The Future of the War Effort

Gaslit Nation is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the new name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at progressive. com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law, not available in all states. We are in this chaos and we will continue to be in this chaos because of what Brexit has done to our economy and our society because ultimately Brexit prevents any government from trying to allow the kind of economy and public services and living standards that really British voters expect. And actually rather, than impro ve all the problems in British society, in terms of wages, in terms of jobs, in terms of housing , that was promised in the referendum, actually it's made all of those issues so much worse. And I think ultimately it has kind of bound British Prime Min isters in a way that they weren't done before. Because ultimately the best way to get voters to vote for you is actually to grow the economy, to increase living standards, to have good public services . And actually they have very, very few levers in which you can actually do that. And of course, ultimately the best way of doing that is through growth. And Brexit really constrains the UK's growth to a massive degree. We've already lost about six percent of our of our growth. So I think really in terms of looking at the wider shot about how did the UK end up in this chaos of course it's Brexit. But of course you know the crucial point here as well is who is waiting in the wings, who is leading in opinion polls in the UK , it's Nigel Farage's reform UK. And of course, who was one of the main leaders of Brexit over the last few decades? It was Nigel Farage. So in fact, he is the main beneficiary of his own failed policy. So I think really the UK has to look very seriously about our current kind of constitutional economic setup because it's simply not working for the UK and it will continue to cause problems for as long as we're outside the European Union Ten years after winning the very close Brexit vote with the help of dirty Russian money and over one hundred fifty six thousand Russian based Twitter accounts at a massive dis information campaign , Nigel Farage , who for years has spoken of his admiration for Putin and Trump is now leading in the polls , in the UK , this is extremely dangerous. Like elections in the U. S., the British election the British elections impact all of us, the British far right and American far right are joined together. We see that with Elon Musk, openly inciting violent hate riots, Maga and the far right in the UK , openly declare war on trans people with the help of complicit and complacent establishment politicians across parties . Candice Owens married into the British aristocracy. That's right, the disinformation princess married George Farmer, the son of Lord Michael Farmer . They got married where else at a Trump golf course in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her husband is the former CEO of right wing disinformation social media site par lor, and of course Steve Bannon and Mercer's Rebecca and her father Robert Mercer funded militarized propaganda company Cambridge Analytica to hack minds in the Brexit vote and went on to use their dark arts and money to get Trump over the finish line in twenty sixteen with the Russians very illegal help . As investigative journalist and Orwell prize winner Carol Claude Walleter said on G alasset Ntation , Brexit and Trump are the same crime , and the British and American people have been suffering ever since. That is our special relationship . Of course, the problem of the UK started with George W. Bush when he deregulated Wall Street ushering in the two thousand eight global crash. Yes, Bush convinced our British friends to invade Iraq with us, not that Tony Blair , a craven money driven political operative like Paul Manifor, needed much convincing . And then after getting our British friends into Iraq, Bush goes on to take their economy along with the rest of the world . And the British have never the UK economy has never recovered from the two thousand eight crash. The Tories being in power for years led to austerity cuts blaming the poor while protecting the rich from paying their fair share in taxes . And what has this led to ? Well, just as one horrifying example , gatehouse, a charity in the U K that just celebrated their fortieth birthday , forty years of feeding the poor and providing them with the life saving services that they need, Gatehouse had to shut down And they are not alone among UK charities and families facing that same pressure in the UK today . Even the helpers aren't getting the help they need. That's what Tory Aust erity cuts. That's what outgoing Prime Minister Kirstarmer's indecision worsened. Starmer now let's go into his Shakespearean story . Starmer was brilliant at rising to power, leading Labor to a historic victory after years of wandering through the desert in defeat . But once in power, Starmer froze up and had no idea how to be Prime Minister. He couldn't appoint the necessary people around him, meaning he knew how to come to power , but he did not know how to share power . And ironically, one of Starmer's most famous appointments ever will, of course, be Mendelsen, the creepy longtime friend of Epstein , who Starmer signed as UK ambassador, seemingly to appeal to Tedrump, but by giving a predator a post in government is obviously a dangerous moral failure. So as I said in last week's Gaslight Nation salon, which is why you should come to our salons , I said Starmer is a dead man walking and now he is out . So if you want to hear the news before it's news, join us in our lively discussions every Monday at four PM Eastern at the Gas Light Nation salons. And you can get access to that at Patreon and Subst ack where we are building our communities. So you don't have to be alone in this global war between fascism and democracy. Democracy will win and it wins thanks to communities like ours. So like I said, Starmer was a dead man walking and guess who else is Putin? But we'll get to that soon. I want to get back to Putin's asset in the UK, Nigel Farage. Nigel Farage's reform party is leading in the polls. Andy Burn ham, the former mayor of Manchester, who just became a member of Parliament for Makerfield, is running on a Mom Donnie affordability platform, which again reminds us that our resistance to the far right is global . It looks like Burnham is Eschuin to be the next prime minister. He's going to bring that folksy people powered energy and hopefully a decisive energy given that he was a mayor and having that executive power over a major city. Hopefully he brings that to his premiership and that the people can finally get the relief they desperately need and the UK can remain a strong ally for democracy , not just for our sake here at home, but obviously Ukraine's with Trump freezing up aid to Ukraine, the British have had to step in and do a lot to carry that load along with the rest of Europe. So we need the UK desperately. Ukraine needs the UK desperately to stay in democratic hands for the people of Great Britain obviously finally need a leader that is going to serve them after twenty years , they're like two decades abuse from the top. Now the next general election UK will have to take place by mid august twenty twenty nine. That seems far off, but look at the comeback Trump staged after trying to violently overthrow our democracy on january sixth, Farage is pulling a Trump now openly lying . He is even trying to talk tough against Putin saying NATO should shoot down Russian planes if they violate NATO airspace. We all know that he's just saying stuff just like Trump made claims that he would end the Ukraine war in twenty four hours and that he also had no idea what project twenty twenty five was that he re,jected it, he was against it. We all know that is not true. So Farage is now doing that to UK voters . And just like Trump said famously that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they'd still vote for him. Everyone would still vote for him. Farage is now making that same case . We'll get to that. Farage's reform party also tried to distance itself from Nathan Gill , a member of European Parliament from Wales, who was a paid Russian disinformation machine spouting Kremlin talking points in the lead up to Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine . As we always say on Gaslit Nation, if it talks like a Russian asset, it's a Russian asset. Nathan Gill was caught taking thirty thousand pounds from a Russian asset in Ukraine, Oligvoloshin, who worked with Paul Manafor and his GRU right hand man, Constantine Klimnik. In fact, Maniph, after his arrest violated his gag order by ghost writing an op ed, defending his work in Ukraine and publishing it under Voloshin's name , both Boloshin and Kalimnik are now , where else in Russia. Farage is also under fire for taking five million pounds from anti European Union Thailand based British crypto king Christopher Harbon. Who is Harbon? He is the single largest donor to any British political party ever , giving Farage not just five million pounds to spend however he likes, which Ferrage used to buy a one point four million pound house in cash , but Harbourne also gave Farage's pro Kremlin Reform Party nine million pounds. His financial ties include, of course, crypto , which allows Russians to evade sanctions and the far right disinformation site Rumble , which refused to block Russian state disinformation and even amplified tenant media. Do you remember tenant media? Under Biden's DOJ, Tenant Media was busted for being a Kremlin disinformation operation , paying MAGA influencers like Betty Johnson and Tim Pool hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to spout anti Ukrainian disinformation as Russia launched a full scale genocide against Ukraine . Rumble regularly featured Tenant Media's videos Harbones financial dealings include a stake in Rumble , which , by the way is the video distribution service for Trump's True Social . Do you see how Farage and Trump and their billionaire backers are Trojan horses for the Kremlin? Why? Because so again, I cannot stress this enough, and this is why Gaslight Nation exists. Farage and Trump and their billionaire backers are the Trojan horses for the Kremlin . Why? Because like the Kremlin, they want to live above the law, above accountability, above ethics, above empathy to just enrich themselves and do what they want. I think it is super suspicious that Harbon lives in Thailand , a country with a serious problem of child sex trafficking and child sex tourism. I think that should be investigated as well g,iven that the U K elites, especially on the conservative side , were very close to Epstein and Maxwell decades in that entire transnational pedophile operation there has to be more to the story than just I want to be rich, I want to avoid paying taxes. No there has to be more to this . Why what kind of lifestyle are they trying to protect other than one that's extravagant, right? What do they want to ultimately get away with? Those are the questions we need to be asking ourselves here. I've got to ask you a question about this five million pound gift from this crypto billionaire. You know better than most politicians how LBC works. I'm getting comments of you and I speaking. This man needs to tell us what has he done with the five million pounds get him to be get him to be truthful. Nigel Farage, please. What have happened to this five million pounds gift? With all due respect, what's it going to do it? Well, because it speaks to the position of who you hold in office. Initially, we were told that it was because of your personal security and it would pay for that for the rest of your life. Then apparently it was some kind of reward for campaigning for Brexit. I am told we have two different stories, which is the truth. I think you're contradicting yourself there, aren't you? If you tell me what happened with the five million pounds and we're sold. It's an unconditional gift. I can spend it all Ferrari's if I want. The ideology that we're up against is greed, and that is who is leading in the polls, in the UK ten years after the disastrous Brexit vote. According to one analysis , the Brexit disaster has effectively taxed UK citizens percent . That's how expensive it has been. So all those who voted in twenty sixteen, ten years ago today, , june twenty third , voted to raise their taxes by at least four percent . And it's been costly in so many other ways to the UK, and it's standing in the world . The British people are genuinely hur ting, working more jobs just to survive, and they're looking once again , just like in the Oh so close Brexit vote to go into a polling booth and bash something . Not realizing that it's their own future that they're bashing. A Kremlin, Trojan horse in power would release even more violent riots, cruel immigration roundups, escalate the war on trans people, women, the environment, science , and so much more, just to look at what the Kremlin Trojan horse has done to us in the U. S. The rest of Europe is not safe either. Germany's far right AFD met with Putin's advisor and head of Gasprom. Marie Lapen's protege to replace Macron has been because Macoon has been term limited out. So there's going to be a very critical presidential election in France. And Lapen's protege is staunchly anti European Union. What is it that I always say on gaslination Putin's greatest threat to all of us is homegrown . The Russians are losing disastrous invasion of Ukraine . They are desperate . Their one card to play is the Kremlin clown car , the purchased politicians and disinformation agents in the West who do their bidding for them . Cheaply, I might add, selling out your country for thirty thousand pounds . Nathan Gill, really was it worth it to spend the next ten years in prison? Was that worth it? Nigel Farage ? Five million pounds? I mean, obviously it's an unconditional gift. I can spend it on Ferraris if I want, have been clearly up to me . Russia's only hope is their Kremlin clown car from Ferraria Trump to the AFD to Le Penz movement in France to Steve Bannon. That's the Kremlin's only hope. Ukraine is right now as, we speak, turning Crimea into the world's largest Russian prisoner war camp. Russian supply lines are being cut in Crimea. There's a fuel shortage, there's an electricity shortage , summer events are being canceled as well as a fifty eight percent reported cancellation rate of vacation reservations to Crimea. Russians are fleeing the peninsula while, they still can , plumes of smoke from Ukrainian drones are going up across the peninsula. So imagine trying to spend a beach holiday there in that hellscape right now . Russia's invasion of Ukraine began with Crimea and it looks like it could end in Crimea. When Ukraine first voted for its independence, the vast majority of the country voted to be free, including Crimea, and now Crimea , along with the rest of Ukraine, will be free. And it's only a matter of time before you, my dear gaslination listeners, join me for an immediate live dance party podcast to celebrate Putin falling from a window . This week's guest is American veteran and analyst Ken Harbo of the Ken Harbo Show on his recent trip to Ukraine and what Ukrainians want us to know about our global war of democracy versus fascism. Everyone has a place in it. Our victory will be shared. . So tell us about your latest trip to Ukraine. What were you doing there and what made the big gest impression on you? This was actually a tough one. One of the tougher trips . I mean, every time I go back there there are fewer people I get to see I'll let you read in between the lines . But this one was especially hard in that respect . But I also spent time with kids and look as a dad anytime . I'm with kids since I was at an orphanage in Herson and look an orphanage in Kirson is a little different these days. A lot of the a lot of the kids have parents, but they're both at the front . So they go to these centers. They're both at the front voluntarily . They feel like the best thing they can do for their children is to fight against the Russians so that we don't have another Bucha, so that we don't have another Mariupol. But the thing that got me, and look, I always wait until I'm back on the train or back on the plane to sort of process it but I sat down with this little nine year old girl who was very shy until I asked her about her earrings, which were little Ukrainian flags that she had picked out herself. And then I noticed she had yellow and blue like pigtail bands and everything on her was Ukrainian . And it was , you know, it was her expression of pride in her in her parents in her country . And you know, that kind of hits you. Look, I forgot the most important part of the story, which is while I'm underground because schools in Kerson are all underground, these kids have spent four years underground. While I'm underground with these kids, my videographer is outside and two Russian drones fly overhead. One detonates in the field right next to the orphanage and the director's like, yeah, it's a daily occurrence. They have targeted this orphanage before . And just add juxtaposition. I'm underground on a beautiful sunny day because those are the days the kids can't go outside. If it's blowing a gale and it's raining and you know there's lightning and thunder that's when they can go outside and play. But if it's sunny and clear . It's deadly. When you were speaking about orphanages, what came to my mind was all the orphanages I came across in my research on the Holodomor. Yes . And to see this history repeating in yet another genocide in less than a centur y carried out by Moscow . I want to also ask you in terms of what messages did any of the Ukrainians say, like, please tell people back home. This is what we need . Yeah , great question. I will tell you there was an overriding theme but punctuated with a couple desperate pleas for help, especially in the small communities along the river, the right bank in Kirson that are being bombarded every day sometimes by dozens of drones. I brought a starlight to one of the village leaders in one of these communities and was not able to get to the village itself. I asked him this is on the outskirts of Kirson how he was doing. And he said his neighbor was killed that morning. They've evacuated all the kids from these villages , but they're still trying to maintain a presence, trying to maintain a foothold as their act of defiance against the invaders, but it is really tough on the right bank. That said, that's a qualifier. The overriding sentiment among the Ukrainian people is that the tide is turning. Is that the only reason that Putin is launching waves of missiles and drones at villages along the banks of the river or at apartment buildings and cities at hospitals, at daycares is because he is making absolutely no progress at the front . They know that they see the reality at the front. In some areas Russia is actually losing ground . where And they are making ground, they're losing in an average month over thirty thousand soldiers. That is not sustainable. Furthermore, their air defenses are crumbling, and Ukraine now has control over the land bridge to Crimea. Crimea is the whole point of this operation. It's the crown jewel of Putin's expansionist dreams, and they can't even resupply it. The Ukrainians know that and it is void their spirits in a way that I haven't seen in years. I actually just wrote an article about this about the air control over the highway and how not only are there gaff shortages but food shortages across Crimea, fly lines are being drying up basically everywhere from Herson to Crimea. Literally just yesterday I published this article because it really really, really is turning the tide and the morale on the ground for people to see, you know, this control. And you know, and in my article I pointed out, I remember in twenty fourteen , you know, after the invasion , I was like, yeah, we're going to get Crimea back. And every American politician, every American military person, every American period and European stopper, you know, this is basically like fantasy landful fairy tales. That's not happening . And in my article I pointed out, I'm like, Oh, so why is it now suddenly the past week? People are like, you know what? Crimey actually might be an achievable goal. Yes. And I'm like , I told you, we said we're not giving it up not ten years ago, eleven years ago and not now. And here we are. And true to form the U,krain ians have trolled the Russians mercilessly on this with their characteristic sense of humor. I just heard from I talked to Kaylen Robertson, I think a mutual friend this morning who said that the Ukrainian like highway works has issued a notice that the M fourteen is closed for maintenance . What that means is they are destroying every single military vehicle that goes on that highway. It's kind of like Zelenskyy imposing air quotes, long range sanctions on Russian refining plants inside deep inside Russia. They have an ability to maintain their sense of humor in the darkest times and to deploy it as its own kind of weapon. And look, if there weren't enough reasons to love Ukrainians , that's near the top of my list. Yeah, that's beautiful. And that isn't just Zelenskyy, that's just the country. I remember hero my Don, the revolution in Ukraine , the Ukrainian Trump, Yanukovich , outlawed, illegally outlawed gear that protesters could wear to protect themselves from his riot police. And so Ukrainians showed up on the square wearing like pots and pants on their heads . And Mary Upol, the occupiers in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, I'm coming out with a story on this soon banned effectively the colors blue and yellow . Families report getting aid packages from groups like the Red Cross included school supplies and like crayons and markers that were blue or yellow had been ripped out. I mean, that's how terrified Russia is of any kind of descent. You couldn't even own Ukrainian colors if you lived in Mariupol at the beginning of the invasion . You can't even have a full rainbow . Meanwhile, you know, anti LGBTQ plus Russia denies Ukrainian school children in occupied territory a full on rainbow in their Crayola crayons . And meanwhile you have Ukrainians fighting a war and also you have openly gay soldiers fighting in this war just reminds you like what they're fighting for. They're fighting for freedom. They're fighting for democracy. They're fighting for everything we take for granted here in the West. Yeah . Yeah. I mean that can't be said enough. It is sometimes tough coming back to the states and hearing people complain about things that I don't think are that big of a deal. I need to recalibrate because look everyone, has their things and I need to be more sensitive. But when you talk to Ukrainians about what's important , you remember what's important . And I think everyone should talk to you Ukrainian at some point. I think the message to Americans is as tough as you think things are now under Trump and the economic warfare. He's waging against the American people. Inflation is up , doge, the mass layoffs, like this is this is real economic pain across the board and things are very tough right now and dire for Americans , but we are not going through this with missiles over our heads every single day , killing our neighbors, killing entire maturity hospitals and kindergartens. And just to add not only that, I mean, I was there and everyone I know , like there's no one who's gotten one night of sleep since the full scale invasion. Imagine dealing with everything that the US is dealing with Trump and all the real things are happening . Not only with missiles and drones over your head every day , not only with water, no water , no electricity in sub zero degree temperatures , but the fact that you can't even sleep. No one has slept since twenty twenty two. You fall asleep for thirty minutes, an hour, then you get radar alerts. You have to go in the hallway in the bathroom and the garage and the metro . So like you can imagine, I mean, this is what is banned by the way by, you know , international community sleep deprivation because this is considered a form of torture . And here you have we're now over four years where no one can get a good night's sleep, not in one. So the Ukrainians have gotten really good at determining what kind of air raid means, what kind of missile is worth, you know, sprinting to the basement for. I was interviewing a week and a half ago a U, . S. Senator in Odessa who was visiting for a forum. And in the middle of our interview, the air raid alert went off and you know, I follow the lead of my Ukrainian friends. I also have the app, and I noticed it was the kind that we just kind of blow off . Of course, the Senator's security team drags his name to the bunker immediately as we're all laughing . But you know, the Ukrainians again, it's their sense of humor and their resil ience about these kinds of things. They have adapted in ways that I think Americans would find inspiring. What made in terms of here in America, we have this toxic political division where half our country is sucked into an alternative reality and the other half is called awoke for sticking up for science and facts and human rights and democracy it self , what gives you a sense of pride when you're over in Ukraine that you what is it that draws you to it in terms of the unity that you see there, the patriotism and how does that feel to you compared to us back home? They have a sense of national purpose . I used to keep this thought to myself , but then I let it slip and the Ukrainians I was with nodded in agreement , so I don't feel bad saying it anymore, but there are times there are moments when I'm jealous of Ukraine. There have also been moments where I've introduced myself as my Ukrainian hosts will like shake their heads and say, I'm sorry . And I think you know where that's coming from. They look at America and they see a country that is tearing itself apart , even without missiles and bombs raining down as opposed to Ukraine which is undergoing the most brutal assaults night after night after night, but every morning they wake up, they pull themselves together. One of the most amazing things in a city like Kharkiv which gets hit every night and Kharkiv is in range of these glide bombs , by morning, they have put up plywood, they have moved on, the markets are back open , and they have this sense of resolve and purpose and unity that America has experienced at times in its past briefly and around particular issues, but it is a whole of society effort in Ukraine now. And it leads me to believe that when this is over, when Ukraine wins, when Russia is relegated to a backwater gas station, which is all it basically is these days, Ukraine will emerge not just as a military superpower , but a moral superpower for having carried this torch through these dark times. I think it will inherit America's role as a beacon of democracy for the world. I mean, the Taiwanese are looking to Ukraine for inspiration, half a world away . Most of Europe has finally acknowledged that they need Ukraine more than Ukraine needs them. Who do you think is advising the Gulf States on how to protect themselves? It's no longer the Americans , it's the Ukrainians. But the most important piece of that is the moral authority they will emerge from this war with having maintained their democracy when lesser civilizations would have abandoned it and opted for , you know , the hard gloved thist of security over democratic rule. Ukraine has had protests against the government, against government policies during wartime. That only happens in a healthy democracy, and those protests have led to policy changes . The elections are another matter because it would be incredibly dangerous and risky, but Ukraine is a thriving, healthy democracy with a sense of national purpose that I am envious of every time I go. Absolutely. And holding an election during wartime is voter suppression because not every one can vote they're not the front . There is so you it's difficult for them to vote you can't say vote. You can't even campaign. I mean it's all choice is the constitution. It's the constitution. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just want to calm everything you said is one hundred percent correct. I do want to come to the defense of Americans because I do love this country, even though we're in the darkest of times this country really gave up. My family hope gave me I could have been, you know, God knows a twisted sociopath . I ended up here fighting twisted sociopaths . So I will say that , you know, yes, there is a very big sense of unity and Ukrainians come together in times of the country and constitution , but it does take things and the fact that there is a full scale invasion, you know, since twenty twenty two , that really also built that unity. And I am sure I'm confident as much as the division we see online and everything . If there was , you know, another country that invaded America and started slaughtering people from Montana to New York to Maine to California to Texas, that Americans would come together in their, you know, national unity and defense. You know , what we see online is a little bit different. And I remember even I hate to say it, but I remember in the first days of the Polsky invasion when the Russians started making advances into Kharkiv, my best friend is there and we worked out a lot and trust me on a lot of issues there and across the country . And like we were both holding our breath like, you know, will heard , like intentionally, will they choose Russia or will they choose hate call it Ukraine only because it's on the border ? And there has been so much disinformation and brainwashing via the Orthodox Church and all the, you know or,ganizations , everything . Like Russia has been running so many operations on Harkiv and a lot of border towns Sumi and what we were scared and, you know , sure en not . People in Harkiv woke up. They're like, Nope, nope, nope, we want hateful Ukraine. We will fight for Ukraine. And even the same ones who spouted Russian disinformation and, you know, prior has told my friend like, oh, what's wrong with Russia? We should be friends, you know, even after the twenty fourteen revision , they literally were like, Nope, we are fighting for Ukraine . We are going to sacrifice everything for Ukraine . So I think in times of this to the defense of Americans, I think, you know, we need to get our shit together here, but I think will come together , you know, and and make the country like move forward the right ones I think not the only thing Putin could have done to convince those pro Russ ian Ukrainians in the East and parts of the South that their loyalty should be with Ukraine instead of Russia was introduce them to his military . And once he did that , once they met Russian soldiers , I interviewed a this was near that orphanage outside Hirson. There was an elderly woman who was pro Ukraine before the war , I'm sorry, pro Russia before the war as a lot of folks were in these areas. And even pro speria Russia not pro Russia kind of been whatever. They're there and that's it, you know ? The Russians came into her small little house. They saw this iron box on the wall. They thought it was a safe. And they said, Open this for us. We know there's money in it. We know there's stuff in it. It was a water heater. They'd never seen a water heater before . Because that's who Putin is conscripting from. He's reaching as far field as he can because he doesn't want to place the burden on Moscow or St. Petersburg , these Russians had never seen a water heater and they didn't believe her until they shot it full of holes and water started pouring out. If you want to convince Ukrainians to stick with Ukraine, introduce them to the Russian military. That's what I mean by a sense of national purpose. They're never going back . Absolutely. And I think the issue here, one of the issues in the U. S. is a lot of people are going about their business and trying to put blinders on and act like everything's fine and self medicate through binge watching Netflix and other ways and just ignoring the fact that we are in a global war of democracy versus fascism. And I tell gasoline nationwitters all the time, just accept that we are in war times . Your life is chaotic. Suddenly your bank account doesn't have the power it once did, especially abroad if you wanted to go abroad . We are in war times my friend. This is all deliberately engineered chaos to divide and conquer and weaken the U. S. from within and take us off the map and enrich this global kipocracy that's driven by Putin . Yeah there are people getting filthy rich in America through these times. It's not you or me if you look you look at the Trump family's net wealth eight years ago, twelve years ago versus now , they have made a killing off of off of his control over the levers of government and in some ways in his launching of these wars. I mean, look at some of the trades leading up to the Iran Wars, absolutely scandalous. How do you see this war ending? What do you think needs to happen? What cards does Zelenskyy surprised surprise JD Vance have to play ? And what is sort of like your pathway for how this war ends and Zelenskyy's leverage here . I have a different take on this now than I did just a few months ago. I think there is real potential for the kind of nineteen seventeen collapse that the Russian army experienced when its soldiers finally decided this isn't worth it . And you've got to believe that the soldiers rotating home to the far flung republics of Russian Empire are asking themselves, is it worth it to be part of Russia? What are we getting out of this? We know on the battlefield that Russ ians are just throwing up their hands either to surrender that is happening or the conditions are so bad and I see these videos all the time. I spend a lot of time with Ukrainian drone units , they're just giving up in their trenches and they're letting the drones take them thirty thousand casualties a month. It's absolutely horrific. And I don't think that can last forever. I think at some point , I don't know how it hasn't happened already, but if I were a Russian soldier, even like an NCO, a sergeant or something and I was looking at my options, I think we're approaching the point where the better option is to say, no, I'm not doing that . I'm not marching into that that kill zone . And I think the key to this , this is going to be a little tactical observation, the key to this is the degradation of Russian air defenses. Once those are gone, Ukraine has essentially operational control of the battlefront. They already have it over the M fourteen highway effectively. They can take out any vehicle driving along it, which cuts off Crimea from resupply . And with their deep strikes into Russia as well, it has forced the Russians to thin out their air defenses, to redeploy them. Russia's biggest strength used to be at size. Now it is a strategic weakness. They have so much territory to defend with the corruption that's endemic in their system, with the demands by oligarchs that their personal compounds be defended by the most high tech air defense systems , Russia has a choice to make. Are they going to defend the oligarchs million dollar million one do hundredllars dodches and the oil refineries or are they going to defend the soldiers at the front? And I think the reason the front is so porous now for Ukrainian drones is that Russia doesn't have the air defenses to do it. At some point, the last block gets removed from the wall. It all crumbles. It becomes just a question of math because Russia cannot replace these systems faster than Ukraine is destroying them. What would you say to someone you hear this from the Pentagon? You hear this from the think tank world that says be careful because if Putin is a corner dog, he's going to get desperate and do something crazy like launch nukes and even if it's tactical nukes . What the Pentagon is worried about is that if Putin normalizes using nukes in warfare tactical Tactical nukes. The next thing you know, India and Pakistan are at it and nukes become as commonplace as drones today. What would you say to that? I think ONG's got a really great perspective on this. So I'll be brief, but Putin's a bloodthirsty maniac, but he's not suicidal and he's not a fool. And I don't believe his bluster. I think ultimately he's a coward . I do think he will find his own window to be thrown out of at some point, but I don't think we can succumb to that kind of nuclear blackmail. I wish we hadn't four years ago , this war would be over by now , and I'm certainly not going to succumb to it now. I would add that Russia is excellent at SIOPS. And if anyone needs to worry about tactical nukes, it's Ukraine and Ukraine is crossing every line. Russia said you can't do this and Ukraine's like, really, okay, but we'll do it five times worse . So if anyone needs to worry about tactical nukes, it's Ukraine or any nuk es. And I remember after the full scale invasion briefing, you know, people in Congress and basically telling them like, why are you people here in DC like practically hiding under the bed like relaxed Russia's nuclear, you know , first of all, their program sucks. I actually know someone who used to was a contractor working with Russia's nuclear facilities. I mean, we used to laugh because like we, you know, had this common joke that if Russia sent a nuclear weapon towards the US, like it'd end up going back to Siberia because they pillaged everything. They stole all the money. All the contracts, you know, out of a million dollar contract, seven hundred thousand people's pockets and into offshores and villas and yachts and everything . So their nuclear hasn't been maintained. And if anything , anyone's worried, it's Ukraine . And the fact is that you cannot allow that, you know, Russia threatening using nuclear weapons as a means to allow genocide to happen as a means to blackmail anyone and we see what happens, you know , Trump allowed, for instance, in Iran allowed Iran basically to gain the upper hand that right now they literally , you know, they kept the straight aforemost clothes. They can keep a close anytime because Trump keeps extending and showing his fear and desperation and, you know, and how you know, he wants to get to the negotiating table . And he really shot himself in the flood and on top of it, made America less safe and everyone in the region . And that's it. That's why you have you can't allow these threats to shape your foreign policy and what the West stands for, like the values that the West stands for our discussion continues and you can get access to that by signing up at the truth teller level or higher on Patreon discount annualed membership s are available and you can give the gift of membership. Get bonus shows, invites to exclusive events, all our shows at free, and more at patreon dot com or slash gaslit. That's patreon dot com or slash gaslit. Thank you to everyone who supports the show. To help Ukraine with urgently needed humanitarian aid, join me in donating to Rosamf Ukraine at Rosamf rain. org to support refugees in conflict zones, donate to doctors without borders at doctorsbout ers. org and to protect critically endangered orangutans already under pressure from the palm oil industry, donate to the orangutan project at the ranketing project. org and check your products for palm oriol because it's everywhere. Gasolit Nation is produced by Andrea Chalupa, our associate producer is Harlan Degl, and our founding production manag er is Nicholas Torres. If you like what we do, please leave us a review on iTunes. It helps us reach more listeners. Original Music and Gastlin Nation is produced by David Whitehead, Martin Misenberg, Nick Farr, Dam ian Ariaga, and Carlin Degl. Our logo design was generously donated by Femish Smite of the New York based Firm Order. Thank you so much, Femish. Gaslight Nation would like to thank our supporters at the producer level on Patreon and Hyr, Janz Alstruf Rasmondsen, Katie Miseris, Anne Bertino , David East , Dawn Rosador, Deborah Schiff, Diana Gallagher, DL Singfield. Ice Fair is defiant . James D. Leonard , Jared Lombardo, Joe Darcy , Kevin Gannon, Kristen Custer, Larry Gasson, Leya Campbell , Leo Chalupa, Lily Wachowski, Marcus J. Trent