Judging Freedom - INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Ukraine/Israel Intel Wrap

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern: Ukraine/Israel Intel WrapSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Friday, February 23rd, 2024. It's time for our Intelligence Community Roundtable. That means it's Friday afternoon. We're going to recap what has happened during the course of the week with our dear friends, Larry Johnson and Ray McGovern. There is some relative breaking news. Ray has been able to get his hands on a memo of the Republicans in the House, at least those that are pushing for more aid to Ukraine and the

nonsense that they believe. So we'll start with that. Ray, what do you have that you shared with Larry and with me earlier today on the Republican beliefs and the Republican plans for more assistance to Ukraine? Well, first off, Judge, so that all your listeners and viewers know, John Rearsheimer has appeared on PBS last night, and they gave him enough time to tell the real story about Ukraine. My God, it was wonderful, wonderful. Now, he had two other people on there for balance, but with the facts that Mearsheimer and Jesus are both completely off balance. Take 10 people to try and outbalance Mearsheimer. He's so good. Yeah, but this is a real breakthrough. Okay, now, with respect to what I said to you earlier, this was a piece by the Quincy Institute. Now, that's not as bad as some of these other warmongering think tanks. No, that's Professor Bacevich, isn't it? Yeah, it's Bacevich.

Of course, even Andy comes out of this indispensable or, what is it, exceptional attitude from the United States, I have to say. But they've come around here. We have a new paper by Anatole Levin, who is one of their muckety-mucks, and George Beebe. George Beebe used to advise Vice President Cheney, but he doesn't brag about that. But he was head of Russian analysis during a critical period. What are they up to?

What are they telling the Republicans? What do the Republicans believe will happen if they can ratify the aid that the Senate voted for? Well, they're telling everyone here in this actual memo that, hey, the business about negotiations not being possible, that's not right. They are possible. Now, Russia has taken it pretty good. They're actually advancing. It's not even a stalemate anymore. So we have to really do this thing and get to negotiations.

Now, what else? Ukraine's best hope. This is Ukraine, of course. That's our primary interest, right? Okay. Their best hope lies in negotiated settlement. But, and this is the kicker, we need to give them more arms. Hello.

Doesn't parse. Okay? The end here. By combining defensive arms that go to Ukraine with a vigorous diplomatic offensive, well, we can prevail. Well, they're still compromising here. It makes no sense at all to give more arms to Ukraine. And when Mearsheimer debated these other people, that was really, really kind of sad because Michael Kaufman of one of these instances said, well, 1915 or 2015,

we're going to have these shells that the Ukrainians need now. And Mearsheimer says, look, they don't have shells. They're outnumbered 10 to 1 in shells, and outnumbered 5 to 1 in the population. Give it up. And that comes through very clearly. So this week is the week that matters. This is the week that people in the United States have a chance to get at their representatives when they're home. They're not in Congress, they're not in Washington, and tell them, look, support the idea of Mike Johnson, for God's sake. He's being among the most sane people here. Do not go with Joe Biden, who's kind of susceptible to not rigor mortis just,

but rigor feyne mortis. Feyne means almost okay he's uh like the princess bride folk said he's he's mostly dead he's not going to change his view larry i guess i guess the uh neocons just won't give up don't they recognize that the war is over ukraine has lost what value would there be in sending equipment, even if we could get it to them in a reasonable period of time? Yeah, actually, I don't think this is so much about sending more equipment, more arms to Ukraine.

This is getting appropriations through Congress that are going to steer money into the military industrial complex. These industries, these contractors, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, just to mention some of the top BAE systems, they're going to turn around and give that money back to some of these members of Congress by way of campaign contribution. So, I mean, this is a self-looking ice cream cone. This is all about feeding the U.S. domestic economy using Ukraine as an excuse to justify the expenditures. Because you correctly note, if in the magical world, they would give the money and that money would somehow get into Ukraine and then immediately they'd be able to run down to the local Ace Hardware store and buy a couple of HIM, because Ukraine does not have the manpower.

I keep repeating it. They don't have the manpower. Even if you gave them every magical weapon in the world, they have no longer the trained individuals competent to carry it out, which is why the Ukrainians appear to be relying increasingly on so-called foreign mercenaries that are comprised of Polish troops, American troops, British troops. So it's just, you know, this thing's going to come crashing down on them eventually. So we interviewed one of those folks, Matt Van Dyke. Yeah, I saw it. Right. But aside from his beliefs, he does acknowledge a serious manpower shortage, consistent with what you've just said, and a serious morale shortage among the few soldiers that are remaining because they now have a commander, Ray,

who won't hesitate to put them into the meat grinder. The commander's nickname is the Butcher of Bakhmut, because of the way he did put men into a meat grinder, knowing that they were not going to come back alive. He did that in Bakhmut, the place there where in last may uh the ukrainians tried to storm and they failed miserably that's how he got the nickname now how did he get to be supreme commander again well that was victoria nolansky Nuland, who came over 10 days ago and said, look, if Zoloshny is delusional and thinks that we can't win this war, we've got to get Sersky in here. He immediately sent cracker, crackerjack troops, the Azov battalion, the neo-Nazi battalion, to help with the folks at Adyivka.

And what happened? The Russians saw them from the air and obliterated the Azov battalion. So there's no hope at all. Adyavka has fallen. There's nothing between, well, where the Russian troops are now and the Dnieper River. I, for one, do not think that Putin will be in a big hurry to rush to the Dnieper. But I think that Russia has already won. And hurry to rush to the Dnieper. But I think Russia has already won. And as Larry says, there's no manpower, there are no shells. What are the

Ukrainians going to do? It is the industrial, the military-industrial complex. It never hasn't been so transparent because the president himself and the senators and the representatives said, look, you know, this is a lot of money, $60 billion. But two-thirds of it comes right back here to build the arms and to make jobs for you guys. Yeah, for the 1%. Larry, the president earlier today, or maybe it was last night, I'm not sure when, because he's in California, announced more sanctions against 500 Russian individuals. I'm not sure who they are. But we all know from an examination what was there before the sanctions. continuing to demonize Putin, blaming him personally on the death of Navalny

and this helicopter pilot that defected that was killed in Spain. But what is to be gained by these absurd sanctions, some of which cost more to enforce than they actually inflict pain? This is all political theater. It really means nothing. The Biden administration feels it needs to send a strong message to Russia. And so we're going to put a bunch of people on the list and say they can't do anything economically with the United States.

And, you know, some of those people over there that are being targeted could care less. Because there was a time when interacting with the United States, with being part of Europe and part of the Western culture was, I think, important. The Russians naively believed that they could be accepted into the West. And that would be a lie across the board. We know that starting with Boris Yeltsin, as Jeffrey Sachs laid out so eloquently on your show earlier this week, that he sat in the room when Yeltsin said, hey, we're done with communism. We want to be with you guys. And the United States extended not the handship of freedom, but the middle finger of you go sit on it.

And the same with Vladimir Putin. Putin twice with Clinton and then with George W. Bush. So what this shows is the United States is hell-bent on trying to provoke a war with Russia, trying to destroy Russia. It's evil. This is the essence of evil. Because it would be one thing if Russia was out, quote, abusing, you know, locking up political prisoners right and left.

Well, hello, the United States has more political prisoners from the January 6th so-called insurrection than Russia, even a fraction, doesn't even begin to approach it. Same thing when you get to the numbers of people in prison. The United States has double the number of people in prison in this country. So by every metric, if you're going to use of good and evil, the United States falls on the evil side. We've killed more foreigners. We've started more foreign wars. We've locked up more political opponents. We're in fact oppressing anybody that's connected with Donald Trump in this country. So let's wake up and recognize what's going on. Ray, the attitude of American superiority and hatred of Russia, which Larry has so articulately just summarized and so prudently just condemned.

How prevalent of that is that in the American intelligence community, particularly in the CIA, where the two of you once worked? Unfortunately, Judge, it doesn't really matter. This fellow, Bill Burns, is just a cog in the system. He's a member of the cabinet, which should never happen to the head of the intelligence or head of the CIA. And he just blends in with what the policy is. Now, the proof of that, of course, is that he was told by Sergei Lavrov back in 2008 that if you try to admit Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, that will provoke us. 2008, February 1st. Look it up. So what happens right after the Russian invasion of the Donbass? Well, here's Burns. That was totally unprovoked, totally unprovoked. So the intelligence people don't have much to say about this. The megalomania on the part of this aging,

hardened, orderly president is what seems to be shaping the thing here. And what he said just yesterday, you know, that son of a, you know, Sukhin Sin is the way the Russians say S-O-B. It sounds even worse in Russian, and it is. And he has no business talking this way. I mean, it's one more thing here. After a hurricane, he was down in Florida, just about a year and a half ago. And the mayor comes up and says, oh, thanks around for being,

thanks for being so strong on your crane. And Biden is overheard saying, yeah, nobody Fs with a Biden. Nobody Fs, you know what the F word is, with a Biden. So that's the attitude here. And, you know, these satraps, these acolytes are not going to disabuse them of that. Some of them think the same thing. We're going to take a break for a commercial announcement. come back, we'll transfer to Israel and Gaza and to the monstrous plans that Prime Minister Netanyahu announced earlier today to take over Gaza and the West Bank. But first this. How do you really feel about your financial future right now, today? Stable or uncertain? Despite all the happy talk that the Fed and the banks want you to buy into,

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Don't be caught off guard. Experts predict the markets may tank again. You'll be happy if you have protection in place. So call Lear at 800-511-4620, 800-511-4620, or go to learjudgenap.com and tell them your friend the judge sent you. Larry, where is the Biden administration going to go? And of what value is their mantra that they're in favor of the two-state solution? without an independent Palestine. And they have Prime Minister Netanyahu on the other side saying, we're going to take over and manage and provide security for and actually own Gaza and the West Bank. These views are polar opposites, and there doesn't seem to be any resolution between them short of force. Yeah, you know, I'm in favor of people being able to fly themselves to Mars. Now, just because I'm in favor of that, it's not going to happen.

And that's the same with the Biden administration's lip service to a two-state solution. Not going to happen. They're not going to do anything. They're not going to lift a finger to save the Palestinians. Israel has embarked on a program of genocide, extermination. They do not want them to have any kind of political rights, political freedom at all. And President Lula of Brazil was right the other day, drawing the comparison with how the Nazis treated the Jews when they herded them into the various ghettos like Lutz and then most infamously Warsaw.

Because that's exactly what Gaza and the West Bank have become. They've become like giant ghettos because the Palestinians do not control the ability to enter and leave at will. It's guarded. The exits are guarded by Israelis, just like the Nazis guarded the exits, prevented the Jews from getting in and out, just as the Nazis prevented food from getting into the Warsaw ghetto. The Israelis are preventing food from getting into Gaza. They had the Judenrat, Jews that were put in charge of ruling over the ghetto, but they were under the control of the Nazis. Well, ditto. That's what's been going on in Gaza and the West Bank. So what we're witnessing is a crime of enormous proportions,

and virtually nobody in the world has done anything to stop it. Ray, our friends at Code Pink approached a congressman from Tennessee. We're going to run the clip. It's a little difficult, but he'll know what he says so that those watching can prepare their stomachs for it, he basically says, kill them all when he is challenged in the hallways of Congress as to why won't you be in favor of a ceasefire. The Israelis are starving the Palestinians to death, and that's a war crime. His response, of course, is as horrific as what I just quoted. Let's watch what he says, and then, Ray, your thoughts.

Let's be clear. Haman raped her baby. They do not. That's fake news. There's no evidence of that. I've seen the footage, and you haven't. I've seen the footage of... You've seen footage of...

...threaded children's bodies. That's my taxpayer dollars. I'm going to bomb those kids. So I think we should kill them all, if that makes you feel better, all right? Everybody, come on. Come on, come on. We're in Palestine, we've been attacking this world for 20 years, and it's time to- Israel's been attacking Palestine.

Israel is an occupier. Palestine was there before Israel. You're not even, she doesn't make it true. Why, what? There's a genocide happening right now. Do you think I care about the country? They're starving women and children. How is that going after Hamas?

They've killed over 300 health care workers. Shame on you. You have no heart. How is turning off water and power on pregnant women going after hamas a thug in uh in the house of representatives but i'll let you take it from there ray you you know personally i don't know if you know the women that were there but you know personally the courage of the group that was challenging him i know if you know the women that were there, but you know personally the courage of the group that was challenging him. I do know some of the women

who were there. Here's an object lesson to what's left of our democracy if we exert it. What a good example those people are. How atrocious the response that they get. That needs to be publicized again and again. Now, Larry is quite right. There is a precedent for that. It happened during my early lifetime, okay? It was the murder, it was the genocide of Jews. It's genocide now. And here's a little quote from Thomas Merton from a poem he wrote 60 years ago, which people who are dogging congresspeople can use. It's called Champ to be used in processions around a site with furnaces. The commandant of a Nazi death camp goes through his daily routine and then concludes with this sentence, quote, do not think yourselves better because you burn up

friends and enemies with long range missiles and bombs without ever seeing what you have done, end quote. That came during Vietnam. How do we end Vietnam? Because Congress voted to end the funding. How do we end the support for those murderous countries? Because Congress voted to end the funding? How did we end the support for those murderous countries? Because Congress voted to end the funding. That's what needs to happen now, not only with respect to Ukraine, but with respect to Israel before it's too late, before too many thousands of Gesunds are killed. Larry Ray is 100% correct, but Congress is never, because of the vice grip that AIPAC has on it, is never going to end the funding to Netanyahu. It would take an extraordinary act of courage from the President of the United States, which is not going to come from this President,

to do that. Yeah, it's going to take some external event that will be tragic, unfortunately. The word is that Israel, you know, they've been massing their troops up in the north, as Alistair Crook noted on Monday. The head of the Israeli army, Halevi, has talked about invading Lebanon. The public opinion poll in Israel comes out and says, oh yeah, 71%, almost 75% of the Israelis, they want to start a war in Lebanon against Hezbollah. So the one opportunity I guess I see for salvation out of this is that Israel will launch that invasion and Israel will then face military defeat. And then in the face of military defeat, they're going to have to pull back and reassess what is it that we're doing. At that point, the only thing that would really save them is if there is some international intervention, but to create a real genuine

peace. But right now they show no regard whatsoever for treating Palestinians as human beings. And the West, the mantra in the West is built on this propaganda that we take the actions of a few, let's say a few in Hamas, and then we ascribe it to the entire population, women, children, elderly, doesn't matter, Christian. If you're Palestinian, it doesn't matter whether you're Christian or Muslim, you're a terrorist. It's become that by definition. Barring that, I think what we're going to see is just a continued tale of death and destruction. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Another great week with both of you. Thank you for this round table. You know how popular it's become. We'll look forward to seeing you both next week. Thank you. All the best, my friends. All righty. You're welcome.

Another great conversation with two wonderful and insightful and courageous members of our team. Two o'clock, Aaron Eastern, Aaron Matei on Bibi Netanyahu wanting to own Gaza and the West Bank. And three o'clock, by popular demand, ask the judge. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. We'll be right back. that specializes in personalized learning. With courses available 24-7 and 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 you focus on your future.

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