Judging Freedom - Gilbert Doctorow : Why Russia Needs to Win Its War

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

Gilbert Doctorow : Why Russia Needs to Win Its WarSee 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 Wednesday, November 19th, 2025. Dr. Gilbert Doctor will be with us in just a moment on why Russia needs to win this war. But first this. History tells us every market eventually falls. Currencies collapse. And look at where we are now.

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Gold survives collapse. Bankers know this and billionaires know it. That's why they're buying more. Is it too late to buy or is it just the right time? Call my friends at Lear Capital to find out. Ask questions. Get the free information. There's no pressure and that's why I buy my gold and silver from Lear. And right now you can get up to $20,000 in bonus medals with a qualified purchase. Call 800, 511, 4620 or go to Learjudgeknap.com today. Dr. Doctor, Dr. Doctor, are welcome here, my dear friend. As always, thank you for accommodating my schedule. From your sources, public and private, is it your belief that the United States and the Russian Federation have been engaged

in heretofore secret negotiations intended to bring a resolution to the special military operation in Ukraine? Yes, to my considerable surprise, and I imagine to the surprise of some viewers, because so many people have doubts about Mr. Trump's consistency of purpose. Is he just talking a lot, or is he actually doing something? And what about all the people around him, like his Secretary of State, Rubio, who is certainly no fan of solutions to the Ukraine war? So it was a surprise to me to learn this morning that a little bit of information about what Mr. Whitkoff's mission to Istanbul was planned to be, as I planned to be, because it's not quite working out as had been hoped. But nonetheless, what we learned from this is that Whitkoff was bringing to Istanbul a rather detailed peace plan, which to the same sources tells me that.

it incorporated into it of the points on how the war should end, which take into account Russia's interests, meaning addressing the root causes of the war. Now this is remarkable on two sides. One, as I said, Mr. Trump is not known for consistency. It is widely believed that he that he listens to who says today what somebody whispered in Missouri yesterday. However, it which appear that he was maintaining highly secret back channel context directly with Mr. Putin. This also explains something which left me confounded, going back to the Valdei discussion club event, annual event, which about six weeks ago, Mr. Putin delivered his normal address to the winery session, and he behaved in a very peculiar manner.

He seemed to be trying too hard to ingratiate himself with Trump. It was almost humiliating the way he went out of his way. Well, in light of what seems to have come out today, that becomes explicable. Not only was Vladimir Putin trying his best to keep Trump happy and on side, But he was also trying to mask the issues that the two of them were quietly negotiating behind closed doors and out of our view, which is where these things belong, out of our view. So your understanding, and this has not been covered in the Western press, not even in your and my favorite publication, the Financial Times.

Not a word. Is that, right, not a word, is that Steve Whitkoff, not Marco Rubio or anybody from the State Department, is negotiating with somebody from Russia. Who on the Russian side, or with whom on the Russian side, is Mr. Whitkoff meeting? Do we have the slightest idea? It's not Sergei Lavrov. To my knowledge, there will be no Russians for him to meet today. In fact, they will not be Mr. Zelensky, who was to have been his talking partner as he presented. the American solution to him. Instead, other,

I said Whitcroft has other people to meet with, I believe he's meeting with people from Hamas to discuss how the Gaza peace goes forward. But others, American military men, are meeting with counterparts from Ukraine. What they will discuss we have in agreement. What is the purpose of these meetings, but to get this 20-point plan in front of Messrs. Putin and Lavrov, right? Yes, I believe so. Certainly, they must have some of this in their hands already.

It is not, we don't know details about it. But it's when the Russians say that their concerns are now being well understood by the Americans, that takes us back to where we were in Alaska, which was then denied as having taken place by Rubio, it would seem as though it did take place and as though Mr. Trump never really moved away from it. What I see is that in a way Trump has done exactly what he said he would do, but we haven't been paying much attention to it because we don't take Trump seriously at our own cost. What do I mean?

He said he would apply maximum pressure to both sides, and that's exactly what he's doing. Let's face it, the secondary sanctions that he applied to Russia are causing a lot of economic disruption and corporate misery in Russia. Those of us who say that the United States can do nothing that will hurt Russia are missing the point. The luke oil, which is the largest private oil company and major exporter of Russian oil, has faced serious problems in disposing of its assets. abroad at the under necessity from the actions of the Trump administration. We know that the Indians have just met with the United States and included agreement for purchasing 10% of their petroleum gas needs, that's for home heating and cooking, from the United States,

coming from US sources. This is a total train change. in the purchasing practices of India, which formerly, when it needed gas, before it got interested in the bargain prices from Russia, was buying nearly all of its gas from the Middle East. The United States was not part of the equation. Now it is. So the Russians are feeling the pressure, and now the Ukrainians are feeling the pressure. If the meeting was scheduled for today, let's look at the timing. It's one week after the catastrophic disclosures on corruption in the immediate circle of Zedanska, over this $100 million skimming in the energy sector. It's coming three weeks before the EU will have a European Council as the heads of state and government meeting in Brussels to decide on the fate of the fate of the plan to confiscate. Russian state assets frozen in Europe. So the timing is such to catch Zelensky,

where he's most vulnerable, and to roll out the American plan before the Europeans get their act together. Is there any reason to believe that the Russians have modified their initial core demands in order to facilitate some sort of an amicable agreement, agreement. We all know those core demands. President Putin has stated them, and Foreign Minister Lavrovus stated them consistently many times. No NATO, neutral Ukraine, Russian speaking,

parts of Ukraine return to Russia. And if those demands have not changed, is Zelensky free to negotiate for them, or would his tenure in office, quote unquote, since he's not legally in office and his life on earth be seriously compromised if he entered into such an agreement? Well, I think that the Russians are prepared to make compromises, but not necessarily along the lines that any of us for sought. To negotiate with Mr. Zelensky, under the kids editions that you just outlined would all by itself be a major concession you did not mention uh they really they you you've spelled out what demilitarization means but you um you did did not mention the second primary condition that that president Putin set out when he initiated

the special military operation which is denazification putting that into simple english its regime regime change. That is almost impossible. I mean, they could bring about regime change, but denazification would be almost impossible. That means either neutralizing an ideology or removing human beings that embrace the ideology, no? Well, it's not so difficult. Let's face it. There is a gang of people or small minority.

When elections were held, there was between 1% of the voters. backed the neo-Nazi extremists who, who, since 2014, have controlled the Ukrainian government. So to denazify means to remove those one to five percent, those who are backed by one to five percent of the population, and who probably number several hundred, not several thousands or tens of thousands or whatever. You're not going to denotify the nation, but you could denotify the government. And that would be sufficient to put an end to all of the censorship, to all of the publication of essentially pro-Nazi propaganda from school. That can be done. Right.

Well, how could Zelensky, who is apparently a puppet of this gaggle, possibly agree to that? To stay in power, not to be lynched in the streets, to be certain that his exit would be honored. and that he will not be hunted down as a war criminal by the United States and others. I think he is a weak position, and he must recognize that. You know that a week ago, people were talking about Zelenskyy remaining in Greece in case when he had this last weekend visit to Greece to discuss energy. So the fact that he is on very shaky legs is pretty obvious. And so he could be offered a ticket out and to safety if he goes along with this.

Do the Russians understand that Marco Rubio does not want peace, that Marco Rubio is the personification of the neocon theory that Ukraine, this is going back to Victorian-Nuland days, that Ukraine can be used as a battering ram, with which to weaken or even drive President Putin from office. Well, I think the Russians may by that the decision makers in the Kremlin understand that very well and have for a good long time. How they didn't address it because it would be creating problems for Donald Trump

if they single out Rubio as a source of the problems. After all, plenty of others who are contributing, Lindsay. Graham is an outstanding case in the Senate. But they have not attacked Rubio, but they have indicated they understand perfectly well who he is and why he's troubled. So to whom does Sergei Lavrov, to whom in the American government, does Sergei Lavrov speak? No one? Wittkoff. I mean, we're almost back to the Joe Biden, Tony Blink, and Jake Sillidan days where there was no communication if the only person to whom Lavrov speaks is Whitkoff. State Department is totally out of the picture. Whitkoff tells President Trump what he thinks the president wants to

hear. Trump has these neocons whispering in his ears. Don't make a deal. The Russians are weak. Keeps tightening the vice. It's hard for me to believe this is going to result in an amicable resolution. I still think the only way out of this is a victim. on the battlefield for the Russians. Well, I believe there are military officers who are meeting with their Ukrainian counterparts. And I think it is imaginable that they are part of the group that is advising Trump

on what is realizable and what is logical. Who is part of the group? Ukrainian military officers are advising Trump? How would that happen? No, no. There are two sides meeting today in Istanbul. Mr. Wittkoff is not part of that. It is U.S. military officers who are meeting with their Ukrainian counterparts.

I'm not heard you. I'm sorry. I thought you said Russian military officers. U.S. military and Ukrainian military are meeting in Istanbul, and U.S. military will presumably advise Pete Heggsethold tell the president what they learned. Presumably. Look, these negotiations, between nominally, Trump and Putin, are so far-reaching and so complex,

is inconceivable that only Mr. Trump and Mr. Whitkoff are putting it together. Let us assume that there are some junior people who are doing the legwork and the investigative work to put together this 20-point, 28-point, whatever is, peace plan that has some possibility of actually being implemented. Later today, I will be questioning Maria Zacherova, not on judging freedom, but on a Russian broadcast. And I'm going to ask her, why has there been no normalization of diplomatic relations

between the United States on the Russian Federation? Why is the American embassy in Moscow 95% empty? Why do I have to fly through Istanbul or Dubai in order to get to Moscow? How will she answer that? Well, she is loyal to her boss, so I think she'll answer it the way a lot of well from the answer it. And that they are leapfrogging these important technical issues. it was assumed that the peace would come out from extensive discussions at all levels of government. I think that's been scrapped as being too complicated and inviting too much criticism from Congress.

And so it's been narrowed. The progress in U.S. Russian relations, if there is any, has been narrowed to very few people and kept behind closed doors, as was clear until this morning when the Wittkoff mission was detected, as being an effort to conclude a peace against the wishes of Ukraine. Why would the Russians consider any kind of a peace negotiation now when they have the Ukrainian military on its last legs and they are so close to achieving their ground-level objectives? Judge, this is a very disputable point that they're on last.

last legs. If the 145 billion is put up, they will certainly not be on their last legs. The Pekrovsk is not Ukraine's last stand. Pekrovsk is in the middle of the Donetsk Oblast, which is part of the Dombats that Russia expects to receive at the end of this war. The, the, what we're ignoring, and this is remarkable to me because people who should know better are not considering how the war has changed in the last six months to a year. Everyone is talking. Yeah, so many people are talking as if this is the war that began three years ago

as an artillery war where the Russians had attempt to advantage in tubes and in ammunition. It is no longer such a war. Yes, of course artillery is used. Yes, of course the Russians are using tanks as artillery, not using those tanks. to accompany and protect infantry. No, they're being used as artillery. Of course that is part of it. But the war is a drone war.

As I remarked in my visit to Petersburg two weeks ago, the home front and the front lines are now converging. That is to say, drones are striking 1,500 kilometers into Russia and doing damage. But more important and relevant to the question you raised, They are killing me and naming people. And nobody, people who are saying that the kill ratio is 15 to 1 in Russia's favor, 30 to 1 Russia's favor are, this is incredible and I believe I'm true.

Because the kill ratio coming out of the great equalizer, which is what drones are, is much closer to one to one. And people, when the question comes up, why could there be war weariness in Russia? because they know, people know about the maimed who are coming home. And they're maimed not because they hit with artillery. There'd be nothing left of them for their hit, but with artillery. But in drone strikes, people are fortunate enough to come away with losing two legs or whatever. And they're the ones who are being delivered back to Russia.

So the war is costing Russia. And to say otherwise, I think, is to miss the meaning of a drone war. If your assessment is correct, do you concede that that would be an incentive for President Putin to end it quickly on the battlefield with massive force? You yourself called for that not long ago. No, I was not calling for battlefield. I was calling for missiles to be used against the decision-making centers in Kiev. This is not my idea. This was something that was announced by President Putin himself when the war began,

that if this and this were done, then we will go after the decision makers. Well, they didn't. They have not gone after the decision-making centers. I won't attempt to get into their minds and understand why they're being so reserved. I'm simply observing the fact that they haven't bombed Kiev, not that bombed Kiev for power stations and transports, but they haven't gone after bonk of a bonk of scale what is your gut tell you or where does your gut tell you this will be by christmas a month from now a little over a month from now if the russians uh should uh escalate to bombing the decision-making centers in kia the world will be over uh in light of their they're grounded justified the

belief that a deal can be done with Donald Trump that will be forced down the throats of the Europeans and Ukrainians, then they won't do that, and the war will go on somewhat longer till there is a change in Kiev. Either Zelensky is killed or he's removed or is given a golden handshake in leaves to enjoy his stolen wealth abroad. Something could happen in this time period, which puts in place someone like Aristotle. the one who was sitting in the States and who initially was a great hawk, an advisor to Zelensky, who got out of the country in time, not to be imprisoned, and who changed his song. Arrestovic has been making very moderate statements to end the war and give up what has to be given up and just get on with.

Now if, for example, a man like this were installed, then of course the Russians were a sign of peace treaty, maybe not by Christmas, but certainly within the coming several months. So there are a number of ways this thing can go. As I've identified discussing the situation here in Belgium, where the Prime Minister de Weber has said no to the confiscation of Russian state assets, pending some backing by other European states. Europe is so desperate to keep Ukraine float that it may do something completely irresponsible and dangerous. Belgium will not take this on by itself,

because as the Weber pointed out, if the 145 billion is called back in as a result and has to be paid back as to the collateral pool because the Russians win a lawsuit, which is entirely possible, then that would wipe out the country of Belgium. 145 billion is, by DeVosber's words, one-third of the GDP of the country.

Wow. Fascinating stuff, Dr. Dr. Roth. Thank you very much. Thanks for your intellectual honesty and even for your sources. Some of this I didn't even know about until you emailed me in the middle of the night to US time. But thanks very much for your time,

your patience, your sources, and your analysis. We have a short week next week because it's Thanksgiving here in the U.S., but we'll do our best to get you on. And I look forward to seeing you then. Thank you very much. Of course. Coming up later today at 11 this morning, Aaron Mote,

why are American politicians putting Israel above the U.S.? You probably know the answer to that already. At 1 o'clock this afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor, how soon will we be at war and where will it be first? And at 3 o'clock this afternoon, Phil McGregor, has Donald Trump suddenly discovered Christianity? Justice Napolitano for judging freedom. Thank you.