Judging Freedom - Larry Johnson: Are the Brits Suicidal Over Ukraine?

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Larry Johnson: Are the Brits Suicidal Over Ukraine?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

you Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, March 31st, 2025. Larry Johnson will be with us in just a moment on Are the British Is All of Europe Getting Suicidal Over Ukraine. But first this. Markets are at an all-time high. Euphoria has set in. The economy seems unstoppable. But the last administration has buried us so deep in debt and deficits. It's going to take a lot of digging to get us out of this hole. Are you prepared? Lear Capital specializes in helping people like me and you grow and protect our wealth with gold. Did you know that during Trump's last presidency, gold rose 54% to a record high? If that happens again, that puts gold at $4,200 to announce in his next term.

Don't wait. Do what I did. Call Lear at 805-11-4620 or go to learjudgeknap.com for your free gold ownership kit and special report $4,200 gold ahead. When you call, ask how you can also get up to $15,000 in bonus gold with a qualifying purchase. Call 800-511-4620, 800-511-4620, or go to learjudgenap.com and tell them the judge set you. Carl Johnson, welcome here, my dear friend. Do you think that European elites, the leaders of the EU or the leaders of NATO without the US, are preparing for war with Russia? They're talking it and they're trying to make preparations. The problem is they don't have the material means to do so. They don't have the industrial production.

They don't have the military strength, but they are in terms of their words, they are certainly hell bent on trying to start it. I haven't learned a thing from history, that's for sure. Is this one of those things where they're unpopular, their economies are weak, talking about Stammer, Macron, van der Leyen, and to a lesser degree, or maybe the same degree, correct me,

Frederick Mertz, the chancellor, and waiting for Germany. And so when all else fails, they take you to war. Does that explain their bellicosity? In part, but I think there's also some economic ties that are behind the scenes that we don't know about. I think in the case of the UK, they've actually made loans to Ukraine, and then fully hoping that they'd get paid back handsomely. Now that's going down the toilet. This isn't so much a Europe problem as it is a UK, France, Germany problem.

Maloney in Italy is looking at them basically and said, you guys are crazy. We're not doing that. Right. Maloney in Italy is looking at him basically said you guys are crazy. We're not doing that right the same with Orban Vito and Slovakia I think it was the Sanchez in Spain. So the you know starmer Starmer tried to rally everybody

To say hey follow me guys. Let's go. And it goes running out the door. You know, like that scene from Animal House with John Belushi says, Oh, let's go and goes out the door by himself. Let's starve her. You you have explained to us just how reduced in size and weak in offensive capability, the British military is. What can you tell us about the French and the German? They're really in the same boat. The issue is not so much the number of soldiers, the

number of personnel in the army in both cases. I mean, that's important. But what's really important is do they have the logistic capability? Are those militaries capable of providing the food, the ammunition, the fuel, and repairs for equipment, repairs on weapons that would be needed if these folks actually got deployed into combat. So across the board, Germany and France are not what they were in, say, 1940. Both were formidable military powers in Europe,

you know, almost 90 years ago. That's not the case today. They are a shrunken image of themselves. They've become the Lilliputians. What would become of them if they purported to establish some sort of a security guarantee with troops on the ground in Ukraine? But Russia will attack and kill them. They'll be dead. They'll be stacking bodies.

You know, Russia already has been hitting a variety of hotels where these, quote, foreign mercenaries are staying. And we now know, thanks to a report in the New York Times over the weekend, that the US CIA personnel and military personnel have been sent to forward areas as well. So we don't even know how many of them have been killed, because the West has been very careful to try to hide that information so that it's not, you know, they're not openly talking about the kinds of casualties they're suffering. One, because if news of that gets out, it could really turn public opinion against them. And two, that would give Russia more, you know, actually a cause to spell I to recognize that the United States and Europe have

Been committing an act of war against Russia. Did I understand you to say that this Times article reported that American Active duty troops or American mercenaries were in Ukraine active duty military personnel. Oh boy Yeah, and CIA that means that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth sent them there, right? Oh, they were there. This is under Biden and I'm sure it's continued under Trump. But this is, you know, this Adam Entaus wrote the article and it's, I mean, it's a massive, it's like war and peace. You know, it's as if it's a massive it's like it's like war and peace you know it says if Tolstoy wrote the thing it goes it has four parts and it's a sort of a history of of you the war in Ukraine basically but what it is is to

say man the United States we did all this great stuff and Ukraine should have won but they ignored us it's all Ukraine's fault that they're losing That's that's the point of the article Okay, but in it they get into the fact that the United States was helping plan and organize every major attack That Ukraine has carried out against Russia including strikes Russia. If we are still doing that, then how can the United States purport to be the mediator for a peaceful resolution between Russia and Ukraine any more than it can purport to be a mediator between Hamas and the Israelis?

We're co-belligerent. Yeah. In the case of Hamas, we're funding it. In the case of Ukraine, we're funding it and we're identifying targets for them Yeah, it is Number one our bias is on our sleeve and we got blood on our hands in both places But you know, it's sad that the Trump doesn't even understand the situation with respect to Russia and Ukraine

Vladimir Zelensky of Volodymyr Zelensky, made it illegal. They got a law passed through the Rada. Illegal for anyone in the Ukrainian government to talk to the Russians. OK, so right off the bat, nobody, including Zelensky, can talk to the Russians because Okay, so right off the bat, nobody including Zelensky can talk to the Russians because it's against Ukrainian law. And yet here's Trump saying, oh, I'm upset that Putin doesn't wanna talk to Zelensky. Putin can't talk to Zelensky.

So General Zaluzhny, who's now the Ukrainian ambassador to Great Britain and living in London, cannot, without the risk of being prosecuted, conduct any back channel negotiations. Correct. Yeah. Until Ukraine reverses that law, there's not going to be any, quote, conversations between Russia and Ukraine. So it's like, you know, is nobody briefing Donald Trump or is he just ignoring the briefings? So, I mean, this is really,

this is a level of ignorance that's embarrassing. This is like basic foreign policy 101, know the facts. I mean, we saw, frankly, we saw it with Wychcoff that, oh, those are republics, I don't remember their name. Well, you damn well better know their names if you're gonna be involved with these kinds of negotiations. You're not working on a cheap walk-up apartment in Queens.

This is life and death issues. Know the facts and here's one fact for Donald Trump. Putin cannot, even if Putin talked, tried to talk to Zelensky, Zelensky can't talk to him. It's against the law. But on top of it, Putin made it clear in June of 2024 This and this was after Zelensky canceled elections I'm not we're not going to talk to anybody in this illegal government because they violated their own Constitution they got to have elections then we'll talk but they're also gonna have to withdraw that law So here's President Trump aboard Air Force One yesterday saying he's disappointed in Putin.

And then I'm going to play a clip from Kristen Welker because she had a phone call with him. So this apparently isn't recorded in which he says he's pissed off at Putin. But first, your thoughts on Trump on Air Force One, Chris, number nine. I was disappointed in a certain way, some of the things that were said over the last day or two having to do with Zelensky, because when he considered Zelensky not credible, you're supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or you don't like him. So I wasn't happy with that. But I think he's going to be good. And I certainly wouldn't want to put secondary tariffs on Russia, but if they were put on it would not be very good for that.

Does he really think he can interfere with Russia selling oil to China and India? I mean, does he know what he's talking about? No, no. I mean, he just it's bombast all the way. You know, this here's the guy that called Zelensky a dictator. Right. And throw him out of the White House. Now, there's so many leave. He's left that Putin doesn't want to talk to Zelensky. Like I said, Zelensky has made it illegal for any Ukrainian to talk to Putin, even if Putin was wanting to, but Putin's made it clear they are not a legitimate government.

This is not a news flash. This hasn't been some deep, dark secret held within the bowels of the CIA. I mean, good God, we've known this now for almost a year. Yeah. And yet Trump doesn't grasp that concept. And he thinks this is- I know you're not a fan, and neither am I, of Jeffrey Goldberg, but his reading of the texts that he got, well, here's what he said, cut number four, Chris.

What JD Vance is saying in the group chat, which included, as you know, much of the cabinet, much of the president's cabinet, he's saying the president doesn't even understand what he's doing here. So I found that, I found that remarkable. Obviously, given that JD Vance has tried very hard to make sure that he's

100 percent aligned with what Trump says, here we have a serious substantive conversation where he's telling members of the cabinet, members of the president's own cabinet, that no, no, no, he doesn't even get it. So sure, that is interesting. And I would have to imagine that that caused a little disturbance in the force in the White House. You know, we'll get back to Ukraine in a minute, but is it now common understanding that the President often doesn't know what he's talking about? Yeah, you know, I think Trump at a very simplistic level looks at, you know, he calls the Houthis the Houthis, barbarians, terrorists.

He doesn't understand that the Houthis is really, it's not an ethnic group. It's a group based upon a particular clan and an individual in this particular tribe. And the people that are adherents pledge loyalty to him. But they're Shia.

They're not Sunni. They have no relationship, whatever, with al-Qaeda. In fact, they've opposed the radical Sunni Islamic terrorism that was advocated by those who attacked us on 9-11, those that we were saying that we're trying to wipe out ISIS. And so Trump doesn't even understand that. And he lumps them in with the very people that, you know, the Houthis haven't been killing Americans. They haven't been killing Americans. They haven't been attacking Americans.

And yet, and yet, and yet the president of peace, as he refers to himself, has ordered 65 bombings of these helpless defenseless people 10,000 miles away in 48 hours. 65 sorties, plane going out, dropping bombs, plane coming back, one sortie. 65 of these in 48 hours from the from the Man of Peace. Chris, play the Kristen Welker summary of her phone call with the president where he said he was pissed off of Vladimir Putin. Just hours ago, President Trump called me to tell me he is quote, pissed off with Russia's president Putin and threatened to impose secondary tariffs on Russia's oil, quote, if Russia

and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine. And if I think it was Russia's fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia's fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia Mr. Trump said 25 percent tariffs on Russian oil could happen any moment and told me he plans to speak with President Putin this week The president told me quote I was very angry pissed off when Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility and started talking about new leadership in Ukraine Now here's President Putin on President Zelensky's credibility. Cut number 15, Chris.

The current civil authorities in Ukraine have no legitimacy in accordance with the country's constitution. Ukraine has held no presidential election while according to the constitution, all key officials are to be appointed by the president, including regional government bodies, governors and so on. So if the president is illegitimate, so are all the others. So under these circumstances of de facto illegitimacy, neo-nazi formations receive additional weapons and recruit new personnel. What does this lead to? What could it lead to? It results in de facto power being in their hands.

This in turn means that it is already unclear with whom to sign documents and what effects such documents might carry, for tomorrow new leaders may come to power through elections and declare, we do not know who signed those papers, so goodbye. The issue is not just this uncertainty, it is that these neo-Nazi formations, such as Azov, among others, are effectively beginning to run the country. This raises the question, how is it possible to conduct negotiations with them? In such situations, international practice follows a well-established path. Within the framework of the United Nations peacekeeping operations, there have been several

cases of what is termed external governance or temporary administration. This occurred in East Timor, I believe in 1999, in parts of the former Yugoslavia and in New Guinea. In short, such precedents exist. I guess it's kind of obvious who has the better grasp of what's going on between Trump and Putin. Yeah, in fact, if Putin and Trump talk this week, what you just heard Vladimir Putin say, he'll say the same thing to Trump. Say it in the same way. He's not going to dress it up, not going to dress it down. It's a very matter of fact. And it's logical what his assessment of the situation.

And that's where Trump can threaten all the tariffs he wants. That's why last week, a week and a half ago, in a speech that Putin gave to the industrialists, he told them, he says, look, stop thinking that we're going to ever have a relationship with the West where we won't have to worry about sanctions and tariffs. They said that's never going away. So that's why we have to seek to build alternatives, alternative financial structures. Right.

We don't have to worry about that. That is not going. According to him. I mean, and he's not upset about it. He's not throwing, making threats, you do this or else. He's just saying, hey, look, this is the situation. This is the reality. Instead of us sitting here moaning about the reality, let's just go build a new

structure. And according to Alastair Crook this morning, Larry, those alternative structures have been wildly successful economically. Well, you and I were just in Moscow and we were bowled away at the economic prosperity that we saw, even when we were out in the countryside we saw it, that the sanctions haven't laid a glove on the Russian economy. But my question to you is, does Donald Trump run the risk of sabotaging the negotiations in Riyadh by his impatience and his personal attacks on Vladimir Putin?

Yes. And to add to it, if he follows through on his threat to bomb Iran, then not only will he destroy any hope of a solid relationship with Putin and or she, but very well could push us into World War III. I mean, it's extremely dangerous, it's extremely foolish. Trump entered office with an opportunity to genuinely remake the world in terms of peace. And instead of using military force, using diplomacy and using the coercion of America's military and economic power with Israel to compel Israel to make some concessions and to stop the murder of the Palestinians.

But instead, he's become an enabler. So we are enabling genocide, which means we've got as much blood on our hands as those actually carrying out the crime. We're now killing children, civilians in Yemen on the pretext of we're gonna stop them from attacking ships that are bound for Israel and then at the same time we're threatening to go to war with Iran and by that he's put five B-2 bombers with a two more apparently supposed to arrive in Diego Garcia and there are already two B-52s stationed there apparently they went back they were there since last March the United States has been actively involved with

directing, organizing, funding, supplying, training these attacks that have been carried out in the United States. And I think that's a very important point that we need to be aware of. And I think that's a very important point that we need to be aware of.

And I think that's a very important point that we need to be aware of. has been actively involved with directing, organizing, funding, supplying, training, these attacks that have been carried out inside Russia. These are acts of war. If Russia had done that to us, we would have probably gone nuclear. And the Kremlin is obviously listening to what the vice president and the president Obviously listening to what the vice president and the president have to say about Greenland. Cut number one, Chris. So the US has really serious plans about Greenland. These plans, as I've already said, have old historic origins. And it's obvious that the US will further systematically promote their geostrategic,

military politic and economic interest in the Arctic. But we are also concerned about the fact that NATO countries in general are increasingly designating the far north as a springboard for possible conflicts. They train the development of troops under these conditions, including the participation of their new recruits, Finland and Sweden. By the way, until recently we did not have any problems with them at all. I will stress, Russia has never threatened anyone in the Arctic, but we are closely monitoring the development of the situation and build an adequate line of response by means of increase of the combat capabilities of the armed forces and modernization of the military infrastructure facilities.

We will not allow any infringements of our country's sovereignty and will reliably protect our national interests. Translation if the 101st Airborne shows up in Greenland. Well, yeah, Russia won't react to that, but what is going on up in the Baltic Sea just last week, a Russian ship illuminated a French combat aircraft and basically they were facing the prospect of getting shot down if they didn't evacuate the area they they left So, you know the tensions are increasing You know Trump's trying to get get the United States involved in the Arctic

Well, we only have I think one maybe two icebreakers right now now. He cuts a deal with Finland that they're gonna get three more So, okay, woohoo, Russia's got 40 and is building more. So, we're not even in the same league in terms of being actually able to deploy naval assets in that region and have them operate. Plus, Russia routinely operates up there and is working with China to get China because it's seen as a passage for shipping that can actually cut costs on the shipping side. So, Trump maybe deserves some credit for recognizing that it's a problem, but his problem solving on this by basically demonstrating US imperialism that we're gonna go out and take a country, just take it.

We decide we want it, we're gonna take it. You know, I'm not comfortable with that. I don't think that's what America should stand for. You know, I was always ready to keep your damn hands to yourself They'll go out hitting other people. You seem to have this obsession to go hit other people. I don't think there's a popular will for it, I think most people share your view Larry. It's just my my feeling about it or most people just take it as some sort of Boastful statement that he made because he wants to negotiate something else and this is one of his negotiating techniques

I don't think people take him seriously when he says these things. We'll see Larry a pleasure my dear friend. Thank you for all of your thoughts. Thanks for your time. We'll see you Friday What professor McGovern? Okay Thanks all. Thanks. All the best. Thank you. And coming up later today at four o'clock this afternoon, Eastern from Rome, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. MUSIC