Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano - Alastair Crooke: The Western Way of War Is a Bust
Aired: 2026-05-11
Duration: 25:24


=== Undeclared Wars and Precious Metals (02:32) ===

[00:00:08]  Undeclared wars are commonplace.
[00:00:11]  Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
[00:00:19]  Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.
[00:00:24]  To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.
[00:00:32]  What if sometimes, to love your country, you had to alter or abolish the government?
[00:00:37]  What if Jefferson was right?
[00:00:39]  What if that government is best which governs least?
[00:00:43]  What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong?
[00:00:47]  What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave?
[00:00:53]  What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?
[00:01:07]  Hi, everyone.
[00:01:08]  Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
[00:01:11]  Today is Monday, May 11th, 2026.
[00:01:15]  Alistair Crook will be with us in just a moment on Does the West Even Know How to Fight an Asymmetrical War?
[00:01:25]  But first, this.
[00:01:26]  Don't you just cringe when people say, I told you so.
[00:01:29]  Sorry.
[00:01:30]  I told you gold and silver would reap the benefits due to excessive money printing, inflation, and global uncertainty.
[00:01:38]  It's here.
[00:01:39]  It's happened.
[00:01:40]  Gold and silver.
[00:01:41]  Reached all time highs.
[00:01:43]  Did you call Lear Capital and buy some?
[00:01:45]  It's not too late.
[00:01:47]  Experts are predicting higher prices ahead.
[00:01:50]  Why?
[00:01:50]  Nothing has changed.
[00:01:52]  Geopolitical chaos, cost of living crises, and a weaker dollar are driving central banks to boost their gold reserves.
[00:02:00]  Forecasts suggest gold could hit $6,000 an ounce and silver $200 an ounce.
[00:02:07]  Even Morgan Stanley ditched the 60 40 rule for 60 20 20.
[00:02:12]  Putting 20% into precious metals.
[00:02:15]  They're getting educated, and you should too.
[00:02:17]  Call the best in the business and the people I trust Lear Capital.
[00:02:22]  Get their reports, get the facts, get some gold and silver.
[00:02:26]  Tell them the judge sent you and get up to $20,000 in bonus gold or silver.
[00:02:31]  Call 800 511 4620 or go to LearJudgeNap.com.
[00:02:37]  Alistair Crook, welcome here, my dear friend, and good day to you.

=== Israel's Threat to Global Security (15:53) ===

[00:02:40]  Do you think that U.S. and Israeli military planners? think they can defeat Iran just by outspending it?
[00:02:50]  Well, you know, I think this is a really important issue.
[00:02:56]  And because of what effect it's now having in Israel and not in the West, I mean, this was the original thinking about in the United States about war with Russia.
[00:03:08]  Outspend Russia, force it into bankruptcy, trying to match us in High end expensive aircraft and missiles, and that will win us a war.
[00:03:22]  So it was set very much at that time that the American way of war was big expenditure, outmatching the expenditure of its adversaries.
[00:03:36]  And also beyond that, it was about high end expenditure, it was about air war, about the most sophisticated aircraft that cost millions, hundreds of millions.
[00:03:48]  Stealth aircraft, big bombers, stealth bombers.
[00:03:52]  This was going to be the American way of war.
[00:03:55]  And it seemed to, with the implosion of the Soviet Union, it seemed to be, if you like, justified and legitimized.
[00:04:06]  And what I'm saying, in fact, in the piece I just wrote, was saying, but America hasn't moved on from that.
[00:04:14]  It stayed, and the West has stayed in this paradigm.
[00:04:19]  This paradigm, and they did not start thinking.
[00:04:22]  About the threat of asymmetrical war.
[00:04:26]  It was too remote.
[00:04:27]  They just regarded it, you know, these people as sort of, you know, what, Yemenis in their flip flops are going to challenge the mighty machine of Western military force.
[00:04:40]  Impossible.
[00:04:42]  And so there was no sense of really sort of examining the structure and no sense really of looking or even thinking about.
[00:04:52]  You know, what does asymmetrical war mean?
[00:04:56]  What is it going to mean?
[00:04:58]  Now, my main point, though, is it is more than this.
[00:05:03]  The main point I'm making really also is Israel did the same.
[00:05:10]  Israel, first of all, with Ben Gurion, had a very different view.
[00:05:16]  Ben Gurion said, We are a small country, small terrain, we have limited population, limited resources, we can't afford a big standing army.
[00:05:29]  We have a small professional army.
[00:05:33]  And that professional army will, if necessary, deal with threats, but within the borders.
[00:05:43]  It wasn't about expanding the borders for Ben Gurion.
[00:05:47]  And he said, we have to rely on reservists.
[00:05:50]  We just don't, we're not big enough to do big, perpetual wars.
[00:05:57]  However, that's all been changed.
[00:06:00]  And I think the moment of change, In Israel, it was with the 7th of October.
[00:06:08]  At that point, Israel adopted this doctrine of permanent war, something that had come out of Germany originally, permanent war, which envisaged that there was no end game.
[00:06:22]  The enemy became a sort of, according to Professor Aydan Landau, in his words, the enemy became an undifferentiated mass of guises of Amalek.
[00:06:36]  And Professor Bartov was saying that, you know, what we have is Holocaust now, from the 7th of October, is seen by the Israeli government as not something that happened in the past, but something always on threshold.
[00:06:58]  And there will be another Holocaust if we don't meet every threat with full force and destroy it at the root.
[00:07:08]  After the 7th of October, these things fused, and Hamas' attack was framed as a Holocaust like attack.
[00:07:16]  Hamas are Nazis.
[00:07:18]  Criticizing Israel's actions is anti Semitic.
[00:07:23]  Now, what's really interesting and what's happening in this, and this is a pointer beyond Israel, beyond what I said about the American adopting for outspending Russia in the Cold War, but what is very interesting.
[00:07:39]  Is now there has been a big divide in Israel.
[00:07:43]  There are circulating in the Hebrew press, and it's gone literally, it's gone across all of the press, and everyone is referring to it, with an Israeli colonel who is much respected, and he's written a couple of articles about permanent war and the dangers of permanent war.
[00:08:07]  And he said, You know, what we're trying to do.
[00:08:10]  I mean, with us is simply to destroy before it becomes a threat.
[00:08:18]  Before it becomes a threat, we're going to destroy populations.
[00:08:23]  We're going to remove populations.
[00:08:25]  We're going to kill a threat before it can actually become a threat to us, like Amalek.
[00:08:32]  And we see every population as a potential Amalek, in the words of Landau.
[00:08:41]  And so.
[00:08:42]  They've come to this point, and he said, But it hasn't worked.
[00:08:46]  We can't do that.
[00:08:49]  We would need six or seven IDFs to fight all these multiple fronts we have now.
[00:08:56]  And we're not winning them, we are losing this war.
[00:09:01]  And he is saying, and this is picked up across Israel in many areas, it's been picked up across Israel.
[00:09:10]  He is saying, we have to go back to living within our borders, our original.
[00:09:16]  Like Ben Gurion said, we have to live within the borders, and we have to understand military force is not permanent war, but In the Clausewitzian sense, a means to finding a permanent solution, a permanent settlement with our neighbors.
[00:09:38]  So, this is very different thinking emerging from the military context, the more secular Ashkenazi section of Israel coming out and saying that model has failed.
[00:09:52]  We've failed in Iran, and it's not just America, therefore, that's failed in Iran.
[00:09:59]  He's saying our model wouldn't work.
[00:10:03]  In Iran.
[00:10:04]  And others are taking it up.
[00:10:06]  And there's a huge debate taking place about this across Israel and against it.
[00:10:14]  And he said what was really wrong was the fusion of this military ideology of permanent security that came out of 7 October and how it became fused with the messianic ideas of redemption in greater Israel.
[00:10:34]  That are pursued by the Israeli right, the Israeli right who wanted to force redemption by physical seizure of territory of Greater Israel and thereby create redemption physically by military means.
[00:10:53]  And he said these two things are fused together in a nightmare which cannot survive, and Israel cannot cope with this type of structure.
[00:11:06]  It's going to defeat us.
[00:11:07]  It is going to ruin us in the longer term if we pursue it.
[00:11:13]  So, in a sense, what we're seeing, if we talk about Hormuz and so on, not only has it ended in the defeat of, if you like, that Western way of thinking that I described in the Cold War, you know, outspend your enemies, big, expensive aircraft, big fleets of naval carriers and their supporting craft.
[00:11:40]  All of these things are how we win wars because we've just learned that actually it is asymmetrical war that can withstand and even prevail in these wars.
[00:11:56]  And this thinking out of the losses from Iran, I believe, are going to have a big impact.
[00:12:04]  Maybe the West will be the last to take it, but I see it already happening in Russia.
[00:12:10]  And I see it's already being taken up and understood in China as a way ahead more generally in the globe.
[00:12:21]  So Beijing and Moscow understand the value, the significance of asymmetrical war.
[00:12:32]  Does the Pentagon and does Tel Aviv?
[00:12:36]  Not yet.
[00:12:37]  Certainly not yet, because this is still a raging controversy in Israel.
[00:12:43]  But I'm just saying, look at the implications.
[00:12:47]  I mean, the implications of Israel going back to its borders, accepting that it can only manage a small army, that it cannot, it doesn't have six or seven IDFs.
[00:13:00]  I mean, and the implication that the colonel said very clearly don't forget that Ben Gurion saw war as a means to finding a political solution, political outcome.
[00:13:15]  That could change Israel.
[00:13:17]  Completely.
[00:13:19]  I mean, this would be a very important shift, a strategic shift in Israeli thinking.
[00:13:25]  It hasn't fully matured, but as I say, this has gone viral across in the Hebrew press, not in the English language press, led by people from the IDF, senior generals and security officers, all taking up the theme and saying this idea of permanent war allied to messianic.
[00:13:49]  Redemption is going to break us and destroy us.
[00:13:53]  And when you say, does Russia and China understand it?
[00:13:57]  Yes, there's been an article that has just come out by a very prominent Russian who has made it clear that Russia understands this and understands the way in which Iran has used limited asymmetrical force in order to pursue its political interests.
[00:14:24]  How badly has Iran damaged the American bases in the Gulf states, the Gulf states themselves, and infrastructure in Israel?
[00:14:39]  The infrastructure in Israel is, you know, there's an absolute blackout in being allowed to see satellite photographs or anything about that.
[00:14:50]  But if you look at the American bases in the Gulf, and there have been, satellite photographs taken by Chinese firms.
[00:15:00]  And now, of course, on Friday, America just sanctioned all those satellite firms that were providing information about the amount of damage.
[00:15:10]  It is very heavy.
[00:15:11]  There was a survey done by one of these NGOs in Washington by a senior colonel, American colonel.
[00:15:25]  And he said, the first thing you have to say is that the missiles that were used by Iran were absolutely accurate.
[00:15:34]  They hit their target on the nose, they were very accurate, and the damage is devastating.
[00:15:42]  And that's the ISIS NGO produced this on the basis of satellite photographs provided by Chinese commercial satellite companies.
[00:15:56]  Does the Pentagon understand that America's massive multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers don't scare anybody any longer?
[00:16:11]  I think they're getting to it.
[00:16:13]  I mean, because there are voices in America saying they've just become white elephants.
[00:16:17]  Right.
[00:16:18]  These are things, you know, still Trump is saying, well, we're going to, you know, we're going to move an aircraft carrier just off Cuba.
[00:16:25]  100 meters, it'll weave up there and they will capitulate.
[00:16:30]  They'll give in when they see the carrier.
[00:16:33]  Actually, in these days, a carrier is vulnerable, vulnerable to drones, to small submersible craft that can attack it, you know, not necessarily sink it, but push it right out of the frame of operations.
[00:16:54]  So, I mean, these carriers have become not a source of strength, they've become a sign of vulnerability because a swarm of drones can easily.
[00:17:07]  Be sufficient to destroy the deck or their radar systems and put them out of action.
[00:17:18]  And they're huge, cost of fortune.
[00:17:21]  They are just a really great big dinosaur sitting on the sea.
[00:17:28]  As recently as last night, Sunday evening, President Trump threatened again to bomb Iran.
[00:17:39]  Because he rejected out of hand whatever Iran's response was to the American demands, all of this through either Qatar or Pakistan.
[00:17:50]  I'm not sure what it was.
[00:17:51]  And of course, we didn't see any of these documents, and that's understandable.
[00:17:56]  And Larry Johnson says that the troops are there, the gear is there, the planes are there, the refuelers are there, they're ready to go.
[00:18:05]  He's obviously not going to do anything while he's on his way to Beijing and there and on his way back.
[00:18:14]  But wouldn't another massive American and Israeli attack achieve none of the American Israeli goals and result only in severe damage to the Gulf states and to Israel, far more so than has been visited on them already?

=== Controlling the Strait of Hormuz (06:23) ===

[00:18:33]  Exactly.
[00:18:34]  Exactly.
[00:18:36]  And Iran raised another issue in this reply, or in parallel to this reply, in which Iran said very clearly, That they are going to take control of the internet cables that pass through Hormuz.
[00:18:56]  And that if their fuel pipelines are cut, then the internet pipelines might get cut too.
[00:19:07]  So they've raised the stakes quite clearly and warned that any vessel, any American vessel, any British or French naval vessel, will be sunk if it goes into Hormuz.
[00:19:22]  So they've laid out, as I understand it, their proposal, which is an immediate end to war on all fronts, including Lebanon, with no further aggression.
[00:19:36]  And they've said how to get there on this.
[00:19:42]  But it seems that this doesn't give Trump and his team the victory that they want, because included in this is very clearly.
[00:19:56]  Recognition of Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:20:00]  They're not giving that up and they're not giving up the enriched uranium.
[00:20:04]  So, what is the sticking point between the U.S. and Iran as far as these negotiations are concerned?
[00:20:15]  Hormuz, which of course was not an issue before the war started, and the enriched uranium, which of course was under control and inspection under the JCPOA before Trump.
[00:20:30]  Ripped it up.
[00:20:34]  I think the uranium is for Trump symbolically important.
[00:20:40]  It's something that he can say, look, that's the end of their nuclear ambitions.
[00:20:45]  Look, we've got it.
[00:20:47]  Here it is 430 kilos.
[00:20:50]  He'd have to do a bit of weightlifting to lift it, but nonetheless, he could hold it aloft like a football trophy and say, we've done it.
[00:20:59]  We've won quickly.
[00:21:01]  So I think that's the appeal of that.
[00:21:03]  But recognizing control of the Strait of Hormuz implies something quite different.
[00:21:10]  And this is what is frightening, including Vance, I believe, according to people I know who spoke to him.
[00:21:19]  He was concerned.
[00:21:20]  He said, you know, if they continue to control Hormuz for half a year or one year, I mean, they will be rolling in money and they will become the fifth major.
[00:21:33]  Power, a multipolar power, because of their control of hormones and because of the financial resources that it would provide, it would become a major power.
[00:21:46]  And this is unacceptable to Vance, by the way, it seems as much as it is to Trump, to see not only Iran not defeated, but becoming a major global power.
[00:22:04]  And part of a loose alliance between Russia, China, and Iran, the heartland powers, Mackinder's heartland powers coming together in their strength.
[00:22:18]  So, I mean, I think probably Trump is hoping that China is going to help him on this issue.
[00:22:23]  I don't think it is going to help him on Hormuz.
[00:22:27]  By the way, the Chinese are not suffering.
[00:22:29]  They're not suffering.
[00:22:31]  According to the numbers I've read, Chinese imports of oil.
[00:22:38]  In April, they were 90% of what they've always had.
[00:22:44]  And they have one and a half billion in reserve.
[00:22:48]  They're not short of oil.
[00:22:50]  It's not a problem for them.
[00:22:51]  So they can approach this in a very sort of calm way, strategic way, and not say, oh, yes, we must do something.
[00:23:02]  No, I think they will look at a different process, which is they will, together with Russia, start looking at the architecture.
[00:23:13]  Something people have been talking about.
[00:23:15]  I started talking about it about 10 years ago a Gulf architecture for the Middle East, Gulf led architecture, including Iran and the Gulf states, but without U.S. military involvement in it.
[00:23:33]  Last question Does Trump have any cards to play when he visits Beijing on Friday?
[00:23:42]  No, neither economic cards to play.
[00:23:46]  China, well, he can try playing them, but China will outbid him in the cards.
[00:23:54]  And no, he doesn't have any cards to play in terms of Hormuz at all.
[00:24:02]  Rather, Russia and China, who of course have been coordinating and talking and collaborating, are going to put their cards on the table.
[00:24:12]  They are going to be, I think, supporting this new security architecture.
[00:24:18]  It'll take time to come into being.
[00:24:21]  But ultimately, Gulf states will have little choice.
[00:24:26]  And then it will be Israel that will be the isolated state in the region if they continue along their existing path.
[00:24:39]  Alistair Crook, thank you very much, my dear friend.
[00:24:43]  If anything dramatic happens in China, we may try to call upon you before next week.
[00:24:49]  But otherwise, have a good week.
[00:24:51]  We look forward to seeing you again.
[00:24:52]  Thank you so much for this analysis.
[00:24:54]  Thank you very much.
[00:24:55]  Of course.

=== Isolating Israel in the Region (00:27) ===

[00:24:56]  Coming up later today, if you're watching this live in 34 minutes at 9 o'clock this morning, Larry Johnson.
[00:25:04]  At 10 o'clock this morning, Ray McGovern.
[00:25:07]  At 2 this afternoon, Scott Ritter.
[00:25:10]  At 4 this afternoon, Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
[00:25:13]  Professor Sachs is going to talk extensively on the economic consequences of the Netanyahu and Trump war.
[00:25:22]  Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.