Judging Freedom - Pepe Escobar : The US vs. BRICS: Global Power Clash You Can’t Ignore

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Pepe Escobar : The US vs. BRICS: Global Power Clash You Can’t IgnoreSee 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? the government? What if 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 Wednesday, March 18th, 2006, Pepe Escobar will be with us in just a moment on what is the status of the United States versus bricks and how dangerous and out of control is the Netanyahu and Trump war about to become? But first this. Don't you just cringe when people say, I told you so.

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Call 800, 511, 4620, or go to Learjudge's nap.com. Askehbar, my friend, welcome here, no matter what we are talking about. It's always a pleasure to have the benefit of your insight. Before we get, thank you, before we get to Bricks and before we get to Russia and China, you have some very serious concerns, I think, about the Netanyahu and Trump War getting out of control. What do you know? What do you hear? What are your concerns?

I cannot emphasize enough, Judge, and all of you are audience. This is it. This is the ultimate escalation moment. So we are beyond any red lines. The latest echo I had from Iran a few minutes ago was we are ready for total war. And I'm quoting literally. Now, when... We had been provoked to go into total war.

And I'll explain to you now why. Yes, Judge, please. No, that's what I was going to ask. So without telling me who told you this, you obviously believe it. It's obviously a credible source. What do you know or believe they mean by total war? Because of what happened a little while ago, in fact, a few hours. I was at my dinner here in Southeast Asia.

When I came back, this was exploding everywhere. Trump Netanyahu together and under pressure as well from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates, which are pushing them to go all the way against Iran. They bombed the South Spars gas fields in Iran. This is the largest gas fuel on the planet. And South Spars is linked to the North Dome in Qatar. It's the same geology. So South Pars and North Dome, Iran and Qatar, together,

this is the largest concentration of gas and export of gas on the planet. And South Sparks, the refinery part of South Park, was bombed today by Israel-U.S. and that provoked an immediate, for the moment, rhetoric response from Iran, an evacuation order already issued for several installations all across the Gulf and the list of installations that is going to be bombed in the next few hours. This is, I think it's midnight here in Southeast Asia, around 7 to 8 in West Asia, so it's going to be certainly tonight. The Iranians are going to bomb.

There's some ref refinery in Saudi Arabia. Very, very large. The Al-Hosin gas fueled in the Emirates, enormous. The Mesayed Petrochemical Complex, affiliated with Chevron, by the way, in Qatar. The Ras Lafant refinery phase, This is one in two in Qatar. This is immensely serious because this is the largest gas terminal on the planet. And the Iranians are saying they're going to bomb that in retaliation and the refinery in Haifa. That's the full list which is going to be bombed in retaliation by Iran.

And that explains what I heard only a few minutes ago. We are ready for total war because this This is the ultimate escalation, because it's not about bombing military targets in Iran anymore. This is about bombing civilian installations and provoking the collapse of the state in Iran. So we are way there, we there. There's no comparison to what has happened until a few hours ago. So this is the ultimate escalation. So now it is, for all practical purposes, total war. And Iran said, if you attack our gas infrastructure, our energy infrastructure,

we're going to attack all the energy infrastructure of the Persian Gulf. That's where we are now, Judge. Wow. This is a video of South Pars Iran. The footage shows the facilities on fire. This is exactly what you were talking about. What did the, well, you wouldn't know directly, but what do you expect the Americans and the Israelis thought they would accomplish by bombing this? They're only going to wreck the international economy.

Exactly. But they were not thinking about international economy, and they were not, obviously, they were not thinking about the immense repercussions all across the globe. They are absolutely obsessed in smashing everything. every structure that is now resistant, sorry, in the Iranian state. They tried everything. They killed Ayatollah Khamenei. They bombed everything inside according to them, but not what really matters, which are the underground missile stations and drone stations in the eastern and south-eastern part of Iran. These are absolutely intact.

They could not get their regime change. The whole structure of government, it's now, we were told hours ago, today, still today, it's not only four layers that were first established by Ayatollah Kaminet of replacements in case they are killed, military commanders, provincial leaders, etc. It's seven layers. So if you kill Larijani, you have Saeed Jalili, which immensely competent, a former supervisor of the Iranian nuclear nuclear. program, he's going to be the next secretary of the Security Council. He has been appointed today. So this absolutely stupid policy of decapitation doesn't work with the system that is completely consolidated

and decentralized at the same time, the decentralized mosaic strategy, which now includes decentralized mosaic strategy on attack, total attack. in terms of total war against every possible node of U.S.-Israeli presence from Israel to the Persian Gulf, and now includes the energy infrastructure as well. So there's no limit to this. If this happens only tonight, depending of what happens in the next few hours, and we see the extent of the Iranian attacks on this list of especially refineries, and energy installations,

specialists, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar, the repercussions for the global economy, we cannot even imagine. For the moment, apparently, no, for the moment, the barrel of oil

in West Asia is over $150. Tomorrow could be 200, Judge, easily, or even more. So the tremendous pressure on Trump when people can't fill up their automobiles on pickup trucks in the U.S. for under $150. Exactly.

Well, they are not considering the because now it's a psycho-killer mentality, judge. And not only among those psycho-killers of that death cult in West Asia, but inside the Trump administration. And Trump now is beyond deranged and completely controlled by this psycho-killer logic, especially because he's desperate, everything that he tried backfired, he's cornered, there's no off-ramp. And this particular bombing of South Pars, which was obviously an Israeli initiative, cuts off any possibility of an off-ramp, which, by the way, did not exist until a few hours ago. because the Iranians were over and over again.

This is our list. We don't want a ceasefire. We want all U.S. military bases out of West Asia. We want reparations for everything that you caused against us. We want, and that was part of, it started with nine points, then six points. Then it broke down to three main points. points. And of course, there is an extra point which they mentioned over and over again, a solution for Lebanon. So a solution for Lebanon is inexorably linked to the Iranians agreeing

to a ceasefire later on. For the moment, there are no off ramps whatsoever. So Israel and Trump are betting on destroying the Iranian state, period. It's not about liberating the straight of her moves anymore. We are one step beyond. Chris, do we have the interview with Jeremy Skaill? So Jeremy is, of course, who probably know him, a well-known investigative reporter. Here's what he revealed this morning. Well, Ryan, so yesterday we did a story that was based on talking to two senior Iranian officials. And what they told us was that, over the course of the past week, Steve Whitkoff, who is the special envoy for President Donald Trump and was alongside Jared Kushner, the lead negotiator in the fraudulent pretend nuclear negotiations

that preceded this bombing. And of course, the U.S. started bombing Iran February 28th when there was supposed to be another round of negotiations just two days or three days later in Vienna. And so, you know, Whitkoff had dealt with Abbas Arachi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, during those negotiations. And one of the things that we've reported is that there was actually much more direct negotiation that took place in these talks between the U.S. and Iran that had been actually reported. And so what we reported is that throughout the course of the previous week, Steve Whitkoff had personally sent a number of textmen

messages to Abbas Arachi, the Iranian foreign minister, and that senior Iranian official said that Arachi ignored them completely and didn't respond to them. She ignored them completely and didn't respond to them. What does this tell you about who's interested in a ceasefire? The rain has already said only the only possibility of a ceasefire is if you follow our list. It's what I wrote last week about the eviction notice. And the eviction notice, you know, the number one is no more U.S. military bases all across West Asia period. This is non-negotiable.

And these past 24 hours, more than that, the situation of the Strait of Hormuz will be completely reorganized from now on. They will install, they already install a tall booth. And this Talbos will continue. It will probably evolve into some charging 10% for each cargo, each tanker, sorry, that crosses or moves, which could bring them over $70 billion a year. And crossing through Iranian territorial waters, Judge. This is what I wanted to start our discussion today,

if it was not because of the South Park tragedy. The Pakistani tanker Karachi that crossed the Hormuz and going all the way to the Arabian Sea final destination of Pakistan, first of all, this is how the Taubuz works. The cargo was paid in Petro-Ewan, not in U.S. dollars. Number two, they paid the toll to the Iranian authorities. Number three, he navigated very close to the Iranian border of the Iranian. the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. So this is how it's going to be from Al-1. You have to follow these two steps. Otherwise, you cannot cross period. How is this playing geopolitically on the countries that are not involved in the violence?

For example, we haven't heard, maybe he's spoken and it's just not covered in the West, a peep from President Erdogan of Turkey. Where is he on this? I'm sure he's plotting some way to take advantage of it. Absolutely. He's hedging, as usual. He spends 24-7 hedging all the time. Because for the moment, Turkey is not directly involved in hormones.

And Turkey, they receive their oil and their gas via the BTC oil pipeline and the BTS gas pipeline. They all start in Baku. And they receive also energies through the blue stream and the Turks stream from Russia. They don't depend on the Persian Gulf. And that's why he didn't say. Are the Turks still selling oil to Israel? Yes, they are a judge.

And the BTC, once again, Baku, Tbilisi, Chehan, to remind all of you our audience. When the oil arrives in Cheyhan in Turkey and eastern Mediterranean, they are loaded into cargoes and they go to Israel. Israel received, it varies at the numbers. It could be between 30 to 49% of Israel's oil coming via the BTC. So Erdogan, if he was directly involved, it's very simple. He could make a phone call to this Cheyhan terminal in Turkey and say, look, don't know, no charging any tankers going to Israel. simple. He didn't do it. Wow. Tell me about BRICS and the effect of what Prime Minister Modi of India recently did on the future of BRICS. Judge, it pains me tremendously to be a realist in this matter. I was born in a BRICS nation and I followed three others very, very closely. And like in 2024, I spent six months in Russia.

Basically, the main reason was because I wanted to follow the preparation for the BRICS summit in Kazan. So obviously, for all of us who defend BRICS as the number one multilateral institution, trying to organize a new system of international relations and going towards a multipolar world, when we see what is happening now, we have to recognize. It's our professional duty to recognize that bricks in deep coma. And it's going to be very, very hard to raise from the dead before the summit later this year in India, which just betrayed bricks all the way. First of all, they betrayed Russia because when Trump told them,

you cannot buy oil from Russia. He said, okay, yes, master, et cetera. And now they had to come back to Russia and Russia said, ah, so you want that royal again, okay, okay, no more. We were giving you a lot of discounts before. No discounts anymore. You have to pay the spot price. And of course, what they did to Iran.

48 hours before the decapitation strike on February 28, Modi was best friends with the war criminal in Israel. And he said that Israel was the fatherland and India was the motherland. So we have a Briggs member. openly aligned with the absent syndicate. If this is not betrayal, what is betrayal? Wow. What would have motivated Prime Minister Modi,

who's not a stupid person, to have alienated himself from what was destined to become the alternate financial capital of the world? Weapons deals with Israel. His personal... and the BJP's organizational and the Hindutvas that they support absolute hatred of Muslims, including Muslims who are part of Bricks. So this explains the very close connection between this Indian supremacism,

which has nothing to do with the deepest India cultured India and Zionism, and of course, the financial interests between the Zionist access and elites in India, including some of the richest entrepreneurs in India. So that's it. They made their choice, Judge. They're going to have to live with it. The problem is, Bricks cannot live with it.

Well, can Bricks exist without India? Yes, they can. So, you know, I would say that a rational decision by Briggs would be to at least suspend India, if not expel them. They won't expel them because they are too polite, especially Russia. But ideally should be a suspension, a reprimand. And people like Lavrov telling India, okay, which side are you one? The case of Saudi Arabia is already settled because Saudi Arabia, it's in and out of bricks on the fence all the time, but after what they have been doing, especially they have been instigating Trump to go all the way against Iran,

one of the full BRICs members. Saudi Arabia should be out of BRICS. And the Emirates is another very complicated case. Emirates are a full member of BRICs as well. And Emirates is once again in conjunction with Israel. and Trump, they are campaigning for go all the way, I guess, Iran. So bricks is collapsing in front of us. It's a very, very, very sad state of affairs.

All right. The Iranians are releasing a statement. Chris, do we have it from the beginning or are we jumping in the middle? Can you increase the size so I can read the print, Chris? Chris. This is a firm warning and a redacta of oil, energy, and gas of the energy and the southern region of the country. As a result of this action, the fuel and gas infrastructure. structure at the origin of the aggression will be set ablaze and reduced to ashes at the earliest

opportunity. We declare the cowardly and criminally aggressive American military and savage child killing Zionist regime. You are compelled to throw your soldiers into their doom and lose your dignity. The throats of your commanders and soldiers are under the boots of the warriors of Islam and the strategic confusion you face the reality of the battlefield is clear. Think about the astonishing. You came with a victory scenario and you are searching for ways to preserve your survival hidden in the underground think tanks. Your end, your bullying is over.

Your era of bullying is over. This is basically, this was in real time that I'm reading this. Yes. basically what you had told us about a half an hour ago when we started this conversation, we should expect. Yes, and it could start tonight, Judge. You could start tonight or maximum two or three days. And they're going to hit all these targets.

And if they do, wow. In terms of hell for the global economy, this is it. Much more than the blocking of the strait of our moves, which is not, once again, to try to introduce a lighter note, when the Iranians say that the strait is not blocked, no, it's blocked for hostile powers. If you follow that three-step that I was outlining a few minutes ago, you settle your cargo in Petro-Ewan, you contact Iranian authorities to pay the tall booth, and you navigate Iranian waters, you can cross the Strait of Hormuz anytime.

Wow. Pepe, thank you very much. As dastardly as all this has become, you are an oracle informing us of all this part before it happens and part in real time. Thank you, my man. Well, nobody's going to sleep tonight, Judge. Nobody's sleeping. Be safe, safe travels.

We'll look forward to seeing you again soon, my dear friend. Thank you. Thank you, Judge. All the best, all the best to our audience. Thank you. All the best to you. Coming up on all of this. 2 o'clock. If you're watching us live in 33 minutes, Professor Glenn Deeson, at 3 o'clock,

the great Phil Giraldi. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.