Judging Freedom - Ukraine Offensive Confirmed - What to Look For - Tony Shaffer fmr CIA

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

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Thanks for watching! Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, June 15th, 2023. It's about 11 o'clock in the morning here on the East Coast of the United States. Tony Schaefer today. Tony Schaefer joins us today in just a few minutes to talk about the latest CIA nonsense on the Nord Stream pipeline and who's really winning this spring offensive. But first this. When it comes to carrying valuables or even firearms in your vehicle,

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taking your valuables with you again. Keep them safe with the Headrest Safe. Use promo code JUDGENAP and enjoy $50 off for a limited time at theheadrestsafe.com. Tony, always a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you for coming back. Good to be here. Thank you for having me. What is your view on the latest consensus on the dam? I mean, who caused it to explode? As you asked, you were the first person that I spoke to after the explosion. Cool, no, Latin phrase for who gains from this?

Who's lying about it? Who's suffered from it? I think I still, nothing I've seen in the way of updates or new information has changed my initial assessment. Who benefits? I still think for the most part, Ukraine benefits the most from the destruction. Because one of the big dangling participles of this whole issue, which you and I just speak about when we talked about this, Judge, was the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Russians have control of it. I just don't think they would be going about trying to create another Chernobyl based on their own history. And the fact that the plant right now as it stands is well within the 30-day requirement of having water.

I mean, it's got enough water for now, but it's not going to last forever. You've got to replace that water because it boils off. It's a coolant for the nuclear pile. So I just don't think the Russians would put that on themselves. I just don't. And the other thing... Didn't the dam also

deplete a reservoir used for fresh water for Crimea? Yes. I the russians would be insane it would be like like drying like the american federal government drying arizona or new mexico to death yeah yeah so so those things indicate to me the russians are crazy but they're not that crazy and i think that's where we're at and Militarily, Tony, how did the dam affect the dynamics of interaction between forces? So I think this is something I did assess. I thought about this last night during my last cigar of the evening.

And I did assess the fact that, yeah, I think the Ukrainians benefit militarily because it gives them excuses. Oh, we don't have an avenues of approach. Oh oh now we've got to manage this flooding in our zone so I think judge because they are so badly organized so badly uh prepared that is the ukrainians this gives them a convenient excuse to say oh we we're just not going to be as effective as we thought because gee the Russians blew up the dam and we got to deal with it so So I think it's almost a psychological op on their part to gain advantage regarding the perception of the offensive. And by all accounts, from what I'm seeing, the offensive ain't going well for the Ukrainians. Okay. I was going to ask you that next. What is the latest on the so-called offensive? Here we are 10 days from summertime the spring offensive

as it's been called is uh is two weeks old i don't think they pushed the russians back have they so yeah let's break it down in three places first i i want to comment on the media you and i are technically part of the media but uh as part of the media we're the outliers people aren't talking about the so-called vaunted offensive i I mean, if you go to any mainstream publication or network, you're going to be hard pressed to find anything on this. I mean, it's just, you've got to go really looking. The AP and Forbes have done the most accurate reporting. I give Forbes the nod on this. If people want to go out and get kind of unadulterated truth, I think Forbes is doing the best. And that's my second point. Then for those who are reporting accurately, there's a handful of sources.

I've seen AP for the most part say accurately the number of battles, which is significant. We're talking about hundreds. Sometimes we're talking about tens of dozens per day and then forbes has actually outlined and shown video and pictures of some of the the the tragedies on the battlefield where uh the the ukrainians are getting whacked and that brings me to my third point which is the progress or lack thereof the russians were very effective judge much more than the ukrainians thought in preparing uh overlapping fields of fire continuous overlapping fields of fire supported by fields of fire, and most importantly, landmines. Lane after lane after lane of landmines.

And from the information I have, the Ukrainians are not using Soviet-slash-Russian breaching operations. Breaching is the term you use or we use, the tactic we use to go basically through these minefields safely. You've got to breach, you've got to blow them up or detect where they're at. And apparently, from all accounts, they, the Ukrainians, are not following the Russian techniques and they're not following NATO-US techniques. So the question becomes, what are they doing, and why are they doing it? And I think that's what no one seems to really

understand at this point, because it's not even a hybrid of our system and their system. It's just throwing people out there and hoping for the best, at least. And then they're doing these things during daylight hours. One of the other things, Judge, we don't do things during daylight hours if we're preparing for an offensive trying to breach lines. And then I've seen videos, which, by the way, get taken down as soon as I see them, of the M2A2s trying to do fields of fire and then one getting blown up. Well, what's an M2A2, a tank? That's the Bradley.

That's the improved Bradley. We gave them the very top line Bradley. The M2A2, a tank? That's the Bradley. That's the improved Bradley. We gave them the very top line Bradley. The M2A2 Bradleys are the top of the line for us. And so the fact is from everything I've seen, they've lost upwards of 20 Leopard 2s out of about 88 they had, and they've lost dozens of Bradleys. And these things aren't going to be replaced anytime soon. All right. A couple of observations. Colonel McGregor agrees with you about the incredible influence of landmines. And when he told me about landmines from helicopters, I said, how does this work? And he said, ask Tony Schaefer. Maybe I'm influenced by World War II movies where they dug a landmine and buried it.

Landmines actually get implanted from helicopters today? They do. So, yeah, if you want to, you know, I think you need to talk about Easting, where he actually ran over a landmine. He told us about that. He told us about that. He didn't tell you that he actually suffered. It didn't harm him or his crew. Well, you know, I think a big bruise on his butt was harmed, but I guess, you know, it's all relative, I suppose. He didn't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about

McGregor's butt. I'm sorry. But anyway, we'll get back to that. He's probably watching us now and roaring, but seriously, explain to me how landmines can be planted in the earth from a helicopter. You drop it like it's a bomb? No. Basically, you have big containers that are mounted on the side of M60 helicopters, other airframes, and basically they fly. You've seen crop dusters, right, Judge? Yes.

There's been one buzz in my house this morning essentially your base patterns on field devices on a periodic it's computerized where you have these things in these big uh dispensers and then they're dispensing on patterns you can act and part of the reason we do this, Jesse, because we want to be able to retrieve them. One of the things that while we've not signed up to the UN accords regarding guaranteeing to not use landmines, what we do in place of that is say if we do use landmines, we're going to be responsible and understand where we put them and pull them back out when it's time. So that's why it's so important.

So when we put landmines down, we mark those and understand where either where they are so we can retrieve or destroy them or remotely destroy them based on where they're in place. So, and we'll put these down in big fields and big lanes. And so that's, and so, yes, we have the technology to do that. You don't need a Joe Snuffy E2, private E2 Joe Snuffy out there with an entrenching tools, digging up the ground and doing this. You can do a whole grid square in an hour. Generally speaking, generally speaking, which is easier to wage an offensive war against

an entrenched defensive military or to defend? So traditionally, it's easier to defend no matter what. I was actually listening last night to the Battle of St. Petersburg and Grant and Lee regarding that battle, and the Confederates were heavily entrenched, and it went on and on and on forever. It took Grant and others, you know, at least eight to one odds to overcome and breach the perimeter. And once you breach it, you can peel it back.

But as we saw in Gettysburg, we saw in World War I, there's all these battles, which indicate it's very tough to do. And as a matter of fact, in many instances, in many aspects, Judge, one of the battles I've been saying the current offensive looks like is the Battle of Tenenbaum, the last battle of World War I, where the Germans made one last desperate push into the British lines because they had

nothing left. So that battle is reminiscent and looks a lot like what the Ukrainians are doing, because I don't think the Ukrainians have much left left and so they're trying to get this all in there and do it now and i think the odds are very much against ukraine because i i know they don't have eight to one they don't have five to one i don't think they have three to one uh numerical superiority and they're trying to do breaching operations in a haphazard daylight way uh boy i just a little uh pro, Judge, never let Victoria Nuland plan your offensive. I don't think it's a good idea. I just, you know. Agreed, agreed. What about General Zaluzhny? Is he totally disabled and no longer the Chief of Staff? Well, I just can't, I don't know. I mean, there's just so little information, and I don't have the sources necessary to assess something that level

at this point. I can tell you that it's the one thing that's apparent if he's there or not, the leadership is horrendous. One of the key factors, Judge, of any successful military endeavor or battle is leadership. Leadership can make a huge difference. It can literally turn battles like Midway, the small skirmishes on Normandy, on D-Day. These things, by momentum, by leadership, up and down the chain of command, was necessary. I just don't see it here. I don't see great battlefield valor. If they were doing well, Judge, they'd be crowing. They'd be showing these guys heroes. i don't see any of that and i don't see anybody at the top

talking like schwarzkopfian about the battle plan and how they're doing remember during the gulf one 91. uh schwarzkopf was masterful and coming out and talking with great confidence about what they were doing uh if they were doing well judge you'd have a schwarzkopf out there on the on the on the ukrainian side briefing every day on how well they're doing and they're not doing it. We're going to take a break for about 30 seconds to pay some bills. When we come back, we have hot off the screen tapes of General Milley just about an hour ago explaining the depth of NATO involvement in the training of Ukrainian troops. We'll play them for Colonel Schaefer and get his response right after this.

You want to feel safe in your vehicle. And for you, that means easy, rapid access to your firearm. But safety also means your items don't fall into the wrong hands. You don't have to choose between safety and convenience. The Headrest Safe keeps your firearm where you can access it and no one else can. Just order your Headrest Safe, install it yourself when it arrives, and enjoy peace of mind. It starts at theheadrestsafe.com. So we have a couple of clips from General Milley, just to remind everybody, the outgoing but still chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Here he is just about 90 minutes ago explaining the level and extent of NATO and American training of Ukrainian troops. I want your thoughts on this, Tony. Sure. More than 6,000 Ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different locations in 65 courses in 33 nations on three continents. Since the beginning of the war, the United States

has trained over 11,000 Ukrainians. We are currently training three battalions, a tank battalion and two territorial National Guard battalions, a tank battalion and two territorial National Guard battalions. All in all, the international effort has trained almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers for this current operation. Do the numbers surprise you? It means absolutely nothing. That's all woke nonsense. Judge, let me be clear on this. Having been in combat, having served 30 and a half years in uniform, you don't disperse and train all over the world like it's a Disney cruise and you're sending people out to the five directions. You need precise interlocking training of individuals who work as a unit. You need unit cohesion. You know, read my lips. You

need unit cohesion. The fact that they're dispersing these guys all over the planet doing all this great training absolutely means nothing. It's a virtual signal of an amazing level. This does not denote military competence. It denotes military and complete incompetence. You want to have a handful of locations where people are brought together, trained at the tactical level to work at the operational level to then be able to respond at the strategic level on command. OK, if we train no more, we do not have any more two or three locations where people are trained as units. This is stupid. If we trained 11,000 Ukrainian troops, as he said we did, where would that training have taken place, Tony? So, forts, probably Fort Silver Artillery. In the U.S., not in Ukraine. Yeah. No, the 11,000, that would be Fort Silver Artillery, Fort Hood or whatever they're calling it down now in Texas for maneuver and armor.

Fort Bragg for infantry. And for those of us that don't remember Military Science 101, how many human beings are in three battalions? So you're looking at about, I'm always bad with numbers, but I think you're probably talking, a battalion is probably about, I take under 1, probably talking a battalion is probably about I take under a thousand folks. The brigade's probably about two thousand. OK. And so you're talking right now, essentially, by my estimate, you're talking about two and a half brigades. You referred we have another clip from General Milley, which we'll play in a minute. But you referred to this as woke.

We all know what woke is. We all know how damaging woke can be to the military and certainly to Western cultural norms. But what is woke about NATO troops training Ukrainians? Is it just boasting because it's not serious, meaningful training? So let me break it down. Brigadier General Blaine Holton, I just did an editorial on this. Well, I'll send you and Gary a copy. Woke in this case is all about managing the political narrative, not the battlefield dynamics. The idea here for the Biden White House from day one has been all about essentially being trying to walk down the middle of the issues where you're not trying to really help the Ukrainians when, yeah,

you're going to give them lip service and, yeah, we'll send them 18 Abrams and that'll look good. There's no conscientious or well-thought strategy of how to put it all together. And I've mentioned this before, tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat, according to Sun Tzu. A lot of noise, all sorts of virtue signaling, but judge, there's no clear idea of how to put it all together to move it forward.

And all they do is respond to their political, the political whims of the Biden administration. It's all politics, no substance. Here is General Milley at his political best at the tail end of his term in office talking about how much money we've given away. This is just 90 minutes old. Last week, the United States released another Ukrainian security assistance initiative, totaling several billion dollars, two billion. This package procures critical capabilities, including Patriot munitions, Hawk air defense systems, artillery, rocket munitions, maintenance, sustainment support, and much more. Additionally, this week, we released our latest drawdown package

of $325 million. From our current stocks, we providing ukraine air defense munitions gimler's long-range artillery artillery rounds 155 bradley's strikers and many other capabilities uh 2.35 billion uh this week is this ordinarily uh announced by a general did the nature of what he said we were sending impress you or move you at all? No, makes my point. This is virtual signaling. This is not Schwarzkopf up on the battlefield, you know, on the map showing everything we're doing to help integrate everything and make it work. This is, to quote Apocalypse Now, a grocery clerk sent to collect a bill. That's all this is. This has nothing to do with military strategy. Judge, you and I both know from our experience that most of that money they're talking about is going to be spent in Washington in the military industrial complex, military

industrial congressional complex, as Eisenhower said. All those weapons have to be made. By the way, a quick side note on that. My understanding is that we are in a critically low reserve of artillery and other specialized. Tony, Tony, you've been telling us that from the beginning that we are giving out of our substance, not out of our reserve. God's going to need it and it's not there. Right. And but, you know, this money is going to go to those defense contractors, not to replenish our reserves, our necessary stocks. It's going to go to more of of ukraine so again you know i'm sure mark's being told to say this stuff but a general doesn't stand up there and and act like a grocery clerk clerk reciting uh the the number of things you're going

to give a a consumer you know when they're a bag of goodies that's not what generals do they shouldn't but that again woke woke military this military. This is what the woke military does. They talk numbers and accounting statistics over tactics and strategy and how to win. Last subject matter. Does anybody among your sources take seriously the latest CIA nonsense about Nord Stream that the CIA, which we know from Cy Hersh, perpetrated the destruction of Nord Stream, now claims to have warned the Ukrainians not to have done so, and they did so from a sailboat. I don't, well, let me address this real quick. So, by the way, kudos to Cy. If Cy's listening, good on you for getting that information out.

And then also going after Zelinsky and the $400 million he's been paid. I think that's absolutely. Absolutely. Cy. God bless you, Cy. Cy Hirsch is the paradigm of intellectual honesty and personal courage when it comes to investigative journalism. So on the other point, I don't believe anything that is essentially put out by the West at this point regarding the Nord Stream attack. There's a lot of misinformation I think out there,

disinformation. Whoever did that, Judge, had to have a very clear tactical capability to be at a fairly significant depth, you know, over a hundred feet down and understand how to put explosives effectively. I mean, I couldn't put explosives underwater and make them work. That's a pretty steep tactical technical skill. I don't think you could do it either. No offense. I don't think you want to, but I'm just saying that even if you look at how it was done and what you'd have to understand and have access to do, no, you're not going to do it off a sailboat. I don't doubt that it was done by someone in the West. I don't think Putin did it, but I don't know exactly who did it at this point, but it wasn't off a sailboat with people with matchsticks and bubble

gum. Tony Schaefer, always a pleasure, my dear friend. Always great to join you, Judge. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you like what you saw, like, subscribe, tell a friend, and as always, more as we get it. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. The Headrest Safe is quick and easy to use. Some may even call it a game changer. The Headrest Safe acts as a safety net protecting your belongings while keeping them out of sight and out of bounds of others. Serving us security while also keeping your valuables in bounds. That's what the Headrest safe provides for me game set match Thank you.