Monthly Archives: May 2012

Antiwar Radio: Carl Finamore

Carl Finamore, Machinist Local Lodge 1781 delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, discusses his article “Military Orchestrates Egypt’s Presidential Elections;” how Tahrir Square protesters won free speech and labor reforms, but failed to change the military-dominated political system; how the West uses Islamic groups to counter secular nationalism in the Arab world; the US’s strategic interests in Egypt; and why Egyptians, fatigued from lengthy protests, are increasingly more concerned with the economy than politics.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:37 — 6.3MB)

Antiwar Radio: Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter, investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy, discusses his article “Was Afghan Massacre Linked to IED Attack;” the confusing events and timeline during Sgt. Robert Bales’s alleged massacre; the Special Forces assassination raid that took place in the same village, on the same night, as the massacre; and how the US military uses collective punishment (a war crime) on civilians suspected of aiding the insurgency.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:02 — 4.4MB)

Antiwar Radio: Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, discusses his article “On Israel’s ‘Right to Exist;’” the libertarian perspective on the rights of individuals and states; how Israel’s “right” is used as rhetorical misdirection, changing the subject away from the plight of Palestinians; defining Israel as “the state of the Jewish people” irrespective of location (since all Jews have the right of return); why the “end of Israel,” as defined, does not mean Jews will be pushed into the sea, but that all the people will have equal rights under the law; and why the goal of hardcore Zionists is ethnic cleansing, not apartheid.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:30 — 4.2MB)

Antiwar Radio: Grant F. Smith

Grant F. Smith, director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, discusses his article “US Charity Secretly Funds Israeli Nukes;” how the Weizmann Institute, posing as a non-profit charity, conducts espionage and fundraising for Israel’s nuclear weapons program; why the US government continues pretending that Israel’s nukes don’t exist; the IRS’s tentative ruling on tax-deductible donations to the Weizmann Institute; how the Justice Department’s secretive “shutdown” orders on productive FBI investigations violates US obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and why the mainstream media won’t touch this stuff with a ten foot pole.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:56 — 4.6MB)

Antiwar Radio: Robert P. Murphy

Robert P. Murphy, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, discusses his article “Who Needs War for Oil;” why the US military doesn’t need to intervene in the Middle East to “secure” supplies of oil; how embargoes hurt oil exporting countries more than their customers (shown by the US-supported embargo on Iran); and the contrarian theory that oil scarcity and higher prices are the true US policy goals.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:14 — 4.6MB)

Antiwar Radio: Flynt Leverett

Flynt Leverett, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discusses the latest negotiations on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program at the just-concluded P5+1 Baghdad summit; why the US will never agree to lift sanctions on Iran, no matter the concessions; how the US negotiating position makes Obama look like an idiot; Richard Nixon’s observation that the same political price is paid for going half way as all the way – so you might as well go to China; why the Obama administration still won’t (consistently) acknowledge Iran’s rational leadership and sovereign (and NPT) right to enrich uranium; and how bad-faith negotiating by the US ruined the “reciprocity framework” established in the previous Istanbul talks.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:36 — 4.3MB)

Antiwar Radio: Ray McGovern

Former CIA senior analyst Ray McGovern discusses his article “Applying the Six-Day War to Iran;” neoconservative Charles Krauthammer’s revisionist history on the war – recounting it as a pre-emptive strike against imminent Arab attack instead of a long-planned land grab; former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s candid honesty about Israel’s “war of choice” in 1967; disagreement among Israeli government officials on whether or not Iran poses an existential threat; and how President Obama’s timid negotiating style has complicated his effort to dissuade Netanyahu from attacking Iran.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:02 — 4.6MB)

Antiwar Radio: Chris Hellman

Chris Hellman, Senior Research Analyst for the National Priorities Project, discusses his article “How Much Does Washington Spend on ‘Defense;’” the GOP’s plan to cut the “meals on wheels” program instead of the Pentagon’s budget; how constant threat-hyping makes Americans believe Iran is more threatening than the Soviet Union in its heyday; how outsourcing failed to reduce the size and cost of government; and why a few budget items should be higher, like nuclear waste storage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:32 — 6.1MB)

Antiwar Radio: Glenn Greenwald

Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses federal judge Katherine Forrest’s amazing ruling against the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act; why the US is moving rapidly toward an authoritarian police state 10+ years after 9/11; how the PATRIOT Act and military commissions, both highly controversial in 2001, have become the new normal; the Justice Department’s refusal to say that journalists and activists aren’t subject to indefinite detention – even though the DOJ would have won in court by doing so; how the NDAA violates the 1st and 5th Amendments; the Congress’s assault on due-process; and how the mainstream media avoids debate on inconvenient subjects by simply ignoring them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:12 — 5.1MB)

Antiwar Radio: Dina Rasor

Dina Rasor, founder of the Project on Military Procurement (now called the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO), discusses her article “Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor;” the pilots who refused to fly anymore and went to 60 Minutes about the Raptor’s unexplained toxicity; how so-called stealth aircraft can be detected with outdated radar technology; the nearly half billion-dollar Raptor’s onerous maintenance requirements whenever it’s flown in the rain; and why pilot training is the key to an effective air force, not a fleet of expensive new planes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:43 — 4.5MB)