Judging Freedom - How NATO caused the Ukraine War w/Scott Ritter

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

How NATO caused the Ukraine War w/Scott RitterSee 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, September 20th, 2023. Scott Ritter joins us now. Scott, always a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you for coming back to the show. So this week we all witnessed, and the week is only half over, President Biden and President Zelensky acting as we would expect them to act at the UN. Is this, these shows that they put on, likely to have any effect on the war, or is this just sort of international theater? Well, it's not even international theater. This is theater for a domestic American audience. This is the preliminary act before Zelensky goes to Washington, D.C., where he's going to attempt to get Congress to continue funding this failed effort in Ukraine. You know, when he spoke before the United Nations Security Council, I don't know if you saw the audience. There was nobody in the audience.

I did see that. There was nobody there. Nobody cares anymore. Nobody cares. Look, Poland is walking away. Poland calls Ukraine a drowning victim. And they said, you negotiation that Russia has to retreat from. Germany's now saying this war can't be won. And in order to prevent NATO from being compelled to confront a victorious Russia, we need to start recognizing certain realities like Russia is going to have this territory and Ukraine's never going to be a member of NATO. This is the fact. Europe has woken up to the absolute reality that Ukraine has lost this conflict, cannot

win this conflict, and the consequences of seeking to continue this conflict under these existing circumstances will be disastrous. It's only the United States, or should I say the Biden administration, that continues to hold on to this fantasy. If Europe has awakened to the reality of Russian victory and Ukraine defeat, is it still sending arms or promising to send arms and other support to Ukraine? Well, they are. I mean, but let's talk about some of the arms that are being sent right now. The Nordic countries, Denmark, et cetera, have just sent a shipment of old Leopard 1 tanks. These are the really old tanks.

And Ukraine, who is in desperate need of this equipment, has sent, I believe, at least 10 of them back saying they don't work. This is garbage. This is junk. The fact is what Europe is providing Ukraine isn't going to help Ukraine win. This isn't new modern equipment. This is just going through the motions of being seen as supporting Ukraine when everybody knows that this is a failed effort. Ukraine is a failed state with an army that can't prevail on the battlefield. How about Germany? Are they still sending leopard tanks? Germany is sending old refurbished leopard tanks.

But again, these tanks have proven that they have no meaningful impact on the battlefield. One weapon that Germany could provide that wouldn't turn the tables but would give Russia some headaches is the Taurus air launch cruise missile. It is a modern weapon, and it would take some time for Russia to adapt to the inclusion of this weapon. And Ukraine is putting a lot of pressure on Germany to provide that weapon. But I think there's a growing recognition in Germany that this would be needlessly escalatory. It wouldn't change the final outcome. And it could put Germany and NATO at risk of causing a Russian response that nobody wants. We have a number of clips of President Zelensky at the UN earlier today, but this one that we're going to run now is somewhat incendiary because of his argument that the Kremlin is weaponizing energy. And then at the end, he uses two words that to the public are a little terrifying, but I'm sure you can explain them. You'll hear him say them at the very end.

Dirty bombs. Listen to this. Many times the world has witnessed Russia using energy as a weapon. Kremlin weaponized oil and gas to weaken the leaders of other countries when they came to the Red Square. And now, now the threat is even greater. Russia is weaponizing nuclear energy. Not only it is spreading its unreliable nuclear power plant construction technologies, but it is also turning other countries' power plants into real dirty bombs. So what is he talking about turning other countries' nuclear power plants into dirty bombs? Ukraine that Russia is not operating its plant safely, and therefore there's the potential of a malfunction, an accident that would lead to a Chernobyl-type event. Of course, the International

Atomic Energy Agency has experts on the scene. Rosatom, the Russian atomic energy agency, is one of the best in the world. They built this particular reactor back when it was a Soviet reactor. It's being operated safely. This is nonsense. I think Zelensky is referring in the second part to when he talks about the weaponization of energy. He's very frustrated with Turkey. Russia just built and is bringing into operation a modern nuclear power plant in Turkey that's going to play a significant role in Turkey's economy, in the provision of electrical power for Turkey. And Zelensky is resentful of this. And so what he's doing is this slur that Russia doesn't know how to produce nuclear power plants, and any nation that allows Russia to produce a nuclear power plant on its soil, is putting in place a ticking time bomb,

a future Chernobyl that is the equivalent of a dirty bomb. That's what he's talking about. What is a dirty bomb, by the way? Well, a dirty bomb would be a conventional high-explosive munition that has been impregnated with radiological material. It's not a fusion device, meaning there's not going to be critical mass of chain. You're going to take, for instance, radiological waste from medical sources or some cesium that's used for batteries. You take this and you put it in a high explosive device so that when it blows up, it spreads radioactive material and contaminates an area. So it's not a nuclear explosion.

It's a conventional high explosion, but it's going to spread radioactive material and contaminate a widespread area. I will tell you this. We investigated this phenomenon, this weapon, when I was a weapons inspector in Iraq. And what we found is that in theory, it sounds like a good idea, but in practice, it's a non-functioning weapon. Israel actually tested over a dozen different designs of so-called dirty bombs and found that the spread of radioactive material is minimal and not a threatening life except in the immediate vicinity of it. So while we don't want this to happen, obviously, I think what I'm trying to tell your audience is the concept of a dirty bomb has been way overhyped.

It's not quite the weapon that everybody thinks it is. Do professionals know that what he's saying is grossly exaggerated and not realistic fears? Absolutely. Professional military? Professional military, professional atomic energy agency people, anybody who understands the technologies involved knows that what he's saying is

utter bull. Scott, is there any evidence that the Ukrainian troops have pierced, impregnated, or even reached the three rings of defenses that the Russian military and its outside contractors erected along the fault line between Ukraine and eastern Ukraine. village of Robitino in the direction of Vrboye, and I might be saying that village wrong, so I apologize for anybody who don't take my pronunciation of Russian language to the bank, but in the direction of Vrboye, there was the initial line of dragon's teeth, and there's some evidence that

Ukrainian reconnaissance units, dismounted infantry have crossed over and have advanced towards a tree line in that area. They're being slaughtered as we speak. No Ukrainian vehicles have gone through. The dragon's teeth, of course, aren't designed to stop infantry. They're designed to stop armored vehicles. And no Ukrainian armored vehicles have reached it. No Ukrainian engineering units have come to break these obstacles apart. The obstacles are doing what they're intended to do, to stop an armored advance and force Ukrainians to go forward with infantry where they're being slaughtered as we speak. Well, that is a very enlightening and sophisticated explanation, Scott. And I want those watching and listening now to compare it to General Milley's

explanation where he says the Ukrainian troops have penetrated layers of Russian defense. Generally speaking, the Ukrainians have penetrated several layers of this defense. It is not 100% penetrated yet, but they've penetrated several of the layers. And they're going very slow, preserving their combat power, and very deliberately through this defensive belt that stretches the entire length and breadth of Russian-occupied Ukraine. So for the critics that are out there, I would say that there's plenty of fighting weather left, there's plenty of combat power remaining, and the Ukrainians have absolutely no intent to stop.

He's substantially misleading. And quite frankly, Scott, I think he's talking about you. Well, I mean, I hope so. Look, I'd love to have a conversation with General Milley on the record. Maybe you could facilitate it. I doubt he'll do it. But, you know, when he says, generally speaking, several layers. Well, if he's going to talk about layers, maybe he's talking about the flexible defensive zone in front of the first line of defense, because there is this defensive zone that's designed to receive the attack. They use minefields to break up the attack. They channel the attacking forces into predicted lanes to get hit by artillery. And then the Russians have troops that are dug in who then withdraw to secondary positions still in the forward defensive zone ahead of the first line of defense.

And so what he's talking about is maybe penetrating that minefield, penetrating the initial trenches because the Russians withdrew, and then penetrating the next line before they get to the dragon's teeth. If that's the case, then I guess they have penetrated several layers of Russian defense. What he's missing, though, is that it's taken the Ukrainians more than three months to do this. And this is something that any attacking force should accomplish in the first day or the second day. You don't get hung up in the forward defensive zone, the crumble zone, for three months. That's not a victory. And he's saying they have 40 days left. Let me tell you what will happen in the next 40 days. They're all going to die. Look, in the

Pulteville region, the recruiting office, they've acknowledged for every 100 soldiers that have been mobilized and sent forward, basically 80 to 90 of them are finished, done. Dead, crippled, wounded, prisoner, out of combat. 80 to 90% of the Ukrainian troops that have been mobilized have been taken off the battlefield. Hey, General Miley, I'm just a simple Marine. I ain't too good at math, but I'll tell you this. If you're losing nine out of 10 guys, you ain't doing too well.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Wow. Is the kill ratio still 7 to 1 with about 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead? You know, whether it's 400, 500,000, it's a lot of Ukrainian dead. You know, Vladimir Putin spoke of a 10 to 1 ratio. I think that that is a ratio that can be applied at specific parts of the fight. Look, the Ukrainians have lethal weapons., 10 to 1. But let's say it's 10 to 1. That's in the best interest of Russia.

Let's say it's 400,000 Ukrainian dead. That's 40,000 dead Russians. That's a lot of dead Russians. That's a lot of sad mommies. That's a lot of distraught wives. That's a lot of traumatized children. Russia's paying a heavy price for this war, and I don't think anybody should ever minimize that. We talk about the Ukrainian casualties, as we should, because we're responsible for those.

But we're also responsible for the dead Russians. Could you imagine trying to tell the American people about a conflict where they've lost, in a span of 600 days, 40,000 to 50,000 dead? It took us 10 years to lose that many in Vietnam. And that broke the heart, the spirit of America. Now we're talking in a period of, you know, 600 days, Russia's lost upwards of 50,000 dead. That's a lot of dead. It's this, this is a, this is a war, the scope and scale of the violence.

Many Americans can't understand, you know, the U.S. Army just published a research paper that said, if we went to war with Russia in these environments, we'd lose 3,600 men per day. Wow. Are the American people ready for this? Is General Miley ready for this? And the answer is no. He literally went to the Biden administration and said, don't go to war against Russia or China. We're not going to win. Here's what he said just yesterday about the American end goal. As President Biden and Secretary Austin have said many, many times over, we, the United States, will continue to provide support to Ukraine for as long as it takes. The end goal remains crystal clear. Support Ukraine

until Putin's unwarranted, illegal, and ruinous war of choice comes to an end. Sounds like Jake Sullivan or Victoria Nuland wrote it for him. I mean, that's not a realistic military statement, is it? No. And we have to extrapolate from that statement, because what he's really saying, American policy is, because he says it comes to an end. But how is it going to come to an end? It can only come to an end if there's a change in the political leadership of Russia. And so what he's saying is it's the goal of the United States is regime change in Moscow. And now you understand the insanity of what he's saying is it's the goal of the United States is regime change in Moscow. And now you understand the insanity of what he's saying.

He's not even being honest with the American people. If he were, he'd go back to General Lloyd Austin's statement that was made in May of 2022 when he came back from Kiev when he was in Poland. And he said, we want to inflict so much harm on the Russians through this conflict. Remember, he's not saying he wants Ukraine to win. What he's saying is we want to use Ukraine as a vehicle to inflict so much harm on Russia that they never again attempt this, which means there will be a change of leadership in Moscow. This isn't happening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to tell you firsthand that Vladimir Putin is stronger today than he has been at any time in his presidency. The level of support in Russia for Vladimir Putin is sky high, and Russia is stronger today than they were when this war started. We ain't going to win this war. Ukraine's not going to win this war. Russia's

going to win this war. Here's someone that doesn't recognize that, Admiral Kirby, with two of my friends and former colleagues at Fox, it's a little bit long, the clip, but it's very telling what Admiral Kirby says. I can assure you that we have and we will continue consistently to provide security assistance to Ukraine, arms and equipment, weapons and capabilities so that they can defend themselves. And you'll hear more from the president about that tomorrow. Why not give them something that actually moves the needle? I mean, because it's like we provide them with enough to keep them in the fight, but not enough to win.

And so what we're doing is we're just helping them, and it feels like they're losing slowly. And you're at a critical moment where you need members of Congress to come forward and say, yes, we're going to do this funding. I just have to beg to differ a little bit that we're not giving them what they need to win. They are succeeding. And Putin was trying to go on Kiev. It was all about anti-tank missiles.

When he when he concentrated his efforts in the Donbass, which is farmland, it became all about artillery. When he started buying drones from Iran, air defense became more of a priority. So we continue to evolve the capabilities that they get as the war changes. It's a composition for a very long slog and a long war. I think everybody recognized when they kicked off this counteroffensive that it could be a long slog, that it could be tough. The Russians are defense in depth. They have deep lines.

They have minefields that are making it slow going for the Ukrainians. I think nobody was under any illusion that the counteroffensive was going to be some sort of blitzkrieg that would be over. It's a remarkable thing. And yet 500,000 people wounded or killed already i mean it's yeah that's brutal we we are with them as the president says for as long as it takes and we will okay with them as the president says for as long as it takes i don't really think they know they know what that means scott well it means to the the last Ukrainian. They're in it literally until the last Ukrainian is willing to die on the battlefield. And unfortunately, Russia's helping Ukraine get to

the last Ukrainian part of that equation sooner rather than later. This is not a war that's going to drag on for years. Ukraine simply can't sustain this level of casualties. And Russia is going to continue the intensity of this conflict along the same level for as long as it takes to get Ukraine to finally wake up and surrender. President Zelensky is on his way to Washington. No formal speech to a joint session of Congress, but apparently some behind-the-scenes meetings with recalcitrant Republicans worried about wasting money, borrowing money from the Chinese and giving it to the Ukraine military and government. Here's Senator Rand Paul on the Senate floor this morning complaining about this and saying,

you're not going to get my vote and you're not going to get my vote for any kind of expedited evaluation of this because I'm not going to do anything to move it forward. When will the aid requests end? When will the war end? Can someone explain what victory in Ukraine looks like? President Biden certainly can't. His administration has failed to articulate a clear strategy or objective in this war, and Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive has failed to make meaningful gains in the East. With no clear end in sight, it looks increasingly like Ukraine will be yet another endless quagmire funded by the American taxpayer. The other clip, Gary, where he talks about money and dollars. I rise to put the leadership of the House, the Senate and the president of the United States on notice.

I will not consent to any expedited passage of any spending bill that provides any more American aid to Ukraine. Our deficit this year will exceed 1.5 trillion dollars. Borrowing money from China to send it to Ukraine makes no sense. It's not as if we have some sort of rainy day fund sitting around trillions of dollars at a pot of money we're just going to send that to Ukraine. We're going to borrow it. When we borrow it and create new money to pay for that borrowing, we create the inflation that is plaguing our economy. Since the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, the American of the month, that averages $6.8 billion per

month or $223 million per day. I wonder if the American public even understands the gravity of that. I mean, $113 billion is almost to the dollar, to the extent that the Defense Department can measure this stuff, one-eighth of the annual defense budget. No, I don't think the American people is grasping. I think Rand Paul did a fantastic job. I mean, the imagery. Just think about the imagery of borrowing money from China. China.

I mean, I'm not anti-Chinese. I believe that we should have good relations, but my goodness, in Congress, you have all these people just foaming at the mouth about China, China this, China that, China this. We need to decouple, de-link. We need to protect our supply chains, et cetera. And we're going to borrow money from China. Sit there, they're our best friends hey buddy can you lend me a dime uh what for i need to go give it to the ukrainians i mean i could understand if we're in desperate needs here at home we need to borrow money to help americans okay but we shouldn't we shouldn't be borrowing money we should be being fiscally responsible but also keep in mind that

rand paul's the guy that when the uh the new l lease began, stood up in Congress and said, hey, before we go start handing out money to the Ukrainians, the most corrupt place in the world, don't we want an inspector general to come in and be able to do this and tell us where this money is? And he was shouted down, called a traitor, treasonous behavior, et cetera. Well, guess what? It turns out that, remember all that money we're borrowing from China? Let's make it even worse, because not only are we going further in debt, $6 out of every $10 that we borrow from China and give to Ukraine disappear into the cesspool of corruption.

Six out of 10, 60%. So that $113 billion ain't $113 billion, because around $70 billion of it has gone into the pockets of corrupt people. And if you listen to Seymour Hersh, who I trust implicitly, 400 million of it has gone into Zelensky's pocket. So keep that in mind when Zelensky goes up there and starts passing the tin cup around. He's trying to enrich himself. He's enriching his families. He's enriching his cronies. The last thing he's doing is helping the soldiers on the front line in Ukraine. Scott Ritter, thank you very much. A terrific, passionate, dramatic explanation of where we are. How much longer do you think this goes on, the war? I still believe that the Ukrainian army is going to reach a point of collapse sometime, I said by the end of summer, but that's tomorrow. So I'll go with the second part of it, which is

early fall, which I will extend out to October. But you know, it's a political decision. War is an extension of politics by other means. Russia is the one that controls the level of pressure they're going to put on Ukraine. And frankly speaking, if I'm a Russian, I take a look at the collapse of international support from Ukraine right now. And I say, you know, we're winning this war without having to subject additional Russian troops to casualties. So the Russians may not be so enthusiastic about putting all that pressure on Ukraine when all they have to do is maintain the status quo. The one thing Russia won't do, I believe, is willingly allow this conflict to go into a frozen moment, because all that does is mean that Ukraine is going to get rebuilt and Russia has to do it all over again. I think Russia is going to keep the pressure on. And now it's just a question of when Ukraine

breaks. And again, I believe that that's going to happen sooner rather than later. But that's just an assessment. It ain't a crystal ball. Scott Renner, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us as usual, my friend. We'll see you again soon. Thank you. There you have it. Arguments and explanations and truthful and in-depth, in-depth explanations about what's going on in Ukraine that you don't get anywhere else. Tell your friends, tell your colleagues, tell your co-workers, tell your family, subscribe to Judging Freedom. Help us to spread our word of limited government, maximum personal liberty, and peace. Because here at Judging Freedom, what do we do? We look out for your liberty. We'll be right back. monthly start dates, you can earn your degree on your schedule. You may even be able to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year

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