Judging Freedom - SCOTT RITTER VISITS DONBAS!

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

SCOTT RITTER VISITS DONBAS!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, January 18th, 2024. Scott Ritter joins us from Moscow along with Alexander Zirinov and Pavel Ashoff, our able and wonderful translator. Scott, always a pleasure, my dear man. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for taking time. Alexander and Pavel, the Donbass. How did you get there? What did you see?

What were your impressions? Well, we drove. Alexander and his good friend Dennis drove me. It's a very, very long drive from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, which is the gateway to the new territories, to Crimea. And we went into Crimea first, crossed the Crimea Bridge. And there we had to wait to get permission to go into the new territories. It's more than just the Donbass. It's Kherson and Zaporizhia, and then you get up to Donetsk and Lugansk. I think the Russian Ministry of Defense was nervous.

I think they like me and they didn't want anything bad to happen, so they were very nervous about letting me in. But because of Alexander's persistence, we were able to go in. I had a very good conversation with the governor of Crimea about, you know, his perspective on why Crimea is Russian, not Ukrainian, and why we'll always be Russian. And I had a similar conversation with the governor of Kherson, talking about, you know, what happened in 2014, the coup that took place in Kiev, you know, what the consequences were for the Russian-speaking population,

why they opposed the Zelensky regime, the Poroshenko regime prior to that, and why they supported the Russian intervention, and why they are proud to be part of Russia today. And that's the important thing, not just in Kherson, but in Zaporizhia and Donetsk and Lugansk. Everybody I met, you know, the United States isn't recognizing Crimea or these four new territories as being part of Russia. I imagine that it will be a very long time if they ever will. But it doesn't matter when you look in the eyes of the Russian people who live there, of the Russian people who are struggling. They know they're Russian. They're proud to be Russian. They believe they belong to Russia. They will always're Russian. They're proud to be Russian. They believe they belong to Russia. They

will always be Russian. And that's a reality that I think the United States needs to come to grips with. You know, we're so proud of self-determination. You know, we're Americans who say, you know, we have a right for this, we have a right. The Russians have a right to be Russian. And they want to be Russian. They don't want to be under the Ukrainian government, this banderist regime that has sought to nullify Russian culture, sought to commit cultural genocide. I was in Mariupol, the city that was devastated by the Nazis, by the Azov battalion, by the fighting that took place. And I saw firsthand, not only the destruction of the city, but the rebuilding of the city, the rebirth of the city, how the Russian government has come in

and they've built a new hospital. They've built new apartments. They're refurbishing damaged buildings. They're going to bring this town back to life. And it's more than just buildings, Judge. The streets are populated with women and children who had to flee Mariupol because the Nazis were trying to kill them, murder. And they murdered many of them, thousands of them. But they're coming back. They're returning to their homes. And their life is returning to normal. You know, you can read about artillery fire, Judge.

You can read the articles about the boom of artillery. Wake up in the morning in Donetsk and hear it yourself. And then look around and see the women, the mothers with their children, walk in the streets. They don't wear helmets. They don't wear body armor. They're living their lives. These are some of the bravest people I've ever met. And they're steadfast in their determination that they are Russia and they will always be Russia. I saw this in Lugansk. They took me to the Alley of Angels, a memorial to the 68 dead children who were killed, again, by the Nazis, by artillery fire. Anybody who thinks that Ukraine will reconquer these territories, you need to go there. And that's why I went there. You have to see this firsthand. You have to meet these people firsthand. You have to look in their eyes. You know, there's that old revolutionary

war thing, you know, wait until you see the white of their eyes. Well, I saw the white of their eyes. I stared at them. I got to meet them. I shook their hands. I felt the firmness of the grip and the steadfast nature of these people. And you can't experience that long distance. You had to go there and see it. And so I'm eternally grateful for Alexander Zyryanov to put his own life at risk. He and Dennis, you know, they're men with families. They're men with aspirations. They're not military men. But they went there because they felt it was necessary for me to see that. And just so everybody knows, Alexander and Dennis also make frequent trips there to provide humanitarian assistance to the people like thousands of other Russians do.

Alexander, my friend, welcome back to the show. It must seem that the Russian people are very grateful that the danger is gone and the parts of this, of the earth that have been Russian Я очень благодарен, что опасность исчезла, и части этой земли, которые были русскими вдалеке, и что эта территория, которая была всегда российской в культурном смысле, теперь стала российской в смысле правовом. Добрый день, судья, я рад приветствовать вас и ваших зрителей. Добрый день, суд course, these territories are becoming legal in terms of the use of Russian laws, but the danger has not passed. The same Donetsk, Scott, witness, we stood and heard explosions nearby.

Yes, these territories are becoming Russian legally as well, and they are now the territories that are governed by the Russian law, but the danger is not gone yet, Я хотел бы, чтобы ваши зрители, жители Лондона, Нью-Йорка, Парижа, Берлина и других европейских городов просто представили, каково это в мирном городе, который бомбят уже 10 лет. Когда, например, семья утром муж провожает жену на работу детей в школу и никто из них не знает увидят ли не вечером кто из них вернется живой домой это происходит 10 лет каждый день а я спонсор леса на запрещает think what it's like to live in a city that is being bombed for decades already. When a family parts in the morning, the husband goes to his job and the family doesn't know if they will be able to reconvene this evening. That's a horrible situation to live in. So it's fair to say that Так что, правильно ли сказать, что Донбасс не из-за деревьев, что украинское правительство продолжает бомбить эти территории,

которые они считают по-прежнему принадлежатой государству. Да, эти территории подвергаются обстрелам каждый день, в том числе и другие территории России, такие как Воронежская область, Белгородская область, совершенно по мирным жителям, бьется неизбирательно, не целясь, просто гибнут мирные жителям бьется не избирательно не целясь просто гибнут мирные жители я только сегодня прочитал новость абсолютно безумную, когда Макрон предложил поставить Украине более дальнобойное оружие, чтобы атаковать Крым и вглубь территории России. И это необходимо остановить. В том числе и ваша передача для этого, я считаю, предназначена. Объяснить людям, что этого нельзя допустить, потому что мы терпеливый народ, у нас очень терпеливый президент Владимир Владимирович Путин.

Но в конце концов терпение у нас может закончиться. Мы, как страна, очень тщательны, и не только российские города окажутся под обстрелом понимает ли жители этих стран что они играют с огнем их их руководство этих стран играет с огнем these reckless statements that they are playing with fire because they are um they're bringing on the verge of world war iii and if it happens it wouldn't be just russian cities that would be under fire scott um how precarious is western ukraine obviously president mccrone's statement was reckless obviously jo, Joe Biden is still trying to negotiate for $68 billion in American aid for Ukraine military out of the Republicans in the House. That's reckless and crazy. But how dangerous was it where you were? And isn't the Ukraine military on its last legs?

Well, first of all, I don't want to exaggerate the danger I was in. The Alexander and the Russian government were very careful to keep me away from the front lines. I'm 62 years old. I'm not a war tourist. And, you know, my job wasn't to go into the trenches. The photograph you're showing there, they did provide a bodyguard detachment because I, you know, my job wasn't to go into the trenches. They did get the photograph you're showing there. They did provide a bodyguard detachment because I, of course, am on the Mirathor's hit list and the Ukrainians have marked me for assassination. Let me just stop you for a second while that's up there. Pavel, what does that mean in the background?

What are those numbers and letters mean in English behind Scott and Alexander? This says, Komsomolskaya Pravda Radio. No, no, on the TV. This reads, Luhansk, the hero city. And 1795, I presume, is the year when it was founded. Okay, thank you, thank you. Please continue. Thank you. Please continue. Thank you for that, Pavel.

We guessed that that's what 1795 meant. Obviously, we didn't know what the Russian meant. Please continue, Scott. How stable are Crimea and Donetsk and those territories? And how fragile is the Ukrainian military? Well, the stability of the areas that are controlled by the Russian government, it's very stable. You know, the Russians, as they advance, behind them comes the Russian government that begins infrastructure development. I have to tell you the roads, as soon as you enter Kherson from Crimea,

the roads become like modern American highways. The Russian government has, you know, made every effort to improve the infrastructure. Homes are being rebuilt. Gas lines are being reestablished. Water lines are being established. The basic infrastructure, schools, hospitals, you know, the basic fundamental elements of government that allow pensions to be paid, you know, roads to be maintained. All this is put in by the Russian government during wartime. So, you know, while the fighting's

taking place at the front, behind them, the Russian government is pushing in and doing this reconstruction. Let there be no doubt that the Russian government is winning. I mean, the Russian government is pushing in and doing this reconstruction. Let there be no doubt that the Russian government is winning. I mean, the Russian army is winning. The Ukrainians are on their last legs. But as I remind people, the bloodiest month of World War II for American forces wasn't June D-Day, wasn't December 44, Battle of the Bulge. It was April 1945 after everybody knew that Nazi Germany had been defeated. That was the bloodiest month because the Nazis fought hardest. The Ukrainians are fighting hard right now. I spoke to soldiers from a unit that suffered 3,000 dead, 3,000 dead leading assaults

in the Adyvika area. And I said, my God, you got slaughtered. They said, no, we killed 20,000 of them. And today the death rate's even greater. I mean, the Russians are losing thousands of men killed, but they're slaughtering the Ukrainians and it's an unsustainable casualty rate for the Ukrainians. They're desperate, they're running out of ammunition and you're going to see increasingly as the Russians push forward, But the Russians aren't in the business of conquering territory irresponsibly. They will recapture the totality of Donetsk right now. About 33% of Donetsk oblast or the republic is under Ukrainian occupation. There's a percentage of Kherson and Zaporizhia likewise under Ukrainian occupation. But the Russians are going to take that, and they may take more territory,

but they're going to do it in a manner that succeeds in their objective, their stated objective of destroying the Ukrainian military, and they're not going to allow unnecessary casualties on their part. So this isn't performance art. This isn't theatrics. This is the hard, cold business of winning a war. It's about killing Ukrainians in numbers that the Ukrainians can't sustain. And that's what's happening as we speak. So the Russian military is attempting to kill the remains of the Ukrainian

military and the Ukrainian military is attempting to kill civilians in these areas. Do I have that correct? You have it correct. First of all, let me just make a clear point. The Russian military isn't attempting to kill Ukrainians. They're slaughtering Ukrainians. They're murdering Ukrainians. They're wiping them off the map. And the Ukrainians in their desperation are attacking Russian civilians because their only hope right now is to draw the West into this conflict. And so they're attacking Russian civilians, both in the new territories, and the city of Donetsk has been shelled mercilessly for 10 years, in Lugansk, in Zaporizhia, in Kherson, but also they're attacking the Crimea,

and they're attacking Russian cities, Belgorod. They're attacking the Voronezh area, and they're not attacking military targets. They're using cluster munitions against civilian targets where there's no military. They know what they're hitting is civilian-related. They're hitting parks. They're hitting schools. They're hitting hospitals. They're hitting markets. What do they hope to gain by this, unless it's just some last act of desperation, some final thrashing out at the adversary? They want a Russian overreaction. They want Vladimir Putin and Shoigu to get angry and to lash out and do some harsh act, an act of retaliation against Ukrainian civilians that the Ukrainians could then say, aha, look what the Russians have done and bring the West in. But the Russians aren't taking the bait.

There will be justice. The justice will be dealt out when Russia wins this war and brings it to an end. But Russia's not taking the bait. They are comfortable with the trajectory that they're on right now. And everybody I spoke to says that they anticipate that the final victory will be sometime this year. Alexander, we had a guest on this week who's a former colleague of mine from Fox News. You may know of this gentleman, Bill O'Reilly. And Mr. O'Reilly argued that the Russian economy is in что русская экономика в шампуне из-за войны и из-за санкций. Это правда? Александр, на этой неделе у меня в эфире был гость,

мой бывший коллега с Fox News, возможно, вы знаете, Билл Орели. Так вот, он утверждал, что российская экономика сейчас в очень плохом состоянии, руинах можно сказать из-за войны в частности вот так ли это судья я думаю что нужно извините что задает вопрос я понимаю все в абсурдность но все же хотелось бы от вас услышать, чтобы вы опровергли то, что он сказал. Я думаю, что ему стоит приехать в Россию, чтобы посмотреть все своими глазами. Я не знаю на основании чего он делает такие заявления. А в связи с этим мне еще вспоминается президент США Барак Обама, который однажды заявил, что он порвал экономику в России в клочья, и теперь это только бензоколонка. Рвут, рвут всю нашу экономику,

никак порвать не могут до конца. Я приглашаю этого журналиста к нам в Россию, я ему покажу нашу экономику, наши предприятия, которые сейчас строятся очень активно, магазины. Ну, все, что хочет, то и покажем. Пусть он убедится, что мы неплохо себя чувствуем. Judge, let me just point out that Alexander Zyryanov is responsible for the economic development of Novosibirsk region. It's the third largest city in Russia after St. Petersburg and Moscow. And it has the largest developing economy. And it's succeeding because of people like Alexander Zyryanov, people who know the Russian economy. They know the world economy better than Bill O'Reilly apparently does. And they know how to survive and not just survive, but to thrive in the environment of sanctions.

We've joked about this before, and I think Alexander will agree with me. It is a statement that people make, and I've heard it many times on this trip. Thank you, Joe Biden. Thank you, Joe Biden, because of the sanctions, Russia has actually become much stronger than it would have been had there not been sanctions. I appreciate all those answers. I want to dwell on the Middle East for a few minutes with you, Since we spoke last, the United States has targeted Houthis in Yemen. Iran has targeted groups in Pakistan and in Iraq. Iraq, and Israel has announced that its troops are going to enter Egypt in order to secure the so-called Philadelphia corridor. Question, are we getting closer to a regional war, all because Joe Biden won't pick up the phone and tell Netanyahu, stop?

Well, that's, of course, the right observation. We are in a regional war already. It's just a war that's been, the escalation of which has been managed by all parties. But, you know, the United States has allowed this thing to spin totally out of control. Let's deal with the Houthis, first of all. You know, I just need to point out that our attacks against the Houthi have not achieved anything. People need to understand that the Houthi have been fighting American intelligence, American aircraft, and American bombs since 2014. And they beat them. They beat the Saudis in a stand-up fight.

They whipped the United Arab Emirates. Two of the most powerful, rich nations in the region, were whipped by the sandal wearing Houthi using modern weapons that threatened to destroy Saudi oil infrastructure, that destroyed Saudi military equipment, et cetera. They know how to survive. We haven't destroyed anything. These guys have gone underground. They have tunnels. They have bunkers. And they continue to hit American ships. We have the vaunted American fleet in the Red Sea can't stop the Houthi attacks and will never stop the Houthi attacks. I don't know what we thought we would accomplish by doing this, but one thing is certain, thanks to American military intervention, the Suez Canal is now closed to Western shipping.

Not all shipping, Russian shipping and Chinese shipping have no problems transiting the Red Sea. That must be frustrating for the American fleet to see Russian and Chinese ships going to and fro without any hindrance. But American ships, Western ships, any ship affiliated with Israel, isn't. They have to go around the horn of Africa. It takes time, money. This is having devastating consequences for the Israeli economy and for the Western economy, for that of Europe. When we speak of Iran and what's going on in Iraq and in Pakistan, the Iranian attacks, understand this, the CIA, and I hope you bring this up with Jack Devine next week. The CIA has been running this covert

paramilitary operation where we are using Baluchi separatists, Baluchi tribesmen on the border between Iran and Pakistan to destabilize Iran. The reason why these attacks are taking place is that these Baluchi terrorists, CIA-backed Baluchi terrorists, assassinated senior Iranian military commanders. So the Iranians are retaliating. The Pakistanis are likewise targeting these Baluchi separatists. In Iraq, the CIA has been working with various groups to undermine the Iranian authorities, and the Iranians are striking back. They're not going to tolerate this.

And again, you know, the CIA's track record recently isn't very good. And all they've succeeded in doing is embarrassing the United States, further strengthening Iran, and further destabilizing the region. And if Israel goes into Egypt, I don't think the Israelis understand. The Egyptians aren't going to back down. If they want a regional war, they'll get one. And this is one where they will literally, look, they've been beaten to a pulp in Gaza. They're scared to death to go against Hezbollah up north on the Lebanese border because Hezbollah will not only whip them, but take over northern Israel. And now they're going to go up against the Egyptian army. I don't know what kind of dope

that the Israeli leadership is smoking, but it must be some really good stuff because you have to be high to think that this is a pathway to success. And it is Joe Biden's fault. One phone call could end this all right now. Call up Netanyahu, tell him to cease and desist in this ridiculous genocidal conflict that they're waging against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and peace will suddenly break out all over. Pavel, I'm going to run a rather lengthy clip now of the American Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, speaking in Davos, Switzerland, and making negative comments about the Russians. So you might want to get your pencil ready so that you can at least summarize it for, I'll stop the dog barking in a minute so that you can at least summarize it

for Alexander. So this is not Maverick judge. It's not Maverick. No, it's not Maverick. It's Chris, not my superstar executive producer, Chris, but my German shepherd Beagle mix, Chris, gets excited.

So this is Tom Friedman of The New York Times interrogating Secretary of State Antony Blinken before the globalist elite in Davos. Александр, сейчас судья запустит достаточно длинный фрагмент опроса господина блинкин госсекретаря сша журналистом томом фридманом из нью-йорк таймс который ходил в довольствием на форуме и когда это закончится я вам кратко перескажу содержание после этого хотел бы задать вам вопрос Okay, here we go. So we'll run the clip. Now, it's obviously in English, and it's long. Pavel, you do your best to make notes and to translate the substance of it, not word for word, the substance of it, especially what he says about President Putin for Alexander. Go ahead, Chris. Putin has already failed in what he set out to do. He set out to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, to subsume it into Russia. PRESIDENT BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF

THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT OF that had been taken from it in February of 2022. The last year, the last part of the last year has been challenging.

But even then, something that got little notice, what Ukraine managed to do in the Black Sea, opening it up, pushing the Russian Navy back and starting to get grain out to the world. It's been the breadbasket of the world. It's gone back to that as a result of actions it's taken. Let's play it one more time for Pavel's benefit Chris Putin has already failed and what he set out to do

He set out to erase Ukraine from the map to eliminate its independence to subsume it into Russia That has failed and it cannot and will not succeed Second Ukraine has not only stood up to the aggression over the past year, took back more than 50 percent of the territory that had been taken from it in February of 2022. The last year, the last part of the last year has been challenging, but even then, something that got little notice. What Ukraine managed to do in the Black Sea, opening it up, pushing the Russian Navy back and starting to get grain out to the world. It's been the breadbasket of the world. Итак, госсекретарь говорит, что Путину не удалось достичь своих целей,

а это стереть Украину с карты, лишить ее независимости и да просто включить ее в состав России силой. Украина противостояла агрессии и достаточно успешно. Вот, например, удалось отвоевать 50% территории, которые Россия захватила в феврале 2022 года. В последнее время все идет не так хорошо, но нужно обращать внимание, например, на то, что Украина успешно противостоит российскому военно-морскому флоту и смогла отбросить военно-морские силы России и восстановить движение зерна. То есть важных результатов добилась в том, чтобы продолжать снабжать мир зерном. Судья, вы действительно думаете, или Блинкин думает, что если бы Россия хотела, она не стерла бы Украину с лица земли?

Вы думаете, если бы мы воевали по-настоящему, Зеленский бы катался по заграницам, у них работало бы телевидение, правительство, здание Министерства обороны, и Киев бы стоял практически целый, как и другие города. Россия не ставила себе таких задач. Вы можете спросить у Скотта, он знает, как воюет армия США. В странах, куда она заходит, не работает ни телевидение, ни сотовая связь, ни радио, ничего. И президент не может полететь в гости к другому президенту или поехать на поезде. И вы можете спросить своего друга Скотта. Он может рассказать вам, как борется армия США. Когда они идут бороться в стране, они уверяют, что там нет телевизионных сетей, нет электронных сетей. He could tell you how the US Army fights. When they go to fight in a country, they would make sure that no TV works there, no mobile communications, no radio. And when they are engaged in a military operation,

the president of that country is not able to go and travel to the president of another country. He cannot fly, he cannot use a train to do that. And in terms of wiping off the face of the earth, I guess this is rather what Israel is doing with Gaza. We don't set such a task, Russia. We are fighting with the Kiev regime, with the fascist regime, and not with the Ukrainian, our brotherly people. It's just that we don't see this as our а не с украинским, нашим братским народом. Если вы посмотрите на жертвы среди мирного населения за два года специальной военной операции. Они меньше, чем в секторе Газа за первый месяц боевых действий. Если вы посмотрите на жертвы среди мирного населения за два года специальной операции, то они меньше, чем в Газе, в один меся случае жертвы среди гражданского населения есть. Это, конечно же, трагедия, но российская армия делает все, чтобы они были минимальны.

И в заключение по поводу того, что Украина отвоевала 50% территории, Я извиняюсь, пожалуйста, продолжайте. Но господин Джонс, на тот момент премьер-министр Великобритании, просто одним своим приказом Зеленскому продолжать военные действия, не подписывать договор о мире, обрек на смерть еще десятки и сотни тысяч украинцев. initially lost to the Russian forces. Well, we moved our troops ourselves, and that was because we were about to sign the peace agreement in March 2022. That would have stopped all of that. But Boris Johnson, who was the UK prime minister at the time, essentially issued an order to President Zelensky to continue fighting, and that led to the unnecessary death of dozens of thousands of people.

Got it. Thank you for that answer, for that analysis. Scott, Professor Sachs was just on with us, and he reported, of course, the Israelis will never acknowledge this, that the deaths in Gaza is now up to 28,000, fewer than 3,000 of whom are Hamas fighters. You have 25,000 civilians slaughtered. Tony Blinken says Netanyahu is going to let up. When Netanyahu speaks to the Israeli people, he says this is going to go on till 2025. Well, let's take a look at those numbers. First of all, it's horrific losses for the civilians, but this is targeted destruction. The Israelis have admitted it, that their purpose is to inflict so much harm on the Palestinian population that they will turn against Hamas, but that's not succeeding. The Palestinian people are rallying behind Hamas. Another 25,000 number we can speak of is the number of Hamas fighters. And that number is actually much larger because

I think there's a dozen or more resistance factions beyond Hamas that operate in the Gaza. But Hamas has 25,000 troops. If Israel is saying they killed 3,000, that number is far less. This means Hamas hasn't even been dented yet. Hamas has inflicted horrific casualties against the Israelis, destroying armor, killing soldiers, wounding thousands. The United States has admitted that no senior Hamas officials have been eliminated. One of the objectives of the Israelis was to eliminate Hamas as a military and political organization. And yet here we are this far into the conflict and Israel hasn't even dented. As soon as Israel leaves one of the areas they destroyed, Hamas fighters reoccupy it.

And then the Israelis have to go back. That is very demoralizing for them. So Israel is a defeated nation right now. Netanyahu is holding on for his political life. But every day that he continues to operate, Israel commits genocide against the Palestinian people. And the United States facilitates this genocide. For your American audience, I hope

they're like me, and when you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, you're ashamed of what looks back because we are all culpable in this genocide. We are to blame. We elected this government. We empower this government, and we're not doing anything to prevent our government from continuing to support this genocidal behavior of the Israelis. Before I let you go, taking us back to Ukraine, there's a lot of disputes going on this week between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and Joe Biden, President Biden, about the $68 billion, whether it be dollars, he wants to send to Ukraine. Let's say he gets his way, Biden. Where will that money go? There's no military left. The society is crumbling. What value will

it be other than to be stolen by corruption? Well, the first thing is right now, Ukraine is bankrupt. They can't pay. And again, I say this to the American audience, my fellow American citizens. It's the American taxpayer that pays the pensions of Ukrainian pensioners. Now, I'm not saying that we should have these old people suffer, but it just shows you the bankrupt nature of the Ukrainian government. We pay the salaries of every soldier, of every bureaucrat, of every civil servant. We pay everything. The Ukrainian economy is non-functioning. And so the $68 billion would go to beef up the Ukrainian economy, to build a safety net for those in need. All the things that American government should be doing

for Americans, we're going to do it for the Ukrainians. Any military aid that goes in there, first of all, we've exhausted our ability to give the Ukrainians new military equipment. We're going to do it for the Ukrainians. Any military aid that goes in there, first of all, we've exhausted our ability to give the Ukrainians new military equipment. We've given it all to the Israelis. If we give Ukraine equipment, we have to build it from scratch. So this money would be sent into American defense industries that would then take months, if not years, to build this equipment. Look, Russia's winning this war. They're going to win this war this year. This is wasted money. And that's what every American should understand. This is doubling down on stupid. We've been stupid up to date with what we provide the Ukrainians.

It should be obvious to everybody now that this is a failed policy. Why would we double down and put $68 billion more into a failed operation that has no chance of success, especially when we have a border. And I don't want to get into domestic politics too much, but we have a border that's just wide open that is begging for investment, begging for some of this money to go down there, a lot of this money to go down there. I don't think this money is going to get out of Congress. I think that Ukraine is going to be out of congress i think that um ukraine is going to be left with a societal collapse that parallels their military collapse and this will bring about the eventual political collapse of zielinski sooner rather than later gentlemen thank you very much alexander

um thank you for the time that you've given us today and the two previous interviews i'll let you translate pavel alexander Александр, благодарю вас за время, которое вы уделили нам сегодня и в ходе двух предыдущих интервью. Спасибо. Надеюсь, удастся посетить вас весной. Обещаю, что если я приеду, Билла Уэйли с собой не привезу. Спасибо большое, судья,umenthal. What a day. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. I'm out.