Groong Links:
Guest:
- Scott Horton, Ed. Dir. The Libertarian Institute, AntiWar.com
Topics:
- What happened to Antiwar Voices
- Color Revolutions as US Strategy
- Armenia and Pipeline Geopolitics
- And more!
Episode 433 | Recorded: May 2, 2025
Show Notes
Summary
In this Conversations on Groong episode, we speak with longtime antiwar author and radio host Scott Horton, whose latest book Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine lays out how decades of U.S. provocations — from NATO expansion to proxy wars and pipeline politics — set the stage for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. We also discuss the silencing of dissent in American media, the disappearance of the antiwar left, and how Armenia fits into the evolving chessboard of U.S. foreign policy.
Main Topics Addressed
- How the U.S. provoked Russia into war with Ukraine
- The role of NATO expansion and Western interference in post-Soviet states
- Maidan, Minsk, and the road to war
- The silencing of antiwar voices in American media and politics
- Armenia’s precarious role in post-Soviet pipeline geopolitics
- Media narratives and the suppression of dissenting views
- Washington’s bipartisan war consensus and the think tank ecosystem
- Trump’s stance on Russia, NATO, and the war
- How war with Russia risks global catastrophe
Key Questions Discussed
- What are the main provocations by the U.S. that led to the Ukraine war, according to Scott Horton?
- Why does the author argue that the war could have been avoided?
- How have media and think tanks shaped public understanding of the war?
- What happened to the antiwar movement in the U.S. since the early 2000s?
- Why did Minsk II fail, and what role did the West play in that failure?
- How do oil and gas pipeline politics intersect with U.S. policy in the Caucasus, especially for Armenia?
- What are the broader dangers of continuing to escalate this war?
Images
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline
Referenced Articles & Sources
- Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine (Scott Horton)
- The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election
- Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground(RAND)
- On Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip Revolution”
- Dan Morgan and David B. Ottaway Series on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline
- Other Links
Wrap-up
That’s our show! We hope you found it useful. Please find us on Social Media and follow us everywhere you get your Armenian news.
Thanks to Laura Osborn for the music on our podcasts.
Guests
Scott Horton
Scott Horton is an American radio host, author, and prominent voice in the libertarian antiwar movement. He is the editorial director of the Libertarian Institute and Antiwar.com, as well as the host of The Scott Horton Show, where he has conducted thousands of interviews with experts on foreign policy, war, and civil liberties. He also hosts Antiwar Radio on 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles.
Horton has authored several highly regarded books critiquing U.S. military interventionism, including Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan, Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, and most recently, Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine. Through his writing and broadcasting, Horton has become a leading critic of American foreign policy, advocating for non-interventionism and diplomatic solutions over perpetual warfare.
Hosts
Asbed Bedrossian
Asbed is founder of the Armenian News Network Groong and co-founder of the ANN/Groong podcast.
Hovik Manucharyan
Hovik Manucharyan is an information security engineer who moved from Seattle to Armenia in 2022. He co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020 and has been a contributor to Groong News since the late 1990s.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Hovik Manucharyan on the ANN/Groong podcast are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer or any other organization.