Judging Freedom - Pepe Escobar: Trump, Yemen, and Iran.

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Pepe Escobar: Trump, Yemen, and Iran.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 Wednesday, March 19th, 2025. The great Pepe Escobar joins us. Pepe, God bless you, my dear friend. I don't know where you are, but somewhere that it's midnight on the planet, and thank you very much for your time, of course. My pleasure. I want to talk to you about Donald Trump, Yemen, and Iran. And I'm sure you can provide insight on the connection between the three. We'll start with Yemen. Why is he bombing Houthis? To what conceivable American military advantage is there for killing Yemen's civilians? Or is this a favor to his friend Netanyahu? It is to satisfy the Zionist lobby on both sides, of course, in the Beltway and, of course, in Tel Aviv.

It makes absolutely no sense in terms of American, US national security and US interests. You are picking a fight with a group of fierce warriors that do not bow to anybody from outside. These are the Arabia phallics ultimate warriors, in fact, and they believe in what they're doing and they explain over and over again. There was a proclamation on March 16, if I'm not mistaken, by the leader of Ansarallah, where he detailed in 15 paragraphs at least

why they are doing what they're doing. It's in solidarity with their brothers in Palestine. They see the suffering of Palestinians as the same suffering that Houthis have been subjected to, especially when the so-called coalition, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, etc. were bombing them and starving them as well, and provoking a famine in Yemen in the 2010s. So for them, this is absolutely natural. And they say, look, as soon as Israel stops starving and trying to eliminate the Palestinians, we'll end our attacks against

Israeli ships. And now the Americans come, So now they are attacking us and bombing us and bombing civilians in different governorates across North and Yemen. So now Americans are a fair target. And there were four attacks against the Truman in less than 72 hours. The attacks against the Truman in less than 72 hours. The attacks against the Truman were in response to the Truman's attacks against the Houthis. Had the Houthis attacked American naval or commercial ships before the Truman attacked the Houthis? No, no, they only attack Israeli ships, Israeli owned ships or ships who are carrying anything from weapons to food or whatever to Israel. And this has been stated from the beginning.

You have cargoes, for instance, from Russia or China, who have absolutely no problem to navigate the Bab al-Mandeb and the Red Sea from the beginning. Are any of the ships American? I'm trying to bore down on this because of the nonsense that we heard. We'll play it for you in a minute. Yes.

From Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor, the nonsense that we heard. We'll play it for you in a minute. Yes, Mike Waltz, the national security advisor and from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio himself. Is there any credit? Well, I'll tell you what. Why don't we play what they said and then I will ask

you, okay, any credibility to what they said? Just bear with me. uh bear with me for a second here. Chris, cut number four. Iran needs to hear him loud and clear. It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped. The level of support that they've been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others. The difference here is the Houthis have incredibly sophisticated air defenses and they also have anti-shipping cruise missiles, drones, sea-skimming types of attack drones and other ballistic

missiles even. They've launched dozens of attacks on multiple warships, dozens of attacks over 175 on global commerce, sank multiple ships. I just think the American people need to understand what has happened here. The previous administration had a series of feckless responses. President Trump is coming in with overwhelming force. We will take, we will hold not only the Houthis accountable, but we're going to hold Iran, their backers accountable as well. And if that means they're targeting ships that they have put in to help, they're Iranian trainers, IRGC and others, that intelligence, other things that they have

put in to help the Houthis attack the global economy. Those targets will be on the table too. I didn't hear him say that American ships enable their commercial works. Of course not, because they are not in June. They're not any, no. There are some Brits, of course, dodgy ships with dodgy flags, of course, and Israelis. Very, very important. What gives the game away, Judge? It's about Iran. Everybody knows that.

And everybody in the Arab world, the Arab street, the lands of Islam and the global south, they know this is about Iran. And the fact that, and it's even worse than Iran, it's about the axis of resistance as a whole. Ansarallah is a member of the axis of resistance with Hezbollah, with several militias in Iraq, and IRGC in Al Quds Force in Iran, of course. Of course, they are Iranian military advisors in and out of Sana'a, for instance. But very, very important, the Houthis are completely independent.

They develop their own weaponry with, of course course help from Iran over the years. And now they are completely self-sufficient. They don't need anybody. They don't need Hezbollah, they don't need Iran, they don't need anybody. And the most extraordinary thing is that they managed to do all that under siege by the Saudis, especially the coalition. They have been at war, the Saudis have been at war against them all the time. The country, Yemen, the country is subdivided at least in three different areas. For instance, the island of Socotra in the south, which is, we call it the Golden Triangle because it's an extremely strategic area

near the Red Sea and above Almandeb, and the Emirates basically are occupying Socotra. And the Hadramut area as well, it's Saudi influence. And more or less roughly, what we would call North Yemen is more or less organized and controlled by the Houthis. So the country is fragmented, splintered, under war, fighting a coalition, and they defeated everybody. The Saudis had to accept a ceasefire years ago.

Here's Secretary of State Rubio. Tell me if you hear him say that the Houthis have attacked American ships. Chris, number six. Well, we can't ignore. And the reason why the president mentioned Iran is because the Iranians have supported the Houthis. They provided them intelligence.

They provided them guidance. They provided them weaponry. I mean, there's no way the Houthis, OK, the Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran. Don't keep supporting them because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping. Oh, so now if you support an entity, you're responsible for what the entity does. Genocide in Gaza, murder in Ukraine.

genocide in Gaza, slaughter in Ukraine. But what Ruby is saying is typical arrogance, ignorance, isn't it? Well, all of us who came from the global south, which is my case, we are used to it for decades, in fact. It's extremely arrogant from the part of mere functionaries of the empire to mask their ignorance about, for instance, this part of West Asia. They have absolutely no clue about the importance of Yemen, of Yemeni civilization, of Yemen cultural achievements, of the fact that the Houthis are self-sufficient on practically everything. And on the case, very, very important, the case of the relationship of the Houthis

with Iran and Russia, very, very important. Both of them BRICS members, linked by a comprehensive strategic partnership. For instance, the Russians, they talk to both sides. They talk to the so-called government in Aden, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, and they talk to the so-called government in Aden, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, and they talk to the Houthis. Last year when I was in Moscow, there were two different delegations from Yemen coming to talk to the Russians. The Russians talked to both of them.

So, you know, this is called diplomacy. It's something that Waltz and Rubio obviously have no idea how it works. Speaking of diplomacy, whatever emanated from the two and a half hour telephone call between President Trump and President Putin, can it properly be characterized as a ceasefire? No, definitely not. It's an, I would say, a tentative sketch towards a possible ceasefire, assuming the sweaty sweatshirt in Kiev accepts it, and it's not a given. He says, in fact today, a few hours ago, he said that he accepts no attacks on energy infrastructure. And this is very, very important because this is what Putin basically made Trump understand that the Ukrainians have been attacking Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant over and over again. And the ramifications can be absolutely terrifying. And it's obvious that Trump understood that.

So this is the meaning of the 30-day pause on missile attacks against energy infrastructure. This is called for Zaporizhzhia. Didn't the Ukrainians attempt to attack Russian energy infrastructure within six hours of the announcement of the agreement, which in fairness to them they hadn't yet accepted? They haven't yet accepted formally, absolutely. And don't forget that the original plan for Kursk, Judge, was to capture the Kursk nuclear power plant. Wow.

Which was, in fact, this was scotched by the Russians in the first few days of the so-called Kursk offensive. So this is extremely, this is the most important nexus of the so-called beginning of a ceasefire as it stands. Witkoff says that this weekend in Saudi Arabia, they're gonna start talking about the technical teams. We're gonna start talking about the details. This is what everybody wants to hear.

Okay, explain to all of us the technical details and whether the Ukrainians will agree to these technical details. How significant was it from your perspective, the President Putin donned military fatigues went directly to Kursk and on national and international television ordered his generals to end this siege and it sounds like they have. Absolutely and the effect was electric on Russian public opinion across the spectrum, even people who are, I would say, viscerally opposed to the SMO, like the liberal totalitarian gang in Moscow, which is very, very powerful, includes a lot of oligarchs,

includes the upper middle classes, etc. But this galvanized Russian public opinion, includes a lot of oligarchs, includes the upper middle classes, etc. But this galvanized Russian public opinion, because Kursk, if we go back to 1943 and all that, Kursk is sacred Russian territory for everyone, for several generations. And of course, the fact that he don't military for the takes only the second time since the beginning of the SSMO 3 years ago. Also extremely important. And everybody got the message. You could see the face of Gerassimov when he met Putin and

shook his head. Gerassimov was like, wow, the big guy is here and we have to deliver. They did. They are delivering. You know, in fact, Kursk now it's practically solved the whole case. And there's no explanation coming from Kiev that can justify. They killed at least 70,000 Ukrainians for nothing, for absolutely nothing. Are there fighters, I don't know what you want to call them, soldiers of fortune, contractors, freelancers, they're not Ukrainian, they're not wearing Ukrainian uniforms inside Kursk, who will be killed summarily even under Geneva. Well, the ultimatum expired on Monday.

And Putin was straight to the point. Look, it's surrender or die. Medvedev re-explained that on his Axe account over and over again. So it's very, very simple. Those who haven't surrendered will be exterminated. And Trump's very specific pledge about those soldiers who are in Kursk and all that. Trump was referring to NATO advisors in Kursk. There are at least 30 of them. We still don't know what happened.

They'll die. If they don't surrender, they will. When you say NATO advisors are they troops of NATO countries? High level advisors to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and everybody knows where they are Russian intelligence know where they are those they are in Kursk, sorry, those they are in Lviv, those they are in hotels and near Odessa, you, they know where they are everywhere. Getting back to the conversation between President Trump and President Zelensky,

are the Americans, particularly Steve Witkoff, trying to spin this conversation? this conversation? Well, it's for us independent analysts, we cannot guarantee anything in terms of spinning because the American government in general is a tower of Babel of narratives. It's absolutely fascinating. It's a kabuki of masks of different narratives inside a gigantic matryoshka. Which is exactly... Wait, inside a gigantic what?

Matryoshka. You know those matryoshkas in Russia where you have, you know, we start with Putin and then, you know, there's one... Oh, the eggs. And then you get a little bit one. Oh, the eggs. And then you get a little bit of the great thing. They look like eggs. OK, somebody gave me a gift. Yes, yes. I didn't realize the name was Matrioshka. Matrioshka, exactly.

So the American government can be seen as a giant Matrioshka as well. Witkoff is well, as a real estate billionaire, he's very good at spinning, and he's very good at creating narratives, and he's very good at boosting his own narratives. Even sometimes they clash against each other. So there is an element of wishful thinking, but there are some nuggets inside everything that was leaked and everything that was printed in both transcripts, the White House transcript and the

Kremlin transcript. They are not the same. They are slightly diverse, but very, very important. When you read the Kremlin transcript, the most important point in the whole conversation is if our Russian national interests and the intrinsic reasons for the beginning of this war are not addressed, we cannot have not only a ceasefire, but a return to high level relations,

diplomatic relations between the US and Russia. And this is something that Trump heard from Putin during this over two hours, Judge, in terms of a conversation between presidents is very long. And I was particularly interested in what did not leak, not a word about Iran. And obviously, they discussed Iran, because everything that is happening at the moment, because of pressure of the Zionist lobby,

because Trump has to know that Iran and Russia have a strategic relationship that they signed in late January in Moscow. Both are BRICS members, a particular Trump peace, who's leaked to his advisors and even to his friends in the press, he hopes for the Nobel Peace Prize, who reopened up negotiations with his counterpart in Russia, who spent two and a half hours on the phone with him, who wants to engage in a grand reset, Russia, China, the United States, Brazil, India. How can the same human being unleash Netanyahu to resume slaughter and genocide in Gaza? Well, we would need an anthropological, sociological analysis of the highest caliber, just to answer your question the way it should be answered. Our short answer, all of us, is that the power of the Zionist lobby is what that character,

Mielekowski by the way, his name is not Netanyahu, his name is Mielekowski, from Poland said, we control everything in Washington. And yes, they do. And not only in Washington, in Washington and in transatlantic relations, and in most of Europe. Wow. And you cannot escape them. Everybody knows that. And they know that everybody knows that. And they still get away with it.

I'm going to bring you back to where we started, which is bombing the hooties. Ian, because I love you so much, I'm going to play something for you, which one of your colleagues said that he is a big fan of yours. I won't even tell you what it is. You'll know in a second. And he's really on fire. Some of this is humorous. Much of it is quite profound.

Chris, cut number one. Because Donald Trump ordered a bomb that blows up with greater explosive force in the bomb that was dropped under Biden. Trump is an idiot. I hate to say that. And my wife is going to be very

mad at me for saying this. But this is the kind of stupidity that it just makes me feel like that blows up with greater explosive force in the bomb that was dropped under Biden. Trump is an idiot. I hate to say that, and my wife is gonna be very mad at me for saying this, but this is the kind of stupidity that a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said, Mr. President, stop, cease and desist. The Secretary of Defense has to do an intervention and say, please don't do this.

You are making us look stupid. You're putting us in a bad situation, and it's unbecoming of the commander in chief to speak in this fashion about conflict when American lives are on the line. Mr. President, shut up. And that's what he needs to do. Shut up. If you're going to drop bombs, drop bombs. But quit pretending that because you're Donald Trump, the earth shakes greater because you dropped the damn bomb than somebody else. The bomb blows up and you know who doesn't care? The hootie. All you can do is drop bombs and your bombs won't stop them from firing missiles.

And then you want to now threaten the Iranian people the same way. It isn't going to work, Mr. President. What's going to happen in one of two things. One, you're going to look foolish because you're going to have to back down when your secretary of defense says, we can't escalate any further without putting 700,000 boots on the ground. That's a major invasion that will cause the entire region to blow up. Oil prices will spin out of control and your economy will crash and you're finished, Mr. President, you're done. Everything you're trying to do, the American people will not tolerate $120 oil because they can't economically. All the changes you're making are predicated upon a foundation of economic stability,

which will not be here if you throw oil security, energy security out the window by going to war with Iran. Stop it. Scott totally nailed, Judge, totally nailed in detail. And on the massive financial crisis, And on the massive financial crisis, if the Straits of Hormuz are blocked, and obviously the Pentagon has already gained that, and many of us, years ago, we were writing about it, this will be the collapse of the gigantic pile of derivatives, and the barrel of oil won't be 100, 150, 200. It can go as far as 500 according to Goldman Sachs projections. Oh my god. It's absolutely suicidal if that would ever. And you know what that will do to the price of gasoline at the pump here in the U.S. Of course, of course. Something unheard of and never seen across the United States. So the key question probably is this something out of Trump's warped imagination?

Or was he forced by, I would say, extremely powerful deep state actors to act this way. For the moment there's no answer to this question. That is a question the answer to which potentially terrifies me and terrifies everybody listening to us now. If the President of the United States was forced to do something against his will, either by deep state actors or by the Zionist lobby or by both. Exactly. Exactly. I'm going to play one more clip for you to show you how pervasive that lobby is. The FBI is the country, theoretically the country's foremost law enforcement agency. Its job is to enforce

federal domestic federal criminal law. It has nothing to do with anything else. Oh Just ask their new director cut number 13 You will see what we did with israel and the prime minister and our special forces in their intel operation We will be standing side by side with them. We will shut off the machinery that feeds money into Iran. We need America to wake up and prioritize Israel. We need to bring home Americans and end this war, bring home Israelis and make sure we stand by our number one ally in Israel and people need to wake up.

Thank you, director of the FBI. Maybe maybe he's been hanging out with Ben Gavir who was and I guess is coming back as the director of the domestic law enforcement in Israel. He's the number one genocidal psychopathological in Tel Aviv. No question. Absolutely. For him, everybody is a malec, including the population of the United States of America. Wow. Pepe, you're strong and you're right on the mark. Be well, stay safe. We'll look forward to seeing you next week. All the best. Next week is going to be a bomb, George. Just wait. Whatever

surprises you have for us. Thank you. Yes, a huge one. Thank you. Thank you so much. All the best, my man. Wow. What a terrific, uh, profoundly courageous, utterly brilliant human being coming up at three o'clock. Phil Girardi, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. MUSIC