Judging Freedom - Cutting Through Ukraine Russia War Propaganda w/Matthew Hoh fmr State Dept

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

Cutting Through Ukraine Russia War Propaganda w/Matthew Hoh fmr State DeptSponsored by: Lear Capital - https://LearJudgeNap.comIt's time to take control of your financial future and consider investing in gold.Consider adding gold to your portfolio with the company I trust – Lear Capital. Over 25 years of experience, thousands of 5-star reviews, and a 24-hour risk-free purchase guarantee.Give Lear a call today at 800- 511-4620 – the information is Free and there is no obligation to purchase. Get your Gold and Silver wealth protection guides, get your questions answered, and there is zero pressure to buy.Or inquire online @ https://LearJudgeNap.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, August 28th, 2023. Boy, we're almost at Labor Day. We're trying very hard to get 200,000 subscribers by Labor Day. We're up to 190,000, so we only have a week to go. I think you're going to like what you see. And if you do like, if you haven't subscribed, subscribe, tell a friend. Matthew Ho is with us in just a moment. How is it that this war in Ukraine has become the most propagandized war in our lifetimes? But first this. Hi, everyone. Judge Napolitano here, and the verdict is in. Everywhere I go, people are complaining how expensive things are and how their stomachs turn every time they get their IRA statement.

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Call my friends at Lear today and start protecting your retirement with gold. Here's the number. You see it on the screen. 800-511-4620. 800-511-4620. Or use the internet as I do, learjudgenap.com, and get your free gold investment guide and learn how to take control of your

financial future. Now listen to this. My friends at Lear are offering to Judging Freedom customers only a $15,000 bonus in gold. Call today and see if you qualify for it. 800-511-4620 or Judge Knapp, excuse me, learjudgenapp.com. Matt, welcome to the show. It's always a pleasure. The fans are anxious to hear from you, of course, as am I. In our emails earlier today, you expressed the view that the war in Ukraine is the most propagandized war in our lifetimes. Why do you say that, Matt? Well, thanks for having me back on, Judge. It's good to see you. You know, you just look at the elements of the information that and how it's being provided. And you see just mass armies of social media, you know, just organized efforts across Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, whatever, to put out a version of the war. You see the entire establishment media, the legacy media,

the corporate media throughout Europe and the US. Of course, Russia has a state-owned media system and they've heavily censored what independent media they had. So you have a completely captured legacy media that is only providing the information that it is being given. And its editorial decisions, if you just saw the recent editorial from this past week, say from the Washington Post, is entirely in line with the war efforts. So even if it was independent of the governments, it would not be presenting independent viewpoints. But then also, too, you have in Vladimir Volodymyr Zelensky, a traveling roadshow where you have the leader of one of the two principal belligerents on the road constantly performing a show, singing for his supper, if you will. And I don't mean to be glib and to diminish what the Ukrainians are going through, but you do see that spectacle.

Right. Right. I mean, so you put all that together, then you put in all the just the truisms of war, that the first casualty in war is truth and all those other things we know about how wars are just lies. And you see this war being so heavily problematic. And there's no Walter Cron walter cronkite remember lbj it's before your time but you know history if i lost if i lost walter cronkite i lost the war um sy hersh the person who reported we believe truthfully accurately uh courageously and

meticulously about the destruction of the uh nordstream pipeline totally sidelined uh by the media that only daniel ellsberg in the case is sitting in a federal prison uh in boston somewhere not a peep coming from him and no serious uh discussion of the documents he revealed there's little opposition press There's more opposition to the war. And this podcast that you're on with me today that I do three times a day, five days a week, than there is an ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post combined. Right. Right. Absolutely. And you could see the effort by the governments to manipulate and create the media that they want. And no better example than over my my shoulder here, Julian Assange, who said he'd been sitting in prison since 2019,

was was basically in home arrest in exile in Ecuador, an embassy for years before that, and who is waiting to be extradited to the United States for having the gall to publish the U.S.'s own reports that documented the U.S.'s war crimes. I mean, so the system has both carrots and sticks to it, where if you want to play, if you want to go along and get along, you have the access journalism. And if you don't, well, Julian Assange, of course, is the example that they will use to try and enforce the narratives that they want. We have some profound video examples of what you said. All our four-star retired generals. We'll start with General Petraeus, who said over the weekend, where he gets this from, I'll let him explain it and then let you unpack it. We can expect the Russians, his words, to crumble. The big question in my mind, I think, is whether or when the Russians might begin to crack and crumble.

They've been in the line for over a year in many cases. Yes, they have actually established very impressive defensive belts, but they don't have the same motivation that Ukrainian soldiers do, who can look over their shoulder and see what it is that they're fighting for. They're very independent. They're survival. They're citizens. That's not the case for the Russians, many of whom have been conscripted, not volunteers, clearly. The question is, when might that moment arrive? And it's very hard to answer, having been in a number of battles where the enemy all of a sudden cracked. But you couldn't predict that until that moment actually happened. I don't want to get personal, but has he been in many battles

where the enemy has cracked? Do you know what he's talking about? No, I don't want to get personal, but has he been in many battles where the enemy is cracked? Do you know what he's talking about? No, I don't know what he's talking about. I really don't. I heard that. I don't know his history that well, but I don't know of any battles that he's actually been in. But let's get to the earlier part. Has he forgotten the conscription that the Ukrainians are using? It's called kidnapping people off the street, whether you're 16 years old or 60 years old. Right. I mean, we spoke about this a bit last time you and I spoke about the manpower issues that both sides can face. But certainly Russia has advantage with that. I disagree with the assertion that Russian troops are all conscripts or not. They have been getting a lot of volunteers. And the same with the Ukrainians. They had a flood of volunteers,

but now a year and a half into this war, into this invasion, they are faced with the reality that if people were going to step up and volunteer, they probably would have done it in the last 18 months. And so you've seen them go into their seventh or eighth round of mobilization, increasingly draconian in the way they have to go out and capture people, including, like you said, basically kidnapping people, big corruption scandal. We talked about this as well, I think, maybe a couple of weeks ago there, right? Zelensky fired all of the military commanders in charge of recruiting across Ukraine because it was so corrupt. They were taking bribes. If you could pay them, your kid didn't have to go to war. But if you couldn't pay, guess where that kid was going? You know, I mean, so Ukraine has now Ukraine has spoken in the past about creating a million man army.

And I've seen commentary in the last couple of weeks alluding to a three million man army. I'm not sure where that comes from, if that's even possible. But the idea of creating Ukraine into a Sparta, right, into this idea that is just a military state, its whole purpose being the extreme east flank of NATO to protect against the barbarian hordes coming from the east. Right. That whole that whole trope we've been around for two centuries now with. Right. You know, I mean, you could see it's there. So, you know, I think there is something to be said for mass mobilizations in Ukraine, for everyone getting into the army. If I was Zelensky,

that's what I would say. I would say, look, I'm going to put every man in my country through training. They're all going to learn how to fire rifles, fire RPGs, make IEDs. And so if Russia ever does occupy us, they'll face Iraq times 10. But General Petraeus is making it sound as if there's some equipoise between the two militaries. We know that the kill ratio is seven to one. Seven Ukrainians killed for every one Russian. We also know the population advantage is three to one on the side of the Russians. How can he possibly claim that there's such an equality? Actually, he doesn't even claim there's equality,

as I understand them. He's saying that the patriotic impetus of the Ukrainians, I think I'm being fair, Matt, the patriotic impetus of the Ukrainians will overcome their deficits on the battlefield and cause the Russian military to crumble. That's ridiculous. There is an argument made always about will. And there are many who will say will is the most important determinant in warfare. And I'm not going to argue with that. I agree with that.

But if you do not have the machines, the equipment, the fuel, the ability to sustain a mechanized war against a mechanized opponent, you will be defeated. And that's to my point, I was just saying about teaching every Ukrainian to carry a rifle, fire an RPG, build an IED, because what you are looking at now, and people who've listened to me will know I'm very much on the belief that this war is stalemated, but because of Ukraine's poor decision- making in terms of defending Bakhmut by continually to put troops in it, continuing to put units in it, units that could have been better off spent digging defenses, doing other things to prepare against another Russian attack.

And then of course, this offensive by the Ukrainians, which has just seen nothing other than the gain of a few small villages and the advancement of a half dozen miles or so at the expense of entire units, mass amounts of equipment, as well as just a tremendous amount of lives. You know, you've now put Ukraine by using up whatever reserves they had into position where they could have a collapse. So it could be a collapse, you know, and it's warfare. Anything could happen. Things that we said last week, as Yogi Berra said, predictions are hard,

especially when they're about the future, you know. But this idea that it's going to be Russia that collapses and not Ukraine, based upon everything we've said. But again, this is the man, General Petraeus is the man, who predicted success in Iraq, who predicted success in Afghanistan, who predicted success in Iraq, who predicted success in Afghanistan, who predicted success in Libya, who predicted success in Syria, so that he is now making these predictions about a Ukrainian victory in Ukraine against the Russian army, I think is something that is just, you know. Here's General Milley in sort of part of his farewell tour. I

think his last day in office may be Thursday of this week. If I'm wrong, it's very, very soon. He didn't do anything wrong, but his term is over and he's retiring and he's giving a lot of interviews. He's the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, another four-star, not yet retired, of course, but soon will. We all know, Matt, from you and from other sources who have your sources on the ground, that the Russians have built three rings of defensive protection to prevent the Ukrainians

from moving eastward and pushing the Russians eastward. We all know that Ukrainian military has not even approached, much less breached, the first of those three rings. Well, we all seem to know it except for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Take a listen. They have actually liberated a considerable portion of Russian-occupied Ukraine since the beginning of their offensive. And specifically on the axis of advance that they're attacking on right now, they've attacked through the first main defensive belt. This is a defense in depth that the Russians had many months to prepare. It's got minefields, it's got dragon's teeth, it's got tank ditches. It's a very, very complex set of defensive preparations that the Ukrainians are fighting through.

And they're fighting through it. The Ukrainians have a significant amount of combat power remaining. This is not over yet. So I think it's frankly too early to say whether it succeeded or failed. It clearly has had partial success. Do you know of any evidence from any source to substantiate what General Milley just said in that clip? No, I don't. And seeing that the time stamp on it, the date stamp on it being several days ago, the 24th, today is what, the 28th? Right. You know, I mean, even more confused, because what everyone is excited about, everyone, everyone, the Western media, and the apologists and

cheerleaders for the war excited about is the fact that Ukraine took the town of or the village, it's less than 500 people, Robitino, I think, they basically confirmed it today. So four or five days ago, that wasn't even confirmed. But everything I have seen is that they have reached the front aspects of the first line of defense, but they certainly haven't penetrated it. open source, objective people out there who look at this and utilize a lot of good information to make determinations that they've made it to the front edge of that first line. But that's only in that one location. Remember, this front is 600 miles long. And you're talking about they've been able to get through a small village, again, less than 500 people. That is only four miles from where they started this offensive 12 weeks ago it was 12 weeks ago they started this june 4th so this um uh you know the the i think maybe part of

this is they put this information out they try and see it advancing because certainly if you go on this furthers your this is the most propagandized war in our lifetime argument. When the chairman of the highest ranking American military official says this, I want to play for you something else. He said, we all know that President Zelensky has been complaining and complaining bitterly that he didn't get enough equipment. He hasn't been getting enough and he hasn't been getting it fast enough. I don't know who the interlocutor is in this series of interviews. I believe he's from the Middle East and that's why you see Arabic translation on it. But here's

General Milley effectively saying they got what they wanted when they needed it. There's a lot of commentary on that. There's a lot of criticism, actually. Yeah, there's a lot of criticism and commentary on it. I would say the Ukrainians have gotten what they've needed when they've needed it. Either he's exaggerating or President Zelensky is exaggerating. Well, the blame game is underway, right? I mean, this blame game starts early,

before the Russians even invade, I think the blame game is beginning. But you have this idea, one, this mistaken idea, fueled by popular fiction, basically Hollywood, that a wonder weapon is going to win the war. We just need to get the right. And we saw this in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're going to bring in the right piece of equipment and it's going to completely stop the insurgents ability to put an IED in the ground and we're going to win the war. Don't worry about that.

They're cheating. The real reason for this war is we're occupying them. Forget about that. All we need is the right piece of kit, the right piece of technology. I mean, and that's the whole thing that is being missed here is that there are no wonder weapons that are going to end a war. And also, too, even if you bring in the F-16, you bring in the attack, etc., how does that meet

Russia's grievances? How does that assuage their political objectives? Whereas when the Russians face the same thing, too, they can totally defeat this Ukraine offensive. They can maybe push Ukraine all the way back to the Dnieper River. How does that get US missiles out of Romania and Poland? Because that seems to be their core problem, right? I mean, so people miss the forest for the trees here, but also too, it's a blame game. You didn't give them what they needed. Now you see the American administration becoming very defensive. And as we go right into the election season, we're we're we're what, 14 months away from the election almost. It's going to be a question of whether or not the White House did enough to win the war against the Russians.

And that's a big decision for the White House, how they want to play this the next 14 months. Do they want to try and settle the war and not have this type of news going on? Or do they believe that this war is beneficial because it makes Joe Biden look tough fighting the evil Russians? I'm a harder man than Donald Trump is, et cetera, et cetera. As if General Petraeus and General Milley were not enough, here's another retired four-star senator, General Ben Hodges, actually opining that there's a way for the Ukrainian military to push the Russians out of Crimea. This is really off the wall. I believe that the operational priority is to cause the Russian forces to leave Crimea. That, I think, is the

most important thing that has to be done. In order to do that, of course, Ukraine needs more long-range capabilities that could hit all the airfields in the seaport of Sevastopol, for example. But that also means they've got to get closer to the land bridge. So more progress that would enable them to bring up more HIMARS, for example, that could reach the road between Mariupol and Melitopol in Crimea to stop the logistics movement there. I think these are the kind of things that they're going to continue to do. I don't know exactly where the best place is, but the general staff knows where the best place or places will be to do that. Your thoughts? I think Hodges is as bad as Milley and Petraeus. And remember, there's a whole host of these generals from these wars who were just, they didn't win the wars, but they were also being glorious, a lot more disgraced. Think

of General McChrystal, think about General Allen. Think about General Odenero. I mean, lots of these American generals who rose to the top of the American military. And you look at Milley, you look at Petraeus, you look at Hodges. These are men who became chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commanding general of Central Command, commanding general of European command. There's not really many higher posts you can have. There are no higher posts than you can have, particularly central command and European command, because those are war fighting commands. And these are the types of individuals who you have populating them. And they're not exceptions. They are the rule. And this is how you can understand the American, modern American warfare to have been

such a disaster since World War II, such a waste, so counterproductive. It's because you have people like this who cannot see outside of their own groupthink, who populate themselves with their own acolytes, who are completely surrounded by sycophants. I guarantee you Hodges is speaking in terms of some war game he participated in that was heavily, as we used to call it, fairy dusted. The idea that the fairy comes in and takes away all the problems in the war game, right? Wait a minute, Marines use the phrase fairy dusted? That is a common, common term. Pixie dust is another one, because what would happen in these war games, Judge, is that you give example.

I used to take part in the war games for Korea. We didn't have enough bridging material, right? Amount of bridges to construct to invade into North Korea. So the problem was always resolved because the fairy dust came in and instead of having three bridges, as the engineer, I now had eight bridges, right? I mean, this is what people like Hodges sit on top of. And so it gets to this point of this propaganda and their worldview and the group think, or as maybe it's now commonly called the hive mind, right? But they don't hear anything that doesn't interact well with their narrative. So Hodges maybe it's now commonly called the hive mind, right? But they don't hear anything

that doesn't interact well with their narrative. So Hodges thinks it's just a question, warfare can be boiled down to a map exercise of getting these HIMARS with their range of 50 miles to just within the Russian rail and highways that are connecting Crimea to Russia proper. And he thinks it's just a map exercise. It's a table game for him.

And it's the man who rose to the top of the American army by espousing such things. So he's in his element. And to end up where we started, it's all propaganda. And there's very little resistance to it, except that which comes from people like you and and the guests on this show sometimes throughout the show i scroll through the comments that people send us i'm going to put one comment i hope i do this right

on the screen there it is somebody named northern nevada captain ho is a great ad to judging freedom in my opinion well in my opinion as. I thought you'd want to see that. Captain Ho, Matthew, always a pleasure. Thank you very much for joining us. Thanks, Judge. Of course. We'll see you again soon. Like and subscribe. Tell your friends we're marching toward, I don't want to use the military phrase, but we are marching toward that goal of 200,000 by Labor Day, which is a week from today. Tell your friends what we do at Judging Freedom. We look out for your liberty. Thank you.