Branko Marcetic discusses a recent move by the Trump administration that will grant unprecedented powers to the CIA to conduct cyber attacks against foreign countries. This highlights a persistent trend throughout Trump’s precedency that has seen him become perhaps the most hawkish president toward Russia since the end of the Cold War. Scott and Marcetic talk about the stubborn persistence of the “Russiagate” narrative, which has lingered long after its underlying premises have been dispelled. Marcetic says this is the way all conspiracy theories work—their adherents can always assimilate new facts into the theory no matter how contradictory they really are. All this, of course, is nothing but deleterious to America’s relationship with Russia, probably the most important geopolitical issue facing the world today.
Discussed on the show:
- “Trump the “Putin Puppet” Just Dramatically Escalated the Undeclared War Against Russia” (Jacobin)
- “Secret Trump order gives CIA more powers to launch cyberattacks” (Yahoo News)
Branko Marcetic is a writer for Jacobin Magazine, a fellow at In These Times, and host of the 1/200 podcast. He is the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. Follow him on Twitter @BMarchetich.
This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.
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Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from this website. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. Visit https://scotthorton.org