Judging Freedom - Zelensky's Fruitless UN Visit w/Karen Kwiatkowski fmr USAF

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Zelensky's Fruitless UN Visit w/Karen Kwiatkowski fmr USAFSee 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, September 21st, 2023. Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski joins us now. Colonel Karen, it's a pleasure. Thank you very much for coming here. How fruitless do you think President Biden's speech and other efforts were at the United Nations this week in his attempts to demonize Russia and prop up Ukraine? They were remarkably fruitless, I think, and in part because I understand half of the attendees weren't even in the audience there at the UN. I mean, it was very, many of the, what we used to call third world countries, the brick aligned countries, much of the global south,

many of them are tired of hearing that resources they feel might go to them or should be focused on their areas, real interests are being spent on a war that is being lost day by day. And they don't really support it. They kind of knew what he was going to say and didn't want to hear it. Those that were there, it was a very weak speech in terms of advocacy for continued failure. People are tired of listening to it. Were you surprised that instead of being the world's statesman, he just sounded like a political hack trying to demonize something that the neocons have fruitlessly been attempting to demonize for years. I mean, their whole theory behind this war, as I perceive it, I suspect you agree, but don't let me put words in your mouth, is that Ukrainian ultra-nationalism

would defeat a weak Russia. And it turns out that Ukrainian ultra-corruption is being crushed by a militarily dominant Russia. The neocons have it in reverse. Yeah. No, it's true. And I think, you know, Biden has been receiving this, you know, he's a vessel for the neoconservative worldview and he has been for a long, long time. And he's also not really able to comprehend new information. I mean, he's kind of like we know what he's going to say. I think the whole world knows what he's going to say. I think the whole world knows what he's going to say. And I think if they're watching his speeches at all, they're looking for signs of his own physical or mental weakness rather than his message. So it's a dry, stale, inappropriate message. He's not updating it. No one's listening to him.

And the neocon storyline, of course, has been proven wrong many times before, but certainly in this particular Ukraine story. What the neocons are saying, what they promised, very obviously not happening. I'll tell you, Joe Biden Jackson, moderate Democrat who understood the need for defense but wasn't necessarily in favor of all these crazy wars, but now domestically captured by the hard left, all the woke nonsense, which unfortunately has affected the military too. Foreign policy-wise, he's captured by the neocons, whatever they are. They're former lefties. Some of them are former communists. I don't know what they call themselves on the ideological spectrum, but they just want to kill, kill, kill. And they think they can use Ukraine as a battering ram to drive President Putin from office.

But I want to play the clip of President Biden at the UN. We think this is the most absurd part of the speech because he's saying President Putin can stop this war tomorrow. He really should be referring to himself. He could stop the war actually just by walking down from the podium and telling President Zelensky, it's over. Here's the president two days ago. We strongly support Ukraine and its efforts to bring about a diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace. But Russia alone, Russia alone bears responsibility for this war. Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately. And it's Russia alone that stands in the way of peace, because Russia's price for peace

is Ukraine's capitulation, Ukraine's territory, and Ukraine's children. Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence. But I ask you this. If we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I'd respectfully suggest the answer is no. We have to stand up to this negative aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow. That's why the United States, together with our allies

and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom. I'm reading comments from our viewers. Zelensky looks bored. Zelensky looks constipated. Zelensky looks irritable. Joe sounds drunk. Shut up, Joe. of Putin personally and Russia in general in front of an audience largely, though many weren't there, of third world countries who are lining up, literally lining up to join BRICS, which is the new economic unit that will snuff out the petrodollar. Yeah, well, you know, first of all, I did sound kind of drunk. But the other thing is, the people listening to that in that leaders. Name your country and name your continent. You know, the United States has done what we are accusing Russia of doing. And we're certainly the very threat that he is warning against. We, the United States and our past policies and our

current policies, we're the threat. And he's defining it very well, though, projecting it, you know, on to Russia. So it's an old story. And even today, I mean, Intercept just came out with an article saying the Pakistani coup that occurred or they got rid of their elected leader, got a new guy. Part of that was connected to providing arms to Ukraine. You know, Pakistani democracy is now sacrificed so that arms can be sent to Ukraine to fight against. It's all nuts. And Biden is actually the perfect spokesman for this crazy. I mean, the Pakistani thing is outrageous. They took the most popular leader in the modern era, the former cricket champion, Imre Kahn, he's arrested and incarcerated

on phony charges. They put the military in charge of the government. They put a puppet as prime minister and they sold or gave arms to Iran. Gee, I wonder who orchestrated that, Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland. These people are utterly, utterly shameless. Here's a little bit more shamelessness. President Zelensky is now in Washington. We have a clip of him taken just about an hour ago. He's walking through a hallway and he shakes hands with Senator Chuck Schumer, majority leader in the Senate, and Senator Mitch McConnell, minority leader in the Senate. You can McConnell, Minority Leader in the Senate. You can't hear what Senator McConnell says, but you can hear Chuck Schumer who bows and then says, we are with you.

Watch this. Thank you so much. We are in your corner. All right, I had it wrong. I said we are in your corner. Gary, run it one more time, please. We are in your corner. Gary, run it one more time, please. We are in your corner. Thank you so much. We are in your corner. Well, the Senate quite literally, unfortunately, is in his corner. I don't know what's going to happen in the House of Representatives. There are a lot of Republicans that are opposed to this.

Most Democrats are in favor of it. I think Kevin McCarthy is in lockstep with Chuck Schumer. But things are not going that well for President Zelensky. What happened with the Polish government, Karen? What did the Polish prime minister do? Why have they changed course 180 degrees? Well, it's 180 degrees unless you take the strategic view of Poland's whole set of interests in this. But, yeah, they stopped, they're stopping the arming of Ukraine. And I guess part of it is fights over the cheap Ukrainian food imports,

you know, for the Polish farmers, but also the election that's happening in Poland. And Poland is hosting, I think, the largest number of Ukrainian refugees. So, you know, Ukraine is a big issue for them. The parties are competing, making this huge resource flow part of the election. So there's that. But a year ago, over a year ago, Ukraine and Poland really integrated in many ways in the western part of Ukraine, in the former Polish territory, former part of Poland, really, that whole kind of border side. And, you know,

they're working on that. You know, they are integrating. Polish businesses and citizens have the same rights as Ukrainian businesses and citizens in that cooperation sphere, which takes up a good part of the western part of Ukraine. So, you know, the long-term plan for Poland, if you're very cynical about it, is certainly being moved upon. And they are at the point now where they no longer, they don't have to arm Ukraine. This thing is over. And they are at the point now where they no longer, they don't have to arm Ukraine. This thing is over. And they're going to- So this must be a full-blown political crisis. I don't know what President Zelensky's intel, meaning his intelligence forces, told him. To the West, it came as a shock because remember 12 months ago, Poland had troops that were ready

to march into Ukraine and Biden sent the 101st Airborne. There are 40,000 American troops training with 90,000 Polish troops at the Ukraine-Poland border. And then all of a sudden Poland says, forget about it. Did they know this was coming? Is this based on domestic Polish political needs? They have to stop the importation of Ukrainian grain in order to please the Polish farmers so that the Polish farmers will vote to re-elect the Polish government? I think part of it is that, and part of it is it's time. It's time to integrate the part of Ukraine into Poland. I think they see that that is something that will benefit them politically, agriculturally, refugee flow-wise.

And think about it from the Ukrainian citizens' point of view. I mean, they have this guy, Zelensky, who used to be somewhat popular, but the guy, he's not looking happy. And we know this, we've watched him decline in his political popularity for a long time now. So if you're a Ukrainian living next to Poland, what's better for you? You know, some guy that wants to take, has irrational ideas about what his soldiers are capable of. The Nazis, I mean, they're not super popular there in the eastern part. So what is, you know, what's good for the Ukrainians that live close to Poland? I would say it's probably to cooperate and build and grow. And the choice is going to be, is Poland, is the Polish government going to help you rebuild?

Or are you going to go for Hillary Clinton and more of the democratic corrupt money in Washington, which has proven to be very immaculate? Sometimes it's for you. Then sometimes something happens and they drop you like a hot potato. So I want you to watch the Polish president yesterday at the UN. He's actually on the East River outside the UN. So you can see a part of the New York skyline behind him. It's in Polish. So I will read the subtitles for the benefit of our friends who are enjoying the program just on audio. It's not very long, but he uses a terrifying, terrifying analogy of a drowning swimmer bringing down his attempted rescuers. It's like we're dealing with a drowning person.

Anyone who has experienced rescuing a drowning person knows that he is extremely dangerous because he can pull you to the depths, that he is extremely dangerous. He has unimaginable strength due to fear and the influence of adrenaline and can simply drown the rescuer. Wow, that has got to be a devastating analysis. So President Zelensky spoke, two-thirds of the seats were empty. The New York Times reports on the day he arrives here that he had just fired his defense minister. He fired the entire next level of senior defense people, civilians, not military. And now once his staunchest ally, at least publicly, is saying no longer. No wonder he looked sick during Joe Biden's speech. Karen. That's true. He's got, I think the whole tide has worked against him. And of course, the New York Times also published that same day a retraction of their previous article that blamed the Russians of buying a shopping area and said, oh, actually, no, no, it was Ukrainians did that. And of course,

they did it to have an explosion when Blinken was in town. And now that very day, the New York Times decided to publish the true story of what happened, which did not make Zelensky look good. So it's like they're lining up against him. And I think it's funny to use the word, I'm in your corner, the Democrats. That is possibly a little Freudian. There is a corner and somebody is cornered. And it is Zelensky and it is the Democrats, certainly in those pro-war American politicians.

I think the CIA has decided it's over. You know, I think we talked or you have talked about the letter, the op-ed by the guy who's the CIA canary. And, you know, he said Joe Biden has to go. All of this has to go. It's all connected and it all has to go. It needs to be where the Democrats have no chance of winning next year. Let me also point out that President Zelensky was not invited, as he hoped he would, to address a joint session of Congress, which is why you saw him shaking hands in public and speaking in private. So after one of those private talks, Congressman Michael McCaul came out. Congressman McCaul is the chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

So aid to Ukraine has to pass through his committee. Congressman McCaul is a serious, serious hawk in the Victoria Nuland-Tony Blinken camp. But I want you to listen to what Congressman McCaul told the press, President Zelensky told members of Congress in private or in secret, but behind closed doors. What was the president's answer? Right here, sir. That he's winning. Here you go, Chairman.

That he's winning, but that I asked, what do you need? What's your plan for victory? What do you need? Two things. He took air cover of the F-16s and the attackers. He needs a long-range artillery to hit Crimea, where the Iranian drones are coming out of. He doesn't have it. Right now, his troops are going in with no air cover.

They have to take the mines by hand at nighttime. We wouldn't send our troops into that situation. So we need to give them everything they need. If this administration won't give it to them, then I submitted that we write it in our appropriations bill. Oh, my God, what a political piece of nonsense. First of all, he says the Zelensky said that he's winning. Nobody is saying that he's winning. Then he's saying, how can he fight the war?

They're removing mines with their hands and they don't have air cover. So they're obviously not winning. Then he said, if this administration won't give them what they want, my God, if it was up to this administration, we would have given them twice what we've given them already. Congress must be the brake on what we're giving them, not the impetus on what they want. Yeah, I thought McCall was speaking largely to his defense industry sponsors. He mentioned two big systems that we're not going to put into Ukraine, the attack on the F-16s. We're talking about it, of course, but that would imply that we're going to to put into Ukraine, the attack comes in the F-16s, and we're talking about it, of course, but that would imply that we're going to war directly with Russia, and I think Sainter minds are going to prevail on that. And the way he spoke, he kind of, you know, indicated it's over.

Either they get F-16s and attack them tomorrow, which isn't going to happen, or this thing is over. And the idea of putting it into the budget, the authorization, sure, he has to say that. But that is not popular. So, you know, he's going to get McCarthy fired. It's fine with me. I think it's great. I'm watching this all unfold. Right, right, right. I mean, McCarthy is on such thin ice with the Republicans in the House. I don't know how much longer he's going to be the Speaker of the House. I heard him publicly chastising President Zelensky two or three days ago, and I thought, gee, Matt Gates wrote this

for him, and now he's saying it because he's worried that Matt Gates is going to depose him. Another story for another time. F-16s, you're a former colonel in the Air Force. Even if we authorized them, how long would it be before they were there and their pilots were trained to use them? Yeah, well, the training program is taking a long time and it's going to take a long time. You could put some older F-16s in there. You could hire mercenary pilots to fly them. I mean, there are people that would do that. So they could probably have them if we sent them over. I think that's the big reluctance to send them over there because they could be flown by people, hired pilots from around

the world. I mean, the F-16 pilot loves to fly the airplane. There's no doubt about that. So they could find pilots. This is going to demonstrate not just the vulnerability of F-16s without the rest of a system, a war system. The Russians will take them out. And that's embarrassing for the United States. That's not a good look. And also, of course, escalates the war for no reason. And an air force can never take back territory. We already know this. This is, you know, the air force says, oh, don't worry, we can do everything, but we can't. Air force cannot return to you lost territory. Just can't do it. And the few F-16s that we're talking about allowing them are basically going to be target practice for the Soviets. Or if I say Soviets, that's how they're thinking of them.

But it'll be target practice for the Russian Air Force and the Russian air defense. They'll go away. It'll be embarrassing. And I think the question on the politicians' minds and the CIA and everybody else who thinks about retaining power in this country is, what's it going to look like when it ends? How much more embarrassment can we, the United States, sustain? Biden is an embarrassment. This mistaken defense of Ukraine is an embarrassment. Everything we've done is an embarrassment. How much more can we take? And we've got an election year next year. And I think they're looking to wrap it up. I heard somebody say by Thanksgiving. And I think politically, the work is in play already to make that happen.

This is bad for the United States, and the point that it threatens the elite control of this country, it's over. And I think Zelensky knows this. You can see it on his face. He needs to move to one of his houses and make sure he has a lot of security with him and move on to the next phase. Colonel Kwiatkowski, always a pleasure, my dear friend.

Thank you very much for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. Well, there you have it. More as we get it, of course, Major Matthew Ho, Marine Corps retired, former State Department, a brilliant analyst on the mistakes of war at 2 o'clock this afternoon Eastern. Our roundtable tomorrow on Friday and the great professor at 2.30 Eastern Friday and the great professor Jeffrey Sachs, the origins of COVID and the disaster this week at the UN at 3.30 Friday. Morris, we get it. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom, where we're always looking out for your liberty. Thanks for watching!