Veterans for Peace is Thursday's regular segment about the contemporary issues of war and peace that affect veterans, their families, and the country as a whole. They start today with President Trump's surprise visit to Iraq yesterday, his first into a combat zone as president. Instead of telling the troops they might go home soon, following his recent decisions in Syria and Afghanistan, the president continued the presidential legacy of discussing military strategy while keeping troops away from home instead.
One of the year's most important Loud & Clear interviews is being replayed from November. Brian and John talked to investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter about the Pentagon's deepening control over US politics, government and the economy in what he calls America's Permanent-War Complex.
Six Israeli F-16s attacked Syria yesterday. But this wasn't just any attack. The Israelis used civilian flights headed to Damascus and Beirut as cover for the operation, directly endangering the passengers onboard. And this is according to the Israeli press. The Syrian Defence Ministry said that it did not engage the Israelis because it did not want to accidentally hit the passenger jets. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria.
Billionaire Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, has acknowledged that he partially funded New Knowledge, a group that used disinformation tactics and fake news to influence the 2017 Alabama senate race in a successful effort to sink Republican Roy Moore. Last week, Facebook suspended five accounts linked to the operation for "engaging in inauthentic behaviour." One of those accounts belonged to Jonathan Morgan, CEO of New Knowledge. Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, joins the show.
This May 30 interview is one of Loud & Clear's best 2018 shows, focusing on Washington's hundreds of think tanks. These quasi-academic institutions are supposed to be a home for subject matter experts to think the big thoughts, write important papers and books, and, perhaps to influence policy. But the truth isn't that simple. Most think tanks are financed by special interests like defence contractors, foreign governments, and partisan billionaires. Very few Americans realize the impact these groups have on our government and on our politics. Max Blumenthal, a bestselling author and journalist, whose latest film is "Killing Gaza," senior editor of Grayzone Project, and co-host of the podcast "Moderate Rebels," joins Brian and John.
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