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0:03
hi everyone judge andrew napolitano here
0:05
for judging freedom
0:07
today is thursday may 12 2022 back by
0:10
popular demand
0:12
far and away the most popular
0:15
of uh judging freedom’s guests when he
0:18
left the marine corps
0:20
major scott ritter now happily publicly
0:24
mr scott ritter former united nations
0:27
weapons inspector true expert and
0:30
courageous human being on the nature of
0:33
war today and the harm that it causes
0:35
beyond those in the battlefield scott
0:37
it’s always a pleasure welcome back to
0:39
the program
0:40
thank you very much for having me you’re
0:42
uh one of the first to say along with
0:44
our friend
0:45
who shares your views and mine and those
0:47
of most of the folks watching us phil
0:49
giraldi
0:50
uh who left the uh cia for some of the
0:54
reasons that you left
0:55
uh the marine corps uh that the war is
0:58
over that the russians have won that
0:59
there’s nothing the ukraines can do and
1:01
that the more aid we give to the
1:03
ukraines the the more innocent uh people
1:06
will be killed fair summary of what
1:08
you’ve said
1:09
and there’s a fair summary of what i’ve
1:11
said
1:12
has anything changed
1:14
since you last spoke to us which was
1:16
about two weeks ago has the situation
1:19
gotten worse for ukraine
1:22
worse for the russians
1:24
uh is president putin ill like the media
1:27
uh is hinting
1:28
or
1:29
well i’ll get into where that’s coming
1:31
from in a in a minute but the
1:33
battlefield
1:35
does ukraine still of its back to the
1:36
wall
1:38
there’s no doubt that ukraine has its
1:39
backgrounds to the wall uh there’s also
1:41
no doubt that um
1:43
uh
1:44
53 billion dollars uh is a lot of aid
1:47
and while all that it hasn’t been
1:49
presented to ukraine a significant
1:51
amount of it has
1:53
and
1:54
it has prolonged
1:56
uh this this this conflict uh russia is
1:59
still prevailing um you know russia
2:01
continues to define this war
2:04
uh as a special military operation i
2:06
think that’s important for people to
2:08
understand russia is not at war with
2:10
ukraine
2:11
uh being at war with ukraine would be a
2:13
completely different uh
2:15
a
2:16
different level of escalation and
2:18
violence that would be brought to bear
2:20
this is a very limited conflict
2:22
it’s bloody uh it’s deadly but it is
2:25
very limited with limited objectives
2:28
that
2:28
uh figure primarily on
2:31
um
2:33
recovering the donbas for russian
2:35
speakers the the liberty the the newly
2:37
declared independent states of uh
2:39
dondezque and lugansk uh creating a land
2:42
bridge between um
2:44
the um
2:46
the the the donbas in crimea and then um
2:50
denotify and demilitarizing however
2:52
russia chooses to uh
2:54
to to define that but it is not about
2:57
defeating ukraine it is not about
2:59
destroying zielinski uh that’s a
3:01
completely different level and russia is
3:04
accomplishing its tasks uh i think one
3:06
thing has changed the last time i think
3:08
we talked uh the war in the in in the
3:11
dome best was the phase two was just
3:14
beginning and there was a lot of
3:15
anticipation that this would be a little
3:17
bit more freewheeling than it is a lot
3:20
of mobility etc
3:22
turns out that the ukrainians have spent
3:24
eight years uh transforming their
3:26
defenses into
3:28
sort of a combination of verdun and the
3:30
maginot line they’ve been pouring
3:32
concrete and digging deep
3:33
and um the russians have been um
3:37
steadily
3:38
defeating these defenses but it takes
3:40
time it’s taken
3:42
if this were a war scott
3:44
to defeat zielinski
3:47
how different would it be i mean
3:49
according to the news now you could stop
3:51
right there but according to all the
3:53
news reports perhaps influenced by the
3:56
caa but there are reporters on the
3:57
ground
3:59
hospitals schools
4:01
churches
4:02
apartment buildings residential
4:04
neighborhoods have all been attacked
4:05
what more or what worse
4:07
would putin’s troops be doing if this
4:10
were a war against
4:12
ukraine first of all let’s just start
4:15
with the premise that russia is
4:16
attacking um
4:18
locations that are protected under the
4:20
international humanitarian law that
4:22
would constitute a war crime if russia
4:24
was targeting hospitals schools etc uh
4:27
look the washington post which is no
4:29
friend of vladimir putin has uh been
4:31
compelled to admit
4:33
uh that the ukrainians have converted
4:36
normally protected areas into
4:37
militarized zones they’ve dug in they’ve
4:40
placed weaponry they’ve placed
4:42
ammunition uh there’s all videos all
4:45
over the the the internet on of uh
4:48
ukrainian forces uh using schools as
4:50
barracks uh using churches as ammunition
4:53
storage sites so
4:55
any destruction i mean at the end of the
4:57
day you know each accusation allegation
5:00
has to be investigated it’s it’s
5:01
irresponsible to make sweeping pronounce
5:03
about anything but the the evidence
5:06
suggests that russia is being very
5:07
careful in its targeting that when it
5:09
does target
5:11
locations that are otherwise protected
5:13
it is done because ukrainians have
5:15
converted into a military target and
5:17
russia is applying
5:19
uh the principles of military necessity
5:21
and proportionality when striking this
5:24
but and the washington post also had to
5:26
admit that the ukrainians were using
5:28
humans as uh civilians as human shields
5:32
you mentioned the 53 billion
5:35
which is actually more than what joe
5:36
biden asked for i think whatever he
5:37
asked the congress for they gave him
5:39
more how far can 53 billion go now we’re
5:42
talking about 53 billion
5:44
in already present in europe correct me
5:47
if i have this wrong
5:49
military surplus that belongs to the us
5:53
or to nato is that right we’re not
5:54
talking about giving a check to raytheon
5:57
to build something and ship it over
5:59
there we’re talking about military
6:00
surplus that’s there
6:02
ukraine’s have to learn how to use and
6:04
repair when it gets damaged
6:07
correct and well also including that for
6:09
instance we’re paying the salaries of
6:10
the ukrainian armed forces ukraine has
6:12
no functioning economy right now their
6:15
government is not bringing in uh income
6:17
um
6:18
so they’re broke they’re flat out broke
6:21
and uh we’re we’re underwriting
6:22
everything and part of this uh this this
6:25
money uh includes we’re paying the
6:27
salaries of the ukrainian soldiers and
6:29
then there’s a lot of um uh civilian uh
6:32
stuff that you know we’re paying for
6:34
we’re running ukraine basically the u.s
6:36
taxpayer isn’t just rearming the
6:38
ukrainian military along the lines that
6:40
you stated using um
6:42
a material that’s warehouse stockpiled
6:45
um it’s not new production it’s stuff
6:47
that uh much of it’s already out of date
6:50
and the other stuff was was mothballed
6:52
it’s been brought out of mothballs and
6:53
being turned over to the ukrainians they
6:55
have to be trained on it um if it’s
6:57
going to survive on the battlefield they
6:59
have to have a logistical uh tail that’s
7:02
that’s built full of maintainers and
7:04
spare parts um this costs money it takes
7:06
time but it’s a lot of money i just
7:09
let’s remind your viewers that the total
7:11
russian military budget per year is
7:14
around 40 billion dollars
7:17
so we’re giving ukrainians
7:19
more than what the russians spend in
7:21
totality on their military in a year so
7:24
this is significant
7:26
let me ask you geopolitically
7:29
how dangerous is this for the us
7:32
stated differently
7:33
does anthony blinken the secretary of
7:35
state and i don’t expect you to be in
7:37
his brain but you know the way these
7:39
people think
7:40
does lloyd austin former four-star
7:42
general secretary of defense does the
7:45
president of the united states whatever
7:47
you think of him
7:49
appreciate and understand how deeply we
7:52
are in this and do they appreciate how
7:54
vladimir putin appreciates how deeply we
7:58
are in this this is the first time i’ve
8:00
heard anybody say
8:01
we are financing the ukraine military
8:04
and government that they are dead broke
8:05
and we’re paying their salaries so meals
8:08
ready to eat the infamous
8:10
um
8:11
meals that guys in the military joke
8:13
about
8:14
that stuff’s coming from us
8:17
everything’s coming from us
8:21
how dangerous is that
8:23
to
8:23
drag us into a world war three like
8:25
scenario this is the most dangerous
8:28
situation i’ve experienced in my life
8:30
i’m 60 years old i’ve been through the
8:32
cold war um
8:34
i was around in the 80s when uh
8:37
you know i helped implement the
8:39
intermediate nuclear forces treaty which
8:41
got rid of nuclear weapons that in the
8:43
late 1980s another time when we were on
8:46
the cusp of uh you know stepping off
8:48
into the nuclear abyss this is far more
8:50
dangerous than that
8:52
i i know that blinken lloyd austin biden
8:56
and uh you know others like jake
8:58
sullivan the national security adviser
8:59
have all said they don’t want to go into
9:02
world war iii and they articulate why
9:04
that it could mean nuclear war which is
9:06
the end of the world and yet they are
9:08
embarked on policies which are heading
9:11
us only in that direction there is no
9:14
de-escalation there is no off-ramp all
9:17
we are doing is ensuring that ukraine
9:20
will be destroyed as a nation because
9:22
russian russia cannot continue this
9:24
special military uh operation
9:26
indefinitely with some kind of resources
9:28
coming in at some point in time russia
9:30
will have to escalate an escalation
9:32
means you know right now zielinski’s
9:34
hosting people zilinski’s having
9:36
teleconferences zolinski will die his
9:39
government will die
9:40
um
9:41
ukraine will be annihilated not
9:43
nuclearly but
9:44
all the civilian infrastructure that’s
9:46
been avoided will be targeted and it’s
9:49
not just this
9:50
finland’s talking about joining nato
9:53
what part of russia will not allow the
9:55
eastward expansion of nato do the fins
9:58
and nato not understand russia today has
10:00
said there will be a military technical
10:03
uh solution to this that’s the same
10:04
language they use with ukraine this
10:06
means russia will go to war against
10:08
finland and sweden russia can russia
10:10
fight can russia fight a war on two
10:12
fronts i mean ukraine and finland are
10:14
nowhere near each other well first of
10:16
all again ukraine’s not a war it’s a
10:17
special military operation russia would
10:19
have to mobilize
10:20
russia would have to mobilize general
10:22
mobilization put a million and a half to
10:24
two million men under arms uh
10:26
train them equip them be ready to roll
10:28
by this summer and i believe that’s the
10:30
direction that putin’s going to he has
10:32
no other option nato’s giving him no
10:35
other choice let me ask you if your
10:38
uh former colleagues in intelligence
10:41
have shared with you any information
10:43
about putin
10:44
his mental state his physical state his
10:47
political strength
10:49
has any of it deteriorated since this
10:52
thing has gone on for four months rather
10:54
than for a couple of weeks as he had
10:55
hoped
10:56
i don’t i don’t have a direct mind to
10:59
in the intelligence community about poop
11:00
but i will say this uh the people that
11:03
are in the intelligence community today
11:04
who
11:05
are um
11:06
in a position to talk about putin don’t
11:08
know what they’re talking about
11:10
they don’t study putin they study the
11:12
the cartoon character they’ve created of
11:14
putin uh they view him in in a way
11:17
that’s unrealistic and totally detached
11:19
from reality so any assessment that
11:21
comes out of the intelligence community
11:23
today about putin i would take it with a
11:25
heavy grain of salt okay my intrepid
11:28
producer and how he did this found this
11:31
guy called matthew van dijk
11:34
matthew van dijk is the founder of the
11:36
sons of liberty international he’s a
11:39
soldier of fortune an american on the
11:42
ground in ukraine we had hoped to have
11:44
him on earlier but he’s in some
11:46
so we could have a tape for you but he
11:48
says he’s in some area where there’s no
11:49
uh internet we said to him
11:52
that our military expert scott ritter
11:54
says this is a lost cause the russians
11:57
have won the russians will win we’re
11:59
just prolonging it russia will be
12:02
eventually victorious here’s what
12:04
matthew said in response
12:07
i believe it’s quite the opposite
12:10
russia cannot resupply as well as
12:12
ukraine with support from the west and
12:15
cannot sustain a long-term conflict with
12:18
sanctions now scott i don’t know this
12:20
fellow
12:22
gary found him we believe he’s being
12:24
truthful we looked up sons of liberty
12:27
international they train
12:29
civilians
12:30
to fight military style they also aid in
12:34
the training of military he says he’s on
12:36
the ground he has an entirely different
12:38
picture from you he may have a financial
12:40
interest in that i don’t know what do
12:42
you say about this
12:44
i’m not going to denigrate the gentleman
12:46
uh he’s doing what he believes is right
12:48
um
12:49
etc i will say that uh
12:52
i don’t understand how he thinks
12:56
ukraine is resupplying better than
12:57
russia russia even though they only
12:59
spend 40 to 45 billion dollars a year
13:02
has been stockpiling um
13:05
ammunition material etc so when russia
13:08
for instance generally mobilizes they’ll
13:10
fall on equipment that they’ve all
13:12
trained on that they’re logistically
13:14
prepared to to use and it’s sustainable
13:16
uh using ammunition that
13:18
is common to the weapons being used um
13:21
ukraine is right now being provided by
13:23
the west five different kinds of
13:25
artillery
13:26
five different kinds of artillery all of
13:28
which require different levels of
13:30
training different levels of maintenance
13:31
different kinds of ammunition
13:33
that is a logistical sustainability
13:36
nightmare you will not find a
13:37
logistician in the world that would
13:39
recommend this course of action so
13:42
uh not only that but ukraine then has to
13:44
bring this stuff with minimal levels of
13:46
training to the battlefield and seek to
13:48
incorporate it in a hostile environment
13:51
where the russians are actively
13:52
searching them out and destroying them
13:54
um you know god bless mr van dyke um i i
13:58
disagree with what he’s doing i don’t
14:00
believe it’s good for ukraine him or the
14:02
united states he’s doing it i’m sure
14:05
he’s a man of honor but uh i will have
14:07
to take exception now i hope he survives
14:09
because he’s in harm’s way
14:11
he’s literally in harm’s way and uh he’s
14:14
going up against a um
14:17
a nation that i’ve studied my entire
14:19
life and um if he doesn’t think he’s a
14:21
target he needs to think again he
14:23
probably needs to think about his family
14:25
his loved ones his future and come home
14:27
as soon as possible we we asked you this
14:29
last time so i’ll ask you again does the
14:32
pentagon have a plan b
14:34
which would involve
14:36
the use of american personnel in ukraine
14:40
i mean joe biden can’t afford to lose
14:42
this war
14:43
and he’s made it his war and you’ve
14:45
argued he shouldn’t have any more than
14:47
vladimir putin can afford to lose it
14:49
what will joe biden do what will the
14:51
pentagon do
14:52
if this gets worse and we’ve just blown
14:55
55 billion dollars as if they threw the
14:58
cash into a fireplace
15:01
i think that uh
15:03
joe biden is willing to fight this
15:04
conflict to the last ukrainian and um
15:07
and that’s the direction he’s heading
15:08
ukraine is going to suffer
15:10
horrific losses
15:12
uh the danger isn’t ukraine getting out
15:14
of control i mean joe biden has shown
15:16
he’s fully capable of
15:18
walking away from lost causes
15:20
such as afghanistan and i believe
15:22
ukraine left in a vacuum will be a lost
15:24
cause the real danger comes if um
15:28
you know
15:29
this expands into finland and now we we
15:31
see a chance for a russian nato conflict
15:35
where american troops will become
15:36
involved that’s not a plan b
15:38
that’s that’s something that nobody
15:40
wants nobody says they want nobody
15:42
should want but it’s the direction we’re
15:44
heading and there just isn’t an off ramp
15:46
right now i don’t see joe biden putting
15:48
in place an off ramp and you you can’t
15:51
speak of trying to deflect russia away
15:54
from conflict towards peaceful
15:56
resolution while pouring in
15:58
tens of billions of dollars of u.s
15:59
taxpayer money to sustain this fight you
16:02
think that nato will accept finland uh
16:05
in light of what putin said in the light
16:06
of of the uh
16:09
powder keg
16:10
tinderbox nature
16:13
of the relationship between russia and
16:16
finland with nato troops and and and
16:19
weapons at the border as you described
16:21
it would would nato be foolish enough to
16:23
accept finland now
16:25
why this eastward move as if to bloody
16:28
putin’s nose and taunt him into doing
16:31
something
16:32
i think nato is embarrassed by ukraine
16:34
uh it’s been an unmitigated disaster for
16:36
them uh they set ukraine up to fail and
16:39
nato is desperate for um a win and there
16:42
are some in nato
16:44
who would view uh bringing sweden and
16:46
finland in as a victory um but again
16:50
all one has to do is take a look at
16:52
finland let’s let’s just remember
16:53
finland went to war against the soviet
16:55
union in the 1940s allied with nazi
16:58
germany the reason why finland exists
17:00
today is because of a peace treaty that
17:01
they signed with the soviet union and
17:03
continued with russia that guaranteed
17:06
the neutrality in perpetuity i don’t
17:08
know what the finnish word for
17:09
perpetuity is but the english word means
17:11
forever and if finland breaks this
17:14
treaty
17:15
finland is de facto declaring war
17:17
against russia
17:18
and anybody in nato should take a close
17:20
look at article 10 which is the article
17:22
that allows for the expansion of nato
17:24
and understand that it is not an open
17:25
door policy it requires nato to consider
17:28
the application within the context of
17:30
the overall security of the alliance the
17:33
alliance will be going to war if it
17:35
allows finland in the alliance will be
17:37
destroyed
17:38
either conventionally or nuclearly
17:40
there’s no way anybody can articulate
17:43
that finland enhances the security of
17:45
either europe or the alliance and i’m
17:47
hopeful that one or more members will
17:50
recognize that this is a suicide pill
17:53
and they will not vote in favor or they
17:56
will at least slow roll the finish in
17:58
swedish
17:59
membership applications
18:01
until which time the ukrainian conflict
18:03
is finished and maybe more rational
18:05
minds can be brought to bear on how to
18:06
resolve this problem how much longer
18:10
can the
18:11
war in ukraine go on how much longer can
18:13
the ukraine military forces hold out
18:16
the special military operation is going
18:18
to end sooner rather than later i think
18:20
russia is making great headway and
18:22
they’ve broke they approached those to
18:24
reach those defenses i spoke of they’re
18:26
rolling up the ukrainians um it’s you
18:29
know it’s
18:30
it’s going to be over in days if not
18:32
weeks but then the question is what do
18:33
you do with this rejuvenated ukraine
18:36
that’s receiving tens of billions of
18:38
dollars worth of arms reconstituting
18:40
their military russia just can’t leave
18:42
that sitting there um so i think you’re
18:45
going to see a transition from special
18:47
military operation to war general war
18:50
and this is a whole new ball game again
18:53
uh i’m here to tell you if you think
18:54
you’re seeing violence on the
18:55
battlefield now wait until russia
18:58
declares war on ukraine and ukraine will
19:01
understand what total conflict looks
19:03
like it’ll be the destruction of their
19:05
nation
19:06
scott ritter there’s nobody like you
19:08
thank you very very much for joining us
19:10
thanks for having me oh thanks for all
19:12
the emails and texts and questions my
19:15
friend friends we don’t have time to
19:17
look at them but thanks for watching
19:18
thanks for listening and thanks for
19:20
liking and subscribing judge napolitano
19:23
for another
19:24
lively session of judging freedom
19:27
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