Judging Freedom - Pepe Escobar : The Emperor of Chaos Strikes Again!

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Pepe Escobar : The Emperor of Chaos Strikes Again!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best, which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting

for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Tuesday, January 20th, 2006. Pepe Escobar joins us now. Pepe, a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you very much for joining us. You have a terrific piece out yesterday called The Empire of Chaos Strikes. Again, we have just posted it at Judge Knapp.com. And we'll continue to post your great work, especially since Some in the media in the West, I understand. What prefer that you not be heard from? That's all the more of an incentive for us to post your work.

Thank you so much. You're welcome, my friend. How could CIA, MI6, and Mossad have gotten things so wrong on the ground in Iran in the past two weeks? First of all, because they don't have on the ground intel, Judge. They have infiltrated cells. They have fifth columnists. They have informants. But they don't have people who are really deeply entrenched in Iranian society in most parts of Iran to see real lives.

So not they misunderstood. They used the initial protests which were against essentially, very, very important. The speculative attack against the real. which had started at least two months before. So cost of living, of course, went up and up and up. So after two or three days of the original legitimate protests, the dash ICIA NED MI6 style cells were active all over different provinces of Iran. In Kuzestan, in the Azerbaijani part of Iran,

in the Kurdistan part of Iran, in Sistan, Balochistan, near Pakistan, outside in the borders, and sometimes merging to some of the mid-sized cities. Like in Tehran, there were not a lot of protests. Most of the protests were all over the country. And the models of Iran is the same of every color revolution. The last one that I actually saw, because I was there in Hong Kong, in 2000, was exactly the same thing. Paid people to set fire to metro stations, buses, public property, government buildings, you name it.

Exactly the same thing. The difference was in Hong Kong, everything was concentrated and organized by the gigantic American embassy in Hong Kong. This one, in all across Iran, was a series of unconnected or sometimes interconnected cells. controlled from abroad essentially and using Starlink. The minute the Iranians managed to block Starlink with help from the Russians and the Chinese, the whole thing was over. Were the Iranians able to surveil the communications on Starlink before they shut it down so they knew who was giving orders and to whom the orders were being given? Absolutely, it does. And that explains why so many people were arrested afterwards, and lots of them are on trial. There's not going to be public executions. This is a propaganda campaign. They'll be judged and they'll be incarcerated for life, most of them. But it took a while, of course, to do all their triangulations. And once, of course, the Starlink blocking hardware and software was in place as well. It worked. It worked perfect.

So they had to block the whole internet system in Iran for one week, almost 10 days. Now it's coming back to normal. But the internet in Iran from now one is going to be, let's put it this way, a kind of regional internet. It will be mostly disconnected from everything in the West. And of course, all the Western platforms as well. It's a form of survival. It's a variant of the great wall of digital wall of China as well, where, okay, if you use a VPN, you can have access. But the Chinese system is Chinese only.

The Iranian system is going to be Iran only. Does Trump, whom you've called Neo-Calligula, only you could come up with that great phrase, even understand that he has failed at two regime changes in four weeks? Caracas and Tehran. Judge, I would say that because he is a megalomaniac narcissist, he would never admit that he failed. He changes the narrative. And that's why the narrative now is Greenland. And that's why, where I am in NATO Stan, all across NATO Stan, the political elites are absolutely terrified.

Today I spent most of my day taking a look at what was going on in Davos here in our neighbors, Switzerland. Larry Fink, von der Leyen, Macron with a top gun glasses, which was a parody in itself. And they're absolutely terrified. And obviously, they don't have a plan to counteract Trump, even though they know, and now they are actually saying it as diplomatically as possible.

Trump is out of control. What are you going to do? Two hours. Yeah, do you have any idea why Trump said last night on the time map in Miami before getting on Air Force One that he expected Macron to be out of office in a couple of months? Can you imagine, Judge, if the DGSA, which is the foreign intel here in France, They relate this information to the CIA, for instance, and the CIA passed this information to Trump.

Look, anything is possible nowadays. In fact, if you ask, 98% of French voters, they would like this guy to be out like since yesterday. The problem is there's no impeachment mechanism U.S. style here in France to kick him out. And others, when you talk to in the bistros and the cafes, They are very partisans towards a face-to-face interview with Madame Guillotine. This is what they want, in fact. But it cannot happen because the system of power in France is extremely centralized.

So you see Macron with top gun glasses in Davos today talking about, look, we need more investments from China. Why is he wearing sunglasses in Davos? Did he have an injury to his eye? And of course, this is a taboo subject here in France, now? Everybody is saying that it was another Brigitte slap, but there's no evidence. Meaning his wife, who we know at least once slapped him in the face. Wow. I don't want to get into that relationship. There are so many allegations and rumors and conspiracy theories.

Do you think that Trump himself authorized these killings in the streets in Tehran that the CIA, MI6 and Mossad perpetrated? No, this is an intel operation. This is a CIA Mossad, MI6 operation with their cells, their dormant cells, and the people that they imported from neighboring countries. This is very, very, very, very crucial. There is no record in any protest. even violent protests in Iranian modern history of beheadings,

of people having their throats slit. This is the ISIS dash playbook. And this means that these killers were imported, most probably from the Tajikistan, Afghanistan borders. Some of them are ensconced over there. Or via Sistan Balochistan, the problem. in Southeast Iran that borders Balochistan province in Pakistan. Very, very easy for CIA MI6 to do the back and force with these people,

just like they did when they used to cross the Turkish-Assyrian border and then go to I believe, I'm sorry. Now, why are you saying this? Were people decapitated? Yes, they are, and evidence was presented by the Ministry of Interior in Tehran. on Iranian public television. So high officials were, obviously, they could not show images, but we have a lot of images circulating in Iran of people being, let's say, harassed

and taking to somewhere where later their throats were slid. And this comes from different sources, in different. different regions and not necessarily official and police or by siege fortress. But citizens who happen to see that happening in front of them. So the condemnation all across Iran is en masse because they know that even the so-called opposition and relatively surface here, there in Iran, they never practice. ISIS dash beheadings or throat slitting like we saw it. So they went all out, in fact.

The Intel Ock went all out. It was to provoke intimidated population, provoke widespread revulsion, make them blame the government for what was happening from the beginning. Another very important information, Judge, from the beginning, and this was obviously spun upside down in the West. In the beginning of the economic protests, the government brought the Basaris to talk to them and listen to them, and they would explain what could be done. They were explaining what they were hearing from their customers, talking about the rising cost of life, et cetera. And this was spun in the West, like the Basaris had abandoned the government.

It was exactly the opposite. This is such madness. What happens if Trump strikes Iran? I mean, we know that Netanyahu, and we also know that the Arab leaders asked him not to, but what happens if he just does it anyway? All bets are off, Judge, and this week is extremely volatile. The USS Abraham Lincoln is now navigating in ghost mode. So we will only know where the Abraham Lincoln is when the Pentagon will tell us.

And maybe that will be too late. This means that they are going to be within striking distance of Iran before the end of, I would say, 72 hours from now by Friday. They could be very close to the Sea of Oman, not the Persian Gulf. Pershing Gulf is more to the left, but to the Sea of Oman, certainly. They would have crossed, for instance, the maritime Pakistani-Iranian border. So all bets are off. It's extremely, extremely, there is a serious possibility of a strike. Nobody knows if there will be a strike.

How Baghdad 2003 shock and o-ish is going to be. If it's going to be just a face-saving, where they're going to be striking basically something that is empty, and there's the famous phone call before, okay, please evacuate the area. Nobody knows, but the Iranians are, there is the red alert in Iran now, in Iranian skies, now is 24-7. Wow. Totally. It's blanket. If the USS Abraham Lincoln dispatches planes or missiles to attack Iran, how will Iran respond? Will it attack Tel Aviv?

Wow. There are many possibilities, Judge. One of them, they could try to hit some of these fighter jets. Second, they could respond directly against Tel Aviv, and they also could respond directly against American bases all across the Gulf. They have a menu of options, which it has been already telegraphed not only by IRGC commanders, or by the Ministry of Defense in Tehran, but also by parliamentarians at the Majlis, the Iranian parliament. Look, if we are attacked first, of course, there has been a debate of a possible preemptive attack

if they know that they're going to be attacked. Iran doesn't work like this. But they're ready, the first inkling that there is an attack, they're going to start. right away to respond. And it's not going to be a 12-day war material. It's going to be there are new material, which is already tested, and they didn't even use it during a 12-day war, including their new hypersonic missiles. Let me switch subjects.

Is it your view that Trump authorized the CIA to coordinate the attack on President Putin? House in Valdae? Well, that's the $38 trillion question, Judge. Nobody knows. What we know, which is already very serious in itself, is that the Minister of Defense in Moscow called the U.S. military attache and they handed over evidence that American intelligence was behind the attack. Nobody knows what kind of evidence. There were no leaks about that. In terms of Russia, this is a national security issue.

So not even the Russian media and those reporters who talk to Putin almost every week. Nobody knows. But the evidence is already in American hands, which is a message basically saying, look, we know what you did. What are you going to do about it? So this could go to any level. CIA, rogue CIA, you name it. CIA MI6, rogue MI6, you name it.

So that's extremely dangerous because it implies that the Russian reaction to the so-called, in fact, the kabuki of the U.S.-Russia negotiations, it's a completely different mindset now. And it's back to untrustworthiness. And it's back to what Sergei Lavrov, our friend, has been saying for years now. The United States is non-agreement capable. So this means that the spirit of Anchorage now is dead, if that's the case. Was Anchorage a fraud?

If the Russians are coming to this, conclusion, this means that their conclusion is that Anchorage was a fraud. But because diplomatically, of course, the Minister of Foreign Relations in Russia is at the top level of international diplomacy, they never discard any options. But now they are reflecting the cynicism and, I wouldn't even say, I wouldn't say perplexity, but a sort of dejected mood. among the people of the Security Council. Look, once again, we trusted them. We thought this was a real negotiation,

and in the end, we have this. So when they put it all together, including those previous attacks against the nuclear triad, this was probably the third one involving the nuclear triad, because Novgorod is essentially a command and control center for the nuclear triad, and also arrested, one of the official, Putin residences.

Wow. I mean, what do the Russians think? Do they think Trump tried to kill Putin? Not like that, Judge directly, but there is a very, very strong current in the corridors of power in Moscow that

American intelligence officially or a rogue faction, did try to kill the president. This is immensely serious. It's so serious that there are no leaks about that anywhere. Like we have very good friends at Tas, for Larry and myself, among others. Tas is absolutely mute about that

because obviously they got an order from above. Don't even mention the subject. So there is in those... higher corridors, there's a lot of action nowadays. And it's just a wait-and-see moment. For instance, this Trump invitation for Russia to be part of that Gaza scam, in fact, $1 billion extract from each nation participating, the Russians haven't answered yet, and they were non-committal.

They basically say, yes, okay, we received it. That's it. Here's, Chris, I think we still have this. Here's Sergei Lavrov earlier today responding to that invitation. I can't imagine President Putin sitting on this board, subordinating himself to Trump. But here's the typical diplomatic, polite Russian answer. Chris? I have already said in my introductory remarks, and Mitri Piscov confirmed that yesterday,

that President Putin has received an invitation by President Trump to become a part of the Board of Peace. We have also received annex to that letter, a rather lofty document called a charter of the Board of Peace that states that the board will be prepared to deal not only with the Gaza sector. I don't think it's even mentioned there, but it would be tasked with the resolution of conflicts around the world. Naturally, we'd like to clear up the conceptual vision and the practical vision of our American colleagues of this initiative. We're trying to clear this matters up. We'll keep in touch. Resolution of conflicts around the world. What is this? Another United Nations? Yes, the Trump United Nations, Judge, of course. And I'm sure you notice how Lavrov he beat around the Bush brilliantly.

But he didn't say anything. Concrete. So, of course, sovereign nations, when they look at this Board of Peace, they know immediately what it is. An attempt for Trump to create his own Trumpist United Nations and a scam. A scam because it involves $1 billion for each participation in. if you want to keep becoming a member forever, you know, even after his president. Everything revolves around him. He makes the final decisions.

So everybody basically is like a new version of The Apprentice. He hires and fires people. He charges people. He gives tasks to people, and everybody has to be on the table, you know, wagging their tails. It's absolutely ridiculous. So obviously Russia, China, et cetera, will never accept. some European countries may, some others which are thinking long term for non-harassment purposes might accept. Example, Vietnam. Vietnam already said, yes, we received it and we would like to be part of it. Wow.

Pepe, I got to go. Thank you very much. It's great chatting with you. Again, I want people to know that your great column, Empire of Chaos, plundering. and strikes in panic of being evicted from Eurasia is up at Judge Knapp, and we hope people will go there to read it. It's all in the title, Judge, because this is what explains everything that's happening now. That panic fear of being expelled to Eurasia has led to the NSS, has led to,

okay, let's reconquer our backyard, the Western Hemisphere, has led to let's take Greenland out of those stupid Europeans. It's so interconnected. Wow. Thank you, Pepe. A pleasure, my dear friend. We'll look forward to seeing you next week. Thank you.

See next thing. Cheers. Thank you. All the best. Coming up at 2 o'clock today, Matt Ho. And at 3 o'clock, Eastern Times, of course, Colonel Karen Kvakowsky, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.