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Nov. 3, 2024 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
27:12
Larry Johnson : Even The NY Times Admits Ukraine is in Trouble.
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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Monday, November 4th, 2024.
Larry Johnson is here with us on, does the New York Times now finally acknowledge Ukraine is on the ropes?
And is Prime Minister Netanyahu leaking classified documents to make himself look good?
What do you think?
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Larry, welcome here, my dear friend.
A lot to talk about, both Israel and Ukraine.
Let's start with Ukraine, because you did a lot of research over the weekend, which you published at your website, Sonar 21, which I commend people to read.
Why is the New York Times suddenly, in your view, articulating what we've been saying all along, that Ukraine is on the ropes?
Well, the proverbial fat lady is singing, and they know that the end is near.
But they haven't dismissed all the narratives.
You know, from the very outset, we were told that the Russian army was incompetent, that the Russian defense industry was shoddy.
That they were having to rely upon refrigerators and household appliances to steal chips from them to use for military uses.
That the Russian army was poorly trained, poorly led.
That they were running out of missiles.
That they were suffering catastrophic casualties.
You know, this whole litany.
And meanwhile, Ukraine is doing great!
Ukraine is building up.
They're conquering territory.
They're moving the Russians backwards.
Okay.
Well, all of that is, to put it bluntly, crap.
It's not true.
Never has been true.
But now it's becoming so obvious that there is genuine fear in Washington and in Europe that Ukraine is going to lose and could lose before the end of the year.
I mean, that their ability to continue to fight would just evaporate.
And so, finally, at least the New York Times admitted, okay, yeah, the intelligence folks are saying it's no longer a stalemate.
But they did make some other startling admissions that they conceded that the intelligence community assessed, you know, which means they guessed, but they assessed as of last July.
That Russia was not going to do anything and wouldn't be able to make much progress.
Boy, was that a wrong prediction.
And, you know, there are some of us, you know, myself, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter, Danny Davis, others, Brian Berletic, a large number were saying, no, no, no, no, no, this is going the opposite direction.
And I laid it out very clearly in an article in early August.
You've got this phenomenon where the New York Times is telling some truth, but they continue to tell some lies.
As an example in their piece, they insisted that Ukraine, since the start of the war in February of 2022, has only suffered 57,000 dead.
They've had almost that many killed in the last two months and cursed.
The death toll there right now is 30,000 for the Ukrainians.
And then they insist that Russia has suffered twice as many casualties as Ukraine, even though during this entire period of war, Russia's firing 8 to 10 times more shells at Ukraine as Ukraine is firing at Russia.
The math just doesn't work.
What is the more likely and more reasonable killed-in-action figure for Ukraine?
It's probably close to a million.
Wow.
I mean, how could the times be so far off unless this is just, I mean, did somebody in the CIA leak this stuff to the Times instead of the Washington Post?
Well, clearly the intelligence methodology is this.
Ukraine gives us information.
We take it and say, okay, that sounds right.
And don't do any attempts to check it.
There are some independent sources out there.
What they're doing is they're looking at obituaries.
They're using overhead imagery of cemeteries and watching how they're growing, doubling, tripling inside.
There was one about three months ago around Kharkiv where they noted that it added 30,000 graves around Kharkiv and just these two cemeteries in a period of one month.
So there are ways to come up with those numbers.
And you're not seeing...
And it's probably close to 80,000.
But they're not dying in the numbers that the Ukrainians are.
And part of the reason you've got so many Ukrainians dying is the troops are poorly trained.
They show up not knowing what to do, and they do something stupid and get themselves killed.
Is the United States continuing to give...
I mean, because you point out they lack viable fixed-wing combat air capability.
They lack a stockpile of tanks, vehicles, artillery, and artillery shells.
They don't have secure facilities or bases on their own territory, and they have to rely on NATO-owned property.
What the heck do they have to fight with?
Yeah, well, and the most important thing they don't have is the manpower.
You know, even the U.S. material support has been, I would call it, a symbolic gesture up to this point, particularly over the last six months.
But even if we could magically come up with, let's say, 50 new Abrams tanks, Australia reportedly is going to ship 50 tanks to Ukraine.
Who's going to drive them?
Who's going to operate them?
So you've got to have trained personnel.
And the length of time required to train these folks is, you know, minimum six months, if not longer.
And that's just getting them trained up in their individual skills.
We haven't even begun to discuss the how do you train units.
A battalion to operate within a brigade and two brigades to operate within a division.
How do they interact in the field?
How do they communicate?
How do they maneuver?
These are things that you just don't read a book and do overnight.
It requires some time and some actual practice.
And that's what Ukraine doesn't have.
They're out of time.
Is the Ukrainian government still kidnapping young men from bars?
Bars and everywhere.
There's a video that was just posted online today of some school kids filming outside the second story of their building, and they're watching police tackle a guy and then stuff him into the back of a car to go off to join.
You're in the Army now!
So yeah, they're losing on average about 30,000 people killed and wounded a month right now.
How can the Times be so far off, Larry?
52,000 versus a million?
Because they're stenographers.
They're not reporters.
They're taking what is given to them.
They're not engaging in any kind of critical thinking.
And, you know, one of these days, this is going to get exposed for the lies that they told, but there will be no accountability.
Look, Think back.
Remember the war in Vietnam.
You know, you and I are old enough, we can remember that.
And that, at the time, the newspapers were filled with reports of great American victories and these rising Vietnamese Viet Cong body counts.
Boy, the light at the end of the tunnel.
And we all now know, thanks to Daniel Ellsberg and others, That that was, as Ray is fond of saying, male bovine excrement.
What is the story with North Korean troops fighting with Russians and Ukraine using this as an excuse to establish an alliance with South Korean troops?
Well, no.
Did you see that yellow ball of light that came up out of the east?
I think that was the sun rising.
Okay.
You know, look, Russia and North Korea have had a military relationship for 74, 75 years.
The Russians flew planes on behalf of North Korea during the Korean War.
So the fact that there's been military exchanges and interactions, that's not news.
What's taking place is that Western intelligence, in my judgment, has seized upon the fact that they've had this long-standing relationship to try to manufacture a narrative that, oh my God, the North Koreans are being brought in because the Russians are getting beat so badly.
Okay?
Now, again, we know that is utter nonsense.
Because if the Russians are getting beat that badly, then why is the United States sounding the alarm?
Oh my God, we've got to stop those Russians or they're going to take over Europe.
Well, if they're getting beat, how do they take over Europe?
Come on, can we have some logic in here somewhere, for the love of God?
Go ahead, go ahead.
Well, I was just going to say, so they've manufactured this.
It's part of a desperation play.
Yeah, I think Ukraine would love to get the South Koreans in.
I mean, my God, they've already got French, Poles, Germans, Canadians, Americans, Colombians.
Why not bring in South Korea?
Make it a United Nations failure.
Here's President Zelensky on Thursday of last week referring to Ukraine and South Korea as joint partners in cooperation.
Cut number one.
We agreed to strengthen the exchange of intelligence and expertise to intensify contacts at all levels, including at the highest level, to develop a strategy of action and a list of countermeasures in response to the escalation, and to involve joint partners in cooperation.
As part of this agreement, Ukraine and the Republic of Korea will soon exchange delegations to coordinate action.
As part of this agreement, Ukraine and the Republic of Korea will soon exchange delegations to coordinate this action.
Is this an excuse to involve another country or is this hogwash?
No, it may very well be because Murat Kurulin reported, and he's got great sources both within Russian military and Russian intelligence circles.
That the play was to bring in South Korean pilots to fly the F-16s, which the West had given to Ukraine, but the Ukraine doesn't have pilots capable of flying them.
Even after, you know, more than a year of training, the Ukrainians still can't get in the air.
So that very well could be.
Let's also recall, South Korea has been pretty involved with helping Ukraine.
Particularly in providing 155mm shells when the United States ran out and couldn't find any more.
So South Korea has been sort of a willing lackey of the United States in helping Ukraine for the last two years.
Let's switch over to Israel.
Is there any evidence of a smashing success?
On the part of the Israeli efforts to strike strategic targets in Tehran.
No.
And it's fascinating to put Israel and Ukraine side by side, and we could have a gaslighting competition between the two of them.
I mean, it's phenomenal how the spin and the happy talk, and we're doing great, and we got a great victory.
And yet, when you look at the actions, you look at what they're doing, they don't match up.
So, if Israel had inflicted the kind of damage that it claims on Iran, they'd be out there with a press conference showing the photos, the movies, the overhead imagery, everything.
They'd be having the pilots up there giving a pat on the back, and they wouldn't be fretting.
Or putting reports in the paper that they expect another more devastating attack from Iran.
I go, whoa, whoa, wait a second.
You said you wiped them out.
Because you wiped out their air defense, and now they're coming back at you?
Boy, how does that happen?
So, yeah, it's just lie built upon lie because the Zionists running this show are...
They cannot see.
Step back and look at objective fact.
Here's a clip from General Jack Keane.
Jack, of course, works for one of the Defense Department organizations that purports to be some independent entity.
Yeah, ISW.
The Kagan folks.
I didn't realize it was that bad.
Anyway, he's got a decidedly different view from you.
He's on Fox with my friend Brian Kilmeade.
This is just the general speaking, but take a listen to the last few words he uses.
Iran is sitting there essentially naked.
I mean, this is just unbelievable.
Cut number three.
Military effects of that strike.
It's beyond what's being reported because they have literally taken down most of the Russian air defense system, the so-called S-300 missile defense systems that the Russians gave them years ago.
And that's what's really protecting their nuclear enterprise, their oil and gas industry, and other key strategic assets like the missile production factories that the Israelis did destroy at multiple sites.
those are ballistic missile factories by the way so yes this air defense system destruction is really Well, what kind of sense does this make?
Is he a willing dupe or is he incompetent?
Yes.
Does it have to be either or?
Yeah, no, he's both.
I mean, good Lord.
Again, just from the logic standpoint.
So they're sitting there naked.
What's Israel waiting for?
Take them out.
I mean, that's what Israel says that Iran's the number one threat that they got to eliminate.
So what are we waiting for?
Take them out.
I mean, they're completely disarmed, right?
And you watch what's happened.
Like, yeah, we've defeated Hamas.
Really?
14 months later, Hamas continues to kill your soldiers.
Hey, we've got Hezbollah on the run.
And yet, every day, Hezbollah is launching rockets, missiles into Israel.
Not just northern Israel, but even going down into central Israel.
So, all this happy talk about them being denuded is just, it's false.
And part of the reason for this is the West military equipment, the West air defense systems, they've been exposed as incompetent.
As ineffective.
And, boy, that's drying up cells for people like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Right.
So what do you do?
That Russian stuff is crap.
It's no good.
We beat it.
No, they didn't.
You know, the one battery they took out was a Hawk.
I believe it was a Hawk battery.
That thing's almost as old as I am, okay?
So that means it's old.
Larry, is it fair to conclude?
That if the Israeli fighter jets could not pierce whatever defensive system Iran has in place, that the U.S. cannot pierce it.
Correct.
Well, no, we can get through it.
The question is, can we fly in it and fly back out and survive?
That's the question.
What I find stunning...
What are we doing?
Are we putting out bait?
Because those planes can be easily destroyed by Iran.
They've got the missile rocket capability to do that.
It appears part of this is to be a show of strength while one of our aircraft carrier battle groups sells out of the Persian Gulf and is going to be replaced, but its replacement is not on scene yet.
So I guess this is a temporary holding pattern.
But, you know, this notion that we can militarily defeat Iran, it's a delusion.
We do not have the ability to project and sustain force in a way that we could defeat Iran.
We simply can't do it.
But we keep telling ourselves we can't because we're the biggest, we're the best.
What is the latest information you have from your sources on this intel leak in Israel?
Which has caused Israeli authorities to draw a circle around Prime Minister Netanyahu's office and accuse the officer of being the leaker.
Well, so Shin Bet, who's sort of Israel's version of the FBI, had been investigating leaks because they saw that there was classified information that was showing up, for example, up in Germany, in Bild, one of the newspapers.
And as a result of this investigation, they started making arrests.
One of the arrests was basically a spokesman for Benjamin Netanyahu who had actually traveled to Germany and is alleged to have leaked this information to the Germans.
Now, what was the purpose of leaking this information?
The leaks were all designed to manipulate and manage public opinion in Israel.
I know I probably should have said, Judge, sit down.
I don't want you to pass out from the shock.
Learning that politicians are going to use and misuse intelligence to manipulate public opinion.
But by God, that's exactly what they're doing.
And now the reports are that it was not confined to just one bad apple, one rogue elephant.
No, no, no, no.
There are others.
Another senior official has been arrested.
I don't have his name yet.
The first one arrested his name, Feldstein.
And, you know, he was part of Netanyahu's inner circle.
And did all of these leaks, if accurate, if true, if real documents, make Netanyahu look good?
Well, not only to make Netanyahu look good, but also to sabotage.
Any prospect of negotiations moving forward with Hamas and getting an actual release of those hostages?
I think Netanyahu is worried that if he actually gets a negotiated release of those hostages and an end to this fighting, he's in trouble.
He might actually have to face the prospect of going to jail.
You know, one of the judges...
Could you imagine the head of the government doing something like that, and what the consequences will be when he no longer is the head of the government?
But, Judge, In defense of B.B. Netanyahu on this one, he's not the only president that's ever leaked sensitive intelligence for political purposes.
Gee, I think there's a guy named Joe Biden, then there's a, you know, I think even Donald Trump did it, and Barack Obama, and George W. Bush, and let's just go back.
This is one of the powers that presidents have.
I don't know if in Israel it's the same as in the United States where the power to classify, declassify resides with the president.
But in this case, what Bibi was doing was deliberately leaking and having intelligence leaked on his behalf in order to either sabotage a particular negotiating position or to portray him in a particular light that would be favorable.
You know, this is all about politics and power.
This isn't about doing the right thing.
One of these leaks claims to have retrieved documents from Sinwar's laptop, a person notoriously known for not using laptops, iPhones, or emails.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I mean, this fabrication of intelligence in order to feed a narrative, You know, it's just, we've talked about this before, but the fact that Hezbollah is routinely defined as this massive terrorist organization,
and yet, if you go to the Israeli Foreign Ministry's own site, where they list every attack over the last 24 years, you quickly come to see that Hezbollah really has been, they're fighting for national liberation much the same way that Our forefathers fought to oust the Brits in a war of independence.
They're not carrying out suicide bombings.
I was talking to my brother-in-law the other day, and he said, oh, they do these suicide bombings all the time.
I said, no, they don't.
Go back and look when the last one was.
In fact, I don't think Hezbollah has ever been implicated in a suicide bombing in the last 14 years.
So it's the kind of thing that we use this intelligence to shape a narrative to get the people believing certain things so that they will allow the government to act in ways that really are not in the national security interests of those countries, in particular in the case of Israel.
But might be in the best interest of the political longevity of the head of the government.
Yeah, exactly right.
I mean, what Ned and Alistair Crook talked about this earlier today with you.
Israel and Netanyahu has got Israel now into at least a forefront war, fighting Hamas, fighting Hezbollah, fighting the Houthis, and wanting to fight Iran.
There is no country in the world that's got the military resources and strategic depth to carry out a forefront war, especially Israel.
But that's what they're trying to do.
Thank you very much for your time, Larry.
Fascinating, fascinating stuff on both Ukraine and on Israel.
All the best, my dear friend.
We'll see you at the end of the week.
All right, Judge, and thank you so much.
Sure.
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