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Sept. 26, 2024 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
26:44
LtCOL : Tony Shaffer : Zelensky in US w/ Hat In Hand!
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Hi, everyone.
Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Thursday, September 26, 2024.
Colonel Tony Schaefer joins us now.
Colonel, a pleasure, my dear friend.
Hey, good morning, Judge.
Good to be here.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us.
As you speak, Colonel, former Ukrainian president, still holding on to office after his term expired, Vladimir Zelensky is here in the U.S. with hat in hand.
Is he asking, as far as we know, President Biden to revisit the decision on whether or not the Ukrainians can use American and British long-range weapons to reach deep into Russia?
Well, that and a number of things.
I think there's three things he's doing right now.
First, the issue was, will money continue to flow to Project Ukraine, as my friends at Durant always call it.
And the answer on that is, well, yeah, as long as, I suppose, Joe Biden is in charge and if Kamala Harris moves in in January after the election.
The second thing, obviously, is political to the point you just said.
He's trying to maintain legitimacy as the leader of Ukraine.
I think his being here, remember, they did this in a very public way.
We don't have an unlimited number of those and flew him in on a C-17.
I mean, most world leaders, I think, would be happy flying on a G-6 or maybe one of the other.
What's the difference, Johnny?
Well, the C-17 is a combat-capable cargo airplane.
You saw the picture of him on the flight line being received.
I think it was in New Jersey, and that's a C-17.
Those things are very expensive.
You know, our friend Brigadier General Blaine Holt used to run those things, and it's a limited resource.
Those things are constantly being used to move military equipment, manpower, and things around.
So what's this done at the expense of the American taxpayer?
Oh, yeah.
And for show?
It was a big campaign.
Look back what happened.
It was a campaign commercial for Kamala Harris.
Think about how it all rolled out.
He rolled in on the C-17, this military aircraft.
He was greeted warmly.
They took him to a plant where Josh Shapiro was signing artillery rounds for him.
Judge, did you know that the Democrats are the party of peace?
I heard that somewhere, and I just want people to remember that.
Look at that.
There he is with President Zelensky and between them is Senator Bob Casey.
Yeah.
All a taxpayer expense.
I don't know if he's signing it the way Nikki Haley did with the words finish them, but he's certainly writing something that's more than his name there.
I think he's putting down the recipe to Gavin Newsom's hair jail, but I don't know if that's for a fact, but it could be.
Anyway.
Back to the topic.
But let me finish my answer, if you could.
And the last factor, obviously, is the policy of how are those weapons going to be used.
I think the policy was the last, but obviously it's important because we're talking about it.
And the issue becomes, what can the Ukrainians do to continue to, in their view, create conditions for success on the battlefield against Russia?
And because of the Kursk incursion by the Ukrainians, the Russians continue to make progress in Donbass.
I believe that the Ukrainians really shot themselves in the foot.
And now they're looking at more extreme options to try to do something to regain the initiative.
And all they've got left, as far as I know, is doing things to be more provocative.
You'd be more provocative like hitting that ammunition dump in Russia.
And you try to do things to actually go after major political targets.
I think they want political targets to be able to hit Moscow and things like that.
And I don't believe Biden gave him that.
They gave him everything else, but they didn't give him that, I don't believe.
All right.
We'll get back to President Zelensky in the U.S. in a minute.
Whatever happened in Kursk?
It's not on the front pages anymore.
Because you're not doing well.
Well, some are saying that the Ukrainians are totally surrounded.
It's just a matter of time.
Yes, yes.
I agree with that.
The Russians have been playing a game of, again, Alexander Merkel has said this, I'm not taking credit for this, that they've been playing a strategy, the Russians, of aggressive attrition.
That is to say, and that's why they were so effective, the Russians, in defeating Russia.
Well, the Russians just let the Ukrainians throw wave after wave after wave of military force against reinforced lines, and it kind of just went away.
And so now the Russians said, oh, we'll just do the same thing.
We'll just surround them and let them kind of try to fight their way back, and they're going to lose.
And so they're basically defeating their dispersement.
They're not going for a big, dramatic, let's do a big old tank battle.
It's like, no, we're just going to nibble away at them and let it fade.
And I think it's an effective strategy.
I'm not pro-Putin.
I'm just saying that's what they're doing is being effective.
What is the status of the relationship between the two militaries now?
How precarious is the Ukrainian military?
It's predictable.
And because it's predictable, the Russians can plan against it.
So you know they're going to hit something.
They're going to have so many troops, and the Russians can conveniently move enough defensive resources somewhere, or right now they're going the offensive in Donbass, and they're using, again, incremental, let's see if we can take this village.
For a while they were going through villages really quick.
Now the defensive line seems to have reestablished itself.
But again, it's gradual.
They're not going for the touchdown.
They're going for the five-yard increases every play.
And they're doing it effectively.
And I think the chances right now are better that Ukraine as a nation might fall through the stresses placed upon it by everything going on.
You know, you just mentioned that Zelensky's, you know, kind of a dictator now.
He's not really elected because his term has expired.
You've got issues with their leadership.
Ukraine has fired some of their leadership just recently and gone through a kind of a reset of that.
And then ultimately the money.
Will the money continue?
If the money dries up, it's all done.
And I think Trump understands that.
So, not to get President Trump in trouble here, and I'm not speaking for him, but I think one of the things he recognizes is that if you really want to get this thing to a negotiating table, you basically stop pouring gasoline on the fire.
And that gasoline right now is funding from both the EU and the United States.
And if that dries up, it's all over.
And I think that's one of the things Zelensky was here to make sure of, is that money continues.
I'd like your take on what happened in the past two weeks, Tony.
About two weeks ago, yeah, two weeks ago to the day, Secretary Blinken and his British counterpart, Foreign Minister David Lammy, were in Kiev with President Zelensky.
They were speaking in English on international television, and they were dropping every hint conceivable.
That within the next 24 to 48 hours Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and President Biden would authorize the use of British and American long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia.
Then President Putin issued a threat.
Sir Keir and Tony Blinken flew to Washington.
Then a very, very perturbed and angry Joe Biden in the presence of Prime Minister Starmer said, we're not doing this.
What happened?
Well, I think someone got to Biden in a good way.
I mean, look.
Do you think it was Lloyd Austin?
Do you think the Pentagon said, we're not ready for this?
I said this last night on the network, Judge.
I was on Newsmax on Rick Leventhal's show.
It's like, yeah, we're not ready.
If you really somehow, if we, the U.S., really somehow want to get into a war with Russia, we're not ready.
Now, the one thing I forgot to mention is Zelensky's peace plan that he came back to brief.
The peace plan is get NATO drug into the war and make us, the U.S., fight it.
That's Zelensky's peace plan.
And it's like, yeah, that's not peace.
And again, I want to say good things about Lloyd Austin.
When I'm critical of him, I'm very critical, as you all know.
No, I think the Pentagon has been the one bastion saying, man, oh man, you know, this is not the time.
We don't have the resources, the manpower, or the ability to focus on China, on the Middle East, and then potentially getting drugged directly into a hot conflict in Ukraine.
I think the Pentagon made it very clear.
General Ryder, Pat Ryder's made it, I think, clear that the Pentagon's not digging this.
And the Pentagon, I think, voted finally saying, you know, Mr. President, if you get us into this, we don't think, first off, that Putin's bluffing.
And I've said I don't think Putin's bluffing.
This is a red line that Putin will not permit.
And the other thing, did you notice that NATO and the British keep saying, oh, there's no red lines?
There's no big deal.
And it's like, man, they're trying to get us, as far as I'm concerned, they're trying to get us into a shooting war.
And it goes back to the Zelensky peace plan that the peace is only going to be secured after a global conflagration that requires us to be involved.
So I think Biden was briefed.
I think Biden recognized, and even in his diminished state, that going past Red lines which Putin has said do exist, and that would be something that would get us into a war.
So I think that that's why Thalmer and NATO has kind of backed off on that over the past few days.
They've been quiet on the issue, at least.
Here's Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on this very topic.
Just five days ago.
Cut number 12, Chris.
Thankfully, there are a few reasonable people in Washington who realize this.
NATO is waging war against Russia, but this is a hybrid war, a proxy war that the Ukrainians fight for them.
When it comes to long-range missile systems, it is clear to everyone that Ukrainians will not be able to use them.
Only specialists from the country that has made the weapons will be able to navigate them, to provide satellite data and assign flight missions.
Now, that's profound, the second part of what he said.
So if Prime Minister Starmer and President Biden had said, yes, the equipment that Zelensky wants to use would actually be used by Americans, you would literally have.
Tell me if I'm wrong.
Americans downloading data from American satellites, using that data to pull the triggers, so to speak, on these weapons.
It would be American weapons fired by American human beings reaching deep into Moscow.
Is there any wonder that Putin says this is the equivalent of the U.S. and Britain waging war on Moscow and will deal with it on Russia and will deal with it accordingly?
Yeah.
well I don't think there's any doubt.
I think anybody who actually has been paying attention Anybody who's actually been paying attention to global media outside of the mainstream media recognizes that the war is not being conducted in the way that they are being told through the mainstream media.
The Russians are winning.
Ukraine will not win.
Anybody who's rational recognizes Ukraine will not win.
And the only thing they have left is acceptance.
I said this within the first six months of the war, starting, Judge, that the Ukrainians, just by numbers, the numbers available to them, even then, they would never prevail.
Russia always had the numbers of manpower, tanks, artillery, everything.
It was always there.
This was always a mirage.
And now those who are...
For those of us who saw it, It's never changed, and we were always the bad guys because, oh, you're just not pro-Ukrainian.
It's like, no, we actually live in a place called, you know, reality.
And now they're left with desperate measures that will potentially cross real red lines.
And Putin has said this and others have said it there that they would consider, like you said, NATO being at war with Russia, the United States by extension that should...
So I said last night, again, I was very clear on this, on the network, that no, I think Putin is completely serious about these red lines.
And if we cross them, then we will very likely be in World War III.
And again, the Pentagon has said this.
Here's President Biden at the United Nations.
Days ago, it's almost absurd because he repeats that mantra that Putin has failed.
Cut number 14. So, my direction, America stepped into the breach, providing massive security and economic and humanitarian assistance.
Our NATO allies and partners in 50-plus nations stood up as well.
But most importantly, the Ukrainian people stood up.
I asked the people of this chamber to stand up for them.
The good news is, Putin's war has failed at his core aim.
He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free.
He set out to weaken NATO, but NATO is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before.
Isn't that hogwash?
NATO's not ready for war, and the Russians have demilitarized the EU and NATO.
I mean, you know, we're talking about Germany at one point in time has something like 20 Patriot batteries or down to six.
So it's kind of like, yeah, it's just not true.
And it's interesting, when you lose the Washington Post judge, the Washington Post described the summary of his speech that he, Biden, has left the world in purgatory.
So that's interesting when the left finally says, yeah, this isn't.
This isn't true.
This has created conditions for conflict globally.
In some cases, there is conflict now.
So, what he said is not true.
The Russians are doing very well, and they can call up more resources anytime they need them.
I didn't think that the left believed in purgatory.
I thought about that, too.
I thought about that when I read that, too.
Okay, that's an interesting choice.
Yeah, I know.
I thought that, too.
It's like, oh.
Chris, let's run number one.
Here's President Zelensky.
This might be in the plane, is it?
Cut number one.
Russia is once again trying to destroy our energy system, and this fall they are being even more cynical.
They are preparing to target our nuclear power plants, three of them.
We have this information.
Okay, then go.
Obviously, at the United Nations Security Council, not on that cargo plane on the way over.
Today, I believe he's actually in D.C., and he's probably going to get a cold shoulder from a lot of people in Congress who've had enough of this.
I don't know.
Where are Lindsey Graham and the neocons on all of this, or are they just focused on Israel at the moment?
No, they're out trying to recruit pilots.
At bars in Pensacola, I think, looking for F-16 pilots, just saying.
And Lindsey probably feels pretty good at those bars, too, just saying.
I don't know if that's true or not.
But anyway, I digress.
Back to the topic, Judge.
Look, they're trying their best right now to keep a veneer on this that looks reasonable without giving any political capital to it.
That means both sides, both political sides.
And right now, like you saw in that speech, this fiction of the Russians targeting nuclear plants comes up.
They, the Ukrainians, have repeatedly gone in and tried to compromise the physical plant, the one, the Kursk operation.
Let me be very clear on this, because everybody doesn't want to talk about it, and I think it's important to talk about.
Right.
The target, the ultimate military target of Kursk was two strategic targets.
One was the Kursk nuclear plant.
They wanted to seize that and hold that.
That is, the Ukrainians wanted to seize that and hold that for ransom or something for leverage.
And the second thing, which they don't want to talk about, is nuclear weapons storage dumps near Kursk.
They wanted to seize Russian nuclear weapons.
I'm not understanding that I think the Russians would dump a nuke on it just to make sure they didn't have it.
Just saying.
I mean, I think you want to see...
Nothing.
Not a thing.
So I'm just saying, you know, Matt, you came close to seeing, I think, the first use of a nuclear weapon since World War II in a combat situation because that's what the Russians would have done.
They would have dumped a nuke on that dump and taken out the Ukrainians.
But I'm just saying, That they're trying to be that level of provocative.
And so the Ukrainians are seeking that nuclear provocation.
And he just said it.
He just said it.
It's not the Russians, it's them.
They're doing that.
But anyway, he's saying these things for purposes of continuing to create fear and angst on the global stage so people will support him.
That's what it is.
It's like a 15-year-old saying, You know, the kids down the block are going to beat me up and you need to help me with money.
You have been telling us for a long time that President Putin is very patient.
Is there a limit to that patience?
Well, always.
I think, notably, he's, I think, been the adult in the room.
I'm just going to get me in trouble saying that, but it is true.
And I think they have played the long game.
I think they've recognized The weakness of the Western position on a number of things, I think that right now, because they've been very deliberate, if you recall, they did the incursion.
And I keep hearing this fiction.
I was listening to NPR yesterday.
Do you ever listen to NPR?
I was listening to NPR yesterday and I was rolling my eyes so much, I almost rolled off the road because they were like lying all the time.
And one of the lies that they were telling us was, I know!
It's like, what?
Anyway, one of the fictions they were putting out is that, oh, well, Putin failed to take Kiev.
It's like, no, that was a feint.
He did that to put pressure on him and pull back.
That wasn't like him being defeated.
Just little things like that.
like, okay.
So my point being is that If you listen to NPR, God bless you, because you aren't getting the truth.
You're getting a specific, very well-defined, refined narrative that has very little link to reality.
In this case, like I said, I was rolling my eyes listening to some of this stuff, and it's like, no.
The Russians have been very deliberate.
They've been very patient.
They've established for themselves some public, some private objectives.
The public ones, it's like they're just going to continue to wear down the Ukrainians until they're able to secure those regions that they've decided they're going to have.
And there was a time, that time may have passed, that they were open to talking peace.
But the provocation regarding Kursk and this idea of using long-range weapons into pre-2014 boundaries are things which I think have set them back about their interest in talking peace.
They may well decide they're going to move forward and just take half of Ukraine and leave the rest a rump state, because I don't think they want the whole thing.
But I think that's what they're contemplating right now.
Here's what I was looking for earlier, which you mentioned at the outset of the show, President Zelensky on the cargo plane, the American cargo plane flying across the Atlantic.
We are starting a visit to the United States.
We are now flying to Pennsylvania.
A special visit.
Then New York, Washington.
It is this fall that we'll decide what will happen next in this war.
Together with our partners, we can strengthen our positions as necessary for our victory, our common victory, for a truly just peace.
Ukraine will present the victory plan in the United States, and the President of the United States will be the first to see it in full.
Of course, I will present the victory plan to all leaders of our partners' countries who, like President Biden, are leaders of the world and can become leaders of peace by helping us with the victory plan.
It is not possible.
Well, I told you, it's drag NATO and U.S. into the war.
It's like, hey, you come on in a war and you fight it for us.
That's the victory plan.
It's like, okay, that's not really victory.
Now, just take a step back, though.
Look at what you just saw.
You saw them in that C-17 that's big old cavernous.
Those things are the best.
I'm not saying this because I worked for Boeing at one point, because I did, but the C-17s, Boeing C-17s, they are the best cargo aircraft on the planet.
They're amazing.
Again, just ask Blaine Holt next time you see him on air.
But my point being, Judge, is that they took one of these things out of the inventory and gave it to him to fly.
Now, you can see there he's flying and he's got the little VIP seats.
Look, those things are uncomfortable.
They're noisy.
And so this was done to have us watching it.
They did this to have us watch it right now.
You're seeing this.
He's on a C-17 flying in from combat.
He's not.
He's a bureaucrat who essentially is in office past his legal time who is now trying to perpetrate.
Perpetuate Project Ukraine, because a lot of people are making money off Ukraine, and that's the only reason right now you're seeing these dramatic effects.
I mean, come on.
You don't need to have him on a combat aircraft, and they did.
This was all meant to have this effect that we're at war, he's at war, and he's coming here because he's desperate and needs more military support.
That's why you see that video.
So old Joe has to keep up this facade at least until November 5th.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
No doubt.
Tony, thank you very much, my dear friend.
Always a pleasure.
Good luck in your campaign.
Thank you.
And we'll see you again soon.
That's right.
Well, it's right there.
My little commission.
Where is that?
Where are you running?
Edenton, North Carolina, Chawan County.
In the second district.
I was just out meeting folks yesterday.
And the Trump campaign and I are going to do joint canvassing of my district on the 5th of November.
No, 5th of October.
5th of November or too late.
5th of October.
Best of luck to you, Tony.
Come back again before Election Day if you can.
I'll come back anytime you want me.
Thanks for having me.
All the best.
Thank you.
Sure.
Coming up later today, we have a busy day for you.
At 12 noon, Scott Ritter.
At 1 in the afternoon, Aaron Mate.
At 2 o 'clock, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson.
At 3 o 'clock, Professor John Mearsheimer.
At 4 o 'clock, Max Blumenthal.
At 5 o 'clock, from midnight in Moscow, Pepe Escobar.
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