Judging Freedom - Scott Ritter - Ukraine Russia War UPDATE (1)

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, June 14, 2022. It's about 1.30 in the afternoon here on the East Coast of the United States. We are joined today by one of the superstars of Judging Freedoms guests, Scott Ritter, who really needs no introduction to any of you. He is, of course, well experienced in military intelligence, in military fighting, and in searching for weapons of mass destruction. And he has been our go-to guy in analyzing the politics, the intelligence, and mainly the military realities on the ground in Ukraine. Scott, always a pleasure. Welcome back to Judging Freedom. Well, thank you very much for having me. How are things looking from the perspective of the Ukraine government and its efforts to maintain the territorial integrity of Ukraine

as it stood before the Russian military incursion began? No, I mean, there can be no doubt now that Ukraine is going to suffer significant territorial loss, not just the Crimea in perpetuity, not just the Donbas, but also at least two oblasts or regions, Kherson in the south coming out of Crimea and then Zaporizhia in the east. The Kherson bridgehead, of course, secures water supply and water resources. It provides a security buffer for Crimea. And the Zaporizhzhia helps complete the land bridge connecting Crimea with Donbass and the Russian Federation. The Russian government has already said that these are irretrievably lost to Ukraine.

They will not be getting them back. And if the war continues, there's a good chance that Russia may continue to take territory in Odessa to not only secure the Black Sea from any potential threat posed by Ukrainian missiles operating out of the Odessa region, but also to bring to an end once and for all the question of Transnistria, the pro-Russian enclave in Moldova right now, which is isolated and under threat from Moldovan, Ukrainian, perhaps Romanian forces. So Russia may go ahead and just say, hey, we're tired of playing games. We're going to go ahead and complete the arc. And that's that. Now, the Ukrainian government recognizes that it has lost these territories in the short term. They still labor under the belief that there will be this magical counter attack that will throw Russia out of Ukrainian territory, liberate Crimea, and send Vladimir

Putin packing. But as things stand today, reality is more on Russia's side than Ukraine's side. Does Vladimir Zelensky and do the people around him understand the reality of what you've said? In other words, is it just a fantasy? Is it a political stunt that they're saying we're going to get Donbass back? Or do they know it's gone forever? It's hard, again, unless I was sitting with them, it's hard for me to ascertain what their state of mind is. I would say that if they don't believe they're going to get it back, then what they're doing right now and prolonging the suffering of Ukraine and the suffering of the Ukrainian forces is criminal. I mean, there's one thing to resist to the bloody

end. You know, American history is full of it. You know, we have, you know, the Alamo. You know, we have the brave resistance of Little Round Top with Chamberlain's second main holding on. We can, you know, we can go on and on with stories of American troops holding out in hope. And maybe the Ukrainians believe that somehow this open-ended lend-lease military assistance from the arsenal of democracy will, if only Ukraine can hold on, help turn the tide.

But as things stand right now on the ground, it's very dark, it's very bad. And even the Ukrainian leadership understands this. Okay. Darkness and evil, badness, as you call it, on the ground. Does the reality of that resonate with the globalists in Western Europe, the NATO folks, the foreign ministers of the NATO countries, and most especially with Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of State and Defense, and those who provide advice to President Biden? I think it's beginning to. Look, Blinken and Austin, I think a long time ago, went over to the dark side. And what I mean by that, again, it's Blinken and Austin, I think a long time ago, went over to the dark side.

And what I mean by that, again, it's one thing to say we're going to help Ukraine defend and that there's a viability to that defense. You know, sacrifice and defense of a cause is never futile if you believe that that cause is just and you think you're going to win. I don't happen to believe that the cause of defending Ukraine is just, but I respect those who do. But if you are simply causing, trying to extend the suffering of a nation, Ukraine, and the sacrifice of a people, the Ukrainians, simply to achieve a political goal of causing Russia pain, then that is not only cynical, it's criminal. And I think that Biden is surrounded by people who are willing to sacrifice Ukrainian life and the national viability of Ukraine for this goal of causing Russia pain. Now, on the other hand, I take a look at Europe. Jan Stoltenberg is a Norwegian

diplomat from the old school. That means he doesn't go out in public unless he has a finely pressed suit and tie, cleanly shaved, shaving lotion on, looking good. He looked like dirt when he appeared before the press today, unshaven suit here. The man's in a panic, absolute panic. And he understands that NATO is going down. NATO has bought into this proxy war. NATO has invested its military viability. I mean, NATO has given Ukraine its artillery, its armor, its vehicles, and Ukraine is losing. So Stoltenberg today is, well, maybe we need the Ukrainians to give up some territory and agree to a peace plan because he recognizes that it's game over right now. Did he actually say that today? You're talking about the Secretary General of NATO, right?

Of NATO. Yeah. No, he said it's time for Ukraine to start considering giving up territory for peace because it's over. Why would he say that publicly instead of on a phone call privately with President Zelensky? Would Zelensky not take the call? I think he's saying it publicly to set the stage for what's about to happen in Brussels. Right now, there's going to be a meeting in Brussels. Lloyd Austin is coming. It's going to be other, I think Ben Wallace from the UK is coming. And this is to consider the fantastic, and that's in quotations, shopping list that Ukraine has presented to the West, 1,000 artillery pieces. The United States military doesn't have 1,000 artillery pieces in its active service.

And they're saying, we need the West to give us the equivalent of every artillery piece in America. You need to give it to us now. You need to give us 500 tanks. Great Britain, Germany, and France together don't have 500 tanks. And yet Ukraine's saying, you have to give us all this weaponry and multiple launch rocket systems. And so I think he's setting them up for,

the reality is Europe can't do that because if Europe gives Ukraine this, in a losing cause, because Ukraine can't win, then Europe literally will have nothing, nothing. So his requests are unrealistic. Does the man in the Oval Office understand that? Does Lloyd Austin understand it?

Does Tony Blinken understand it? And if they do understand it, will they say, Mr. President, this is a losing cause. We can't give them any more because it's all going down the tubes. Well, I think that's the meeting. They have this meeting coming up, I think, on the 15th. And I'm thinking that's going to be, you know, of course, politicians are never that direct. You know, they will spin anything six ways from Sunday. But I think the momentum coming out of this meeting will be one that is propelling Ukraine

towards a negotiated peace, as opposed to propelling Ukraine towards a defiant resistance until the last breath. Okay. This morning, the Daily Mail reported that Ukraine fired missiles 40 miles into Russia, ostensibly to destroy a Russian military installation at a place called Klincy, K-L-I-N-T-S-Y. And this was either preceded or followed by some sabotage of the areas of the military base that were not destroyed by the missiles. How dangerous is this, if true, that the Ukraine has gone on the offensive and it's 40 miles into Russia? Well, I would be careful about calling it an offensive. An offensive implies a major

military operation that's sustainable. This is more like a raid. They've gone on the offensive and for the first time fired onto the other side of the Russian troops into Russian territory. How does Putin react to this? Oh, I mean, the Russians will react decisively. You know, Putin has said that, you know, we that this is again, I try. You understand the law and sometimes how words have meaning. A special military operation is not war. If this were a war, all's fair. Ukraine, you want to hit us?

We hit you. Fine. It's not a war. This is Russia's special military operation designed to punish Ukraine for its criminal activities in the Donbass for the past eight years. It killed 14,000 Russians. That's the Russian perspective. As such, Ukraine doesn't have the right. Ukraine doesn't have the right to strike Russia.

You don't. Just like a criminal gang with the cops coming at them. What, you're going to attack the police station? You'd expect the cops not to triple down? No, Russia's told Ukraine, you don't get to hit us. If you guys are in the wrong, take it like a man. You can fight us on Ukrainian soil if you want, but if you bring it to Russia, it's game, set, match. We're coming

after you. So I expect to see Russia starting to take out what they call decision-making centers in Kiev. Russia has warned Ukraine not to do this. They said, if you do this, this is a game changer. And now they're going to start killing people. I don't think this kills the ones who are right off the bat. Suppose those missiles that landed in Klinsk, 40 miles east of the Russian-Ukraine border, say on the maiden USA. Well, then we're going to see. I would advise Lloyd Austin not to travel to NATO, uh, because NATO headquarters will become a smoking hole in the ground. So Ramstein air base, which received it, uh, also the military, uh, uh, conference facilities

in Ramstein where they host these, uh, coordinating committees, uh, in any place in Poland and elsewhere where intelligence information is shared with the Ukrainians. Uh, the Russians know all these locations, and they've said straight up, if America is involved in providing Ukraine with weaponry that hits Russia, then we will destroy those aspects that brought those weapons to us. You know Ramstein, and I know of it. It is probably the most significant American military facility in all of Europe for a variety of reasons. You've just touched on the military, intelligence, diplomatic, medical. Would the Russians attack

Ramstein and not expect something back from NATO and us? Well, they'll attack Ramstein. And if NATO wants to escalate, Russia will be ready to escalate. Russia doesn't do anything half-cocked, meaning that they're not going to do something and go, oh, we're not aware of the potential consequences. Russia has informed everybody what it will do. Russia doesn't bluff. Don't know how many times I have to say that. Russia doesn't bluff. So when they strike, you know, NATO, put on your big boy pants, throw a punch back. But Mike Tyson's coming at you, buddy. He's going to be pounding you down till you're down.

He's going to throw you out of the ring. He's going to jump over the ropes and he's going to keep hitting you because he started this. All right. From your former colleagues, any information or analysis on your part about Putin standing with his inner circle and with his own intelligence community? You always get the rumors, the whispers, but the reality is Putin's never been stronger. He's winning. The military is looking good. His intelligence services are

finally looking good. The people are solidly behind him. There's zero indication of any unrest in the Russian ranks. How much longer can this go on in light of what you've just described and in light of the events of the past week or so? Russia is willing to take this, go as long as needed. Again, Russia's goals are not driven by a calendar. They're driven by casualty figures and objectives. They aren't going to sacrifice a large number of men needlessly. take? We've just been told that Ukraine has entered a new mobilization where they can have up to a million men mobilized. How many of these can receive training? Are they going to be willing to fight? How much equipment can they absorb? On what time level? I think when you look at this equation, the Russian numbers are solid. The Ukrainian numbers are problematic um I'm not saying Ukraine can't drag this this out for another several weeks months I'm saying that it's unlikely Ukraine will be because for instance to give you an example on the artillery front

um all of their Soviet era artillery is out of ammunition they've got nothing left so the only only artillery pieces that can fire nowadays are the ones that they've received from the West. And while those are capable, there are fewer in number. What you have just told us in the past 15 minutes does not appear in the mainstream media. The American public doesn't know that. Our listeners are privileged to hear you and to understand this version of events. Does the American CIA have an understanding similar to yours? Do they still leak falsehoods to the media? Do they still tell Joe Biden what they think he

wants to hear rather than what they know to be so if those two are different. Again, I haven't seen the presidential daily briefing, so I don't know for sure. You know the way these people operate. What I think is happening here is at the lower levels, the CIA has, first of all, the CIA has some of the best intelligence collection capabilities in the world. So they have the data available. They have some of the finest analysts in the world. So they have the data available. They have some of the finest analysts in the world. So the analysts know what the truth is. The problem comes when you push the analysis up to middle management. And middle management's job is to balance between accuracy and perception. And right now, you have the Biden administration saying, we need to create the perception of Ukrainian success. Therefore, we can't allow truth to come up and cloud this. So they're suppressing the truth,

meaning that the analysis is being stuck at middle level, being manipulated, et cetera. When it comes up, the manipulated stuff is being leaked to the press. This is why you're getting garbage in the American media, because as Biden has said, and I always refer people back to his July 23rd conversation with Afghan President Ghani, where he told Ghani, I don't want to hear about 20,000 militants coming across the border. I don't want to hear that you're losing and that if we leave, you'll collapse in a week. What I want you to do is get on TV and tell everybody it's all going to be okay, because that's the perception we have to be. And he ordered them to lie. The president of the United States ordered him to lie.

That's the kind of man we're dealing with in the White House today, a liar. How do professional intelligence officers feel when their truthful, accurate, painstakingly acquired data is being tortured for political purposes and not making its way to decision makers? You know, the younger they are. We know about Phil Giraldi. He's a hero. Are others like that? Well, here's the thing. Today, in this overly politicized environment, if you're a young analyst, you've either made a decision that you're going to hold your nose and take it out and get your pension, or you're going to quit. You're going to resign. But you're too junior to have an impact on politics. If you're a mid to senior level guy, you've got an important career decision making.

You've already invested a lot of time into this career field. You have a wife, you have kids, you have a mortgage. Are you really going to throw all that away to play hero on TV where you get five minutes of fame and then your career is ruined for life? These guys have been holding their nose for a long time because they bought into the system, they bought into their careers, and they're going to continue to promulgate the lies. Unfortunately, the intelligence business is a career field, not a field where honor, integrity matters anymore. They must be known to Antony Blinken and to Bill Burns, I think that's the name of the fellow that's the head of the CIA, and to Lloyd Austin. They must know about this. They've just been around too long not to know about it. How truthful are they with the president?

Can this president, for all of his deficiencies, take and accept the truth with respect to Ukraine and Russia. This is Joe Biden who spent 47 years in government learning to lie. So this isn't some novice coming in. This isn't Mr. Smith goes to Washington sitting there going, oh gosh, you mean there's a truth out there? This is the ultimate liar. This is the ultimate, you know, schemer coming in. And he's meeting with Lloyd Austin, a man who rotated out of the Pentagon into defense industry and back. So he's a player. Blinken's been a player his whole life. Burns is a player. And there's a bunch of players sitting down. There's no deceiving each other. Biden's just saying, you know, we got to shape this information to create perception. And Austin's like, yeah,

we can do that. Blinken's like, yeah, we can do that. Maybe Burns is the only honest man saying that might not be a good idea. But other than that, no, these are all players, people who have sold their integrity years ago. They wouldn't be where they are today if they hadn't. One of our emailers says, the U.S. public are the most propagandized citizens in the world. Agree? They allow themselves to be. I mean, we have the ability not to be. We have the training. We have the history.

We have the constitution. We shouldn't be. But if we allow ourselves to wrap ourselves in a cocoon of comfort, and as long as the government doesn't rock that cocoon of comfort, we're willing to keep floating down the path, then yes, we will be the most heavily propagandized.

But I have faith in that. Your viewers aren't heavily propagandized. They're people who want the truth. And I believe there's lots of other people out there. My viewers flock to judging freedom because we present you, Colonel McGregor, Bill Giraldi, and others who are iconoclasts. They're willing to say the establishment's been wrong. They've been wrong all along. You've been doing it all along.

Here's the truth. I mean, the numbers are going off the off the charts as you uh as you say all this look i i you say when will what you say be stated by mainstream media at unfortunately it's going to take mainstream media as a business they're not in the business of telling the truth they're in the business of selling advertisement. So they need to create news that's entertaining, not news that's informative. Unfortunately, you know what it takes to wake people up? Pain. It takes pain.

And we're heading down pain highway right now. The economy is in trouble. We're going to be embarrassed abroad. And I think most Americans are going to wake up and say, you know, enough is enough. It's time we get back to basics. It's time that we become good citizens at home and good citizens abroad. And good citizens abroad doesn't mean that you're weak and effeminate. It means that you're strong, firm on your principles, but you're not there to bully people. We act like bullies. We're not the neighborhood friend. We're the neighborhood bully. We're paying a price because we're a weak bully right now.

We've believed our own, like most bullies, we believe our own propaganda. We stopped going to the gym. We're not lifting weights. We're not doing our cardio. And some lightweight boxer is going to come in and clean our clock on round two. Scott Ritter, nobody says it like you do. It's always a pleasure, no matter what we're talking about. The people that are loyal to judging freedom are just crazy about you, as am I.

Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much for having me. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.