Shaun Newman Podcast - #629 - Alex Krainer & Chuck Prodonick

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Chuck is retired Canadian Military, he’s a former sergeant and member of the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry who served in four tours overseas. He also spent 9 years working with the most hardened criminals in Alberta. Alex is founder of Krainer analytics, author and contributing editor at Zero Hedge. Let me know what you think. Text me 587-217-8500 Substack:https://open.substack.com/pub/shaunnewmanpodcast E-transfer here: [e-mail] Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/ Email: [e-mail] Text: [phone] – and be sure to let them know you’re an SNP listener.

This is Tom Romago. This is Alex Craneer. This is Franco Tarzano. I'm Dr. Peter McCulloch. This is Joshua Allen, the cowboy preacher, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. You hear that, folks? Inshallah. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Thursday. If you just heard in the background, Alex Craneers already confirming he'll be back in 2025. That's pretty cool. All right, with government deficits running out of control, now might be the perfect time to diversify some of your hard-earned savings into physical money. that can't be printed. I'm talking about gold and silver. And if you're going to buy gold and silver, why not here in Alberta? Silver Gold Bull, they serve all of Canada. And if you're in the States, they do that too. They offer a full suite of services to help you buy, sell, and store your precious

metals. They ship discreetly, fully insured with tracking straight to you. If you've never tried it, you probably should. And you can find all the details, silvergoldbill.com here in Canada, silvergold bowl.com in the United States of America. Now, McGowan professional chartered accountants. Yeah, I'm talking about Kristen and team. She's been in the financial industry since 2009. They're off her accounting and bookkeeping, business consulting and training, financial planning, and tax planning. And they deal with morons like me all the time. They have extreme patience because I put them to the task every time I go in there because everybody knows.

I hate taxes. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. So I got to have people that are patient and do it with a smile. They certainly do. If you are, they're looking for hire.

So if you're a CPA out there, they'd love to grab somebody to add. to their team. They believe in the SMP. They love sporting free speech and starting conversations. If that's you, maybe reach out McGowan, CPA.ca, for all the info. I am taking Alex Kraner to his first Eminton Oilers game, game five tonight. So by the time this airs, you know, hopefully we're celebrating and they've won game five. Either way, I'm in Emmington. That's why this episode got to happen with, well, you're going to hear all about it. So how about we get to the tale of the tape? The first retired from the Canadian military.

He's a former sergeant and member of the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry who served in four tours overseas. He also spent nine years working with the most harding criminals here in Alberta, the second founder of Craneer Analytics, author, and contributing editor at Zero Hedge. I'm talking about Chuck Prodnick and Alex Traynor. So buckle up. Here we go.

From the organizer's perspective of Cornerstone, what did you like about it? What do you want to change about it? What did you think was something you did? you definitely got to see in it again. Like, what was your perspective at the end of it all? Sure. So before I answer that, I would say I'm joined by Chuck Prodnick and Alex Traynor.

It's, you know, not fortuitous for Alex to be stuck here in Canada, but I think for where I sit, a fortuitous bounce, if you would, to have you two in the same room as me to do a podcast. And one of the hopes as an organizer for the next time around, I don't know how I get my brain to do this. I don't know if it's keeping people after the event. longer so that I could do some podcasts because I would love nothing more than the audience to hear some of those people come together. The problem is not everybody's going to be able to come for a week. So it's extremely difficult.

But that's something I would love. I just don't know how to do it, right? When Alex and Tom came in June, we found a way to squeeze in a podcast. In fairness, it wasn't as extensive of an event as what this one was. This one was pretty intense for a long period of time. and so there's that overall I don't know I was saying Alex on the car ride here Chuck this is like my seventh event roughly and most of the events people go and that was that was good like yeah I really enjoyed it probably come to the next one or I can't wait for the next one right

you know it was good this one the response has been phenomenal and I don't mean I don't use that word lightly I don't like using yeah something you get right in life and you're like well I did not see that coming people who had been to my shows before phenomenal people would never been to a show before yeah what was that and I know I was even self-douding myself when I when I looked at the lineup and how I'd put it out like is four round tables too much is 14 minutes and like am I going to be able to hold to that time am I going to be able to keep that pace for a full day is the audience going to be able to handle that pace yeah for a full day and the resounding answer

was yes we got our first standing ovation we got our second standing ovation I've never had that before and I don't know from a from an organizer's perspective it was a full house and if you didn't you know if you couldn't make the the journey this time I would really suggest because my plan is to do an annual event so people are you know I've been asking what's the next one was the next one and I haven't even got my boys fully back yet and my you know unless something unforeseen happens it'll be next April and I hope it becomes an annual event where you know people like Alex are coming back every April to Canada to Alberta, Saskatchewan to do something that you know you hope you can just dial it in a bit more so every time you come it is that phenomenal because I know the first time is it's the first time and I know how it'll go after this but I don't know you two are a part of it what did you think? I enjoyed it greatly. was content was phenomenal. It was well-paced. It was condensed. It wasn't boring at any point.

The people who turned up just salt of the earth, I enjoyed every conversation I had with everybody. And so to my mind, great event, 10 out of 10, for sure. Exactly what Alex said. I think meeting people in between in the little bit of downtime that there was. I probably talked to, I don't even know, half the people for an extended period of time at some point, whether than just high shaking hands, but I mean actual conversations and everybody had that same vibe of the hope and we're going in the right direction and nobody even knows how that looks, which was kind of where my long-winded story was when I was talking during my portion is you don't know really what's where you're going, what it looks

like at the end, doesn't matter what's at the end, as long as you're all getting there together. And that room, you could feel it. Everybody from different backgrounds and different walks of life, everybody still had that upbeat feeling from it. And I like, too, that during the round tables especially, like just because we all kind of expect we're going in a certain direction, not everybody saw it going, getting there the same way. You know, he could be the one as the one, the urban farmer.

Yeah, Curtis Stone and McElthorpe. Everybody's been talking about that because it got in an argument on stage. Yeah, but I thought that was good. 100%. It was a very constrained argument. Yeah, civil. Yeah, they see. And I kind of, in my second speech up there, I kind of was like, you know, some days I, I want to be dashing down the road altogether, arms linked and singing kumbaya.

And the next day, my country ends at the end of my driveway. And so I go between the two and they both have that same polarizing view of it. Like one wants to be on a mountain here in Canada and one wants to be on a mountain in another country. And I'm all for either one. As long as your families, you're safe and happy, then, you know, I think there's different ways of achieving what you want. And I'm not knocking either one. I would have been curious to have had either one of you a part of that. Because it was, it was, it was Tom in the first, first, first, first, first.

go around and I thought Tom did very well as well he always does he's so well spoken yeah yeah but you know to have a guy living in a different part of the country and and you know I always come back on you truck you know at the end when you've gone into places in your military career you know I was kind of curious what your guys's thoughts because they were having for the listener who wasn't there they were having you know the argument on you know like Curtis is his argument was Canada is the safest place to be when the end of the world comes comes. Now, what is the end of the world? That's a good question. But he's saying when people, when citizens

turn on each other, he would rather be in Canada than any other country because of population density, natural resources, and a few other things. And McKell was saying, listen, you can create community anywhere you go. There are great human beings everywhere on this planet. And they have natural resources too. And you don't have to have the craziness of the Canadian government. So why don't you move your assets out before it's too late and come live where we live and have the sun shining and you know he was even you know I think a little tongue and cheeks and there's no cam trails right like you don't have to worry about them you know blasting you uh you two have been all over the world i mean Alex you're on um you know you're monaco like you're you're the other side of the planet

from here so to speak what did you think of their argument did you have any thoughts you would add it in well you know it's very difficult to predict what might become at us, you know, like things might get very bad and very dramatic, you know, a dystopian sci-fi movie type of thing, or it might just be a crisis, you know, for me it's difficult to say, but basically if we're talking Armageddon scenarios, my idea is that you should probably live in a community that has a continuity. that's longer than 300 years because then you're going back

before the industrial revolution and the reason why I think that's important is because that indicates that that community has means of the surrounding resources give it the means of sustenance that don't depend on big industrial systems and then you want to make yourself useful

to that community and that community should probably number at least 100 to 150 households because that's basically what you need so that you have, you know, car mechanics and dentists and butchers and teachers and construction workers and metal workers, you know, you generally have all the bases covered. What I often hear from people who are kind of thinking about prepping is they fantasize about putting together communities of like-minded individuals. Because, you know, they think it's going to be nicer if I sit around and chat with people that already agree with me. But, you know, like, you don't want to find yourself

in a community of former stockbrokers that, you know, you need diversity. You need community of people who are not like-minded because you need people who know to do things that you don't know how to do. So, you know, Curtis's idea of being in the mountain in Canada, Canada, that wouldn't be my choice because it sounds very rough. You know, it sounds kind of a trapper life in a log cabin, which is okay, but it's probably a very hard life. Whereas what Mikhail is talking about is maybe slightly more attractive, but then again, you know, like you have a community of expats. And they all managed to congregate there because they could afford it, which means that you're not going to have car mechanics in that group. And you're not going to have construction workers and butchers.

You're going to have former stockbrokers and bankers. Yep. And so when things get rough, maybe you'll have better quality conversations that you would in a trapper's cabin. If somebody's car breaks down, good luck. Yeah, I would agree with that pretty wholeheartedly. I mean, I think you watch those shows like Doomsday Preppers or you see any movie where it's like those kinds of things happen. And you, you do need the diversity of people with a skill set that I talked about about my first running with people in Bosnia about how did you survive this, this? Like you're still around.

How did you make it when half your village is gone and skill sets and the ability to just do stuff that, you wouldn't otherwise think you could. And but it always came back to skill sets. The people that had been around the longest had a wide range of skill sets. And they were willing to learn new ones quickly, you know, whether it was fabricating something, growing something, the medical side of things. Um, you had to be well rounded or, or have the big community to be well rounded. And I think that's why it's important what you do with Cornerstone because you're bringing

a big community together, um, big country, small country sometimes and you made it a small country that day. So that was important. Yeah, I always chuckle in my head. I don't want to interrupt because I'm like, I'm like, man, I don't think you're going to need a podcaster at the end of the world. He's going to be like, why are we feeding this guy again? Oh, because he makes

his laugh. I'm like the town gesture with a podcast at the end of the world. Yeah, I'm not sure, Sean. I think that this is really important. You know, the human beings, they need to make sense out of things.

They need to understand the hows and the wise And we always need conversations And so I think that You know what you do in a way is very important actually You know I don't know like if you if you lived in Croatia Croatians spent a disproportionate amount of time Sitting around in cafes

It's not for the coffee it's for the conversations You need to hang out with people And so you need content You need you need the conversations, you need the dialogue to keep going on. So it's a, it's an important, I think it's an important part of human experience. Mm-hmm. The other, so there was those two that had their, I also had like moments with Dave the Bitcoin

fella too, and it wasn't that I disagree that Bitcoin is not an important tool in her tool belt. I just felt like at some point it was. this is going to get you through the apocalypse kind of thing. Like it's just not. Like it, it's like, it doesn't matter where you go,

what borders you cross as long as you got your 12, 12 worded phrase, wallet key or whatever it's called. And I was like, that's fine. And it is. I get that importance of that tool to hedge against government trying to come at your stuff.

But if you're thinking that's what's going to, take the place of a skill or a hard asset, it really isn't. I mean, even something as simple is when gas pumps have a banking thingy. And it happens here and I've seen it happen here in Alberta even recently where, you know, one particular swath of gas stations goes down for whatever because something is just down. Unless you had a garage full of extra jerry cans with gas or you're smart enough to leave your tank over. half full all the time, you're probably not getting to work or back from work. If you're one of those guys that just puts in 10 bucks every day and we all know them at the gas station every day

putting in 10 bucks. You know, the Bitcoin's not solving that. And if if you don't get gas resupply, and this has happened in modern North American history where we saw in the 70s and 80s, the times that we had gas lineups and food lineups and every other thing like stuff's not happening. Bitcoin isn't going to be your solution for that either. It is an important tool. I'm not saying it's not, but you have to be realistic about what it can and can't do, I think. Like John, we're at his lovely place today. Yeah, shout up to John Rankima for giving us a spot to do this. He, uh, when I got back to my table at one point and we were talking with the Bitcoin guy,

John, John had a great point. He goes, if I could take my tap card and go get groceries and rent them, go to a movie or supper or work, just use it like I do every day, my other tap card, Bitcoin would be taken, you know. But don't you think it's moving? that way? I think it'll move to a certain point. Because it's only been around like 13 years. I mean only 15, but the thing is government has a better handle on how to direct it now, if not overtly go grab it, which I don't think they'll get to, I hope. But I think they're at a point where they can direct it enough, influence it

enough that we're not going to get to the tap card portion of it. I don't think. I may, I could be wrong, but I don't think we will. You know, there's certain things you can go get with Bitcoin, but I think most people just use it as an investment part of their portfolio. I know people that flipped it at 70, wish they hadn't, flipped it, bought more and flipped it again. Like, that's where I see people using it. And it's great for that purpose, I think, if that's what you're doing. But is, do I think we're going to get to a point where I can go tap for groceries at Walmart with it? I don't know. I don't know. Probably just the future.

Distant future? Yeah. Yeah, I don't see that way either. I think that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is a really, really promising technology. But I think that these last 10 years that it's been around or a little bit more, it's attracted mainly speculation. And people have piled into it. to make money.

So the development of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange, as, as Chuck says, tap to buy your groceries, your meal, your all these things, it's almost stalled. I see that it's moving forward, but the general acceptance of it is still confined to speculation. And of course, yeah, part of the reason is probably because the governments are not interested.

They're breaking because they will have no control over it. But, you know, maybe we'll figure it out ourselves. Because one of the things that happens when people, when the governments want to clamp down on how people transact for their daily necessities, people just opt out, they go into the black markets and they transact on the black markets. and that's going to happen. And what's going to be the means of exchange on the black markets? Well, maybe people will figure out cryptocurrencies. Or maybe they'll use packs of cigarettes or maybe they'll use whatever.

But people always figure it out and the black markets always take root. So I think that they understand that. They understand that, which is the main reason why they want us to have chips under our skins. because then there's no getting away from it. Because as long as their control of you is limited to your smartphone, you can always leave your smartphone behind and go to the market and get what you need. But if it's under your skin, then the idea is that you're going to be tracked at all times

by the 5G towers. Do you think people are going to, like, I know the three guys sitting in this room aren't going to put something under their skin. There are people waiting for it. And you think it's going to be that easy to just slide it into the population? I actually don't think so. I think you're going to get like a portion

of the population who's going to be enthused by it because they're going to think like, oh my God, how awesome. How easy it is? How easy is that? How easy is that? I can do it all here. Yeah. And yeah, that's going to last until they realize how easy it is for the government to say like, oh, we're

regret this purchase cannot be affected. You've, you've you've exceeded your your protein quota for this week. You know, I was driving last. I haven't listened to the, it actually reminded me, I should really listen to the radio or closer to mainstream media from time to time

to kind of get a pulse on where things are at. And it was 630, Chad here in Eminton, and they were talking late last night after I left supper Alex. And they were talking about avian flu and how it's jumped into Cal. And they were like kind of, you know, they were talking about how people were out from COVID. And I wonder why people were old for COVID.

Well, it was a long thing. And I'm like, I'm like kind of yelling at my own radio now, as I'm sure people yell at this all the time. And I'm like, these fucking guys, I can't take this anymore. Like the reason people are upset about COVID isn't because they're tired of it is because we won't talk about the truth about it. You know, we won't expose the lies for what they are. Yeah. I mean, if I've learned anything from having our conversations over the last couple days with Alex being in Emmington,

is that there's quite a few people that are all upset, that it just won't all come out. Just like, just air it all out. It's sitting right there for everybody to talk about. They won't. Anyways, this avian flu thing. It jumped into cattle.

Supposedly it jumped into cattle. Okay. And they were trying to worry about it, how close it's getting to the human being. And, you know, and if this is a concern, and it was a professor from down in the States that was on the show. And he was saying, well, we don't need to push the panic button just yet.

But the hosts were like, but like, you know, like how far away, you know, like, is this something? And that's what they were kind of alluding to is like this could be really bad. H1N5. Does that sound, H5N1? I'm already scared. Yeah, I'm terrified. I know. I know.

Okay, so here's a public service because I looked into, you know, you know, you know, Many, many years ago, I was not sure about vaccines. I was vaccine hesitant. And one of the things, because, you know, like the polio virus vaccine is not legally, you're not obliged to take it where I live in Monaco. And so that's where my ex-wife and I kind of thought, so what do we do? And I started researching because, you know, polio is one of those things that the consequences of it

are so daunting that it's not an easy decision. to make. And so we had to decide, are we going to give polio vaccine to our kids or not? And so I researched it, and here's what I found, and this is not even controversial. This is very well known to the CDC and the World Health Organization and everything. So out of 1,000 polio infections, something like 950 of them will not even show any of the flu. any symptoms. So you get the, you get infected by the poliovirus and you have no idea. Nothing happens. And then in the remaining, no, sorry, I would, so that's 95% of infections turn up no symptoms whatsoever. In the remaining 5%, something like 80% of them will show

infections, show symptoms that are almost identical to a flu. So you got a poliovirus and you think you have a flu and you get over the flu and you're done with it. And then in only a very small percentage of the infections that show the symptoms, you get the situation where the virus will penetrate your nervous system. And only in those cases will it cause some degree. of paralysis. And so out of a thousand infections only two will go to paralysis stage. Same virus, same disease, radically different outcomes. So for most people by far, no symptoms whatsoever, and for two out of 1,000 paralysis. So what's the difference? The difference is that those two had a compromised immune system. It's not about the vaccine, but it's about your

immune system. So my conclusion was that I as a parent have to make sure that my children have a strong, robust immune system rather than taking them to be vaccinated. Because if you take somebody with a compromised immune system to be vaccinated, they might get the illness from the vaccine. So it's always, it always goes back to the immune system. no matter what the disease is, you want to make sure that you have a strong immune system. What does that mean? It means good quality nutrition. You have to eat well, right?

You need to get enough vitamins and minerals and enzymes and everything else, so you can't eat twinkies and Oreo cookies every day all day, right? Second thing, you need exercise on a regular basis, which means for kids, it means that they have to play until they drop for... grown-ups, it means regular, you know, activity, sports, whatever. And then you need good quality sleep. You need to get at least seven hours of sleep a night. That's massively important, which they never mentioned when the COVID thing came.

And you need to keep a relatively low stress levels. You know, you can't be. And then, you know, don't do drugs, don't drink excessively. just normal things. Live a normal life, eat well, sleep well, exercise. That should be probably 99% of your preparation. And if you don't have that, the vaccines don't help you. Because people forget the vaccine is not a magical thing that makes you bulletproof to disease. Vaccine is something that is meant to stimulate your immune system to produce the antibodies. Well, if your immune system is compromised,

then the vaccine itself is jeopardizing your health. Anyway, so I think that these are important things to keep in mind, and when they start talking about, oh, avian flu just jumped to the cattle, they're probably bullshitting. Cattle can't tell you what's up. Some vet is going to say, like, oh, these cattle say, they need to all be slaughtered, which they're doing everywhere around the world because they want to get rid of the cattle. In Croatia, they had this swine plague, and they ended up slaughtering

practically all of the pigs that were raised by small-hold independent farmers. Somehow it didn't affect the big ones. The big ones. But, you know, pigs, can't tell you. The farmers don't know. Some dude comes from the Ministry of Health and says like, oh, well, sorry about that. Bad news, we have to kill all your pigs. And what do you do there? So they're bullshitting. They're lying. They have always ulterior agendas. And people shouldn't fall for it and people shouldn't be afraid. We have, if you live your life right, you have strong immune system and if you think of poliovirus you have two out of a thousand chance of getting a of getting a paralysis which means that any other virus you have similar odds you know you're gonna

you're going to be fine so don't succumb to fear that's like the first thing keep your reason intact think it through exercise eat well sleep well and you're going to be fine and when they start talking about these viruses jumping here and there just ignore them they're they're full of it. Especially in hindsight going back doing like the forensic look at COVID for example and what we know now. Remember when the big hype was to get everybody on an intubator in the beginning so we were spending billions of dollars on intubaters which are now selling for six bucks of scrap metal apiece because we were actually killing in the boxes in the boxes never open. Never open. They were dead serious. They were like 22 grand to pop when they were contracting

to buy them and oh yeah the government Canadian government is full on corrupt yeah so these things that have never been opened because they realize somebody figured out fairly early on, not early enough, but early enough on that we were killing people putting them on intubators. Like it was having the exact opposite effect that they thought it would have. And these are like this, these are the experts we're supposed to listen to. So right away, people are, you know, people, they look at the military as like, well, you guys are all supposed to take that vaccine and you're, you took all those other vaccines. Like, no, there were exemptions.

There were always exemptions. There always have been exemptions. And for me, going back to, like, getting issued at Mephyloquin, the anti-milarial drug. And doing my own research on it because I'd heard from guys in the American forces, my friends down there, before we ever got this stuff issued. And other Canadians that had taken it to go to Africa on early tours, I was like, I don't think I want this. And it's been discontinued as it being issued. Alex, do you know what he's talking about with Meplequin? No, no.

Something similar to close. Chloroquine. This was a drug issued by the Canadian military to people going to, what country was that? Well, several African deployments. And then when we were going to Afghanistan. And it was, what, a malaria drug? Anti-malarial drug. But part of the side effects were, basically, you went psychotic.

So they had, when you took it, they had different days of the week and they nicknamed them, like Terror Tuesday and Nightmare Wednesday. Nightmare Wednesday. And on and on and on. this went and it it got to the point where a soldier or two soldiers killed a kid in their like delusion like lost their minds and killed a kid and so they finally and this is what 15 20 years ago oh 6 is 06 and 08 i had it issued to me so so so so and this is they just like in the middle of covid i interviewed kathy wagenetal from saskatchewan yeah and they were working on i never heard this i was like what we've done this to our own soldiers we already know what you know what

But to me, this seems so shocking that we'd already done it to our own population. And we'd given something that it was so, everybody knew. Everybody knew it was fucking them up. Like, you know, Terror Tuesday, are you kidding me? And then it culminated with them killing somebody. And it was a, it's not, and it's been swept under the rug. There's a, there's a class action lawsuit.

It's still ongoing. It's been ongoing for forever. It'll never get resolved. They'll just play it out to all those veterans who did take it, die. Me, I got it and I hoofed mine away. Like, I'm, for one. One, it's an anti-malarial drug. Malaria is generally spread by mosquitoes or drinking unpotable water.

There's a few different ways. But I'm like, there's no mosquitoes in Afghanistan. Like there's like maybe a couple, but it's a desert. So we, I never saw a mosquito the entire couple of years. A year and a half I was there. But I would have rather gotten malaria than gone through what I have several friends whose brains are now fried. Like they have daytime night.

Oh, you mean it doesn't go away? No. No, no. Those symptoms once all my friends that got like we were joking because two weeks before the tour we got it issued on I think it was a on a Thursday and so guys took it and then the next day they're like did you have weird dreams and did you have weird dreams and yeah it broke people right away. It wasn't it wasn't like a buildup and once it was there I don't know any of them that it's gotten better and I know several dudes who've got it bad like really bad some have it intermittently but they always had it intermittently with once upon taking this med. So people need to understand that the government doesn't always have their best interest at heart when they're giving you a medication. And I'm not, I'm not anti-vax. I've got all the normal ones that have been time proven and, you know, but you look at other medication that's been pulled off the shelf. And there's the example, I think it was of aspirin or Tylenol years ago in the 80s or 90s.

And there was like three or four infected bottles or potentially three or four bottles had had something go wrong with them. And forgive me if I'm wrong about which one it was. was, but then they pulled all of that product off of all the shelves, basically, in North America because there was like a couple had been tainted at source. We, we've had how many people with the COVID shot or VACs injured now to the point where they wrote it into the budget, 36 million bucks to cover some compensation level. It's not safe and effective. We know it's not. I mean, I know people with myrocreditis, guys that I served with with it. And it's been, after a months of testing, the doctors had no choice but to say it was the vaccine.

You're a 40-year-old otherwise healthy guys who's only, they know it's the vaccine. And the doctors have to go through like months of this day and day of testing, hooking you up to every machine they can to try and disprove it. But at the end of the day, they, as long as you stick with it and don't give up the testing, which is what they want. They want you to wear out, become like enough. You know, that's what they expect, but enough people have stuck with it. In the middle of COVID, she's passed now, and I'm trying to, I'll see if I can remember her name, folks.

But it was a constitutional lawyer from Alberta. And she said something that stuck with me for a long time. And she said, you know, if the government never broke the rules, I wouldn't have a job. It's like, oh, yeah. When you put it that way, it makes perfect sense, right? And it's part of the idea behind the Cornerstone Forum. As I look at my life and I'm like, I got choke points where I'm just like, The government is too much in my life.

I don't want that. And I'm trying to remove that as much as I can by building community and learning skills and pulling myself out of the system because I hear the methalquin story from the soldiers. And then you start unpacking all the other things that have gone on in society and how things have really hindered people and you realize like it's just a machine. And the machine doesn't care about your feelings.

It's just going to keep moving on and on and on. Yeah. And then, you know, if you take into account that of all industries, the greatest return on investment comes from lobbying that tells you that the government is the magnet for these interests that want the government to do their bidding. And, you know, they have legal ways of bribing your representatives, your government officials. and so of course the government probably does wrong more than they do right. You know? Absolutely. That just stands to reason because it's the interest, how do you call it?

The stakeholder interests are overwhelming. You know, the government, maybe, you know, like some big pharma company wants to test the drug. They're like, well, we already have a captive audience, the soldiers. So, okay. some pharma official bribes somebody in the government that can make the decision, they can sign off on that. And that's all it takes. It's not the first medication that soldiers have been trialed on.

There you go. It's by far from it. I mean, especially in the U.S., they're notorious for it. But, I mean, we in Canada think, no, there's no way we would. But the Americans and British actually discontinued and said never issue this to soldiers again, demeplequin. Canada's like gobbling it all up probably at a discount for all I know but I mean it's wild isn't it oh it's wild but when you we couldn't even push back because I wasn't

the only it's not like Chuck was the only guy that went on the Google machine and said oh Bethlehcun's was probably not good for us lots of guys did and lots of guys didn't take it but you don't say anything to anyone because you can't be the guy you can't be that guy right like well you're not going to Afghanistan then I'm like oh shucks like it's it's one of those things right actually I wanted to go so you protect Nobody comes home with you to make sure you took the pill every week. So you basically just chuck it away and the other guys that were like, I'm taking it. The army gave it to me.

Like, good for you. Like that's wonderful, but I'm not, you know. Yeah. It's one of those things where you have to just understand that the government doesn't, whether you're in the army or not, have your best interest at heart. Remember about two years ago, the first soldier kind of came forward, first veteran came forward and said, hey, veterans affairs Canada offered me suicide as an option for my treatment. And the entire liberal caucus or cabinet and liberals all across the country were like, that can't be it.

That's not it. And then after like a lengthy 10 minute investigation, the liberals came out and said it was one rogue caseworker. That's all it could be. This isn't a, this isn't a program. Well, wait, you're talking about medical assistance in dying. Yes. And they and now, and it was the rollout because now we know of hundreds of,

hundreds of veterans that they've offered it to and dozens that have taken it. So you went and served in your country's military. You come back. You have problems. And they're offering you. And I say, hey, we can put you to sleep. How about that? Exactly.

So. Yeah. Wonderful. And now because it's been just people kind of went, well, it's only soldiers who are veterans who gives a shit. Well, it isn't. It isn't. I know. But now it's not.

Now because it's just become mainstream. They don't even try and defend it's just we now have close to what 45,000 people last year alone in Canada where it made it out. Suicided out. out. It was in 45,000. I think it was over 40. We lead the world now.

We're number one. Is it? I know it was in 21. It was 10,000. I think we're up there now. We've really got some good numbers going. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the last number. But if it's a cumulative number, that sounds about right.

We've been. It's in one year? So, yes. Since 2016, death since in Canada, since 2016 was rolled out is 44,900. Okay, so it's cumulative. Communitive and and and and and and here. That's a lot of people. That's a, that's a freaking, that's a, that's a whole town.

So the year, the year it, the year it rolled out was a thousand people used it in 2016. Then it over doubled, almost tripled, 2,800 in 2017. Then in 2018, 4,400, 2019, 56. The year after, 7,600. 20, 21, it was 10,900. And then this past year, or two years ago, sorry, where the statistics, run out, it was 13,000. So it just keeps going on.

It's a growing industry. Yes, it is. Must be safe and effective. It's permanent. And here's, okay, and here, Alex, this will really make your headspin, okay? So I'll show you, you can see the chart going up. Yeah, the chart is like. And you see the red on the final two years.

So for the listener, because we have no video today, and for somebody wondering why there's Spotify isn't working, we have no video. So in 2021 and 2022, right at the top, there's this, this, little red line and then it grows. Okay, you see how much the red grows at the top? Yes. Okay. Any idea what that is?

I'll tell you what that is. The blue is natural death is reasonably foreseeable. The red, natural death is not reasonably foreseeable. So they now are offering made when you aren't on death's bed. You're allowed to take your life if it's not reasonably foreseeable. I know two cases. One of it, one is a one is a boy who got left by his girlfriend. had a depression and I think he was in his early 20s and they offered him made as a

as a treatment option and one is a woman in her in her like 40s early 40s who had a hip replacement surgery and the surgeon botched it and so she was she was left in like a lot of physical discomfort and infections and apparently her story is that the medical team at the hospital where she was staying, where she was being treated, when several repeatedly came to offer her maid. And to me, the whole story sounded like they are incentivized. Like somehow this is incentivized because they're not just saying like,

well, you know, if you want to get it all over with, we can just help you with that. They're like, you should consider maid. You know, you should consider ended it all right now. We can help you with that. And, well, to me, the fact that those numbers are growing indicates that there must be an incentive. Has to be. I agree.

I agree. Because it's not like doctors suddenly realize, like, hey, you know, that whole, how do you call it, hypocrisy is all, that's a whole lot of rubbish. Why don't I just like start killing people? That's going to put them out of their misery. That's a great idea. the fact that it's growing means that there must be incentives. Well, they've opened it up the program in this last year, only a few months old now, to, is it people on the spectrum? Basically, if you're like they've, I don't, I don't want to get the terminology wrong because I often do.

But they've opened it up to basically people who are mentally deficient. Mentally ill, isn't it? Diminished mental capacity or something like that. So you're basically, well, I remember another country in the 30s that was doing that. Like, that's bad to do that. And then I've even seen on the social media like homeless people who've just kind of gone, I'm giving it up and I'm going to go do the maid. That's, I understand it for people who are impalitive or long term care where they've just

been fighting something for so long. I get it. I do understand that. And an option for them should be an option for them. If you're suffering that long or your quality of life at the end is, is what it is. I'm not saying take away their option. I'm saying if you're offering it to people with a diminished mental capacity, if you're offering it to veterans who are just trying to get treatment for, you know, I,

the problem with it is is once you crack the door and in. 100%. The slope is slipped. They boot the door down and everybody wants it, right? Well, what about the person who, you know, is, you know, you got to be 90 in order to use it. What if you're 89? And then, and then it just, they just keep lessering the degree. to get in.

It's the Canadian freaking military. Mm-hmm. You know? Once upon a time, it was extremely difficult to become part of that group. Mm-hmm. I'm not saying it was to become a rocket scientist, but at the same time, Chuck, it wasn't the easiest thing to get into it. It was not.

And they keep lowering the degree. Well, what's that going to do the Canadian military? Not good things, I would say. Yeah. And, you know, you look at made, and you go, like, you know, well, somebody should have it. I don't know. Should they really have the opportunity?

opportunity to just off themselves, like by the government, by the institution? Because as soon as we say yes, you know, and I don't know the answer to this. I can't completely that wrong. I just know that as soon as you say yes, now they're going to try and push it so that they're equitable, equal opportunity for everyone. Because, I mean, he's a 12-year-old and he's had a really tough life. And I just think, you know, he's a mature minor and he should be able to end it. And I want to say to that adult that says that, you're insane. Our country is insane. And I want to put that back in Pandora's box. I understand at 90, you want to get it over with. Well, suck it up.

You've lived 90 years. I don't know if I'm at the point where I just say, oh, well, just use made. And the reason is not because I can't see their point. The problem is they've got to see past their own needs or their own wants because it's bleeding out into society like a freight train right now. I'll say from my own experience, having been on dealt with pallet of care, you know, for my own situation. And you experience a lot of what goes on on a pallet of care unit with the other families. And the first time it was kind of, and it wasn't called made then, it's just basically.

Take them off life support, isn't it? Well, there's no, no, no, no. They give you a cocktail. And they're very open about giving you the cocktail. It's the phanaia, right? Yeah, essentially. So a panel of doctors comes by. It was three in my case for my wife.

And the first conversation they have with you is this conversation. When it becomes too much, you let us know. How hard of a, you know, I'm sitting here yelling about it. And now you're bringing in your wife who's passed. I'm just saying this is this, I understand from a, from that person's point of view when they're in. that much pain and their their time is down to days or you know maybe weeks at the most there I and me having just being who I am and who I where I just come back from as my second tour in Afghanistan I took one of the doctors by the scruff and put them on the wall while the other two

were trying to grab me off and I'm like you know because in my head I'm like no you're going to continue treating her because that's what you expect but that isn't you're in palliative care for reason like you just are he you you have to wrap your head around where you are and I had to you know after I put the fella down and brushed them off a little and it's like get out of here well you know it is one of those things and then you you spend the time you do there I was there almost three months we were there um you see one room after another empty and you get to know the families that are there during your stay and not all not all take it but a lot do because they you're you're in

that much pain that I'm talking of the amount of pain that would put junkies away doesn't even touch their pain. That's the kind of pain people with certain diseases, cancers go through stuff. I mean, I'm in pain all the time for my injuries. I can't imagine the pain these people are in, you know what I'm saying. So do I agree that we need to like close the door on 99% of it? Yeah. And even having that crack open.

That's what opened up the door. You're 100% right. Having that much crack. Well, I mean, it took it took in it took from 19. And forgive me on the years, I want to say 1990 or maybe late 80s of them pushing on made until 2015, until 2016 essentially. But Justin Trudeau gets in 2015. As soon as it's in, we see the trend.

Oh yeah. Boom. Way it goes. Now, were there people waiting in palliative care and others? I'm sure. I'm not even sure that they would count them because I don't know what those. I don't know that they kept statistics on that prior. I don't know.

So, so. No, that's interesting. Because they don't consider, that's not called made. That's not called me. It's not. It was called something completely different. We had euthanasia before what made is. Yeah, it was, I don't know that it was called euthanasia, but it was a sign, it was

a euthanasia, yeah. Like dude is, so essentially we had what you're talking about well before made ever came in. I don't, and I don't know the history of how long it was. I wasn't aware that it existed until I had our own experience with it. Um, and. you had to be conscious to make the decision. So you couldn't just have passed out and then they're going on. So your wife agreed.

She did not. She refused it. She said no and fought to the end. But not many do. I don't blame them. Like there were people there who were in horrific state. Sorry to bring it up. No, no, no, no, no.

I brought it up because it's, it's, it's, I get where the door was cracked and I can understand it. I do understand it. But to take a homeless person, how about we fix the reason he's homeless? Instead of putting him in a, just putting a needle in his arm and ending him, or whatever they, I don't even know how they do it, like whether they needle them or what they do. But instead of taking, or these mentally, I'm going to offend somebody with these people

who aren't completely there mentally and opening up made to them, how about we try and get a program or fix something, We want to provide funding for wars all over the world. How would we just open some stuff up in Canada to fix some stuff? Alex, do we sound like insane Canadians right now? Or is this a discussion that happens across the pond? May doesn't, but, you know, everything's kind of spreading around, you know, all of these things. The hysteria, the madness, it's all over the Western world.

and I think we've completely lost our, well, we haven't lost our moral compass, but they're definitely working hard on disorientating us. And I think a lot of people are losing their moral compass. I think that this thing would make is so disturbing that it seems to me that people are reluctant to even discuss it. But where is it coming from? To my mind, it's coming from the, you know, you have the imbalance in society, which is again predicated on the monetary system, on the banking system,

because we went into this whole thing where you work and then after you finish working, you get a pension from the government. And so what? You know, back in the 1960s, it used to be six working people supporting one person on whatever, one pensioner. And I think that now we're like two point something. two and a half persons supporting one pensioner. And so I think that these people who are,

who sit in places like Council on Foreign Relations and all these stupid think tanks, they're like, well, one way we can improve those ratios just by reducing the people who are receiving pensions. Like, you know, let's just get rid of them. So I think that they, they then at that point they start into, you know, they change the laws quietly. Obviously, this is not being discussed enough at all.

And then they start introducing incentives so that the, you know, the people, the practitioners are willing to do it. And then it kind of always creeps forward by accretion, you know, like it's just like, yeah, it does. It decrees. Year after year, it becomes a bigger thing. In your culture, I don't know how you want to address this, but let's say somebody is late stages of life.

Maybe they're in pain. Maybe they're just, you know, I don't know. I sat with, shout out to Byron and Christopher today. His 75th birthday, he was on the, he was, he's been on the podcast twice. He was on the stage in my March show of 2023, brilliant journalist. And he was attacked by a bug. And so he's paralyzed and is learning now on the road of. recovery starting to walk again. So I got to sit with them and and talk to him and I was asking

him, you know, like how many people have been around to see you? You know, like, and he said, oh, lots, lots. He was quite thankful of all the people and I can't imagine being in that bed and not having family. And Byron does. I don't mean just that, you know, that would become a, I've heard of different cultures and how close the family is, the family unit. So when somebody's in the hospital, you know, they have that support. I don't know. Like, is there a, um, is there a, way from your guys' culture from where you come from, where, you know, like end of life is done in a different way. To me, it feels like what Canada's creating is a very systematic way of the way end of life happens. We're making it a machine. Right. Yeah. Well, I think it's a

little bit in the taboo zone. It's, I think that this is not just my culture. I think this is, this is like hardwired in us that life is sacred and you and you fight for for life as long as you can and you can you know like what when you see when you slith see like a deer fall through the ice sure people go out of their way they they risk their lives to save the deer yeah they don't say like oh well that deer's doomed too bad and walk away right this is not the normal human reaction. And then, you know, when it comes to healthcare, how many times have we heard of miraculous recoveries? Somebody who has some seemingly incurable disease and then they find some kind of a treatment or they go to some practitioner who brings like whatever, acupuncture

or something. And then the people miraculously recover. And so like if you start introducing and incentivizing things like made, then it's a little bit of you. Instead of people using their thinking hats and trying to find a solution and fighting and and and and and They they they just default to the easy easy way out, you know, like We do that to our dogs. I couldn't my my dog was In 2017, she was so ill. It was obvious that she was going that she was on the way out and I was I wasn't I wasn't able to put her down I just decided she's going to go when God takes her.

And I stayed with her until she died in my arms. And I think this is how people should go. It should be when God decides. And with family around. With family around. So I think it's a question of human values that are, I think, common to all of us, regardless of, you know, like my culture, your culture, new world, old world.

Doesn't matter. I think that the values is that you fight for life till the end. And I think that's the way it should be. To Alex's point about being incentivized, there are rumblings within the veteran community. We know, we already know, whether how provable it is just yet, but with, what are we called, foie per foia, the stuff ongoing at this moment that I know from other veterans, they know that veterans, they know that veterans, affairs basically is incentivized to say no. So if I went in, say for me, for example, because it's me and I know the stuff I've got applied for and it has been approved, different various

injuries from head to toe. Some approved. Some approved very small. Some said, no, couldn't be my hearing, for example. I've got hearing so bad that I should have hearing aids. I've gone for the testing, an independent person, not hired by me or the government, but an independent a third party audiologist did all the testing. You have horrible tinnitus and you have like really bad hearing, like bad hearing. And the Army comes back or the Veterans Affairs comes back and says, well, you couldn't have lost your hearing as a result of your service. Well, I've been blown up a number of times.

I've been in several dozen battles. I've been around Army vehicles my whole life. Like I've been on a billion ranges throwing stuff and stuff exploding. And they come back with that. We know that they're saying, we know not because of what I'm saying, but we know due to other leaks that they're incentivized to say no. You mean to deprive you of the treatment? Deprive you, deprive you of the claim and the treatment. And then we were basically we know that on top of that now that it's become full tilt with the made part with veterans that if they can get a veteran to commit suicide or suicide them, that's a that's a pension they don't have to pay anymore.

Exactly. That's what it is. And so that's where they're at. But also think about it. If you put yourself into a doctor's shoes, suppose you're a doctor, how would you feel about that? You would probably, if your patient was, was, you know, like in some desperate condition in horrible pain and, you know, the hope of recovery was slim or none, then I think that maybe you would very hesitantly mention this as a. as an option, you would talk to their family and say, like, look, there's not much we can do and I'm very sorry, but we can at least take them out of their pain.

And then if they say, like, no, I'm going to, I'm going to fight, I'm going to die fighting if I have to die. And then you'd back off, right? But, you know, I know at least one story that they come back. Of a person in Canada where Maid was suggested repeatedly. Yep. And so, you know, that doesn't... It feels evil.

Yes, it is. That doesn't feel like the conduct of a normal person. No. That feels like a conduct of a person who's incentivized and who thought like, well, fuck it, I might as well make some money out of this. 100%. And then you're going to, you're obviously,

you're going to find doctors who are going to be willing to do that. Absolutely. And so that's why you have the growing trend because, you know, the growing trend is a very disturbing, you know, that chart, that shows that every year there's more and more people who are being made. And Alex, you follow trends, right? I'm not wrong in saying that.

Just not that trend in that. Not that particular kind of trend. I don't know. I don't know how, you know, like, if you could buy that security. Yeah. I mean, and you, that's a more. To me, it's interesting that they didn't, that the liberals, our government, didn't roll it out across the board all at once.

They picked a segment of society, the veterans, where they could guinea pig it where people either for the most part I'm not saying the people in this room but look by and large like it's veterans whatever they they knew what they were signed signed up for this maid stuff is just another thing for them and so they just kind of dip their toe in the water with it got some got saw how much pushback there was or wasn't from the general people about saw how they could spin their narrative about no it was one real caseworker and turns out it was like it's a thing there where hundreds of dude more than hundreds have been offered it and we don't even know how

how many took it. We know that dozens at least have taken the option. And so you've taken dozens of military guys. Yep. This is from other military guys that I know who've, who are deeper into knowing a bit of this stuff because they have some connections. A lot of this is going to all come out at some point once these guys have enough FOIA, whatever you call FOIA information. Freedom of information. They don't, a lot of them don't want to say anything official or formal until they have the stuff. But yeah, it's out there. And then you take, so you have that segment of the population where they rolled it out, well, it seems to be working just fine. And then you, you start to up that and up that to regular people. And then you, you take it that step forward

to people who are the mental capacity. A lot of those people are on some sort of pensionable program as well. Like in Alberta, we have Aish. So if you're, you know, unable to work because you're, you know, this, you get a monthly thing of like two grand a month. A lot of inmates I dealt with in corrections are on Aish because they are mentally diminished. Well, if you're going to, there's a, you save a whole bunch of money a month or a year. If you're going to A, or made those people out, there's a couple grand a year right there off of this guy who just. Well, you think about it just, there's 20, if it's two grand, for every made you do, it's

24 grand a year and they multiply that out over the lifetime. Yeah. It becomes a pretty big number. It's a huge number. Yep. Isn't it interesting that our system. tends increasingly to treat people like cattle. You know, if you think about it,

so one of the things that they're doing is they're trying to put us on artificial meat and insect fodder, right? Yep. Lab grown meat. Lab grown meat. Vaccines in the animals that come through the grocery stores. And then vaccines with the, you know, semi-annual regular boosters and now made like you know like you're done free drugs right like we're

just going to give you free drugs so it's like it's it's it's very interesting that you know the sanctity of human life the the you know and then they even talk about like yeah yeah yeah you know all this like you being a unique soul and and the free will that's all over you're a hackable animal and that's it and then there's so many aspects of life that are moving exactly in that direction. I think that the system is ripe for destruction and an overhaul. And I think that it's going to be a battle because the place that we're in, we're increasingly being, with all of these small developments and how they're incentivized is really pushing us in the direction of becoming cattle. And that means that these programs like made, one day might be like,

oh guess what you've reached that age yeah goodbye you're out of here what was that old movie uh from the 70s where I think when they reach 25 they are taken off it's a famous movie too exactly you you've you've outlived your purpose here

you fit 55 here you go and and the the mindset was given away when uh that guy what's his name Rahm Emanuel's brother Zika Manuel he wrote a book in which he argues that, or a paper, I don't remember what it was, but I remember that at some point they came up with something

where they were saying that a human life is no longer worth living after the age of 76, literally. They're not joking about it. That went out. And so, you know, these people might think like, well, okay, let's let the cattle live until 76. snuff him out. Well, of course, one day they can say like, well, you know, 76 is a bit generous.

Yeah, let's go 72. Yeah, or 68. And then, yeah. So I think the, the system's no good. Whatever the black magic is that makes these things happen and then become our reality, we need to take this down. It's not, it's not fit for human experience. one of the things I think the Bitcoin guy said that I did really agree with was he he

and I've kind of shout out shout out to Dave Bradley Dave Bradley he keeps saying Bitcoin guy Dave Bradley Dave Bradley um was that he he sees Canada's fracturing into many sorts of states and countries on their own and I could see that I I mean, we're not, we're not, we don't all think the same regionally. And I think regional, that's why you have Europe the way it is, because regionally, there's a lot of differences. Of course, can they get along and become the Euro nation that they are? The Euro, they are, sure, with, they're still infighting. There's still doesn't mean it's perfect, but they're, they've kind of got their own way of doing things a little bit.

I don't want to become the Eurozone of Canada. I would rather we just keep our own regional identity and, and do our own thing. And if maybe in the initial phase that I'm being very warm and fuzzy about this and hoping that there's no eggs broken, but if you're more of a Western ideologist where you kind of want your libertarian stuff to be the way we like it out here, then you come west. If you want to go be controlled by the government more and more and more the way it is, then go east. Like that's because the way I look at it right now in Canada is all I do is pay taxes to support everything east of the east of. Manitoba. Like, that's how I look at that. And that's how most Westerners look at it right now is most of the money I pay in taxes.

Doesn't stay here in Alberta. We know this. Doesn't stay in the West. And not only that, but I would say in the West, we look at Made and all of us raise our eyebrows for the most part, right? Like, we all probably agree with where truck was at the very start, right? Yeah, there's probably some limited cases where you get to a certain age and you got blah, blah, blah.

I can't find. I can't find a single farmer to tell me that a man or a girl or a boy should be a girl. Yeah. I just, it's simple biology, right? So it's like that isn't a Western idea. Or heating our homes. How come if you have a gas, you know, the carbon tax is not being fairly applied. Scott Moe, thank God right now is pushing back.

So you know what? We're not going to send you any of our federal taxes right now. Like, like we don't think the same as the East. We just don't. It's very interesting this. because this is exactly how former Yugoslavia fell apart and ended up in a civil war. Because we all living in the West were complaining bitterly

that our taxes were being sent to Belgrade to the capital and that they were being spent there by on how they decide and we get shafted systematically. And so what happened then is that individual republics like Slovenia and Croatia were pushing for confederation. And then obviously the people who were receiving all the tax revenue didn't want that. And so they were like, no.

And then we're like, okay, in that case, we declare independence. And then came James Baker to Belgrade. And he said, well, you know, if these people want to break away and if you want to, if you want to suppress those movements violently, we have nothing to say about that. So, you know, they gave Miloshavich like a free. Yeah. And so that's how the war started. And, well, you know, if that's the process, then it seems to me that Canada is, is at risk of that kind of an outcome. We, when I say not breaking any eggs, I mean avoiding a civil war if possible. And I don't know, I don't know what the future

looks like. I just know that we are, we could be so much further ahead in the West if we didn't have Ottawa in the way. If you didn't have a leach attached to you. Yes. Yeah. And we have a very, very money-hungry, resource-hungry leech in the way. We should be at this nation as a whole. You know what?

I wouldn't even care if everybody east of Manitoba had my wallet open, as long as they let us in the West earn the money with our resources the way we should. But they handicap us as far as even earning that money. You know, I'm talking with the oil and gas side of things and just everything. else that we do in the west that's different than the east. I don't want to say everybody east of Manitoba. I was going to say probably if we just covered of Ottawa, and I don't mean Ottawa the city. I actually mean a few square blocks. Probably it all be better off for. But you look at the mentality of some of the people east of Quebec, who are just at this point

for the last so long, from both governments, conservative and liberal, just used to getting a hand out. they're just used to getting that good Western money. And unfortunately, I don't see that turning around. Some of them are voting conservative right now. The big poll came out of Newfoundland, though, and they're going to still red. They're still going liberal because they get so many handouts. And I'm not trying to knock newfies.

I'm sorry if you're a newfee and you're offended. But we gave you the oil and gas, and a lot of you came out here and worked here. And when you went back home, because Ottawa basically, you know, handcuffed oil and gas, so that tightened up, that is tighter than it ever was. Or it's maybe not as bad as it was at one point, but it's not where it could be. If we were just left to do our own thing, like other people in the world,

we're handing out so much money from the West. That's when I become my country ends at the driveway. That's where, I'm like, why? You know, so we've taken a brief break here and we've come back. You know, one of the things about, we were talking about the Cornerstone Forum after we took, you know, before we took the break, Chuck was talking about his taxes and different things going on in Canada. And, you know, one of the things about Cornerstone Forum when we were there, which I found really interesting because, you know, like if Armageddon happens, okay, whichever version you wanted that, and one of the most popular versions is nuclear bombs going off literally everywhere. Well, I think we're all going to, we're all going to have to, you know, if we survive,

that, it's going to be this brave new world where you're going to go back to the sticks and stones and rubbing things together for fire and, you know, and on and on and on. If it doesn't go like that, which I don't think that's where it's going, that's my personal thought, you know, then you come back to Armageddon. Then you come back to the community side of things and why having people such as yourselves back on the podcast and talking and the Cornerstone Forum and, and why these things become so important because we're trying to foster these communities of people meeting and exchanging ideas and trying to move their lives forward and thinking about different things and on and on and on. You know, when you two look at, I've had extensive conversations I feel like with both of you on all the wars going on right now or all the bombs going off here and there, which one concerns you at this point the most?

You know, like you've seen some of the comments out of Biden's mouth lately. Cool, yeah. You're just like, oh, I mean, every time that guy talks, you know, I go back to Martin Armstrong. Like, who's worse right now? Trudeau or Biden? Probably Biden because he is in control of the largest military under the sun or what once was, you know, and still has this big stick. But I just read a Doug Casey article. It wasn't Doug Casey.

He was a guy writing for Doug, talking about the bully, the school yard bully until he's no longer the bully and right now we're watching the US be exactly that and I was like this is this is bang on so is it is it Israel Palestine or is it Russia Ukraine and the fact that that's still I don't know I don't I don't even know where to go but you know you guys are two military man you know at the what do you where do you look at this because if we're going to all agree I think Armageddon isn't coming there isn't bombs going to just go off everywhere and we're back to the Stone Age. What is escalating or what is the thing you're paying attention to?

Go ahead, Alex. What I'm paying attention to is mostly the creeping militarization and altification of Europe and to an extent of the United States as well. Because this is where I see the danger. Okay, so the empire, well, okay, so context. We know that this is not just the war between Ukraine and Russia. And it's not just the war between the Palestinians, the Hamas and Israel. These are all battles in imperial wars where it's essentially the empire fighting for its life, for its survival.

And it's probably confronted by all the rest of the humanity because it's not like life, inside of the empire is good for most ordinary people. And life outside of the empire for the colonies is miserable. And so now, you know, for the first time, there's a force that can confront the bully, with Russia, and it's defeated the empire in Syria, is defeating the empire in Ukraine, and now other powers are taking on the empire in the Middle East. And the problem with them being defeated in Ukraine is not that they're going to go silently into the night. So now they've become, you know, you can hear the politicians in Europe talking about,

we need to bring back conscription. We need to boost our defense industry. They're actually allocating hundreds of billions of dollars to military contractors. The Germanese Rheinmetal is on a buying spree. They're like purchasing their rivals, competitors. They're building up new capacities. Rine Metal wants to become the world's largest ammunition manufacturer. So this is how things started in Germany, in the 1930s.

This is how things started in Ukraine 10 years ago. and then the next comes a political radicalization and so when I look at where we're at I see that the forces of empire you know the same people who somehow under the radar

managed to incentivize made because they're doing the social engineering that people don't notice until it blows up in their face they're like now engineering militarization and Nazification of Western Europe well you know primarily the Baltic states, Germany, Poland, whatever, you know, Moldova, Romania.

But, you know, when the Russians defeat Ukraine, then they're going to try to figure out a way to get Poland onto the chopping block and then Germany onto the chopping block. And they're going to, you know, like when they run out of cannon fodder in one nation, they're going to push to get the next nation to attack because they're obsessed with Russia. because, you know, it's their Eastern Europe and then European part of Russia is their gateway to the Eurasian landmass. And dominating the Eurasian landmass is the it of the Western Empire. And so they're going to fight for that hegemony to the bitter end, to every last one of us. And so they're in the process of doing it. And if we don't put a stop to this, if we don't rise up and say no, they're going to, you know, move the thing forward one step at a time. So that's what concerns me the most because we've seen what happened to Ukraine in the last 10 years.

And I think that the same can happen to Poland, to Germany, to most of the old continent. And I think that the same logic is also dictating their policy in the United States to kind of mobilize the American society for war against China. So Europeans, we get to kill Russians, and the Americans, they get to kill China. Of course, none of us gives a shit about any of this because it's not for our benefit. But it's for the, you know, whoever the stakeholders. of the empire are. It's for them. They're driving this. They orchestrated World War I, they orchestrated World War II, and they orchestrated the clash between Ukraine and Russia, and they orchestrated the

false flag in Israel. Yes, it was. And they're going to keep doing it until somehow we stopped them. And I don't know how we stopped them, but maybe the Canadian trucker convoy was part of that. I agree with everything Alex just said. Like, that's, I'm worried about the way that they're adding in words to the narrative really frequently, like when Biden brings up Article 5. It seems to be the only part of a sentence that man can actually stutter through is saying Article 5 every other day. And people should really pay attention when, American politicians and a few Canadian ones are saying things like article 5 because they'll invoke it there my big concern is watching Macron talk openly and

non-stop about sending in French troops somewhere in Ukraine but they're not going to go to the front lines they're just gonna guard this building at this grid location just you can put those into your you know your missile systems Russia and then maybe accidentally he'll bomb these 1,000 French troops. And then we're in an Article 5. Like, you know, Russia doesn't have much choice but to strike wherever we send NATO troops in there. They've already killed lots of handlers and advisors.

Like these, you go on telegram, you can see a lot of this stuff has occurred already. And it's from both sides. This isn't just the pro-Russian side. You have to look at the pro-Ukrainian side as well, because quite often they'll accidentally admit to it. a thing where they that's usually quite often where you'll verify something the Russian side is saying on telegram is when the Ukrainians like oh my I can't believe they did this and then everybody's like shut up like you know because they've just admitted the thing happened and you're

like oh like when they keep going after that uh I believe there's four nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the only one the Russians control is can I guess it's always under Russian bombardment which is weird because they're not bombarding the other three that they don't control. So we all know that it's Ukraine sending drones and missiles at it and the Russians doing everything they can to knock them out of the air before they hit this nuclear power plant. And even with the international atomic energy, I can't remember their acronym, but they're stationed there going, it's not Russia bombing themselves. They're trying to shoot the things down. Now, you can go back and forth on why the war happened. For me, it started in 2014 because I've

been following it since 2014. Oh, absolutely. You know, and you try and explain that to somebody who hasn't followed it since 2014. Like, no, Russia bad. I saw, I've seen Red October. They're bad guys. Like, okay, if that's as simple as you want to make it, is they're the bad guys in every Hollywood movie. Okay, good for you. But we're going to wind up going to war with Russia, potentially, because as Alex says, the Western hegemony is, is really at risk. Bricks was started a few years ago or many, well, I guess several years ago now. And every Western analyst, every Western expert was like, it's a joke. We have nothing to worry about. We'll crush them. Bricks is the real deal. Like a lot of countries only trade in rubles now. One of the smartest things Putin did at the beginning of this war was when he said, you're only going to buy our gas in rubles. He's kept his economy not just a float, but flourishing in a wartime situation.

Because he's forced all of Europe and people around the world to buy his gas in rubles. Not the American dollar. And do you see the result? I had a bit of a heated discussion. It was a good discussion, but I had a heated discussion over Russia, Ukraine. Because obviously, you know, saying anything in the light of Russia being anything in the remote of possibly being in the positive light on this when they're killing a ton of Ukrainians and on and on and on, is a hard thing for anyone to swallow that hasn't been paying attention to have. thing, right?

Yeah. Especially, you know, here in Alberta, it's got a giant Ukrainian population, right? Like this. And so what the individual was saying to me was, I don't care. Russia is the one that invaded. Russia is the one that came across the line. I don't care what happens to that point. As soon as you go across a line, your team bad.

And I'm like, well, hey, I want to get two military men to their thoughts on that. But my counter argument has always been, yeah, but like look what the United States has done all across the world. They haven't dropped their army on places. They have. They have. But lots of times they use, it's a proxy war. They go in, they influence, they push these different lobbyist organizations.

And I'm like, it's the same thing. It's just suit and tie. So is that, are they the bad guys? And it was kind of like not a stalemate. I was just frustrated that he couldn't see that 2014 it started. And he didn't want it. No, no, no, they don't. No, because it didn't, it, I mean, you had Newland, the American, went in there and started it, essentially, and then backed the players that the US wanted, started that whole thing.

It was just completely dirty. If people want to understand it, Oliver Stones put out a couple of decent documentaries that are fairly informative about it. Fairly, for a guy like me, it broke it down very easily. So if you want to understand really how it started, and you don't have to be a supporter of Ukraine to not understand that the problems were there, that war from 20, 2014 to 2022 killed something like 15,000 civilians in Dombas, but nobody was marching for them and nobody gave a shit. It wasn't until Putin said enough is enough. I got to do what I got to do. I don't blame Putin. He's a leader. He's an actual leader. He said, I'm going to do what I got to do. Well, and the thing is, is if it was happening on the American border. Yeah. The Americans wouldn't care with the other side of the world. They'd go deal with it. No. Right. But the reason why people think that, oh, yeah, because,

as Russians invaded, so they are team bad, period, end of discussion. Yeah. It's a very mistaken view. The thing is much more nuanced. And basically, the Russians were being threatened with annihilation. Okay. The conflict was absolutely provoked. And so what was happening is that it seemed from the Russian point of view

that the West was preparing a nuclear act. attack on Russia through Ukraine and that they were preparing an entry into Russia of troops through Ukraine and through the Baltic states. So the way this was meant to be is that they were going to launch a first strike nuclear attack at the Russian command and control centers and at their nuclear facilities to deprive them of their nuclear deterrent and there was credible intelligence that they they already had a nuclear program in Ukraine in Chernobyl and near Kharkiv and the part of the reason why it was in Chernobyl is that the the radiation from that nuclear

power plant could mask the nuclear radiation from the nuclear program and so So I think they were either readying this attack or they wanted the Russians to believe that they were readying this attack. Because part of the British geopolitics and their whole way, the way they've been doing things for more than two centuries now is that you never attack, you always get the other side, you provoke them to attack you. and then you play the peacekeeper and the reasonable side. So what happened is we remember that in December 2019, the Russians sent two draft treaties, one to the United States, government and one to NATO. And it had a very detailed demands

of Russian security concerns and a new kind of a new security architecture. And so they agreed to. negotiate, to have a discussion about that that was supposed to happen in January 2020. But then Putin calls Biden unannounced at some point in December 2019. They already agreed to the talks in Geneva. Nevertheless, Putin calls on Joe Biden over these things. and Biden takes the call

and Putin wants to guarantee that they will not place offensive ballistic missile launch sites inside Ukraine and at that phone call Biden says like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we have no plans, we're not going to be doing that. And so the Russians are, okay, we have their word. but then when their delegations met in Geneva, the Americans refused to discuss this. They were like, nope, we are, no, we have nothing to say about this. We have no instructions.

And then there was another meeting between the Russian delegation, so Putin and Lavrov and Blinken and Biden, in which basically they played dumb. They were like, well, you know, that was just a conversation in December with Vladimir Putin. We do not give you our word that we will not place offensive ballistic missile sites inside of Ukraine. The problem is that if they had a – apparently they already had the materials to have the nuclear bomb in Ukraine. They needed just the delivery method. that would place nuclear missiles within five minutes from Moscow, which is too short for them to react.

And so the idea was they were just going to kind of behead them and disable Russian response and completely deprive them of the deterrent. And so that way you have an enormous strategic advantage of them. Huge, massive. And so since basically the two treaties that the Russians put in front of the US and NATO, they practically spit in their faces and they reneged on their commitment not to place offensive missile launchers inside of Ukraine, Russians had no alternative. It was either, you know, like somebody has a gun to your head and you don't have enough time.

to do anything about it and they won't even say I'm not going to pull the trigger. They're saying like maybe I will, maybe I won't. So everything they put and then they also had these exercises on Russia's doorstep practically that were called joint forcible entry. Like if something's called joint forcible entry, what the hell do you think that means? So either the United States and NATO were planning an invasion of Russia with the first strike nuclear attack, or they wanted the Russians to believe that they were doing it. Either one is a provocation that it can be a bigger provocation.

So the idea that, the idea that Russians attacked because they're the bad guys and now they're the aggressors is just wrong. You just didn't read the tea leaves beforehand. You just weren't paying attention. So if I point a loaded gun at your head and I do everything to make you think that I'm going to pull the trigger and at that point you punched me in the face, was it unprovoked? that's a very great way of putting it all I can think of his hockey playoffs right now

and I think of like Brad Mershant Alex is not going to get this reference but certain guys in a hockey team are pests you send them out there and you get them to agitate the other team so that they get provoked and react then you get the power play and I as the guy who normally reacts because I'm a little bit of an anger man on the ice at times

I go with you, he just literally stick, like he's doing things being, aren't you the ref? Pay attention to what's going on. And the funny thing about this is, if I think about it, clearly, I think, and maybe you two can disagree with me, is not only are they provoking, but they're the ref as well. They are. And to use your hockey analogy, everybody knows America is the pest. It's not like this is even hidden. But America's on our side. So you have this certain percentage of people that go, Russia's the bad guy.

and they just fall into locks up. The surprising thing to me is how many people actually see it the way Alex and I do. It's more people than you would think. Go, you know what? I've taken the time and I've looked and or people were already fed up with America's budding into everything and then saying, you can't do that. Only we can do that. You know, the world police thing that came out years ago in that funny other movie there,

that's a real thing. They really do do that. And I'm thankful there are allies sometimes. I would just rather they, they, they, butt out a little bit, you know, and stick to worrying about themselves, but they aren't and they won't. What's telling to me is a couple months after the invasion started and Russia was, you know, rolling where it was rolling and not having some success where they weren't because it didn't all go their way in the beginning. They made some horrible blunders and people were like, oh, Russia,

some people either said Russia's going to be in Kiev in three days and some people are like, they'll be kicked back across the border in three weeks. And as a guy who's been to war, not a peer to peer war, but, you know, um, other war, uh, coin war, you, until you've actually been on a two-way range, learning doesn't mean a whole lot. There's training, yes, there's like, you can do all the training, but until this happens, a lot of stuff doesn't work that you thought would work. And the Russians experienced that. They went in and convoys and like, they just were using stuff they might have used in some not peer to peer war. They were doing the same thing. And they learned and they paid a price. They've adjusted and the same as you the Ukrainians, they've

adjusted and warfare has evolved and advanced over two years in a way that I didn't expect it to. It's evolved into drone warfare everywhere at trenches. It's a very unusual but and now you see that they call them shed tanks like the Russians have started making these monstrous shed tanks. They're tanks with a shed on them so the drones can't get them and it's this new evolution in war and these now these tanks are spearheading certain attacks. Anyway, they drive with a shed on them?

Basically, they build a shed on them. It looks ridiculous, but it's effective. It's effective, yeah. So these evolutions and warfare happen, but we're looking at the Russians and saying, well, they're the bad guys.

We have to get rid of them. And unfortunately, that time where we could have, if NATO was serious about going in and doing this thing, and just going full Article 5, that time is passed. Our shelves are empty in the West. Russia is out producing us on every metric measurable,

whether it's tanks, artillery shells are doubling all of NATO combined. Manpower, they now have hundreds of thousands of frontline experienced men. If we go into, if tomorrow we, all of NATO says, we're going to war with Russia, I shudder because you're going to take troops who have no combat experience in the West. Almost nobody has modern combat experience. The guys that do are my age, they're out of the army and that wasn't peer to peer. That was counterinsurgency, different war, but at least it was shooting.

shooting, you're going to take troops with no combat experience, with empty shelves, throw them up against guys who now have two years of rotational activity on the front, have evolved all their strategies, and will steamroll anything we put in front of them. Ukraine has now reached their tipping point, which a lot of us predicted would happen, and they don't have, they have a manpower pool. They can keep conscripting. The problem when you're conscripting is you're giving that guy a couple weeks training. That's not enough. It takes two years to build a soldier, to build an actual soldier before you throw them at the front, or giving them a couple weeks.

This NATO standard they talked about, they noticed they don't even talk about the NATO standard because they're not even training them up to that. And the NATO standard was like a 31-day crash course in the UK. It's not working. So they're out of manpower. Their best units are depleted, overburdened. They're being used as fire brigades to plug the gap wherever the Russians are making pushes. And right now, if you're watching the maps, Russians are grabbing towns per day now.

And, you know, they're grabbing ground pretty quickly compared to the last two years. And that's because that tipping point is broke. It doesn't matter that the Americans just signed off on $61 billion to send them. Half that money is going to be reallocated to building stuff in the U.S. anyway. Some of it's definitely going over there, for sure, which will probably be half of it stolen and some of it might reach the front. And a lot of it's going to be paying pensions and salaries for teachers because they don't have a budget. The country doesn't have a budget. It's just like to make sure that they don't string up Zelensky.

and his government. Exactly. And one of the interesting things I found, I'd sidetracked myself, was two months into the war. They were actually doing negotiations and I think it was Turkey. I could be wrong, but I think it was in Turkey. It was. And they sent the British fellow in there with a hair, Bojo, Boris Johnson in to tell Zelensky's guys, no, no. They had basically either signed or about to have signed a peace deal, which would have given up the

most of the three regions or parts of those two. No, no, no. No, no. That peace deal was Russia was going to withdraw completely except Crimea. And the status of Crimea was going to be resolved later. And I think that they gave it like a 15-year window in which to resolve the status of Crimea. But Russia was going to withdraw completely from all of Ukraine's territory, including the Donbas. But there were conditions. You're not going to be joining.

NATO, you're going to be neutral, you're going to give the Dombas regions an autonomy, you're going to allow them to use Russian language, you know, things like that. And the Ukrainians were like, okay, yeah, that sounds good. They initialed the Well, they didn't want, they knew where the war would go. They initial the agreement and it was ready to be signed. And so they, the Ukrainians were asking the Russians to withdraw troops from Kiev, which is what what they did.

And then they turned around, they said, like, hey, we beat them in the Battle of Kiev. I know, yeah, the big airborne operation. Yeah. Yeah, and then Boris Johnson parachuted into Kiev and told Zelensky, don't sign anything, fight the war. And now the big mystery is that everybody's, everybody keeps saying, like, Biden sent Boris Johnson there. I'm thinking, really, Biden sent him there? Biden doesn't have blinking or he couldn't have sent, like,

Newland was still in at that point, yeah. Newland would have had an orgasm to do that. Scary thought, she's not a pretty woman. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Sorry for the visual. But, you know, there's loads of CIA people in Kiev. They have an ambassador. Of all people, they needed to send Boris Johnson?

No, I'm certain that this is, you know, primarily a British operation in which the United States is merely the military. in muscle and, you know, a general. But I think that the strategy, the philosophy, the, it's what Alex said to about that air. That was a very telling thing, because initially we all thought, man, these Russians, why are they retreating there? Very early in the war, I mean, right away early, they did in a massive air mobile operation

into the airport just outside of Kiev, wasn't it? I don't remember the name of it. Anyway, they took over this airport. And it was a, as far as military like plans and tactics went, what a daring thing to do. Like eventually it'll be studied because they pulled it off. And they got in there and they held this vital ground. Like now when they were treated out because they were basically said, as a show of good faith, get these guys away from Kiev. And we're going to, we're going to start rolling on this.

On the peace deal. Well, the Ukrainians immediately seized on this as like a big military win. It wasn't. The Russians retreated in good order. Of course, there's casualties, but I mean, you don't fight without them. It's just that they said, okay, show good faith will pull out. And the bojo gets parachuted in and this happens. The Israel Middle East thing is also very concerning.

I mean, because that could really blow up. I don't think that it will. I think, I mean, Israel is already in Roff. right now doing what they're doing and you can be on either side of that that you want I I'm I'm I see and people will probably not like this comment too much but I see Israel as more of a necessary device where they are to keep that region that region boils all the time it either boils at itself or at each other or something and Israel is just that focus point to me I mean, it's, well, you are absolutely right.

And I suspect that that was the intent for the very beginning. Yes, I agree. Because, you know, like, very often you'll hear American officials who are close to the Pentagon, you know, people who are in the Defense Department and so on, referred to Israel as our unsinkable aircraft carrier. Yes, yeah. And there is a quote from Manchester Guardian from 1915, were these people from the, you know, the alumni of the Alfred Milner's roundtable,

who were basically the, you know, the strategist of the British Empire, who said that, so this is 1915 or 1916, right? And so way before Israel even existed, they were saying, we have to settle Palestine with a particularly, not fanatical, that's not the word, with a particularly patriotic fervor or else Britain will cease to be the empire of the seas. And then a year later or two years later,

you get the Balfour Declaration, which for some weird reason is addressed to Lord Rothschild. And so now you have the whole narrative about why that was addressed to. to Lord Rothschild, which is complete nonsense. It's so insulting. I wouldn't even repeat it here. But it happens that Balfour was BFFs with that Lord Rothschild's son.

Yeah, so his name was Arthur or, yeah, Arthur, Lord Arthur Rothschild. His son, Nathan Rothschild, was BFFs with Balfour. And he was sitting him with him in his. foreign office daily. He was there all the time. So, you know, long story short, there's, I think, credible grounds to believe that this was a conspiracy, that creation of Israel served primarily the interest of the maintenance of British Empire's hegemony over the Middle East, and that the Jewish people were just cynically used for that purpose, and they're still being used for that purpose. Do you think you said that earlier that sorry to cut you off,

but that October 7th was a false flight, who do you think would have pushed for that? Was it the Israeli government themselves? So, no, I don't think it was the Israeli government themselves. I think it's way higher than that. And so here's what I know. Most of the funding for Hamas came from Qatar. So Qatar provided, I think, well in excess of a billion dollars. for Hamas, right? You don't see, you don't hear anybody complaining about Qatar in the media. It's like Qatar is somehow... That's where all the heads of Hamas reside, though, isn't it? That's where all the heads of Hamas reside in a posh, luxurious lifestyle.

Yeah. And so they are all very friendly with the British intelligence. And Qatar is the only country that has two Air Force bases used jointly with the Royal Air Force in England, right? So Qatari pilots are being trained in England at two Air Force bases. So the relationship between the leadership of Qatar and the British foreign policy establishment is very, very tight. And it happens that the Qataris are the ones who are actually providing most of the funding for Hamas. And that the top leadership of Hamas is living in Qatar in luxury. And so I think that when this attack on 7th October happened, I think that it was

a false flag. It was probably orchestrated between, you know, top leadership at Hamas and the British intelligence. To what purpose? What were they looking to achieve? I think that the purpose was to trigger a regional war. Get Iran heavily involved. You orchestrate a bloody terrorist attack on Israel, you make sure it's gory and that it gets everybody's emotions fired up. And then you get the Israeli government, which is already like pretty hard on, how do you call it, radicals, you get them to react way, way, like a massive overreaction. Well, they keep calling it, why aren't they doing a proportionate war? Well, yeah. And I think that The reason for that is that they wanted to provoke a regional war.

They wanted Lebanon and Syria and Iran, Yemen, maybe Egypt even, to kind of gang up and attack Israel. Because if that happened, then I think that the Western powers, primarily the United States, but also other NATO nations, would probably be able to justify coming to Israel's aid. And then you get like a big massive regional war between Middle Eastern Arab states and Iran and United States and NATO.

And now you have a world war. And world war is the salvation for these Western oligarchies who are fighting for their life. So as they realize that they're failing in Ukraine, that nothing's going to come of it, that they're going to lose. They're like, well, let's start another war. Middle East sounds good. So they're going to wrap up in Rafa, however long that takes.

It could take a couple months. It could take a couple weeks. I don't know. That one will simmer down, I think. I think it'll simmer down without anything else coming out of it once Israel wraps up their operations, or do you see something else coming out of it? Well, I don't know, because I think that after six months of war in Gaza, that they didn't defeat Hamas. Very bad. They promised war on Hezbollah.

But military, Israeli military has already, you know, they wrote policy papers and they shared it with the Israeli government and the Knesset that war on Hezbollah would be suicide. That's the worst possible thing that the Israeli military could do and that it could possibly be a suicide bill for Israel. And then they also are keen on going to war against Iran and they're not capable of winning any of those. No, not now, no.

And so last thing I read is that well, this is in the news, the Israelis have given an offer to Hamas. So they want Hamas to release the hostages and they want like a long period of truth. And so they said, you release our hostages, we're going to release, I don't know how many, but a much larger number of Palestinians

that are sitting in Israeli prisons. And then we're going to have a long extended truce, and then we're going to negotiate, and then, you know, at least according to Anthony Blinken, they're going to start discussions about Palestinian statehood, which the America is just vetoed in the United Nations. So I mean like their credibility is less than zero. I don't know what they hope to get.

But, you know, the way that Blinken framed it is he said that this was an extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous offer by Israel to Hamas. And so six months into this thing, I don't remember at any point that Israel had any kind of a generous offer. It was all like, we're going to kill you all. So the fact that they're making any kind of an offer, to me, is like an admission of defeat. It could be seen that way. Yeah.

So I think that the operation in Raffa is not going to amount too much. They're going to bomb it probably. Oh, they are. I doubt that they're going in their boots on the ground. If they do go their boots on the ground, they're probably going to get their butts kicked. And they're going to withdraw like they withdrew from from Gaza? Yeah. Okay, switching gears again back to Ukraine because I will probably wrap him pretty quick.

I just want to, where do you see the, I just want to pick his brain about this. No, no, I'm chuckling because this is exactly what I intended. It's taken the last half an hour to get here. And now I'm like, now we're up against the clock and Chuck's going crap. Hey, we're all thought criminals here. I just want to know from Alex. Alex, where in Ukraine, at what point do you see the West finally negotiating? Does Putin have to drive up to the gates of Kiev to get a negotiation going?

Or at what point do you see the West saying, because this tipping point for the collapse of these brigades on the front is happening now? Like, they're actually collapsing. How much longer do you see that one going before there's some sort of negotiation? Or do you see a negotiation? I don't think we're going to see negotiations. you know, president to president, you know, like at that level, I think they're just going to pretend. I don't know, you know, like the peace between North Korea and South Korea, I think it hasn't been signed yet. No, they're still at war, technically.

Technically, they're still at war. So this is going to remain technically an open thing. But I think that there's going to be negotiations because, you know, we're going to want their gas, their oil. We're going to want their fertilizers. So there's going to be, you know, there's going to be deals made under the radar on an issue-to-issue basis. And so we're going to trade. We're going to do this and that. But the top level of government is not going to admit defeat.

They're not, they just can't lose face. It's too big. It's too embarrassing. It's too ugly. So they're just going to pretend that. You know, Russia is the ingressor. We don't negotiate with the terrorists and all of those. Whatever can phrase that they have and they're going to leave it open.

But the world is going to move on. Yeah, fair enough. So that's what I kind of expect. Except that the Russians can't stop there. No. Russians can't stop in Ukraine. They have to go all the way. But I don't mean by that, I don't mean that they're going to militarily go to London.

but they're probably going to be diplomatically and legally be applying pressure on Western governments for many concessions, and one of them is going to be the repeal of Magnitsky legislation everywhere. Because that's what creates the moat between Russia and the Western jurisdictions. And that's how the people who plundered Russia in the 1990s have taken. trillion's worth of Russian wealth and now kind of got away with it. And I don't think the Russians are going to let them get away with that. But that's going to take probably decades. It could take 10, 20 years, maybe longer.

And it's going to be very, very boring to watch. It's going to be like watching paint dry. But I think that as far as military operations are concerned, it's going to stop with Ukraine. and hopefully Europe is going to sober up and realize that we have nothing to gain out of that. No, we'll see. We'll see.

Boys, thanks for doing this. Thanks for being a part of, you know, I say it on stage all the time, you know, and especially with the Cornerstone Forum. You were part of my experiment. This is any time I get to have multiple guests in the same room that have never talked, you know, very long with one another. I was just kind of curious to see how this would go

and appreciate you guys. you know, continuing to allow my experiments to continue and allowing the audience to come along for it. Either way, thanks for joining me today. That was fun. Thank you for having us. It was great.