Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton » North Korea

John Feffer

Scott Horton — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:27:23 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “Two Leaders, Two Deaths,” comparing the legacies of former Czech president Vaclav Havel and N. Korean “dear leader” Kim Jong Il; Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution and Havel’s mixed-bag presidency, where his aspiration of “moral government” fell short in implementation; Kim Jong Il’s ability to defy the US and maintain his hermit kingdom (paid for by Koreans who suffered a repressive police state and starved to death by the millions); and the chance for food-for-nukes negotiations between the US and N. Korea’s successor regime.

MP3 here. (20:05)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. His webpage is JohnFeffer.com.

He is the author of several books and numerous articles. He has been a Writing Fellow at Provisions Library in Washington, DC and a PanTech fellow in Korean Studies at Stanford University. He is a former associate editor of World Policy Journal. He has worked as an international affairs representative in Eastern Europe and East Asia for the American Friends Service Committee. He has studied in England and Russia, lived in Poland and Japan, and traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia. He has taught a graduate level course on international conflict at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul in July 2001 and delivered lectures at a variety of academic institutions including New York University, Hofstra, Union College, Cornell University, and Sofia University (Tokyo).

John has been widely interviewed in print and on radio. He serves on the advisory committees of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea. He is a recipient of the Herbert W. Scoville fellowship and has been a writer in residence at Blue Mountain Center and the Wurlitzer Foundation. He currently lives with his partner Karin Lee in Hyattsville, Maryland.

John Feffer

Scott Horton — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:45:31 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “Closing Overseas Bases Is Good Policy and Good Politics;” why chances for peace on the Korean peninsula should improve after the next (Korean) election; the known unknowns on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal; why a mass closure of foreign US military bases would almost certainly result in Japan’s militarization; and the bipartisan Congressional proposals to close bases and cut military spending.

MP3 here. (20:18)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. His webpage is JohnFeffer.com.

John Feffer

Scott Horton — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:34:45 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “The End of America’s Pacific Century;” North Korea’s attempt to increase its stature among nations, both militarily and economically – which requires regional allies with deep pockets; N. Korea’s deals with S. Korean industry and Russian energy concerns; the Bush administration’s overtures to N. Korea in 2006-07, followed up by Obama’s silent treatment; and the debate about whether the US needs to maintain a permanent military presence in East Asia to preserve the status quo and prevent old enemies from clashing again.

MP3 here. (20:08)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. His webpage is JohnFeffer.com.

John Feffer

Scott Horton — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:13:24 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the Afghanistan debate following Osama bin Laden’s death; his disagreement with Jonathan Landay, who says we can’t withdraw for fear of the terrible consequences; the sea-change in public opinion (and even in Congress and among elite opinion-makers) on the wisdom of staying in Afghanistan; why Syria may be a bridge too far for US intervention; the failed “kill the chicken to scare the monkey” US strategy in Libya; bin Laden’s partial victory, wherein the US empire is bankrupt and failing, but Islamic radicalization was eschewed in favor of a democratic, non-fundamentalist Arab Spring; how neoconservatives and antiwar libertarians are close cousins with similar backgrounds who have arrived at diametrically opposed worldviews; whether the US empire is a stabilizing force globally, or an impediment to ending unhealthy stalemates (as on the Korean peninsula); and the complex (wonkish even) history of N. Korea’s uranium enrichment program, plutonium nuclear weapons, and broken deals with successive US administrations.

MP3 here. (54:02)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. His webpage is JohnFeffer.com.

Gareth Porter

Scott Horton — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:59:00 +0000

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist for IPS News, discusses how WikiLeaks badly underestimated the mainstream media’s ability to filter out material damaging to government, the Russian debunking of the US theory that Iran got advanced ballistic missiles from N. Korea, the New York Times’ leading role in spreading anti-Iran propaganda and how omissions within the Pentagon’s Afghanistan progress report indicate the insurgency’s growing strength.

MP3 here. (18:02)

Gareth Porter is an independent historian and journalist. He is the author of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. His articles appear on Counterpunch, Huffington Post, Inter Press Service News Agency and Antiwar.com.

Charles Armstrong

Scott Horton — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:56:21 +0000

Charles K. Armstrong, Professor of Korean Studies at Columbia University, discusses the heavily militarized Korean DMZ and disputed borders that make North/South conflicts unavoidable; how the N. Korean bombardment was a response (justified or not) to provocative S. Korean war games; how US interference – including a significant military presence in the South – hobbles reunification talks; Seoul’s risk of annihilation by an artillery barrage from the North and why N. Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is not nearly as crazy as Western media would have us believe.

MP3 here. (9:32)

Charles K. Armstrong is The Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences at Columbia University. He is the author of Korean Society: Civil Society, Democracy and the State and The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950.

Rep. Ron Paul

Scott Horton — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:20:56 +0000

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses his preferred Korea policy in light of the North/South military clash: pull out all US forces and let the regional powers mediate if necessary; how Osama bin Laden’s plan to bankrupt the US empire (as he did to the USSR before) seems to be working perfectly; how government programs (like Obamacare) are incredibly difficult to repeal once enacted, the devastation wrought on Iraqi Christian communities since the US invastion and the groundswell of Americans who are angered by TSA screenings but fail to make the connection between US foreign policy and terrorism.

MP3 here. (18:29)

Congressman Ron Paul represents Texas’s 14th district. He is the author of The Revolution: A Manifesto, A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship and Freedom Under Siege. His archived columns for Antiwar.com are here.

John Feffer

Scott Horton — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:21:20 +0000

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the US influence in remaking the Japanese government after WWII, the enduring popularity of Japan’s Peace Constitution, the Pentagon’s recognition that US military bases eventually overstay their welcome even in allied countries, the continued symbolic significance of US gestures of regret for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and how Japanese foreign policy is influenced by antipathy toward N. Korea.

MP3 here. (25:04)

John Feffer is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Gordon Prather

Scott Horton — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:33:27 +0000

Gordon Prather, former nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, discusses unsubstantiated claims Iran is secretly building nukes, the IAEA going beyond the scope of their mandate in Iran dealings, Bill Clinton’s broken promises regarding N. Korea’s nuclear program, accusations that Iran is pioneering new nuclear weapons designs, overstated dangers of EMP attacks and the indignant U.S. attitude toward Iran designed to provoke withdrawal from the NPT and IAEA programs.

MP3 here. (61:20)

Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army.

Eric Margolis

Scott Horton — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:36:30 +0000

Eric Margolis, author of War at the Top of the World, discusses the dangerous situation created by excessive U.S. and N. Korean bluster, the military-industrial complex’s anticipation of profits from a conventional weapons buildup, the limited U.S. military options against N. Korea and the foreign aid extortion game played by North and South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.

MP3 here. (12:18)

Eric Margolis is a regular columnist with the Quebecor Media Company and a contributor to The Huffington Post. He is the author of the article “OK Mr. Gates. What Now?” on lewrockwell.com.