EverydaySpy Podcast - The War We've All Feared is HERE | EverydaySpy Podcast Ep. 34

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Meet Andy and Jihi this February - the perfect couples Valentine's gift! https://everydayspy.com/couples Americans are dead in Jordan. Iran is to blame. What will happen next? With a full-blown crisis in the Middle East, a war in Europe, and the most important election in Joe Biden's career just a few months away, the stakes couldn't be higher. Jihi and I tackle these concerns and more in our first in-studio conversion for 2024. We can't wait to hear your thoughts and share our own. Find your Spy Superpower: https://everydayspy.com/spyquiz Learn more from Andy: https://everydayspy.com/ Join the SpyTribe: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverydaySpy/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everydayspy/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EverydaySpy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dead American troops in the Middle East as a result that directly correlates with Iran's response to Hamas on October 7th, right? And I'm not saying that Israel's to blame. I'm not saying that Hamas is to blame. What I'm saying is they had a conflict, and as a result of the decisions from that conflict, we now have eight countries involved with international troops dying in completely different countries. What is Biden going to do? What is the United States going to do to respond to what just happened? I am very excited to be back in the studio with you, actually recording in person again after five weeks on the road. But the first thing I actually want to talk about is what do you think Biden is going to do next?

We have, I know, it's not romantic conversation. Welcome home. But seriously. So Iranian-supported militias have killed American troops in Jordan. That means Americans are dead and there's a direct tie back to Iran. what is Biden going to do? What is the United States going to do to respond to what just happened? That's a good question. It's a tricky spot that he's in because nobody wants to broaden the conflict, but you can't appear weak and you have to do something. So, I mean, that's in there, and all of the,

you know, not long after the attack in Jordan, he came out and said, you know, that he was developing a plane of attack. he had developed the plan of attack, but it's all very, you know, very behind closed doors, you know, obviously private meetings. So it's, it will be interesting to see. I think I saw an article today that said, you know, the plan is something that will be laid out over the course of days and weeks. So it's a long term. So the last time we sat together, we talked about how the Middle East had turned into a formal full-blown crisis. Now the crisis has absolutely sucked in the United States. Yeah. No doubt about it. it, right? Dead American troops in the Middle East as a result that directly correlates with

Iran's response to Hamas on October 7th. So all this just disaster that has happened since October 7th, right? And I'm not saying that Israel's to blame. I'm not saying that Hamas is to blame. What I'm saying is they had a conflict and as a result of the decisions from that conflict, we now have eight countries involved with international troops dying in completely different countries because those American troops died in Jordan. Yeah, well, I'll be because...

Not in Israel. Because this isn't, it's not, I mean, the Israel-Hamaas conflict was the window of opportunity that all these various groups have been waiting for. It's not like they're suddenly like, oh my gosh, we're so angry about what's going on.

And, you know, they've been, they've been doing little, little things here and there that don't make the media, right? Like the reason we have a presence in these various countries is because stuff has been going on. This has been simmering for a long time. But now there's this giant window of opportunity in Iran, you know, which isn't in a good place, you know, in their own country, they see this window of opportunity and now they can really strike. So I think there's an incredible espionage lesson here.

But I don't want to start with that because I think if we start with the espionage lesson, then it's going to be confusing. Whereas if we start with the tempo of what's happening right now, what we call the ops tempo, if we start with the ops tempo of what's happening right now, then the espionage lesson will become very clear. So first of all, it's an election year. Yeah.

We cannot ignore that fact. Right. It is the United States is the world's superpower, singular. We are the wealthiest country in the world. We are the most militarily capable country in the world. We are the largest economy in the world. In the world, that makes us target number one for everybody else. There is no way around that.

I would also say that something important about the United States because out of the, I don't disagree with everything you're saying, but there are other major players in the world. But out of those major players, for example, Russia or China, we are the only one out of those three that has a government that actually changes every four years and not just changes a little bit, right? It's not like there's little policy changes happening. I mean, there could be a giant policy swing after this election, right? So it's a big deal. Like this is a time where Americans really should be paying attention because the entire world is paying

attention to what America could be next year. Exactly right. And I'm so glad that you pointed that out because you're right. We are as close to a true democracy as any democracy out there. And we really do. If you just look at our track record over the last 16 to 20 years, we literally have huge changes with each new elected official. I mean, the cabinet changes, senior offices across the government change because they're all there at the president's good grace. So massive changes in the U.S.

political landscape, which then impacts the U.S.'s foreign policy landscape every four years. So you are right. We are the wealthiest, the largest, the most military capable, and being a democracy that's elected by the people, we are also the most volatile government in the, in the wealthiest five nations in the world right now. So you've got all these things at play. The fact that people became aware of foreign influence in 2016 during the Trump election doesn't mean that foreign influence started in 2016 during the Trump election. Right. Every country out there sees the opportunity to influence American politics every four years.

Right. I mean, I guarantee you it's on budgets as a line item in every intelligence service everywhere around the world. And I mean, at least every four years. I mean, every two years, because we have the off, you know, the off cycle elections or whatever. I mean, anything political, right? There's always going to be a level of influence because as we've seen, it's not just the president that is influential, right? If you can start having your influence campaigns to fill Congress with the people who are sympathetic to your cause, you know, it's not just foreign powers, right?

Lobbyists do the same things. Right. So let's think about this. When did Russia invade Ukraine? On an off-cycle election year. On a congressional election year. Two years later, Hamas attacks Israel, right? right at the end of 2023 in the beginning of 2024.

Now you have Iran attacking through multiple militias, right? Iran is involved through Hezbollah and it's involved through the Houthis and it's involved through these Iraqi militias. So all of this happening in 2024. There is absolutely an effort, even if it's not coordinated, even if there aren't backroom deals over scotch and cigars, which, by the way, outside the United States, United States, nobody meets over scotch and cigars. They meet over freaking hookah and tea, right? That's just the way the rest of the world works. But my point is, everybody sees the chaos that's

happening and they all want to pile on. Why is it that Kim Jong-un just announced that he is breaking all ties to the South, that there will no longer be a unification effort and he's testing nuclear weapons? Why would he do that? Just to pile on, it's a fucking hockey game. Right? They just, somebody got punched in the face and now everybody else is excited to punch more people in the face. That's what's happening. A really funny analogy, but that does feel about right. Yes, that's what's happening. So as much as we want to think that like there might be some sort of massive coordinated counterattack that's coming from all of our enemies working together, there's no evidence of that that we are aware of at a public level. Could it be happening? Of course, it could be happening. But the probability of it happening is relatively low. Now, there are economic and military things. happening. You got the BRICS countries, right? The Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

Union that's also expanding to increase, they're expanding to include Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE. You've got them growing in power and wealth. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're also cooperating militarily. Right. It just means that they have a shared economic goal. Right. And I think that's what people have to keep in mind is they're, you know, every nation state has various goals, right? They have military goals, economic goals, and they are all looking for the different opportunities to boost their own nation. And that's different for everybody. So, you know, India has, has an interest in, you know, increasing its naval forces in the sea to, you know, hedge against what China might do. But they also have an interest in economically getting close to

China. Right, because they want to become the manufacturer of tomorrow now that China is trying to become the technology hub of tomorrow. Right. So you're exactly right. But at the same time, while we see economic cooperation very overtly, it's important to understand that there is a certain level of mob mentality that's happening here. You remember the Black Lives Matter riots and, oh, what were the riots that happened after when we were kids in the 80s or the 90s? Oh, yes. I cannot remember the name right now, and I feel horrible that I can't remember the name that triggered that. But I mean, anytime riots outbreak in the United States, essentially a small group of people cross the line and start looting and rioting.

But then more people who would never cross the line themselves see it happening and then they pile on and they join in. And then before you know, you've got some people who are doing it and they don't even know what they're doing. They're just taken over by emotion. That is what's happening right now across the Middle East. Right? You had Hamas and Israel cross the line with each other. And then you had all these people who were on this, on kind of like waiting in the wings who would never start the fight,

but are happy to get in on the fight. They all start getting involved too. And now what's happened is the United States and our best efforts to try to like not commit to anything, we made ourselves vulnerable. Right? We made ourselves vulnerable and that vulnerability happened to occur at a base in Jordan on, I think it was a night watch when a drone came in and blew up near the barracks. But I mean, the truth is, could we ever have avoided it? I think, unfortunately, like, we all knew the day was going to come when Americans were going to die in the Middle East.

If we're not also accepting that there is a day where troops will die in defense of Taiwan, we should be asking ourselves that question, too. because right now we get a test case. How will the United States respond in the Middle East? Because that will tell us how the United States will respond when troops die, trying to defend Taiwan from an aggressive China. However that might happen. Whether that happens during an exercise or a blockade or whether there's some kind of screw-up in a cruise missile, who cares, who knows?

But Americans will die if the United States truly continues to tow the line with China and promise defense of Taiwan. American troops will die in that process, just like American troops have died in the United States' efforts to safeguard Israel. Right. How do we as Americans, how do we feel America should respond? Yeah. I personally think that we should see this situation as a learning point for ourselves to recognize that we can't take the laissez-faire, like, we can't just, lean on economics as our tool for foreign policy. We can't say, Israel, we support you 100%, sell them a

bunch of weapons, like give them a bunch of intelligence, watch them systematically destroy their enemy, and then expect that we're safe. We can't do that. I mean, I would have hoped that World War II taught us that. Yeah, that's exactly the lesson of World War II. But we don't often learn very well from our history, right? So what by not mediating, by not trying to find a solution to the Israel Hamas issue, the Israel-Palestine humanitarian crisis, by not trying to push Israel in a direction where they solve that problem, we have now watched Americans die. Interesting. If we would have taken a more direct stance, if we would have found a way to force some sort of economic cooperation, if we would have found a way to enforce a ceasefire,

if we would have found a way to do something other than just like get pushed around by Netanyahu. And then eventually after selling and selling and pushing and pushing, then we decided to kind of back off until we started bombing in Yemen. Remember, like, come on. Yeah. This does not show a unified coordinated effort to secure Americans as people. It shows a unified effort to secure American priorities

and American interests, but not American people. Right? Like if you want to protect American lives, you have to accept the fact that sometimes you have to choose between interests and lives, politics and people. Yeah.

And unfortunately, our current administration does not seem to understand the difference between politics and people. Well, I think the last several administrations have not understood the difference between politics and people. That's a very fair point. Yeah. And I mean, we can see that across

board, international issues and domestic issues. Politics is just the game right now, which is unfortunate because politics doesn't solve anything, all of the politicking. Diplomacy could solve something, and I see those as two very different things. But I agree. I mean, the last, you know, the last several administrations, like this isn't a new problem, right? This explosive, you know, this conflict and the broadening conflict shouldn't be a surprise. to anybody. It has been simmering. Something could have been done about this many, many years ago, but it wasn't in the interests of politicians at the time. And so they put it on the back burner, and now look where we are. So the espion that we're talking about here, the lesson from

SpyCraft 101 is the radicalization ladder. That's what's happening here. In the Middle East, you have to understand that the Middle East is a hotbed for extremism. not just Islamic extremism, but extremism of all types of variety. From Sunni to Shia to, you know, you name it. People kill, there's Buddhist extremists in Asia. Yeah, it's just crazy. Yeah, right? So there are, it's a hotbed for the development of extremism.

And the first step in the stair-stepping ladder of extremism is some sort of injustice. Yeah. And the difficult thing about injustice is injustice is a perspective. Right? If I want to go bowling with the boys and you tell me no, to you, that may not seem like an injustice. That may be like you saying, no, we've got to take care of the kids tonight. And I've got to get ready for this meeting tomorrow. And I've got, there's all these real world reasons why you shouldn't go bowling tonight. But from my point of view, I'm like, I want to go bowling. And the only reason I can is because you said no, therefore this is an injustice. Right. Or if you take the keys and

hide them, right? I remember when my mom was trying to quit smoking, when my mom was trying to quit, when my mom was full on hiding the fact that she was smoking from my dad, my sisters and I, I think it was my baby sister, it may have been my middle sister, found her cigarettes and threw them in the toilet, like her pack of hidden cigarettes, and threw them in the toilet and didn't flush the toilet, just let them sit there and fall apart in the toilet. And my mom was a nurse, She worked the late shift. Yeah. So she needed her cigarettes when she went to go to work.

So she went to go find her cigarettes. They weren't there. She was getting frustrated. She went to pee before work. She opens a toilet. There are her cigarettes. Five minutes before she has to leave to go do her 12-hour shift, right? She was pissed.

Yeah. She was furious. Who did this to my cigarettes? Who threw away my cigarettes? My sister was like, I thought you didn't smoke. you can 100% see the injustice that they both felt from their own points of view. That's what makes the radicalization ladder so effective. Because if you're trying to radicalize a normal person into a person who straps a bomb to their chest

and runs into a building screaming some sort of chant and then blows themselves up, you can't do that in just one step. You need to go through a stair stepping process or a ladder, a radicalization ladder. And the very first step to that ladder is that an injustice has to be perceived. Right. And I would argue that, you know, along that part of the injustice, there is suffering there, right? The perceived injustice comes because that person is suffering. They don't have the resources they need.

They don't have the basic human, you know, their basic human needs being met. They are suffering. They are watching, you know, people die around them. They are starving. They're, you know, seeing violence. Like, all of that is happening. and then, you know, that perception of injustice is coming out of that suffering that they're feeling.

And somebody comes along and says, hey, you know whose fault this is? It's that guy's fault. Bingo. And right there's the second step in the ladder. So I know I'm not teaching you anything new, right? Yeah, yeah. But the second step of the ladder comes

in validating somebody else's injustice, validating somebody else's suffering. So now let's take a look at what's happening in the Middle East right now. Yeah. What is Hamas doing? guaranteeing future generations of radicalized targets, right, of individuals ripe for radicalization because they watch their mother die, they watch their father die, they watch their sister die, they watch their friends die, they watch their brother die, they watch their grandparents die,

they themselves may have been injured as a child in a bombing raid. All Hamas is doing is guaranteeing 15 to 40 years of future individuals who are ripe for radicalization. what is this what is iran doing the exact same thing iran is is arming and supporting all the groups that feel like they have been marginalized through an injustice of the united states being in the middle east where did al-qaeda even come from al-qaeda came from one radical point of view that believed that the united states had no right to be meddling in the middle east yeah right and that's where Osama bin Laden built such a massive support network, right? Even the Mujahideen before the United States went into Afghanistan was trying to kick

out Russia for the same injustice, right? So now we're seeing injustice play out all throughout the Middle East. Yeah. What is it that has Americans frothing at the mouth right now to kill Iranians? Oh, yeah. Their attacks. They feel like it was an unjust attack against Americans in Jordan. Yeah.

Right? We are in a cycle here that very much benefits our enemies. Yes. Because our enemies, Iran, Hezbollah, Houthis, Hamas, like the radical groups of the world, the only way they have someone to train and recruit in the future is if they can find an injustice today. Right. And if they can't find an injustice, they can't. provoke powers like the United States and Israel to take actions in which an injustice occurs.

Right. And that's what's happening across the middle. That's the lesson. That's the spy lesson that you and I see that makes us so sad. Yeah. Because we happen to be at a period in history where we are being played by unsophisticated rebel groups, but they're playing us and they're winning only because we are also at a place where our politicians don't understand. the difference between people and politics. Right.

Because if we just understood the idea between people and politics, we could find other solutions besides creating these systematic offensives that kill massive amounts of people and are then perceived to be an injustice of what is essentially just a wealthy or bigger country attacking a little guy, right?

So do I think that those, do I think that our politicians would even consider some of those alternatives? I don't know. Like, to a certain extent, I don't think that we should be blowing up Houthi bases. I think that we should instead be finding economic incentives to pay the Houthis to let ships pass. Because you know what? I bet they wouldn't say no to.

I bet they wouldn't say no to a few million dollars quarterly or annually saying, hey, here's the deal. We need oil tankers and these tankers and these tankers to be able to pass safely through your area in support of the humanitarian crisis in Israel. Yeah. And if the Houthis can be paid more by one side than the other, guess what they're going to pick? They're going to pick the one side, right? The same thing goes with the rebel groups in Iraq. Am I saying pay them off?

No, I'm not saying pay them off. But what I am saying is what I think Biden will do next is understand that what he cannot do is attack Israel. Or I'm sorry, what he cannot do is attack Iran. To attack Iran directly or to attack IRGC officials directly is going to be to escalate the conflict. Instead, what he will have to do is create very small, localized, focused attacks, most likely in Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon. And I think I said Iraq, right? So Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, he's going to have to pick very, very focalized attacks to attack key leaders who are backed by Iranians in those areas. But he's going to have to be careful not to kill an Iranian.

And that, I think, is what's tricky. Because as soon as an American bomb troop or missile kills an Iranian, Iran's going to come back and do it again. So he's going to have to kill local leaders through highly sophisticated operations in multiple countries. And most likely he will try to do it simultaneously as a show of force for the effectiveness of the U.S. military. Right. So that's what I think the next few weeks will hold in store. Because if he does it right, he's going to look great going on to the polls in November. Yeah.

But if he fucks it up, yeah. I mean, the whole Middle East is going to burn. Yeah, and I think I agree with you. I think that that is most likely what his next move is going to be. But it is a tricky situation. And even when you were talking about, you know, the, like, you know, working, playing economics with the Houthis, right?

It's, even those situations are tricky because, you know, while, you know, I would estimate, like, a number of radicalized people, if you improve their life, they will not be radicalized anymore, but then there are always those hardliners. The people who are, I mean, we've talked about, you know, the different motivators for people, and there are people who are actually motivated by ideology. And those people, you can pay them enough money in the world to change the way they think, and if they believe something, that's what they're going to act on.

And so then the tricky part there is, you know, even if you're investing in the de-radicalization of the majority of the group, that money is still going to those really hard liners somehow, right, who can go on to find new people to radicalize to make a different group to still do attacks. So it's really, really challenging. And I think in this situation, what's difficult for me to watch in the situation is I am having trouble understanding what the long game is. Right. Right? Because the post-war plan, nobody has a good idea, nobody's talking about it. And if they don't have something right in place,

it's, I mean, you know, we're looking at Germany from World War I to World War II, right? Like, you have to have something in place for the survivors. Right. Right. And I think that's such a great lesson from history because basically what you're highlighting is that Germany coming out of World War I,

they were the aggressor. Austria was the aggressor of World War I. Yeah. Germany quickly got involved. Germany became the driving force of World War I. Germany was destroyed, and during the treaties following World War I, Germany was dismantled, destroyed economically. They were punitively punished.

And from that punishment, the Nazi party was born, and then they just rolled right into World War II. Because they felt an injustice and how they were treated post-war. Correct. Right. So. You're exactly right. I am a huge. fan of what you're saying right now, because that is also what I am reading is at risk for us between Palestine and Israel. Yeah. Because we have watched how Hamas's popularity has gone up

since October 7. Yeah. They used to be primarily focused in Gaza, right? They were the ruling body in the Gaza Strip, and it was a completely different party that ran the West Bank. Well, now what we've seen is that the West Bank has massively increased, not just in terms of their support for Hamas, but they have also started engaging in more conflict against Israel directly. So now Israel is literally fighting on two fronts in the West Bank and Gaza at the same time as all of these other conflicts are also creeping up from the region around them. And I think you're exactly right. It's because, you know, we are hopefully not going to see Palestine or Israel turn into a similar defunct state like what we saw happen to Germany and World War.

one. Yeah. Hopefully the world will get their shit straight and realize we can't let that happen. Yeah. That there are millions of civilians, human beings. People. People, right? Like you and me, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, right?

That need a safe place to live, that have basic human needs that need to be met, right? They, like, there has to be a plan for this moving forward. And they can't be met today only. Right. They have to be met for decades. Yes. You have to make sure that the seven-year-old who's experiencing trauma right now, when they turn 17, has an option other than poverty. Because if you don't give them another option, a radical group is going to come in and give them an option.

Exactly. I think that's a great point too, because the radicalization ladder thrives on ignorance. Yes. If you can reduce the amount of ignorance, then you can increase the amount of knowledge. Increase knowledge reduces the chances of someone being able to be convinced that their injustice is simple. They will instead be aware that it is much more complicated. Yes. Which is one of the reasons it's so difficult to radicalize Americans.

There are Americans who become radicalized, but in comparison to other countries, very, very few Americans suffer through. the radicalization process because they fail at step one. It's hard to convince an American that their injustice can be tied to a single cause. Yeah, because I feel like the opposite side of that radicalization coin, the people who become educated, the people who understand that there's much more complexity to the grief that they feel, to the trauma that they've experienced in their life, those are the people who move forward and make actual change. Because Because they see that there's also more opportunity. Yes, that there are other ways than violence to make change in the world.

Right. Right. And that's what we mean. Those are the people we need to cultivate. But there has to be a plan. There has to be a commitment to a long-term investment in these people. So the main takeaways here that I was excited to share with you that I was excited to talk about, even though I've only been home less than 24 hours. This is our life, people.

is one that I am so sad to see what's happening in the Middle East. And I mourn for the families of the Americans that were killed. And I mourn for the families of the Americans that have yet to be killed if our current administration chooses a path of escalation. However, I also understand that we come from a warring culture. The United States is a conflict-based culture. I've said it before. I mean, we were born out of revolution.

That's true. So there will be some sort of kinetic military response. Right. Biden has already promised it. I anticipate that what that will look like is kinetic strikes that are highly sophisticated and very localized in at least three countries, possibly four. Afghanistan might also see it. So just again, I think we will see an attack in Iraq.

I think we will see an attack in Syria. I think we'll see an attack in Lebanon. We may also see an attack in Afghanistan. Carried out by American Special Forces or American. American troops, American missiles against specific Iranian-backed local militias in each of those places. That's what I think will happen. And I think it'll happen in a very short period of time, if not fully coordinated over the same 24 hours, if not the same one hour, just to demonstrate how powerful the United States can be. Because that's what they want to do.

They want to shock in awe right now. They want to do one thing, one time, and have everybody else just kind of say, whoa, I don't think we want to mess with them. Right. That's what's in Biden's best interest. Anything other than that, he runs the risk of increasing escalation, which decreases his chances of reelection, or he runs the risk of fucking the whole thing up and ruining the chances of his next election.

So that's what I wanted to talk about, and I absolutely wanted to hear your thoughts on that radicalization ladder because that's what I think is happening in the Middle East. I think that's very intentional. I think that's something that the groups out there have lived off of since the 1980s. They know it very well. they understand when an opportunity presents itself that they can prey upon to make to build next year's recruits today. Yeah, I agree with you.

So there's only one thing more depressing, I think, on the horizon than the Middle East, and that is Valentine's Day. Yeah, I actually had somebody asked me today, do you guys have plans for Valentine's Day? I'm like, Andy's away filming the show. So we have an interesting love-hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I have always liked Valentine's Day. I've always liked it as a hallmark holiday. I think it's a big deal in your family, actually. I mean, it might be.

Because your mom was just like, I'm going to send the kids Valentine's Day gifts. And we never celebrated any of these holidays. My mom was Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day. I was like, that's for, you know, whatever. It's for the Mickey Buy stuff. I know. Okay. I know how your family sees it because I'm married into that.

Yeah. But I was the, I remember, I mean, as pathetic as this sounds, I remember being in fifth grade and sometimes not getting a Valentine from somebody, even though, even though everybody was getting the same grocery store pack of 50 valentines. You didn't get one. Sometimes so-and-so, sometimes Jimmy or Jill or whoever else wouldn't give me one, but they would give it to my friend Mike and Art, right? Because there's only 20 in the pack, but there's 25 kids in the class, so you have to pick.

So it's just like reliving being the last one picked for kickball. Yeah. It's like reliving that every Valentine's Day. So even as a kid, I remember caring way too much about getting some cheap Valentine that really just said, you know, pre-printed message from art to Andy, from Jim or Jane to Andy, whatever it might be. So like I remember feeling that grief when I was a kid. So for sure growing up as an adult, like Valentine's Day has always been important to me. And the day that our son was born, even better than that, the day that the doctor predicted that our delivery date for our first child, before we knew what our child's gender was, when the doctor said that the estimated birthday was February 14th, Valentine's Day, I was over the moon. I was like, I'm going to have a Valentine's Day baby.

And then, oh, well, maybe not because, you know, that first baby usually takes a little bit longer than normal. But then he came. He came on Valentine's Day. So I now have a gorgeous 10-year-old boy who will turn 11 on Valentine's Day this year. I love the Hallmark holiday. I love the hearts and the cheesy romantic baloney. I love the little grocery store sweet tarts that say, I heart you. And I love that it's our son's birthday.

I love Valentine's Day, but you don't. It's okay. And that's why it's so depressing. That's why I would categorize this very closely with the Middle Eastern crisis in terms of things that I don't look forward to every day. It was definitely hard when we started dating. And I remember the first Valentine's Day we were together and it was such a big deal for you.

And I was like completely unprepared. You were like trying to plan something special and get me something special, and I was like, uh, I got nothing for you right now. That sounds like our relationship in a nutshell. Me trying to plan something special for you. And me being like, oh. And you being completely oblivious to the fact that anything special is even supposed to occur. Yeah.

I mean, to a certain extent, I think that I got very lucky with you because your expectations are like. Super low. Super low. I am the cheap girlfriend. You, I mean, it's amazing. It really is like, where do you want to go eat tonight? and you're like, I want FAA 83. Yeah.

And Fah 83 is about as nice a place as you would imagine it would be. It's so delicious. Based off of the name. But it is delicious. It was. And we were, I mean, we were junior officers at CIA dating at least two nights a week going to Fah. Was it Fah 83? It was Fah something.

Fah 19? No, I think 83 might have been it. But, I mean, there it was. It was like $9. $9 in a styrofoam bowl. And you were so happy. Yeah. You were so happy.

That's all I need. That was the first thing you brought me was a cherries, a bag of cherries. From the grocery store. And I was over the moon. I was like, this man right here bought me a gift. I love some cherries. Oh, my God. That's so excited.

I mean, don't, I mean, and I'm a very, like, straightforward, stupid boy. So when I discovered what kind of benefits came from grocery store cherries and $9 fah, I had you swimming in cherries and fah. It's that simple. It was worth the toll you paid to come up to my house. And the toll I had to pay to drive to your house. That is exactly right. And the expense of staying up way too late with you at your house before going to work the next day.

I know. I never drove to you. You drove to me. That's the way it should be. So needless to say, for Valentine's Day this year, I am on the road. I am gone again. But we do get to go on a massive family vacation to celebrate our son's 11th birthday. And I am very, very excited about that.

I am also very excited because while February 14th may actually be Valentine's Day, you and I are also planning an event on February 19th where we will hope. host like a super private group of people to come have dinner with us. Yeah. And we will also host a very private version of our Streetcraft training day, spy for a day experience with couples. Yeah. And or people who are part of a couple, but perhaps their partner can't show up.

So a very relationship focused experience. And I get to do both of them with you. And I've never gotten to do that. But we have never done any kind of event with our, with our customer base, our audience base. We have never done anything like that together. Correct. We have never done it live in person.

And we have never done a training event for our own people together. So, I mean, I feel like we're kind of celebrating Valentine's Day both before Valentine's Day on the family trip and then also after Valentine's Day with our Streetcraft event and with our private dinner event. Yeah. I mean, even though you won't be here on the day of Valentine's Day, it is a special year for it, I think, because I agree. like we're, you know, part of what's special about this cruise is this actually like the ship that we took our honeymoon cruise on.

So for me, this is really special to be able to share it with the kids because I have these amazing memories of, you know, after I stopped taking Dramamine those first few days. I remember that too. But then I have amazing memories of our honeymoon on that cruise. So I'm so excited to be able to, you know, share it as family. And then afterwards, you're right. Like, I have never run a streetcraft with you ever. You know, I've played, you know, I've played a role in the streetcraft. You know, I'm usually like the bump if you come.

Yeah. Which is always a lot of fun, but I've never had the opportunity to be by your side while you're teaching. And then the fact that we're having, you know, an additional, like, private dinner with, you know, a small group of people that we can really connect with. I'm just, it's really exciting, you know, to be able to connect with other couples in this way and to be able to see them, you know, perform on a mission, like get firehose with information and the perform on a mission together. Like it's really, it's going to be a bonding experience,

right? So it's, it's so great for us to be able to see that because we can relate to it, you know. If you want to know what we're talking about, if you want to get in early on the streetcraft experience or the private dinner with Ji and I, just click on the link in the description below. We're not quite done talking about it yet. But if you're sitting there and you're wondering, what is this event and what are they talking about? And how do I sit there and have dinner with them? Click on the link at the description line below. Just click in the link in the description below. and you'll be taken directly to a registration page where you can register for Streetcraft, and you can join us for that private dinner.

So you'll find it just in the description of this episode right below. So I also think it's interesting because one of the questions that we are very often asked is people want to know how we motivate each other. And sometimes I wonder the same thing, because I swear I demotivate you more than I motivate you. And then just like our conversation about Valentine's Day, there are absolutely times where I feel like I come to you needing your, needing you to lift me up. And I get a big fat like, want, wah, wah. Like you do not collect $200 and do not pass go. Sorry.

Well, I think, I mean, if it happens to us, it must happen to everybody else too. Yeah, I mean, you can't. It's like, you can't bat a thousand with your spouse. Exactly. You're never going to be a perfect parent or a perfect spouse. and just deal with it. That's just how life goes. But I would say, you know, it's funny when you say that you feel like you demotivate me.

I don't think you demotivate me. I think what you see is that you lower my excitement level because I'll be like, I have this great idea and I want to do this thing, blah, blah, and you'll be like, are you sure that's a good idea? Do you think it's going to work the way you think it's going to work? And so then I'm like, more. But you give me so much food for thought that over time it does turn, it helps with proper motivation, right? Because I might be motivated by something shiny, which isn't going to last.

But then you give me things to think about, which gives me a stronger desire and drive to do it the right way. And for me, the way I'm motivated is by watching you, honestly, like I find you really inspirational. inspirational and I just watch the way that you live your life and I want to emulate some of those things, not everything, but like, but oftentimes, you know, I just, you know, I have this Andy voice in my head and I'm like, you know, what would Andy do? Seriously. I'm sorry for that voice. But it's, it's so helpful over the years. It's been so helpful and that was one of the reasons when we first got together that I was like, I have to lock this man down. Like, we're all. are my like low-cut shirts right now because I need to win this one because I saw the potential,

right? Like you made me want to be a better person and you had the skills to give me the insight that I needed to develop the self-reflection that I needed to do myself to get to those points of growth. And you motivated me through low-cut shirts. But I mean, it worked. It did work. That and $9.5. And I know. No, but you know, what I will say, you know, because pre-marriage dating and then post-marriage life, the types of motivators are completely different. And I'm sure that's true for everyone who can relate to what it's like to date and then marry. Because I will say that motivating me before we were married was a fairly simple thing.

Like it was really just like, show me some attention, show me some affection and have a good time. And I was like, I was, I was ready to go all day. Yeah. But now that we have children, a business, you know, we're building a life. We're building a legacy together. It's much, much harder to motivate me than it was when we were dating. And one of the things that I find strangely motivating about you is how you slow things down. Like I am always trying to move fast because I'm always trying to get to tomorrow.

Yeah. I am very, very future oriented. I am always thinking about what's the next step. I am always trying to think two or three steps ahead of that. I am always pushing and pushing and casting vision and thinking about what's next. And what happens is you never, you for sure don't appreciate today. Right. I get that, right?

There's a thousand mindfulness books written about that garbage. Trying to get through it today. Right. That's how you see it. So I don't want to harp on any of the mindfulness jargon that's out there. But when you're always focused on the future, what ends up happening is you don't ever take the time to really pressure test your own ideas. So just like you were saying that one of the things I do is give you food for thought. One of the things that you do is you slow me down so that I can't, I don't even have the option of doing the reckless least probable.

highest risk thing because you've essentially taken that off the table just by your own natural kind of resistance, just the natural pace that you do things, how you consume information, how you process information, right, how you react to rapid changes. Like a lot of those things, like we've had to live with those as a family. Yeah. Partly because you have general anxiety disorder, but also partly because you just don't like to move too fast. Yep. You're a southerner. You are a true Venezuelan-born southerner.

And I can't tell you how much that has paid dividends for us. And I am now motivated because I know that the best outcome will come as long as you have your opinion heard. Right? If I try to do something without your input, I am very nervous. Yeah. When I try to do anything with your input, even if I don't agree with your input, I am that much more excited because I'm like, well, I mean, my office.

of success just went up tenfold because gee, he's involved. Yeah. That's exciting to hear. Yeah. So, I mean, it means that our future will be constantly full of me raining on your parade and you slowing me down. What's not to look forward to? Valentine's Day, here we come.

It should just really be, instead of caramel cookies, it can just be a pile of dried, crusty caramel. Just sticky and slow and messy. Just delicious. that pile. Folks, thank you very much for joining us today. If you enjoyed this conversation, there's anything that we talked about that you have thoughts on, comments on, anything you agree with or disagree with, please leave a comment for us, drop us, leave us a message, give us a question, anything you want, put it in the description below. If you like the video, give us a thumbs up.

Like the video, share it with a friend. I am certain there are at least three people that you know today who would like something about the conversation we just had. So go ahead and share this video with them and let the community grow. Share the wealth. Let us have conversations that frankly, nobody else is really having. People don't talk about this in mainstream media. People don't talk about this in politics. People don't talk about this at work. And if you're a married couple, I know you know what it feels like to end up having conversations that are just empty with your spouse. So part of the reason, Ghi and I have this conversation every week is so that we can have a meaningful conversation that isn't just about what the kids ate, how they slept, or what

we're going to do next week for, you know, roller skating and math. So feel free to, and we would welcome the opportunity to share this content with more people that you know would love this. And of course, for sure, for sure, if you're interested in joining G.K. and I for our February 19th Streetcraft event for couples, or if you're interested in joining us, especially for that VIP dinner, the night before that streetcraft, click in the description below, click on the link, and follow that link and register yourself and your spouse, register yourself and your partner, register yourself and your boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever you're with. But we would love to see you. We would love to have this conversation with you. And we can't wait to sit and actually have a awesome, intimate,

honest, transparent conversation with like-minded people on February 19th with you there. Thanks very much, folks. Hit subscribe. Give us a thumbs up and share us with a friend. Leave a comment below and sign up for Streetcraft. We'll see you soon.