Judging Freedom - Gilbert Doctorow : Drones Over Moscow!

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Gilbert Doctorow : Drones Over Moscow!See 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 Wednesday, July 1st, 2026, Gilbert Doctoro, will be with us in a moment on drones over Moscow. But first this. You know, every year around the 4th of July, we celebrate independence. But here's the uncomfortable truth. A lot of people have never been more dependent. dependent on the power staying on, dependent on the grocery store staying stock,

dependent on supply chain, cell towers, and systems over which they have absolutely no control. That's why I like my Patriot Supply. They've helped millions of Americans become a little more self-reliant with emergency food, water filtration, backup power, and other preparedness essentials. Right now, they're celebrating America's 250th anniversary with some of their biggest savings of the year. Preparedness has never been about fear. It's about freedom. The freedom of knowing your family will be okay even if things don't go according to plan. Go to preparewithachudge.com and take advantage of the Independence Day sale. That's

prepare with a judge.com. Gilbert, Doctor, are welcome here, my dear friend. Thank you for accommodating my schedule. How serious are the Ukrainian drone attacks over Moscow and in the suburbs and out at the airport? Is this propaganda or is this having an effect on the war or is it both? Well, there are several dimensions to the drone war on Russia. One is terror and by its traditional definition, the intent to create, great havoc in public opinion to motivate the broad public to condemn its government and possibly to replace the government. That is one dimension. And the attacks on Moscow are primarily of that

variety, though not assume so much ago there was an attack on the major refinery serving the Moscow area. And that was not a terror attack. That was a military action against the legitimate targets, which are supplying fuel to the enemy. So that is the second dimension. And I think we have to, we in the West, should look beyond the attempts to intimidate and stir up the Russian population and look at the effective strikes on Russia's infrastructure,

particularly its fuel energy infrastructure, which are already having a very big impact on the Russian economy and will get considerably worse if nothing is done to stop these assaults. Have civilians been killed by the drones? They have been killed every day. Yes, of course, we go back a month or so. We have this dramatic attack on the teacher's school, which killed 21 or 25.

on which numbers are using young women who were studying there in a nighttime attack. That stirred up a lot of emotion. But in point of fact, every day there are some civilians killed by these drone attacks, either by the direct intent of the Ukrainians who are sending them to attack a bus, for example, carrying students, or inadvertently by the stymion of an income. drone and it's finding a secure landing in residential property that causes the death of somebody or other. So this is news that is every day. Are the NATO instigated attacks on Russia increasing? By NATO instigated, I mean munitions,

NATO Intel, maybe even NATO operators, increasing in quantity and quality? There are vast numbers of drone attacks. I'd say, I would guess, that a large number of these incoming drones, particularly those going just across the border or into Crimea, are Ukrainian manufactured. They're not long range, they're short range, and they are not vastly powerful, but they make life miserable for Russians living in the Russian Federation, as it was defined before this war began, the border regions, of Korsk, for example, and they are hit constantly. The Crimea is now being hit constantly. There is no feeling of security and safety in these territories. Now, that's one

kind of drone. There are the long-range drones, which with the description that you were just giving, They are clearly coming from the west. They are sophisticated drones, very unlikely that they are Ukrainian designed. They are nominally leaving the Ukrainian hands, sorry, Ukrainian officer's hand touches the button to launch. But in reality, as you are suggesting, they have been targeting the necessary in-feed to make these drones operated distances up to 1,000 kilometers from where they are launched within Ukraine. That is coming from the West, and particularly from the United States.

It is Intel that is making possible these dramatic attacks on Russian refineries and oil installations that are way beyond the capability of the Ukrainians, unaided Ukrainians. So the United States is directly participating in the world, war as are major European countries. And that is a turning point that we are now at. Has this genebraided, I think it has because of the notes you've sent me, I'll use your phrase, broad public anger in Russia over the failure of President Putin to end the war now by force.

Do you stand by that statement and how do you characterize the broad, public anger? Well, with very few exceptions, many of my colleagues who three months, six months ago, took pleasure to announcing me as being an asset for MI6 when I dared to criticize the gently gently approach of Vladimir Putin to the conduct of the war and his failure to retaliate against the ever-increasing deathly threat of these various provocations. I was denounced, as I said, that's no longer the case, even on your own program and on other major podcasts of the last week. Colleagues like Scott Ritter, who traveled in the in the Tanyazky and came back saying what I was saying a year ago.

But he didn't want to use television as a source that's valid that he visited the front. And he found exactly what I was saying, that the Ukrainians are fighting fiercely. And this is a difficult war. And Larry Johnson seamlessly has changed his story to my story. Not because I take personal credit for it, no. Very many authoritative observers have been saying the same thing, but perhaps not with as much visibility as your program has given to my statements. The nature of the commentary, not only in Russia,

where these programs like yours are within two hours of your posting it, they are already reposted by several one or more Russian platforms on what they call the Blunet, not the YouTube, but the rue.net. They are translating voiceover our programs. And the commentaries, six months to a year ago, were very vicious towards people like myself. Oh, this fellow doesn't know anything, another Western fool and so forth. Not anymore.

Even on these Roo-toop programs, the comments, tend to be balanced in the Western broadcast, as you would see following comments on our last chat a week ago and on a couple of other major podcasts that are taking part in the intermediate period. The comments are 50-50 now between Dr. O is an Idiot and Doctor is a Genius. Well, I don't take credit to being idle. Talk to us about gasoline lines. Can the average middle-class person, and just go and get gas, or is this what it looks like? Yeah.

There was an article that came out a day ago. Again, it was a lady author, whose name was unfamiliar to me, but my name was not unfamiliar to her, and several of the other critics in the West were not unfamiliar to her. And she gave a very detailed account on what is going on across the country, and that truckers and also business people who need their cars are getting up at 4 in the morning and going to stand online and gas stations across the country. Even...

Is this induced by fear or by a real shortage of gasoline or both? It's a mix. It's a mix. In maybe 20 or 30 percent of the regions of Russia, it is real shortage. In the other 70 or 80 percent, it is fear of shortage to come. And that explains why, again, in the Russian news on Zen Rue, that's as part of Yandex. Yandex is the equivalent of Google in Russia. And they have a news outlet at Zen.

And they reported two days ago that across Russia, there is frantic purchasing of canisters for gasoline. That means that exactly what President Putin spoke about, as he wanting to prevent, that is fear of shortages, motivating drastic activities. That's what's happening, in fact. Russians are going out to store gasoline. What do you think Zelensky's strategy is? I mean, surely his strategy is not to provoke President Putin to level government buildings in Kiev.

What does he want him to do? attack Great Britain, France, and Germany so that NATO rises up even more so than it has already? I think the latter is the case, but let's take Zelensky out of the equation. Zelensky has been pushed this way and that. As recently as his attendance at the G7 conference, he was instructed to make great threats against Belarus. And he was told to know in certain terms. you will do this, or we can no longer guarantee your personal security. That's a pretty good message, which he received and acted upon. Behind him is the United States and Europe.

Let's not, and I think that it's time to put aside this notion that Donald Trump has any possibility of being a broker in this, because the United States is supplying the vital military intelligence makes possible the targeting of these refineries in the United States. Urals and beyond. It is out of the ability of Europeans and is out of the ability of Kronotka, of course, of Ukrainians. So what Zelensky thinks is almost irrelevant. The program of attacks on Russia is coming from Washington and London and Berlin. What is the state of affairs in Crimea, typically a location for Russian middle class and

upper middle class to use for vacation purposes now that we're in the midst of the summer season. Well, I have friends who are living just in the hills above Feodosia. Fedosia is a port city, also a naval city, on the east coast of Crimea. And they're miserable. They're the driver, the driver who serves them and others in the community living on the hill above Therosa, he's a Crimean Tatar, he can't get gasoline. And so they are stuck up there without provisions and without the ability to come down to the beach. They're quite miserable. And the intercity buses have been curtailed greatly.

Trains within Crimea and also trains connecting Crimea to Russia have been canceled. Our friends train tickets to go back to Petersburg, have been canceled. And they're left in limbo, how they're going to get home. Because Crimea, as one person said, it's been turned from a peninsula into an island. It has been cut off effectively by Ukrainian drone strikes on the roads leading into Crimea from mainland Russia.

And of course, the bridge is under threat. A day ago, the same Zanru was reporting a line of more than 1,000 cars waiting to cross the bridge, because traffic had been suspended over fear of drone strikes. Wow. So what are the hawks in the Kremlin telling President Putin he should do, as if I need to ask. But then I'm going to ask you, why isn't he answering? But take that ball and run with it, please. Well, I think it is safe to say that the Hawks in and around the Kremlin are applying great pressure to Vladimir Putin to strike hard.

at Ukraine. And that means striking the, as you have said in the past, striking the military intelligence centers, the military coordination points, not just in Kiev, but across the Ukraine. And of course, wiping out the political class that now has had a chokehold on Ukraine since 2014, meaning killing Zelensky and his associates. That is all being demanded by all Hawks. Now, how Vladimir Putin would respond to this is unknown, unfathomable. Some of my colleagues are speaking about it as if they had taken the notebook from his back pocket and are reading the schedule of various European capitals that are about to be bombed. Nothing of the sort exists. People are speculating. They have a right to speculate, but speculation is not, is not

analysis and we don't know what he would do. Wow. Here's President Putin two days ago, harshly critical of the West. Chris, cut number three. Russia has encountered an unprecedented kind of pressure from the Western elites. They wanted to

deal a strategic defeat against us on the battlefield, they wanted to destabilize our society, but they fail at everything. They continue to fund the Kiev regime that they use as a battering ram to destroy Russia. And let me emphasize that, again, Russia can only be a strong and independent country, or there will be no Russia. There are only two paths. Whenever we show weakness, we are being ignored and being treated only with a violent approach. They always test us.

They try to remove us as a global factor of power that stands against evil. Like I said, they have always failed. they will fail this time and they will fail forever. Does he feel the need to say something like that? Well, he is because of the pressure and because he's cut off from reality. Let's be open and frank about this. We speak about our own leaders, particularly Western Europe, is being delusional and cut off from reality.

The same as we said about Vladimir Putin. He is surrounded by yes man. He is living a cult of personality. where every utterance he makes is instant breaking news on Russian television. And he is not paying attention to the victory that he's headed for. Yes, he will take Donbos. I agree with colleagues. It's a matter of weeks and perhaps of the latest months

before the whole of Donbos falls into Russian hands. And I repeat the question of several of my colleagues. And then what? I have same with what then what. It is a Pyrrhic victory. By classic definition, Russia will have lost more by the victory than if it did war never took place. Because Ukraine will continue to receive arms and men from the West,

and it will continue and enhance its destructive attacks on Russian infrastructure with ever newer and more powerful cruise missiles and ballistic missiles and drones that the West is supplied. So Mr. Putin is now in a situation that is almost worse than before the war started. But when the war started, the attacks were on Ukrainian territory. There was Donbass, but it was formerly Ukrainian. The attacks now are on Russian territory. That didn't happen before February 22.

So he is headed for a Pyrrhic victory unless he changes. his game plan, which may happen. You recently described him. This is a fascinating phrase in one of your notes to me. You described President Putin as having gone into the late Gorbachev phase. What did you mean by that? Of course, we know who Mikhail Gorbachev was, and we also know that President Putin was not a fan of his predecessor,

didn't even attend this funeral. But nevertheless, what did you mean Vladimir Putin is going into the late Mikhail Gorbachev phase? There are several dimensions of this. One is his making speeches constantly. Gorbachev became more and more verbal and occupied more and more television

and radio and public appearances in the last most unsuccessful years of his time in office than earlier. So it is with, He is constantly making speeches like the one you just had. It is getting all kinds of attention. He believes that's changing something. And he is now showing himself to be as naive in handling foreign affairs as Gorbachev was.

Gorbachev had two big strikes against him. The first is he completely mismanaged the domestic economy, which was a disaster. Vladimir Putin, on the contrary, was a, was, has done a fantastic job. restoring the Russian economy and the Russian military. However, horses for courses, and this horse is not doing well on the present war course, and he is showing himself to be as cut off from a real solution, as Gorbachev was when he was making friends with the U.S. administration.

So as I understand you, the Kremlin does not have a list of options. It has one option, which is a massive and quick series of military strikes to end the war. Yes, and I emphasize strikes on Ukraine. There's absolutely no reason for Moscow to take the risk of attacking, Tallin, however much it might like to do that, and even acknowledging that, I think, 24 hours are enough to take full control of Estonian. That would appeal to a lot of Russians, but I think President Putin will not go that way. They just have to finish off Ukraine, the proxy, which is the essential element in the present

aggressivity of Western Europe against Russia. You take off the proxy, and Western Europe collapses like a deck of cards. Chris just posted the headline from an opinion piece on the Hill. I don't even know who wrote it, but it doesn't matter. the headline is intriguing. Putin's reign may not survive the impending fall of Crimea. Suppose the Ukrainians destroy that multi-billion dollar architectural masterpiece, the bridge between Crimea and Russia.

Or suppose the gasoline is so bad that it doesn't matter if the bridge is there because nobody can drive vehicles across it. Well, both possibilities are very real. I can't imagine President Putin staying in office if the Crimean bridge falls. But that's a personal opinion. I think it's offered as a piece of analysis. The situation is dire. And the Crimea cannot fall to the Ukrainians.

That is nonsense coming from this hill. But Crimea's life is being made untamable. Very, very difficult. So it is a big strategic, a strategic defeat for the Russians, if they cannot reverse this by doing what must be done. There's also President Putin is taking enormous risks domestically. Today's Financial Times has an article on his aligning himself

with the United Russia Party. At the very moment when United Russia's Party has been hemorrhaging in voter support. And they say this is the first time since 2007 that the United Russia Party identifies itself as the party of the president. Now, that is, to my mind, this alignment that he's made with United Russia shows that he really has lost touch. Do we need to take some of these reports about gasoline lines and stranded, even though you have the personal contact with the people on the hilltop in Crimea with a little bit of grain of salt as they might be pushed by the CIA and MI6?

This is dangerous logic. When the truth becomes no lesser truth based on who supports it, either is true or it's untrue. And gasoline in Russia is as much a political issue as it would be in the United States. It does not help the standing of President Putin that he had to acknowledge the severe difficulties that his government is having in managing fuel supply across the country. Wow. Chris, you can put up that teenager from Ukraine. Have you seen, let's see if we can get him. Have you seen this kid?

I don't know who he is. He's Ukrainian. This clip talking about how badly the Russians are losing, got 500,000 views as soon as he posted it. So he may be one of these one shot wonders, or he may be somebody who's going to be influencing Russian and Ukrainian public opinion. Do you know anything about this, Gilbert? No, I don't. This I haven't followed. Okay.

What do you think President Putin will do? Will he be in office by Christmas time? If he does nothing, he won't be in office. But I think he is a sufficiently skilled and experienced politician to do something. The question is what? I'm very hopeful that he will stay within the limits of attacking Ukraine. that will greatly restore his standing with the people. They're seeing nothing happening except rather empty vapid statements

that he's made in the last few days and that his subordinates... Basically screaming into their phone screens. Some reason we're hearing that other clip, Chris. Okay, I'm sorry, finish where you were. Gilbert. Well, there are a lot of dramatic material coming up on the internet. And some of it is propaganda and some of it is not. The reality of hardship the Russians are experiencing five years into the war is a major setback for the popularity of Vladimir Putin and for his ability to stay in office. There is a poll that is more important than all of the polls taken by political scientists,

the Russian and ours. The poll is called the elections to the Duma on the 20th of September. That will be of decisive importance for President Putin, his hold on power, his ability to manage the political agenda. It's almost the same sort of existential challenge that Donald Trump faces in November. Either he keeps control of both houses of Congress, or he becomes a very lame duck in November this year. President Putin is saying. They would, by present projections,

they would have to be a massive distortion of the election process for United Russia to hold on to its majority position. I don't believe that will happen. I don't believe that will happen. I don't believe that the authorities would dare to manipulate openly the electoral process. They have the option of canceling elections altogether, which they are not exercised. So he will very likely lose power unless he does something significant between now and September to prove to the population that he is rising to the challenge to Russia's sovereignty.

Right. Last question. What conceivable arguments are there against his doing what you are suggesting? In light of this empirical evidence of the population suffering and losing patients, why wouldn't he bring about these massive strikes? He has the ability. Why does he lack the will? Well, it's not a new question. We've been asking that ourselves for weeks, if not months. And I don't have a better answer to it today than I did last week, and we just touched on the same question. There are many speculations. The role of the liberals of the capital L within his government, who he has kept from the Yeltsin period because of his obligations to the person who put him into power, Boris Yelsohn.

The oligarchs and their interests from the continuing war, and the security agencies, which are receiving ever more strength of controlling the population, as a result of the war being so unpopular as it is today. So there are various organizations around him that do not let him do what has to be done. The question remains is a question that Tulsvoy puts,

in his philosophical moments of war and peace. Do the people control the leader, or does the leader control the people? That is an open question today. Gilbert, Doctor, thank you very much, my dear friend. We'll be taking some time off. I'll be traveling, but we'll look forward to seeing you in the middle of July.

All the best. Thanks. Thank you. Coming up later today on all of this, at 2 o'clock, Colonel Douglas McGregor, at 3 o'clock, Aaron, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.