Judging Freedom - Prof. Gilbert Doctorow : New Pressures on Putin.

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Prof. Gilbert Doctorow : New Pressures on Putin.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle III, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in the supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series.

Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. MUSIC Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, July 15th, 2025. Professor Gilbert Doctorow will be with us in just a moment on what are the new pressures on Vladimir Putin? But first this. We all know how devastating war is. Lives lost, communities destroyed. But war can also threaten your financial freedom. That's where America's heading. Our growing involvement in global conflicts.

It means more spending, more debt, and a weaker dollar. That's a direct hit to your wallet. So here are three things to keep your eyes on. Exploding debt, declining dollar, rising prices of gold and silver. These things are already happening. Goldman Sachs predicts gold could hit $4,500 an ounce by 2026. Why?

Because central banks and smart investors are buying gold hand over fist. They know what's coming and they're hedging against it. Currency collapse, inflation and market volatility. Gold has been a trusted store of value for thousands of years and today we need that protection more than ever. Call Lear Capital now at 800-511-4620 or visit learjudsnap.com. No one is going to protect your wealth for you. You need to do it yourself. And now is the time. Professor Doctor, welcome here, my dear friend.

Thank you for joining us. Are European businesses expanding munitions factories, factories that manufacture hard weapons? Well, they definitely are. And this was featured in the weekend wrap-up program of Mr. Kislyov, the head of Russian state news on his Sunday evening program. He had some very interesting comments on the expansion of various corporations which have factories in half a dozen countries across Europe, which are expanding their physical plant employment

and so forth. Here in Belgium, we had a former Audi factory, which is being converted to munitions production because the Audi pulled out and we had a magnificent property in central Brussels, which will now be doing munitions. This is the easy part of it. And this, what we look at when you hear

about increasing munitions, and this was precisely what the message of the Russians in Mr. Kishorev's program, that, oh yes, they're preparing for a war. Well, the two things that you need for a war, one is the hardware, the second is the software. You need the people. And that's where the whole thing will break down in Europe. But as regards factories, yes, of course, there'll be the attitude. It's very easy to raise money,

particularly in Germany, by taking out loans and giving long-term contracts and promises to the arms manufacturers who were shy of taking on commitments when they had so no long-term purchase agreement agreements with the German government. That's all changing as we speak and therefore the private companies that sell arms to the government are ramping up. It's all true. What countries are doing this besides Germany? I have a few more questions about Germany, but I just want to get big picture. Are munitions companies in Belgium, France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain? Probably not.

But you tell me. Several in Scandinavia. I believe Norway is quite active in this, perhaps Sweden, but as you mentioned, France, Germany of course is the lead, Italy and Great Britain. These are the main actors or culprits in the preparations for World War III, yes. Scott Ritter, whom you know and who's a regular on this show, warns of a German fourth Reich. You agree with that? Is German militarism marching forward steadily under Chancellor Mertz? Well, yes and no. The end result is not so different from what Scott Wood is describing, but how we get there is different. The point is, and I think my other, my colleague Ray

McGovern is the first one to say this, that in Germany, particular conformism and silence in the face of government propaganda is the dominant issue. This goes back 10 years. Ray painted a picture yesterday on this show of German reticence, meekness and silence, which was terrifying if we're at a point where the Germans, like in 1932 and 33, are afraid to speak out against their government and it's a minority government like in 1932 and 33. Where are they going? This is not new. Conformism has been a major feature in a number of countries in Europe. I traveled with business going back to 1980s. I traveled to Sweden very often and And conformism was unbelievable.

Everyone hated the prime minister. I was in a company that had a lot of engineers and they knew that his socialist practices were destroying the engineering universities of the country. It was only when Olaf Palme was murdered at a lunch table in the company's canteen, I heard from my colleagues, oh, I finally got the bastard. They never said a word earlier.

So conformism is not a new issue in Europe. And in Germany, of course, ten years ago, in 2015, I attended as a participant the Schlangenbab Conference, the Schlangenbabb conference, the dialogue, which is a annual event sponsored by the think tank of the socialists, the social Democrats of Germany. I assure you conformism was the order of the day. And anybody who had made a peep that was out of line with the company or the government policy was really made miserable

and sent crying. So it's not new but unfortunately what is new is who's at the top today and Meritz is at the top and Meritz as I've said earlier is the most dangerous German leader since Hitler. Well, Merit is an investment banker by trade. So now you're telling me that the banks will make long-term loans to these munitions factories because the munitions factories have or are about to get and demonstrate the existence of long-term contracts with the government. Where is the government getting this money from? From the banks? Can the German government print cash like the US government does?

Does it sell bonds? Does it raise taxes? What does it do? Well, it can print cash the way the US government does because it's not sovereign at its domain. It is a subject to the rules of the European Union that the European Central Bank, but it can take out loans, it can issue bonds and German credit is quite good.

So I don't think the German government has any difficulty raising this billion, I'm sorry, trillion euros that Merz was talking about and they will do it and they will finance increased military production. However, what this means for a World War III, what it means for confrontation with Russia is not what it looks like.

As I've said before, at a certain tipping point, if Europeans should present a million man army ready to invade Russia, and it should have all those wonderful tanks and other military equipment that the Germans are ramping up to have ready for 2029. The Russians will be using tactical nuclear weapons. No question about it.

So I don't think that Europe can ensure its security by following Mr. Mertz's lead into preparation for a war. Well, then, other than the commercial activity, which might please Chancellor Mertz's former business partners, what is to be gained by this? German's domination of Europe. Germany's domination of Europe. This was— Here we go again, 1933. Well, the French are giving him a little run for the money.

Mr. It was Bastille Day yesterday and Mr. Macron came out and said that he is raising the French appropriations for the defense budget, speeding up the date for doubling the 2017 military budget to 64 billion euros, which is considerable, but it's still about 30% less than the German military budget.

The military leadership of Europe was never in German hands. In post-World War II was never in German hands. In post-World War II, it was never in German hands. The French were left to do all the talking about diplomacy and military matters, they were the nuclear power in Europe together with Britain outside of Europe. Now, the Germans have just taken that claim of being the new military leaders. That's a big change in Europe. I find it hard to imagine that the other countries, Holland for example, will go along with this. That's why they fought World War II.

The Swedes, this to me sounds ridiculous, but I'm waiting to ask you about it since I read it. The Swedes announced a proposal, the Swedes, to raise their maximum draft age from 47, I can't believe you can get drafted at 47, to 70. Are they serious about drafting men and women at 70? Well, I guess they are, if that's what they're declaring and why not? They do have women now serving in the military. This is all in practical terms, it's nonsense. This will not save Sweden from being overrun. This will not save any European country from being destroyed by the Russians.

It's only a means of those who are presently in power of holding on to their power by claiming that there is a dire threat that the country faces and we shouldn't change horses midstream. That old logic. It's a grab for power, nothing more. Is all of this in Europe generally and in Germany specifically putting pressure on President Putin to engage in a preemptive attack, not against people, not against the military, but against the munitions plants? There is such a logic within Russia. Of course, the political analyst Karaganov, going back two years now, is calling for Russia to demonstrate that red lines mean something

and that Europe has to be awakened from its bubble psychology, from its irreality to understand that Russia is a very serious country and cannot be dealt with the way they have in the last 10 years or so. But the pressure on Mr. Putin, I think it's a little bit different from what you're describing. The pressure from Mr. Putin was just applied by Mr. Trump yesterday.

And I'd like to spend a little bit of time on that because I think it's very, very significant. Well, it was my next question to you. This circuitous route, CIA somehow getting this gear, maybe they already have it, selling it to Europe, selling it to Kiev, is this nonsense? Is this window dressing or does the Kremlin perceive this as serious and troublesome?

Well, I subscribe to what Colonel McGGregor was saying on your program yesterday. I think all of these preparations of ship so far unnamed military hardware, a little bit patriot air defense system, will ship it all. This is utterly useless. It will not change the course of the war in any which way. The fact of the matter is they can ship all the tanks they want, all the Bradleys they want, and they are just ignoring the facts on the ground. They're ignoring why the Russians are now using aerial bombardment as their principle means of furthering their cause in the war, rather than ground forces,

which are continuing of course, but the real effort is to blast Ukraine flat. Why are they doing that? Because the new age of drone warfare has meant that you don't have tank battles. You don't even use the tanks out in the field. You hide them in the forest because otherwise a drone will finish them off. Same with the Bradleys. They're completely vulnerable to attack drones. Therefore they can ship from the states, from Europe, all the tanks they want, all the hardware they want to Ukraine, and they'll just be hidden in the forest somewhere. It will not change the stand of the Ukrainian forces versus the Russian forces.

Now what Mr. Trump did was important in a very different domain. The raising the or restarting shipments of arms to Ukraine, that's all good to shut up his critics like Lindsey Graham and the others, the other crazies in Congress. They have to hear that yes, we're continuing, we're using the Biden approved budget and allocation of weaponry to aid Ukraine. They're hearing that. It will not change the war in any which way. But they are hearing that we are going to impose new sanctions, new tariffs, secondary tariffs. They heard that yesterday from Mr. Trump, Mr. Lindsey Graham

and his other 81 senators who more or less have been promoting such sanctions in a bill that's now in Congress. They can be happy that President Trump has agreed to that principle. They can be very unhappy with the time, the 50 days. And there I see the real message to Mr. Putin. And there I see the real message to Mr. Putin. And it's the same message that the same Donald Trump gave to Bibi Netanyahu when early days of the Gaza campaign, he told Netanyahu, just get it over with. Do what you have to do and finish it up. The 50 days that Mr. Trump gave to Vladimir Putin are the same thing. Vladimir, finish it up.

And if Mr. Putin pays close attention to the intent, and if he listens to the patriotic Russians who are saying, Mr. President, finish it up, then in 50 days, it will be ended. Is there, again, you've anticipated my next question, is there pressure from within the Kremlin or the people around President Putin to finish it up ostentatiously and effectively? Ostentatiously is a risky thing because that is inflammatory.

I don't think that he wants that Putin or his circle want to do anything that will so embarrassed Trump that he has to respond irresponsibly. But where's the pressure coming from? The whole country. I think every Russian family now in their dachas, if they're talking politics at all, which is not very likely, but if they should be, of course they want the war to end as soon as possible.

And now that it's no longer primarily a battle on the ground, but is very heavily an air battle, the glider bombs, the swarming drones, the hypersonic missiles, now that it's reached that level, it is technically possible for Russia to demolish the Verkhovna Rada, the presidential administration, one or two Odeshniks, and they're gone. And the Ukraine will crumble. I think there are a lot of people around Russia who would like to see that happen.

Is one of them Vladimir Putin? Not yet. Mr. Putin is a very cautious man. He's a lawyer by profession, and that has many pluses and it has a few negatives. Whether he can be persuaded to do what I just said, not because I'm saying it, because I'm sure he's hearing it from a lot of people. He has context to grassroots. That is one of the unique features of Russian democracy, how well Mr. Putin is plugged into

what people are saying. I hope he listens to them. Do Moscow and Beijing, as far as you can ascertain, fear Trump's threat of secondary tariffs? I don't think for a minute. As regards India, of course, it's going to be tricky. But as regards China, Xi and his foreign minister made it clear when Akaya Kalas visited, I think a week ago,

in preparation for the EU-China summit two weeks from now, he made it clear that under no circumstances can China allow Russia to suffer a humiliating defeat because they know they will be next. But he said this openly. So the notion that they would bend the knee, kiss the ring of Mr. Trump is utterly excluded. Besides, they already demonstrated who has the upper hand in the tariff war with the United States.

Agreed. Agreed on everything you just said, but this undercuts the argument that Putin would take seriously Trump's 50-day warning. But who the hell knows where Trump got 50 days from? Did Putin say, I need another 50 days in the phone call, or did Trump just pull that number out of a hat? No, I think he looked at the Russian war plans. We are now in a big summer offensive, and 50 days of summer is over. That's the logic of it. in a big summer offensive and 50 days of summer is over.

That's the logic of it. Now, Mr. Trump's deadlines tend to get pushed back in an opportunistic way. So I don't think it's just 50 days. It'll be as long as needed for Putin to finish the war. But the big pressure on Putin is to finish the war. If the threat is not so much these sanctions which really nobody can take seriously, certainly with respect to India with China, it is just Mr. Senator Graham who could consider this as something that you can operate, that you can work, it can't. But we do know that Mr. Putin wants to have normalization of relations. Mr. Trump wants to have normalization of relations. And so there is the real pressure point.

This was not said by Trump because he would face a storm of criticism on Congress if he ever said that openly. But the reality is he does want these relations because of the need to cooperate with Russia on various international issues. Iran being just one of many. is one of many. And so Putin will try to exceed to this time schedule simply for the sake of moving on to a detente with the United States. Scott Ritter, whom you know and who appears here regularly, opined by comparing the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian military to a patient in hospice waiting to die. Do you think the Kremlin, perhaps not that terminology, shares that view?

I doubt it. I mean, they're the ones who are fighting, not Scott Ritter or me or you, and they know very well the determination of Ukrainians. They are the same political, religious culture as the Russians are. They are very patriotic. They are prepared for self-sacrifice for the fatherland, which just sounds fine, but try to find a country in Europe where that would obtain today, it won't.

The Russians and Ukrainians are that type of people. And under these circumstances, the Russians have to respect the Ukrainian army, even if they don't respect the Ukrainian government. Professor Doctorow, pleasure, my dear friend. I will be traveling and coming close to where you are, but not exactly where you are. We would have arranged to have a meal together, but we'll be back at the end of the month and we'll look forward to seeing you then. Thank you very much. I look forward to that as well. Thank you. Coming up later today, in fact, if you're watching us live in just a half

an hour, at 11 o'clock this morning, Aaron Mate at one this afternoon, Professor Glenn Deason at three this afternoon, Professor John Mearsheimer at four this afternoon, Max Blumenthal, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. of judging freedom. You