Robert Scheer on the New Cold War and ‘Faux Redbaiting’ (Video)

In an interview on “Watching the Hawks,” Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer examines the new Cold War, U.S. foreign policy under President Trump and the current demonization of Russia.

Scheer delves into the history of the old Cold War, saying “communism was always a nationalist phenomenon,” and he refers to an interview he recently conducted with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. “I said … it was so obvious that [the United States] had invented a unified, aggressive enemy, when in fact what you had was really nationalist enclaves that wanted to protect their border. … The whole Cold War construction was nonsense.”

Scheer and co-host Sean Stone discuss imperialism, capitalism and geopolitics. Scheer predicts Donald Trump will be “sucked into imperial adventures because of all the faux redbaiting.”

He says, “My view of Russia is this is a country we meddled in quite a bit. Demonized, you know? And this doesn’t excuse everything they did, not at all.”

The conversation ends with Scheer and Stone discussing corporate influence on mainstream media. Scheer, who worked for the Los Angeles Times for many years, thinks most major news outlets are biased. “I really don’t see that much difference [among the outlets]. They’re all operating to serve some interest,” Scheer says. “I think … whistleblowers have saved us.”

—Posted by Emma Niles