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March 15, 2022 - The Ben Shapiro Show
49:36
The Left Says Dissent Is No Longer Patriotic…On Ukraine | Ep. 1453
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Members of the left say maybe we should arrest people who say things they don't like about Ukraine.
And as the Russia-Ukraine war grinds on, China seeks to take advantage.
I'm Ben Shapiro.
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So, here is the thing.
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All righty, so you may have noticed a poll.
It came out not all that long ago, maybe about a week ago, about how many people of various political parties would actually abandon their country if the United States were directly attacked.
So we are not talking about would you join up for the military if, for example, the United States were attacked in a major city.
We are not talking about would you go overseas to fight for your country.
We're talking about the Russians are in your town.
Do you pick up a gun and fight them or do you flee?
That is the question.
It was posed by Quinnipiac, and what it found is that most American adults would stand their ground and fight for freedom.
However, there was a significant partisan breakdown.
Republicans said that they would stay and fight the way that the Ukrainians are now, by a margin of 68% to 25%.
68% to 25%.
Independents said the same by a margin of 57% to 36%.
Democrats, a majority of them said they would flee.
Only 40% of Democrats said that they would stay and fight for their country in response to a question about what they would do in the same positions as Ukrainians are right now compared to 52% who said that they would flee.
The reason that I mention this is because I'm seeing an awful lot of dissent is unpatriotic from the same people who are cheering Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem and are fine with people burning the American flag.
I'm seeing a lot of America is bad and racist and evil and was founded in 1619 crew saying that if you say things they don't like about Ukraine, this means that you are a traitor to America, which is weird because it seems like if you are standing up more for the Ukrainian flag than the American flag, you have a screw up.
in your wiring with regard to American patriotism.
Now, I've been as pro-Ukraine on this program as anybody on the right.
I've said from the very top that I thought that the United States had done a poor job of deterring Russia from invading Ukraine in the first place, that the United States had done a sin to Ukraine in offering them the prospect of EU and NATO membership and then drawing it away and put them in the worst possible position, and that if you're going to back Ukraine, you actually have to ship in the military materiel necessary to allow Ukraine To at least fight to a standstill or to win the war outright.
With that said, for people who are suddenly Ukrainian patriots, for people who are suddenly Ukraine, not on the basis of American interest, but on the basis of something else, you have to wonder what exactly is driving this.
And the reason this comes up today is because there is now a concerted effort on the left to label anybody who says things that they don't like about Ukraine and Russia as a traitor to the country.
Now, I would imagine This has something to do with the Trump-Russia hangover of 2016 to 2020.
Because remember, it was Barack Obama who was making overtures to Vladimir Putin in 2012.
It was Hillary Clinton who was handing him a reset button in 2009 that didn't actually say reset, it said overcharge.
You'll remember all of this.
That from 2008 until about 2016, Russia was a possible friend.
We handed them control of Syria.
We did nothing when they invaded Crimea.
We did nothing when they invaded the Donbass region.
All of that was just considered de rigueur while a Democrat was in office.
Then Donald Trump entered office.
And the bizarre theory that they put together is that the only reason Donald Trump had been elected is because of Russian interference in the election.
The evidence for this is extraordinarily scanty.
The real reason that Hillary Clinton did not win the election of 2016 is because she was a history epoch-making terrible candidate.
In fact, the greatest path to political success in the United States is to run against Hillary Clinton in any sort of election.
If you run against her in a Democratic primary in 2008, you beat her even if you're an obscure one-term senator from Illinois and you become President of the United States.
You can be a backbencher your entire life in the Senate, a useless Democrat-Socialist backbencher from Vermont, and you will become a nationally known figure responsible for the entire direction of your party if you run against Hillary Clinton in a primary in 2016.
And if you run against her in a general election in 2016, you can be a real estate reality TV guy, and you can become president of the United States by running against Hillary Clinton.
It was not a giant mystery how Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, but the left put together this theory, and the theory was it couldn't have been Hillary Clinton, because after all, Democrats were never fated to lose another election.
So it must have been the Russians.
It must have been the Russkies.
And this meant that Vladimir Putin, the person who five seconds before they've been pledging flexibility to and offering control over Syria and offering flexibility, right?
All of this kind of stuff.
The reset button, that guy was suddenly persona non grata.
The guy who in 2012, Barack Obama said we should not confront because that would be the foreign policy of the 1980s.
and the 1980s called and wanted its foreign policy back.
Suddenly, Vladimir Putin was the worst person on earth because of course, Vladimir Putin was connected with Donald Trump, who is the actual worst person on earth.
And so they have a bit of that Putin hangover.
Now, some of us have been saying that Vladimir Putin is one of the worst people on earth for like 20 years.
I've been writing professionally since I was about 17 years old.
One of the first columns that I wrote in 2002 was about how Vladimir Putin was a threat to the global order.
So some of us have been on the Vladimir Putin is a bad guy bandwagon for a very, very long time.
So first of all, welcome to the party, pal.
But second of all, I've noticed that your very strong stance in favor of Ukraine, so strong that you now believe that dissent ought to be prosecuted, is coming in the wake of you guys suggesting that America is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad place.
The same people who spent years declaring that George W. Bush was a war criminal, responsible for invading Iraq for no reason other than his own pride or to seize oil, and who said dissent was patriotic, super patriotic.
Now it turns out that if you are not a person who is the most militant of the militant, if you're not the most anti-Putin of the anti-Putin, Then this means that you have undercut America, which is weird because, again, America is not actually directly involved in this war.
America was directly involved in the Iraq war.
There were American troops in harm's way.
America was directly involved in the Afghanistan war.
There were American troops in harm's way.
And the same people who were undercutting American efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are now saying, how dare you?
How dare you say things that undercut our efforts in Ukraine with regard to Russia?
Now again, I'm not in favor of a lot of the people saying what they are saying right now on the right.
I disagree with Tucker Carlson about Russia and Ukraine.
I disagree with Candace Owens about Russia and Ukraine.
I disagree with a lot of the people I work with about Russia and Ukraine.
This does not make them traitors.
The left has now expanded the definition of traitor to encompass people who don't like what they say about Ukraine.
And they've narrowed the definition of traitor to exclude people who overtly hate the United States.
If you overtly hate the United States, you might actually just be a good American patriot.
But if you're not militant enough on Ukraine, this makes you a traitor.
So yesterday on The View, Whoopi Goldberg, that great intellectual, who's back from her two-week vacation, which she earned by essentially suggesting that Jews were white people killed by other white people during the Holocaust.
And I don't know where she shops, but I don't know why she wears a sweatshirt that says nope.
In any case, Whoopi Goldberg and Anna Navarro, two of the great intellects of our time, combined brainpower could power an extraordinarily small kazoo.
So, Whoopi Goldberg and Nana Navarro are now saying that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens and Tulsi Gabbard, all of these people, maybe they should be arrested.
Because they're parroting Russian propaganda.
When Democrats parrot Russian propaganda, like, for years, including during the Cold War.
By the way, this is just patriotism.
I will note that Ted Kennedy actively was talking with members of the Soviet Politburo in the 1980s in an attempt to revive his flagging political fortunes and ripping on Ronald Reagan at the same time.
And this is, he's a great patriot, Lion of the Senate and all that.
Anyway, here's Anna Navarro and Whoopi Goldberg, two of the great luminaries of our time.
How do you not call out something that is repeating false Russian propaganda that has been brought down?
They used to arrest people for doing stuff like this.
If they thought you were colluding with a Russian agent, if they thought you were putting out information or taking information and handing over to Russia.
They used to actually investigate stuff like this and I guess now, you know, there seems to be no bars.
Oh, so now we're going to sick the DOJ on people and investigate people for saying things that we don't like about Russia and Ukraine.
Claire McCaskill, former senator from Missouri, she's on the same bandwagon.
She says that Tucker Carlson is now close to treason.
So I'm old enough to remember when Donald Trump sang casually that people were guilty of treason.
This is cause for great consternation and uproar and stomachache.
And now you have people on national TV saying that Tucker Carlson might be a traitor, which again is a legal term of art that usually ends with a death penalty under the Constitution.
In any case, here's Claire McCaskill.
I think he also needs to warn America about allowing Putin to use them for his propaganda.
And I particularly hope he mentions the false flag about biological weapons in Ukraine.
So that all the Republicans hear that Tucker Carlson and others are really, really close to treason in terms of what they're saying and parroting what Is Putin's dream that he could have American media spreading his propaganda in the middle of his murderous assault on innocent children and civilians in Ukraine?
Okay, so the way that this works is, if you are not in favor of the war that I like and the way that I conduct the war that I like, This means you are a traitor.
So one of the worst columns I ever wrote, and since we're talking about columns I wrote in 2002-2003, one of the worst columns I ever wrote, I talked about how maybe George W. Bush should consider reviving the Sedition Act because there were a bunch of Democrats who were basically saying in the early days of the Iraq War that it was a giant failure and it looked like they were rooting openly for failure.
It was a dumb column because I was a kid.
These people are full-grown adults, and they are saying very, very stupid things.
And this has apparently become sort of a talking point on the left, is that dissent... Again, I'm amazed by this.
Dissent is unpatriotic when you're talking about a war with no direct American involvement.
Dissent is super patriotic when you're talking about wars where America is directly involved.
The same people, again, who are perfectly happy with people stomping on the flag, and they say that the height of patriotism is dissent, and kneeling for the... I can't get over it.
The same people who in polls will say they will run, they will flee the country rather than defend the country, are saying that you are a traitor if you don't like what we are doing with Ukraine right now.
Keith Olbermann is very... Keith Olbermann is always very upset.
So he tweeted out, they are Russian assets and there is a war.
There is a case for detaining them militarily.
Yes, throw them in Gitmo.
Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard should be thrown in Gitmo.
Trials are a sign of good faith and patience on the part of democracy.
So I'd like to see him bring a criminal charge against Tulsi Gabbard and Tucker Carlson.
We'll see how that goes in court.
Meanwhile, you have Malcolm Nance, the great mind over at MSNBC.
A person who once suggested that literally tens of thousands of people had invaded the Capitol building.
I'm Bill Maher with me.
He's a genius of world-shattering, cataclysmic proportions.
Here he was on MSNBC suggesting that Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard are actually Russian collaborators.
Now, does he have any evidence to back this proposition?
He does not, but it's okay.
But I have to clarify one thing, Joy.
These people are not useful idiots.
They are beyond useful idiots.
Useful idiots don't know as a term of art in the intelligence world.
They don't really know what they're doing.
They're just stupid.
These people are almost Collaborators, to a certain extent.
They do know what they're doing.
I would call them an asset, especially Tucker Carlson.
And Tulsi Gabbard, she's just a moron.
But for these people to come up there, we are now seeing a term that I never thought I'd see in my life.
Fifth columnist.
People who are deliberately working to undermine the American structure.
Okay, my goodness.
On Joy Reid's show, people who are deliberately working to undermine, if there's somebody who stands up for the American structure, it's definitely Joy Reid.
Somebody who really believes in the institutional truths of the United States, Joy Reid and Malcolm Nance.
These people are just, they are great defenders of the American institutions, these folks.
And the same people who for four years declared that Donald Trump was a Putin asset, and then undermined the election of 2016.
All the people who are happy to see the key institutions of American life wiped away because America is a truly awful, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, racist place.
All those same people are like, you are just, you're threatening the United States if you don't back Joe Biden's play with regard to Ukraine.
Now again, I don't agree with Tulsi Gabbard.
I don't agree with Tucker Carlson.
But I'm amazed by the number of people on the left who are suddenly in the rah-rah bandwagon, round up the people who disagree with us camp.
Amazing how this works.
The least patriotic among us have suddenly become the most patriotic with regard to Ukraine.
It's an amazing shift in time.
And so I take their word with a grain of salt.
I really do.
So obviously there's been a lot of talk about biolabs in Ukraine.
Well, we'll get to what's really going on over there in just one second.
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Now this brings us to a controversy that broke out between Tulsi Gabbard and Mitt Romney the other day.
So Tulsi Gabbard, again, I am not a Tulsi Gabbard fan.
I know there are a lot of folks on the right who are fans of Tulsi Gabbard because she's a quasi-isolationist and because she said mean things to Kamala Harris.
They'll neglect the fact that the mean things she said to Kamala Harris were all about how we should let more criminals out of prison.
Tulsi Gabbard has not been on my friends list for a while since she visited Bashar Assad and made nice with him.
The other day she put out a video talking about biolabs in Ukraine.
Now, let's be clear.
A lot of what's happening right now is people who are getting very hot and bothered about the talk about biolabs in Ukraine.
So here is what is not in Ukraine.
American-backed biolabs that are deliberately developing bioweapons.
That is the Russian accusation.
The Russian accusation is that the United States is funding the deliberate creation of bioweapons for use against Russians.
That's the propaganda being put out by the Kremlin.
What is not propaganda is that there are, in fact, Biological research facilities in Ukraine funded by the United States and they are designed in order to get rid of things like anthrax.
They're designed in order to create antidotes for various biological and chemical agents.
That's what those biolabs are there for, but there are in fact biolabs.
According to PolitiFact, I usually don't trust them, but this is well substantiated.
The Cooperative Threat Reduction Program began after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 to reduce the threat of existing weapons of mass destruction.
It is known as the Nunn-Lugar Program, which of course is a bipartisan program.
Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar were on separate sides of the aisle.
It's housed within the Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
These biolabs have been talked about during the Trump administration.
The U.S.
Embassy in Ukraine at the time tweeted out that this was not developing nuclear weapons.
Instead, the Biological Threat Reduction Program works with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks, intentional, accidental, or natural, of the world's most dangerous infectious diseases.
Okay, so Tulsi Gabbard talked about this, and what she said is, we do have these biolabs, and the biolabs do have dangerous agents inside them, not because the United States is weaponizing these agents, but because they have to research them to come up with antidotes, and if those biolabs are hit by, say, Russian shelling, then that's going to be a threat.
So what she actually said here is one of the least controversial things that Tulsi Gabbard has ever said.
Here's Tulsi Gabbard the other day.
These labs need to be shut down immediately, and the pathogens that they hold need to be destroyed.
Instead of trying to cover this up, the Biden-Harris administration needs to work with Russia, Ukraine, NATO, the UN to immediately implement a ceasefire for all military action in the vicinity of these labs until they're secured and these pathogens are destroyed.
Okay, that does not seem wildly controversial to me.
Even if you just believe they're working, for example, with anthrax in order to counter anthrax, the notion that you have to leave these in a war zone seems rather foolish, considering the Russians are currently shelling, like, nuclear facilities.
Well, this drove Mitt Romney to get involved, and he tweeted, Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda.
Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
Again, I'm not sure on the basis of what I just saw from Tulsi Gabbard, what exactly is the treasonous lie there.
This prompted Tulsi Gabbard to respond to Mitt Romney directly.
Here's what she had to say.
Senator Romney, you've called me a treasonous liar simply for stating the fact that there are over 25 U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine which, if breached, would release and spread deadly pathogens across the United States and the world, and therefore they must be secured so that we can prevent any new pandemics from occurring.
Now, bizarrely, you claim that securing these labs, or even calling for securing these labs, is treasonous and will lead to a loss of life, when the exact opposite is obviously true.
The spread of pathogens is what will cause the loss of life, not the prevention of such a spread.
So, Senator Romney, please provide evidence that what I've said is not true and treasonous.
And if you cannot, you should do the honorable thing.
Apologize.
Resign from the U.S.
Senate.
Okay, well, he's not resigning from the U.S.
Senate.
But, you know, as far as Romney going over the top on that, again, in her original statement, I don't really see where the propaganda is, per se.
If you say the United States is working to develop bioweapons for use against Ukraine's enemies, that's propaganda.
If you say that there are biolabs that research this stuff and they are in harm's way, that's not propaganda.
That just seems true.
So distinguishing between those two things is worthwhile.
But again, I'm sort of just flabbergasted by the folks, particularly on the left, who spend all day long talking about how terrible the United States is, suddenly talking about how wonderful Ukraine is, and if you say anything bad about Ukraine, then this means that you are not appropriately patriotic.
Speaking of the latest news from Ukraine, The leaders of Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovenia are traveling on Tuesday to Kiev, Ukraine's capital, which is currently under fire, on a European Union mission to show support for Ukraine as Russia's invasion intensifies.
Czech Prime Minister Petar Fiala said in a tweet, the aim of the visit is to express the European Union's unequivocal support for Ukraine.
and its freedom and independence. Presumably this is also designed to dissuade the Russians from attacking Kiev while these guys are there because if you kill them then you possibly draw NATO into a war. He will be joined by Slovenian Prime Minister Janis Janša, Polish Prime Minister Matuš Moriecki and Jaroslav Kaczynski who is the Polish Deputy Prime Minister for Security and is also the Conservative ruling party leader. Russia of course has been edging closer to central Kiev.
They've had a series of strikes hitting residential neighborhoods in Kiev.
The situation in Kiev continues to grow more grave.
At the same time, Vladimir Zelensky is predicting outright victory against Russian forces, which is what he has to do.
I mean, even if you're just bargaining for a negotiating position here, you have to basically say to the Russians, we're never caving.
You ought to come to the table.
Let's figure something out here.
In an address early on Tuesday, Zelensky predicted victory over Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine.
He offered Russian troops a chance to survive by surrendering.
He said the 19th day of our resistance is over.
Historical war, another difficult day, which is still approaching our victory, approaching peace for Ukraine.
He noted the enemy is confused and did not expect stiff resistance.
He said their soldiers know this.
Their officers are aware of this.
They flee the battlefield.
They abandon equipment.
Zelensky is saying that Ukraine is winning the war, but of course he has to say that.
But here's the reality.
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866-721-3300. That's 866-721-3300. So obviously we are hearing different stories from both sides.
On a pure military level, Russia is slowly grinding closer to the takeover of Kiev, but it is very slowly and the gears are turning very finely.
According to the Wall Street Journal, diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine showed no signs of progress on Monday as fighting for the capital intensified, with Russian missiles destroying an aircraft factory and an apartment building in Kiev and a television tower in the western city of Rivne.
A steady thud of artillery fire echoed through downtown Kiev on Monday while Ukrainian negotiators met with their Russian counterparts by video.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had sounded positive notes before Monday's talks, but Mikhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelensky, said on Monday afternoon the meeting had paused and would resume on Tuesday.
Podolyak had said the negotiators would focus on achieving a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, and security guarantees for the country.
A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow, Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Negotiations continue.
So, the West is in fact ramping up some of its involvement in terms of trying to deter the threat of Russia going into a NATO country or accidentally hitting a NATO country.
According to the UK Sun, NATO has now amassed 30,000 troops and 50 warships near Russia's border for military exercises.
The drill, named Cold Response, has kicked off today in Norway amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West over the invasion of Ukraine.
So, bullied into reality, it looks like NATO is starting to threaten Putin in the way that they probably should have if they'd wish to deter his invasion of Ukraine in the first place.
The exercise includes 30,000 troops from more than 25 countries from Europe and North America, 200 aircraft, 50 vessels.
The largest NATO exercise, which is held just a few miles from the Russian border, was planned long before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but its significance has now been heightened.
Norwegian Defense Minister Aud Roger Inuksen said this exercise is extremely important for the security of Norway and its allies will practice an allied reinforcement of Norway.
It's not being held because of the Russian authorities attack on Ukraine, but given the backdrop, there is in fact heightened significance.
Meanwhile, the parliament of the NATO country Estonia called for an immediate establishment of no-fly zone.
That's not going to happen, but you're starting to see the nervous countries in NATO, the ones that actually border Russia, saying maybe you need to get more deeply involved in Ukraine because otherwise we don't trust you to do the right thing by us.
Estonia is the first NATO Member nations who have a body formally call for the implementation of a no-fly zone amid Russia's ongoing invasion, according to Fox News.
The Parliament of Estonia expresses its support to the defenders and people of the state of Ukraine in their fight against the Russian Federation that has launched a criminal war, calls on showing absolute support to Ukraine in its war for maintaining its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity, said the Estonian Parliament.
So now again, they're not going to get the West to commit to something like that, but you can see that everybody is becoming very nervous right now and for good reason.
Now, all of this is setting the stage for some pretty significant international consequences.
There is serious talk right now about real supply chain shortages thanks to the war in Ukraine setting the stage for a massive food crisis.
This is according to the Globe and Mail.
They say this could be the worst food crisis in decades.
And that is because, of course, Ukraine is part of the breadbasket of the world.
The United Nations is saying that a potential food crisis could be on the way.
This is the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Maximo Torero, the chief economist at the FAO, said that food prices were already high before Russia invaded Ukraine, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.
He said the additional strain of war could tip the global food system into disaster.
He said we were already having problems with food prices.
What countries are doing now is exacerbating that.
The war is putting us in a situation where we could easily fall into food crisis.
Wheat prices hit record highs in recent days, but they've fallen back a little bit.
Overall, food prices have been rising since the second half of 2020, according to the UN.
They reached an all-time high in February after wheat and barley prices rose by nearly a third, rapeseed and sunflower oil by more than 60% during 2021.
The price of urea, a key nitrogen fertilizer, has more than tripled in the past year on rising energy prices as well.
Poor countries are bearing the brunt of that price increase.
Many of those poorest countries were already facing struggles financially.
Some were facing debt crises amid the pandemic, according to the UK Guardian.
And by the way, those supply chain crises are likely to become significantly worse.
Right now, China is entering into new COVID lockdowns.
According to the New York Times, several of China's largest factory cities have ordered a lockdown, halting production of Toyota cars and Apple iPhones.
Theaters, cinemas, many restaurants have closed in Shanghai.
The northeastern province of Jilin on Monday banned its 24 million residents from leaving the province or traveling between cities.
China is grappling with its largest surge of COVID-19 infections since COVID first emerged more than two years ago in central China.
Sustained outbreaks in two-thirds of the country's provinces are proving the toughest test yet of China's zero-tolerance coronavirus policy.
Well, there's a reason for this.
It turns out that COVID hits everybody, as some of us have been saying for a long time.
It'll hit you sooner or it'll hit you later, but it's going to hit you no matter what.
Chinese officials are now implementing some of the most stringent methods.
That's in large part because China can't afford to lift the restrictions.
The government has been concerned about comparatively lower rates of vaccination among China's older adults.
The country doesn't have a lot of ICU beds compared to its population.
In China's vast rural areas, hospitals and medical facilities are often basic.
A major outbreak could quickly overwhelm hospitals.
So what this means is probably serious more supply chain problems.
Premier Li Keqiang said in an annual policy speech last week, the goal of China's pandemic policies was to protect people's life and health, keep up the normal running of work and life, and ensure the security of industrial and supply chains.
But it looks as though there are going to be more supply chain shortages.
So we have basically a triple punch.
We have inflation, and then we have more COVID restrictions in China, which breaks the supply chain even more.
And then we have the war, Russia and Ukraine, which is breaking supply chains even more.
All of this Is a disaster for the entire globe on an economic level.
It's a particular disaster for the Biden administration, which is relying on a healthy economy in order to push them forward into the second half of Joe Biden's term.
Meanwhile, China is really triangulating here.
So China is trying to play both sides against the middle.
China is going to the United States saying, listen, we can we can broker with Russia.
We can broker with Iran.
Just trust us.
It'll be fine.
And then they're going to Russia and they're saying, why don't you just sell us some of your assets on the cheap?
You know, after all, you need the money and we would like your assets.
We will buy your assets on the cheap.
So China's perspective on this war is that the longer it goes on, the better it is for China.
And the United States has been thus far unwilling to really put heavy pressure on China in any serious way.
And they say a lot of strong words and then they don't do anything.
And China knows this.
So China's perfectly willing to watch this war go on.
They're also willing to broker some sort of compromise.
China sort of wins either way.
According to the New York Times, China sees at least one winner emerging from the Ukraine war, China.
Stephen Lee Myers and Chris Buckley reporting, the war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil, China. After a confused initial response to Russia's invasion, China has laid the building blocks of a strategy to shield itself from the worst economic and diplomatic consequences it could face and to benefit from geopolitical shifts once the smoke clears. China's leader, Xi Jinping, has avoided criticizing Putin, but he's also tried to distance China from the carnage.
His government has denounced the international sanctions imposed on Russia, but has also hinted that Chinese companies may comply with them to protect China's economic interests in the West.
Xi reached out to European leaders last week with vague offers of assistance in negotiating a settlement, even as other Chinese officials amplified Russian disinformation campaigns meant to discredit the United States and NATO.
On Monday, the United States deployed Jake Sullivan, to meet with a top Chinese official in Rome.
Apparently, Sullivan warned that the United States had, quote, deep concerns about Beijing's growing alignment with Russia.
Well, I'm sure that we do have deep concerns.
What exactly are you going to do about it, Biden administration?
In the end, China's leadership has calculated it must try to rise above what it considers a struggle between two tired powers and be seen as a pillar of stability in an increasingly turbulent world.
And again, if you are a country that is now stuck between the United States and China, is there a reason that you wouldn't triangulate?
You said the Saudis are meeting with the Chinese.
They're refusing Joe Biden's phone calls and they're meeting with the Chinese.
The reason for that is because Joe Biden is negotiating with the Iranians and the Russians.
So if you're Saudi, why wouldn't you triangulate with the Chinese right now?
This means as long as we don't commit terminal strategic blunders, China's modernization will not be cut short.
On the contrary, China will have an even greater ability and will play a more important role in building a new international order, said Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Shenzhen, who has advised senior officials, wrote after the invasion in a widely circulated article.
At the heart of China's strategy lies the conviction that the United States is weakened from reckless foreign adventures, including from Beijing's perspective, goading Putin into the Ukraine conflict.
In this view, Russia's invasion has dragged American power and attention toward Europe, making it likely that Biden will try but fail to put more focus on China in the broader Asia-Pacific region.
According to Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Simpson Center in Washington, all the difficulties, all the balancing, all the embarrassment we're talking about, those are short term.
In the long run, Russia is going to be the pariah.
Russia will have no one to turn to but China.
So this is the game that China is playing.
And so far, the American game has been to talk to them sternly and write them angry messages.
Now, the United States just went to China and they said, listen, we know that the Russians are requesting your help.
Well, so what?
China knows that, too.
Like, telling China a thing that they already know is not going to change the math here.
According to CNN, the U.S.
has information suggesting that China has expressed some openness to providing Russia with requested military and financial assistance as part of its war on Ukraine.
It's not yet clear whether China intends to provide Russia with that assistance, U.S.
officials say, but during an intense seven-hour meeting in Rome, a top aide to President Biden warned his Chinese counterpart of potential implications and consequences for China should support for Russia be forthcoming.
The series of events underscored the growing concern among American officials at the budding partnership between Moscow and Beijing.
While officials have said the Chinese president was alarmed at what has taken place since Russia invaded, there is little to indicate that China is prepared to cut off its support entirely, which leaves open a troubling possibility here that China may help prolong the bloody conflict while also cementing an authoritarian alliance in direct competition with the United States.
Apparently Russia has requested pre-packaged non-perishable military food kits known in the U.S.
as MREs.
Apparently that is because the Russians are, according to reports, eating MREs from like 2015.
Four deployed units have routinely outstripped their supply convoys.
Open source reports have shown Russian troops breaking into grocery stores in search of food as the invasion has progressed.
One of the sources says the Chinese Communist Party leadership they're not in total agreement.
Two officials said that China's desire to avoid economic consequences may limit its appetite to help Russia.
And apparently some sources you would imagine from the White House are saying that Xi Jinping has been unnerved by how the war in Ukraine has reinvigorated NATO.
With that said, what exactly are the levers of pressure that we mean to implement with regard to the Chinese?
It's utterly unclear at this point.
Again, Sullivan is meeting with the Chinese.
According to State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, he said the implications any support would have for China's relationship with U.S.
and partners around the world are serious.
He said that includes the allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
So what exactly is the United States willing to do?
That's always the big question.
We can say that we're against things, but what are we actually willing to do to stop China at this point?
And that is absolutely unclear.
Jake Sullivan said, we're watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support to Russia.
It's a concern of ours.
We've communicated to Beijing, we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions.
Okay, but what does that mean?
What are you willing to do?
And have you made clear to the Chinese what you are willing to do?
See, the thing is, if you wish to deter somebody, you have to make clear that your threats are credible.
So what is the credible threat that we are launching against China?
Absolutely unclear.
Price, again, the State Department's spokesperson, he said the United States is watching very closely the extent to which the PRC provides any form of support.
He said it would be of great concern to us.
He said we've communicated very clearly to Beijing we won't stand by.
And he characterized the Chinese response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as somewhat ambivalent.
But again, if you're China, why would you believe any of this?
After all, update, today, in the middle of all of this, according to the Agence France-Presse, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow has now received guarantees from the United States on its ability to trade with Tehran as part of an ongoing talk to salvage the Iran nuclear deal.
So it turns out that while the United States is saying to Russia, we are not going to, we're not going to cave on anything.
We are currently saying to them that if you bring us the Iranian deal, then we might cave on you being able to trade with Iran and then get money via that back channel.
Well, why wouldn't China believe that it can play Russia?
So if Russia can play broker with Iran to its own benefit, even while in a military conflict with a westernized Ukraine backed by NATO, If the United States is still willing to make concessions just to get Russia to broker that deal, why would China not believe that it can get the United States to make concessions while Russia is engaged in war with NATO?
So long as China brokers the deal a little bit.
After all, it's precisely what the Biden administration is doing right now with Russia, while actively engaged in a conflict with Russia.
According to Lavrov, he said, we received written guarantees.
They are included in the text of the agreement itself on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program.
So if you're trying to dissuade China from siding with Russia here and backing Russia here, you know what's the worst thing you could do?
Back Russia in the middle of a war in order to get a deal with the terrorist Iranian regime.
It's absolutely unbelievable that this administration is a bleep show of epic proportions.
So when it comes to the United States and what our policy looks like, it is a giant mess.
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All right, we'll get to more in just a second.
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By the way, here's the trailer for the Hyperions in case you missed it.
Calling all Hyperions.
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Oh.
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Our Titan badges.
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This Titan badge can grant an individual superhuman power.
Perhaps it's time for someone else to take on the responsibility.
Meet Apollo.
I'd recommend next time using your power.
Yeah, if you think so.
Calling all Hyperions.
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Not a good time to look stupid.
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She's trying to destroy me!
Next question.
How's the family?
The family is, um...
Gosh, what is it?
Marvelous.
I'll fight for the right to do what I want.
I'll fight for the right to do what I want.
We are proud to be publishing books that are actively fighting the left's monopoly on storytelling.
So you'll recall that last year there was a big controversy over a book by Sergeant Mattingly.
He was one of the officers involved in the Breonna Taylor shooting.
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These are lies.
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Okay, so all of this does raise the question, what exactly is the plan here?
Is there actually any sort of plan here?
Well, I mean, if the plan is to deploy Kamala Harris to Europe, I'm not sure how that's a plan.
By the way, Joe Biden is now talking about going to Europe, because if you need an old, somewhat senile man muttering to you unintelligible words to fix this problem, we have just the candidate for you.
But we also sent Kamala Harris overseas, and then she came back, and now she spoke during the DNC general session.
and uh... implied the ukraine is a nato member which is just like she's so good at this guys she's they picked her purely on the basis of her skill and not all because she's an intersectional dream a black woman was vice president of the united states and cannot intelligibly speak three sentences that make sense i will say what i know we all say and i will say over and over again the united states stands firmly with the ukrainian people
in defense of the NATO alliance.
you In defense of the NATO alliance?
What now?
Ukraine is not part of NATO.
I do love that whenever she doesn't know what to say, she preface it with stuff like, I will say what we have always been saying, which is forever, tomorrow, today, and yesteryear.
Just as a bunch of words that don't make sense in a sentence, but if she inserts them at the beginning, then it makes it sound like she knows what she's talking about.
Meanwhile, Jen Psaki over at the White House, she's spinning like a top.
She was asked about the sanctions.
And she was asked, so I thought these sanctions were supposed to get Putin to come to the table and make him stop doing what he's doing.
And Tchenshaki said, well, no one ever thought they'd be effective.
No, you said they would be, actually.
You, you the person with the red hair, you said this.
I was there like a couple of weeks ago.
Is it the view of the White House that Mr. Putin could not be deterred by any set of steps?
Or are you willing to concede that perhaps some other set of steps by the president and our allies might have deterred the invasion?
You know, James, I would say that when we put in place the threat of sanctions and the threat of consequences, we never thought that that would be fail-proof or that would be 100% effective.
Oh, is that what you said?
Because I was pretty sure that you said precisely the opposite.
And then she was asked a pretty simple question.
So right now, you're providing just enough material support to keep Ukraine from collapsing, but not enough material support for Ukraine to actually win.
You don't seem to have any actual plan for the future here, other than sort of taking whatever apple is hanging lowest on the tree at any given point.
So what is your plan?
And Psaki's like, I don't have a plan.
There is no plan.
The plan is for Putin to stop doing what he's doing.
Ask Putin his plan.
Well, I mean, we know Putin's plan.
Putin's plan is to keep the pressure on until he gets the concessions that he wants.
What is your plan here?
I'm trying to understand why you are trying your endgame in Ukraine.
You are not going there.
You are not sending troops there.
There will be no flight zone over Ukraine.
And will it be a fair assessment to say that you are pushing these guys to commit suicide, knowing that Russia has a superpower and eventually will capture the main cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv and all the cities around there?
What's the endgame?
Well, the end game is really a question for President Putin.
We have completely crushed his economy.
We have provided military assistance, humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainians, enabling them to fight back for far longer than the Russian leadership anticipated.
And again, he has to determine what the path forward looks like for him.
Thanks, everyone.
Bye, catch you later.
Yeah, we don't have a plan and we're doing stuff, but we really do not, we don't have any sort of real plan.
By the way, lawmakers in Zelensky, this is according to Natasha Bertrand, who is a reporter for CNN, have pressured Biden to help broker the transfer of heavier weaponry to Ukraine, including those MiGs and S-300 missile systems.
But the United States would have to backfill the systems and is wary of provoking Russia further.
So they are perfectly willing to put just enough material in so Ukrainians can continue to die in defense of their country, but not enough material in so the Ukrainians can live in defense of their country.
Meanwhile, they're just drawing a bunch of red lines they're not going to keep.
So you'll recall that a couple of days ago, Joe Biden said, well, if he uses a chemical weapon, man, the consequences are going to be dire.
But Joe Scarborough over on MSNBC correctly points out the consequences of that.
If you say that, that means that what?
NATO is going to go in if you use a chemical weapon?
What exactly are you talking about here?
Does the Biden administration understand that when Americans and Europeans see five-year-old children choked to death by Putin's chemical weapons that we're going to have to go in, do they understand that there is no holding back, that we're going to have to take a far more aggressive approach?
So, that is the consequence.
If you keep making threats that you're not willing to actually uphold, this is the problem.
Credible threats.
The entire foreign policy game is credible threats.
This administration has never made a series of long-lasting credible threats.
Instead, they've snapped to sometimes.
But snapped to reactions?
People who are your enemies tend to believe that you're going to snap away from those reactions just as fast as you snapped to them in the first place.
China is looking.
They think we can't make a credible threat.
Russia doesn't believe that the West is capable of making a long term credible threat.
So what is the credible threat here?
You're being dissuaded by Vladimir Putin just saying the words nuclear.
He says the word nuclear and you all run for the hills.
So what exactly is your plan?
Is there a plan here at all?
China doesn't think so.
Russia doesn't think so, which is probably why in the final negotiation, Putin gets most of what he wants.
That is probably where this ends up at the very end of the day.
Alrighty.
We'll be back here later today with an additional hour of content.
In the meantime, go check out the Michael Moll's show today.
He discusses Rand Paul's attempt to fire Anthony Fauci in the Senate.
You can hear more details about that story over on Michael's show that's available right now.
I'm Ben Shapiro.
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