Scott Horton, editorial director of antiwar.com and director of the Libertarian Institute, joins Joe Rogan to discuss American foreign policy failures spanning decades. Horton, who has conducted over 6,200 interviews since 2003, is author of three major books examining U.S. interventions: Fool's Errand on Afghanistan, Enough Already on the War on Terror, and Provoked on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The conversation covers the evolution of American empire from the Wolfowitz Doctrine through current conflicts in Ukraine and Iran. Horton explains how neoconservative strategies outlined in A Clean Break and Coping with Crumbling States drove disastrous interventions in Iraq and beyond. They examine NATO expansion's role in provoking Russia, the technical realities of Iran's nuclear program, and the recent military strikes that exposed vulnerabilities in American Middle East positioning.

Horton draws from historical examples including Smedley Butler's War Is a Racket and Pat Buchanan's Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War to illustrate recurring patterns of elite interests driving foreign policy decisions that ultimately harm American security and global stability.

From New World Order Conspiracy to Neoconservative Reality

Horton evolved from 1990s New World Order conspiracy theories to understanding that the real agenda was American global dominance, not UN world government as outlined in the Wolfowitz Doctrine.

The Wolfowitz Doctrine established that 'we're going to be the most dominant power on every continent anywhere in the world' and prevent any nation from challenging American hegemony - Scott

Jacob Hilbrun's They Knew They Were Right chronicles how neoconservatives, despite being consistently wrong, maintained influence through think tank funding from military-industrial complex.

The Clean Break Strategy and Iraq War Origins

David Wormser and Richard Pearl's A Clean Break written for Netanyahu in 1996 advocated abandoning Oslo peace process for 'peace through strength and total dominance over neighbors.'

The companion work Coping with Crumbling States proposed breaking Arab states into 'smaller tribal-based units' to weaken them relative to Israel.

Wormser's Tyranny's Ally argued America was Saddam's ally simply for not launching regime change, revealing the neoconservative mindset driving Iraq invasion.

Wesley Clark revealed a Pentagon memo listing seven countries for regime change in five years, which Dave Smith noted we accomplished except for Iran.

NATO Expansion and the Provocation of Russia

Horton's Provoked documents how H.W. Bush promised Gorbachev in Malta 1989 that if Eastern European states were freed, 'we promise not to take advantage.'

George Kennan, architect of Soviet containment policy, warned in 1998 that NATO expansion would provoke Russian backlash, then critics would say 'that's how Russians are.'

Ukraine became 'totally controlled by America' with State Department personnel 'working at every level of Ukrainian government' according to Victoria Nuland's testimony.

The 2019 RAND Corporation study 'Extending Russia' outlined strategies to overextend Russian resources, including increasing weapons to Ukraine despite warning of potential full-scale invasion.

Iran's Nuclear Program and Recent Military Strikes

Iran's nuclear program was safeguarded by IAEA inspectors who tracked uranium 'from womb to tomb' until recent escalations, proving they weren't diverting material for weapons.

Under the Obama JCPOA deal, Iran would need 'a year to enrich enough uranium at weapons grade to make one bomb' if they withdrew and kicked out inspectors.

Recent Iranian missile strikes successfully hit 18 American bases from northern Iraq to Oman, 'took out all radar stations and pitted our runways' according to well-sourced CNN reporting.

Government officials told major newspapers that Iran retained '70-75 percent of all their missiles and launchers' after recent strikes, contradicting claims of decimation.

Historical Patterns and the Military-Industrial Complex

Smedley Butler's 1933 War Is a Racket revealed how a Major General realized 'I thought I was making the world safer, but really I was making it better for bankers.'

Pat Buchanan's Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War uses only English historians from Cambridge and Oxford to argue WWII was 'fumbled into' unnecessarily.

Military commanders briefed troops that Trump was 'anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth' according to Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

The Iraq War cost '$5-7 trillion' with the entire War on Terror reaching '$10 trillion,' enriching defense contractors while achieving strategic failures.