April 3, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
05:40
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| There's a narrow chance that the United Nations is going to move in to Ukraine and run the place. | |
| And I would say I understand Putin's concern about having Zelensky sign anything and then some future government come in and throw that agreement in the waste paper basket. | |
| I understand that. | |
| But the question I would ask Putin is, who does he think is going to replace Zelensky if they have a deal? | |
| An election is somebody going to come into power who's interested in cutting a deal with the Russians and having good deal with Russia, good relations with Russia for the foreseeable future. | |
| I don't think that's going to happen. | |
| I think that you'll get somebody who is to the right of Attila the Hun in power in Ukraine, and that person will be deeply interested in continuing the fight against Russia. | |
| One way or another. | |
| So I do not see a happy ending here. | |
| You know, Putin places a lot of emphasis on denazifying, getting rid of the fascists, getting rid of the right-wing elements in Ukraine as a war goal, an important war goal. | |
| I don't think that's achievable, to be honest, for the reasons that we're talking about. | |
| Professor Rehmer-Shamir, thank you very much. | |
| Thanks for letting me go. | |
| Oh, I got to ask you one or two other questions. | |
| Forgive me, because we discussed this I don't know what prompted him to say this. | |
| Knowing him personally, I know that he's rather bellicose and likes to boast about what he thinks the military can accomplish. | |
| How wise or foolish was it for him to make a statement like that in Asia? | |
| Well, first of all, you want to remember that this is all part and parcel of the pivot away from Europe. | |
| Exeth has been the point person on this whole issue, saying that we are going to greatly reduce our presence in Europe and we're going to focus on East Asia. | |
| And this is just another manifestation of that policy at work. | |
| So this has all sorts of bearing for what's going on with regard to Ukraine. | |
| Second point I would make is the fact is given Trump's behavior, people in East Asia, especially in countries like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, are really beginning to wonder whether they can depend on the United States, whether the United States has their back. | |
| And the scenario that most people worry about the most is China attacking Taiwan. | |
| So the reason that the defense guidance, which was released about a week and a half ago, week and a half ago, focuses not only on East Asia, but in particular focuses on Taiwan, is I think the United States is interested in shoring up its deterrence Here's | |
| what happens. | |
| Chinese forces advance towards Taiwan after U.S. defense Could the United States be foolish enough to think that it could defeat the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Force in that part of the world? | |
| We're not talking about defending Los Angeles, we're talking about defending Taiwan. | |
| Just a quick point. | |
| It's very important to understand that the Chinese have been behaving in provocative ways towards Taiwan long before Hegseth made those comments. | |
| Right? The Chinese are determined to put enormous pressure on Taiwan to bring Taiwan to its knees so that it can reincorporate Taiwan into China. | |
| That's what's going on here. | |
| And Hexith is responding to that. | |
| That's not to say that the Chinese have not responded to Hexith. | |
| This is exactly what you would expect to get. | |
| You're going up the escalation ladder. | |
| And this is very dangerous. | |
| I don't deny that for one second. | |
| Now, your question is, Do we think we could win a war against the Chinese? | |
| I think the answer is probably no. | |
| But the question you really want to ask yourself is, do you think the Chinese think they can win a war against us? | |
| The answer is probably no. | |
| And what Hexeth is doing here is trying to make sure that that's what the Chinese think, because that's the best way to produce deterrence in this very dangerous situation. | |
| Professor Mearsheimer, thank you very much. | |
| Thank you for your time. | |
| Thank you for letting me ask questions all across the board. | |
| As always, a pleasure. | |
| Look forward to seeing you next week. | |
| Likewise. Have a good weekend, Judge. | |
| And you too. | |
| Thank you. | |
| And coming up at four o'clock today, madder than a wet hen. | |
| I've been saying it all afternoon, but it's true. | |
| I'm still getting emails and texts from him on the tariff issue. |
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