Provoked!!

It is the best history of the collective actions of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden to push NATO to the east while rejecting every overture of Russia to obtain an agreement to secure Russia’s western border. Horton meticulously documents the culpability of each of these men. The blood-soaked battlefields of the Donbass are the legacy of each of these men.

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

Over and over, U.S. government officials and their mainstream media allies called Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine an “unprovoked attack.” The slogan became so overused that people began to ask the obvious question: Why do they protest so much?

In Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine, Scott Horton explains how since the end of the last Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, successive U.S. administrations pressed their advantage against the new Russian Federation to the point that it finally blew up into a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine.

From NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, to “shock therapy” economic policy, the Balkan and Chechen wars, color-coded revolutions, new missile defense systems, assassinations, Russiagate and ultimately the brutal conflict in Ukraine, Provoked shows what really happened and why it did not have to be this way.

The book deserves the glowing praise heaped on it by my esteemed colleagues and friends:

“Scott Horton has become an invaluable chronicler of the destruction wrought by our interventionist foreign policy. With his new book Provoked, Scott blows the lid off the mountains of lies used to justify Washington’s waste of billions of dollars and countless Ukrainian lives in a futile proxy war with Russia. Truth is the greatest disinfectant and Scott Horton’s crucial account of this awful chapter in U.S. foreign policy is like a spring cleaning. Read this book and pick up copies for your friends…and adversaries!” — Dr. Ron Paul, former Texas congressman, chairman and founder of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and co-host of The Liberty Report

“Provoked is manna from heaven for anyone who wants to know where the extreme Russophobia in the West came from, as well as the central role the United States played in causing the Ukraine war. Horton provides a detailed account of America’s foolish and dishonest behavior toward Russia in the years since the Cold War ended.” — John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago

“Scott Horton’s important new book traces America’s journey to war and intervention through a succession of presidencies and builds a case that points to a frightening, potential final destination for the United States: isolation and alienation from most of the world. Scott’s message is simple. Stop now before it’s too late.” — Col. Douglas Macgregor, U.S. Army (ret.), CEO, Our Country Our Choice

“Scott Horton is a treasure. He is also the neocons’ nightmare. He knows their deceptions and lies and he is fearless in exposing the disasters they have wrought. Provoked is the most thoroughly researched, rationally grounded, and compellingly presented assault on war and defense of peace written in English in the post-9/11 era. It will become the standard against which all similar works are measured, and indispensable reading for all who need to understand how the American government has time and again brought civilization to a terrifying precipice.” — Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, New York Times best-selling author and commentator, host of the Judging Freedom Podcast

“Scott Horton’s new book is one of the rare literary works that is impeccably sourced, unimpeachable in its logical conclusions — and fearless in presenting the truth, regardless of how unpopular or inconvenient it may be. It’s a hard read, though. Not because of its length — its very thorough — but for its revelations and implications: our country has some ugly warts that must be addressed and some sins for which it must atone. If we honestly look ourselves in the mirror and make necessary changes, we can avoid some of the worst outcomes. Ignore Scott’s sage observations, however, and we could be in for a rough future.” — Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, U.S. Army (ret.), author of Eleventh Hour in 2020 America: How America’s Foreign Policy Got Jacked Up – and How the Next Administration Can Fix It and host of Daniel Davis – Deep Dive

I regret not getting this video up earlier — it might have given you some ideas for an ideal Christmas, Hanukkah or Festivus gift (the latter is a joke for those not familiar with Jerry Seinfeld).

I also am posting my chats from today with Nima and with Judge Nap. For those who celebrate Christmas, I wish you one filled with Peace and Joy. For those who do not, a hearty Happy Holidays.

But I cannot conclude this piece without remembering the genocidal horror that Israel is inflicting on the Palestinian people. There are Palestinian Christians living in the city where Jesus was born, who are fighting to survive, both as individuals and as a faith community. They suffer alongside their Muslim brothers and sisters, who have lost all material possessions and struggle each day to feed their children. My prayer is that the Palestinian people will be gifted peace and security in 2025.