Let’s get Provoked! Part 3 (Paperback pages 170-256)

We discuss Scott Horton’s book “Provoked”, from “NATO Round 2” on page 170, to “The Maidan Revolution” on page 256 of the paperback version.
We dive into H.W. Bush & Obama’s foreign policy; NATO expansion, U.S. meddling in Eastern Europe, and the blowback that followed.

Transcript:

(0:11) Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. (0:15) We’re here for week three of the Provoked Book Club. (0:20) I’m joined by my fellow host for this project, Sean, with a U, by the way.(0:26) I apologize for misspelling your name. (0:28) Maybe we have to hold up our books and make sure we don’t strain ourselves too much. (0:35) It’s a heavy book.(0:36) These giant textbooks. (0:37) I’m joined again by Sean. (0:38) My gums are getting huge.(0:40) Yeah. (0:41) Joined by Sean of the Buds in Reality podcast and Mark from the Knocked Conscious podcast, and (0:47) we’re here for week three of this special sort of like holiday extravaganza where we’re (0:57) kind of like balancing ourselves out, right? (0:59) Like we’re, we have the joy of the Christmas season where you get together with family (1:04) and you celebrate, you know, the good things you have in your life. (1:07) And then we kind of take, you know, heavy doses and shots of like just the brutal reality (1:15) of the depravity, the evilness, the corruption of the American empire.(1:22) So you know, kind of, kind of levels us out at the end, hopefully. (1:25) How are you? (1:26) How are you boys doing tonight? (1:28) Mary Kwanzaka, everybody. (1:30) I got to cover all my tracks here.(1:32) Mary Kwanzaka. (1:33) We got to get it all out of the way and be politically correct. (1:36) Right.(1:36) Am I? (1:36) Am I? (1:37) Did I miss Festivus? (1:39) Or has that already happened? (1:40) Like it’s already been for the rest of us, buddy. (1:43) We already had it. (1:44) Look, I’m just trying to be, you know, my aluminum pull away last week.(1:49) I’m including everybody. (1:51) So Mary Kwanzaka. (1:52) Yeah.(1:54) Hey, y’all. (1:54) It is. (1:55) Merry Christmas, everybody.(1:56) Awesome. (1:57) Well, we’re going to dive into. (2:00) And if I may, this really quickly, if I may drop the mass pod and I are doing a live stream (2:04) on Thursday.(2:06) We’re going to be doing New Year’s resolutions and we might be having some unique, special (2:11) impersonating guests that might be sharing their own personal resolutions. (2:14) So stick around. (2:15) That’d be fun.(2:16) I’m pulling out some impressions I haven’t done. (2:19) And I’m a little scared because they’re really bad because they’re really good. (2:25) I never do my impressions live.(2:27) I keep them very private. (2:31) I’m not good at that. (2:34) I like doing impressions.(2:35) It doesn’t mean I’m good at them. (2:37) I just like doing it. (2:38) Ah, well, we have we’re in week.(2:44) So we skipped a week for Christmas. (2:45) So we’re in week three. (2:48) We’re covering.(2:49) I forget the exact page numbers. (2:50) Do you have them off hand, Mark? (2:51) It’s from. (2:52) Yes, sir.(2:52) Pages 170 through 256 in the paperbook version from NATO round two up to I think it’s the (3:00) terrorist something. (3:02) The maiden voyage. (3:03) The war on terrorism.(3:04) Not the way it is. (3:06) Maidan coup or the Maidan revolution. (3:08) Right.(3:08) Do you guys, when you were reading through this section, did you have to like stop at (3:12) all? (3:12) Do you double take and be like, I’m sorry, did I already read this? (3:16) Yeah. (3:17) It’s literally Groundhog Day. (3:19) It’s like it’s the same stuff over and over again, like the the names change and sometimes (3:25) the country changes.(3:27) But it’s just like I’ve seen this story before. (3:31) All due respect to either Slavic people, but the consonants just shift around in the names. (3:35) That’s all I see.(3:36) I don’t see anything. (3:38) But can I buy a vowel, please? (3:39) Or something? (3:40) I don’t know. (3:40) Well, it’s different Slavic states going to war with each other.(3:45) And then NATO gets involved. (3:46) I mean, that’s the end of the story. (3:48) That’s that’s just what it is.(3:49) NATO is getting involved in things they don’t belong in. (3:52) And that’s that. (3:53) Funny is NATO is even like, hey, if you do this, we got your back.(3:57) So we’re kind of like poking the bear at all costs, right? (4:02) Every time. (4:03) Never fails. (4:04) Yeah.(4:05) Well, we ended last the last week, week two ended with George Bush taking power in 9-11. (4:12) And, you know, there was this opportunity for like, you know, Putin’s like, you know, (4:17) hey, we feel bad that you were attacked by the terrorists and we want to be part of the (4:22) West. (4:22) We want to be your ally.(4:23) We’re going to work together. (4:25) Everything’s going to be great. (4:26) Right, Mark? (4:27) You’re going to kick us off and tell us how George Bush just like, you know, cemented (4:32) a legacy of friendship and collaboration with with Putin in Russia to usher in the new millennium.(4:38) Dubya. (4:39) Like he got to finish his pappy’s work in Iraq. (4:43) He decided to totally do what his dad was going to promise, right? (4:47) Not move an inch eastward.(4:49) Right. (4:49) So let’s start. (4:49) We’ll start real easily.(4:52) NATO’s second wave of expansion, NATO round two, guys. (4:56) So we already have what Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, correct, in there. (5:01) By the way, Czech Mark is one of my my pseudonyms.(5:04) He fought to looking for this to happen, please. (5:07) So he is very happy to have this happen part of NATO. (5:11) Anyway.(5:12) So we got this guy. (5:13) We got these three countries. (5:14) Those were already kind of like no no’s.(5:17) And we’re like, come on, let’s bring those in first. (5:20) Let’s just collect those guys. (5:22) So then the second wave.(5:24) This one is the the lies, basically, that we ended up doing because Daddy Bush was like, (5:31) we’re not going to go an inch eastward. (5:32) So we decided to include seven new states. (5:36) I’m going to I’m going to read them off because I once again, it’s the book.(5:40) So but here we go. (5:42) The seven countries that we did in early 2004. (5:46) He continued NATO expansion into Eastern Europe in violation of his father’s promise, bringing (5:52) seven more countries into the alliance.(5:54) The former Warsaw Pact nations of Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, as well as the former (6:00) Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the (6:06) latter three former republics of the Soviet Union, and two of them share a border with (6:13) Russia. So, guys, before we even continue this, let’s talk about Trump wanting Greenland. (6:22) Why do we need that land property in Greenland for? (6:25) Oh, that’s right.National security. (6:27) I that’s right. We need Greenland for national security right now.(6:31) Right. And here we are encroaching and sitting on top of Russia. (6:36) And we don’t expect them to have a response.(6:39) Right. Thoughts, anything? (6:41) Well, I mean, they kind of elaborated to like NATO going into the North Pole and shit like (6:48) that. And it’s like, whoa, wait a minute here.(6:51) Like you guys are crossing lines that you’ve promised not to cross, but you’ve already (6:56) crossed. But we’re going to cross them even more if that even makes any sense. (6:59) And you want to wrap your head around that, you know, but that’s that this is where we’re (7:04) at right now is that we are literally and not by we, we have done nothing.(7:09) The United States government and or NATO has been doing this now for decades, decades. (7:18) Jacob, anything? (7:23) I’ll have more as you go along, man. (7:25) I don’t want to punch down too much.(7:27) Yeah, not too bad. So I’ll go through a couple more points really quickly. (7:30) And then and then there’s I want to share a clip very quickly as well.(7:35) So obviously what we’re having is a difference between what the United States is (7:39) promising and what the actions are. (7:40) Right. Scott clearly details how the assurances to Soviet leaders about not expanding (7:45) NATO eastward were contradicted by expanding eastward.(7:50) Duh. Do what I say, not as I do. (7:52) Right.Sounds real good. (7:53) So basically, the trust keeps eroding more and more and more as once again, United (7:59) States is attacked and Putin’s the first national leader to call and say, hey, we’re (8:03) Europeanized where we are part of Europe. (8:05) We want to be with Europe.(8:07) We’re with you. And we’re like, no, we still need an enemy or something. (8:09) Right.So then comes 2008, the Bucharest summit where Bush. (8:19) I just can’t. I mean, 2008, guys.(8:21) He pushed for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO. (8:26) Right. So literally 2008.(8:29) And oh, yeah. What’s going on in Georgia? (8:31) Right. Didn’t they just have free and fair elections? (8:33) It didn’t go the United States way.(8:35) And, oh, there’s another revolution of some color or creed or or fabric or flower (8:41) or whatever. (8:42) But there’s something going on there. (8:44) Right.Anyone want to talk about Georgia? (8:46) What’s going on in Georgia and anything like that? (8:50) Jacob, you want to take that one? (8:55) Well, I mean, this all connects. (8:57) I’m like I’m thinking as I’m reading through everything in this section, just how (9:00) much it connects to what we’ve read in in previous sections. (9:04) Right.I mean, we’ve been heavily involved in all of these areas up until this (9:10) point. And as Scott points out, like, you know, we say one thing and then what we’re (9:17) doing is kind of as we always do, we have our fingers in the cookie jar on both sides (9:22) of the conflict. So, you know, but as Madeleine Albright says, we can handle it.(9:27) Right. Because we’re America. (9:29) We can we can see further into the future.(9:31) Yeah. We’ve got NATO to back us up, right? (9:34) Maddie was great through all of this. (9:36) Let me tell you something, Madeleine Albright was an absolute gem.(9:40) Not so much. The queen of brooches. (9:42) I love it.She’s like the queen of revolutions. (9:45) So I’ll go through a couple more points and I’ll share a quick clip because there’s (9:48) something on page 178 that we definitely want to take a look at. (9:52) So we’ve got Georgia’s NATO ambitions.(9:55) The encouragement of Georgia’s NATO membership aspirations led to the 2008 Russia (10:00) Georgian war. How did that fare for Georgia? (10:02) We just had more death, destruction. (10:04) They leveled cities, didn’t they? (10:05) If I’m if I’m not mistaken.(10:07) They tore their ass up. (10:09) Yeah, they just really absolutely. (10:11) And Russia just did.(10:13) I don’t know, reacted the way that I don’t know if I would probably react similarly, I (10:17) would assume. Right. Feeling aggressed.(10:19) I it’s part of the NAP, guys. (10:21) I mean, I would think at this point he’s feeling aggressed. (10:24) I don’t know.But, you know, I don’t want to put myself in issues. (10:28) So we’ve got Russian protests, obviously, with the color revolutions, the orange and (10:33) all that. And then a security dilemma.(10:35) The expansion of NATO was framed within the context of a security dilemma where Russia (10:39) felt increasingly encircled and threatened, leading to defense and sometimes (10:44) aggressive posturing. (10:46) Once again, Georgia. So here’s the clip, because this is what I love.(10:50) Page 178, Michael McFaul. (10:52) OK, I’m dragging this guy now. (10:54) I’ve decided to start dragging this guy.(10:57) I’ve called this guy out. (10:58) I’ve been kind. (10:59) I’ve emailed his Stanford email, sent him and shared him an email of the debate with (11:03) Krystal and Horton, and he won’t have any part of it.(11:08) So I’m dragging him. (11:09) I’m calling him out. He’s writing a book about Ukraine and Russia from his (11:13) perspective.Oh, yeah. (11:14) Right. Let’s see it, boys.(11:16) So this is the part about McFaul. (11:18) And then I’ll play the clip. (11:21) McFaul.He admitted the truth while denying it. (11:26) Did Americans meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine? (11:30) Yes. He said that American agents of influence would prefer different language to (11:34) describe their activities, democratic assistance, democracy, promotion, civil (11:40) society support, et cetera.(11:42) But their work, however, labeled seeks to influence political change in Ukraine. (11:49) Oh, how about that? (11:51) So let us go to John Mearsheimer talking to Lex Friedman for hours about Ukraine. (11:56) You remember how Lex Friedman felt about Ukraine? (11:59) OK, listen to John Mearsheimer one quick minute.(12:03) Just explain, Michael McFaul, and how just absolutely ignorant, not ignorant. (12:09) No hubris. (12:10) It’s hubris.How cocky we think we are, that we are such that our shit doesn’t stink. (12:15) I’m sorry that I use the S word. (12:16) I’m going to present it now.(12:18) Here we go. Give me one second. (12:32) Computers are funny, guys.(12:35) I know, I know, I apologize. (12:37) I’m trying my best, boys. (12:41) Do one more.(12:42) One more shot here. (12:45) If it doesn’t work, you want to send me the link. (12:47) I can.You got it. (12:48) Oh, I don’t know if I have the link, though. (12:51) That’s the point.All right. (12:55) Why can’t I do this? (12:57) Because we’re Gen Xers and we didn’t have to do this before. (13:00) All right.All right. (13:02) Well, hey, can someone jump in? (13:03) I’ll pull it up and I’ll be able to share my screen in one second. (13:05) OK.All right. (13:07) Cool. So I’ll go ahead.(13:08) So I’m going to take this. (13:09) I will take this opportunity to do some. (13:13) Here we go.(13:13) So before I do my presentation, because I don’t want to break the flow. (13:18) But if you guys are enjoying this, if you guys enjoy (13:21) the content that I produce, if you enjoy collaborations like this, (13:25) I will do a little presentation here (13:29) just to remind our viewers of what’s going on here at LCI. (13:34) I talked about this a little bit last week as well.(13:37) But as you can see, this is our end of the year fundraiser. (13:39) We’ve made really good progress. (13:41) We got one day left, though, to try to build this gap.(13:45) So we’re basically two thirds of the way funded into next year (13:49) for this challenge grant where your dollar is goes double. (13:55) So if you haven’t already, if you have any extra, you want to, (13:59) you know, donate right off as taxes or just to support us into the new year. (14:04) Go to Libertarian Christians dot com slash donate link there at the bottom ticker.(14:09) And we would greatly appreciate it. (14:11) It enables us to keep doing what we’re doing, (14:15) including stuff like we’re doing here tonight. (14:17) So without enough filibustering, Mark, do you got it? (14:21) We got it.I’m ready to go, boys. (14:23) All right. Are you guys ready? (14:26) Yep.Here we go. (14:32) Yeah, I agree with you 100 percent. (14:35) And just, you know, I always think of Michael McFaul at Stanford, (14:38) who was the American ambassador to Russia, I think, between 2012 and 2014.(14:45) And he told me that he told Putin (14:50) that Putin didn’t have to worry about NATO expansion (14:54) because the United States was a benign hegemon. (14:57) And I asked Mike what Putin’s response was to that. (15:04) And Mike said that Putin didn’t believe it.(15:09) And but Mike believed that he should believe it and that (15:14) we could move NATO eastward to include Ukraine. (15:18) And in the end, we’d get away with it because we are a benign hegemon. (15:23) But the fact is, that’s not what Putin saw.(15:27) Putin saw us as a malign hegemon. (15:30) And what Mike thinks or any American thinks doesn’t matter. (15:34) What matters is what Putin thinks.(15:36) But also. All right. (15:41) So there was boys and girls.(15:44) Literally, we are benign hegemon, so we can, what, (15:47) stomp on the throats of anyone who doesn’t think we are? (15:50) According to Bill Kristol, yes, you could do whatever you want. (15:55) According to that, McCall won’t debate him. (15:58) All right.So three more points, guys, I’ll jump out. (16:01) Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us on here, because it’s been awesome. (16:05) I’ve missed you guys.(16:06) I’m really looking forward to getting into this again. (16:09) But we got a lot of stuff come up. (16:10) So a couple of things.(16:12) Western perception of Russian motives critiques (16:15) Western narrative often dismiss Russian concerns. (16:18) Oh, yeah. Russia’s just being Russia.(16:20) They’re just puffing their chest. (16:22) They don’t actually they’re not actually threatened. (16:24) Once again, we are benign hegemon.Right. (16:26) So then there was a public in the diplomatic rhetoric, (16:29) significant discrepancy between public, private, diplomatic (16:32) rhetoric concerning NATO expansion, private assurances, (16:37) offering once again differing from the public statement. (16:40) So we would, you know, we tell one thing and then we tell our public something else.(16:44) They’d hear something on the radio and be like, wait a minute. (16:47) You just told us behind the closed doors that you’re doing the exact opposite (16:50) of that or whatever. Right.(16:51) And then obviously all this trust degradation, (16:54) the impact on the foreign policy between Russia and the United States. (16:58) It’s just it just led them to be more assertive (17:01) and more aggressive in their territories. (17:03) And actually, I don’t know the last time we spoke with them.(17:06) Had a phone call, so I can’t imagine where the trust is right now, (17:11) and I will bow out. (17:12) Thank you, everyone, for checking out, checking this out. (17:14) And I’m ready to check out what you guys have to share.Thank you. (17:20) All righty, well. (17:23) I’m going to pull up my notes here, then go over my section, (17:27) which goes over a lot of again, and the narrative that Scott’s pulling here, (17:32) constructing this book is really good because he kind of like, (17:35) if you remember when we were talking about what was going on (17:38) with the Clinton administration and what they were doing with supporting the.(17:45) Oh, crap, I can’t remember the word. (17:48) Anyways, supporting Islamic fundamentalism and terrorists (17:52) in the surrounding regions, like in Bosnia and stuff and in Chechnya (17:56) and how that was going to later cause issues. (17:59) We talked about that in previous sections.(18:01) Well, that’s going to come up a lot here. (18:05) So the first section of the section that I am here to cover, (18:12) you know, we kind of start again, (18:14) the aftermath of September 11th. (18:17) And while, you know, Russia and Europe and America, (18:23) like obviously the focus is on Afghanistan and Iraq.(18:26) There was another region that was significant in sort of like (18:31) the broader war of terror, and that was the Caucasus region, (18:34) particularly the Pankeysi Gorge in Georgia. (18:40) This is like a narrow mountainous area that borders Russia. (18:44) And it’s troubled the Chechnya area, which is like right, (18:48) right there on the border of Russia.(18:51) And so and that obviously borders with. (19:01) Crap, I’m having a blank here. (19:03) Country of the Chechnya borders.(19:05) You guys know what I’m talking about. (19:07) We’re talking about one with. (19:09) Yeah, we know.(19:13) I got way too many new. (19:15) Is it Chechnya and Serbia you’re talking about? (19:18) Kosovo. (19:20) Is that what it was? (19:22) We’re good.(19:25) We overstudied. (19:27) There’s a lot going on in this book. (19:29) There’s a lot of countries involved.(19:30) There’s a lot of people involved. (19:31) Just getting the names right is hard enough in itself. (19:35) Sorry, it’s Georgia.(19:36) It’s right there. (19:38) So yeah, Chechnya is right there at the bottom of Russia. (19:41) And Georgia is right there below.(19:44) I believe that’s right. (19:47) Anyway, a lot of different ethnic groups here. (19:49) But there were obviously Al-Qaeda operatives (19:52) that were in the sort of like Chechen separatist broader movement.(20:00) And so, you know, under. (20:02) So in 2002, George Bush and the US launched what’s known as the Georgia Train (20:08) and the Equip Program or GTEP. (20:10) And this was aimed to strengthen Georgia’s ability to combat terrorism (20:16) by providing military training and equipment.(20:20) And Scott then kind of highlights that while the US is working with Russia, (20:25) collaborating to fight against Al-Qaeda and do intelligence sharing with Russia, (20:32) they were simultaneously bolstering Georgia, (20:36) a nation which was kind of at odds with Russia, (20:40) because they’re like, well, we want to help Russia, (20:42) but we have to make sure that we don’t help Russia too much (20:45) because we don’t want Russia to be dominant in that region (20:48) because that would not be good for our, as I put it, (20:52) the benevolent hegemony that is the US’s force presence in that region. (21:00) So, you know, I mean, again, you feel like you’re reading things on repeat, (21:05) like, oh, we’re we’re going soft on terrorists when it, you know. (21:10) I love that a superpower is benign.(21:14) The unipolar, the global superpower, the unipolar moment, (21:19) the second that happens, we’re benign. (21:21) And then we can stomp on anybody we want. (21:23) It’s totally OK.(21:25) Very funny. (21:27) So, yeah, there’s like this dual strategy going on, (21:30) collaboration with Russia while also trying to undermine them in the region. (21:35) And, you know, US, like it has like an image to uphold, right? (21:39) Like we’re the, you know, like this is post 9-11, (21:43) your Patriot Act and just like, you know, something.(21:45) I grew up in this era, right? (21:47) Like I was in I was in third grade when 9-11 happened. (21:49) I remember suddenly like America is the force for good in the world, (21:52) fighting to keep the terrorists at bay. (21:55) And if it weren’t for America, you know, all these freedom-hating, (21:59) you know, Arabs and Muslims would be over here killing us, right? (22:02) So America has that image to maintain, (22:05) but they are sort of like not willing to condemn certain terrorist groups in Chechnya (22:15) because, well, that would like be helping Russia too much, basically.(22:21) And so that that starts to then sort of sow the seeds for (22:27) what really starts to break the relationship between Putin and Bush, (22:32) and really Putin and America going forward, (22:36) because several terrorist attacks happen then during this time period, (22:43) which the American response, well, leaves a lot to be desired from the Russian perspective. (22:49) So one of the most infamous figures from this conflict is Shamil Basayev, (22:54) and, again, he was someone who had been involved in the Chechen wars, (23:02) and he started out as more of a just a nationalist, (23:07) but then adopted more of like the Islamic fundamentalist, radical ideology, (23:15) and started to sort of like forge links. (23:19) You know, there was, again, a lot of links forged between the Chechen separatist groups (23:23) and al-Qaeda, which at this point is a jihadist network.(23:29) So we’re fighting the jihadist network over in Afghanistan, (23:33) but we’re hesitant, again, to fight them over here in Chechnya and in their neighbor Georgia. (23:42) So Basayev is very infamous for a really horrible attack that happened in 2002 at the Dubrovka (23:51) theater, where 800 people were taking hostage during a performance, (23:57) and Basayev’s forces demanded Russian withdrawal from Chechnya, (24:02) and then there was a standoff. (24:04) Russia used special forces and some kind of gas to incapacitate the militants, (24:10) killed over 100 hostages in the process.(24:12) It was horrible. (24:16) So, you know, after this… (24:19) And on this day, with Jimmy Carter’s passing, R.I.P. Jimmy Carter, (24:26) but look at the trash that came out of the 70s with the Mujahideen and all the people that we (24:33) backed in the 70s and how they, I would argue, they used Jimmy Carter’s absolute ignorance. (24:39) I mean, I’m sure that guy was a nice guy.(24:42) Yeah, Habitat for Humanity, really nice. (24:45) But come on, man, come on. (24:47) This guy just did not know anything about what they did.(24:52) And that whole hostage situation, that was obvious. (24:55) I mean, to watch that and then the day that Reagan gets inaugurated is the day they’re (25:00) released. (25:00) Yeah, like that’s not an absolute statement, right? (25:04) Oh, I’m going to butt in right here on this one because this speaks to my heart.(25:09) You know, you bring up Jimmy Carter in the end of his days or whatever, (25:12) but at the end of the day, it was Ronald Reagan who had the 1980 election fixed in order to (25:19) win it, where he made a deal with the Iranians to hold the hostages longer in order to capitalize (25:25) on winning the election. (25:28) Like that really happened. (25:29) Like Scott Horton talked about that enough already.(25:32) That is absolutely organized. (25:34) Yes, there are absolutely some things afoot. (25:37) I just want to mention that in this time, just because you mentioned perfect Mujahideen, (25:41) Carter, this whole point.(25:43) Remember, that’s the 70s when we did the Shah, right, with Iran. (25:47) So look at the blowback. (25:49) And you even mentioned, once again, blowback, blowback, blowback.(25:52) Yep, and it’s so convoluted, right? (25:56) Like reading this book, because I’ve read enough already and Scott’s other books, and (26:01) then reading this, you’re just like, oh, wow. (26:02) Like, and I always make this point, like I already know this, and this book is just (26:05) reinforcing it, that it really is all connected. (26:09) Like this isn’t just like, oh, we have a conflict in the Middle East.(26:13) Oh, and also we have a conflict in Russia with Ukraine and whatnot. (26:16) And like, there’s not like, no, this is all very connected. (26:22) And the more you see it, the more like, yeah, and you understand why every time Scott speaks, (26:28) it’s like, you know, you ask him a one-minute question, and he gives a 60-minute answer, (26:33) because he’s like, you know, like, he’s like, he wants to convey so much to the people listening, (26:39) like, to look into this stuff, because there’s so much more than what lies on the surface.(26:46) Yeah, Basiyev then had another attack in 2004 at a school. (26:51) This was the Beslan school massacre. (26:54) Over 1,100 people, including hundreds of children, were taken hostage.(26:59) And then there was a siege, and that ended with over 300 people killed. (27:04) And so this was like a turning point for Putin, because it kind of gave them the political (27:08) capital to like, consolidate. (27:09) So this was almost like, they had a series of terrorist attacks that you could almost (27:13) say were like, you know, their 9-11s in a sense.(27:17) And they kind of like, then they had a response to be like, all right, we have to get serious (27:21) about terrorism now. (27:22) And now, on one hand, we would all kind of be like, okay, we wouldn’t exactly be happy (27:28) as anti-war, non-interventionist libertarians if, you know, George Bush’s America and Vladimir (27:38) Putin’s Russia got together and were like, yeah, we’re really going to stick it to the (27:41) Middle East and to al-Qaeda and just like, you know what I mean? (27:45) Like, having two empires work together to fight the war on terrorism still would have (27:49) resulted in a lot of bad things, probably at the end of the day. (27:54) But at the same time, it’s like, okay, like, we could have at least hoped that they would (28:00) have solved the terrorist problem, and then we don’t know what would happen down the (28:04) road.(28:05) Instead, it’s like, well, we continue to fight the war on terror, but then we’re also (28:08) going to really stick it to Russia with our response. (28:16) So basically, there was reluctance among policymakers and Bush to really, like, strongly (28:25) condemn what was going on there. (28:28) And like, their response to Russia was like, well, hold on, we don’t really want you to (28:31) go there and like, you know, start wiping out and using excessive force against all (28:36) these, you know, separatists and terrorists in Chechnya and whatnot.(28:41) Like, you should, you know, like, you at least need to try negotiating with them first. (28:44) And at this point, Putin loses it. (28:47) Is this the same United States that backed Yeltsin to attack his own parliament when (28:52) he had 8% approval rating? (28:53) Is that the same one? (28:57) I’m just trying to figure out which United States was having a bipolar moment.(29:00) How many personalities do we have? (29:02) Like, which one? (29:04) Follow the money. (29:05) That’s all you got to do. (29:06) And not to completely interrupt Jacob, but we are an interactive show.(29:11) A gentleman is on chat named Elliot James, and he says Palestinians, or Palestine hates (29:18) Israel’s freedom. (29:19) So I just want to let you know, Elliot James seems to think that Palestine hates Israel’s (29:23) freedom. (29:23) I responded that Israel’s imprisoning Palestinians, and he responded those children were terrorists.(29:28) And I responded, especially little girls were terrorists. (29:32) So Elliot’s in chat. (29:34) I have no idea.(29:35) So I just want to let you know, we’re in an interactive show, man. (29:40) I know, but it’s like we’re not reading. (29:43) Listen, we’re not reading enough already.(29:45) We’re reading provoked. (29:49) It’s just like they have to come in in the middle of a conversation that only like, I (29:55) mean, this is like what, like 12 steps to Kevin Bacon connected maybe to Israel. (29:58) We’re letting him troll us, but it is fun.(30:03) The dude’s trolling himself. (30:05) Hey, at least Elliot connected to us. (30:07) So thank you for joining us, Elliot.(30:09) Please feel free to. (30:10) Thank you for joining us, but if anybody wants to have the debate on Israel-Palestine, rock (30:14) and roll, dude. (30:15) This is, we could do it.(30:16) This is the case. (30:17) We’ll set it up. (30:17) Anyway, look, once again, we are interactive.(30:19) I just want to be clear that we are happy to invite Amity’s on, Thane is on, everyone’s (30:24) interacted. (30:24) So, oh, Elliot’s joking. (30:26) So I hope you are, man.(30:30) I love you, man. (30:31) Look, hey, welcome to a new year. (30:33) Let’s get pranked more.(30:34) That’s my new resolution. (30:35) I’d like to get pranked more and have more fun with this. (30:38) I would love to wake up tomorrow.(30:39) I just thought it was great. (30:40) I would love to wake up tomorrow and realize that half of the Zionists in my mentions were (30:44) just joking. (30:45) So I mean, it’d be a pretty dark joke, but I’d be like, okay, you know, but good.(30:53) You know, you committed to the bit. (30:55) So anyway, I wanted to read from Putin’s. (30:59) So there was a couple of different citations here.(31:03) Where’s the one? (31:04) So Ambassador Burns wrote in his memoir that when President Bush had declared war against (31:12) the Islamic terrorists from Somalia to the Philippines, then ironically finds deep nuance (31:17) when it came to the Bin Ladenites among the Chechens and the Russian president was furious. (31:22) Quote, Putin saw Bush’s response, including warnings about against overreaction and a (31:28) dalliance with moderate Chechen elements to try to defuse tensions as nothing short of (31:34) a betrayal. (31:35) And then Burns reiterated that the Russians were certain that U.S. was gunning for them (31:40) next.(31:42) So, and then there’s a couple other quotes. (31:45) I don’t want to keep, I mean, Scott, you know how he is. (31:47) He’s super thorough, providing a lot of different quotes.(31:53) This is the bottom of page 201. (31:55) He says, this was from, who wrote this? (31:59) This was Dr. Mark Basson wrote that he was, you know, very shaken, very furious. (32:07) What was clear from his answer is that he took a very American approach to Chechnya.(32:11) It was a case of these people want to hurt us and they have to be stopped. (32:15) He compared the Chechens to Al-Qaeda, saying that they did not, (32:19) saying he did not counsel the Americans to meet Bin Laden for talks. (32:24) And then Stratfor wrote in their client newsletter, visibly angered, Putin told his (32:29) compatriots in Moscow, told his compatriots that Moscow knew major foreign powers wanting (32:37) Russia to collapse were backing the terrorists.(32:41) Though he did not name any countries, nobody in Russia except a few U.S., pro-U.S. liberals (32:46) doubted that Putin met Washington and its allies. (32:50) And then the next day, he publicly challenged Washington’s hypocrisy, saying, (32:57) why don’t you meet with Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House to engage (33:01) him in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he’ll leave you in peace. (33:07) So, like, listen, again, none of us I think are here saying like, man, what we really (33:12) wanted here was America and Russia to unite and just obliterate the terrorists in the Middle East.(33:17) But you can understand Putin’s outrage at the like, oh, OK, so it’s what’s what, you know, (33:25) there’s a different set of rules here. (33:26) There are some things that America can do. (33:29) But but but we don’t we aren’t allowed the same liberty, right? (33:33) It’s the same hypocrisy of the generation.(33:35) Yep. (33:37) There’s the Monroe Doctrine again. (33:38) And what I love, I will admit, man, Russian humor.(33:43) These guys are really funny. (33:45) If you can just strip they’re so seriously funny the way he says that he’s basically going, (33:53) yeah, why don’t you invite terrorists to your front step? (33:56) Because you’re certainly inviting them to ours. (33:58) You know what I mean? (33:59) It’s like it’s like it’s crazy, right? (34:03) It’s unbelievable.(34:04) Well, again, I mean, in Putin’s eyes, this is about like it’s like their whole thing the (34:09) whole time is that they want to be part of the West and that like, hey, we should have joint (34:14) decision making. (34:15) We’re like, we’re going to consider what your national interests are, (34:19) but you need to also consider what our national interests are. (34:22) But that’s not how the benevolent hegemony operates, right? (34:26) The benevolent hegemony operates by saying, like, well, here are our interests.(34:31) And if you can find a way to squeeze your interests into like, you know, (34:35) the tiny little air pockets that we might leave left over once we’ve, you know, (34:40) pushed our interests onto the scale, then, you know, maybe we’ll think about that. (34:48) But for the most part, it’s an afterthought, which again, it’s like these are statists, (34:54) right? (34:54) Putin’s a statesman, but that’s how they operate. (34:59) That’s how America operates with its allies is to be like, well, what are your interests? (35:04) And even though America comes first, they’re still going to probably try to listen to what (35:08) UK says or what Canada says or what France says.(35:13) But with Russia, it’s like it’s all lip service and then stabbing them in the back. (35:20) And you can’t, I mean, you can only poke a bear so much before he, you know, gets provoked, (35:28) one might say. (35:33) Anyway, so yeah, this doubles down with all the NATO expansion stuff that Mark covered.(35:41) Putin continues to have growing distrust of the West. (35:45) Scott, then at the end of my section, there’s, just for sake of time, I’m not going to cover (35:50) everything in my section because I would need an hour. (35:54) I mean, there’s a whole thing about like the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya and (36:00) the whole like, you know, trying to bring the Chechen conflict to an end.(36:06) And so Scott does talk a little bit about how this organization continues to expose (36:11) contradictions in America’s approach to the war on terror, because it’s like on one hand, (36:16) you know, al-Qaeda, evil. (36:18) And there’s like there’s a severe irony where it’s like we’ll make up a connection between (36:24) al-Qaeda and Iraq and Saddam Hussein, which doesn’t exist at all to go invade that country (36:32) and do regime change. (36:34) But when there’s an actual link between al-Qaeda and the Chechen separatists and terrorists, (36:39) it’s just like, I mean, what can we do? (36:42) I guess we have to negotiate.(36:45) You mean, what can we do? (36:47) Let’s fund them. (36:50) That’s what can we do? (36:51) Can we just throw our hands up and say we can’t do anything? (36:54) Sure, we could do that. (36:55) But no, we have to take a side.(36:57) If we’re not against them, I guess we’ll be with them on this one. (37:01) Right. (37:01) Don’t worry, the binary, man, it’s a one or a zero.(37:07) Yes. (37:07) You know, and it’s crazy. (37:08) And just to your point about not finishing your entire section, everyone, most people (37:13) who’ve listened to this would probably listen to Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem, (37:17) right? (37:17) Most are Martyr May, Daryl Cooper fans.(37:19) It’s 24, 25 hours long. (37:22) Scott said this is going to be 50. (37:27) Scott said he’s reading it.(37:28) He just finished, I think, the first section, which was HW. (37:32) And he’s like doing it in sections. (37:34) It’s going to be 50 hours, guys.(37:36) So just imagine. (37:37) And thank you to everyone who’s tuned in, because I know you’re reading along, because there’s (37:41) no way we could share the wealth of information that Scott puts in his book. (37:46) But we’re just so happy that you joined us.(37:48) So thank you. (37:49) That puts Creature of Jekyll Island to shame. (37:52) That’s like a 28 hour audio book or 24 hours, something like that.(37:56) I can’t remember. (37:56) It’s either 24 or 28. (37:58) And that’s a long, like, audio book.(38:01) So for 50 hours, enjoy getting your mind blown, y’all. (38:06) Yep. (38:08) Well, so my section, I’ll just briefly, the last point I have, Scott kind of ends the (38:12) section I have with the Boston Marathon bombing.(38:14) So Scott’s kind of pointing out, like, hey, this creates all sorts of blowback, not just (38:19) with Russia, but for ourselves. (38:21) And, you know, as libertarians, as anarchists, we’re often pointing out how there’s this (38:28) disconnect between, you know, the state saying, like, well, you know, you need us and you (38:34) need our military. (38:35) We need the benevolent hegemony to keep the American people safe.(38:39) But as we repeatedly see, whether it’s through 9-11, or as Scott draws out in this narrative, (38:44) even the Boston Marathon bombing, our interventions overseas lead to dead Americans here at home. (38:52) And so the Boston Marathon bombing, that was in 2013. (38:57) That killed three people, injured hundreds, you know, very psychologically scarring for (39:04) the people who were there and witnessed it, even watching it on TV.(39:08) But Scott connects this event because, so it was carried out by two brothers, Tamerlan (39:14) and Tiznari, I’m not even going to put up, there’s two dudes. (39:19) Just do frick and frack, man. (39:20) Just do, like, twin one and two, whatever the doctors say.(39:23) There’s Tamerlan and Tsarnaev, okay? (39:25) And they’re ethnic Chechens. (39:27) And they had immigrated to the United States as children, and their family had fled the (39:32) violence of the Chechen Wars, seeking refuge in the West. (39:37) And so Horton’s kind of making the point that there’s a connection to Chechnya.(39:41) Like, this region was torn apart by decades of brutal conflict with America, you know, (39:46) basically prolonging and funding, like, we’re going to help the Russians, but we’re also (39:52) going to, you know, help the Al-Qaeda jihadists at the same time. (40:00) And so, you know, the older brother Tamerlan had become radicalized after he, you know, (40:09) read jihadist propaganda and kind of learned about the history of not just Russia’s role (40:16) in Chechnya, but the United States’ role in Chechnya. (40:19) And like, there’s a really important point here.(40:21) So this is obviously a textbook example of blowback, which is something we as libertarians (40:26) talk about a lot. (40:27) Ron Paul talked about it a lot. (40:30) But there’s another thing here.(40:31) And this is, I think, really important for me to bring up as I’m a host of the Libertarian (40:35) Christian Institute. (40:36) As a Christian, I obviously have religious disagreements with Muslims. (40:43) However, I can’t help but notice that when Muslims live in areas where they aren’t victims (40:51) of U.S. foreign policy versus the Muslims who do live in areas that are victims of U.S. (40:57) foreign policy, there’s a—and listen, one could say correlation isn’t causation.(41:03) But when the correlation’s, like, damn near 100 percent, right? (41:08) One has to wonder, like, man, why is it that the Muslims who are in Western countries or (41:13) in the U.S., born here and whatnot, just seem, you know, dramatically less likely to become (41:18) terrorists than the ones who were born in these conflicts or connected to these conflicts (41:26) where we’ve led to the deaths of, you know, people’s families and loved ones. (41:31) I mean, again, you brought up—who brought up Martyr Maid? (41:33) I forget. (41:34) I think it was you, Mark.(41:36) And, you know, Martyr Maid begins his podcast, Fear and Loathe Him, by asking, what would (41:40) you do? (41:42) And that’s an important question for all of us to ask. (41:45) He asks it throughout. (41:47) Yeah, throughout the entire thing.(41:48) It’s not the first—it’s the question. (41:52) It’s the question. (41:53) Because he describes the Jewish pogroms, and then he says, like, what would you do in (41:58) response to that? (41:58) And then, yeah, throughout, he’s saying, like, hey, what would the—if you were— (42:02) It’s the ping-pong back and forth.(42:04) Right, exactly. (42:04) What’s interesting, the youngest brother is only one of three that Biden did not pardon. (42:11) He didn’t pardon the bomber, the brother.(42:14) He didn’t pardon the Dylann Roof guy. (42:17) And he did not pardon the guy who shot up the mosque—or not the mosque, the synagogue (42:21) in Pittsburgh. (42:22) Those are the three that Biden did not pardon off.(42:25) I think the death list, right? (42:27) The death penalty list, I think. (42:30) So everyone else pardoned except for those three. (42:32) Now, what you’ll find interesting, this is what stuck out to me, Jacob, in your section, (42:36) is the older brother was radicalized.(42:38) He went back three times, and they took off the terrorist to check him tag on the—they (42:44) took it off. (42:45) They’re like, no, we removed checking him on his return back. (42:49) Like, what? (42:50) You actively removed that.(42:53) So there’s culpability there from an active removal. (42:56) It’s not like he got snuck through. (42:58) They took away that alert to check him on his return.(43:02) And he clearly was radicalized. (43:04) And then you look at the connections they had. (43:06) And then the last part I thought was hilarious was when they got the younger brother, and (43:10) they riddled the boat with like 126 bullets and like a bunch of shells, a bunch of grenades, (43:17) and the brother did not get hit.(43:20) So how incompetent can we be? (43:22) We just are incompetent on every level. (43:25) Yeah. (43:26) So I’ll end on this, and then Sean will close us out here.(43:30) As a Christian, as a libertarian, I think both of those things would tell us that we (43:36) are called to seek peace. (43:38) And we seek peace when we sow seeds of peace. (43:43) And American foreign policy is literally the antithesis to sowing seeds of peace.(43:50) We sow seeds of resentment and violence. (43:53) And listen, that doesn’t mean we’re justifying the actions of the Boston bombers any more (43:58) than we’re justifying the actions of the Bin Ladenites who carried out 9-11 any more than (44:03) we’re justifying Hamas with what they did on October 7th. (44:07) However, just like we’re not justifying what Russia did to Ukraine.(44:12) But all of these actions were provoked. (44:16) And in all of these instances, we see that none of our governing leaders are committed (44:21) to pursuing peace, but rather they are committed to pursuing empire. (44:25) And as… (44:27) Who was it that said that terrorism is just the price that you have to pay for empire? (44:35) Sean, go ahead and close us out, brother.(44:37) Oh, man. (44:38) So I got the glorious part of starting with Barack Obama, who is my God. (44:46) Hey, man, I want to know what may be clear.(44:49) That is a fact. (44:51) Let me be clear. (44:52) I can do a little Barack.(44:54) It’s not so bad. (44:56) Dude, Barack Obama was nothing but George Bush 2.0. (45:00) And the only difference between them was Barack Obama was bombing children with his Nobel (45:05) Peace Prize. (45:06) That’s the only difference.(45:08) But in the opening segment of my section happens to be called meet the new boss. (45:16) But I would like to add in meet the new boss, same as the old boss. (45:19) That’s my homage to the who.(45:22) We won’t get fooled again. (45:25) I’m a big music guy. (45:26) If you can’t tell, I got my records behind me.(45:28) But anyhow, I digress. (45:31) Obama takes over with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. (45:35) Clinton made a big deal about their attempted reset with Russia.(45:40) Clinton held a ceremony in March of 2009 with Foreign Minister Lavrov to celebrate (45:51) leaving the bad days of Bush behind, believe it or not. (45:54) They had a whole thing about this. (45:58) They seem to be moving on from the Cold War mentalities.(46:01) Obama and then President Medvedev, because there was a new president for a minute. (46:13) And by a minute, I mean a hot minute, because he was kind of a libtard. (46:17) Let’s just be honest or whatever.(46:19) But I digress. (46:21) Anyhow, they got along at first inside the New START Treaty. (46:28) Medvedev’s terms was very short because of his liberal ways.(46:34) I’m sorry. (46:35) I got a little ahead of myself on the liberal thing. (46:37) But anyhow, Medvedev’s new treaty, 2009, November, Medvedev came up with a new treaty (46:44) to provide a security system to freeze NATO’s growth.(46:50) Soon after Obama took office, congressional delegation went to Russia to meet with National (46:56) Security Officials. (46:57) Alexander Belkin explained to U.S. while Georgia mattered, Ukraine was more important, (47:06) stating that the U.S. does not understand the relationship between the two countries. (47:13) Now I got to read from the book.(47:15) I’m going to be somebody who jumps around here and there because that’s what I do. (47:19) And we’re going to go from New START. (47:20) President Obama and Medvedev signed the New START Treaty in April 2010.(47:27) It went into effect February 2011. (47:30) The deal was a double-edged sword because Congress led by the Senate ICBM Caucus insisted (47:37) on administration approval for trillion-dollar renovation of America’s entire nuclear weapons (47:43) industry and arsenal in exchange. (47:46) It is certainly still better than not having it.(47:50) All the old agreements are dead. (47:52) The New START is the remaining treaty restricting U.S. and Russian stockpiles and deployments (47:58) of strategic nuclear weapons, or maybe was. (48:03) Russia suspended participation in the treaty in 2023.(48:08) Now let’s go to a section called the hot mic. (48:12) Obama got caught on a hot microphone promising Medvedev he would have more flexibility to (48:19) remove the anti-ballistic missile stations in Romania and Poland after he was safely (48:26) reelected. (48:27) I will transmit this information to Vladimir.(48:31) Medvedev had responded. (48:34) The program eventually went ahead anyway and was officially inaugurated in 2016. (48:40) What was more broken promise at that point? (48:46) Interesting.(48:47) And then there’s one more section I want to read as for right now. (48:51) Called round three, the overload. (48:54) President Obama chose not to see the reset through.(48:58) In addition to the installation of ABM systems in Europe, Eastern Europe, the administration (49:06) continued NATO expansion by adding the Balkan states, Albania, Croatia to the alliance in (49:13) 2009. (49:14) As absurd as the idea might be to Americans that these nations could do anything to bolster (49:21) national defense, it was probably only a minor irritation to the Russians. (49:27) They had interest in Montenegro, but they were not in any serious contest with the U.S. (49:35) over Croatia and Albania.(49:37) Still, it was contrary to the administration’s attempts to restore a positive spirit to (49:42) Americans, to America’s relationship with Russia. (49:48) Federation. (49:51) I have to jump in.(49:53) Yeah. (49:55) Sean, you and I are Gen Xers. (49:56) I’m sure you’ve seen it in syndication, Jacob.(49:59) Cheers. (50:00) Does everyone remember coach when coach had to do like he had to take a test and he had (50:05) to do a thing to a song and it was Albania? (50:08) And he was like, Albania, Albania, you border on the Adriatic and then like your imports (50:21) coal or whatever. (50:23) They did like a whole song.(50:24) Right. (50:25) What I think about when I think of Albania. (50:27) That’s hilarious.(50:28) Actually, that is absolutely hilarious. (50:30) I can’t believe I remember that much of it, actually, to be honest. (50:34) That the fact that you do is very impressive because I can’t even remember what I had for (50:38) dinner last night.(50:39) So good for you, man. (50:42) But check this out. (50:43) Then we move on to Libya.(50:45) Obama and Clinton slapped Putin in the face while Putin was running Duma. (50:50) He was actually the prime minister of Duma at that point. (50:53) They lied to him into into abstaining on the 2011 Libya rebel resolution.(50:58) Resolution. (51:00) They did all this to force a regime change in Libya. (51:03) We all know how that turned out.(51:06) Surprisingly enough, surprise, surprise. (51:08) Go figure. (51:10) Then move on to the snow revolution.(51:13) Putin continuously called out Obama. (51:15) The Obama administration of bankrolling dissenters of protesting Russian elections. (51:22) Clinton denounced the election as unfair.(51:27) Obama complained of the lack of opposition in 2012 elections. (51:31) From there, Putin kicked out all of the three and four letter acronyms out of Russia. (51:37) He said, no, you guys are out.(51:39) We’ll see you later. (51:40) Peace out, Girl Scout. (51:43) American influence then gets.(51:45) Hey, Sean, on that. (51:46) Hold it real quick. (51:46) You’re talking about the IRI and the NED, right? (51:48) Yes.(51:49) OK. (51:50) So remember, the NED is the Democratic side. (51:53) The IRI is the Republican side that McCain backs, if I’m not mistaken.(51:58) So just to be clear, those are the ones that they all chair. (52:04) And like they back those things that they support to feed their own selves. (52:08) OK, I just want to be clear.(52:10) That’s right. (52:12) And so from there, Obama, I’m going to reread this because I forget where I left off. (52:16) Obama complained of the lack of opposition in 2012 elections.(52:20) From there, Putin kicked out all the three and four letter acronyms out of Russia. (52:24) American influence then gets the media to denounce (52:28) McFaul, who you talked about earlier, Mark, and accuse him of plotting a color-coded coup. (52:37) Surprise, surprise.(52:40) Now, let’s go to the Vandeville coup, because that’s a little bit interesting. (52:46) It actually really grabbed my attention. (52:48) In October 2016, the Kremlin allegedly attempted a coup d’etat against President (52:55) Milo Dukanovic in Montenegro.(53:01) It started because the Obama administration invited Montenegro into NATO in 2015. (53:07) The Russians were pissed, obviously, but knew their compliance was key to a NATO promise still. (53:15) So they kind of stayed out of it.(53:17) But lack of evidence proves otherwise. (53:20) I’m sorry. (53:21) And most pro and anti-Russia folks called the coup allegations a fairy tale.(53:28) Now, I’m going to read a little bit more from the book. (53:33) Let’s see. (53:35) Montenegrin prosecutors told The Telegraph that they were not accusing Russian government at all, (53:40) only Russian nationals.(53:42) Their lead prosecutor later said it was the Russian government before changing its mind (53:46) and saying it was not them again. (53:50) Which, by the way, they had no evidence. (53:52) There was zero evidence to point out that Russia had put on this coup d’etat against Montenegro.(53:59) None. (53:59) Zero, zip, zilch. (54:01) OK.(54:02) Nord Stream 2. (54:04) What was that? (54:07) I was saying Nord Stream 2. (54:09) Go figure. (54:10) Yeah, they blew up their own pipeline. (54:12) They blew up their own pipeline.(54:14) Yeah, they did it. (54:15) It’s true because the New York Times said it. (54:19) Yeah.(54:19) But it just reminds me of the Brady Bunch. (54:21) Like, Russia, Russia, Russia. (54:23) That’s all I hear in my head all day.(54:25) I’m glad you said that because I was going to do that. (54:27) You stole it. (54:27) I love it.(54:30) Prosecutor later accused a CIA officer, Joseph Assad, of being a part of pro-Russian coup, (54:37) why anyone should believe he would work so hard in favor of Russia’s interests (54:42) in the middle of a major political contest over whether the tiny nation would be brought into the (54:49) NATO alliance or how it could have possibility believed his bosses back in Virginia would not (54:55) know about it was never explained. (54:58) He and his supposed client, Israeli politician, go figure, Israeli politician. (55:05) I just had to throw that in there.(55:07) Uh, Aaron Shaviv agree that he was only there to provide basic security advice. (55:14) Assad had been working for Soros. (55:17) Wow.(55:18) Isn’t that something? (55:19) Another Jew involved in European stuff. (55:22) Go figure. (55:23) I don’t mean that in a bad way or a good way or any way.(55:26) Just go figure. (55:28) Agree that there was. (55:30) Hold on.(55:31) I got to jump in just one second. (55:32) Hold on. (55:32) Because Soros is bad enough.(55:35) We don’t need to put any like nationality or any kind of like additional like, like weight on him. (55:41) That dude is just evil just for being evil. (55:44) So let’s be clear though.(55:46) We’re both very clear about that. (55:48) But they agreed that there was that he was only there to provide basic security advice. (55:54) Assad had been working for Soros Freedom House since leaving the agency.(55:59) Like, wow, dude. (56:02) Now to move forward from that in between there. (56:05) Actually, there’s one spot in this book that I feel like I should read.(56:09) But in between there, uh, where Jacob kind of had brought up the, uh, the Boston Marathon, (56:15) where it was two Chechnyans who, uh, happened to blow off these bombs and kill a couple hundred. (56:21) I’m sorry, kill a few people and injure a couple hundred more. (56:24) Um, and blamed it all on Russia, Russia, Russia.(56:29) The fact of the matter is, is that they had nothing to do with Russia and they had everything (56:34) to do with, uh, uh, uh, terrorist organizations in the middle East or, or AKA Muslim folks or (56:42) whatever you want to call them at that point. (56:44) Um, and feel free to fact check me on that because I’m having a brain fart at the moment, (56:48) but I believe it has something to do with Al Qaeda. (56:51) If, if, if you guys, can you guys back me up on that? (56:55) Well, I mean, that’s pretty much the theme of the entire book.(56:58) So I would, I just, I don’t think we have to take a stretch. (57:01) Like I would assume that’d be part of it. (57:02) You know, and please, if I’m wrong, if fact check me, I will.(57:05) Feel free to fact check us guys. (57:06) We’re, you know, we’ve, we definitely, it’s eight gazillion pages here, boys and girls. (57:11) So like there’s a lot going on, but not only did that all happen, you know, but (57:18) there’s a spot where I just need to read a little bit of this because they bring up Edward Snowden, (57:23) you know, and about the tapping my telephone and Edward Snowden was one of the people who really (57:29) brought a lot of this into light and literally got almost crucified for it, which is why he’s (57:37) safer in Moscow at this moment, instead of here in the United States.(57:41) And even if they pardon Edward Snowden at this point, he’s better off staying in Moscow (57:46) than coming here because he’s cooked. (57:49) If he comes here and they know it, he knows it. (57:51) We all know it.(57:53) But anyways, in the spring of 2013, Edward Snowden, a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton (58:00) working for the National Security Agency, liberated a trove of documents, essentially (58:05) proving that all the previous NSA whistleblowers like Russell Tice, Edward Loomis, J. Kirk Weeb, (58:13) Thomas Drake, and William Binney, and the great journalists like James Bamford, (58:19) author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, The Shadow Factory, had been right on and much worse. (58:29) The NSA Snowden leaked proved was violating civil liberties and of virtually all Americans (58:37) working with the telecommunications in Silicon Valley firms to compile endless amounts of (58:43) metadata and cell phone location data, search web traffic, email, and instant messenger histories. (58:52) I mean, Snowden kind of brought all this, you know, into light.(58:59) And that’s why they tried to crucify him. (59:02) Now, I’m not too sure. (59:04) You don’t get criminalized for telling the truth.(59:07) Truth is truth. (59:08) I’m sorry, you don’t get criminalized for lying. (59:10) You get criminalized for telling the truth, man.(59:11) That’s the whole point. (59:12) They’re just Russian talking points. (59:14) He exposed it, Assange exposed it, right? (59:15) All those guys.(59:17) I just love it. (59:18) It’s just Russian talking points, right? (59:19) It’s Russian propaganda. (59:21) I love how Scott responds to that.(59:22) He’s just like, you’re just using CIA talking points and CIA propaganda, right? (59:30) Now, I’m not too sure if this is where I was supposed to stop, but I kept going. (59:35) And I’m going to read this whole excerpt because it’s so damn juicy. (59:39) I feel like this is a great way to end the show.(59:42) Even if it is for the next show, we’ll start it over at that. (59:46) The Maiden Revolution. (59:50) Association Agreement.(59:52) The war in Ukraine began in 2014. (59:56) I’m sorry. (59:58) That is in the view of the head of Ukraine’s armed forces from 2021 to 2024.(1:00:04) General Valery Zaluzhinsky, probably, I sabotaged that anyways. (1:00:13) He told The Economist in 2022, for us, I’m sorry, for us, for the military, the war began in 2014. (1:00:24) For me personally, July 2014.(1:00:26) Even the New York Times commonly refers to events in 2022, war with the phrase, (1:00:33) since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, conceding implicitly (1:00:38) that the fighting began well before that. (1:00:41) Well, who started it? (1:00:43) Too often. (1:00:45) Blind to history and context, many Americans see these problems only through TV news anchors’ eyes (1:00:51) or those of the current thing on social media.(1:00:56) For example, most caught up in the modern narrative about undiluted Russian aggression (1:01:04) do not know that in 2014, the U.S. government backed a violent street putsch against (1:01:11) Viktor Yanukovych. (1:01:15) Anyways, these names are killer, by the way. (1:01:19) The elected president of Ukraine, the same man they had helped prevent from taking power (1:01:23) in the Orange Revolution in 2004.(1:01:28) Or how that led to the current crisis. (1:01:30) This so-called Euro-maiden Orange Revolution of 2004, or how that led to the current crisis, (1:01:38) this so-called Euro-maiden Revolution or Revolution of Dignity was, in fact, (1:01:44) the most blatant coup in history in the words of Stratford’s George Freeman. (1:01:50) Look, you guys, I’m not even going to go through the whole rest of this.(1:01:57) This is where things get good, okay? (1:01:59) This is where they point out the actual straw that broke the camel’s back, we’re going to say, (1:02:07) okay? (1:02:07) We always have said since the beginning of this show that Ukraine was the hard stop. (1:02:14) Like, you are not going to play games over here or we are going to come mess you up. (1:02:20) That’s the message that Russia has been giving now for decades.(1:02:25) Decades, we’re talking. (1:02:26) Not only did the United States or NATO, whoever you want to call them at this point, (1:02:31) play games in 2004, they turned around and spent $100 million of American taxpayer money (1:02:39) to overthrow a government, to input their own government in Ukraine, which led to (1:02:49) various amounts of sketchy dealings, various amounts of, (1:02:57) what are the words I’m looking for, biolabs. (1:03:00) They’re putting up biolabs in Ukraine.(1:03:02) This was happening, and this is supposed to be the hard stop for Russia, (1:03:07) just as I’m going to keep repeating myself at this point. (1:03:11) The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was the hard stop for the United States. (1:03:18) If you don’t get these nukes out of Cuban waters, we are going to level you.(1:03:23) Russia had the same message saying, hey, we are going to level Ukraine if you don’t get (1:03:29) the hell out of our business. (1:03:30) You have made your promises. (1:03:32) You have not kept them.(1:03:33) As a matter of fact, you keep bringing in the dangling carrot over and over again saying, (1:03:38) hey, if we comply, we comply, and we let you come in a little bit more, a little bit more, (1:03:42) a little bit more, a little bit more to the east. (1:03:45) Now they’re completely surrounding, NATO is completely pretty much surrounding NATO borders, (1:03:50) and now all of a sudden the United States has overthrown the Ukrainian government. (1:03:54) Look, guys, this is it, man.(1:03:58) This is where it gets real juicy from here on out, and I’m glad we read this at the end, (1:04:03) because this is exactly where 2022 kind of starts. (1:04:12) And on that, there’s a tweet that just came through. (1:04:15) Are you ready for this? (1:04:17) What have we said? (1:04:17) Who we back? (1:04:18) Syria.(1:04:19) What did we do in Syria? (1:04:20) We did regime change, again, by backing al-Qaeda, again, just now, against Russia. (1:04:25) Read this. (1:04:26) Here’s the tweet.(1:04:27) Ready? (1:04:27) From Andrei Sibiya. (1:04:29) He is the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine. (1:04:35) Scott Horton just reposted this with Bull from Nightcore going, ugh, which is hilarious.(1:04:40) So, today in Damascus, I met with the leader of Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sahra, (1:04:47) and personally conveyed the message of Ukraine’s President Zelensky to the Syrian people. (1:04:54) We are with you and ready to assist in restoring normal life, stability, and food security. (1:05:01) Who do you think that message came from? (1:05:03) Who’d that message come from? (1:05:04) That came from Ukraine? (1:05:05) That came from Ukraine? (1:05:07) No, who the hell wrote that message? (1:05:08) We wrote that message.(1:05:10) We write the messages, and we put all the post-it notes around the world, and then Putin (1:05:15) just picks them up and goes, what is this? (1:05:17) What are you doing now? (1:05:18) What’s the shenanigan? (1:05:20) Come on, man. (1:05:21) How many times? (1:05:22) How many? (1:05:24) Thank you. (1:05:25) Anyway, that’s enough, but thank you.(1:05:28) I don’t know what to do. (1:05:30) It’s absolute insanity that people in the United States at this point are still backing this. (1:05:37) When we have all the proof in the world that this was provoked for almost four decades (1:05:44) at this point, three and a half decades this has been provoked.(1:05:48) We could probably go further than that. (1:05:51) Here’s the truth, and again, I hate that I have to do a bunch of caveats, but with the caveat (1:05:57) that Putin is a statist, with the caveat that Putin has done plenty of bad things by both (1:06:05) libertarian and just normal statist standards, all those caveats on the table. (1:06:13) Putin has shown more restraint and commitment to trying to maintain some kind of peaceful (1:06:20) relationship with the West than vice versa.(1:06:24) I’ve not seen a missile land on United States territory, errantly or anything. (1:06:30) Plenty, and now we’ve been authorized to launch into Russia. (1:06:33) Let’s not even kid ourselves, but I’ll step back in that way as well.(1:06:36) He could have leveled Ukraine by now. (1:06:38) If he really wanted to, he could have leveled them. (1:06:43) Now- (1:06:43) I’m just saying our own foreign policy does not dictate that America shows the kind of (1:06:48) restraint that Russia has shown through decades of what we’ve been going over by now.(1:06:57) Also, I think a good thing to end on, something I kind of glossed over because you brought up (1:07:02) what Snowden did, but there was also in this section, which Scott talks about a bunch, (1:07:07) so I’m sure people have already heard it, but there was what we found out through Assange (1:07:11) and WikiLeaks. (1:07:12) There was the NYET means NYET, which that was a cable, a US diplomatic cable that documented (1:07:19) Russia’s firm stance against NATO expansion eastward as particularly concerning Ukraine (1:07:27) and Russia, and that Ukraine was the brightest of red lines. (1:07:33) If the US said to Russia, hey, if you do this, that’s the brightest of red lines we have, (1:07:45) and then Russia did it, what would the reaction be? (1:07:50) People need to ask themselves these questions, and look up what the Monroe Doctrine is, (1:07:56) look up the Cuban Missile Crisis, understand the history here, understand that since the (1:08:02) Cold War, everything has been trending in one direction, and that the seeds that were (1:08:06) planted—remember the first section where Bush Sr. is like, oh, we can’t let them clutch (1:08:15) victory from the jaws of defeat? (1:08:17) We won, they lost.(1:08:19) And that attitude has prevailed to this day where it’s just like, you know, the Cold War (1:08:25) didn’t end. (1:08:26) It just went on pause. (1:08:29) That’s what the book has shown me.(1:08:32) Greenland. (1:08:33) Once we want to acquire Greenland for national security, it’s specifically written, there’s (1:08:39) Trump’s tweet, we want Greenland for national security. (1:08:43) How close is that to even our shores? (1:08:46) First of all, we’re talking about border states that used to be parts of its own republic (1:08:51) that were joined together, who have turned, and who have been allowed to be like infesting (1:08:57) on top of their property and sit on top of it.(1:09:00) I don’t—I feel like I’d be at least somewhat trespassed upon, I feel. (1:09:07) They’re not—see, the whole game of NATO, which they portray it as, it was to bring (1:09:14) some semblance of peace to Europe. (1:09:17) What it really is, is about building an empire for the United States.(1:09:21) Because who bankrolls NATO? (1:09:23) The United States does. (1:09:24) It’s not even close. (1:09:26) Most of these countries that are in NATO don’t even put forth a freaking dime.(1:09:30) They don’t have it. (1:09:31) The United States continuously prints money to fund this crap, which devalues our dollar, (1:09:37) which is— (1:09:38) Hold on, Sean. (1:09:39) What you’re saying here is perfect as a response to what this—what Justin asked.(1:09:43) I don’t—I don’t know who Justin is, so I’m not going to assume anything by his question, (1:09:46) but he said, is it a lack of restraint or a lack of funds? (1:09:49) Well, hold on. (1:09:50) That cuts both ways. (1:09:51) Justin’s a buddy of mine, by the way, so bring it—bring it on.(1:09:54) Justin’s a good guy, so—but he loves engagement, so bring it on. (1:09:58) Oh, yeah. (1:09:59) Well, I’ll just say, listen, can Russia afford sustained engagement? (1:10:02) No more than we can.(1:10:04) We can’t afford what we’ve been doing. (1:10:07) We’ve been printing money out the kazoo. (1:10:09) We have rapid inflation.(1:10:11) So, I mean, it’s maybe slightly offset by the fact that our economy is maybe somewhat (1:10:19) stronger than Russia’s. (1:10:20) But then again, it’s like that’s kind of to blame partly on what we went over in the (1:10:25) last session, which was the shock therapy and just absolute butcher job that America (1:10:32) did in trying to assist Russia out of their USSR economy. (1:10:38) So it’s like no one can afford empire except by printing money and through fiat and all (1:10:45) that.(1:10:47) So that’d be my point. (1:10:49) Justin, great point. (1:10:51) So the question, can Russia financially sustain any serious level of continuous military operation, (1:10:56) which would be needed to truly take over Ukraine? (1:10:59) Is it restraint or lack of funds? (1:11:01) It is actually a great question.(1:11:04) We have funds, but to Jacob’s point, we’re $36 trillion and what, actually, for real, (1:11:10) like $90 trillion or something in debt? (1:11:12) Some weird number where we don’t have an asset. (1:11:15) Well, yeah, with all the liabilities, you know, all that. (1:11:18) Yeah, whatever.(1:11:19) But Keynesian economics, Keynesian doesn’t really, we’re not, you know, whatever. (1:11:23) Okay. (1:11:23) So can they afford it? (1:11:24) No.(1:11:25) But they could have absolutely leveled Kiev and just said, we own Ukraine. (1:11:29) They could not have manned it. (1:11:31) They could not have monitor it.(1:11:33) But they don’t want Ukraine. (1:11:35) They want the Donbass, which was part of the Soviet Union, which was captured by Catherine (1:11:41) the Great of Russia back in like 850 something. (1:11:46) So let’s be clear about the, first of all, the land, but we haven’t gotten there because (1:11:50) I’ve read just, it’s the next section coming up and it is the greatest question that you (1:11:53) ask has, it’s not even about the fund.(1:11:56) They don’t want Ukraine. (1:11:57) They don’t want to take over Europe. (1:12:00) They’re not looking to start the fourth Reich or whatever.(1:12:03) They literally want their section of Ukraine back and they’re done with the United States (1:12:10) peeing all over them. (1:12:11) But I do think it’s a great question and please feel free to follow up if you have any more. (1:12:17) And Sean, please feel free.(1:12:18) I’m going to add to that because Russia actually does have the funds because they’ve joined (1:12:22) forces with China now and China will back them. (1:12:26) China will back them. (1:12:27) And as a matter of fact, North Korea is backing them as well.(1:12:30) They don’t have much of anything, but they have sent soldiers there. (1:12:33) They actually have soldiers who have died there. (1:12:35) So yes, Russia can actually fund themselves through this war because of China.(1:12:41) They can totally. (1:12:43) I mean, the difference is North Korea has a higher birth rate. (1:12:46) I’m sorry.(1:12:46) North Korea is a higher birth rate than South Korea, just to be clear. (1:12:50) So who’s actually, and I’m not, once again, all the caveats in place, Jacob, let’s be (1:12:56) honest. (1:12:56) This is not promoting any lifestyle.(1:12:59) We are America and goodness, thank goodness we’re here so we can speak about this. (1:13:03) So maybe we can steer courses to a better America. (1:13:06) It’s, we want to be greater, right? (1:13:09) So this is all what these conversations are.(1:13:10) This isn’t to say everybody’s negative, but when North Korea has a higher birth rate than (1:13:14) South Korea, maybe, you know, there’s a question there. (1:13:19) Let me wax a little bit as my closing statement, and then you guys can give closing (1:13:22) statements. (1:13:24) I became more of a leftist post my sort of like high school experience, and I was very (1:13:31) jaded against America.(1:13:33) I came out of the indoctrination of the 9-11 era, realizing I’d been sold a bag of lies, (1:13:42) and then I just kind of assumed it’s all a bag of lies. (1:13:45) Like America is not a great nation. (1:13:46) We weren’t founded on anything good.(1:13:48) What we’re founded on is colonialism and corruption and violence and greed, and it’s (1:13:54) just all bad. (1:13:55) And so I fell in with the left because they were at least nominally anti-war, and I hated (1:14:00) everything about the—I was still a Christian, but I just hated everything about the (1:14:04) conservative, evangelical, you know, American exceptionalist ethos that I was raised in. (1:14:11) I thought it was just crap.(1:14:15) And as I’ve matured, I look back at this country’s founding, and listen, you got to (1:14:23) look at it with a sober mind and realize that, yep, there are some flaws, right? (1:14:28) There are some warts to the Founding Fathers, to the Constitution, to how the revolution (1:14:34) was conducted. (1:14:36) There are even good libertarians and libertarian arguments that say maybe the revolution was (1:14:40) not exactly perfectly libertarian. (1:14:44) I know Kaplan makes that argument.(1:14:46) But listen, just my reflections, and this relates to what you were just talking about. (1:14:54) The core idea that America was founded on, warts and all, was good, was based on the (1:15:02) idea of individual liberty, and was based on the idea of not peace through strength, (1:15:09) but peace through a resilient spirit, peace through sort of like a mutual aid, and peace (1:15:17) through, you know, like what—peace through conquering, not through like colonialism, (1:15:29) but like conquering the— (1:15:30) You’re talking bridge and roads initiative? (1:15:34) Kind of what China’s trying to do with some of their countries? (1:15:37) Well, more to say like what America was founded on was not what America is today. (1:15:42) That what America was founded on was that we’re not going to be—like we didn’t want (1:15:47) to be the British Empire.(1:15:48) We wanted to, you know, essentially secede from the British Empire and have our own (1:15:55) self-determination. (1:15:56) And we wanted to be a beacon of light to the world that the way forward is not monarchy (1:16:02) and empire, but self-determination and governance that’s based on at least like, you know, (1:16:11) the idea of representation was that like, well, it may be flawed, was based on the idea (1:16:17) that we should govern ourselves, not—we shouldn’t have some king halfway across the ocean (1:16:24) dictating to us what to do. (1:16:26) We have gone so far off the reservation of that.(1:16:31) I mean, so far. (1:16:33) And I think that’s what like—so I’ve kind of come full circle with like, you know what, (1:16:37) like, I try to embrace that American tradition. (1:16:41) And say like, we actually need to go back to that, because that—the issue is not America (1:16:47) in terms of the conception.(1:16:48) It’s what, you know, it’s what it’s evolved into because of all the lies by—I mean, (1:16:56) that—well, there’s—I mean, really, we can go back to Woodrow Wilson, and then FDR, (1:17:02) and the New Deal, and we could talk throughout the history. (1:17:04) But America was co-opted. (1:17:07) And I don’t mean that like tinfoil hat, like, lizard people and all that.(1:17:10) But I mean— (1:17:12) —It was a gradual progression, but it was co-opted, for sure. (1:17:15) —But it was absolutely co-opted. (1:17:16) And we have—I like the way Dave said it—we have a chance.(1:17:20) Like, this country is on a suicide mission. (1:17:22) And we as libertarians are the inheritors of this great tradition that the founding (1:17:27) fathers were part of. (1:17:30) And we have to fight like hell to get back to that.(1:17:34) And that’s sort of where I’m at now as a, you know, in my political spiritual journey. (1:17:42) So anyway, Sean, Mark, you guys give your closing statements here. (1:17:49) —Go for it, brother.(1:17:51) Oh, me? (1:17:51) Okay, I’ll close out with this. (1:17:56) United States foreign policy is by far one of the most egregious things you will ever (1:18:02) come across in your entire life. (1:18:04) Probably the most egregious thing, to be quite honest with you.(1:18:09) Because there has not been a war since World War II—and that’s even questionable at (1:18:15) that point—that has anything to do with American freedom and or liberty. (1:18:19) Has nothing to do with our borders, has nothing to do with our rights, which is the federal (1:18:23) government’s job is to literally protect our rights and protect our borders and leave (1:18:28) us alone and protect the people who can’t protect themselves. (1:18:32) That’s their job.(1:18:32) That’s literally their only job they have as the federal government. (1:18:36) You know, we have a Tenth Amendment for a reason, and that’s to see that every state (1:18:41) runs as they see fit. (1:18:42) Not that we have these, you know, these—I need to watch my words because we’re on the (1:18:47) Christian Institute right now.(1:18:49) Sorry, guys. (1:18:50) But we have these people who are building an empire in the name of everything else that (1:18:57) has anything to do with American values on your dime. (1:19:02) And they’re sending your children to die for it.(1:19:05) They’re sending your children to die for other countries that has nothing to do with (1:19:10) our American freedom, liberty, borders, rights, anything. (1:19:15) They are doing this. (1:19:16) Please stop sending your kids to the military.(1:19:19) Please stop. (1:19:21) Because you’re going to get them killed for nothing. (1:19:25) Nothing.(1:19:26) And I mean that wholeheartedly. (1:19:29) Please, please protect your children. (1:19:31) Don’t send them to wars.(1:19:33) Do not send them to build an empire that’s not feasible to build. (1:19:39) At a certain point, the bottom’s going to fall out of everything. (1:19:42) All of it.(1:19:43) Why did Rome fall? (1:19:45) Because of open borders, because of endless money printing, and because of endless war. (1:19:51) That is why Rome fell. (1:19:53) Period.(1:19:54) Do you want to see this again? (1:19:55) Because we’re about to see it real time. (1:19:58) So that’s where I’m going to end it. (1:19:59) Sorry for the black pill.(1:20:01) You can save yourself through Jesus Christ, though. (1:20:04) There’s your white pill. (1:20:06) I’m graying it out.(1:20:07) All right. (1:20:07) I’ll close it out, my friend. (1:20:08) Let’s lighten it up just a little bit.(1:20:10) Thank you to everyone who’s joined. (1:20:13) Happy New Year. (1:20:14) I hope you had a Merry Christmas.(1:20:16) This was awesome. (1:20:17) I’m looking forward to next week in the new year talking more stuff about how we can try (1:20:22) to make things better. (1:20:23) So thank you.(1:20:24) That was an excellent message by Sean, by the way. (1:20:27) Absolutely correct. (1:20:29) What was it? (1:20:29) 5.9 billion we just gave again.(1:20:31) We just authorized today. (1:20:32) I think I saw that. (1:20:33) So to Ukraine.(1:20:35) And there we go. (1:20:36) But thank you again. (1:20:37) I’m grateful for this.(1:20:39) I have a podcast. (1:20:41) I would just like to share the blessings, because we’re kind of starting to do this. (1:20:46) I’m feeling very good things going in the new year, especially with you gentlemen and (1:20:49) starting this.(1:20:50) And look at all the people that have joined us today, interacting, Justin and Amity and (1:20:55) Zach and JC and Elliot, right? (1:20:58) Everybody’s in there. (1:20:59) So thank you so much. (1:21:00) But I’ve got a podcast live stream on Thursday.(1:21:03) It’s going to be at 7 p.m. (1:21:04) Eastern, 5 p.m. (1:21:06) Arizona time with Drop the Mask Pod. (1:21:09) We’re going to do. (1:21:09) It’s not.(1:21:10) It’s Masked Conscious, I think, is the name we come up with. (1:21:13) We mush them all together. (1:21:14) And we are doing a New Year’s resolution.(1:21:16) And we’re going to talk about H1B. (1:21:18) And I think one other topic that comes up between now and then, please tune in on Saturday (1:21:23) live stream, 1 p.m. (1:21:25) Eastern. (1:21:26) I have the Ron Paul of Nigeria on.(1:21:29) I’ve got Econ Bro coming on. (1:21:31) Yeah. (1:21:31) Sean, you talk with him.(1:21:33) Jacob. (1:21:34) That’s my only. (1:21:34) We talk on telegram too.(1:21:36) I know Econ Bro. (1:21:37) All right. (1:21:37) So.(1:21:38) Yep. (1:21:39) Go ahead, Jacob. (1:21:40) I’m having him on in a couple of weeks.(1:21:42) Nice. (1:21:43) Oh, sweet. (1:21:43) Okay.(1:21:44) So Econ Bro is going to be 1 p.m. (1:21:46) Eastern, 11 a.m. (1:21:47) Arizona time from Nigeria. (1:21:49) We don’t know his name. (1:21:51) He’s super anonymous because he like literally his life is on the line.(1:21:55) This dude, everyone, he’s an inspiration. (1:21:58) You want to talk inspiration? (1:21:59) These are the people you look to. (1:22:01) Okay.(1:22:01) These are the people making happen. (1:22:02) Like Spike Cohen’s one of my people here. (1:22:04) This guy would be the Nigerian version of that probably in some other unique way.(1:22:08) And then Sunday. (1:22:11) Sorry, guys. (1:22:11) I know you guys are very, are Christian.(1:22:13) I don’t want to impede on the faith part, but I am going to share my, and I don’t know if (1:22:18) it’s live, but it’s going to be 8 p.m. (1:22:20) My time, Arizona. (1:22:21) So 10 p.m. (1:22:22) Eastern with a UK broadcast UFO chronicles. (1:22:28) And I’m going to share my near-death experience and the things that happened to me and why (1:22:34) I’m kind of pursued what I pursuing name of the podcast, all the weird stuff.(1:22:38) I shared it with drop the mask pot a little bit, but this guy allegedly is like goes deep (1:22:42) and wide. (1:22:43) So hopefully I can share all my crazy. (1:22:45) I swear to you, it does not affect my lucid reason that I have for all, all the things (1:22:51) that we do.(1:22:51) So thank you again so much. (1:22:53) Happy new year. (1:22:54) Merry Christmas.(1:22:55) I think Amity mentioned that it’s only day six of Christmas, if I’m not mistaken. (1:22:59) So we got six more to go or something. (1:23:01) I can’t believe that Mary was in labor for 12 whole days.(1:23:05) That’s what I can’t believe. (1:23:07) I thought that was really born in the summer. (1:23:10) I know.(1:23:12) Thanks everybody. (1:23:13) Jacob, please close it out. (1:23:14) But I just want to thank everybody as black as I get sometimes with the pills.(1:23:20) It’s the people that come and exchange these ideas with me that make me want to be here (1:23:25) tomorrow to do it more. (1:23:27) So thank you. (1:23:28) Yeah, absolutely.(1:23:30) Yeah. (1:23:31) I mean, I’m, listen, I’m, there’s a lot to be, there’s a lot of reasons you could be (1:23:38) black pilled. (1:23:38) At the same time, though, we have close to 300 people on a, what a Monday night tuning (1:23:45) in to listen to us talk about matters of peace and history and foreign policy and all (1:23:53) that.(1:23:56) And that’s just on our small humble platforms. (1:23:58) How many people tune into Dave Smith and Tom Woods? (1:24:02) And, you know, we have so many great guys out there doing great work. (1:24:07) You know, the American Revolution, which I brought up earlier.(1:24:11) I mean, listen, that was a handful of guys and they pulled off an amazing feat. (1:24:15) So just as they were able to start a new nation, we can save this nation. (1:24:20) I do believe that.(1:24:24) And, you know, Christmas is a time where we talk about peace on earth. (1:24:28) And as a Christian, that’s something I have strong convictions of. (1:24:32) And that’s what my prayer is this Christmas season, that we would continue to be advocates (1:24:37) for peace.(1:24:38) If you enjoy that kind of, you know, these kind of conversations, if you think that, (1:24:46) you know, having voices for liberty out there, voices for, you know, especially from a (1:24:51) Christian perspective out there. (1:24:52) Again, I’ll just plug one more time. (1:24:54) Our end of the year fundraiser.(1:24:56) You can go to LibertarianChristians.com slash donate. (1:24:58) Help us finish the year strong. (1:25:01) Fulfill that challenge grant we have.(1:25:04) I got a lot of cool things coming up. (1:25:05) I’ll be live tomorrow night for a little New Year’s Eve stream. (1:25:09) I’ll be live Friday with Alex Bernardo of the Protestant Libertarian podcast.(1:25:13) I love that. (1:25:14) Yeah, Alex is great. (1:25:15) I’ll be having Econ Bro on sometime later in January.(1:25:18) I forget the exact date. (1:25:20) And then. (1:25:22) I want to hook you up with Alex too, please, if you could.(1:25:24) Yeah, of course. (1:25:25) I’m also, I’m going to be recording on the 16th. (1:25:30) I don’t know when it’ll air, but I’m going to be recording with Eschatology Matters, (1:25:34) providing a critique of Christian nationalism.(1:25:38) So that’ll be coming out later this month. (1:25:41) All of that is made possible by your support. (1:25:43) So make sure you support LCI.(1:25:46) Make sure you go and subscribe to these two gentlemen’s channels. (1:25:50) I’m happy that we’re doing this, brothers. (1:25:52) I’m hoping that after this, we’ll continue to do stuff together (1:25:54) because I enjoy these conversations and I’m just excited to see what the New Year brings.(1:26:00) So that’s all we have for you guys today. (1:26:03) Yes. (1:26:03) Make sure if you haven’t already, get yourself a late eat out of H341.(1:26:07) I’m sure you got at least a $20 or $30 gift card or cash. (1:26:13) Treat yourself to a little truth bomb here in the book Provoked. (1:26:18) And, you know, we’re a little far in, but you can catch up.(1:26:21) Go back and watch the past live streams, help you get up to speed (1:26:26) and continue to be with us on this journey. (1:26:29) That’s all we have for you guys tonight. (1:26:31) I’ll be back here again tomorrow.(1:26:33) And yeah, live at peace. (1:26:35) Take care.