DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - With Allies Like These | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST. Today we discuss:• Trump didn’t consult with European allies before attacking Iran. Now he wants their help reopening the Strait of Hormuz. They’re rejecting him—and now Trump is seriously annoyed. Meanwhile, Iran denies Israel’s claim that it killed security chief Ali Larijani.• More registered voters view Israel negatively than positively in, driven by change among independents and especially Democrats. “This is unrecognizable in terms of where America was, and the Democratic Party was, for a 20-, 30-year history,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff. The 2028 Democratic primary is “going to be fought on very, very different terrain in regards to the issue of Israel,” he says.• In an echo of the U.S. bombing of the Iranian elementary school, Pakistan claimed it was targeting a Taliban ammunition depot but instead killed at least 400 people in a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan. Pakistan’s war aims are unarticulated.• Cuba plunged into a total electricity blackout as Trump muses he can “take” the island if he wants.MERCH STORE: https://www.deprogram.livehttps://x.com/tedrallhttps://x.com/JohnKiriakouLIVE ON RUMBLE: https://rumble.com/c/DeProgramShowSPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kdFlw2w8sSPhKI8NRx8ZuAPPLE MUSIC: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deprogram-with-john-kiriakou-and-ted-rall/id1825379504

Good morning. You're watching D. Program with Ted Rall and John Kirooku. I'm Ted Rall. That's John Curiacu. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. You know, I don't know why. I have some kind of mental block. And every year, I just, for the life of me, can't remember what day is St. Patrick's Day. And then yesterday I went to the post office and it's next door to an Irish pub in my neighborhood. And I was like, oh, okay, okay, it's coming up. Well, in New York, it's hard to forget. Yeah. You know, it's always part of the scenery. And, you know, I have no Irish ancestry at all, but I always love Irish people.

So they're great. So anyway, okay, so let's see. We've got lots to talk about. Trump's been begging European allies to help him out in the, he basically started a fight. Now he wants the help of the Europeans to help them reopen the Strait of Ormuz. He claims that some countries are lining. up. I don't know if he has like Tuvalu and Vanuatu ready to help. But usually, yeah, usually Tahiti and Costa Rica are good to go on these issues.

Yeah. You can always look at the mighty Costa Rican fleet will save the day there. But it doesn't look like the frogs or the crowds can be bothered. And then this is a continuing story, but I think it's worth noting the Israel continues to decline in the polls. What's really funny is it's all attributed to Gaza. But all the analysts don't talk about Israel's role attacking Iran. That can't be helping. And then this is a huge story, and it's being a little bit buried. Pakistan bombed Kabul and hit a drug rehab center.

I'd even know that the Taliban had such things. They killed at least 400 people at the rehab center in Kabul. And this will be familiar. They basically said, well, we weren't aiming out of rehab. Hab Center. We thought it was an ammo dump. Exactly. Cuba is in total electricity blackout, not the first time it's ever happened, but it's like still getting, they're getting longer and more thorough.

And Trump said he's musing and saying that he can take Cuba. He wouldn't say what that meant. He said he will have the honor of taking Cuba. Or he said, I could liberate it or I could take it. I. I. And then he added, I can do anything I want. It's breathtaking.

That's the word. Yes, indeed. I mean, by Trumpian standards, it's always like he calls and raises himself over and over. John, what would you like to discuss first? Really quickly, just to get it out of the way, I want to talk about Cuba for a second, because we're going to spend the whole show practically talking about Israel. I was in Cuba three years ago last month. And there are power outages every day.

And people get used to it. They sort of set aside water in jugs. And they have some sticks and twigs to make fires if they have to, you know, they have to cook food. But you're pretty well guaranteed that your electricity is going to go out two, three, on a bad day, four hours. a day. Literally, the entire country is blacked out right now. They are out of fuel. It just doesn't exist. The streets, I don't know if you've seen on the news, the streets are completely vacant, except for people on bicycles. This is different from previous blackouts. The government is teetering on the brink of collapse. And Trump said yesterday that

the administration is in talks with the Cubans, that he might not invade Cuba if the current president steps down. It's the Venezuelan model. That's exactly what it is. It's the Venezuelan model. I can't even believe that we're having this conversation. But there it is. How would the, I mean, so I think that, you know,

from what I can gather, the current president is amenable to the possibility of stepping down. but then what? I mean, how about the Cuban people? Right. Do they want to return to a Batista 2.0 situation? See, this is that anti-communist Marco Rubio, just like we said,

Neo-Con, hater of communism, even though his people left Cuba before the communists took over, as did Ted Cruz's. But, yeah, there's just nobody to stop these guys. Yeah, Ted Cruz's family left under Batista. And didn't he admit that his father was tortured by Batista? By Batista.

So is he, I mean, like you said yesterday, he's, for a smart man, he's incredibly stupid. Incredibly. It's shocking how stupid Ted Cruz is. Yeah. I mean, he wasn't he like the lion of the Harvard debate team? Yes, exactly. And that's why Alan Dershowitz called him the smartest law student he ever had. Ted Cruz.

That like that isn't true. That cannot be true. Tell you, man, that says a lot. All right. So, I mean, look, we're going to, so let's, let's unpack this. I mean, will he get the Venezuelan model? And will we see another Mariel boat lift, another massive migrant flow? Or is that something that Trump wouldn't allow?

Is there a way he could stop it? You know, my guess, Ted, my guess is these guys in Cuba, they love their country. And if they think that stepping aside is going to save their country from an American invasion. Yes. Whether that's a realistic scenario or not, I think that they'll step aside. I agree with that. Will Cuba become a failed state? God, I think it pretty much is. I mean, it took us almost, what, 65 years or 66 years. But yeah, I think we finally failed, we finally forced Cuba to fail. I think that's really what it's finally come down to. How could, but I mean, you know, look, we've already made Haiti a failed state. Yeah. It's much smaller than Cuba. Cuba has 10 million people.

Yes. I mean, it's hard to imagine that we're here in the United States, we can escape the repercussions. Yeah. Of having a failed state. 90 miles off the Florida coast. Yeah, and everybody's okay with that. And then what does that mean over the longer term? Does it mean that all these Cubans are going to go back to Cuba? I mean, what are we supposed to take from this? Yeah, that's like one of the big negotiating points, right? Like that the Cuban expats would be allowed to invest in Cuba.

I guess the Cuban government's already agreed to that. I don't even know why they were against it in the first place. No. Who would want to invest in Cuba? Cuba at this stage if it's about to, you know, circle the drain. Right. I wouldn't. I'd be worried about it. This episode is brought to you by Spreaker, the platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need,

explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today at spreeker.com. Spreaker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. About it, like genuinely. I don't know. I wanted to get that out of the

way just because I think it's I think it's far more important than the American media are telling us right now. Well, shall we knock off Pakistan too? Yeah, let's do that. Okay, so obviously. All out war, remember? Those were the words. Right.

And there's so many echoes of other, of what's going on between the U.S. and Iran, right? I mean, the U.S. hasn't really articulated clear war aims against Iran. It's sort of like, hey, let's bomb some shit and see what happens. and that's kind of like what the Pakistanis are doing in Afghanistan. They're bombing some shit and seeing what happened. And they seem to be using the same outdated map information that the, maybe they're using the DIA as a subcontracting their maps to the ICI. What do you even, I mean, the Afghans say they're going to retaliate, but they can't really.

They're not going to be able to do anything to the Pakistanis. There's no air force. They don't have missiles. There's just no way for them to retaliate. None. Now, the world's not going to care about this the way we care about 175 schoolgirls in Iran because they're school girls. These are drug addicts or, you know, former drug addicts or people who are trying to become former drug addicts. I think it's kind of cool that the Taliban, I mean, they do have a major drug problem.

and I think it's very cool that they have these programs. You know, when I was there last time, they didn't. No way. So, I mean, it's, but still, I mean, it's 400 innocent civilians. I mean, there should be accountability. Yeah, there should. And the Pakistanis don't give a shit. And they've pretty much said so.

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's true. I mean, we live in a world with totally devoid of accountability. Yeah. All right. talk about Israel and the Strait of Ormuz, and I'm sure we'll get to that as part of the questions organically, right? So shall we, first I'd like to, if you're okay with this, John, let's catch up with two of the super chats that we didn't get to yesterday. Okay, first one is thanks for the 10

Canadian dollars. And unfortunately, this is too small for me to read Matt's something. John, where's Netanyahu? Yeah. So the reports are that Netanyahu is in Germany. that Netanyahu is in Cyprus, that Netanyahu is in a bunker in Israel, that Netanyahu is dead. I saw a, people are so easily fooled by AI. I saw this video yesterday that he was at some scenic overlook in Israel, like in the Golan Heights or something. and in one of the clips he had six fingers on each hand. There's another one I saw that the Iranians put out, and it's it's a it's Moshaba Kameni having coffee at the same coffee shop

that Netanyahu's face AI video was at. Oh my God. The other the other comment about Netanyahu was that in all of these videos, he's wearing the same clothes. The same jacket, right? He's like, he borrowed Modi's jacket. And, uh, and, uh, and he's just wearing that all the time. And also, you know, he's, he's must be on like kickass Ozempic because he's lost like two years of like older person weight.

And his ears are like twice the size that they used to be. It's a, I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess it's probably anything's possible. It's just really bizarre. I mean, what do you think? Where do you think the dude is? I mean, do you think he's dead? I mean, I don't think he's dead. And I don't think Ben-Gavir is dead.

And I don't think Netanyahu's younger brother's dead. He may be in Israel in some bunker, possibly. I think he's probably in Cyprus. It's close by and it's safe. I don't know. It's impossible to say. Okay, so again, I apologize for coming so close to the screen here. Do you think this is thanks for the $5.

This is left over from yesterday. Do you think that people leaving Zionism is one of the reasons that the war is going on now? I don't. No. I don't. Okay. Now let's move on to some of today's questions. From Shemashir, thanks for the 499.

John, you think the military would be involved in voter suppression? I think ICE and other agencies would restrict voters. in Democratic cities from voting. I think it's going to be more extreme than that. I am genuinely worried about these different scenarios. I really am. We talked yesterday for a minute about the possibility of the midterms being delayed or canceled and the general election being tampered with.

We're having these conversations because I think Americans agree it's a real possibility. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of signals coming out of the administration and from the president himself that they're flirting with these ideas. They're trying to prepare people for the possibility. I mean, kind of the irony is the mere fact that people like us are afraid that it's going to happen and are talking about it are also risk normalizing the idea. But I don't think there's any way to not talk about it. So it's just inevitable. To answer the question, I think absolutely the military would be involved, you know, especially if you,

count the National Guard, they would be deployed to provide security, whether because the elections have been canceled, just to, you know, prevent demonstrations or, you know, at the polls to prevent any, you know, problems at the polls. Yeah, I do. James Music, thanks for the 20 pounds. Hey, I sent a super chat a week ago, but it never got picked up. I'm so sorry. What I asked was Ted said that by 2050, civilization could collapse because of climate change, how likely is that to happen? And what are the chances of it getting better? There are no chances of it getting better because even if we abolish the internal combustion engine internationally tomorrow morning, there's so much additional energy pumped into the atmosphere since industrialization that this is an irreversible process

at this point. There's literally nothing we can do. We passed that tipping point decades ago. And so the real question now is mitigation and how do we handle it? How do we ride it out? And the only thing that you can do is geoengineering, which is dangerous as shit. John and I've talked about that offline. I will not go further than that. But, you know, and I hope we don't do geoengineering because it's so dangerous because it could plunge the world into a new ice age. But, you know, I mean, I think in terms of the civilizational collapse, I don't know. This is just what other experts are saying. John, what do you think?

Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Spreaker. The platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now. I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple.

You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today at spreeker.com. Sprinker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. This is another thing that I'm genuinely worried about. Yeah. And, you know, another thing, too, is that we don't really have any kind of national consensus on these issues.

We're flailing around. No, not at all. We're going the right and the Trump administration are going the opposite direction. They're unspooling regulations. Part of me kind of thinks, it doesn't matter how big your fucking car is anymore because of what I just said. There's so much energy in the atmosphere. It makes no difference. You might as well party.

drive your nine miles an hour gallon if you want um but no there's no consensus right we can't agree on the situation we can't agree on the facts so if you can't agree on that how can you agree that there's a problem that needs to be resolved absolutely right ted so uh d bg t thanks for the 200 um i think those are uh rupees um good morning both question for john john if Trump does pull the U.S. out of this war. Somehow, it's obviously Iran won't stop attacking Tel Aviv. Do you then perhaps see them going for the Samson option or nuclear? I think that when the Israelis tell us that there's a Samson option, that we should take them at their word.

I could absolutely see the Israelis going nuclear, yes. Monkey Mind Matters 499. Thank you very much for the donation. Vimal, thanks for the two Canadian dollars. India arrested Matt Van Dyke. Is he a CIA Merck? I don't know him. I don't know who that is.

Matt Van Dyke, I'm going to look real quickly. All right. While you're doing that, John Wesley Powell, thanks for the $5. About the Strait of Ormuz situation, is the CIA not embedded in Iran? I doubt that Trump had no idea about the fallout of bombing Iran. No, apparently he didn't. which is bizarre.

What value is Cuba to the USA and would Cuba not require subsidies? Well, right now, Cuba is of little value because of the sanctions and we haven't had an economic relationship with them. But it could be of enormous value. I mean, you know, agriculturally, as a tourist destination, as a, as the, you know, by far the biggest nation in the Caribbean, it could be, I mean, obviously we have a giant base at Guantanamo Bay. It could be, I mean, that would be the move is to have friendlier relations.

It should have been the move since the late 1950s. Let me interrupt you for a second. Matt Van Dyke is a nut. Born in 1979, he first gained fame as a foreign fighter in the Libyan Civil War on the side of the uprising against Gaddafi. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He then was released and then traveled by motorcycle to Syria where he took up the fight against ISIS. He founded a 501c3 called the Sons of Liberty International. After fighting ISIS, he went to Ukraine to fight the Russians in March of 2022.

He's been captured repeatedly. I guess he's not a very good foreign fighter. Yeah. No, this guy's not. CIA with with 1,000 percent certainty. I'm telling you, this guy's not CIA. He's too stupid and too out there in public to be CIA. Yeah. Robbie, you have some some housekeeping to do. So I'm going to bring Robbie in. I do just real quick. I keep getting kind of blasted. Well, I say I, I really mean us by people who are upset that their chats are not being answered in a timely manner or at all.

Let me just kind of just go through and show you until y'all what the hierarchy is. And if you all get mad, get mad at me. It's not John. It's not Ted. It's me. It's your favorite white supremacist who is a white supremacist. So let me explain you all how this works. It's stupid that's it has to be done, but yet here we are.

So anyone is welcome to submit their questions. if the question looks good and if I don't miss it, I will feed it over to the guys. That being said, if you pay for your question, I will prioritize your paid question because someone fucking paid for their question to be answered. That's the priority. If you give John and Ted money, I will then do everything I can to make sure they see your questions say answer it because you're investing in the show. that's the reality

I try to get to everybody if you get missed it's not personal bro I don't know you I don't know you enough to be unpersonalized to you it doesn't matter I will do everything I can

to be as fair about this as I possibly can but you have to understand this three guys two live streams thousands of messages and if you think it's getting missed now wait till one of these other guys here ain't here and someone is having to fill in

because then I guarantee you Chats will get missed because you just can't keep up. Thank you, Robbie. Thank you. Do we have any ads? Yeah, I'll go ahead and throw one up for you. Thank you. All right. Hey, did you see the Israelis are saying that they killed Ali Larajani?

I did see that, yeah. But the Iranians are denying it. They claim that they have, they issued a statement that is purportedly from him. What do you think? Yes. Yes, congratulating the besiege forces. Yeah. Wow, man.

So, yeah, never a dull moment. You know, I'm going to repeat what I said about a different conflict. You can't have, as your policy, just to kill everybody. That's not a policy. But it appears to be what the Israelis are attempting. Just kill everybody. I think there's a logic to it from the Israeli point of view. There isn't from the American point of view because basically the Israelis, this was their idea.

and we tagged along. I think the Israelis, their whole approach is we know we can't. We know we're a nation of 10 million trying to take on a nation of 92 million. We know we can't destroy Iran, but we can degrade them. We can just make their lives more miserable. We can kill their guys, keep them off balance, destroy some of their infrastructure, slow them down. I think that's literally all.

The Israelis know what they can accomplish, and this is it. Yeah. But the bad part for us is that we're along for the ride, but we have really, we don't have common interests with the Israelis. No, we don't. No, we've got an ad. Yep, let's do it. You've probably noticed Rumble is growing fast and it's not slowing down. They're building a real alternative to big tech that puts creators first and actually protects free speech. And now there's Rumble premium, an easy way to upgrade your experience. With premium, you get ad-free viewing across the platform. No pre-rolls, no interruptions, just the content you came for. Plus, premium members unlock exclusive content like bonus videos, behind-the-scenes drops, and more from your favorite creators. Right now, Rumble is offering $10 off an annual subscription. Just go to Rumble.com slash premium and use the promo code studio at checkout.

That's Rumble.com slash premium promo code studio, no ads, more freedom, and content you actually care about. That is the deal. Okay, so let me scroll. roll back and try to catch up with the, um, okay, uh, soden. Oh my God. Thank you so much for the 49. Thank you, so on. Thank you. Good morning, gents. John. I was recently watching The Good Shepherd. Have you heard stories about E. Howard Hunt and his involvement with the Bay of Pigs and JFK? And does this administration think that the Cubans will greet us with roses and mojitos?

Go, can you imagine? E. Howard Hunt, yes indeed. People used to talk about Howard all the time. Howard Hunt was not only involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion. He was one of Nixon's plumbers and was one of the men that broke into the Watergate Hotel into the DNC's offices at the Watergate Hotel in 1970. What was it? 1971 or two, yeah. On his deathbed, Howard Hunt told his son that he was involved in the Assassins.

of John Kennedy. Kennedy scholars say that's just simply not true, that they cannot place Howard Hunt in the conspiracy or in Dallas. Who knows why he would confess something like that, just hours before his death. But yeah, Howard Hunt was one of those, was one of those enigmas that people used to talk about at the agency a lot, just like James Angleton, for example. Yeah, the guys who were arrested at the Watergate, weren't they all Cuban? in exiles? Yeah. And Howard Hunt was the one leading them. Yes. What a, what a clown show. Oh, you can say that again. More should Shedin, thanks for the two Canadian dollars. Do Pakistan and Turkey aid Iran with Intel on the Baluchis and the Kurds?

That's a good question. That's a good question. I would say probably not. just because the Pakistanis and Iranians don't like or trust each other. And the Baluchis are a violent murderous group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, murderous group. And the Pakistanis kind of accused the Iranians of giving them safe haven. Yeah. So I don't think so. I would agree with that. It's a dangerous neighborhood.

And the Pakistanis, to tell you the truth, they don't get along with anybody. that's true they're spicy except the chinese they love the chinese fast eddy thanks for the five pounds what concessions would the u.s be likely to offer the iranians to reopen the strait of ormoos if the u.s navy is unable or unwilling to open it themselves well that's just the thing that's the question right there they should offer concessions um you know i guess but i don't think they will or any, at most, they could offer a ceasefire, but I don't think the Iranians are interested in a ceasefire, and they shouldn't be,

because it just means that the war will resume at some later point, and it's all on their, mostly on their territory. If I'm the Iranians, you know, I'm not happy about seeing my people killed, but I like the way this is going. You know, I like the future of it. I like the trend line. I have to agree with you. The Americans are squirming.

Big time where they're sending secret messages, hey, can we talk about this? And then the Europeans are saying, go fly a kite when we ask for help. And then this was a bad idea from the beginning. Trump was played by Netanyahu, and now we're stuck. And this is why, John, this very militaristic country that we live in, that repeatedly has fucked with the Middle East for since before you and I were born. Yep. Why Democratic and Republican presidencies alike repeatedly thought about going to war with Iran

and then decided not to. Yes. It's like it's too big. It's too hard. That's right. And now it's too big. It's too hard. Nothing's changed.

That's it. Random. Thanks for the 10 bucks. As someone who identifies as a leftist, I must ask, why do we like Tucker Carlson? Doesn't he hate us? Thank you for this. love you three and I love this show hashtag pardon kiriaku. Thank you.

Well, as the leftiest of the two of us, I think, it's fair to say. I like Tucker Carlson because he's honest and he plays it straight as far as, you know, as much as anyone else in the media. And to me, that counts for a lot. I don't care if you come from the left or from the right. If you're not full of shit, I like you. That said, I don't think he likes us lefties. Oh, I disagree.

Really? He and I have talked about this. Okay. He was liberated when he was fired from Fox News. He is a, he is genuinely a populist, like a real populist. And a real populist understands that there are issues on which the left and the right can agree. And if that agreement advances the populist agenda, he's okay with it. He and I will never, ever, ever agree on abortion, for example.

Never. But we agree on a lot of other things like civil liberties. And so, you know, I'm one of those people that I'm happy to make alliances wherever we can find agreement. And I find him one of the most, if not the most reasonable right winger that I've ever encountered. I would yeah I mean look I feel the same way about making alliances for sure 100% all right well I'm you know I'm glad to be wrong there he's a genuinely good guy you know just a genuinely good guy I trust him I like him and I enjoy his company good to know I never got to I've never been on a show so I don't know our I'm gonna go back on on the 20th of April oh cool yeah

420 day yeah 420 day RIP Michael Parenti thanks for the 499 is there any much is there much diversity of political perspective or thought inside the CIA or is it fairly uniparty group think in the name of American imperialism that's a good question you know it's funny

when you are how should I say this when when you are part of that culture you think that there's wide disagreement and you're having these very deep intellectual debates.

And then when you are outside the CIA, you realize that the debate was inside this little box that you thought was the broader world. And it's not. So to answer your question, most people are inside that little box promoting the cause of imperialism. Yes. Good question. John, you've said to you.

This episode is brought to you by Spreaker. The platform responsible for a. rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreeker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen.

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today at spreeker.com. Spreaker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. The West is the best country in the world. You still feel that way.

And thanks for Monkey Mind Matters, 499. Which country would you pick if you were going to leave? Greece. I would pick Greece, but I'm biased in favor of Greece. but there are lots of places that I've been that I could live easily. I could live in the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain. I could live in Uruguay. I'll tell you what, man, I went to Uruguay and I was like, oh, my God, this is paradise.

I couldn't believe it. You're like the third person who's told me that. Yeah. It's incredible. Would you say the U.S. is still the best country in the world? I mean, it depends. How do you, you know, best, how do you define that? Yeah, best.

Um, you know, I'm biased in favor of the U.S. only because I'm an American, of course. Best, we have some serious, serious problems. I think that in terms of day-to-day life, I would have a much easier time of it living in Greece. Yeah, much easier time. Probably France for me. Again, because I speak French, right? Right. And I am a citizen.

So that helps enormously. You know, Ted, I'm flying to Berlin this afternoon. And I'm flying on Swiss Air. And they've been sending me these automated emails. I have like six of them reminding me that I absolutely positively have to have this app that allows Americans to get into the European Union. But I have to pay 25 euros. And I can't enter without this app.

And you better fill out the form and you better download the app. It's like, all right. I heard you the first five times you told me. But I've got my Greek passport. You know how many people fucking show up at the, you know, at. So yeah. So are you doing the app or not? No, I just pull out my Greek passport and just blow right through.

Yeah, by the way, that's bullshit. The U.S. and Europe, Western Europe, we never had any kind of visa regime. This is de facto of like a visa light regime. That's right. That's exactly what it is. It sucks. And it's bilateral. In fairness, we're trying to do it's bilateral.

Yes, indeed. It's so crap. Assad, thanks for the 1999. As a Palestinian Linde diaspora, Never did I imagine we would begin polling, which shows Americans beginning to support Palestine over Israel. That's one of our topics today, though it took a genocide of my people's significance for electoral politics. Let's talk. So the latest, there's now a set of polls, not just an outlying poll that shows that for the first time, more registered voters in the U.S. do view Israel negatively and more people sympathize with the Palestinians than with the Israelis.

most of that change is among registered Democrats, but also many independents. Republican pollster Bill McIntyre, what a name, says this is unrecognizable in terms of where America was, and the Democratic Party was for a 20, 30-year history. The Democratic primary in 2028, if we have one, is going to be fought on very, very different terrain in regards to the issue of Israel. So I think this is going to blow up the schism between the progressive left base of the Democratic Party and the Zionist DNC that runs the Democratic Party. This is where if it was like you had another 2016, or let's say you had another 2016 split between like a Bernie and a Hillary, this would be Advantage Bernie. It's not that he's like a reliable anti-Zionist. But, you know, this is, this puts wind in the sails of the progressive left.

It sucks the air out of APEC. APEC is not going to be a two-party organization anymore. It's only going to be a Republican organization going forward. I think the repercussions are big. I think so, too. Hey, let me interrupt us for a second. There's breaking news that Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has resigned. Joe Kent has only been the head of the NCTC for eight months. He barely squeaked through

the Senate confirmation process. He was a former CIA paramilitary officer, a graduate from Norwich University in strategic defense analysis, whatever the heck that is. And a far right-wing candidate for the House of Representatives from the state of Washington, He's been very controversial and there's no indication why he resigned. He just got the sea warm and now he's out. What repercussions? You know, I wonder if he or the NCTC missed something in terms of of terrorist planning. Oh.

And I wonder if he's taking heat. I'm looking and it hasn't. Like the Michigan synagogue attack or something that we haven't heard about. Exactly, exactly. That it's something deep. The Southern Poverty Leadership Council and 47 other civil rights groups opposed his nomination in the first place saying that you're putting a right-wing like Charlottesville kind of extremist in charge of counterterrorism.

Come on. Wolf, enjoy the henhouse. Wow. So getting back to the Palestinian diaspora questioner here. Oh, may I comment on that? Yes, please. I'm sorry to interrupt you. So, you know, first of all, this is absolutely wonderful news.

But the task that's before us is to make this a permanent situation. And part of the problem is that a lot of imams, especially imams in the state of Michigan are not convinced that Muslim voters should be participating in the political process that they should be sitting it out instead and they shouldn't be sitting it out. They should be the first ones in line at the polling places.

Michigan's a swing state. Michigan's a swing state. And New Jersey, you know, they can really change the landscape in New Jersey because there are so many Muslims up north. So this is, the thing. If public opinion is turning in favor of the Palestinians, then we need to seize this. I think, but also I want to say, I mean, I think, yes, obviously the Gaza genocide is the driving force.

But also, I think a lot of people, including people on the right, do not like to see the U.S. dragged and by its nose, you know, at B.B. Netanyahu is required. Yes. Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Ethan, thanks for the 550 Turkish lira. Could shifting U.S. policies in the Middle East lead to Turkey being sidelined or pressured in favor of Israel's security interests? I mean, that seems to already be happening. Mm-hmm.

Agreed. Monkey Mind matters. $4.99. We already answered that one. Sorry. firmware, thanks for the $10. Quarterm profits of ExxonMobil exceed the total budget for paying all 3,000 scientists in the IPCCC. see by a significant factor. That's depressing.

Fun fact, Exxon makes half of its revenue from non-oil downstream industries, especially chemicals. Also fun fact, right? Like the Exxon, companies like Exxon Mobile are the biggest drivers of green energy. They are. Which is nuts, but it's true. And it's smart, right? They're forward looking and they're leveraging. That's right. That's why they've been around for so long.

Sneaker 1020, 50 bucks, with new cluster missiles are all American interceptors obsolete. Absolete's a big word. Yeah, you said you took the words right out of my mouth. I wouldn't say obsolete. I would say challenged. Much better word. Much better word. Yeah, my father, you know, aeronautical engineer, he was always talking about like, so

there's missiles, there's anti-missile missiles, there's anti-missile missiles, there's anti-missile missiles. And it's just like, it really is true, and it's just like it's never ending. Two toes, six bucks, thanks so much. In an ideal world, what do we do about Israel sanctions, UN occupation, two state, one state, but in my ideal world, the U.S. and the U.N. would de-recognize it, invade, reunify Palestine into a, all of historical Palestine from the river to the sea in one democratic, one person, one vote state, and I guarantee everyone's equal civil liberties, John? Yeah, I have to agree with that, Ted. I agree. And the nuclear stockpile has to be

seized and, you know, controlled. They have a hundred nukes. I mean, they're the biggest threat in the Middle East, ironically. Soden, thanks for another 499, amazing. John, my mother's country, Guyana, is ending its decades-long agreement with Cuba to host medical brigade. resulting in the withdrawal over 200 doctors. Was this pressure from this administration and is legal? I'm sure it's legal. Does anyone in D.C. have any freaking compassion? Fuck no.

What a joke. It's got to be Trump administration pressure. It's got to be. It's got to be. What else can you say? That's ridiculous. I mean, plus the Cubans are good doctors. Yeah, they are.

Portia, thanks for the two bucks. Hey guys, my wife and I just watched the unsolved mysteries about Jack Wheeler's murder. Very strange case, and I was wondering if John knew him in Washington or had any opinions on the case. I did not know him. I don't even know who that is. Sorry. Two bucks from Max. Thanks, John.

What are your odds at the new Ayatollah? Is it a Gayatola? I read about that. I read that. You know, that's such an Israeli thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ridiculous. If you so $1. If six-fingered BB is dead, who is the president of the United States then? That's what George Galloway said yesterday, and I crapped up. Have you so a dollar? Also is jerking off better with six fingers,

asking for an AI friend. Oh my God. Wasn't Anne Boleyn born with a six-ringer? She had six fingers, yes. And it was one of the, one of the allegations that she was a witch. Right? Yes.

Okay. firmware, thanks for the 20 bucks. To all be nice to Robbie. He has 10 thumbs and an elementary school education. Plus he's peddling as fast as he can't. There, I said it. I mean, that's rude shit, but we do need the 20 bucks. So thank you.

Brady Okerlin, 999. Hey, Ted and John, why haven't all the Epstein files been fully released yet? The beef jerky comments are so odd. And the situation feels what's actually stopping full transparency. Seriously, I've been. seizing on the beef jerky comments. Do you, have you followed that, Ted? No, please, please bring me a 15th.

So there are 1,300 emails that mentioned beef jerky. So-and-so is coming over to teach us how to make beef jerky. So-and-so has this amazing beef jerky recipe. We're going to make the beef jerky. The beef jerky looks so beautiful. We're going to freeze the beef jerky. We're going to store the beef jerky. they talk about beef jerky nine ways from sunday the only thing they don't talk about is eating beef jerky

so clearly beef jerky is it's it's got to be drugs or children or something untoward it's outrageous sounds like drugs to me i would think so cocaine maybe i would think so so so so so so you know so why are the not being released. I mean, look, obviously, because there's shit in there. We should take Trump at his word. Trump said he doesn't want him released because he doesn't want to embarrass his friends. He said that. Yeah, I believe him. I do too. Okay, firmware. Thanks for the five bucks. Ted, I'm to the left of Lenin. So there. I was an English major. I know alliteration. All right. James Kelly, thanks so much for the two bucks. You guys are awesome. Love the show. Thank you very much.

John, the Iranian special interest section in the U.S. is in the Pakistani embassy. I've been there. Can you elaborate on the Iran-Pakistan relationship? It's proper. It's proper. For a while, the Iranian intersection was in the Algerian embassy. And then it sort of changes every once in a while. We've had Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, in Tehran. So, yeah, they'll do it for five or ten years, and then they'll just kind of switch up. John, in all honesty, thank Toby for the $799 trillion. What's your perspective of the human condition? Wow.

We only have 20 minutes left. I feel like everyone follows a philosopher, but what is your view of human nature, John, Kiracu? I will go and... I've got a framed postcard that I found in Athens with a quote from Socrates. And it says, the only thing that I know is that I know nothing. Oh, that's good. And that is my philosophy that I've adopted.

The older you get, the truer that feels for sure. Dingleman, thanks for the $10. There seems to be a big threat from lone wolf mass shooters that are on decentralized telegram chat rooms. John, if you were running this, how would you combat this? This is actually an FBI issue because it's domestic. But, you know, you've got to put those create computers to work. We're spending billions and billions of dollars on tech and AI so that we can, we can, you know, root these people out. So why aren't we rooting them out?

Unless you need more human analysts to follow this stuff, I just received Joseph Kent's resignation letter. Interestingly enough, he did not send it to Tulsi Gabbard, who's his boss. He sent it directly to President Trump. President Trump. It doesn't even say dear. It says President Trump. After much reflection, I've decided to resign from my position as director of... This episode is brought to you by Sprecker. The platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need, explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives, and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk

right now. I'm editing audio. If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere people listen. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and about a dozen apps your cousins swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today at spreeker.com. Spreaker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it. of the National Counterterrorism Center effective today.

I cannot in good conscience support your ongoing war in Iran. Whoa. Wow. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaign on in 2016, 2020, 2020, 24, and that you enacted in your first term.

Until June of 2025, you understand. that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our great nation. In your first administration, you understood better than any modern president how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Soleimani and by defeating ISIS. Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your a first platform and sewed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.

This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and that you should strike now that there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic that the Israelis have used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot be allowed to make this mistake again. As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 separate times, and as a veteran, a gold star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel. I cannot support

sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people, nor justifies the cost of American lives. I pray that you will reflect upon what we were doing in Iran and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. It's not too late to reverse course and chart a new path for our nation. It was an honor to serve you, Joseph Kent. That is one of the most powerful resignation letters I've ever read. John, there hasn't been, and I've talked about this in the past, the idea of the principled resignation, we haven't really seen since the Carter administration and the sale. Cyrus Vance.

Cy Vance. And he resigned as Secretary of State because he opposed the hostage rescue attempt that went tits up in the deserts up in the desert. when in a sandstorm claimed our helicopters. It wasn't even like really truly like that serious. Right. Right. Right. But we had, but, you know, but resignations on principle used to be a fairly standard place to go.

And now nobody does it anymore. That's the first one of any significance of my lifetime. Yes. I agree. I agree. Wow. I'm, I'm amazed by it. I would have expected this from a half a dozen other people in the administration, not from him.

But the argument is so powerful that you can't ignore it. Trump is losing the very people who put him in office. Yes, he is. Why? For what? For Netanyahu? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, yeah. Yeah. How, okay. So Trump, his reaction. inside his heart of hearts how does he feel yeah and what will be i think we know his public posture will be belligerence defiance insulting you know but i don't even think we have to discuss that it is hard of hearts does he think that he has a point i think so i think so i mean you have to be freaking brain dead not to uh not to see the point all right well we have a bunch we have a bunch of questions

so we should get to them as much as we can here uh okay niku thanks for the five bucks tucker's carlson with greenwald they talked about crazy new de i for jewish students and a lot of censorship on is on israel speech any truth to that i know nothing about this i haven't i haven't heard that you know i'll i'll say again and and i'm just going to take a cheap shot here because because i can um it's our show glenn and i went to college together i was a senior he was a freshman i was president of the college democrats and he was the freshman rep to the college democrats he was a weirdo back then he's a weirdo today he's a media whore i really don't have respect for him that's just me sorry

I'm being a dick today I can't help I woke up in a bad look I'm I all I can say is that he was nowhere to be found during the LA Times thing when everyone else of his political persuasion was writing amicus briefs for me he wouldn't even cover it see that's how what when I blew the whistle he told me you're on your own buddy yeah I mean I don't know if that's pierre Omediar shit but whatever um he's a Puss.

Okay. John and Telen, 499, thanks so much. As a massive fan in content with Tucker, as he continues to push

agenda into shock-hungry stances on antivax and abortion will you? Oh, no. No. Tucker and I are

on with polar opposite sides of those issues. Although, although. I'm never on with Tucker, so it's not an issue for me.

Yeah, although I will say, like Ted, I got five COVID shots, five, right? I mean, in part because we had to in order to keep our jobs at Sputnik, I got five COVID shots. And then for the very first time in my life, I started struggling with blood clots. And I was hospitalized twice. Like, where the heck did that happen?

Never on either side of my family has anybody ever had a problem with blood clots. Wow. And I'm 59 years old. I'm hospitalized for blood clots. That's not good. No. Steve, thanks for the five Canadian bucks. Would either have you ever go back to Australia right now?

Definitely. I've never been to Australia. It's awesome. I hate to say. I bet it's awesome. Would you be worried? I edited the National Geographic Tourist Guide for Australia. It was just money.

And they sent me all the photos, right, for the proofs. And I've never cared about Australia. And then they sent me those photos. And I was like, holy shit, what a beautiful country. I really want to go. Ted. I felt that ever since. I never cared one whit about going to Australia until I went.

I went for a WikiLeaks event in 2023. And I was like, oh, my God, this is the most beautiful country in the world. I couldn't believe my eyes. So would you be worried about getting arrested at the airport for wrong thing? I don't understand why that. I would be far more worried about that in the UK, far more worried. Richard Medhurst, you know Richie Medhurst, the independent journalist. I don't.

He's a brilliant writer, a brilliant analyst. He's British and pro-Palestinian. He's repeatedly been arrested, reentering his own country from overseas. yesterday he published a map showing where every one of Hezbollah's missiles has struck inside. Oh, yeah, I saw that. And they put out a warrant for him again. Yeah, so in here in the U.S., someone American guy did that, and he was, and on the right, people are calling for him to be arrested for treason. Treason against Israel.

It's not treason to betray another country. country. No, morons. Well, you can't really betray another country, rat out another country. It might not be nice, but it's not really. Hogs Candyland, five bucks. The world is a charade and those in people power do what they want. No question.

Trachshan, thanks for the buck. I understand it's a very long shot, but if you add Lebanon to the one-state Palestine solution, which would increase the Christian population significantly, would it make it more palatable for the United States? States. I'll tell you what, I support a three-state solution. And nobody's talking about it yet, but there's nothing to connect the West Bank in Gaza, nothing. They should be independent countries with Israel in between them. Gaza could be a city-state. It could be a city-state under, you know, Saudi administration or whatever

the agreement is. I don't even care. Egyptian makes no difference to me. I could see Gaza under Egyptian administration. That makes historical sense. Let's see. John, Tobby J44, thanks for the 299. Have you had a bet, John, have you had a dream about what's ahead? It's a deep, all the metaphysical questions are coming in today. No. Tell you the truth, deep in the back of my brain,

I'm still so obsessed with my own problems that I'm not dreaming about the world's problems. I wake up and my first thought is, you evil bitch, and then I get a hold of myself. Oh, yeah, no, I get to see. Shadow Cell book targets Falcon watched Patriot today again, and the FBI Task Force. That's the movie about the Boston Marathon bombing, right? Yeah. Set up TTF at the Black Falcon Terminal in Boston, not to mention a lot of U.S. government SUVs have Falcon number of plates. okay

I don't know Daily Barr thanks for the 999 what would be your your take in your opinion for the United States to be successful in Iran

wow that is a five you know that is a that's a big question yeah that's a big question honestly I don't think we can be successful in Iran

I don't there's there's no scenario in my mind where we can be successful in Iran no I think there is but we We won't do it.

Right. We reach out and we say, listen, we want to bring this in. We want it. We want good relations. Big agreement. We're really sorry. Grand bargain. Let's be friends.

Bygones, be bygones. Let's start from scratch. We ain't going to be. Yes. Yes. I agree. James Kelly, two bucks. I wonder if that will be covered in the mainstream.

I don't know what that refers to, but thanks for the two bucks. And we are number eight in the country on Rumble right now. Thank you. Hey, great. So let's, yeah, so I guess we have a couple of minutes left, and if any more, let's see, there's, there are actually a few questions here. Stefan, how did the relationships between, the relations between Greece and the Middle East changed in the last few years? Oh. There were trucks loaded from Volos headed to Latakia and Tartas. There were also routes to Haifa.

it's changed dramatically when you remember israel and turkey used to be practically joined at the hip they were so close to one another and erdogan did a 180 and just flipped and as soon as the turks and the israelis became enemies the greeks stepped in and said to the israelis will be friends with you because it used to be the turks were with the israelis the greeks were with the arabs and this was for decades, decades. There was a PLO office in Athens, PFLP, DFLP, the Libyans had a functioning embassy there. It all flipped. And as soon as Cyprus found gas and the Israelis said, we'll help you lift the gas. That sealed the deal. The Greek people hate that the Greek government is allied with Israel. They hate it. But financials,

financially, it's the only thing they can do. Alexander Loitjty, why is China not shipping a bunch of basic medical supplies to Cuba? They basically, they produce basically all of the plastics off for IVs. I don't think the Chinese care about Cuba. I agree with that. And if they did, they could absolutely ship. But there's also, there's effectively a naval blockade. Yes, there is a naval blockade.

I told you, when I was there, it was every single day, squash, squash, squash. I'm like, oh my God, I can't eat any more squash. And this Cuban guy said, the American blockade even includes food. So we eat what we can produce. And this is squash season. DeSuk is asking you, John, how do you rectify your pro, I think reconcile is the word that he means, your pro-choice stance with being an Orthodox Christian? Yeah.

Yeah, I get that a lot. My priest yells at me a lot. and I just say that I think the church is wrong. I just believe that the church is wrong. John D. Cockfeller, I'm a staunch conservative, but I'll be damned if I don't like listening to the fellers here. I appreciate you, John. Thank you for that.

I love listening to Tucker Carlson. I do too. I do too. And you know, you know where I am. I guess we are, we're wrapping it up here today. So, John, you may or may not be with us tomorrow. We're not really quite sure. I'm not 100% sure.

It all depends on how the gods of the airlines co-op. Yeah, I'm flying to Berlin, and Berlin airport is on strike, and it's kind of screwing me up, but I'll figure it out. All right, so one way or the other, deprogram with Ted Raul, and either with John Kariaki or Robbie West, will be back tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Either way, John will be back on the air Thursday at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. We're here Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.

Appreciate you. Please like, follow, and share the show. show. We appreciate all of your generous contributions. John, happy trails. Happy, happy St. Patrick's Day. Thank you, sir. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Bye, everyone. Please stay tuned for the TMI show with Manila Chan and myself. Bye.