Judging Freedom - Larry Johnson: Russia Better Off Under American Sanctions.

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

You're in the heart of Russia's capital, surrounded by a vibrant nightlife, bustling banks, and packed department stores, with an atmosphere that rivals Manhattan's rush hour. It's almost surreal, right? Especially when the West paints such a contrasting picture. #russia #ukraine #USMilitaryHistory #Israel #Gaza #ceasefire #hostages #Ukraine #zelenskyy #Biden #china #IsraelPalestine #MiddleEastConflict #PeaceInTheMiddleEast #GazaUnderAttack #Ceasefire #Jerusalem #prayforpeace #hostages #Israel #Gaza #ceasefire #hostages #Ukraine #zelenskyy #Biden #china #IsraelPalestine #MiddleEastConflict #PeaceInTheMiddleEast #GazaUnderAttack #Ceasefire #Jerusalem #prayforpeace #hostagesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi there, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, December 11th, 2023. Larry Johnson joins us now. Larry, it's a pleasure. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back from your trip to Moscow, from which you were kind enough to join us. I have a lot to ask you about events in Gaza gather a sense about the state of U.S.-Russia relations at the diplomatic level? Yeah, at the diplomatic level, it's in trouble. I listened to Alistair earlier today on your interview with him, and he's absolutely right. The Russians are mixed between completely perplexed, puzzled. They don't understand why the United States is being so stupid, so obtuse, and taking such great risks. And it's clear to me that they would like to have somebody they could actually talk to as an adult on a personal basis where you could actually communicate. But they're looking on this and reflecting that even during the depths of the Cold War, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, during other incidents where the United States and the Soviets were

on opposite sides of the table at no time were they referred to as enemies. And I heard one particular official, a very senior official, say that, you know, he was stunned to hear that kind of language coming out of both the mouths of politicians and administrative officials in the Biden administration. Because he said, do they not understand what that term means? Because if we are your enemy, that means we have to be able to rely upon our nuclear weapons. Because we don't want to go there. You know, it's just, you know, they're really taken aback by the ineptitude of the Biden administration. Is the genesis of this the fact that thousands and thousands

of Russian boys have been killed by American ammunition rounds fired by Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine? Well, that's part of it. That adds to it. But, you know, on top of that, USISR, intelligence surveillance reconnaissance capabilities, have been used to target places like the Kerch Bridge, have been used to send drones into the middle of Moscow. And so across the board, the Russians are stepping back and recognizing that the West is not sending a single signal

of wanting to work things out peacefully. Everything that the West is doing, that America is doing in particular, reflects belligerence, reflects a desire for conflict. And while Russia is taking great strains, great steps to avoid escalating, they are, I think, making the point, don't confuse their patience with stupidity or fear, because they have neither. Do you think that they recognize that the war in Ukraine is effectively over, that Russia has achieved enough of its objectives to proclaim victory and life will go on? Or do you think that they expect that the war will go on? No, I think they fully anticipate that they're going to have to play this one out to the end when Ukraine surrenders.

And there's not going to be a negotiation in place, a freeze in place. I know from talking to other Russians who are well-connected and experienced both within the foreign policy and national security sphere, that the attitude has hardened in Russia, not softened. They have now, after going down on 20 months, 21 months into this special military operation, they recognize the need that this is, they're going to have to finish off Ukraine. In order to finish off the West, in order to keep the West at bay. Because if you look at it from their standpoint, at the start of this operation, part of its principle was to prevent the expansion of NATO to the East. And what did the United States and the rest of NATO do?

They added two countries, or are trying to add two countries. So the West continues to send the signal that it's going to attack Russia. And if the shoe is on the other foot, if the United States was sitting within its own boundaries and watching Russia cultivate relationships with Canada and Mexico, encouraging Canada and Mexico to enter into a defense pact with them, to conduct annual military exercises with Russia on the borders of the United States. Do you think we would be a bit concerned? Damn right we would be. I mean, we would be out of our minds. So it's like to step back and say, why in the world do we think that we can do that to Russia and Russia will not react? Russia will not take steps to defend itself? It's madness

on our part. Great point, Larry. And now you were there for three, four, five days. Aside from the fact that you couldn't walk to a McDonald's from Red Square. How prosperous. Well, actually, the original McDonald's opened in Moscow was four blocks from my hotel. So I could have walked there. I thought they had closed. You're correct. You're correct. They have closed and there are other branches that have taken over.

But the original McDonald's was pointed out to me. Have the sanctions impaired life in the nation's capital? Has it decreased the popularity of Vladimir Putin? No, listen, this is a city that's alive. You've heard the expression banker's hours. So it's seven o'clock, 7.30 PM at night. I needed to change some money. And I went to the concierge. He goes, oh, just go to the bank. I go, the bank? It's 7.30 at night. I walked into this bank with Alistair's wife. She accompanied me because they needed some cash too. And the bank was jumping with people.

They were working full blast. Every desk was on. We had to take a number and wait for like 20 minutes. And thank God Alistair's wife spoke French. Because the one young man sitting there waiting on us, I said, do you speak English? And he goes, not. And he goes, then he said in French, I speak French. And she goes, oh.

And so they had a conversation in French. And he got us to the front of the line so we could finally get our money exchanged. But very busy. Lots of activity. But as a general matter, from the consumer perspective, is there a lessening of activity or a shortage of consumer supplies because of Joe Biden's sanctions? Now, have you seen those scenes from subways in Tokyo where they're like jamming people into the cars? Right.

That's sort of, that's sort of what it was like in the gum department store, which sits right off of red square. I've never seen that many people inside. It's basically a mall, a big shopping center. It's a historic place in Moscow. No activity everywhere.

The Russians particularly, they like to eat ice cream in the winter, I can tell you that, despite it being 15 degrees Fahrenheit. But no, lots of activity. The streets were just packed with cars. Rush hour there would be like rush hour in Manhattan. Is there the perception that Russia has triumphed over the West and NATO in Ukraine? Yeah.

No, I don't think it's so much a perception of triumph. I think it's been an awakening. And I discussed this point with another friend. Back in 1981 when I was teaching at American University, I took a group of students down to the Soviet embassy. We met with one of their political secretaries. And the attitude back then were the Russians were very defensive. They felt like they were, you know, inadequate, inferior. They had an inferiority complex and they were they made no attempts to hide it.

Now what you encounter is supreme confidence. They've they've awakened to the reality of, you know, we'd love to have a relationship with the West, but we can take care of our of ourselves. You know, I think as I as you read the one piece I wrote, I had a taxi driver, a guy from Georgia, not the state, the country of Georgia. And he was listening to a concert by the three tenors, you know, Placido Domingo, Jose Carrera, and from 1994. And he serenaded me. This guy was singing, driving and singing for 45 minutes opera. So, you know, Traviato, Sole Mio. So I'm just saying that there's this embrace of the West, but they've also, they're their own people.

They found their own, they're finding their own way. Got it. We're going to take a break for a commercial announcement, Larry. When we come back, we'll switch to the latest in Gaza having to do with the Israeli injuries and the deaths of IDF. Numbers in dispute, but if the higher numbers are true, they're catastrophic. First this. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Lear Capital. You all know that I am a paid spokesperson for Lear Capital because it's the

right thing to do because the government is regulating too much and printing too much money and reducing the value of everything you earn and everything you own. And the best hedge against this is gold and silver. That's what I've done. I know the folks at Lear. I trust the folks at Lear. I've worked with the folks at Lear and I use the folks at Lear. I've worked with the folks at Lear. And I use their advice when it comes to my investing in gold and silver. You should do the same. Call them at 800-511-4620 or go to learjudgenap.com. You'll have a very nice conversation with a very knowledgeable person.

We'll send you literature to read, which you can review with your spouse and your financial advisor, and then you can call them back and decide what you want to do. Why Lear? Lear has 25 years experience and thousands of five-star reviews and a 24-hour risk-free guarantee. And when you have this conversation with the Lear representative, you'll find out if you can qualify for a $15,000 gold bonus. So call Lear now, 800-511-4620 or learjudgenap.com. So since you were away, I think actually as you were flying back, the United Nations Security Council debated a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The votes were 13 in favor, one against the U.S., which is effectively a veto and an abstention by the Brits. The explanation given by the American ambassador, well, I'll let you hear it. It's actually the deputy American ambassador. I'll let you hear it. It's actually the deputy American ambassador.

I'll let you hear his explanation. Then you'll hear some rather startling and forceful responses by foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Although the United States strongly supports a durable peace in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war. We believe there is a moral obligation toward the international community to stop the killing of the Palestinian civilians. And it's the first time, at least in my lifetime,

that I have seen that calling for a ceasefire became a controversial issue. I'm not sure how deep is the understanding here of what's happening on the ground in Gaza. I mean, this war has broken every record. Largest number of journalists killed, largest number of hospitals destroyed, largest number of medics killed, largest number of UN employees killed. Our message has been very clear. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire, there needs to be a cessation of hostilities and we need to have immediate access for humanitarian aid it is not acceptable add to that a certification by secretary blinken under oath because he has to swear to it

that israel israel's need uh for a hundred worth of ammunition, artillery, and tanks affected the national security of the United States. Now, I would challenge Secretary Blinken to explain to me under oath how it affected the national security of the United States. Why did he do that? That's the only way they could bypass Congress and just spend the money under some sort of an emergency National Defense Act enacted in the Truman administration to allow the president to defend our borders. What conceivable national security interest does the United States have in helping Israel kill Gazans, Larry?

Well, none. The national security interest that should be foremost in our mind is being in a position where other countries in the Middle East care about what we say and care about what we do. And instead of that, the United States has now squandered its influence in ways that are unprecedented. Just the other day when Vladimir Putin was received in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, it was the kind of reception that I don't think we've ever seen an American president get. So Russia and China both are gaining influence now in the Middle East that they didn't have five years ago, that they didn't

have 10 years ago. And the United States position is becoming secondary. And one of the reasons this important is unfortunately oil and the important strategic role that oil plays in the global economy. And so the United States right now is seen as an enabler of Israel who is committing war crimes that are on level, they're on par with what Nazi Germany did to the Jews in World War II. That is no exaggeration. They are involved with an extermination of civilians. And they can say, you know, accuse me of being anti-Semitic or whatever. That's ridiculous. But the facts are what they are, as that one foreign minister noted. When you total up the hospitals that have been bombed by Israel,

the schools destroyed, the members of the press killed, the members of UN relief agencies killed by Israelis, that all of this on top of it pales when you start comparing this to other kinds of conflicts. And the United States has now got blood on its hands. You can't wash it off easily. Here's Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to the late secretary of state, Colin Powell. Listen to what he calls Bibi Netanyahu. Since Netanyahu took over.

Indeed, probably since Ronald Reagan had to really bash the Israelis when they went into Lebanon in 1982. But it's certainly been their policy since Netanyahu took over. He is the most draconian leader Israel has had in its short history since 1948. How do you see this? He is the Fuhrer. He is the Fuhrer. He is the Fuhrer. Wow. Fair to compare Netanyahu to Hitler, the Fuhrer.

He has extermination on the mind and expansion of territory on the mind. You know, it is shameful what the Israeli military is doing. They no longer deserve to be called Israeli Defense Force. They should be called the Israeli Occupation Force. You heard Alistair describe this morning on this program what's going on, the kidnapping of young men they strip them down to their underwear and then they parade them around and say these are I these are Hamas fighters that we captured they're not Hamas fighters there are civilians who've been kidnapped and humiliated you know the Geneva Convention is better than I do. This is absolutely, absolutely prohibited.

The occupying power can't kidnap, and the occupying power can't parade prisoners' war cameras. Well, you want to know how stupid these Israelis are? They staged it. And how do you know it's staged? Because they got two videos out. In one video, the same guy, he's got the gun the the kalishnikov in his left hand and a man an empty magazine in his right walking then all of a sudden they switch to another clip it's the same guy only this time the rifles in his right hand and the empty magazine clip in his left

hand so this is not a surrender this is is a staging. It's complete propaganda. And it's incompetent propaganda at that. We have these clips. We can't show them because we're hosted on YouTube, and YouTube will strike us for showing them. But why do the Israelis go through this when it's obvious that it's a fake? Why does it take a journalist getting fired from a daily newspaper because he reveals 3,800 deaths in the IDF? Yeah. Well, Israel's strategy, PR strategy, going back to the 67 war,

has been to portray itself as David against Goliath, the Arab Goliath that is crushing it. That is poor little David, who's defended, only got us a few rocks and a slingshot. And, you know, here's this mighty warrior ready to crush him. So they've played that one to the hilt. It's a little tiresome now because it's just the opposite. It's Israel that's got all of the guns, the tanks, the heavy armament. And they're killing civilians. I can show you several videos of them shooting unarmed youths. And as a firearms

instructor, I can tell you, you never point a gun at somebody unless that person has the ability to kill you, to cause you significant bodily harm. And in none of these cases, to any of these youngsters that get shot, are they holding any kind of weapon that would justify that kind of shooting? So this has been Israel's, this can their modus operandi. They don't think of the Palestinians as human beings. They look at them just like the Nazis looked at them, the Jews during World War II. Untermensch, you know, people who are not worthy of being called men and women. Wow. Where do you see this going?

Alistair fears a larger regional conflict, that at some point the regional Arab leaders will not be able to resist the demands from their publics to put a stop to the slaughter. There's, there's a part of me that hope he's right, but what I'm afraid is going to take place is Israel is going to end up purging Gaza of every last living Palestinian. They're going to be forced out into desert camps, into places that are just so inhospitable to human life. They'll be having difficulty to survive. And the West and the rest of the world will continue to moan and complain and do nothing.

I mean, look at Turkey. Turkey is a classic example. Erdogan's a gas bag. He talks tough, but instead of cutting off the oil, which would actually have an effect on Israel and would potentially pressure Israel to stop, he'd keep the oil flowing. So as long as everybody keeps doing business as usual behind the scenes, the only thing that's going to total up will be the pile of Palestinian bodies. Put your political hat on. How does this play here? I mean, Joe Biden is toothless for all of their and Blinken's calls for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. They're basically saying, here's all these bombs. Don't use all of them in one place. I mean, that's absurd. It's a policy that

nobody can support. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans back Israel. This means that the support that may have previously gone to the Democrats is going to go over to the Republicans, and the Republicans by and large are going to encourage Israel to keep doing what it's doing, not back off. So in the process, it's going to further alienate the world from America. But I don't see the ties between Israel and the United States loosening anytime soon. Larry, always a pleasure, my dear friend. We'll look forward to the Intelligence Roundtable with you and Ray McGovern on Friday. I'll be there. Thank you. Thank you, Larry. All the best. Thanks. Of course. Coming up at five o'clock today, the inimitable Max Blumenthal. Thank you for our growth and

subscriptions. We're above 247,000. We have fewer than 3,000 to go to meet our goal of a quarter of a million by Christmas. I am every confidence you will get us there. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thanks for watching!