Podcast appearances and mentions of Leon Panetta

National security officials discussed military plans in a Signal group chat that mistakenly included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, according to a report published on Monday. To discuss the revelation and the national security implications, Geoff Bennett spoke with Leon Panetta, the former defense secretary and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

In this week's episode, correspondent Christina Ruffini sits down with co-host Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director. They discuss President Donald Trump's recent address to a joint session of the United States Congress, and his tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. They also discuss the U.S. decision to halt military aid to Ukraine and the dangers of pausing U.S. cyber operations against Russia. Plus, Christina Ruffini shares a bit of history behind America's annual State of the Union address. Episode produced by Situation Room Studios. Original music composed and produced by Leo Sidran.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, was fired from his post last month, along with several other high ranking military officials. Many of the Left rushed to say that President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were “politicizing” the Pentagon. However, “This is not the politicalization of the Pentagon. It's the depoliticalization”, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ They said, ‘This is reckless, it hurts morale, and it will depress recruitment.' Let's analyze that just for a second. Recruitment reached near-record levels after the election of Donald Trump. It's on the way up. It was depressed prior to that. Why would it be depressed? If you go through the Pentagon data, it's very hard to decipher. “ More importantly, Leon Panetta signed this letter. He was one, also, of the 51 intelligence authorities that said, right on the eve of the election and on a few days before the 2020 debate, that Hunter [Biden's] laptop, which was in the hands of the FBI and authenticated, had all the hallmarks of a Russian information, which meant disinformation, campaign. “ Bottom line: We don't need any more letters from so-called experts. They're always partisan. And they're to no effect.” Don't miss out on Victor's latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You'll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's newscast, the City of Santa Cruz and Monterey County are among jurisdictions joining a lawsuit to fight threats to cut federal funding from "sanctuary cities." Plus, a bipartisan bill aims to fund more research on wildfires, and former defense secretary Leon Panetta says the present moment calls for Americans to stand up for what they value.

This episode is the second in a two-parter in collaboration with the Climate Migration Council, to highlight the Council's recent position statement on the linkages between security, climate change, and human migration.In December, A'ndre hosted Erin Sikorsky, Director of the Center for Climate and Security and a former Deputy Director on the National Intelligence Council, for a discussion on the national security implications of climate migration. The conversation centered on a new statement from the Climate Migration Council, co-authored by Sikorsky and prominent figures such as Leon Panetta, Michael Chertoff, Michael Morell, and Sharon Burke. The statement outlines urgent recommendations to address the security risks of climate change-driven displacement, including expanding the definition of security, investing in resilience, adopting anticipatory migration policies, and integrating climate migration into risk assessments.You can listen to A'ndre's conversation last week with Secretary Michael Chertoff on climate migration here.

Rob Fersh talks about collaborative problem solving and his new book, co-authored with Mariah Levison “From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems” –As our country divides up its wealth between a few gazillionairs and the rest of us – coming together seems a worthwhile goal.Rob Fersh is the Founder and Senior Advisor of the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution. Before that he worked on international conflict resolution and directed U.S. national policy consensus projects on health care coverage for the uninsured -- and U.S.-Muslim relations. Before that -- Rob headed up a major NGO working to alleviate hunger in the United States. He has worked for Republican and Democratic representatives -- Leon Panetta and Patrick Leahy and Edmund Muskie. In 1994, Rob received the Prudential Foundation Prize for Non-Profit Leadership. He is married, has four children, and three grandchildren. And is a good friend of my sister Barbara Zweig. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode of One Decision, hosts Christina Ruffini and Leon Panetta, former United States Secretary of Defense and former CIA Director, sit down with Ambassador John Sullivan. Sullivan is a former Deputy Secretary of State and served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia during the Trump and Biden presidential administrations. They discuss the reality of navigating diplomatic relations with Russia, Sullivan's experience in Moscow at the start of the war in Ukraine, and what the fall of the Syrian Assad regime could mean for Putin's grip on power. Plus, Sullivan and Panetta share an insider view of how foreign diplomats navigate life in Russia and the number one thing a spy needs to do to protect themselves under the Kremlin's watchful eye.

Summary Lieutenant General Anthony Crutchfield (Ret.) (LinkedIn, Wikipedia) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his time as the Deputy Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command. PACOM covers 52% of the globe.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The role of intelligence in military operations Ethical dilemmas in command decisions Reflections on the impact of mentorship and outreach  The importance of remaining aware in today's pervasive world Reflections The challenges of leadership Hard work, determination, and resilience And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “I worked hard at everything I did. If somebody asked me to do a job, I didn't say, ‘That's not my job,' I didn't complain. There were places that I was sent that I didn't want to go, but I went – And I didn't complain about it…I did the best that I could and it was recognized.” – Anthony Crutchfield. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Leading United States Central Command with General Frank McKenzie (2024) CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023) Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023) DEEPER DIVE Books The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, K. F. McKenzie (Naval Institute Press, 2024) Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine, D. Petraeus & A. Roberts (Harper, 2023)  Strategy in Crisis: The Pacific War, J. T. Kuehn (Naval Institute Press, 2023)  Fire on the Water: China, America, and the Future of the Pacific, R. J. Haddick (Naval Institute Press, 2014) Primary Sources  U.S. Defense Infrastructure in the IndoPacific: Background and Issues for Congress (2023) Pacific Partnership Strategy (2022) Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States (2022) *Wildcard Resource* PACOM is, by far, the largest geographical combatant command. The smallest, on the other hand, is the U.S. Central Command. Listen to our interview with General Frank McKenzie, 14th commander of CENTCOM, here!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon sits down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at his company's Ignite conference. They talk customer demand for Microsoft's AI products, the new features unveiled today and the ROI on AI spending. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on the company's revenue targets and its plans for diversifying. Plus, Leon Panetta on the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Vous écoutez le podcast "Les interviews Histoire", notre émission hebdomadaire gratuite pour tous. Abonnez-vous à "Timeline 5.000 ans d'Histoire" et accédez à environ 350 podcasts d'1 heure pour seulement 2€ par mois sans Pub ! Avec une nouvelle émission chaque semaine : https://m.audiomeans.fr/s/S-tavkjvmo « Nous savons comment retrouver les terroristes et les tuer. Mais il y a une chose sur laquelle nous n'avons pas travaillé : comment empêcher les terroristes de devenir des terroristes. » Leon Panetta, ancien directeur de la CIATout le monde pense connaître la Central Intelligence Agency. Pourtant les méthodes de l'Agence ont été profondément transformées par les événements du 11 septembre 2001. L'auteur, Antoine Mariotti, notre invité en studio, nous ouvre les coulisses passionnantes de ce monde empreint de secrets et de paradoxes.Le journaliste est allé aux États-Unis à la rencontre d'anciens espions et directeurs de la CIA qui lui ont raconté leurs missions, leurs succès, leurs désillusions et parfois leurs échecs. Un récit vivant qui nous embarque directement sur le terrain : la traque de Ben Laden et autres leaders d'Al-Qaïda et de l'État islamique, les écoutes téléphoniques, les raids nocturnes, le face-à-face avec Saddam Hussein, les dessous du célèbre discours de Colin Powell sur l'Irak à l'ONU, la torture, les prisons secrètes, la diplomatie parallèle mais aussi les doutes dans les bureaux de Langley, les trahisons et les ordres politiquement incorrects. De l'Afghanistan à la Corée du Nord en passant par la Syrie, la Chine, l'Ukraine, la Maison-Blanche et les rapports tempétueux entre la CIA et Donald Trump ou encore les collaborations des Américains avec la DGSE, voici plus de vingt-cinq ans d'histoires édifiantes qui ont façonné le monde de ce début du XXIe siècle.Acheter le livre

Summary Jim Himes (Website; X) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. Jim has served as the U.S. representative for Connecticut's 4th congressional district since 2009.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: Its role and operations The importance of bipartisan collaboration Transparency and accountability in intelligence  Congressman Himes' personal experiences during 9/11, its impact on his career in intelligence, and 9/11's impact on intelligence at large Reflections Public trust and earning confidence Partnership and cooperation And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “I get asked all the time, ‘Oh my gosh, you see all the threats. Do you sleep at night?' … Yes, I do see with particularly exquisite detail the threats against us. I also get to see the detail of the assets and the people that we deploy against those threats. And because I get to see with great detail the assets and the tools that we have to address those threats, yes, I do sleep at night. Not because they will ever be perfect, but because these are incredibly dedicated people, the technology is amazing, and it is commensurate with the threats out there.” -Jim Himes Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Digital Innovation and the Next Frontier of Intelligence with Jennifer Ewbank (2024) The Future of OSINT and the Intelligence Community with Jason Barrett (2024) The Future of NATO with Leon Panetta and Expert Panel (2024) CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) DEEPER DIVE Books Sies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence, A. B. Zegart (Princeton University Press, 2022) The Secret World: A History of Intelligence, C. Andrew (Yale University Press, 2019) The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, F. M. Bordewich (Simon & Schuster, 2016) Primary Sources  House Intelligence Committee COVID-19 Report (2022) Unclassified Summary of the Second Interim Report on the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022) House Intelligence Committee Report on Russian Active Measures (2018) Snowden Report (2016) The 9/11 Commission Report (2004)  H. Res. 658 (1977) *Wildcard Resource* One of Connecticut's very first representatives was a gentleman named Roger Sherman. Sherman is unique not only for being one of Jim's congressional predecessors but also because he is the only person to have signed all four great state papers of the United States.  These include: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Articles of Association, and the Constitution. As a bonus, he also signed the 1774 Petition to the King.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

n this hard-hitting episode of Connecting the Dots, I reveal the shocking truth behind Israel's Mossad planting deadly devices in pagers ordered by Hezbollah. Joined by lawyer and journalist Dimitry Lascaris, we expose the dangerous global implications—this isn't just espionage, it's terrorism and a war crime, all ignored by Western media. We uncover the sinister connections between Zionist ideology, Christian nationalism, and neoliberal politics, showing how civilians are left to suffer while world powers look the other way. Our political system is failing, and bold, principled leadership is more urgent than ever. Don't miss this eye-opening truth they don't want you to know.   Find me and the show on social media. Click the following links or search @DrWilmerLeon on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Patreon and YouTube!   Hey everyone, Dr. Wilmer here! If you've been enjoying my deep dives into the real stories behind the headlines and appreciate the balanced perspective I bring, I'd love your support on my Patreon channel. Your contribution helps me keep "Connecting the Dots" alive, revealing the truth behind the news. Join our community, and together, let's keep uncovering the hidden truths and making sense of the world. Thank you for being a part of this journey!   Wilmer Leon (00:00): Reuters reports. Israel's Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside as many as 5,000. Taiwan made pagers ordered by the Lebanese group Hezbollah months before they were detonated. Is anyone safe? Let's talk. Announcer (00:27): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Wilmer Leon (00:34): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon and I am Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they happen in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historic context in which most of these events take place. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between these events in the broader historic context in which they occur. This enables you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live on today's episode. The issue before us is, as I said earlier, is anyone safe? Israel's consumer tech terrorism across Lebanon signals a terrifying new threat raising urgent concerns about the security of international supply chains and the growing insecurity of civilians worldwide. For insight into this, let's turn to my guest. He's a lawyer and journalist. He's based in Montreal, Canada and Kalama Greece. In fact, he joins us from Ada Greece. Dimitry Lascaris, Dmitri, welcome to the show. Dimitry Lascaris  (01:48): Thank you, Wilmer. It's a pleasure to be here. Wilmer Leon (01:51): So I thought that this most recent act of terrorism in a spate of acts of terrorism would be a great place to start the conversation. The cradle reports that this brutal attack should serve as a dire warning to the world. A stark reminder that the occupation states criminal actions, no, no limits indiscriminately targeting those who challenge its interest or those of its Western allies. Dmitri, your thoughts? Dimitry Lascaris  (02:24): Well, for really decades, but particularly the last 11 months, the West and particularly the major Western powers, the governments of the United States, Britain, Germany, and France, have sent an unequivocal message to Israel. And that message is you can do whatever you want. There's no red line From our perspective, we will continue to shovel weapons your way, even if that involves the depletion of our own weapon stocks. We will continue to exercise vetoes or abstentions at United Nations. We will continue to repeat your lies and support you rhetorically and from a propagandistic perspective. We'll continue to give you trade benefits under free trade agreements. So-called free trade agreements between our countries and yours. We will not impose any sanctions on you, even though we've imposed sanctions on states that were far less violative of international law and human rights than you. That's the message. They got the message very loudly and clearly, and I fear, I hope I'm wrong, Wilmer, I really do. (03:31): But I fear that this pager, walkie talkie terrorist attack is just a harbinger of things to come. Who knows what dirty, nasty, terroristic tricks Israel has up its sleeve, and it is not used up until this point in time because frankly before the genocide began in Gaza, there was some restraint being imposed upon Israel. It wasn't much, but there was some, so occasionally you would get leaders of the United States or other western countries signaling to Israel that their appetite for the depravity of this genocidal regime was not unlimited, but that's gone away now. And so everything that Israel is capable of doing from the perspective of violence, terror, oppression, we are now going to see it's all going to come out. And I think that this is just an indication of what is coming. What we saw in Lebanon last week, and it was as the former head of the CIA Leon Panetta said to a national audience on CBS last week, it was unquestionably a form of terrorism. Wilmer Leon (04:38): When someone in the position and former positions such as Leon Panetta makes a statement like that, what does that signal to you? Former head of the CIA, he's from the Clinton camp and advisors advisor Conti to the biggest and the best, and I put that in quotes. What does that signal to you? He definitely went off script on that one. Dimitry Lascaris  (05:16): Yeah, I don't think that Leon Panetta has had a come to Jesus moment. I think he's still the self-interested war monger, (05:27): Neoliberal that he always was. So when I saw this statement, which was startling, it was quite something to see the former head of the CIA. And by the way, this was not surprisingly, I guess picked up by the Israeli press. The Times of Israel had an article yesterday which was expressing its chagrin that Leon Panetta said this. So what's going on here? I can only hazard a guess Wilmer because I'm not in the man's mind and nor do I have any desire to be. But the first thing that popped into my head was this guy has some connection to a major technology company, and he's doing this because his boss or his benefactors in the technology industry are alarmed. They're alarmed about the fact that their business model is being threatened by Israel's latest technological terrorist gimmick. And sure enough, I didn't know this before I learned of the Panetta statement to CBS, but I discovered that he is on the board of Oracle, one of the most important, significant, powerful and influential technology companies in the world based in the United States. (06:30): Of course, whether this is influencing him, I can't say for sure, but the best guess that I can hazard based on the limited information available to me is that his colleagues in the technology industry are very upset about this and so should they be. If they're not, they aren't nearly the wizards and geniuses that they claim to be. If I were in their position, I'd be saying already the public has serious doubts. Thanks, for example, to the heroic revelations from Edward Snowden about the devices we sell to them, the technologies we sell to them, they already suspecting that this is a means whereby we can engage in mass surveillance, destroy their privacy, but never before have they thought that these devices that we sell to them are potentially bombs that could blind them, dismember them, kill them, or their children. Now everybody, any rational human being out there who knows about this terrorist attack has that thought in their mind, and that is a serious threat to the profitability of the Western technology industry. Wilmer Leon (07:40): One of the things that really, I use the word surprise, but I use it guardedly, is how little follow up there has been with Western media in terms of how horrific these actions by Israel have been. I remember reading a story, I think the young girl's name was Fatima, she was maybe five or six years old. Her father's pager was on the kitchen table. The pager goes off, she picks up the pager to take it to her father, and before she can get to him, the pager explodes. And I think the story said blowing off half of her face. And this happened all over Lebanon and it was reported on, but the context in which it was reported on was solely, solely lacking. Dimitry Lascaris  (08:38): I am going to plug two outlets right now, and I want be clear before I do that, that I have absolutely no connection to them. None whatsoever. And they are two telegram channels. One of them is called the Military Media Channel and the other is called the Resistance News Network. These were brought to my attention a few months ago by people in Lebanon who are sympathetic to the resistance. And every single day Wilmer, I spend, I devote an hour to two hours to reviewing what they put out, not because I believe everything that they say they're engaged in a war and information is part of warfare. So I'm cognizant of that, but they're giving us, they offer to us another perspective. So one of the things that I've learned by following the military media channel and the Rise News Network is that an extraordinary number of people, and they've offered gruesome video evidence and photographic evidence to back this up in Lebanon, were blinded by these devices. (09:42): People lost their hands. There are people with holes in their pelvises, in their abdomens, and I'm talking about children, women, elderly men, and of course military aged men. A cross section of Lebanese society was basically maimed, wounded and killed massed by these attacks. You're not going to find this information in the Western media, nor would you find information in the western media about the retaliation that Hezbollah has engaged in since then. It's amazing the disparity of the information you see from them and what you're seeing from the Western media. All of these sources I counsel, everybody who's listening to our conversation should be approached with a healthy degree of skepticism. You should believe nothing on its face, always exercise your own independent thinking, your capacity for critical thought, but do not confine yourselves to Western media because if you do that, you're going to end up supporting a diabolical, genocidal regime. That's what's going to happen to you. You need to have access to all sources of information and think critically. Wilmer Leon (10:48): Another source that I go to is Laith maros free Palestine tv. For me, that's another invaluable source for getting an alternative perspective. I'm glad that you framed it in the manner in which you did, because one of the elements of the so-called analysis is October 7th. It says, though this conflict started on October 7th, ignoring the decades of oppression that Palestinians have been subjected to. When I listen to whether it's Kamala Harris, when I listen to former President Donald Trump, if they make reference to the conflict at some point in their dialogue, it's going to be October 7th. Look what Hamas did on October 7th, totally ignoring 70 years of oppression. And so how this gets framed is very, very important. Dimitry Lascaris  (12:01): Oh, 100% Wilmer. And I think that the answer that Kamala Harris gave in the debate with Trump to the question of how to deal with the human tragedy as they call it, it's not really a human tragedy, it's much more than that. It is a genocide. In Gaza, the way she responded, Wilmer Leon (12:21): The earthquake in Haiti was a human tragedy. Correct. Dimitry Lascaris  (12:28): Humans did not cause the earthquake. You're right. Absolutely. Wilmer Leon (12:31): Exactly. And so I made that point again because how these things get framed is incredibly, famine is a human tragedy. Floods are human. So go ahead. Dimitry Lascaris  (12:45): So the first thing out of her mouth, and I'm sure you know this Wilmer, probably many of the people listening us know this. Kamala Harris went into that debate with extensive training from public relations professionals. And she was told, when you get the question about Israel, because she knew there, they all knew a question about Israel was coming. This is how you start your answer. Wilmer Leon (13:09): Wait a minute, wait minute, wait minute, wait a minute, minute, wait a minute. Lemme see if I can channel my inner Dmitri Karus. Israel has a right to defend itself. Dimitry Lascaris  (13:20): That was actually the second thing mouth, the first thing out of her mouth. There was no question. You're absolutely right. That was going to be front and center in her answer to any question about Israel and Gaza. But the first thing out of her mouth was, let's remember when this all began. October 7th, right? A colossal lie, A stupendous lie. And of course, the moderators who in my opinion were extraordinarily biased in favor of Kamala Harris, they didn't do any fact checking of her. They said nothing at this point. It might've been the most audacious lie during the entire debate, the one that certainly has the most impact on actual human lives. This did not start on October 7th. This started decades ago when the Palestinian people were dispossessed of their land forcibly by Zionist militias in the nakba. And even before then, (14:16): And it has continued year after year after year, you can go and consult the casualty figures from any independent reputable source like the United Nations. And you will find that year after year after year for decades, the Palestinian people have suffered far more civilian casualties than Israelis every year. And it's a multiple. We're talking about a ratio 10 to one, 15 to 1...21. How the hell can you say in good conscience that all of this began what we're seeing today in Gaza and now in the West Bank, that this began on October 7th. It takes a colossal act of self-deception and mendacity to say such a thing. And she was prepared to say exactly that, and it was the first thing that came out of her mouth. This is the peculiar expertise that sort of the propaganda system part excellence that we have in the West is they always start history on the date that is most advantageous to their narrative always. And we always fall for this like suckers, like chumps, like as Malcolm X said many times, you're a sucker, you're a chump. That's exactly what we are when we believe this crap, that history starts on the date that's most advantageous to our government's narrative. So Wilmer Leon (15:33): Article 51 of additional protocol one to the Geneva Convention from 1949, it prohibits the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and Article 85 lists attacks on civilians as grave breaches, that amount to war crimes, still talking about these pagers in these walkie talkies, you have to identify who qualifies as a combatant under international humanitarian law when analyzing the pager detonations, and this is from the cradle, when analyzing the pager detonations from a legal standpoint, it becomes clear that Israel's killing spree in Lebanon lies somewhere between a war crime and an act of terrorism. And they say the classification depends on the current state of affairs. Your thoughts, because one of the things to your point about, we have to look at this in the context of October 7th, a lot of this depends on how it gets classified. But as a former prosecutor, if she does not realize when she makes the statement about October 7th, when she makes the statement about Israel has the right to defend itself based upon international law, that's just flat out wrong. Dimitry Lascaris  (17:10): Yeah, I need to address this whole thing about a former prosecutor. Okay? And I know you're entirely right to bring this up, that that's what she is, Kamala Harris, and that's what people constantly point out about her. Let's just start by acknowledging that the US justice system is rigged. It's rigged against people of color, the poor, minorities, workers. It always has been, and it arguably is worse now that it has been at any time in the post World War II history. And so Kamala Harris, the fact that she was a prosecutor, nobody should think that that for one moment has conferred upon her any expertise in of the rule of law. Prosecutors in the United States are basically instruments of oppression, and that's what she was when she was a prosecutor. In any event, it's important to know that something can be a war crime in an act of terrorism. (18:05): At the same time, these concepts are not mutually exclusive and in my opinion, as a capacity as a lawyer, these fall squarely within the definition of a war crime. And within the classical conventional definition of terrorism in the West, which is the use of violence or threats of violence against civilians or civilian infrastructure in order to achieve a political objective. Clearly the political objective here is to terrorize the Lebanese population into either turning against Hezbollah or if you're already a supportive of Hezbollah, to demanding that Hezbollah stand down and allow Israel to complete the genocide without any armed resistance from outside of occupied Palestine. That's the political objective. And clearly this was going to have a massive and unknowable impact on the civilian population because nobody can know where a pager is going to be at any time. If you just think about, I don't know if you've used a pager before or some other electronic, Wilmer Leon (19:09): I'm old enough, I'm pre-cell phone. You can tell by the gray. Dimitry Lascaris  (19:12): I'm pre too. In days bygone, I too used a pager. So I used many different, I used a Blackberry, I used a Motorola phone back in the nineties. And think about what you did with that device when it was in your possession. Oftentimes you put it down in the kitchen. Sometimes your children would play with it, sometimes you would leave it in your car, you'd forget it in your car, or sometimes you'd have it on you while you're driving your car. Or you might just be a civilian who is or is not sympathetic to Hezbollah like a doctor and you use this device. There is absolutely no way Wilmer, absolutely no way that the Israeli military could have made a confident assessment of who was going to be killed and maimed directly and indirectly by the explosion of these devices, by the detonation of these devices that is both a war crime and an act of terrorism. Wilmer Leon (20:13): A minute there's, there's another element to this as well. I believe there's a cultural element in the West, the cell phone, the pager is a very personal item. I don't give my cell phone, I don't even give my cell phone to my son. He has his own phone. I don't give my cell phone to my wife. She has her own phone. In many African countries and middle Eastern countries, there may be one cell phone in a family, and so it gets or pager, it gets distributed and used, I'll say indiscriminately within a family. It could be within a neighborhood. So you don't even really know at any given time who's going to be to your point. But I also wanted to add the cultural aspect of this. You have no idea whether the person whose name is on the contract is going to be the sole user of that device. Dimitry Lascaris  (21:24): I think that's an excellent point. The only modification I would add to it is that I wouldn't say it's so much cultural as it is socioeconomic. Wilmer Leon (21:34): Okay, I got it. Dimitry Lascaris  (21:35): But at the end of the day, it's a distinction without difference Wil. But I think what, from my perspective, why your point is so powerful is because people living in West Asia generally don't have ordinary citizens. The economic means that we have. Wilmer Leon (21:51): Correct, correct. Good point. Dimitry Lascaris  (21:52): You can't have multiple devices in a family. Absolutely. That is a very important consideration. But also another consideration is that a pager, one of the reasons why we want to have our own cell phones is because there's a lot of stuff in there that's personal to us. Emails, there's text messages and so forth. The page is different. A pager just makes a noise when somebody wants to draw your attention to something. (22:17): So people are much more, I think, willing to share pagers with others, leave them in the possession of others. Then they might be with a cell phone, for example, or a tablet. So this is a particularly dangerous device. And if you're going to use it as an explosive for all of the reasons that you and I have been discussing, there is a very high potential that you are going to maim or kill innocent bystanders. And you have no way, no way of accurately assessing what the damage is going to be to the people in those categories. Wilmer Leon (22:52): And that is considered by international standards, collective punishment of civilians. And that is illegal. And I understand your point about being a prosecutor, but she was a prosecutor. And I go back to that because that's a point that her campaign and that she loves to make, that is a point of validation of her and for her. So since they want to use that point, then I'll use the point. Dimitry Lascaris  (23:24): Totally, totally. You're absolutely right. Absolutely. Wilmer Leon (23:28): It's just wrong. The world isn't flat, the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, and one plus one does not equal 17. I want to go back to something else that Joe Biden has said on more than one occasion that he is a Zionist. In fact, the last maybe it wasn't the, yeah, I think it was the last time Netanyahu was at the White House, sitting next to Joe Biden, he turned to Joe Biden and said, you are a Zionist. In fact, he said, you are a Irish Zionist. That spoke volumes to me. It took me back to the Secretary of State saying, when he first got to the region in October, I'm not only here as the American secretary, Tony Blink said, I'm not only here as a Secretary of state, I'm here as a Jew. What does that say to you about the mindset and how do statements like that resonate within the region when the United States continues to try to hold itself out as some unbiased arbiter of this conflict? Is that a valid question to ask? Dimitry Lascaris  (25:01): Well, first of all, let me say that in defense of our brothers and sisters in Ireland, most of them are not Zionists. In fact, in Europe, the Irish people, I'm not talking about the political elite Ireland, the Irish people are amongst the most principled and courageous and sympathetic when it comes to the Palestinian cause, number one. Number two, I think what Anthony Blinken said was antisemitic because he was implying that if you're a Jew, you support this genocidal regime and all of the crimes that's committed over decades. But you and I both know that all around the world, there are conscientious members of the Jewish community, people who identify as Jews and who have always identified as Jews, who are adamantly opposed to Israel with every fiber of their being. So when Anthony Blinken goes to Israel and he says, I come to you as a Jew, he's implying that if you're a Jew, you support this monstrosity. (26:03): That's antisemitic fundamentally, in my opinion. But at the end of the day, and I'll tell you on a personal level, Wilmer, I've had to deal with this issue in a painful way. And the painful way in which I had to deal with it was about six years ago, there were two members of the Liberal Party caucus, the governing party in Canada who are Zionist and who happened to be Jewish as well. And I'll tell you their names. Their names are Anthony HouseFather and Michael Levitt. And at the time, Michael Levitt was the chairman of the Canada Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group. And Anthony Housefather was the vice chair, and they were the two most outspoken, aggressive defenders of Israel in the governing party's caucus. And just to give you an example of how aggressive they were in supporting Israel in 2018, a friend of mine who's a Palestinian Canadian doctor, his name is Ek Banani, he was shot by an Israeli sniper in Gaza while he was wearing medical garb. (27:10): And he was out in the field during the great march of return tending to civilians who were being shot by Israeli snipers. He himself took a bullet to each leg. And the liberal government, Justin Trudeau, on a rare occasion, condemned Israel for this. And these two characters, Michael Levitt and Anthony Housefather put out their own statement, even though they came from the same party as Justin Trudeau, and even though their boss was Justin Trudeau and defended what Israel did, and I pointed out, in my opinion, they were showing more devotion to Israel's apartheid regime than they were to Canada, which they took an oath to defend as parliamentarians. And for this, I was accused by the Prime Minister of antisemitism. I didn't say what I said because they were Jewish. I said, what I said, because they're radical Zionists. It's as simple as that. So we have to recognize, I think today that there are people in Western politics, some of whom are Jewish, but not all of whom are Jewish by any means, who place Zionist ideology over the interests of their own country. (28:23): And by the way, I saw this myself when I was a child of Greek immigrants growing up in Canada. My parents told me when I was a kid, they came from Greece. They had a nationalistic orientation, and they said, you are a Greek first and a Canadian second. They told me that when I was a little boy, they were putting the homeland where their country of origin, ahead of the country, where I, myself, their child was born. So this is not a phenomenon that's peculiar to the Jewish community. It's one that you see in all kinds of the Asdas, including my own, the Greek, the Aspera. We need to be honest and say there are people in this community and other communities who put the interests of a foreign state ahead of the country that they have sworn to represent. This is absolutely the case. And Anthony Blinken is a classic example of this. I mean, my God, he's basically telling people, he telegraphed from the outset that I'm going to prioritize the agenda of the Israeli government over that of the United States. And that's exactly what he has done every single day of this conflict. That man is unfit to be the Secretary of state of the United States. He is not serving the national interest. He is undermining the national interest. People need to be honest about that. Wilmer Leon (29:41): When you have, I think people, because of how events have unfolded, whether it be with the Ukraine, Russia conflict, whether it be with the United States trying to pick a fight with China over Taiwan, folks need to remember that the Department of State, the Secretary of State, is supposed to be the chief diplomat in the United States. When I say chief diplomat, that means using diplomacy, not militarism to solve conflict. But you have people in the Pentagon, which used to be known as the Department of War. You have people in the Pentagon looking at Tony Blink and saying, no, no, no, no, sir, no man, no, you're you. You're traversing down the wrong road here in a number of instances saying, we don't have the capability to engage in the level of militarism that you are invoking or trying to get us into. People need to understand this man is not doing his job, even though he's following in the steps of Hillary Clinton, even though he's following in the steps of Madeline Albright, he's not doing his job. Dimitry Lascaris  (31:05): Wilmer, I'm going to make a strong statement, and I'm going to go on a limb here. I think that pretty much every leader of every western country, every foreign minister of every Western country day, certainly the major ones, they're traitors, in my opinion, they're traitors. They are all betraying the interests of the people they have sworn to represent. This is true in Canada, the United States, Greece, where I'm currently situated, I believe this government as a moral matter. I don't know whether it's true from a legal perspective. I'm not offering a legal opinion here. I'm talking about ethics, morality, the moral matter. The Greek government is a traitor. They have sold us out to Brussels and Washington. They're looking out for the agenda of a narrow elite based in Brussels in Washington to the detriment of the Greek people. The same is happening in Canada. It's happening in France. (31:56): It's happening in Britain. And we as people need to rise up and put into power those who actually represent our interests right across the west. We are governed by vassals. Even the United States is governed by vassals. They're vassals of a US-based oligarchy and the military industrial complex. I cannot stress enough that incredible speech that Dwight d Eisenhower gave at the very end of his presidency. We don't talk about that enough. When he warned of the dangers of the military industrial complex, he was very clear. It was a very, very ominous warning that it was going to destroy American democracy. What happened within the next 10 years? JFK is assassinated. Malcolm X is assassinated, MLK is assassinated. Bobby Kennedy is assassinated. And from then, it's been downhill ever since, (32:47): Downhill, ever since. And we've moved gradually, incrementally towards fascism, an oligarchic led fascism. That's where we find ourselves today. People need to rise up. I'm not suggesting that people engage in violence. We can do this in a way that is nonviolent against the elites who claim to represent us and remove them from power as quickly as possible before we are all taken down by their depravity. Whatever you may think of the Palestinian cause, whatever you may think about Israel, this may not be something. This entire region may not be something that matters to you, but the implications of this go, they're global. They're global. If this stays out of control, we are all going to be devastated and impacted by it in a profoundly negative way. And ultimately, we may find ourselves in a nuclear Armageddon. Wilmer Leon (33:35): In fact, that right there, and you went down this litany of domestic assassinations, you didn't even go down the litany of African assassinations. That's a whole nother show. I just wanted to make that point. And this could also be, excuse me, a whole nother show. But I want you just to quickly, you mentioned you're in Greece. You mentioned the traitorous action of leadership. Greece has been subjected to an incredible amount of neoliberal policy and privatization, which has not, through machinations by the World Bank and the IMF and Greece has been suffering with this, I want to say it's one of the first European countries to find itself. If my memory serves me correctly involved in these practices, am I right to make that assessment? And I bring that up in validation of your point of how leadership has sold out the Greek people to oligarchs. Dimitry Lascaris  (34:47): Oh, it's so true of this country. Wilmer starting in 2010, a financial crisis that was precipitated not by the ordinary Greek workers. It was precipitated by the fraudsters, the liars, the cheats in the banking industry in Greece and beyond Greece. And so in order to bail out the banking industry, the Greek people were made to pay ordinary workers, citizens the most vulnerable. They imposed upon Greece starting in about 2010, a neoliberal austerity program, the likes of which no country in Europe had ever seen in the post World War II period. And the country suffered an economic contraction in excess of 25%, which is I think the height of the economic contraction in the United States during the Great Depression. That's how severe it was. And it was totally engineered by Washington, Brussels and Mario Draghi, who at that time was the president of UCB, was entirely avoidable. And the unemployment rate soared to something like 27, 28%. The youth unemployment rate was nexus of 50%. The suicide rate soared, the poverty rate soared, the lifespan of Greeks fell. This was all engineered by Neoliberals and in Washington and Brussels, and I think in many ways it was an experiment and they (36:10): Found out that they could get away with it. And now we're seeing this transported exported to the rest of Europe. We're seeing this done in Germany. We're seeing this done in Britain, and they just elected Keir Starmer, who's supposed to be a Labor party leader, who's supposed to be prioritizing the interests of workers. And one of the first things Keir Starmer government does, it comes out and says, oh, we're going to have to deliver some very tough medicine to you. We have some real budgetary difficulties, Wilmer Leon (36:38): Austerity measures. Dimitry Lascaris  (36:40): Absolutely. Absolutely. They don't represent us. This goes back to the question of treason. They do not represent us. They represent a neoliberal oligarchic elite whose appetite for wealth is insatiable. It's never enough. Wilmer, I got $500 billion. Ain't enough. I got a trillion dollars. Ain't enough. There's never enough money for these people. The Elon Musks of the world, the Jeff Bezos of the world, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett. These people have an insatiable appetite for money, and they are ruling us. They are the true rulers of our societies. I'm sorry to say, this is not a conspiracy theory. This is just reality by now. We should be able to recognize this. Wilmer Leon (37:23): It started in Greece in two. Who would've thought they were talking about privatizing the Parthenon. They were talking about privatizing Greek antiquity. I said, what? They were going to sell the coliseum to private interests, to raise money to pay the debt. And so you've seen it in Greece, you've seen it in Italy. You've we're seeing it now play itself out in Germany. It's playing all over Europe. It's playing itself out in France. I just wanted to quickly hit on that point. So now getting back to the conversation that all of this is inextricably linked, but wanted to get back to the point of the expansion of the conflict. You now have Hezbollah sending missiles into Israel. You have Israel increasing its attack on Southern Lebanon. Talk about how dangerous it is becoming even more dangerous if that's even imaginable, that this conflict is escalating. And what I think a lot of people are mistaking, they are mistaking restraint on behalf of the resistance for weakness. Dimitry Lascaris  (38:48): Absolutely. And when the contrary is true, restraint is a sign of strength. When you were able to control your emotions in situations where most people would feel their passions being inflamed and would act in ways that are contrary to their own interests, that's strength. That's an inner strength that we should commend and admire, and whatever we may think of, the politics of these resistance organizations in the government that we're in that particular aspect of their conduct deserves to be commended. They have shown a tremendous amount of restraint, but that doesn't mean they aren't escalating the Islamic resistance in Lebanon. The armed wing of Hezbollah has now expanded the zone of attack well beyond the 20 kilometers or so to which they can find themselves during the first 11 months. They are now attacking areas outside of Haifa. I think they've quite consciously said, we aren't going to attack the center of Haifa, yet. (39:45): We are going to attack the outline areas to give the Israelis an opportunity to retreat from the precipice to which they have brought us. There are reports that they fired, that they hit areas outside of Tel Aviv. Again, not inside the heart of Tel Aviv, but outside, I think this is a message. We can hit Tel Aviv, we can hit Haifa, draw back from the precipice to which you have brought us. They have hit the Ramat David Airbase for the first time. They hit Raphael facilities, which this is a major military contractor in Israel, which produces their obviously inadequate air defense systems in its facilities. I think it's the largest production facility they have in Israel is just outside of Haifa. So they're sending a message in a very disciplined manner despite the suffering that they have incurred over the last 10 days, and really the last 11 months that civilian casualties on the Lebanese side have been much higher from day one of this war. (40:46): The destruction to civilian infrastructure has been much higher on the Lebanese side from day one of this war. And now the disparity between what the Israelis are suffering and what the Lebanese are suffering is growing even wider. And yet we are seeing this very calculated, measured response and let us hope that there are some adults in the room somewhere in the west who will get the message. So far, there is nobody, I mean, the speech that Biden gave, I didn't have the opportunity to watch it, but I read reports about it and I saw a couple of excerpts from it suggest to me that there is no one getting the message in Washington. No one. These people are as arrogant as ever. They're as determined as ever to support this regime until it takes down the entirety of West Asia with it. Wilmer Leon (41:32): Two quick points I want to get to before we get to Biden's speech, and we'll wrap up with that. One is I think when we talk about restraint, there are some practical elements of this restraint, because Iran has been very, very clear. They don't want a war. Hezbollah has been very clear. They don't want a war. The only ones that seem to be encouraging this are Ansar, Allah in Yemen. They're saying, oh, United States wants to attack us. Please, please do that. They're the only ones that really seem to be saying, Dimitry Lascaris  (42:13): Someone's got to be the Bad cop. Wilmer. Ansar Allah is the bad cop. Wilmer Leon (42:18): And folks need to understand that's a fight you don't want. I don't know if you ever saw the story about Mike Tyson on the airplane coming across the top of his seat to beat up the guy that was kicking his seat behind him, but imagine Mike Tyson coming across the top of his seat in an airplane. You don't want that smoke quickly, though I think this is another very important aspect of this that doesn't get a whole lot of articulation or explanation. The impact that Christian nationalism is a lot of people are just attributing this to mistakenly Judaism, Zionism. They're trying to conflate the two. They are not anywhere near being the same, but Christian nationalism gets left out of this analysis. Dimitry Lascaris  (43:09): Oh, that's so true, and it's so important. The first time I went to Israel or occupied Palestine, as I prefer to call it, was when I was 21 years old. So this would've been back in the eighties. And at that point, I was basically incapable of seeing through the propaganda narrative about Israel, I believed it was assigning island of democracy in the sea of barbarism, and we had shared values, and the Israelis were just trying to live their lives in peace. But there were people in the region who were determined to destroy them for antisemitic reasons. I believed all of that. I went to Jerusalem, and I don't even remember how I found out about it, but there was this huge gathering of evangelical Christians from the United States in an outdoor stadium to which Shiman Perez, who I think at the time he was the prime minister of Israel, I think delivered the most really, it was a tremendously racist, anti-Arab racist propagandistic speech about the Zionist agenda, and they were wildly supportive of him. I saw a level of fanaticism I'd never experienced in my life sitting that Audience. Wilmer Leon (44:32): Wow, okay. Dimitry Lascaris  (44:32): These were American evangelical Christians, thousands upon thousands of them. It only was later in life that I realized as I came to study this conflict more closely that there are lots of reasons to believe that the most fanatical Zionists in the world are, in fact, Christian. Some of them are not even Christian or Jewish. They're secular. They described to this ideology for reasons that are completely non-religious. Wilmer Leon (44:58): Wasn't Theodore Herzl an atheist. Dimitry Lascaris  (45:00): I believe he was. That's my understanding. Absolutely. Yeah. (45:04): So this is a non religious ideology. It is an ideology of imperialism and colonialism and racism, and we shouldn't be shy about saying that, and never ever conflate that ideology with any particular religion or ethnic group, whether it be Judaism or Christianity, or of course there are many wonderful Christians who are adamantly opposed to what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people. There's a segment of self-professed Christians. I dispute whether they're Christians at all, just as I dispute whether Jewish Zionists are actually Jews. I have serious doubts about that. But they call themselves Jews. They call themselves Christians. They do not represent the Christian community. They do not represent the Jewish community. They represent an ideology that is racist and colonial. Wilmer Leon (45:50): In fact, to that point, Benjamin Netanyahu, his last name, his family last name isn't really Netanyahu. It's like WojaKowski, Mil Mil Milakowski, Milakowski. His grandfather immigrated from Poland to the region in 1920 and Arabis the family last. And there are a number of those who now are proclaiming their rights to that land, when in fact they are European immigrants. That that's hence the whole thing in terms of it's a settler colonial project. And people and settler colonial projects don't go nicely. They don't go quietly when you invade somebody else's land. The people that are there, the indigenous population usually wants to resist. But I make the point that so many of these people that are proclaiming a heritage to the space are actually parts of a settler colonial project. Dimitry Lascaris  (47:13): Absolutely, and you reminded me. So it's something I got. It's a be on my mind. And I got to say, does everybody notice when Netanyahu speaks? He sounds like he comes from the streets of New York because Wilmer Leon (47:23): He does, or Philly. Dimitry Lascaris  (47:25): Philly, yeah. Or Philly. Sure. I lived in New York for six years, and if I ran into that dude in the street and didn't know who he was, I'd say he was in New York or he is a Philly. He's from the northeast of the United States. Why does he speak that way? Because fundamentally, he is an American and he's speaking to an American audience. He's not from the region, he's not indigenous the region. I mean, come on, man. Benjamin Netanyahu, that man is indigenous to the region of West Asia. He's an alien in the region of West Asia, and he's treating people in the region like he's an alien. And why does he speak that way? He speaks that way because ultimately the very existence of Israel depends upon the sport of the United States people, the Society of the United States. Without that support, Israel would not exist in its current form. Impossible. Wilmer Leon (48:15): Final point here, and you mentioned Joe Biden's speech at the un. I want to read two short excerpts, which I think speak volumes from a couple of perspectives. The Washington Post reported Biden points to the relative success of his administration's efforts to rally western support for Ukraine, coordinating a robust response with European partners to the Russian invasion and reinvigorating the transatlantic alliance. He stressed, he didn't want to see a full scale war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. He called for the war to end. Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell. Thousands and thousands killed including aid workers. Too many families dislocated crowding into tents facing a dire humanitarian situation. They didn't ask for this war. Hamas started. (49:16): So a couple of things. One, I'm looking at what he said, and I'm looking at how the Washington Post has reported. I go back to the question we talked about earlier. When we hear Vice President Harris, secretary of State, Blinken Biden and others say that Israel has the right to defend itself, then you hear Biden say, this war has to stop. Well, the conflict in Ukraine started under his administration, and the United States started the conflict again, talking about restraint being mistaken for weakness. And in terms of what he sees in Gaza, if he truly wants it to stop, all he has to do is pick up the phone. Tell Netanyahu you don't get another artillery shell. You don't get another tank, you don't get another dime, and the war stops in two days. Is that too simplistic, Dmitri Karus? Dimitry Lascaris  (50:23): No, there's absolutely not. It is absolutely the reality, and I'm as hostile to the Israel lobby as anybody, so please don't mistake me as an apologist for the Israel lobby. But I think that people like John Meir shier, for example, all my respect a lot are grossly overestimating the power of the Israel lobby. I don't think that, sure, the Israel lobby can take out people who don't have a lot of power. (50:56): They can take out like Val Bowman, they can take out Cori Bush, and maybe people are somewhat more powerful, but the president of the United States states, the sitting president of the United States, what are they going to remove him from office? No, they're not going to be able to remove him from office. If he wanted to actually stop the war in Gaza, he could stop the war in Gaza with a phone call. It is that simple. He doesn't do it because as he told us, he's a Zionist. I mean, he told us, and he's also said repeatedly, Wilmer, as I'm sure you know, if Israel didn't exist, we would have to invent it in order to protect America's, what he calls, not really, but what he calls America's strategic interest in the region. What that really means is the interest of the US oligarchy, not the American. (51:39): The unsinkable aircraft carrier in the region. (51:44): A hundred percent. A hundred percent. So all of this is Kabuki theater. Joe Biden wants Israel to achieve the agenda that Netanyahu is set for it, which is to destroy by any and all means necessary any resistance to Western slash Israeli hegemony in West Asia. He wants them to achieve that objective. That should be our operating assumption. And just because from time to time, he or Blinken or anonymous sources go to the press and say, oh, we're frustrated with Benjamin Netanyahu and we really want to cease fire, and man, we feel so terrible about what's happening to those civilians, too many are dying. Nobody should buy any of this crap. Watch what they do. Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do. And what they're doing is enabling a genocide that is unequivocal. Wilmer Leon (52:37): And you mentioned the power of APAC, and we will wrap up with this. And folks, those of you that are listening to this, that are rolling your eyes and saying, oh, this is propaganda. Look it up. I mean, there's hardly anything that's been said here that you can't research and find to be true. APAC boasted back, I want to say it was in April in the New York Times, you mentioned Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush. They touted, they bragged in the New York Times and the Washington Post that they were going to spend $100 million in the US election to unseat Democrats that they deemed to be anti Zionist. And Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush were victims of that. And I put that in quotes because at the time that that story was released, I didn't hear anybody in the Democratic Party come out and challenge APAC for making that statement. (53:46): It was only after Cori Bush lost that. She then came out and said, APAC, I'm coming after your village. Well, if you'd have said that on the front end, you'd probably still be in office because that could have been used as a rallying point. If they're going to spend a hundred million dollars, we need a hundred million votes. That to me, would've been the line that would've made the difference. And Kamala Harris finds herself in the same position. When you look at the data, over 70% of Americans want this thing ended and they want it ended. Now, she would gain votes outside of the money she would lose from APAC funding. If she were truly looking at this from an electoral politics perspective, she would gain votes. The race wouldn't even be close if she erred on the side of Wright. And on the right side of history with that, Dimitri Lascaris, I'll let you take us home, what you got, Dimitry Lascaris  (55:02): You can get elected in the United States, despite all the obstacles by running as a principled candidate committed to the wishes and the priorities of the people, you can absolutely get elected. The problem Wilmer is that the system is constructed in such a way as to squash anybody who actually has a commitment to justice and to representing the wishes of the people. There are a series of filters that have been set up. So for example, you're seeing now, I'm actually working on Jill Stein's campaign. (55:33): They're waging, and I don't think any candidate is perfect, and I don't have an expectation that Jill is going to win. I certainly would love for that to happen. But the Democratic Party is waging war against the Green Party candidacy in every single state, a legal warfare. And they have enormous resources at their disposal to do that because the oligarchy is funneling massive amounts of money to them, to squash candidates like Jill Stein. If we had a system where it was a level playing field, so people who were truly committed to the wishes of the people and were able to, they were given an equal amount of airtime to other candidates who favored the wealthy, for example, you would see principled, honorable, decent people being elected to public office over and over and over again. But we have a political system throughout the west. This is not peculiar to the us, although I think the US is a bit of an extreme case. It's also true in Canada, it's also true in Western European countries, a series of filters that have been established to squash candidates before they get an opportunity to present their case to the people. If we could get them before the people on an equal playing field, the best candidates would win time and again, the problem is the system is designed to defeat them before they even get out of the gate. Wilmer Leon (56:55): And to that, I say, dare to be moral, dare to stand on the side of right. Dare to be on the right side of history. With that, let me say Dimitri Lascaris, I want to thank you so much for giving me the time that you've given me today. I greatly, greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining the show. Dimitry Lascaris  (57:16): Great pleasure, Wilmer. As always. We've had opportunity to speak before and it's the first time we had to meet today, and I love what you do and keep doing it. Wilmer Leon (57:25): Well, thank you. Thank you. Without guests like you, I'd just be sitting here talking to myself. Folks, thank you all so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wilmer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. Also, please follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, follow on social media. You can find all the links below in the show description. Remember, this is where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge because talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter here on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Wilmer Leon. Have a great one. Peace and blessings. I'm out Announcer (58:10): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.  

On September 13, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a press conference in which he accused the Russian media outlet RT of covertly disseminating Kremlin-produced content and messaging via African Stream, a PanAfrican media platform distributed via its website, AfricanStream.media, and on social media platforms.   Shortly after Blinken's press conference YouTube suspended African Stream's channel. Meta rapidly followed suit, suspending its accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. On September 24th, TikTok bowed to the pressure and suspended African Stream's account as well.   Jimmy discusses this transparent act of government censorship that liberals will nevertheless applaud because they've fully bought into Russiagate.   Plus segments on Rep. Thomas Massie calling out both parties' corruption over the budget, former CIA head Leon Panetta describing Israel's pager attacks on Lebanon as “terrorism,” Elon Musk caving to Brazilian censors and more than 700 members of the deep state endorsing Kamala Harris.   Also featuring Stef Zamorano and Mike MacRae. And a phone call from Joe Biden!

Townhall Review - September 28, 2024 Hugh Hewitt turns to Florida Congressman Mike Waltz to discuss Israel's overnight attack on Hezbollah, severely damaging its missile fleet and raising questions about a potential conflict with Iran.  Joe Piscopo questions retired General Jack Keane about the possibility of U.S. troops being used in a potential ground war in the Middle East.  John Solomon and Michael Oren discuss Israel's preparation for possible ground action in Southern Lebanon. Oren also criticizes the lack of consequences for Hezbollah's violations of UN resolutions and questions the conditional nature of U.S. support for Israel. Tony Perkins, host of “This Week on the Hill” talks with former Secretary of State under Trump, Mike Pompeo, about the Middle East's shift from peace under the Abraham Accords during Trump's tenure to chaos under the Biden administration. Victor Davis Hanson explains that Israel has decisively disrupted Hezbollah's operations by taking out its leadership and destroying its missile launchers. He emphasizes that Israel is showing strength and resilience against Hezbollah and Iran, leaving their adversaries uncertain about escalating the conflict further. Seth Leibsohn invites Seth Mandel of Commentary Magazine to discuss Leon Panetta's controversial comments labeling Israel's pager plot against Hezbollah as terrorism. They argue that targeting enemy communication systems is a legitimate, time-honored strategy in warfare.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent days, Israel has conducted history's most humane, discriminating and militarily successful attack on thousands of terrorists deeply embedded in a civilian population. It did so by turning pagers and walkie-talkies into precision weapons. Middle East expert Michael Doran calls it “Operation Grim Beeper.”   The genius of the Israeli strikes is that the enemy actually did the targeting for the Jewish State. Hezbollah only gave its most important commanders and operatives these communication devices. Once the jihidists realized the extent to which their systems are compromised, they were reduced to meeting face-to-face, affording Israel an opportunity to take them out with more traditional techniques.   So why would Leon Panetta, a top national security Democrat, say that Israel is engaged in “terrorism”? Evidently, like many others in his party, he wants Israel to lose. Fortunately, most Americans disagree.   This is Frank Gaffney.    

Israel's strikes in Lebanon kill more than 180 people, Lebanese officials say. Former CIA director Leon Panetta calls Israel's pager explosion operation "terrorism." Fetterman shades Bernie Sanders on Netanyahu criticism and praises "blowing up the pagers" and striking Lebanon: "I love it." Mark Robinson's top campaign officials resign after scandal. HOSTS: Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur), Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks

In hour 2, Chris talks about Kamala Harris saying she wants another debate 'With the former vice president', but who could she mean? Dan Quayle? Also Israel has fun with the Pager bombs but Leon Panetta says it's Terrorism... For more coverage on the issues that matter to you, download the WMAL app, visit WMAL.com or tune in love on WMAL-FM 105.9 from 9:00am-12:00pm Monday-Friday  To join the conversation, check us out on X @WMAL and @ChrisPlanteShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After another attempt on former president Donald Trump's life, the US is left asking many questions - are we in the midst of a security scandal and if so, do members of the Secret Service now need to be fired? Could it change the election? And is America on the brink of chaos?On this latest episode Piers Morgan is joined by: Former US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, US Air Force veteran and YouTuber Jake Broe, podcast and radio host Ben Ferguson, former Navy Seal & Author Jonathan T Gilliam, Trump's former lawyer Jenna Ellis, former British Conservative MP Louise Mensch, comedian and commentator Jimmy Dore and Former Candidate for President and host of Social Contract with Joe Walsh, Joe Walsh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready to rethink everything you know about the Democratic Party! In this explosive episode of Connecting the Dots, I sit down with historian and author Jeremy Kuzmarov to reveal how the party's messaging has quietly embraced militarism—and what it means for America's future. This isn't just another political chat; we're diving deep into the hidden history behind today's headlines, exposing the bipartisan grip of the military-industrial complex on both parties. Jeremy and I break down how Democrats have shaped U.S. foreign policy, fueling wars and global interventions that have real-world impacts on immigration and international relations. If you're ready for a raw, eye-opening conversation on how our political system prioritizes power over peace, you won't want to miss this! Tune in for insights that challenge the status quo and uncover the urgent need for a more balanced, humane approach to politics, both at home and abroad. Watch or Listen now to join the conversation! Find me and the show on social media. Click the following links or search @DrWilmerLeon on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Patreon and YouTube!   Hey everyone, Dr. Wilmer here! If you've been enjoying my deep dives into the real stories behind the headlines and appreciate the balanced perspective I bring, I'd love your support on my Patreon channel. Your contribution helps me keep "Connecting the Dots" alive, revealing the truth behind the news. Join our community, and together, let's keep uncovering the hidden truths and making sense of the world. Thank you for being a part of this journey! Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:00:00): Hey, here are a couple questions. Has the messaging from the Democrats changed over the past few years? Is the messaging more jingoistic, more saber rattling, have they become the party of militarism? Let's find out Announcer (00:00:22): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:00:30): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. I am Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they happen in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which they take place. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between these events and the broader historic context in which they occur, thus enabling you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live. On today's episode. The issue before is militarism and messaging. My guest is a man who holds a PhD in American history from Brandeis University. He's the managing editor of Covert Action Magazine. He's the author of five books on US Foreign Policy. He's the author of a piece at Covert Action entitled DNC Convention Features former CIA director who was in charge of drone programs that killed thousands. He is Dr. Jeremy Komaroff. Jeremy, welcome to the show. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:01:39): Thanks so much for having me. Great to be with you. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:01:41): You open your peace in covert action as follows, Leon Panetta was drowned out by anti-war activists when he spoke at the 2016 convention, but not this time. Former CIA director, Leon Panetta, who was the director from 2009 to 2011, was among the featured speakers on the final day of the DNC in Chicago on August 22nd when Kamala Harris accepted the party's nomination as its presidential candidate. Jeremy, does this represent just a shift in rhetoric, or is this a shift in policy and a shift in direction? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:02:25): Well, I think we see a lot of continuity. I mean, Panetta was there in 2016. He's giving the same kind of speech eight years later. In 2016, he was really promoting these anti-Russia themes, anti Putin. This was the forerunner of the Russia gate. They were already attacking Donald Trump as a Russian agents. And his speech in 2024 was the same kind of thing. It was really very jingoistic militaristic in that speech. He was invoking the glory of the Obama administration assassination of Osama Bin Laden or alleged assassination because there are a lot of different theories about what really might've gone on there. And the official story was shown to be a lie. Seymour Hirsch had a piece that was very good, and he compared it to Alice Wonderland, and their rhetoric was so far out there as to what really is known to have happened. And yeah, there are a lot of question mark or they dumped the body at sea, so there are no autopsy and some question if that was even Bin Laden. (00:03:31): Some people believe he died years earlier from renal failure. But in any event, that's the kind of thing they were doing just touting the War on terror. The US military Panetta said something that America made mistake of trying to be isolationist in the 1930s. And there's this kind of insinuation, you can't appease Putin as if he the new Hitler and America was not really isolationist. It was a global empire starting the late 19th century when it acquired the Philippines and Puerto Rico and Cuba and function as a global empire from that time period. So it never really isolationist. And FDR had this major naval buildup in the Asia Pacific that essentially provoked the Pacific War. It was a horrific war. So I mean, he obviously doesn't know his history that well, but this is just theater. Yeah, it's a very hawkish theme. He's a dancing and his speech echoed Kamala Harris' speech, anti-Russia themes, pro-military themes. (00:04:36): So that's what you get nowadays out of the Democratic party. And yeah, I mean there were booze of Panetta in 2016, but it was quiet this time around. It seems that people are just trying to mobilize around Harris and the EM of the anti-war movement. I mean, there were protestors outside of the convention. A lot of that centered exclusively on Israel Palestine. So I don't know. I mean, I think the protestors in 2016 were part of the Bernie Sanders faction. Maybe they had some hope in the party then, but now I think anti-war people have no hope in the Democratic Party. So they left or somewhere outside protesting. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:05:21): Well, in fact, that was really the crux of my question, Panda's rhetoric versus the convention's response. And does the convention's response, or some might say lack of response, indicate that there's a serious shift in the party, particularly as we look at how easily war mongering legislation gets passed through Congress, through the democratic elements of Congress as it relates to funding for Ukraine and funding for Gaza and more jingoistic rhetoric as it relates towards China? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:06:01): Absolutely, and I think it's telling that Robert Kennedy and Tulsa Gabbard are considered more peace candidates and they've made a lot of statements critical of US foreign policy, especially regarding Ukraine. Less so for Kennedy, and I think also Gabbard, Israel, Gaza, but definitely Ukraine. They've both been very critical and called for easing of relation with Russia. And they've warned about the threat of nuclear war and that we're in an era and new Cuban missile crisis, they've compared it to, and they were booted out of the party. I mean, Tulsa, they were treated horribly beyond just debate. I mean, Gabbard, she was in one of the CNN debates or televised debates in 2020 as she was running in the primary. And she was viciously attacked by Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and others who dominate the party in kind of Neo McCarthy I term, and they called her a Putin stooge. (00:07:01): And a Bashir saw theologist because she wanted to, she was against the covert operations in Syria and the escalation of conflict. And somehow they called her all these kind of names and really treated her in the way that Joseph McCarthy would recognize or victim of McCarthyism with reminiscence of that. So she was totally driven out of the party. Now you find they're more on Fox News. I mean, I think the Republican, they're trying to capitalize on the disinfection of many pacifists and peace oriented people with the Democrats, and they're trying to recruit them and draw them into the fold. And that's why they brought in Kennedy and gather. But personally, I think that they're just, they're very cynical operative and their Republican party are just trying to get that vote. But they're not really peace oriented party either. And Trump's foreign policy was very bellicose and aggressive in many ways, certainly toward Latin America. (00:08:00): The drone war, Trump escalated the drone war, escalated war in Somalia, and he's very aggressive and very xenophobic and threatens a major escalation, I think with China. So I think it's just a cynical ploy by the GOP to try and get these disaffected people are disaffected with the Democrats and by recruiting Kennedy and Gabbard to create this persona as a new peace party. But I don't think they really are a peace party. And so those of us who are really committed to pacifism, anti imperialistic politics really have nowhere in the mainstream American politics, and I think we should work on developing our own independent parties. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:08:47): Before I get back to your piece, you mentioned in your earlier answer a reference to people trying to compare former President Trump to Hitler. And I was at the RNC when JD Vance was, his name was placed in nomination and he accepted the nomination. And I was doing my standup after the nomination. And I was saying as I was closing my analysis, I said, I find it very interesting, if not ironic, that a guy who just a couple of years ago was comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler is now his vice presidential nominee, and we'll be standing next to him on stage. I said, how does that happen? And when I said that, there was a guy standing next to me who turned to my cameraman and said, you guys have to leave. You have to leave right now. He was allowing us to use his space, so he was able to tell us that. But my point is, as soon as I said that, you guys got to go, you got to go right now. Explain that because I find it amazing. And only now would something like that happen in our politics. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:10:11): Yeah, well, I think it is increasingly out of the Twilight Zone. I mean, well, firstly, I think a lot of the rather is a bit overblown. I mean, I think Trump, there are a certain fascist theme in the GOP and there are concern about ascendant fascism and authoritarianism both among both parties. I mean the scapegoating of immigrants in the GOP, the extreme nationalism, ultra militarism like veneration of the military, that bears fear that the GOP leaning the fascist direction. I mean, I think some of the rhetoric about Hitler may be overblown, but yeah, it's totally ironic that he was calling him Hitler, as you say, and then he's the nominee. So that's just insane. But why did they kick you out? I mean, you were just repeating a fact that is known to be a fact, and that goes to the growing authoritarianism we see that can't, the kind of conversations we're having are not tolerated in the mainstream. And just a journalist doing his job and just reporting on something is being removed that Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:11:22): And can get you arrested and detained in airports and have your home raided by the FBI, as with Scott Ritter and O'Malley Yella and the three, Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:11:37): Yes, this is, yeah, I think what we're seeing is, yeah, more overt form of authoritarianism. And I think it's showing the flaw of American democracy. I mean, on paper there has been a democracy, but in reality for years and generation dissidents have been ostracized and marginalized and faced a lot of persecution, maybe not physical violence, although I mean under FBI Cual Pro, there were a lot of victims of state repression, people who were unjustly incarcerated sometime for decades, there were people killed. I mean the FBI infiltrated leftists in radical groups with the goal of destroying them and creating divisions. And in the Black Panther, they orchestrated murders. So I mean, there very violent, undersized underbelly of American politics. And that's coming more to the surface more and more. And I mean, you see, look, mark Zuckerberg said that Biden administration told him to censor Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:12:45): The Hunter Biden laptop story. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:12:47): Yeah, well, the hunter bought laptop and relate to COVID-19. And without your view on that, people should have a right to express it, but Zuckerman was told to censor viewed that criticized the government position. And then yeah, you have these raids going on Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:13:04): A minute, a minute, a minute because it's important. I think that people really clearly understand that the point that you just made about Zuckerberg, that's not your opinion. He stated that in a letter that he wrote to Congressman Jim Jordan. And so those who want to wait a minute, what is Jeremy talking about? Right? Google it. You can read the letter for yourselves. It was sent last week and Zuckerberg made those very clear statements and was apologetic for having done what he did in censoring those stories on Facebook because he has since come to understand that contrary to, as he was told, those were not Russian propagandist talking points. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:13:56): Exactly. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. And another fact is that Tim Waltz made statements supporting censorship if it was related to misinformation, and that seems to be the line in the Democratic Party, but they use misinformation. Could be anybody who's simply critical of the government. They call it somebody who criticizes government policy in Ukraine or vis-a-vis Russia. They say he's promoting misinformation or Russian propaganda, or the same for the Covid narrative. They question the dominant narrative. And I found the review of waltz's statements. He promoted misinformation. So for instance, he claimed that carried out chemical attacks on his own people, and that was refuted by scientists like Theor Postal did a very detailed scientific study, and I did an article and I interviewed postal and he showed me his data and this guy, the top flight MIT scientist, and he repu these claims, his analysis, and he was very neutral. (00:15:02): He wasn't really on any side of the war, and he wasn't even particularly political. It was a very objective scientific study that based on the angles, those attacks had to have occurred from certain areas that were controlled by the rebels, not the Assad government. And that other attacks didn't think that there were chemical attacks, one of those bombing of a fertilizer plant. In other case, some stuff may have been planted like dead animals to make it look like an attack because people would've been dead. He said, he showed me photos and he had images of photos where people who were on the scene would've immediately been killed if there was actually a chemical weapon attack the way they described it, and they weren't affected or sick in any way. So in any event, that's just an example of waltz can be seen to have promoted misinformation. (00:15:57): So based on his own statements, he should censor himself. But the broader point is the American constitution and the American Republic was founded on the deal to free speech, and that's what we should have. And this cancel culture. I think too often on the left, people support censorship under the GU of a cancel culture. And I think that's very dangerous, and I think people are smart enough to see which ideas are good or bad for themselves. They don't need to have this censorship. It serves no purpose, even for somebody who is promoting bad things or false information, you don't have to censor because people are smart enough to see there's no evidence behind what he's saying, which is often true, sadly, of the US government, and that's why they lose credibility. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:16:45): I've asked this question of a number of guests, Caleb Moin and I think Dr. Gerald Horn and a few others that talking about censorship in the United States, engagement in censorship, that if you look over history, particularly since World War I, this whole idea of censorship really comes to a height when the United States feels threatened. And then once the perceived enemy is vanquished, then the whole focus on censorship tends to wane if not go away. And so I'm wondering if now because we're seeing heightened censorship, if that's an indication to you how threatened the United States empire feels? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:17:34): I think so. Yeah. Censorship goes hand in hand with war. War is the enemy really of democracy. And we've been in a state of permanent war since nine 11, and I think they've manufactured this new Cold War for sustaining the military complex police state, which has to go hand in hand with censorship. And we've seen more authoritarian forms of government, even toward the domestic population, heightened militarized policing in inner cities. We've seen the government stripping funding from vital social programs, and that's automatically going to generate more and more dissent and dissatisfaction with the government and living conditions. So they have to ratchet up censorship and more authoritarian, greater authoritarianism, and that's the only way they could sustain their power, and they've really lost their governing legitimacy. People, if you talk to people from all walks of life, whether in liberal areas, conservative, you find almost universally people distrust the government and they're not happy with the direction of the country, and more and more are speaking out. So they have to censor them and try and control the media and channel any descent they want to channel it and co-opt it. And that's why a lot of the media has been co-opted their CIA or FBI, infiltrators and media, even alternative media. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:19:06): In fact, to your point about people being dissatisfied with the direction of the country, if you go to real clear politics, those polled 26.9% believe the country's heading in the right direction. 63.4 believe that the country's on the wrong track. So again, I try my best to give as much data as I can to support the positions that are being stated so the people can understand that this is substantive analysis that we're providing because talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter here. Let's go back to your piece you write, Panetta said that Harris would fit the bill as a tough commander in chief to defend the USA against tyrants and terrorists, according to Panetta. Harris knows a tyrant when she sees one and will stand up to them, unlike Donald Trump, who Panetta suggested had coddled dictators such as Putin and effectively told them they could do whatever they want. Why is that exchange or that recounting by Panetta troublesome to you? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:20:18): Well, firstly, yeah, and the statistics you're citing indicate that many Americans are increasingly seeing their own government as tyrannical. And this is the kind of tired rhetoric we've seen over and over to justify these foreign adventures and unjust and unnecessary wars that further divert our treasury away from actually solving the problem in our society. And yeah, we see, Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:20:45): Wait a minute, and many will tell you, because I've been having this conversation for at least eight years, that that's the intent, that the objective has always been to heighten the sense of insecurity within the country so that social program funding social safety net funding could be shifted away from the public to the private military industrial complex. And they talked about this when Obama came into office, they talked about this, I know I have it backwards. When Clinton came into office, they talked about this when Biden came into office, they said the narrative is more subtle with the Democrats, but the objective is still the same. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:21:32): And the rhetoric, as you see, they're really attacking Trump from the right and they're positioning themselves as more hawkish. And that's why a lot of the neoconservatives have moved into the Democratic party. And William Christol, who this neo-conservative, intellectual, and a great cheerleader for the Iraq war, he sent out a tweet, Leon Panetta quoting Ronald Reagan at the Democratic Convention. This is my Democratic convention or a CIA director quoting Ronald Reagan. And yeah, you see from that statement you read, Trump is somehow soft on the Russian, but if you actually look at Trump's policy toward Russia, he pulled out of the INF treaty, which is a very good arms limitation treaty. He ratcheted up these sanctions from hell on Russia. He ratcheted up arm sales to Ukraine, for instance. He sold javelin anti-tank missiles, which Obama had up to that point hadn't sold. So he would not soft at all. (00:22:31): And he was plotting regime change. I mean, there's a lot of continuity in foreign policy. You see a lot of continuity among administration. So Trump's approach really was not very different from Obama. He's just kind of expanding on things Obama was doing. And then Biden takes it to a further level of provoking all out war and attacking Russia directly. So the rhetoric is meaningless, but yeah, it's designed to inculcate fear. I agree with your analysis that they just try and make us fearful and on edge whether it's of the next disease pandemic or the next threat. I mean, they're always playing up the threat of North Korea or Iran. I mean, look at North Korea. I mean North Korea was bombed back to the Stone Aid by the United States during the Korean War and the US pumps South Korea with weaponry and stores nuclear weapons there. I mean, obviously North Korea is going to respond. (00:23:27): I mean, developing a nuclear weapon is their only way to save their country and survive as a nation. I mean, they see what happened to Libya, but our media doesn't present it in that way, or our political elites, they present it like North Korea as some major threat to us led by this crazy dictator. But they give no context for why North Korea would invest in nuclear weapons or missiles and how a lot of their weapon development is just designed to protect themselves from the threat of renewed invasion and being destroyed again, that they were in the Korean War, but they never give the history of the context. So the public who believes that rhetoric as in fear of North Korea one day, Iran, another day, Putin is presented in the most demonized way, conceivable a totally kind of cartoonish way as this evil Hitler type figure. So we're supposed to fear him one day, and that's how they do it, and that's how they justify this huge military budget that's approaching a trillion dollars now. And yeah, I mean the government spends a pittance on social welfare programs and education and healthcare infrastructure. I mean, that's what the government should be doing, should be helping to create a better society, better living conditions here at home. But instead, they spend a trillion on weapons. And that comes back. And now you have the law like the USA Patriot Act and 1290 D program where all that Pentagon weaponry gets put into our police forces who become more like occupying armies in inner cities and their mistreatment minority groups. So it's an ugly picture. Yeah. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:25:13): You mentioned Libya, and I think we can tie this to your piece. You mentioned Libya, and people need to remember that the execution of Libby and leader Muammar Kadafi took place under the Obama administration. Hillary Clinton was his Secretary of state, and it was Hillary Clinton, and I believe Samantha Power that convinced then President Obama to execute Kadafi. And so if we understand a lineage of thought from Hillary Clinton, her predecessor Madeline Albright, she was a student of Brzezinski who was a Russia phobe. And so there's a lineage of thought within the State Department, and now we have to understand that Vice President Harris is an acolyte of Hillary Clinton. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:26:18): And Hillary Clinton is a very dangerous figure. And I wrote a book on Bill Clinton and I did a lot of research on their career bill's career as the governor of Arkansas. So I learned a lot about Hillary, and even from that time, she's very corrupt individual. Clinton was tied with the national security establishment. He oversaw a major covert operation in Arkansas to the Nicaragua and Counter-revolutionaries, and they laundered a lot of money through illicit Proceed, and they were bringing back drugs as part of these arm smuggling operations. And Hillary worked for the Rose law firm and was representing clients who were involved in money laundering in Arkansas banks. And she was always known as a hawk. So she very unprincipled corrupt person who was involved in also all kinds of shems to raise money for Clinton's campaigns that should have put her in prison. (00:27:16): And then she was always known as a warhawk. She evolved into a major warhawk. There was a very good article in the New York Times, the Rare Good article, New York Times magazine called Hillary the Hawk, and it surveyed her career going back to the Kosovo War. She was a big proponent of the bombing there. She supported the Iraq war, every war she supported, and her hawkishness came out on Libya where she was gloating after Kadafi was lynched. She gloated, we saw he died and she was so happy about it and giggling. And I mean that was a disgrace comparable to Iraq. I mean, Libya was a well-functioning country under CA's rule. I mean, he may have had certain authoritarian features, but he used Libya's oil resources to develop their economy to invest in education. I met a number of Libyans who were able to get free education abroad that Libyan government paid for their education abroad, and they came back to work to develop their country. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:28:20): Wait a minute, wait a minute. To that point, I was teaching at Howard University at the time, and I came across some Libyan students and I asked them who was paying their tuition and they didn't understand the concept of tuition. They were saying, well, wait a minute. Why would you pay to go to college? Help us understand. They could not put their head around Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:28:50): Paying Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:28:51): For tuition. And I believe, I don't think it's a stretch for me to say that at the time that Kadafi was the leader of Libya, that Libya was the most one of, if not the most stable country on the continent. It had one of the strongest economies on the continent. And Kadafi was developing his country, developing his agriculture. He was, as they called it, greening the desert. Libya had some of the purest water in the world, some of the deepest water, the water table. And one of the big issues was he saw himself as an African, not an Arab. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:29:36): And I visited Zambia, my ex-wife was from Zambia, and I visited there in 2007 and Kadafi came during my visit and he was greeted as a hero because he was using Libby as well, resources to promote development projects across the African continent. And he was seen as somebody who stood up for African and was carrying on the tradition of Pan-Africanism figures who revered in Africa like Kwame Nama and Nelson Mandela. And he was seen an heir to that tradition. And then he was overthrown and treated worse than a dog. And Libya has now seen the return of slavery, violent extremism has come into the country, just pure chaos. And a lot of Libyan have had to flee to Europe and then the European under perilous conditions in these boats. And then Europeans complain about immigration. I mean, they turn Libyan to a hellhole and the cost in lives, and it's just sickening. (00:30:38): And Clinton was just laughing all about it and thought it was funny. And I think Kamala Harris seems to be on that intellectual level. She laughs at inappropriate moments. I've seen her. She doesn't seem to have a good grasp of world affairs, and she's close with some terrible leaders around the world, like the Washington Post report that she has developed as vice president, an unusually close relationship with Ferdinand Marcos Jr. And he's the son of one of the worst dictator of the US support in the Cold War Fernan Marco Sr. Who looted the Filipino treasury and killed who knows how many dissidents. And his son seems to be picking up where the father left off. He jailed Walden Bellow, who's a great intellectual in the Philippines, who is running for an opposition party, and they're building up US military bases in Philippines to confront China. And Harris went to ink some base deal a couple of years ago, and there were a lot of protesters for her visit. But yeah, this is one of the dictators she's very close with. So she's following this imperialistic tradition, and yeah, there should be, well, again, a lot of people have left the Democratic party. They see no hope in it, but it's troubling when this is supposedly the more liberal and humane party and this is what they're doing. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:32:07): And folks, we're connecting the dots here. That's the purpose of this podcast, is connecting, linking dots, linking historic events so that you can see the trend, you can see the pattern, you can understand what's really going on behind the scenes. Let's go to Vice President Harris's speech at the convention. She says, as commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world, and I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. She'll always honor their sacrifice as she should, but the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world that now Jeremy seems to be really throwing good money after bad because the issue now, at least in terms of the geopolitical landscape, is economic. It's not militarism. It's the United States that seems to be using militarism as its only weapon. And I use that euphemistically against this unipolar to multipolar shift with the rise of bricks and the Chinese cooperation organization, their fighting an economic war with militarism. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:33:40): Yeah, and actually it was ironic that she made those statements and that week the New Yorker published these photos from 2006 Haditha Massacre where the US military massacre, all these Iraqi civilian, and there were these horrible photos you may have seen of children who had been shot by us Marines or soldiers. So having the most lethal military force in the world, what does that mean? You go into a country like Iraq and shoot up women and children. I mean, is this something to strive for? And then as you say, this military force is getting us nowhere. I mean, it's just causing backlash against the United States. I mean, yeah, look, in Africa, all these new governments have come in and they're kicking out the US military. They don't want the bases in their country. Like in Niger, for example, a huge drone base that was removed. And I mean Ukraine Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:34:40): Just recently, a couple of soldiers within the last couple of days were harassed Incaa. And Dr. Horn was saying that this is not an isolated incident, that when you see something like this happening on the streets of tur or as many still know it as Turkey, that this is an indication that the people are rising up, not the leadership, the people. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:35:08): Absolutely. And we see, yeah, the United States is a paper tiger. I mean, look at Ukraine, billion and billion, the weaponry and Russians are gaining more and more territory every day. It's reported that even as Ukraine is taking the war into Russia, Russia's taking more territory in Eastern Ukraine every day than they were before. Israel is doing nothing in Gaza. They just leveled the place killed. According to the Lancet report, now it's about a month ago, 186,000 civilians. Now they're attacking people in the West Bank, but they've achieved nothing militarily and the United States wars were all failure in the last generation. You have Libya. I mean, they turn countries into chaos, but it's ultimately they don't achieve the broader goal they set out. I mean, look at Afghanistan 20 years and they achieved nothing, and the Taliban came back in and it's just Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:36:04): Money. Well, Lockheed Martin and McDonald Douglas made a hell of a lot of money in Afghanistan. They achieved something. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:36:10): Yeah, that's all they Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:36:11): Achieved. Stock value went pretty high. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:36:15): And I think the public needs to channel their revolt against those company in the military industrial complex. Their hard-earned taxpayer dollar. They're getting absolutely nothing for it. People are getting killed around the world that weaponry has coming, being sent to us police forces after the military used equipment. It's creating a more authoritarian environment here. And a few fat cats, what they used to call merchants of death are getting rich. And there should be a revolt against those people because they've grown rich off the misery and death of other humans. And it's not a way to run an economy or society rooted in violence and just the wealth of tiny number off the misery of everybody else. And horrific weapon we've never seen in human history, the kind of horrific weapon they're developing now. It's unfit for humanity, and there is movements to try and get universal bans on certain kinds of weapons, and that should certainly be supported as well Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:37:17): In her speech. She also said, let me say, I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I know you know, I promise. Oh no. And I want you to know, I promise to be president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self to hold sacred America's fundamental principles from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful of power. Well, when you look at the data and you look at the polling, an overwhelming majority of Americans, even Jewish Americans, want an end to the United States involvement in the genocide in Gaza. Now, she's saying that she promises to be the president of all Americans, but she and I put this on her because this was her convention, would not allow a Palestinian spokesperson, a representative of that position on the stage. Is that tone deaf or is it evidence that she's a Zionist and she's down with the, Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:38:37): Or both? Well, I think it's an illusion. They were trying to claim at the convention that she was working tirelessly for a ceasefire and for peace in the Middle East. And that's simply a lie the Biden administration has. It's been a joint US Israeli operation in Gaza. And we should recognize that Israel is basically a proxy of the United States empire in the Middle East that the US has used Israel. The reason they've given all those weapons to the Israelis over years now is that Israel has served the key function for the US Empire in the Middle East and accessing Middle East oil. Israel provides US military bases, and it does a lot of the dirty work for the US Empire going back years. For instance, in the six day war, the Israelis humiliated the US nemesis, Kamala del Nassar, who was like Kadafi, started as a pan arabist, and he was in the mold of Nassar who had moved to nationalize the Suez Canal and nationalize the oil resources and was forged alliances with Syria and forged the United Arab Republic with Syria and was promoting Arab unity so the Arab states could go strong in the face of Western imperialism and reclaim control of their chief natural resource oil. (00:39:58): And obviously the CIA tried to overthrow Nassar. They even sent in Kermit Roosevelt, a coup master who had been in Iran, but he failed. But Israel did the job in the sixth day war. They humiliated Nassar. And by that point, Israel was getting a lot of the US weapons already starred in the Kennedy administration where he basically opened the spigots. And Johnson was a huge supporter militarily of Israel. And Israel also carried a lot of covert operations in Africa that have served US interests, including countries like in Congo where they help access the mineral wealth of the Congo. So Israel has gone after the Assad dynasty was an enemy of the United States and West because they were more alive with Nassar in whose day and the Soviet Union, and they're more nationalistic so that the regime the US doesn't like and they've used Israel to Israel has been bombing Syria for a long time now and has tried to gone after Asad. (00:40:57): So these are just examples of how Israel does some of the dirty work of the United States and functions as a proxy of the United States. So the country basically are arm in arm together, and they may pay for public relations purposes. If Netanya has seen a bit extreme among some of their base or among some of the electorate, they may try and take a public distance or say they're trying to moderate his behavior, but I think that's more for public relations. They continue to provide him the weapons he needs, and they're not going to do anything. The last president who had a kind of even handed approach in the Middle East was to some extent with Dwight Eisenhower, who when Israel and Britain and France invaded Egypt, and after Nassar nationalized the Suez Canal, Eisenhower imposed sanctions on Israel and threatened why their embargo and even to punish Israel and the United Nations, but they would never do that today. (00:41:55): They're just giving cover and the weapons and diplomatic support in the UN for Israel's conduct and ethnic cleansing or genocide, whatever you want to call it. And I think they support the US imperialists support the project of a greater Israel, the Israeli far right that their goal is to expand the Israeli polity to basically remove the Palestinian and to use their land for broader projects, canal building to increase the water resource in Israel, access offshore oil. And the US supports that. Could they want a stronger Israel because that's their proxy in the Middle East and the US wants to dominate the Middle East and its oil resources for the next several generations, and they need Israel for that. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:42:46): We could spend a whole nother hour on this next question, but if you could just clarify a point that you made that you just made. You mentioned Kermit Roosevelt, you mentioned the United States going in and overthrowing Nassar, and you said they failed in, oh, you said they failed in Iran. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:43:09): Sorry. They failed in Egypt. They succeeded in Iran. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:43:12): See, okay, see that. Okay. Kermit Roosevelt and Norman Schwartzkoff Sr went in and overthrew Muhammad Ek and installed the S Shah. That's why I wanted clarification. I thought you said, and I could have misunderstood you. I thought you said they failed in Iran. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:43:32): No, and my point was they succeed in Iran, Kermit Roosevelt with a coup master. Then they sent him to Egypt to get rid of that thorn in their side, Albu master, because his pan-Arabism. But there he failed. Nassar was very popular, and he couldn't work the same magic, or they didn't have the right people to get rid of him. So that's when Israel stepped in and it was beefed up by us armed supplies. And in six days, they humiliated him and they provoked that war. It's been admitted by top Israeli leader than generals that they provoked that war. They humiliated Nassar, and three years later he died. And he was replaced by Anmar Sadat, who was much more west and abandoned his Pan Arab ideology. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:44:16): And also, again, this could be a whole nother show, but just quickly, you were talking about Israel being a US proxy, and you've mentioned this before, but I think it's folks, we're connecting the dots here, pay attention. We're connecting the dots. Ukraine is operating in a similar fashion as a US proxy in that part of the world as Israel is acting in the Middle East. And so because look, folks, the Ukraine war is lost. It's lost. And people say to me, Wilmer, you said that the war would be over in two years. And I was right as Putin wound up negotiating with, I'm drawing a blank on the Ukrainian president's name, Zelensky, vmi Zelensky. And he holds up the paper and says, we negotiated a settlement. The US sends in Boris Johnson to say, we're not going to accept this. The West will not. Hence the war is ongoing. Ukraine has no tanks of its own. They're now having to go into their prisons and empty their prisons to send convicted murderers to the frontline. They don't have an army of their own anymore. They don't have artillery of their own anymore. They don't have jets of their own anymore. Everything they're using comes from NATO and comes from the West. And it's a very same situation in Israel. Again, that could be a whole show of itself, but I just wanted to quickly connect the dots between the proxies in Israel and the proxies in Ukraine. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:46:05): And I would add the point that the United States and the people of those countries should understand, and I think this is American Jews should understand that the United States doesn't care about the people. They're using them for their own agenda. And look, Ukrainian has suffered terribly through their lines with the United States. They never would've gone to war with Russia, Ukraine and Russia got along. They had some issues, but they resolved it. And maybe the Ukrainian felt slight in some way toward the Russians, but they weren't stupid enough to take up arms against the Russians and annihilate themselves. But they thought because they had the United States and all these weapons that they could take on the Russians, and they made the same mistake as Napoleon or Hitler. I mean, the Russians are, I spent time in Russia. They're very patriotic people, and they will defend their country. (00:46:58): And this was a war provoked by the United States that basically used, and the Russians know this, that the US was using Ukraine, a battering ram against Russia, and they're going to defend themselves. And the Israeli case, look, the Israelis Israeli security has suffered tremendously. Now they're inviting attacks from all their enemies and they've shed so much blood, they're going to invite vengeance and retaliation against them, the security situation, very poor in Israel. I would not want to live in Israel, and they could invite one day their own destruction. Already, they've compromised the moral of their society. Israel was founded as a haven for Jewish people, and a lot of the very idealistic people were part of the original Zionist movement. I mean, the kibbutz was a concept of a cooperative model of an economy. But look at Israel today. It's this armed military state that is pariah around the world because of the atrocity that's carried out with support by the United States doing the United States dirty work. (00:48:05): And it's eviscerated its own democracy. I mean, it's become very repressive there. Journalists who are trying to report on what's going on in Gaza have been, I don't know. I think they've been certainly blacklist, if not jailed or shot. I mean, it's just a evolved, a violent authoritarian state. That's king of assassination. Mossad carries out assassinations around the world. It's hate and fear. It has an extreme right-wing government, this is not the ideal of a lot of the original Zionists. And a lot of American Jews are very uncomfortable the direction of that society they should be, and it could invite their own destruction one day. So I mean, that's a lesson you can take. If you lie with the empire, they'll use you for their own purpose and ultimately they'll spit you out. I mean, ask the Kurds, ask the Hmong and Lao, they've used proxies in other countries, and those proxies got totally destroyed like the Hmong and Laos or the Kurd, and they'll abandon them when it doesn't suit their agenda. They may find somebody else. And Ukrainian society has been destroyed. 500,000 youth have been killed. They don't even have enough people. How are they going to run their economy when all the youth of the country have been killed? Others had to flee. They don't want to fight the front lines. Yeah, they've sacrificed them as ponds in this war. It's sad. And Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:49:29): Lindsey Graham, Senator Lindsey Graham goes to Ukraine and encourages the Ukrainians to fight and to continue to fight. And let me just give you a quick analogy. Imagine a boxing match, and one of the cornermen is getting paid not for the win, but for the number of rounds his fighter engages in. And so that's Lindsey Graham, he's the corner man, his guy. Both of his eyes are damn near shut. He can't breathe. His lips are swollen. His head has all kinds of knots on it, and he keeps sending his guy out there to get slaughtered because he gets paid by the round instead of the knockout. Is that a fair analogy? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:50:20): Absolutely. Yeah. And I studied the history of the Vietnam War, and one thing I remember and I used to show students the TV history of the Vietnam War, and they had one, it was made in the eighties. They had one segment on the Secret War in Laos, like what I was saying with the Hmong who they used to fight the left-wing, Beth Lao and William Colby came on, was interviewed some years later. He was the CIA director. And he said, oh, well, that was a great project for us. The Hmong lasted 10 years is exactly what you're saying. Yeah, they lasted 10 round, but then they got killed. All of them. The Hmong were decimated, and they had to send, that's what the Ukrainians are doing, the hm. Had to send 14 year olds to the front lines. And a sea operative said, started to feel bad. (00:51:06): He is like, we're sending these 14 year olds on these planes to be killed, and I know they'll be killed. And I'm telling their parents, I'm patting them on the back and they'll be killed next week. And that's what's happening with Ukraine. And Graham won't send his own kids. I mean, if they're the real reading the fight, fight a war, you have to fight. If you're a real man, you'll fight it because there's a real reason your community's under attack or there's a real threat of Hitler. But instead they manufacture these wars and cowardly send and manipulate other people to fight and die. And that's the worst form of cowardice and manipulation I could think of in human society Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:51:45): As we wrap this up and folks we're connecting dots. And if you don't like what we're saying, if what we're saying makes you angry, as Malcolm said, if my telling you the truth makes you angry, don't get angry at me. Get angry at the truth. And you can look all of this up. I want to get back to your piece you quoted, and you mentioned this earlier, but Panetta quotes Ronald Reagan at a speech at the DNC, and he emphasized the isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to government. You write, Panetta ended his speech by highlighting that Harris was a good choice to reinvigorate American world leadership as she worked with 150 foreign leaders as vice president served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, worked closely with VMI Zelensky of Ukraine to fight against Russia. And you go on a number of things. You say that Panetta provided a litany, my word, not yours, of misinformation and disinformation in that part of his speech. How so? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:53:00): Well, I mean, the whole speech is disinformation because he has this mythical, romantic view of the killing of bin Laden that's not rooted in the reality. And then, yeah, he's claiming the US was an isolationist in the thirties, but the US was a global empire starting the late 19th century. And in the 30, the FDR had been the head of the secretary. I forget his position, but it was with the Navy, and he headed the Navy and he was a big naval enthusiast, and he initiated a massive naval buildup in the Asia Pacific. And then he historian believed that the key factor that provoked a Japanese counter response and led to the Pacific War. So where's the isolationism? I mean, it's not the accurate history, but I mean these conventions just about political theater. But I mean, yeah, quoting Reagan. I mean, Reagan is the icon of the Republican. That's not even your party. So what is he doing quoting Reagan? Reagan? Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:54:04): Well, he's Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:54:05): The thing that bar a right wing extremist. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:54:07): Barack Obama said that Reagan was his favorite Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:54:09): President. I know. And it shows how far to the right the whole American spectrum has been because Reagan, when he came up in the sixties, was viewed as a right wing extremist, certainly by people in the anti-war and countercultural movement. And his whole theme was to attack the mess at Berkeley. And the student, how dare they question the Vietnam War. And then when he came in, he veered American politics sharply to the right. He cut the corporate tax rate and he ramped up us militarism in Central America, and he wanted to avenge the Vietnam War. They call them Rambo Reagan. And you can't get, this is like an icon of militarism and fascism, and they're quoting him. So I mean, what kind of party is this? And we have two right-wing parties in our country. The political spectrum has shifted so far to the right, and it's created dystopia. (00:55:04): We're discussing here where we invest trillion dollars on warfare, these morally bankrupt wars. And our own societies is filled with pathologies and majors, social ills, and we never address them. So they grow worse and worse. And we're not investing in our youth and education. I mean, where I live, the teachers are so poorly paid, it is just a disgrace. And you have third world conditions like the schools. They were protests in my state a few years ago, and I covered those protests for local newspaper. And there were people showing me on their phone who taught in schools in rural areas. I traveled in Africa and third world country. Then what they're showing me is from a third world country. There were no proper sanitation in their school. There were not enough seats for the students. And these are high school teachers trying to keep them in school. So I mean, the government is failing its citizens, and this is Reaganomics 1 0 1, so we've got to get beyond that. But they're touting this guy as a hero. That's terrible. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:56:06): And again, I think this will be the final question, but the longer we talk, the more questions because of your insight, you mentioned that we're dealing with two right wing parties. Are we dealing with two right wing parties that are representing different interests of the right winging elite? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:56:30): Yes, absolutely. The GOP has always been rooted in the oil industry, the extractive industry, because their environmental policy is very favorable to big business and extractive industries and big oil. I think the military industry that hedged their bets now with both parties traditionally, like in the Reagan era, the Republican and the Reagan Republican got a lot of support in states that had big military industry. Like California used to be a center of the Republican domination and states like Arizona and the Southwest. But I think the Democrats under Clinton started courting the military contractors, and now they hedge their bets on both parties. I mean, there are a certain cultural issue, the right wing, the evangelical churches who were very gung-ho about things like against abortion. That's a certain spectrum that supports the Republican party. The Democrats go for this diversity, and they court the African-American vote, but they do so really based more on symbolism than actually delivering for the black population. (00:57:45): I think something that the black population, I think we'll see more and more than maybe leaving the Democrat. They're not getting anything. They're just getting the symbolism of some black elected officials, but they're not getting benefits to their communities. And there have been studies about this, and I heard Michael Eric Dyson, who was it? Yeah, it was Michael Eric Dyson came to where I live, and he gave a talk. He had done a study, it was him, it was, sorry, TVIs Smiley who used to work for PBS. He did a big study on black America in the state of black America, and he found it got worse under Obama, a certain core thing like income and business ownership and education because the Democrat weren't delivering on concrete social program that would benefit their community. So it's more of the symbolism and that's how they get votes. Dr. Wilmer Leon (00:58:38): And as we get out, I want to read this quickly because again, folks here on connecting the dots, we connect the dots, we provide data to support statements made. You talked about the defense industry funding both parties and Dave Calhoun, who was the CEO of Boeing. When asked in July of 2020 who Boeing would prefer Trump or Biden Boeing, and this is from CNBC, Boeing CEO. Dave Calhoun said that he was confident that whoever wins the White House in November, whether it's Donald Trump or Vice President Biden will continue supporting the defense industry. I think both candidates, at least in my view, appear globally oriented and interested in the defense of our country. And I believe they will support the industries. They'll do it in different ways and they'll have different terms, different teams for sure. But I don't think we're going to take a position on one being better than the other. And Dr. Jeremy Komarov, that I think is clear evidence of the points you made that we're dealing with two wings on the same bird. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (00:59:56): Absolutely. And viewers can go to open secrets.com and look at, well-known politician where they get their money. I mean, look up Joe Biden because I've done it. You'll see he gets a ton of money from Lockheed Martin. And yeah, the Democrats in some, I think they're getting more, Democrats now are getting more from the military contractor because they're even more hawkish, especially on Ukraine. That's been a big boon for a company like Boeing and Lockheed and surveillance industry. So I think they like Democrats even more now. And Democrats are positioning themselves to the right and more hawkish on foreign policy and even the border. I have an article next week on the border issue. Democrats are more to the right than Republican as far as spending on border surveillance. And that's a big, big industry, border surveillance drones, and that's part of the military industrial complex. Dr. Wilmer Leon (01:00:53): So I said, this was the last question. This is the last question, and you can just answer this, yes or no, all this conflation of the border, whether you're Donald Trump or whether you're Kamala Harris, whether you're Joe Biden or whoever, all of this talk about the border building, the wall security systems, drones a lot of money on the border. They don't talk about the US foreign policy that is driving people from Columbia, from Guatemala, from Mexico to the border because the United States policy is decimating their economies. And quick point people, you can look this up. About three weeks ago, Chiquita Brands was convicted in federal court in Florida of sponsoring death squads in Columbia. And now Chiquita Brands has to pay millions of dollars in reparations and damages to these victimized families in Columbia. Kamala Harris isn't talking about that. Donald Trump is, you want to deal with the border, deal with the decimation of these. Why are, ask the question, why are Haitians coming here? Because the United States is trying to rein, invade Haiti again, Jeremy, that in and of itself is another show. 30 seconds, am I right? Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (01:02:16): Yeah, absolutely. And there's no debate about that, and it's been a bipartisan in foreign policy that caused that vast immigration. And also you have to look, that caused the wreckage in those economies and societies, and you have to look at the free trade agreement. The Clinton administration promoted the nafta, and that helped decimate Mexican agriculture and forced a lot of the Mexicans to come to the United States. So nobody questioned the free trade laws. That's a big factor inducing immigration, including, especially from Mexico. So they ought to address revising those laws and creating a fairer world economy, but that might erode us primacy and the primacy of dollar, and they don't want that. So it's better to beef up the border, boost the coffer, the Lockheed Martin, instead of doing that, Dr. Wilmer Leon (01:03:10): Dr. Jeremy Komarov. In fact, here's one of the books. War Monger. I got it. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (01:03:17): Oh, great. Thank Dr. Wilmer Leon (01:03:17): You. Oh, hey, man. Great. Great work. Great, great work. Dr. Jeremy Kumar, thank you so much for joining me today. Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov (01:03:25): Thank you. Great conversation. Dr. Wilmer Leon (01:03:28): Hey folks. Thank you all so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wimer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. Also, please follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, follow us on social media. You can find all the links below in the show description. Remember, this is where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge, talks without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter here on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Wimer Leon. Have a great one. Peace. We're out Announcer (01:04:11): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

In today's episode:Donald Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago provides some subtle but provocative momentsVenezuela's Maduro says XformerlyTwitter will be shut down for ten daysSmartmatic indictments and the closing of a years-long "conspiracy theory" loopFake News NBC's Brandy Zadrozny claims on the basis of a contrived Microsoft report that Iran is interfering in our electionLeon Panetta begs for the Israel-Iran escalation the Regime just can't seem to get off the ground.Connect with Be Reasonable: https://linktr.ee/imyourmoderatorHear the show when it's released. Become a paid subscriber at imyourmoderator.substack.comVisit the show's sponsors:Diversify your assets into Bitcoin: https://partner.river.com/reasonableDiversify your assets into precious metals: reasonablegold.comOther ways to support the work:ko-fi.com/imyourmoderatorDonate btc via coinbase: 3MEh9J5sRvMfkWd4EWczrFr1iP3DBMcKk5Make life more comfortable: mypillow.com/reasonableMerch site: https://cancelcouture.com or https://riseattireusa.com/intl/cancelcouture/Follow the podcast info stream: t.me/veryreasonableOther social platforms: Truth Social, Gab, Rumble, or Gettr - @imyourmoderator Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/be-reasonable-with-your-moderator-chris-paul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode:Donald Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago provides some subtle but provocative momentsVenezuela's Maduro says XformerlyTwitter will be shut down for ten daysSmartmatic indictments and the closing of a years-long "conspiracy theory" loopFake News NBC's Brandy Zadrozny claims on the basis of a contrived Microsoft report that Iran is interfering in our electionLeon Panetta begs for the Israel-Iran escalation the Regime just can't seem to get off the ground.Connect with Be Reasonable: https://linktr.ee/imyourmoderatorHear the show when it's released. Become a paid subscriber at imyourmoderator.substack.comVisit the show's sponsors:Diversify your assets into Bitcoin: https://partner.river.com/reasonableDiversify your assets into precious metals: reasonablegold.comOther ways to support the work:ko-fi.com/imyourmoderatorDonate btc via coinbase: 3MEh9J5sRvMfkWd4EWczrFr1iP3DBMcKk5Make life more comfortable: mypillow.com/reasonableMerch site: https://cancelcouture.com or https://riseattireusa.com/intl/cancelcouture/Follow the podcast info stream: t.me/veryreasonableOther social platforms: Truth Social, Gab, Rumble, or Gettr - @imyourmoderator Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/be-reasonable-with-your-moderator-chris-paul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary General Frank McKenzie (Biography, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his new book, The Melting Point. General McKenzie was the 14th commander of the United States Central Command.  What You'll Learn Intelligence Combatant commands and their purpose Leading CENTCOM, Central Command The role of intelligence in military leadership  The US withdrawal from Afghanistan Reflections Learning from the lessons of history  The importance and impact of leadership  And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “What that leads you to is really, intelligence. It paints that picture and it describes the operational environment within which you can operate. So here's the risk. If you're an aggressive commander … There's a temptation to lean on intelligence to tell you what you want to hear, shape the information … In the back of your mind, you need to recognize, you can't go into it with what I would call confirmation bias.” – General Frank McKenzie. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource*  The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, Kenneth F. McKenzie (Naval Institute Press, 2024) *SpyCasts* CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023) Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023) Irregular Warfare & Intelligence with IWC Director Dennis Walters (2023) *Beginner Resources* CENTCOM, Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024) [Encyclopedia entry] Why the Middle East is so important to the US, BBC World Service, YouTube (2024) [10 min. video] Combatant Commands, U.S. Department of Defense (n.d.) [Brief overviews of the 11 Unified Combatant Commands] DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources  Retirement Ceremony Honors CENTCOM Commander (2022) U.S. Central Command Statement on the Realignment of the State of Israel (2021) Memorandum Re: January 2020 Airstrike in Iraq Against Qassem Soleimani (2020) Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan (2020) Remarks by President Trump on the Death of ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (2019)  Goldwater-Nichols Act (1986) *Wildcard Resource* Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant (1863) In this famous letter, Lincoln congratulates Major General Grant on his leadership during the Siege of Vicksburg, a critical success for the Union army. Perhaps not often done by a president, Lincoln here admits his strategy was wrong, and praises the intellect and military prowess of Grant.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summary An expert panel of world leaders gathered at the International Spy Museum to discuss the importance of NATO today and in the future. Panelists included former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, among others.  What You'll Learn Intelligence Threats facing Baltic countries, including Russia The importance of NATO support for Ukraine Maintaining stability during political turmoil NATO's growth and where it still needs to evolve in the 21st century Reflections The power of global partnerships  The impact of honest leadership  And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “In the old days, NATO was kind of a place where everybody did their talking points and then left. But for the first time in a very long time, NATO is more than just a forum. It is a security alliance that is very important to protecting world peace.” – Leon Panetta  Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Zelensky, Ukraine & Intelligence with Simon Shuster (2024) CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) Ukraine & the Alliance with NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence David Cattler (2023) NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence & Security with David Cattler (2022) *Beginner Resources* Why are the Baltic states strategically important for NATO? A. Sytas, Reuters (2023) [Short article] Ukraine conflict: Simple visual guide to the Russian invasion, BBC (2022) [Short article] The Formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact | History, YouTube (2017) [3 min. video] DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources  Statement by the North Atlantic Council on recent Russian hybrid activities (2024) Joint letter to DoD for Urgent Ukraine Aid (2024) Address by the President to Ukrainians at the end of the first day of Russia's attacks (2022)  Statement by the North Atlantic Council on the situation at the Poland-Belarus border (2021) Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of Estonia (2003) Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of the Republic of Latvia (2003) Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of the Republic of Lithuania (2003) The North Atlantic Treaty (1949) *Wildcard Resource* Three of the panelists in this week's episode hail from the beautiful Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. To learn more about the history and culture of these countries, take virtual tours of their national museums or libraries here:  Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus, National Museum of Lithuania Recommended exhibit: Women Warriors Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka, National Library of Latvia Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Estonian National Museum  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NATO alliance is meeting in Washington amidst the most dangerous security environment since the Cold War. One Decision teamed up with the International Spy Museum for a live panel discussion in front of hundreds of delegates, press, and political leaders. Our new co-host, former US Defense Secretary and CIA director Leon Panetta sat down with Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur, former Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, along with the US House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Jim Himes. The panel was moderated by Christina Ruffini and the museum's historian Dr. Andrew Hammond. They looked at what this summit and the future holds for the alliance. They also delve into what Ukraine needs for the next stage of the conflict and how the next American administration will impact global security.

Summary Michael Collins joins Andrew to discuss the National Intelligence Council. Michael is the NIC's current acting chair.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The role of the National Intelligence Council National Intelligence Officers and their work around the world The products of the NIC, including the Annual Threat Assessment The importance of Intelligence Diplomacy and objective analysis  Reflections The power of collaboration Staying grounded and optimistic And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “In the analytic product, the first paragraph says: Here's the bad thing. Second paragraph says: This is what the bad thing means for the United States. Third paragraph is: What can be done to stop the bad thing, or more importantly, to identify an opportunity. I have to be optimistic. If I weren't, I wouldn't be in this job.” – Michael Collins. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Telling Americans About China (and Intelligence) with Sara Castro (2024) CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) The Past 75 Years with Historian of the CIA Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (2022) The National Intelligence University with its President Scott Cameron (2022) *Beginner Resources* America's Intelligence Community, Explained, Washington Post, YouTube (2014) [2 min. video] What is Intelligence Analysis and Why is It So Important? National American University (n.d.) [Short article] Members of the IC, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (n.d.) [List of agencies] DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources  2024 Annual Threat Assessment (2024)  IC OSINT Strategy 2024-2026 (2024)  2023 National Intelligence Strategy (2023) Updated Assessment of Anomalous Health Incidents (2023) Global Trends 2040 (2021) National Intelligence Estimates on Climate Change (2021) *Wildcard Resource* This week's guest shares a name with another intelligence professional: Michael Collins (1890-1922), a prominent leader of Irish independence.  You may remember this Michael Collins from his involvement in the 1916 Easter Rising, but did you know he was also the Director of Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army? Check out some of “The Squad's” spy gadgets and artifacts here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Leon Panetta was growing up in Monterey, California, his Italian immigrant parents often invited soldiers training at nearby Fort Ord to holiday dinners before they shipped out to World War Two battlegrounds. Later, as Secretary of Defense, Panetta's thoughts returned to those service members when deploying young men and women to war. He sat down with David to talk about his long political career, his thoughts on the war in Ukraine, the intelligence lapse around the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and what Israel is doing wrong in its fight against Hamas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summary Diane Foley (Website, LinkedIn) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the legacy of her son, James Foley. James was held hostage and murdered by ISIS in 2014.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The enduring legacy of James' murder James' time in captivity in Libya  A mother's experience communicating with her son's captors How hostage recovery efforts have evolved since 2014 Reflections Grief turned into action Forgiveness, empathy, and resilience  And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “[Jim] could have been teaching or doing so many things, writing … but he just felt those stories were essential. And it really made me realize and recognize the courage of our current journalists going into Ukraine or Gaza. We wouldn't have any idea what's happening in that part of the world without those folks who dare to be there and dare to find ways to tell that story and bring it back to us.” – Diane Foley. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource* American Mother, Colum McCann and Diane Foley (Etruscan Press, 2024) *SpyCasts* CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023) My Life Looking at Spies & the Media with Paul Lashmar (2022)  ISIS Leader al-Mawla: Caliph. Scholar. Canary. Snitch. with Daniel Milton, West Point CTC Director (Part 1 of 2) (2022) ISIS Leader al-Mawla: Caliph. Scholar. Canary. Snitch. with Daniel Milton, West Point CTC Director (Part 2 of 2) (2022) *Beginner Resources* Syria: Seven Years of War Explained, BBC News, YouTube (2018) [5 min. video] FACT SHEET: U.S. Government Hostage Policy, Office of the Press Secretary (2015) [Short brief] Jim's Story, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation (n.d.) [Background on James Foley] DEEPER DIVE Books The Isis Hostage, P. Damsgard (Pegasus Books, 2017) Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, J. Warrick (Anchor, 2016) Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, C. Voss & T. Raz (Harper Business, 2016) Primary Sources  A Proclamation on U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day (2024) Executive Order on Bolstering Efforts to Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home (2022)  FBI Hostage Rescue Team Policy Guide (2019)  Report on U.S. Hostage Policy (2015) Murder of James Foley Press Statement (2014) Hostage Negotiation: A Matter of Life and Death (1983)  Current Status of the Hostage Crisis and the Implications of US Policy Options (1980)  *Wildcard Resource* “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn (1973) This song was a #1 hit when it was originally released in 1973. Six years later, the song resurged and gained even more popularity during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The song became an unofficial hostage recovery anthem, as the lyrics poignantly hint to welcoming a loved one home from captivity.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pollsters Christian Bourque, Shachi Kurl and David Coletto; former U.S. secretary of defense Leon Panetta; The Front Bench with Saeed Selvam, Gary Mar, Karl Belanger and Marieke Walsh.

Former US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks on Russia's strike on a Ukrainian nuclear facility and global state of affairs with Bloomberg's Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summary Andrew Hampton joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss intelligence in New Zealand. Andrew is the Director General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The New Zealand Intelligence Community How geography effects national security The lasting impact of the Christchurch Mosque attacks New Zealand's relationship with China Reflections The power of community organization The nuanced nature of global politics And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “I think for a long time there was a view that our geographical isolation protected us from a range of national security threats. But unfortunately, in the current world, geostrategic competition is playing out in our region. Going back to my old role, you're only one click away from a cyber-attack … This and misinformation and violent extremism are permeating the whole world. ” – Andrew Hampton. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) Australian National Day Special: Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland (2024)  SPY CHIEFS: Director-General of Security Mike Burgess - ASIO, Australia & America (2022) Keeping Secrets/Disclosing Secrets with Spy Chief turned DG of Australia's National Archives David Fricker (2022) *Beginner Resources* What Is The Five Eyes Alliance? K. Haan, Forbes [Short Article] A Brief History of New Zealand, Live and Work New Zealand (2022) [Short article] Why Isn't New Zealand a Part of Australia? History Matters, YouTube (2020) [3 min. video] DEEPER DIVE Books Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific, Nicholas Thomas (Basic Books, 2021)  Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia, Mark Borthwick (Routledge, 2013) The Penguin History of New Zealand, Michael King (Penguin Books, 2003)  Primary Sources  He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni – the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand (1835) Te Tiriti o Waitangi — the Treaty of Waitangi (1840)  New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Act (1969)  Intelligence and Security Committee Act (1996)  Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act (1996) Government Communications Security Bureau Act (2003)  Intelligence and Security Act (2017) *Wildcard Resource* The Women's Suffrage Petition - Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine In 1893, this document gave all women in New Zealand the right to vote in general elections – Making New Zealand the first country in the world to enact universal women's suffrage! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join me for a one-on-one discussion with former Secretary of Defense, former director of the CIA, White House Chief of Staff, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and former U.S. Representative from California, Leon Panetta.

This week, A'ndre chatted with former Secretary of Defense (and CIA Director, and Chief of Staff, and Congressman!) Leon Panetta on a litany of key national security and foreign policy topics relating to the Israel-Gaza War, Russia-Ukraine, the U.S.-China relationship, and the 2024 Presidential Election. A'ndre and Secretary Panetta spent a good chunk of the interview discussing the ongoing War in Gaza, his views on a ceasefire, Benjamin Netanyahu, criticism of the Biden Administration, and why the U.S. needs to take a more proactive role on a two-state solution. Secretary Panetta also provides his take on the potential conditioning of U.S. military aid to Israel, particularly if the IDF enters Rafah and civilian casualties continue to mount. Secretary Panetta reacts to the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and answers if he is more pessimistic about the War in Ukraine today than he was a year ago. The former CIA Director also provides strong criticisms of congressional inaction on continued funding for Ukraine, and why polarization will damage U.S. credibility. A'ndre and Secretary Panetta close out with a brief conversation on China, and the Secretary 's thoughts on the intersections of foreign policy and the 2024 Presidential Election.

A piece of American History with Guy Kawasaki and former Sect. of State, White House Chief of Staff and Director of CIA live at the Panetta Institute in Monterey

Summary Leon Panetta (Panetta Institute) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his lifetime of American public service. Secretary Panetta was the 2023 recipient of SPY's William H. Webster Award.  What You'll Learn Intelligence Directing the Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence & the Abbottabad Raid Working within the Clinton Administration  A life's dedication to the safety of the American public Reflections The power of patience and the ability to listen Handing immense pressure and responsibility And much, much more … Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* My Life in American Intelligence with Barry Zulauf (2023) David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023) Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023) The 75th Anniversary of the CIA with former Director Robert Gates (2022) *Beginner Resources* What Does the Secretary of Defense Do? MasterClass (2022) [Short article] How did the US find and kill Osama bin Laden? 60 Minutes Australia, YouTube (2018) [4 min. video] Leon E. Panetta, Panetta Institute for Public Policy (n.d.) [Short biography] DEEPER DIVE Books The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future, C. Whipple (Scribner, 2021) The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, C. Whipple (Crown, 2018)  Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace, L. Panetta & J. Newton (Penguin Books, 2014) SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense, C. A. Stevenson (Potomac Books, 2007)  Primary Sources  Statement on Syria before the Senate Armed Services Committee (2012) Nomination of Hon. Leon E. Panetta to be Secretary of Defense (2011)  Statement to Employees by CIA Director Leon Panetta on the Death of Usama Bin Ladin (2011)  Nomination of Leon Panetta to be Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2009) Memorandum for Leon Panetta on POTUS' Time Investment (1996) Letter from Brown to Panetta Regarding Fiscal Year 1994-1997 (1993) Letter to the Honorable Leon E. Panetta from George Bush (1977) *Wildcard Resource* Secretary Panetta now lives on a lovely vineyard in sunny California. Speaking of wine and spies, check out Vint Hill Winery in Warrenton, Virginia.  In 1942 the US Army set up top-secret SIGINT operations at the now-vineyard after the farm's owner, a Ham Radio enthusiast, set up a wire on the roof of the barn that could reach signals from Berlin. The farm was the site of The Signal Corps cryptographic school, which famously intercepted messages from Hiroshi Oshima in 1943. 

Ein Sturm zieht auf in der Welt, ein Sturm, auf den man sich vorbereiten müsse. Dies erklärte Mike Gallagher, der Vorsitzende des Sonderausschusses des US-Repräsentantenhauses zur Kommunistischen Partei Chinas in einer Anhörung dieser Tage. Auch die beiden ehemaligen Minister Mike Pompeo und Leon Panetta hatten zu diesem Thema Gewichtiges zu sagen.

Sec. Leon Panetta. The seasoned politician and intelligence chief joins Tavis for a discussion about the 2024 election and the New Hampshire primary, global conflict, and the human cost of war.

Recorded live at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Jess and Les interview Secretary Leon Panetta, who previously served as the 23rd Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Secretary Panetta is currently the Chairman of the Panetta Institute and an NSI Advisory Board member!How has American engagement with the world changed over the last decade? Does the U.S. defense and policy-making communities have an accurate assessment of China's power? Should we be surprised by the increased collaboration of global repressors and what can we do about it?Stay tuned for more of the Special Series at RNDF on Confronting the New Alliance of Global Repressors this week on Fault Lines! These are discussions you don't want to miss!Follow our experts on Twitter:@notTVJessJones@lestermunsonLike what we're doing here?Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe.And don't forget to follow @masonnatsec on Twitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Barabak, the veteran political reporter and columnist for the L.A. Times, has just helmed a six-part series analyzing the political evolutions across the New West - Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon.  In this conversation, Mark talks his recent series, touches on the politics in all six of these states, and breaks down what it says about the trajectory of the region and the impact on the national landscape. He also mines his reporter's notebook to talk some of his favorite stories and personalities from 35+ years covering politics.IN THIS EPISODEMark talks how he was drawn to working in political journalism...The one state Mark hasn't covered yet...What led Mark to helm his recent series on the New West...The biggest surprise in the recent political evolution of the West...How much remains of the historical, libertarian political character of the West...How Cindy McCain has recently played an important symbolic role in Arizona politics...Mark on Governor Jared Polis and political trajectory of Colorado...Why emigration from California is not helping Republicans in the rest of the region...Mark talks the importance of Latino voters in the West...Mark's take on what it would take for Republicans to finally break through in Oregon...What Bend, OR reveals about politics in the state...How resilient is Democratic strength in the West if the party moves more to the left...How Bill Clinton muscled California into becoming a safe Democratic state...The anecdote Mark has waited 30 years to use...Mark recalls the importance of the Berman/Waxman So Cal "machine" and Northern CA's Burton "machine"...Mark's memories covering Nancy Pelosi's political career from her very first race in the 80s...Mark weighs in on the '24 California open Senate seat...The most charismatic politicians Mark has seen over the years...AND 801 Chophouse, accelerants, Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer, Harry Britt, broad libertarian streaks, Pat Brown, Ron Brown, Willie Brown, bundling, Sala Burton, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, California tattoos, criminal malpractice, Gray Davis, Michael Dukakis, election deniers, John Emerson, extractive industries, fingertip sensitivity, Diane Feinstein, Greek Lit, Kamala Harris, Peter Hart, John Hickenlooper, the hoi polloi, Mark Kelly, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Kari Lake, Adam Laxalt, Barbara Lee, Mel Levine, Bill Lunch, Maricopa County, Blake Masters, Leo McCarthy, Narragansett, Grover Norquist, Tip O'Neill, Mike Ovitz, Leon Panetta, Pablo Picasso, Katie Porter, RINOs, Ronald Reagan, Dick Riordan, Brian Sanderoff, Adam Schiff, John Seymour, Derek Shearer, Bob Shrum, sourdough bread, unhelpful quotes, Pete Wilson...& more!

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta joins Michael to discuss the Israel-Gaza war, and the threats to democracy around the world. 

Fred Grandy spent 8 years in the US House as a Republican from Northwest Iowa, but remains best known for the decade he spent playing the character Gopher on the iconic 70s/80s hit television show "The Love Boat". In this conversation, he talks how his small-town Iowa roots mixed with matriculating at tony Eastern boarding schools, how he came to spend time around both President Eisenhower and President Nixon, why an initial flirtation with politics instead pushed him to Hollywood, what drew him back to politics after an incredibly successful run in show business, memories of his 8 years in the House, challenging an incumbent in a 1994 gubernatorial primary, what he's done since leaving office, and one of his current projects portraying Harry Truman on stage in "Give 'Em Hell, Harry". Fred Grandy is a natural storyteller and no one in politics has a story like him.IN THIS EPISODEHis unusual roots in both Sioux City Iowa and Eastern prep schools...An early lesson in congressional politics before going into show business...Stories of spending time around both President Eisenhower and President Nixon...The accidental conversation that drew him to politics from Hollywood in the mid 80s...Memories of being an international celebrity at the height of The Love Boat's run...The role the "Gopher Gap" and Johnny Carson played in his first race for Congress...Important lessons learned when seeking committee positions in his first term...Why he left the House to mount an underdog primary against IA Governor Terry Branstad...Why politics can be a narcotic...His post-congressional career as an Executive at Goodwill Industries...Talking through his current stage play inhabiting Harry Truman in "Give 'Em Hell, Harry!"AND...the Americans with Disabilities Act, Bret Baier, Steve Bartlett, Berkley Bedell, Sonny Bono, the Bourbons, Bill Broomfield, Bill Clinton, Tom Dewey, fishing tackle, Bill Ford, The Freedom Support Act, funny hats, Newt Gingrich, Goodwill Industries, Clayton Hogdson, Henry Hyde, Steve King, Bob Livingston, lugubrious hearings, Nancy Mace, Gavin MacLeod, Edward Madigan, Marblehead, Wiley Mayne, David McCullough, Bob Michel, Alyssa Milano, moneyed patricians, nativist foundations, Leon Panetta, the patois of the district, the Pendergast Organization, Phillips Exter, Ronald Reagan, the Republican bosom, ringworm, ritual slaughter, Rivercade, Pat Roberts, Dan Rostenkowski, screwing the sugar industry, seed caps, Sherman Oaks, shoving words around a room, Sturm und Drang, summer stock, Robert Taft, Fred Thompson, Craig Tufty, Mary Tydings, Mo Udall, the underbelly of Congress, Watergate & more!

In this episode we discuss simple things we can do to halt corruption. In a strange interaction between Sean Hannity and Vivek Ramaswamy, Sean criticizes Vivek for wanting to get out of the public sector into politics. This is the very thing he praised Trump for, making me wonder what agenda the bosses of FOX News are pushing. We explore solutions to the corruption in conservative media and how God cannot and will not bless this country unless we make serious efforts to clean up the widespread corruption in our nation. What does God's Word say? John 15:18-20“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.2 Corinthians 6:14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?A Holy God cannot bless and unholy nationEpisode 1,155 Links:EXC: Hunter Biden's Chinese Firm Brokered Illicit Weapons Deals For Qatar And Libya, Which Fund & Arm Hamas.Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez facing additional charges following sweeping indictmentWho Is Somah Haaland, The Activist Daughter Of Biden's Interior Secretary?Mexican President Awards Medal to Cartel-Linked Army General, Mocks DEALast Night Sean Hannity attacked Vivek Ramaswamy in an interview on Fox News. The interview was hard to watch, and as a Democrat, it left even me wondering what the heck Hannity was thinking here. Hannity goes on to state:“I think people that never held public office, like you, maybe they're not qualified to be President."White House knew Biden had his own document problem before siccing FBI on Trump, new timeline show; A case of psychological projection? Biden's White House knew that he left boxes of documents at the Penn Biden Center a year before he directed NARA to facilitate FBI's raid on Trump home over documents.Here's the clip of Leon Panetta telling Bret Baier he has no regrets about the MIS-information that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian disinformation operation. He wouldn't get this question on the lefty networks.4Patriots https://4patriots.com Protect your family with Food kits, solar generators and more at 4Patriots. Use code TODD for 10% off your first purchase. Alan's Soaps https://alanssoaps.com/TODD Use coupon code ‘TODD' to save an additional 10% off the bundle price. American Financing https://americanfinancing.net Visit to see what American Financing can do for you or call 866-887-2275 BiOptimizers https://bioptimizers.com/todd Use promo code TODD for 10% off your order. Bonefrog https://bonefrog.us Enter promo code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your subscription. Bulwark Capital http://KnowYourRiskRadio.com Find out how Bulwark Capital Actively Manages risk. Call 866-779-RISK or visit KnowYourRiskRadio.com Patriot Mobile https://patriotmobile.com/herman Get free activation today with offer code HERMAN. Visit or call 878-PATRIOT. SOTA Weight Loss https://sotaweightloss.com SOTA Weight Loss is, say it with me now, STATE OF THE ART! Sound of Freedom https://angel.com/freedom Join the two million and see Sound of Freedom in theaters July 4th. GreenHaven Interactive https://greenhaveninteractive.com Digital Marketing including search engine optimization and website design.

My new book Reframe Your Brain, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/3bwr9fm8 Find my "extra" content on Locals: https://ScottAdams.Locals.com Content: Politics, AOC Fart Thermal Map, Sunny Hostin, Proud Boys, Leon Panetta, Bret Baier, All-In Podcast, President Trump, Gaza Ground Offensive, Israel Hamas War, Palestinian Support, Colonizer Slur, Palestinian Mind Virus, Vivek Ramaswamy, Hannity, Scott Adams ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topics to build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-adams00/support

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Find my "extra" content on Locals: https://ScottAdams.Locals.com Content: ----------- Politics, SnapCrap App, Oakland NAACP, Elon Musk, Twitter X, Lindsey Graham, CNN Stephen Collinson, Leon Panetta, RFK Jr, SS Protection, Alejandro Mayorkas, X Community Notes, SuperConductivity, Ted Lieu, UFOs, Hunter Plea Deal, Political Left News Bubble, President Trump, Mar-A-Lago Security Footage, Ted Cruz, Vivek Ramaswamy, President Trump Masculinity, Mitch McConnell, Scott Adams ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topics to build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-adams00/support

There are moments in life where it seems as though everything is riding on one important decision. If only we had a crystal ball to see the future, we could make those decisions with greater confidence. Fortune-telling aside, there are actually methods to improve our predictions—and our decisions.In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at what makes some people “superforecasters.” In 2010, the United States government had been looking for Al Qaeda leader and perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, for nearly a decade. Years of intelligence gathering all over the world had come up short. It seemed every new tip was a dead end. But one small group of CIA analysts uncovered a tantalizing clue that led them to a compound in Pakistan. Soon, the president of the United States would be faced with a difficult choice: to approve the top-secret mission or not.We will hear this story from two perspectives. Peter Bergen is a national security commentator and author of the book The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden. He interviewed Osama bin Laden in 1997.Former CIA director Leon Panetta led the United States government's hunt for bin Laden and describes the night his mission came to a dramatic conclusion.Next, Katy speaks with Barbara Mellers about research that shows how so-called superforecasters make more accurate predictions despite facing uncertainty and conflicting information. You can read more in the paper titled "Identifying and Cultivating Superforecasters as a Method of Improving Probabilistic Predictions."Barabara Mellers is the I. George Heyman University Professor of both marketing at the Wharton School and of psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Choiceology is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the series, visit schwab.com/podcast.If you enjoy the show, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating or review on Apple Podcasts. Important DisclosuresAll expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions.The comments, views, and opinions expressed in the presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Charles Schwab.Data contained herein from third-party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.The policy analysis provided by the Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., does not constitute and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any political party.All corporate names are for illustrative purposes only and are not a recommendation, offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security.Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.The book, How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CS&Co.). Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CS&Co.) has not reviewed the book and makes no representations about its content.Apple Podcasts and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.Google Podcasts and the Google Podcasts logo are trademarks of Google LLC.Spotify and the Spotify logo are registered trademarks of Spotify AB.(0623-3UG1)

At least one person is dead and at least four others were injured, three critically, after a shooting in Atlanta. All the victims were female, the police said. According to law enforcement, the shooting happened after a man, who was accompanied by his mother, became enraged during a visit to a Midtown medical facility and opened fire. The suspect, Deion Patterson, is still at large. Also, former secretary of defense and former CIA director Leon Panetta joins to discuss Russian allegations that Ukraine attempted to assassinate Putin.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (04/28/2023): 3:05pm- On Wednesday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten testified during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. During the hearing, Weingarten claimed she attempted to reopen schools during the pandemic as quickly as possible—but since there wasn't “clear scientific guidance” her union had to “do it themselves.” While appearing on CNN following her Congressional testimony, Weingarten continued to deny having ever advocated for prolonged school shutdowns—CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings called Weingarten out for attempting to rewrite history. 3:20pm- At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, former President Donald Trump hilariously announced he would be retiring the name “crooked” for Hillary Clinton and would be bestowing it upon Joe Biden—referring to Biden as the most crooked politician in the country. 3:30pm- While appearing on Fox News, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Dan Hoffman revealed that in October of 2020 he declined to sign a letter proclaiming that The New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story was likely Russian misinformation—explaining there was no evidence indicating the story was false or in any way connected to the Kremlin. More than 50 intelligence officers did end up signing the letter—including John Brennan, Leon Panetta, and Gen. Michael Hayden. Many of the signees had publicly endorsed Joe Biden's candidacy for President prior to the letter's creation. 3:40pm- Christopher Tremoglie—Commentary Writer for The Washington Examiner—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to talk about his most recent article, “The Fictional World of Karine Jean-Pierre.” Tremoglie writes: “White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her cohorts in the Biden administration have routinely stated their dedication to stopping the spread of disinformation. Yet any legitimate, objective analysis of what Jean-Pierre says on a routine basis will show that she willfully engages in the very thing she claims to detest—spreading lies.” You can read the full article here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-fictional-world-of-karine-jean-pierre 4:05pm- In an interview with James Taranto and David B. Rivkin Jr. of The Wall Street Journal, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito addressed the leaked draft of his opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization—which upended Roe v. Wade. Alito told the WSJ: “I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that's different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody…It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft…from becoming the decision of the court. And that's how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.” You can read the full interview here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-samuel-alito-this-made-us-targets-of-assassination-dobbs-leak-abortion-court-74624ef9?mod=hp_opin_pos_2#cxrecs_s 4:10pm- In a report from Anna Phillips of The Washington Post, Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are prepared to make New York the first state to ban the installation of gas stoves in new construction projects. You can read the article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/27/new-york-natural-gas-ban/ 4:30pm- Alexis Sneller—Communications & Policy Officer for the Pennsylvania Family Institute—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss Pennsylvania House Bill 300 which would harm religious liberty, allow biological males to be placed in state women's shelters, and punish individuals who don't use “preferred pronouns.” Earlier in the week, State Representative Emily Kinkead confirmed the bill would force doctors in the state to provide children with “gender affirming” care, which includes surgery and puberty blockers. 4:45pm- During a segment featuring Jen Psaki discussing House Republicans passing a bill that would raise the debt ceiling while concurrently cutting federal spending, MSNBC chose to run a chyron that read “McCarthy Caves to MAGA Extremists in First Big Test as Speaker”—is it now extreme MAGA behavior to advocated for fiscal responsibility? 5:05pm- The Drive at 5: Dr. E.J. Antoni—Research Fellow for Regional Economics in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans passing a bill that would raise the nation's debt ceiling while concurrently cutting long-term federal spending. However, President Joe Biden has already pledged to veto the bill. So, what will happen next? 5:25pm- Ben Zeisloft of The Daily Wire writes, “American economic growth slowed to a 1.1% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2023, marking a significant slowdown from previous quarters as various headwinds continue to slow recovery from the lockdown-induced recession.” You can read Zeisloft's full article here: https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-economic-growth-slows-to-1-1-in-first-quarter 5:30pm Last Thursday, SpaceX's unmanned Starship rocket exploded several minutes after taking off from its South Padre Island, Texas launchpad. SpaceX touted the next-generation rocket as being “the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.” National Public Radio (NPR) is now complaining that Elon Musk's private space technology company is environmentally problematic. 5:35pm- Jimmy Failla—stand-up comedian & Fox News Radio host—joins The Rich Zeoli Show from Washington D.C. where he is preparing for this year's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Failla also weighs-in on Tucker Carlson's shocking firing, but even Fox News employees don't know what really happened! You can hear The Best of Jimmy Failla every Saturday on 1210 WPHT—and make sure to get tickets for his Laughs & Liberty Tour with Kennedy! 6:05pm- On Wednesday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten testified during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. During the hearing, Weingarten claimed she attempted to reopen schools during the pandemic as quickly as possible—but since there wasn't “clear scientific guidance” her union had to “do it themselves.” While appearing on CNN following her Congressional testimony, Weingarten continued to deny having ever advocated for prolonged school shutdowns—CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings called Weingarten out for attempting to rewrite history. 6:25pm- At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, former President Donald Trump hilariously announced he would be retiring the name “crooked” for Hillary Clinton and would be bestowing it upon Joe Biden—referring to Biden as the most crooked politician in the country. 6:40pm- With Tucker Carlson gone, what is next for Fox News? 6:45pm- While answering a question from Bill Rhoden of ESPN, WNBA player Brittney Griner said it should be a “crime” to prevent biological males from competing in women's sports. Last year, Griner was freed from a Russian prison when the Biden Administration agreed to a prisoner swap that resulted in the release of arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 1: On Wednesday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten testified during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. During the hearing, Weingarten claimed she attempted to reopen schools during the pandemic as quickly as possible—but since there wasn't “clear scientific guidance” her union had to “do it themselves.” While appearing on CNN following her Congressional testimony, Weingarten continued to deny having ever advocated for prolonged school shutdowns—CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings called Weingarten out for attempting to rewrite history. At a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, former President Donald Trump hilariously announced he would be retiring the name “crooked” for Hillary Clinton and would be bestowing it upon Joe Biden—referring to Biden as the most crooked politician in the country. While appearing on Fox News, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Dan Hoffman revealed that in October of 2020 he declined to sign a letter proclaiming that The New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story was likely Russian misinformation—explaining there was no evidence indicating the story was false or in any way connected to the Kremlin. More than 50 intelligence officers did end up signing the letter—including John Brennan, Leon Panetta, and Gen. Michael Hayden. Many of the signees had publicly endorsed Joe Biden's candidacy for President prior to the letter's creation. Christopher Tremoglie—Commentary Writer for The Washington Examiner—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to talk about his most recent article, “The Fictional World of Karine Jean-Pierre.” Tremoglie writes: “White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her cohorts in the Biden administration have routinely stated their dedication to stopping the spread of disinformation. Yet any legitimate, objective analysis of what Jean-Pierre says on a routine basis will show that she willfully engages in the very thing she claims to detest—spreading lies.” You can read the full article here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-fictional-world-of-karine-jean-pierre

Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA, testified that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who at the time was a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, "played a role in the inception" of the Oct. 19, 2020, letter from 51 former intelligence officials suggesting that "the Hunter Biden laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign," Fox News reported."It was requested by Antony Blinken, who was working for the Biden campaign, and they were too pleased to do it. So, Michael Morell went out and carried on the effort, and 51 intel agents, or former intel policymakers, were in on it," Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., says. "And of course they hedged their language there, but they gave rise into the media coverage, which was, it was 'Russian disinformation.'""It took way past the election, and year and a half or whatever, for media outlets ultimately to acknowledge what it was," the North Carolina lawmaker says. The October letter was co-signed by more than four dozen former intelligence officials, among them Jim Clapper, former director of national intelligence; Leon Panetta and John Brennan, former directors of the CIA; Rick Ledgett, former deputy director of the National Security Agency; and Morell."What happens now? Well, there are a couple other details there that are of considerable interest to the committee that we're still pursuing. I'll keep those under my hat for the moment," Bishop says. Bishop joins today's episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast" to also discuss an IRS whistleblower's allegations relating to Hunter Biden, the long-term impact of the southern border crisis and what's causing the uptick in illegal immigrant crossings, and the Republicans' proposed Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 on the debt ceiling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to David Sacks of the “All-In" podcast about his opinion column for Newsweek entitled “The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III”; how Biden's policy of arming Ukraine is bringing us closer to entering a war with Russia; how the expansion of NATO may have influenced Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine; how the public is being pushed to accept the desires of the military-industrial complex by people like General David Petraeus, Leon Panetta, and Adam Kinzinger; how Biden is increasing our odds of stumbling into a nuclear war; how the U.S. could deescalate the Ukraine war while lessening the growing nuclear threat; and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices