Judging Freedom - Alastair Cooke : Russia Ready For Europe

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

Alastair Cooke : Russia Ready For EuropeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a

slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, June 29th, 2006. Alistair Crook will be with us. in just a moment. Why is Russia announcing that it is ready for war with Europe? But first, this. Today's headlines aren't just bleak. They're an indictment of a government that has abandoned the Constitution. You are witnessing the direct result of the Federal Reserve's relentless war on the value of your dollar. For centuries, gold and silver have been the ultimate shield against the state's favorite tools, monetary expansion and runaway inflation. To protect your wealth is to protect your liberty, and you can do that with gold and silver.

I own both and continue to buy, because J.P. Morgan is now lying gold at over $6,300 an ounce, and Bank of America is suggesting silver could reach $300. That's great news for precious metal investors. Don't wait for Washington to fix a mess they created. Secure your freedom today. Take possession of your precious. or diversify your IRA by adding gold and silver. Call 800 511 4620 to see if you qualify for up to $20,000 in bonus medals. That's 8005114620 or go to learjudge nap.com.

Oster Kruk, welcome here, my dear friend. Before we get to why Russia is announcing that it is prepared to fight a war with Europe. A couple of questions and a brief dialogue about Iran. Isn't it true that the United States and Iran Memorandum of Understanding is virtually identical to the 10 points that Iran proposed at the outset of all this? Yes, but I have to say that it's now really inactive. It possibly is on life support, but it is not any longer functioning. There's no achievement going to emerge from this document because of what has been happening not only in Hormuz,

where there's been an escalation. What has been happening in Hormor's is the U.S. Navy have been acting with what they call national maritime services to try and create an alternative route to, if you like, endorse the idea of Trump that somehow traffic is going through and oil is about to hit on the market. And of course, Iran stopped that. And then there are talks happening tomorrow about Homo's. But the Iranians are going to be really tough.

that and they will attack ships who ignore their instructions about the exit from Hormuz. They control it and are insisting that they are going to control it. And things are toughening up because as you've seen, Trump is all the time redefining the memorandum of understanding. All the time there are not. new things or the nuclear thing, the IEA inspectors are going in, all of these extra things that he is suggesting really have led to a crisis within Iran centered on the negotiating committee. The assembly of experts, this is the assembly that oversees, if you like, the religious

conduct of Iran. It appoints the supreme leader and actually can. also remove him and appoint another one. The only way that that can happen. And so they've issued a statement which was signed by 62 out of 86 members of the assembly, warning, putting down on very clear notice to the negotiating team, Galipav, Arachi, Pesachian, stop it. You have to really abide by the guidelines that were set by the Sumerite. This is religious law. You have to abide by it. And so there's very strong action being taken and they have been warned, put on notice. If you are soft with the Americans, because that's what it's basically amounting to.

If you are soft, if you don't stick firmly to our points, the 10 point plan that's, the supreme leader, you will not be authorized. You will be disallowed to continue the process. So from this end, what what Trump is achieving is really to create a crisis for the people he was negotiating with in Iran. This has happened before, but he's creating a crisis for the people he was hoping to negotiate with, where their authority to negotiate may be pulled. and removed from them. And we've seen Pesashkian in this last day going around various Ayatollahs,

grand Ayatollahs, trying to argue for the memorandum of understanding. I don't know exactly what he was told. But then again, we've seen very clear warnings coming from two of the senior clerics, again saying, you do not start accommodating the Americans. you're not even allowed to talk about the nuclear issue. So how is it you are having talks with Grosse? How is it, it seems to be back on the agenda?

It was very clear there can be no movement on the nuclear issue until everything else is agreed. So the whole thing is becoming really quite crazy because even if America, the Navy can get one or two tankers by, if you like, sailing through as close as they can to the Omanee shore. And they were doing this with massive overhead air, par, AWACs, helicopters, airplanes, to try and suggest that this was possible. And still, you know, they were attacked by the IRGC.

But even if you get one or two through, it's not going to change the situation. This is not the gush. that Trump talks about. You know, 150 million barrels that are going to come in that's going to solve the problem that there are about, you know, 13 to 18 days left of metal distillates that can be used to produce diesel or kerosy. I mean, that's not going to, I mean, the time it would take, even if you open the straits completely, you're not going to get it.

But to, you know, try for optics, for problems. propaganda to have a few tankers say, oh, yes, we've opened the straits. I mean, is nonsense. It's just a nonsense. And he's increasing the pressure everywhere. Because have you probably seen in Iraq, there is great turmoil because the green zone is almost shut down. There are arrests taking place across Baghdad and in the green zone. A lot of people are being arrested on corruption charges. Don't forget, the Prime Minister al-Zaidi, Ali al-Zadi, is due to go to Washington. And so it looks as if he's trying to, either he's being given these tasks to do before he arrives in Washington. Some of them is not clear what's at the bottom of this. Is

this. There are been talks that this is a coup. I don't see actually evidence that it's a coup. It does target both Sunnis and some she, but also it's targeted. One of the resistance leaders. And so how, what the response is going to be to this big sweep? I don't know. And then a bill in that part of Iraq, there is daily conflict between, Obviously, the American administration is trying to push the Kurds into establishing some sort of a foothold in Iran. And the Iranians are hitting them hard. Every day, every hour, there are attacks and artillery exchanges as they push back. So the whole thing is becoming really quite crazy.

and we haven't discussed Lebanon, where Trump has produced or got the Lebanese ambassador appointed by General Aoun to sign off on a document. But I just want to say this. I know you want to move on to other things, but it's really important to understand that document which Israel is sort of parading and saying, great success. We've done. We've done this. It's not only has it no authority. It has actually, it is only, you know, a document that would have to be validated. And a document of this nature runs is unconstitutional. In many respects, the clauses of it go against the Lebanese constitution. and the only way you can deal with this, this document would have to go to cabinet first of all, and the cabinet would have to vote on it.

And that would mean they'd have to have a two-thirds majority because that's the way the cabinet in Lebanon works. It's set up in that way that no one sect can be outvoted by the other two, if you like. And then it would have to go to Parliament where they do not have a majority. So this is a valueless document, another, if you like, optic, another propaganda excise to show that, you know, that Trump is solving the issue in Lebanon. It solves nothing.

It is counter to his own memorandum of understanding. It transgresses his own memorandum of understanding. And it's just leading to chaos. Of course, from the point of view of some, in Lebanon. They say, look, this is what's going to happen. It's leading Lebanon towards civil war. But isn't that our plan anyway? Isn't that the what we want? So, I mean, all of this means, you know, the whole, you know, the MOU as it stands is really completely inactive. The Iranians are not going to take anything through. they built it on the grounds of step by step.

It has to go, you know, only when the Americans complete their step, will the Iranians do their step? And if the terms of this agreement have changed, then the Iranians will move back a step. So it's not going to the MOU, but the MOU itself is substantially similar to what the Iranians demanded months ago. Is it not? Exactly. It is. It is exactly based on those 10-point plans. And this is why we have, if you like Trump now,

trying to redefine it. To say, no, it didn't mean that at all. It means something different. And I'm saying that, you know, they've already agreed to talk about nuclear issues. Not true, a lie. But this is him trying to redefine it. I'm told, and I hear from Washington,

that, you know, actually, what we're seeing now and this is what i think is happening is really um trump is is more or less sort of giving up on his hopes of of getting a sort of a victory out of iran is proving too difficult um so he's setting the scene for after the midterms when he'll try and put down a new if you like ultimatum to iran a new memorandum a new memorandum of understanding after the midterms, that he will try and do that. It's not going to work. And in the meantime, I think what we're seeing is he's trying to pivot towards Ukraine and Russia,

thinking that it will be easier to put pressure onto Russia than it will be to put pressure on Iran. And maybe he can get some sort of success in that way to. two more questions one or two more questions on iran before we get to ukraine i mean the the insurance groups in london are not going to be supported are not going to be underwriting these tankers are they so how can any of them go through other than the iranian ones well of course and so when he when trump parades it and says this you know millions of barrels of all going through it's quite untrue so were probably a about 18 million barrels of oil have gone through in the latest in these preceding days. And all of them have gone to China and to India.

They're not going to make the slightest difference to the problem that United States has, that its inventories have gone to zero. And, you know, the answer we get from Besant is the main priority of ours, of the United States, of Trump, in every single aspect is now the priority is hegemony, dollar hegemony, oil hegemony, that's what we're trying to, we are trying to achieve. And so all of the emphasis is trying to keep a strong dollar so that interest rates can be kept lower. So all of this, and they point to the futures market of oil at 79.

It's all bogus. You know, how is it the oil price, as the inventories get down to sludge at the bottom of it, that the oil price is going down. Normally you'd expect it to go up. It's all, I'm told of something like 19 billions of shorts put on the market to manipulate it. So all of this is, that's why I'm saying everything, it's chaotic. It is nonsense. Nothing of this is going to lead anywhere at all as things stand. All that the United States is going to start in this respect, according to Besson, of course,

China's going to push back against an attempt to, if you like, increase the scope of dollar hedge money. It's already doing it in many respects. It is now doing that. It's going to be a currency war, and currency wars are always ugly wars that will turn ugly if this is pursued. So the plan no longer is about sorting out an arrangement with Iran and getting the oil out. Now it is establishing hegemony, dollar hegemony on the world by assertive means, by pressure and also by manipulation in markets. Does a powerful U.S. military presence in the Middle East any longer makes sense? No, no. And it's not, it's no longer there. I mean, there is, the bases have been, I mean, the Bahrain is completely destroyed.

And most of these bases have been destroyed. I don't think, I don't think the military presence is coming back. Even, I mean, it's quite significant, even if you look at what's being said in Israel, in the Israeli press by senior Israeli analysts who are expert in Iran, they say the Middle East has changed forever. It's not the same Middle East again. And before we, Israel, were the go-to country for the world. Everyone went first of all, to Israel for investment for projects and everything. And he said, now the go-to country increasingly is Iran. This is a major crossing of the Rubicon. And this said by the Israelis themselves, their plan for Iran has collapsed completely and cannot be resuscitated. It would be madness to try, they say, because, you know, they can't do it without the

United States. And the United States is not going to engage in another war on Iran, and there won't be another president that will engage in a war in Iran. So the whole grand strategy lies in ruins. Let's transition to Russia. Why did President Putin so ostentatiously last week warn Europe that Russia has prepared for war against it? Well, because he's heard every leader in Europe, Mertz, Stama, Macron, all calling for war on Russia. The only thing that differentiates them is whether it will start next year or in 2030. But they're all saying we're pouring money in, we're preparing for war. And UK particularly is developing new missiles, new cruise missiles, longer range, faster, bigger warhead to give to the Ukrainians in knockdown form.

So they just have to sort of put them together and then fire them into Russia. And this was carefully orchestrated. There was a meeting of the European three, that is Germany. UK and France, before the G7, to try and create a big optic that would persuade Trump to change his position. The idea is that Trump came to the conclusion that Russia was so big and Ukraine was relatively small that the outcome ultimately was inevitable and so that he didn't want to waste too much political capital on it. And the whole point of the G7 was to tell Trump, oh, no, look, actually, you know, Russia, Ukraine isn't on the back foot. They're on the front foot.

And it is Russia and Putin that's on the back foot. And what you have to do is support those pressure that we're putting on by firing missiles into St. Petersburg and to Moscow. and you have to support this and prepare the battleground. So the UK has got developing these new weapons and they're very proud about it. And they're spending a lot of money and Germany and France too. And so these missiles, you saw them arriving in Moscow. Incidentally, most of that was PR.

They filled the warheads with kerosene. So you've got a lot of smoke and issues rather like at a firewall. So it is optics, but eventually, you know, this has come to it in Moscow when, you know, when he hears, when Russians keep hearing the call for war. And they heard what Trump said at the G7 because it was said explicitly he told Zelensky to be more aggressive, to be to go for it. it. And the Financial Times reported that and said, yes, he reacted very positively and constructively when the Europeans presented to him the image that actually Ukraine was now on a winning track and he was very positive about this. And so Russia is saying, if you think we are going to sit there while you encourage and you provide Ukraine with more and more and bigger and bigger and

more dangerous missiles to fire at our civilian population in Moscow to try and unnerve them, to create a psychological crisis that they you hope will bring about the removal of Putin as people in Russia become anxious about the future. and think they're not winning the war, forget it. You want to, we hear, and Putin said this very clearly, all your language, all your talk about war, we've heard it, and we just want you to understand one thing. We are ready for that.

I know you scrutinize a lot of media in Washington, in New York, as well as in the Middle least. But the Western press here in the U.S. has been creating the impression consistently for the past several weeks that Russia is losing and Ukraine is winning. I assume you believe that that's a farce. Well, it's fake. I wouldn't say it's farce in the sense that it has a very sinister their intent to it. It is about to create a battlescape that they hope to pull America into greater involvement in a war on Russia. This is very serious. It's crazy. But this is what Europe is trying to do, is trying to try to pull America into the war. That was the whole setup, which

was discussed beforehand, pre-planned with Zelensky, with the European three. And then at the G7, Zelensky was introduced, and he produced photographs of a damaged church in Kiev. And then it was, he was then paraded before the European summit that followed all of these. And all of this was about preparing a battlescape, which indicated to Trump that look actually, you know, what the Europeans have been doing has been put in,

you know putting Russia into some degree of distraction and unease and panic and we need to build on us and you need to join with us and you need to put much more pressure and what I think was you know the same thing and you've heard me say about you know the Kellogg philosophy the same thing he said you know the only thing and he said this at G7 the only thing that's the only thing that Putin understands his pressure. So what we need is more pressure and more pressure still. And the Europeans are saying, well, support us. We're doing this.

We're putting pressure on Trump for on Putin for a ceasefire. And the whole of the European agenda, which is a Russian capitulation. You know that he would then do a ceasefire and then eventually all the other part of it, reparations would be included. It would be back to the sovereign lines of Ukraine. There would be war, crime, tribunals, all of that nonsense. Wow. Alstair, thank you very much, my dear friend.

You're really a tour de force today, and we deeply appreciate it. And I will see you again soon. All the best. Thank you very much. Bye, sure. Bye. Bye, bye. Coming up later today, if you're watching us live in 33 minutes,

at 9 o'clock this morning, Larry Johnson at 2 this afternoon, Professor Jeffrey Sachs at 3 this afternoon, Ray McGovern. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.