jeremy Scahill

Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Scott Horton Interviews Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Rep. Dennis Kucinich discusses his attempt to provoke debate in Congress concerning the authority to declare war. He voted to defund the Libyan War.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Glenn Greenwald

Scott Horton Interviews Glenn Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald talks about Obama and War Powers Act and the Libyan War. He also comments on WikiLeaks Julian Assange and journalism.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Glenn Greenwald

Nick Turse

Scott Horton Interviews Nick Turse

Nick Turse discusses how JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command became the president’s own private army. He also comments on why the precision airstrikes in Libya were probably guided by special operations forces on the ground.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews Nick Turse

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I must confess that I have my own views of the Muslim world. Like most countries they want self-determination. That is the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government. Self-determination is an idea that can't killed with bombs or bullets or autocratic leaders.

Robin Wright

Robin Wright talks with Charlie Rose about the Islamic world
Source: Robin Wright

Al McCoy

SubordiNations

Al McCoy talks about how empires are maintained, why the U.S. empire is in decline, and what the consequences might be depending on how we respond to that decline. Al McCoy is a professor of history at the University of Wisconson–Madison, and author of 'Policing America's Empire: The United States, the Philippines and the Rise of the Surveillance State,'
Source: TomCast for April 24, 2011: SubordiNations

Robin Wright talked about the recent Middle East uprisings and she responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.
Source: Rock The Casbah

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Monday 5 September 2011
by: Chris Hedges, Truthdig | Op-Ed

A rebel fighter loads ammunition into a canister next to gun mounted onto the back of a truck at a service station on the road between Misrata and Sirte, in Libya, Sept. 3, 2011. The rebels have formed a Supreme Security Committee of civilian officials and militia leaders, which will take control of all security matters in Tripoli. (Photo: Bryan Denton / The New York Times)

Here we go again. The cheering crowds. The deposed dictator. The encomiums to freedom and liberty. The American military as savior. You would think we would have learned in Afghanistan or Iraq. But I guess not. I am waiting for a trucked-in crowd to rejoice as a Gadhafi statue is toppled and Barack Obama lands on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit to announce “Mission Accomplished.” War, as long as you view it through the distorted lens of the corporate media, is not only entertaining, but allows us to confuse state power with personal power.It permits us to wallow in unchecked self-exaltation. We are a nation that loves to love itself.

Paul Fitzgerald & Elizabeth Gould

Afghanistan experts Elizabeth Gould & Paul Fitzgerald talk to Peter B. Collins. They are the authors of the book "Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire" This broadcast was made before the murder of Bin Laden and is one part of the Peter B. Collins podcast.
Source: Afghanistan Experts Gould & Fitzgerald; The Nation’s Blog on WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning by Peter B. Collins on April 1, 2011

Michael Schwartz

Weapons of Mass Disruption

Michael Schwartz, a sociology professor at Stony Brook University and author of 'War Without End: The Iraq War in Context' talks about the Egyptian revolution and the power of nonviolent disruption.
Source: Weapons of Mass Disruption, TomCast from TomDispatch.com

Music includes Earth Anthem, We'll Met Again, Taste of Honey, wasted life - stiff little fingers, filled with love, Young - Hollywood Undead, wright johnnie - hello vietnam, pete seeger - Talking Atom, Wings, Jeff Foxworthy- Married and Single, excerpt from grapes of wrath movie

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King George III Won: Happy Fourth of July!
By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/node/58333

The Declaration of Independence is best remembered as a declaration of war, a war declared on the grounds that we wanted our own flag. The sheer stupidity and anachronism of the idea serves to discourage any thoughts about why Canada didn't need a bloody war, whether the U.S. war benefitted people outside the new aristocracy to whom power was transferred, what bothered Frederick Douglas so much about a day celebrating "independence," or what the Declaration of Independence actually said.

When you read the Declaration of Independence, it turns out to be an indictment of King George III for various abuses of power. And those abuses of power look fairly similar to abuses of power we happily permit U.S. presidents to engage in today, either as regards the people of this nation or the people of territories and nations that our military occupies today in a manner uncomfortably resembling Britain's rule over the 13 colonies.

Or perhaps I should say, a large portion of us take turns being happy or outraged depending on the political party with which the current president is identified.

Shadi Hamid

Simon Schama

Shadi Hamid and Simon Schama comment on what makes a revolution more likely to succeed - or fail.
Source: The Elements Of A Successful Revolution

Anand Gopal

Scott Horton Interviews Anand Gopal 

Independent journalist Anand Gopal discusses why counterinsurgency strategy works better in theory than in practice. He explains how the "denying al-Qaeda sanctuary" justification for U.S. military deployments ignores the real reasons the 9/11 attacks succeeded.

Eric Margolis

Scott Horton Interviews Eric Margolis

Eric Margolis discusses Egypt’s fake revolution. He comments on the criminal charges against former Pakistani president Musharraf and reminds us of the still unsolved mystery of who really killed Benazir Bhutto.

Lester Brown

How Close are we to the Edge

As food prices rise, and civil unrest builds throughout the Middle East, Lester Brown wonders if these two could be connected.

Music includes Earth Anthem, Subterranean Homesick Blues, In A World Gone Mad..., brother can you spare a dime, Diamonds & Rust, climate change, We'll Meet Again

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Stephen Kinzer

American and European policies in the Middle East have produced a region immersed in violence, terror, anger and oppression.  The West needs to change policies that were shaped for the Cold War.  Kinzer offers ideas for a better approach to the world's most turbulent region.
Source: Facing Disaster In the Middle East: Do We Have Only Bad Options?

Toxic Lead Still in Brass Plumbing

Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tested water coming from new brass plumbing in some of the college’s brand new buildings and found it contains high levels of lead.
Source: Lead Surprisingly Still in Brass Plumbing

Music includes Earth Anthem, Baker Street, Brother Can You Spare A Dime, Crazy Rhythm, That's Amore, Duct Tape, Go Down Congress, We'll Meet Again

Mohandas K. Gandhi

"Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always." -Mohandas K. Gandhi

From September 26, 2010, Cindy interviews British journalist, Robert Fisk, who has been living in the Middle East and reporting from there for decades. He is an English writer and journalist and has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. Fisk holds more British and International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent. Fisk has said that journalism must, "challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war."
Source: Audio Archives of Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

Scott Horton Interviews Scott Horton, the international human rights lawyer on October 26, 2010

The other Scott Horton is also a professor and contributing editor at Harper's magazine.  They discuss the maintenance of order and civility in Kyrgyzstan despite a rather chaotic election result, and the already infamous Frago 242 order (revealed by WikiLeaks) issued from high up the chain of command that demanded U.S. soldiers ignore the torture and human rights violations perpetrated by their Iraqi allies.  They touch on Donald Rumsfeld's ignorance of the obligation of soldiers to prevent inhumane treatment.
Source: Scott Horton Interviews The Other Scott Horton