Judging Freedom - Tony Shaffer: 2023 - Lessons for Biden, Zelenskyy, and Netanyahu

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

In this riveting and insightful conversation, we delve into the geopolitical landscape of 2023 with seasoned intelligence expert Tony Shaffer. As we examine the lessons that the year offers for key world leaders, including President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Shaffer brings a wealth of expertise to the table. From navigating global crises to addressing regional challenges, the discussion promises to illuminate the strategic decisions and diplomatic maneuvers that defined this pivotal year. Join us for an in-depth analysis that dissects the successes, setbacks, and crucial takeaways shaping the political trajectories of these influential leaders in the complex tapestry of international relations.#russia #ukraine #USMilitaryHistory #Israel #Gaza #ceasefire #hostages #Ukraine #zelenskyy #Biden #china #IsraelPalestine #MiddleEastConflict #PeaceInTheMiddleEast #GazaUnderAttack #Ceasefire #Jerusalem #prayforpeace #hostages #Israel #Gaza #ceasefire #hostages #Ukraine #zelenskyy #Biden #china #IsraelPalestine #MiddleEastConflict #PeaceInTheMiddleEast #GazaUnderAttack #Ceasefire #Jerusalem #prayforpeace #hostagesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself and see what good can come from them. Trust me, listening on Audible can help you reach the goals you set for yourself. Start listening today when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash wonderyca. That's audible.com slash wonderyca. That's audible.com slash wonderyca. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here with Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, December 21st, 2023. Our dear friend and my dear friend and dear friend of the show, Lieutenant Colonel Tony Schaefer joins us now. Tony, welcome back and thanks very much for your time. We have talked, of course, granularly, just examining very fine points of what has been happening in Ukraine for much of the year and recently what has been happening in Israel and

Gaza for the past two and a half months. I want to talk sort of big picture about lessons learned, if any. I'm going to start with the premise, and I think you probably agree with me, and we both accepted a paycheck from the government at different points in our lives. The government doesn't learn any lessons. The government continues to do whatever it wants to do, whatever it thinks it can politically get away with. We'll start with Ukraine. How bad a mistake was it for Joe Biden to say publicly a half dozen times, we are with Ukraine for as long as it takes to finance a war, to undermine a peace treaty, which would have saved a half a million lives. How catastrophic historically and domestically was that Biden decision, Tony? The Biden decision was an extension of the Obama color revolution, which really started in

2014. So I don't think Biden has the smarts or the instincts to actually do much on his own. I think he's a, as much as you can have a perfect empty vessel to fill issues and political policies into. Biden's that. Biden is fundamentally, I think he's evil. I don't think there's any way of putting it. He's just the perfect politician. He does whatever he's told based on whatever he thinks is best for him at that moment. And so the extension of the Biden policies are simply a rehashing of the Obama policies.

It's a very interesting observation. And I don't want to get into psychoanalyzing him. I know him. We taught together on the faculty of Delaware Law School. I was full-time. He was adjunct. And in those days, he was a JFK, Scoop Jackson, pro-life, mass attending, conservative Roman Catholic guy, which is what a lot of Democrats were. And now he flows with the wind. Now he's this hard left empty suit that will do what the people around him tell him. And your argument is that it's a fascinating argument. Biden's failures are an extension of the vector that was set by Barack Obama in 2014 when he told Victoria Nuland, go ahead and overthrow the country, overthrow the government. So and then to look at the roots of that,

take a step back, it's like one of those dolls you have in Russia. You know, they stand... Oh, I have one of those. And Putin's on the inside. Right. Yeah, there you go. Taking shells off and off. Right. There's a metaphor for you, the judge. So that's what I'm saying. So it's like

if you go past the victorian newland thing you have to go back to both parties not just uh russia i mean not just the democrats to the uh this the basic agreement the trilateral statement signed in nine in january 94 which created the process of disarming uk. That is that the Ukrainians would give up their nukes and the United States and British and everybody else would guarantee the integrity of the borders of Ukraine. So this is back to 94. And then what did the West do? Immediately it started violating it because one of the tenant agreements,

one of the points of that agreement is that NATO would not move East. And it did almost instantaneously. So let me just stop you. The NATO will not move East is famously either Jim Baker or George H.W. Bush himself. That's right. Mikhail Gorbachev. That's right.

In return for which the Eastern European captive nations were freed and the Berlin Wall came down. And as soon as those two happened, NATO moves east. Yeah. So this goes to, so this is a fairly compact, we could talk about this for a half an hour. But so this is a compact way of saying, yeah, Biden's policies are bad, but it's not his policies. He's simply the guy who's currently holding the bag. And if you trace back from 14 to 94, there was a series of things which really set up the situation where Putin was. I think I'm going to say this and get in trouble. I think Putin was willing to deal with the West. I think that he had every interest in, especially the early 2000s, right after 9-11

attacks, I think there was a real potential for the U.S. and Russia to work together on a number of things. Remember, Judge, we went into Afghanistan usingistan using the old russian uh stands as bases kazikistan uzbekistan the russians were very happy to allow us to use what essentially was their possessions to get into afghanistan i'm not joking about that i mean uh you were there i was there yeah look i remember flying into uh uzbekistan and looking around like, man, there's not much here. And it's like, we're just there to fuel the plane and keep going. And then to Tajikistan, you know, we had a major operation there at the time. And it was a great place. Tajikistan was an amazing place. I remember that place was like an R&R station for us. Well, let me bring you back to this fascinating history that you have recounted for us.

And quite frankly, I forgot that it began in 94, but the touch points are 94, 04, and 14. Your argument is, and don't let me put words in your mouth, Biden is just a continuation of this, a willing continuer of the anti-Soviet, now anti-Russia attitude in the State Department. Because he's no Donald Trump and he's no Bill Clinton, he's not a serious thinker. He would never go against the grain or against history. Okay. I would argue that he's not capable. Even if he had some inkling that he was creating conditions of failure, I don't think he has the intelligence or wherewithal to stop it, especially at this point with his diminished faculties.

So he is, again, you kind of create in Joe Biden, his ultimate vessel to fill, to kind of go with the wind. And he has and then he has no core values to actually measure his actions by. It's like, gee, is my actions, you you know are they in tune in line with what i believe personally because i don't think he believes anything personally he doesn't care he's a he's a kind of a narcissist and so he's just out doing things and yeah the direction of things is not going to be changed by him because the people who basically control him are very happy with him not be not not wanting not needing not caring to change anything as things proceed where they're going, which they're going very badly. All right.

So Matt Miller, I think we actually have the clip, Chris. It's number three. Basically says there's no magic pot of funding. I'll run the clip in a minute. The Financial Times says don't believe it they're going to confiscate uh Russian assets private and Russian government assets in European and American banks and give that money to Ukraine listen to Miller uh and then tell me where you think Ukraine is going number Chris. I can only speak for the administration. I think,

as you know, there are three branches of government in the United States. And speaking on behalf of the executive branch, we absolutely stand with Ukraine. If the funding dries down, is the administration considering anything outside of the box? There is no magic pot of funding that we have available to draw on if Congress doesn't pass this bill. That's not how government funding works. There are funding streams that we can draw on. We have used those funding streams. We have nearly exhausted them.

And over the next few weeks, we'll fully exhaust them. And that's why we need Congress to act. Okay, so if Congress doesn't act, and we know they're home for Christmas and nothing's happening before, I think it's January 5th, that Friday or January 8th, the following Monday. What happens in,

in Ukraine? Let's say the Republicans simply don't act. Yeah. What is this? Does he take secret money from some crazy budget in the Department of Defense that none of us heard of and send a few billion over? Does Zelensky collapse? What do you think? Well, they already hit 800 million in the AUMF, Judge. So there's at least almost a billion there that they threw in there and new funding. That's new. That's not

existing. Okay. AUMF is authorization for use of military force. Yeah, right. The one they just signed. But when you put money in it, it's a slush fund for the president to spend however he wants on defense-related matters. Okay. But this is actually designated for Ukraine. If you look at these line items, there's $800 million in there.

So they threw some in there anyway. I mean, this was a small bump in the Republican circles about 10 days ago when this happened. It's like, yeah, 800 million, nobody got upset about it. And that's a travesty right there. Oh yeah, 800 million, no big deal. Anyway, the issue of funding is that Pentagon and state, lesser state state department does not have the massive amounts of funds that DOD does. DOD has massive numbers. That's why they can never pass an audit. They have so much money.

They are just, I don't know how to describe it. They have so much money. They can't even spend it and what they do spend, they spend badly and without accountability. And so right now, I think the Pentagon, I just had a conversation with a former Assistant Secretary of Defense on this two days ago, and we talked about this. The Pentagon actually has the ability to kind of reallocate current year money. And I think they're going to do a lot of reallocation to get get at least some keep something in there uh pat rider general rider said i think it was five days ago now

time flies that they had something like four billion left uh there's a two or four i can't remember exactly what but it was it was in the billions low billions all right so either matt miller doesn't know what he's talking about because he's unaware of these pots of cash or he's being misleading. But the bottom line is Joe Biden could send a few billion to Zelensky to tide him over until the Congress does something. Absolutely. The winner. This is crying wolf. There's there's no deficit of money. And remember, Judge, the stuff that's showing up there now started six months ago so what they they could say if they were being honest well this is going to upset logistical support six months from now that that was kind of that's kind of like yeah I could almost buy that

but knowing how things actually work probably not it's not going to be a bump in the road things would really start suffering eight months from now that That's when the problem would start. Here's a clip of President Putin in one of his year-end commentaries. The essence of it is that he's willing to talk with the U.S., but he doesn't see any reason to do so. I want you to listen to this, and then I'm going to ask you your opinion for the state of diplomatic relations at the present time between the United States and Russia. Chris, cut number one. Speaking of the United States, we're ready to talk to them too. We believe that the United States is an important and necessary country for the world.

However, their absolutely imperial policy is hurting themselves. It's not even hurting us, it's hurting them, first and foremost, because in the public eye they have to act as an empire. And when they're trying to compromise on something, their voters see this as a failure. That's why the elites are forced to act in this way. As soon as something changes domestically, this would establish the fundamental conditions that would allow them to respect others, to respect other countries, to seek compromise rather than use the force and sanctions. Only then will we see the fundamental conditions to establish full-fledged relations with them.

So far, we see none. Well, it sounds pretty rational to me, Tony. Yeah, he does. And I wish I would love to have a half an hour with you just to dissect that. We don't have that kind of time, unfortunately. But he's both right and wrong. He's right in that, yeah, the American public acts and forces people to do things, but often the American public is misled.

So the very history you and I are talking about, most people don't know about. Right. If Americans understood the fact that, hey, we aren't pure, we aren't we you know, there's that great meme around is like maybe we're not we're the baddies here. We aren't the good guys here. We are not the good guys because we we have not. And I'm not saying the Russians are good guys either. Don't be saying, oh, Tony said they're the good guys. No, I'm going to get in so much trouble. I love when you get like this and so do the fans. Go ahead, be yourself. So I'm just saying it's like nobody is pure here,

but I'm saying that Putin has a rational understanding of the grievances they hold, and the American public doesn't understand why they're upset. I think if the American public understood why Putin's upset, it's like, oh, that makes sense because most Americans understand fairness. And if Americans understood that we, the United States, through a series of Democrat and Republican-led administrations serially broke rules that we agreed to, I think they'd say, well, why don't you go talk to the guy and figure something out? Right? I mean, that's the rational

thing to do. So that's what I think Putin's saying here. It's like, yeah, we're ready to talk when they figure out what they're doing. Bottom line, do we not talk to the Russians? Does Tony Blinken not have the ability or the authority or the intellect or the courage, whatever

you want to call it, to pick up the phone and call Foreign Minister Lavrov and say, let's talk. Yeah, he doesn't. I often make fun of what I call Spanky Banana. That's my nickname for

Lincoln because he used to play guitar in college. That was his band, Spanky Banana No, I'm just kidding, it's a joke Don't take it too seriously I thought we were breaking news here Yeah, I know I said it on the network too

And I got upset Anyway, so Anyway, Lincoln Should be playing guitar in a band somewhere Because he doesn't have the rationality Or fortitude necessary To do the right thing for the right reasons. He's not going to do this. What we're talking about, this is a Reagan move, Judge. You and I have been friends and I've been mentored by a lot of the Reagan guys. This is a Reagan move. Hey, we're going to start having to

do things to make your life miserable, but we're ready to talk. Let's sit down and talk and try to figure out a reprochement that will allow us both to figure out how to coexist. You know, they're a big power. Our policies, by the way, Judge, have turned the Russians from the Europeans as kind of a working relationship to the Chinese who supposedly we're upset with. So the Chinese are going to benefit from the ham-handed and completely insane policies of Joe Biden as expressed by Tony Blinken. So it's kind of like, how do you not see that the guy that you should be talking to is talking to the Chinese and they're going to do a deal and they're going to leave people you're supposed to be working with,

the Europeans, out of the deal and you're not going to win anything. It's not, it's not wise. It's not, uh, Lincoln apparently does not understand chess because what he's doing simply is going to result in them losing a number of very big pieces on the board. And I don't understand why people aren't yelling at him saying you need to stop this. So,

all right. Speaking of Blinken, we will transition to, uh to Israel and Hamas. Here is the Secretary of State in his office or his outer office in the State Department yesterday. Number eight, Chris. Israel has been very clear, including as recently as today, that it would welcome returning to a pause in the further release of hostages. The problem was and has been and remains Hamas. They reneged on commitments

that they made during the first pause for hostage releases. And the question is whether they are, in fact, willing to resume this effort. We believe that, as we said from the outset, Israel has not only a right but an obligation to defend itself and to try to make sure that October 7th never happens again. Any other country in the world faced with what Israel suffered on October 7th would do the same thing. What is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging the end to this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying, demanding, of Hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender.

This is over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. And how could it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the aggressor and only demands made of the victim. All right. So there's another vote in the UN today on a ceasefire. I guess the United States will vote against it again. What are your thoughts, big picture? I mean, can Hamas outlast Netanyahu? And it's not just Netanyahu, because if and when he leaves office, the same mindset or a similar mindset, I think, will likely replace him. Is Blinken the right person at this flashpoint, Tony? So none of, even though Blinken here is fundamentally I think recognizing what some

of us have been saying for a while Hamas is not willing to negotiate in good faith the reason that the last ceasefire broke down is because there was a demand made and I think rightfully so that they remove they return all the women all the women hostages and Hamas said oh we're not going to do that. It's like, okay, fine. We're going to resume combat operations. They went right to it. I think there's a fear by Hamas of the bad press are going to get about some

of how these hostages were treated. I think there was horrific acts, which Hamas could have stopped while they had these people in their care. And that's, I think that's the reason this is not working. Regarding Blinken, though, and his comments, Blinken is a day late and a dollar short. And yeah, this could have been said, should have been said weeks ago,

instead of basically trying to pretend that everything is fine and it's all about the Israelis. The Israelis have made mistakes. Nobody's denying that. At the same time, as Blinken said, the Israelis have the right to defend themselves and make sure that 7 October doesn't happen again. Blinken's the wrong guy to be saying it. Blinken has no credibility with anybody at this point. Think about this, Judge. Since the beginning, since 7 October, they've sent Biden, Austin, him, Jake Sullivan, and nobody listens to him. At this point, they are literally passengers in their own clown car of freedom.

Let me just interject here. They also sent a guy named Amos Hochstein, born in Israel, fought for the IDF, now a dual citizen, Israel, United States, senior member of the State Department, below the radar screen, chief negotiator over there for the United States. No matter who we send, they say, thank you, thank you, we're going to do what you want, go back home. Once the plane is in air, they go back to what they were doing. Am I right? I was on the air the other day with one of the IDF spokesmen and they speak very, oh, we really appreciate the Biden support. But behind the scenes, they're like, yeah, these knuckleheads, get them out of here because they're not going to help. And they don't help because they can't judge the fundamental flaw in the Obama.

I'm sorry, that's a flaw. I shouldn't have said that. The fundamental flaw in the Biden administration and their philosophy is we don't want to lose. Because they don't want to lose, that is we don't want to lose because they don't want to lose. That means they don't want to actually take a side. And because they don't take a side, everybody hates them. Nobody listens to them. So they've created their own condition of failure here. It didn't have to be like this. They could have either gone all in with the Hamas folks saying we demand a ceasefire and then began working that, or they could have gone

all the way with the Israelis and stopped the behind the scenes sandbagging, but they didn't. So they do a little bit here, a little bit there, and it creates the condition of chaos we now see. Nobody's going to listen to them because they're not a good partner to anybody. Got it. Got it. Tony, I wish we had more time, but it is marching on. It's Christmas week. I can't thank you enough for the pleasure and intellectual stimulation of our conversation I don't begin to judge like we just talked about at the beginning. If the American people understood more about why things are the way they are, I think they would probably demand different actions of their politicians. I do. Yes, they would. And I think we are helping with that.

So God bless you. Merry Christmas. And I always appreciate the opportunity. And look, I'm around next week. I'm not going anywhere. All right. I was just going to tell you, you know, we're running some of our best stuff. Oh, good.

On Monday and Tuesday. But Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we'll be doing some segments. I hope you can join us. I'm around. Merry Christmas to you and your family, Tony. Thank you. Thanks, Judge. Great conversation.

Great, great conversation. Coming up, another great conversation. Coming up, another great conversation. One of the biggest brains that we are privileged to attempt to pick. At nine o'clock this morning, Eastern, the great Professor John Mearsheimer. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. I'm out.