Latest / The Stan R. Mitchell Show / Syria has fallen, and that means a LOT for a lot of countries; plus, many other stories.

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Syria has fallen, and that means a LOT for a lot of countries; plus, many other stories. · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, welcome to The View from the Front.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: What is going on, everyone?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: As always,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: there will be timestamps,
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: so if you want to jump forward to a certain subject,
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: I try to keep timestamps in every episode.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: One other thing that I wanted to make sure I did mention tonight,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: if you have a question,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I love getting questions from listeners.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I forget to really keep in mind
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: that not everyone keeps up with this stuff as much as I do.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe I don't always give a general enough overview,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: or maybe in some cases go into enough details about a certain subject.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have a question,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: you can either email those in,
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: or you can even record a voice memo,
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: which is something I kind of want to do more of,
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: on your phone.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can email them the voice memo.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Apologies, apparently I can't talk tonight.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And just add your name and your city, and maybe I'll play that on the air and answer your question.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks again for joining us.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: We do have a lot of news, so I'm just going to jump right into it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Biggest news since last week, as I'm sure all of you have seen, is the leader of Syria.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Again, the leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has fled.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: He is now in Russia, and he has lost his country 13 years.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: 13 bloody, ugly, nasty years after an uprising began against him.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And of course,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: he did all kinds of terrible,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: atrocious tactics that both inspired people to come against him,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: but also led to just thousands and thousands dying.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's not even an accurate toll, really.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: He obviously imprisoned people.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: He executed people.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: He used chemical weapons.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: He was a very bad dude.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he is now in Russia.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I would share just a couple of lines from the Department of Defense's
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: point of view of the situation.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Department of Defense spokesperson said that the rapid overthrow of the Assad
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: regime at the hands of Syrian rebel forces...
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: This was obviously completed on Saturday.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Last week introduces a,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: quote,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria while at the same time
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: introducing a moment of risk and uncertainty for the region.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's probably the understatement of the century.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: But they did go on to say that the Assad regime brutalized,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: tortured,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: and now,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: at long last...
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: the Assad regime has fallen.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the Department of Defense said that they called this a fundamental act of justice.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And they added that the U.S.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: would continue to work with our partners and stakeholders in Syria to help them
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: seize the opportunity and to manage the risk.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what's interesting is there remains quite a few
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: United States troops inside of Syria.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, these troops have been working to degrade and continue to diminish the capabilities of ISIS.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, ISIS is that group that created their own independent...
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: But since Saturday...
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is kind of a stunning figure.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Since Saturday, U.S.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Air Force fighter aircraft and bomber aircraft have struck more than 75 targets.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: That is a vastly ramped up amount of sorties by U.S.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: airpower.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: 75 targets.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I sign up for all the news alerts and the press releases that the Department of
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Defense releases.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And in a given week, normally there's just a few airstrikes.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: There aren't that many.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say few, like three or four.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And there might even be some weeks where there aren't any that are announced at all.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: But they have struck 75 targets.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: In the past couple of days, this most recent release came out two days ago, December 9th.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: 75 targets, that's a lot of air power.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lot of precision strikes that are mostly precision.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Many of them using 500,000 or 2,000 pound bombs.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I would not want to be on the end of any of those.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I will also add that the 75 strikes to me is just a little suspicious.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so myself and a lot of other analysts have been digging around a little bit.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you will not find much reporting on this.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: But the only what I would call pretty serious news source as of Wednesday night
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: that has reported this is Axios.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they only had a couple of folks off the record mentioning this.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: but it appears the U.S.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: is bombing Syrian chemical weapons depots.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And this official would only talk off the record, but to me that makes a lot more sense.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that...
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: The U.S.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: has had limited strikes and then suddenly got information of where all these ISIS
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: camps were and then just went nuts on bombing them within a day or two.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: It makes way more sense to me that the Syrian army fell and there was legitimate
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: concern about who may get control of these weapons and would they possibly be used.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I will say the...
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: BBC had mentioned in one article that chemical weapons had been used in the Syrian
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Civil War at least 106 times that they were documented.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: 106 times, which was far more than I thought that number was.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: But,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: the Syrian Civil War kind of,
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  SPEAKER_01: after the red line,
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  SPEAKER_01: so to speak,
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  SPEAKER_01: with Barack Obama was crossed and nothing was done.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: As a reminder, Barack Obama...
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: said if Syria used chemical weapons, we would respond.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: They were used.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then he put it in Congress's hands for a vote, and then Congress voted not to get involved.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then mostly Obama carried the blame for not just using immediately military force to punish Syria.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: But ignoring that quick recap of the history of this very long,
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: almost 14-year civil war,
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: and so back to my larger point,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: What I believe is happening is the U.S.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: has many hundred troops in Syria.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some sources say up to about 900.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think special operations folks are going to some of these sites that have
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: chemical weapons and they are making sure that they are destroyed.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Axios said in its article with a U.S.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Department of Defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity,
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: That the U.S.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: is taking,
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: quote,
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  SPEAKER_01: very prudent measures and doing everything that they can to ensure that these materials,
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: which include chemical weapons,
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  SPEAKER_01: including such things as chlorine and others,
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: are destroyed or secured.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that there are several efforts in this regard with partners in the region being taken at this time.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So if I had to guess,
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: I would say special forces folks are either calling in strikes once they've
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: confirmed there are no enemy near these depots.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think the U.S.
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  SPEAKER_01: wants to inadvertently kill rebel fighters that are not against U.S.
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  SPEAKER_01: interests.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So they're probably going in making sure no one is on sight.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: perhaps even keeping a place secure until it can be destroyed,
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: so they'll make sure no one's on site,
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  SPEAKER_01: then they call in an airstrike to destroy these things as safely as possible.
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  SPEAKER_01: And maybe in some cases,
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  SPEAKER_01: they're actually securing them and physically removing them,
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  SPEAKER_01: bringing in helicopters,
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  SPEAKER_01: etc.,
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  SPEAKER_01: to get them out.
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  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would guess, given what I know about how our military operates.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So let's summarize again.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has fled.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: His regime is done.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's in Russia.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: This 14-year, nearly 14-year-long civil war is over.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Death toll estimates that went as high as 600,000 or more.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: A New York Times article from a few days ago said 620,000, and that was about the best anyone can guess.
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  SPEAKER_01: No one's even sure, but
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: 600,000 dead.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's finally over.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the good news.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: A few other things that stem from this huge news.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: One analyst said it best.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: One of the biggest lessons from Syria is that just a month ago,
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  SPEAKER_01: almost no one could have predicted that the Assad regime would fall today.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: The realities on the ground crowd would have denied such a possibility.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And this analyst is saying it because it had been a stalemate for years.
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  SPEAKER_01: No movement on the line at all.
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  SPEAKER_01: And then suddenly things changed.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the analyst made this point.
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  SPEAKER_01: This is a reminder of why people in Ukraine fight rather than surrender.
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  SPEAKER_01: Because, historically, wars can change very quickly.
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  SPEAKER_01: Momentum can shift.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: There are videos of thousands of Syrian fighters...
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: who chose not to fight at all,
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  SPEAKER_01: and when I say Syrian fighters,
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I should be more specific,
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Syrian military members who were part of the armed forces under Assad,
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: for whatever reason this time,
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: they were done.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't fight hardly at all, and so they just dropped their weapons and fled.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't even take their weapons with them.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: There are videos of long columns of men, unarmed, and I assume they stayed unarmed,
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: in hopes that if they happened to be captured, they wouldn't be executed or tortured or something.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not real sure,
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: because I think if I ran,
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: I would keep my weapon with me,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: because you're in the middle of a country that's in the middle of a civil war with
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: no ruling government.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: But they've fled with no weapons.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: So again, point one is that with war, things can be uncertain.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Things can flip immediately.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why countries like Ukraine do not give up,
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: even when they're slowly but surely steadily giving up ground in the east.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because things can happen, and they can happen very rapidly.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: The second point I wanted to make was the fall of Syria has really hurt Russia.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Russia was operating out of Russian bases in Syria as kind of a launching point
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: from which they operated in Africa.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Russia has been helping countries such as Libya,
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Niger,
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Mali,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: and a few others that you may not recognize the names of.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: At least five different ones in Africa.
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  SPEAKER_01: And they've been operating out of naval bases and air force bases inside Syria.
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  SPEAKER_01: It was a very important middle spot, so to speak, between the Middle East and Africa and where Russia is.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And now they have lost that position.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're interested in some maps,
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: the Institute for the Study of War actually put some of those inside some of their analysis,
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: and I've shared posts from them inside the episode notes.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to see those bases, you can go there and learn more.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: The third point I want to mention was a group called the Critical Threats Project
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: discussed in a little bit more detail
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  SPEAKER_01: Why the loss inside Syria for Russia is a big, big deal.
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  SPEAKER_01: And that's because,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: as they lay out,
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  SPEAKER_01: Russia has lost credibility,
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: which will affect its influence in Africa.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because Syria,
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: and I love the way they describe this,
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: the Critical Threats Project said Syria was the primary blueprint for what Russia
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: internally describes as a regime survival package.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: A regime survival package that offers African autocrats.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously these dictators in Africa that might be under some pressure from their
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: population that wants to be free of crazy dictators,
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Russia would go in and say,
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: hey,
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: we'll help stabilize you.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: interestingly,
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: the Critical Threats Project pointed out the things that Russia does,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: and I've never seen a summary of this quite so well said.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Russia provides military support,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: elite protection,
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: meaning they protect the president and maybe his family,
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: population control tools.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously,
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: they're talking about riot stuff,
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: but they're also talking about people like,
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: armed operatives,
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: like those who operate inside Wagner,
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: their paramilitary group,
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: operating out of uniform,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: pretending to basically be civilians sometimes,
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: and actually attacking leaders of the protests,
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: maybe physically attacking them in riots,
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: etc.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So they call it population control tools.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: We all know what that means.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Information operations,
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: which I have to give credit to Russia there,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: especially with the amount of disinformation that they have poured into the United States.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Russia's very good at information operations.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they were even really good at it at the beginning of the war in Ukraine,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: where they said the little green men who initially invaded the Crimean Peninsula
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: back in 2014,
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: when Russia would not take credit for that,
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: They said, we don't know who those troops are.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then clearly the media was figuring out based on markings on tanks and other
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: things that these were Russian troops.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: But it bought Russia time a good week or two where the international community was too afraid to move.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And there wasn't enough definitive information on what troops were there.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they're really good at information operations.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then it goes on to say that Russia does economic engagement.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: They provide cover in international bodies,
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: which helps keep autocrats empowered,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: which Russia's been doing that in the UN forever.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: They shield these countries from international pressure.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then what Russia gets out of it, this is really good, Russia expands its military footprint.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: It also increases its economic and political hold over the target governments.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: That gives Russia more prestige on the international stage.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: It gives them preferential economic access into these countries,
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: which helps them mitigate the sanctions that they're under.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it basically gives them markets they can sell goods and buy goods from.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so the Critical Threats Project mentions that with Syria falling,
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: this could be a warning for those countries in Africa who may lose trust in Russia.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: that they may finally realize that Russia doesn't have the kind of power it has sold itself as having.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so,
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: interesting that this situation in Syria could really affect not only the ability
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: to project force into Africa,
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: but also the reputation of Russia.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let me mention one final point before we move away from Syria.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: There was a great article that was in Axios that talked about the Arab Spring,
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: which,
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: as you recall,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: back in 2011,
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: 13 years ago,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: there was a number of uprisings across the Middle East,
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: and a lot of people thought some of these Middle Eastern countries would get
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: freedom from
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Axios had kind of a summary of where those countries are now.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it is not a pretty picture.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even close to a pretty picture.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: We'll run through them just super quick.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Tunisia, back in 2011...
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Had an uprising, had a bit of a democracy for a short time.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: It crumbled during an economic crisis.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It is only partly a free country.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Syria, finally, 13-year civil war, 600,000-plus die, is now back to almost square one.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: They've dethroned their leader, Libya, since 2011.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Two different civil wars.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: They have toppled Gaddafi, who was the leader back then, but it's a mess in Libya, as you guys know.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Egypt.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: They were a part of the 2011 Arab Spring.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: They had, obviously, an uprising.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: They had a short-lived democracy,
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: and then there was a coup in 2013,
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: two years later,
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: and now they have a strong-armed authoritarian leader.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yemen.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: They overthrow their leader.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: A civil war follows.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yemen is in shambles.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Ten plus years of civil war.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Just a terrible situation for them,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: including dealing with starvation and other humanitarian crises happening there.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then Bahrain...
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Their monarchy managed to suppress many mass protests, and so they held on.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I've got to say,
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of an optimist,
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: but when you see that list,
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: you really have to reflect on how difficult it is to remove the governing power in
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: any country.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And even if you do, there's no guarantee that it's going to be that much better afterward.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I will say this only makes the situation that Ukraine pulled off even more impressive,
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: where they did remove the...
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Soviet-backed strongman in their country who started becoming more and more
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: authoritarian and moving away from what the will of the people were.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: They had their protests.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Many died, but they overthrew their government.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's not easy for a country to do.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Not easy at all.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we are going to move to China,
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: but before we do,
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: there hasn't been a lot that has happened in Ukraine this week,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: but I did want to mention that there's a great video I have in episode notes that
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: shows the amount of ground that Russia has taken in almost a year,
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: losing almost 1,500 men a day.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's a remarkable video.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's about 20 seconds long.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely worth going to the episode notes just to watch as these small lines move forward.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just startling how many men Russia has thrown in to the grinder,
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: to this meat grinder,
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: and how little land they've actually taken.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: But if you get a second, go look.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think you will appreciate seeing that.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then the only other brief thing that I wanted to mention,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: and I'm only going to say this in short because we've talked a lot about these
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: loans backed by Russian assets,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: but the U.S.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: did transfer a $20 billion loan to Ukraine.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: It is backed by Russian assets.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got a link to that article as well if you want to take a look at that.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't want to spend too much time on either of those.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I want to get to China and cover something there.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So The Economist this week had a great article on how China is increasingly,
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: and I say increasingly,
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: adding pressure to Taiwan.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: China is constantly escalating things, and it does raise the chances of conflict by doing what the...
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Commander of Taiwan's Navy,
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: a guy named Admiral Tang Hua,
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: said that it was an anaconda strategy to squeeze the island.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: So what exactly is China doing?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: the Admiral,
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: again his name is Tang Hua,
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: says that China could at any time create a blockade on Taiwan,
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: any time they want,
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: and that they are already,
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: slowly but surely,
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: increasing their presence around his country.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: For instance...
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: The number of air incursions across the de facto middle of the Taiwan Strait has
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: jumped more than five times.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Back in January, it happened 36 times.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: By August, it was 193.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing for the number of ships operating around Taiwan.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: In January, it was 142.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: That has doubled to up to 282 in August.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And additionally,
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: these naval ships,
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: according to Taiwan's admiral,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: they're coming closer to Taiwan,
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: getting into about 24 nautical miles of the coast.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And in the past, they would only come within the coast range a few hours.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're patrolling in that range for a few days at a time.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: All of this, as the economist points out, is relatively new.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: just different than in the past the economist also notes that in previously china
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: would bring its ships between the strait of china and taiwan and in the past they
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: left the back side of the island alone so that taiwan never used to worry too too
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: much about that south part of the island and
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Taiwan built aircraft hangars underneath mountains there.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was seen as safer,
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: harder to reach for China,
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: places they could put strategic airfields,
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: places they could bring in supplies.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: But according to that admiral,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: ever since last year,
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: increasingly,
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: China has been conducting a mock blockade and bringing ships around to that
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: southern part.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: where they could strike those aircraft, and where they could create a better blockade.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: the Economist notes that these increased patrols by both aircraft and ships are
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: straining Taiwan's navy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: China has twice as many frigates as Taiwan, so twice as many frigates.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: It has ten times as many destroyers.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what Taiwan has to do is it often has to deploy between 25 to 50 percent of its
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: combat vessels just to match these Chinese patrols.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: And they mentioned that they quote a couple of defense researchers who say that
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: China gives extreme pressure,
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: pressure,
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: pressure.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to exhaust you.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the Economist notes that a government audit found that more than half of
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Taiwan's main warships have fallen behind on regular maintenance because they're
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: constantly having to go out to block these Chinese ships.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now interestingly,
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: according to Taiwan's Admiral,
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: what China is trying to do is to force Taiwan to make a mistake.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: They want Taiwan to create an international incident.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe Taiwan's ships actually fire.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so Taiwan is constantly getting across to its troops that they need to be very reserved.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: And in fact, the admiral was quoted that we restrain our guys not to provoke or escalate.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: And they've even issued new rules of engagement so that it can only be used in self-defense,
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: and they're really trying to keep them pulled back and under control.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: But of course,
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: that's a double-edged sword,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: because if you become too reserved,
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: then China will continue to become more and more aggressive.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that creates its own set of problems, which the article doesn't talk about at all.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: To help counter this, though, the international community has been stepping up.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Several things have happened this year alone that have helped try to counter this pressure from China.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: First of all,
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Japan,
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: their navy,
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: conducted a transit exercise through the Taiwan Strait for the first time ever.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that just happened a few months ago in September 2017.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Australia has done the same thing.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: New Zealand has done it.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Germany has done it.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Of course,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: America sells through it several times a year and has consistently for a long time,
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: because all these countries want China to realize that this strait is international territory,
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: and so they cannot completely control it.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: But of course, China is not happy about that.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: all of this brings us to the topic that I really want to get to,
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: which is could a blockade of Taiwan work?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Could China do a blockade of Taiwan and get it to surrender?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Get it to basically give up or stop resisting?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: That is the question.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest, this is something that has always been one of my bigger concerns.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: That it isn't a massive invasion of Taiwan, because that would clearly...
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: The world would immediately condemn it,
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: and there are countries that would probably,
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: almost certainly,
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: send forces to help.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: It would become like Ukraine.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: The world's attention,
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: the amount of economic harm that would happen to China,
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: and even people,
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: all the Americans,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: all the people in Canada,
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: all the people in Europe who buy products from China,
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: If we saw a conventional assault and an amphibious landing on the free people of Taiwan,
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think everyone would just start to pay a little bit more attention to where they
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: got their shirts and their shoes and their products from.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: It would be devastating.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so one of my great fears has always been a blockade of Taiwan.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's always been something I've worried about.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: But I came across a great article this week from Dmitry Alperovitch.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: I probably did not pronounce that correctly, so I apologize if I messed up his name.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: But he's written a book about...
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: a potential invasion of Taiwan, which I've covered before.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's called World on the Brink.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I found an article from him.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: He's obviously a very well-read and studied person on Taiwan and the threats to Taiwan from China.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I found an article he published on War on the Rocks from back in June where he
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: says that a blockade of Taiwan would fail or it would launch a war.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I read the article, and after reading it, I realized, you know, I think he's right.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: I went into it kind of as a skeptic.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, I don't know, like, I like the gray zone tactics.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm China, I would really...
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: lean toward the gray kind of tactic of a blockade i would blame something on taiwan
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: i would say they had done something to my ships or something like that i would do a
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: blockade and then you know if you do it for a while the west especially i talk
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: about our shorter tension span eventually people in america wouldn't care and you
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: could just keep it going and
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: But he says otherwise.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to go through some of his points.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have the link in the episode notes.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely must read article.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to hit some of the high points about that he makes.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then again, please go read the article.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, he talks about that...
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: Taiwan does not want unification.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I think that's pretty obvious.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: He says just 8% even want unification.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd say that's absolutely right.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: He quotes, obviously, articles or polls that show this.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Clearly, Taiwan does not want to be a part of China.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: And most people who have any common sense or any Western freedoms would not want to be a part of China.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: So then he goes through... Okay, so the people of Taiwan are going to resist.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: He then goes through some points where if China did this, it would really hurt their own economy.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And he brings up some points I hadn't thought about.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: He mainly mentions Taiwan's advanced semiconductors, which China itself has to buy.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so he puts in the article...
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: that if Taiwan stopped sending these semiconductor chips to China,
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: studies have shown,
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: and he mentions an economic model from Bloomberg Economics,
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: that China's gross domestic product would drop by as much as 9% in one year.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: 9%.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that is just a real cost that China would incur.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: He also mentioned something I hadn't thought of,
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: which is that if Taiwan began to respond to such a blockade,
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: China could basically shut down the five busiest ports in China,
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: which includes one of them being Shanghai,
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: the others I doubt you've heard of.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: But they're within a thousand miles of Taiwan.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: They're within range of missiles that Taiwan has created.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, they're supersonic cruise missiles.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: He names them.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't expect you to know them.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: But he talks about,
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: and I hadn't thought about this,
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: that the Houthis,
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: or Houthis is the correct pronunciation,
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: but it's Houthis if you look at it on paper,
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: but how they and Yemen have really,
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: and they have a very small missile supply.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: missiles supplied from Iran,
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: which aren't nearly as sophisticated,
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: but they have really affected commercial traffic in the Red Sea.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: The U.S.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: and other countries have been trying to stop that,
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: but it has cost the world economy and a lot of naval power trying to shut down this
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: limited threat.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so he says Taiwan has much greater capabilities to threaten Iran
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: shipping vessels, leaving Chinese ports.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so such a thing would have devastating economic effects on China because if
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Taiwan starts to shoot at these commercial ships,
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: it would basically shut down or at least risk shutting down five of the busiest
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: ports inside China.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: He goes on to mention something that is another great point,
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: that a blockade would likely escalate into a full-scale military engagement,
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: if not all-out war,
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: because since Taiwan might or probably would retaliate,
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: both the United States and Japan could become militarily involved.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that would make it even harder for China to eventually take Taiwan.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: The whole point is Taiwan wants to conquer the island.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And thus,
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: if China isn't ready,
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: as he says,
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: to launch a full-scale invasion with a blockade,
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: then the blockade is just a prelude to the attack.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: The blockade doesn't work, and it's a devastating and humiliating defeat, he calls it.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't really argue with that.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great point.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: He goes on to talk about the serious political risk that a blockade would do to China,
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: to its reputation.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of mentioned that earlier.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then he talks about that could Taiwan even survive the blockade,
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: and he goes into the details about it.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: But he mentions how Taiwan creates lots of its own food.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: It has a robust agriculture sector.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: It obviously has plenty of fish in its rivers and seas.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so a blockade would really struggle to have much impact.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: He then goes into the power situation on the island.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: They have nuclear reactors.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, you really got to read the article.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: He goes into historical details of other attempted blockades that have happened and
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: have failed in many different countries.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: In places like Sarajevo, it survived a four-year siege in the 90s.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: He talks about in Nazi Germany back in World War II.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: There was a blockade of Leningrad,
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: which was two and a half years long,
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: starvation of over a million civilians.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: Cities still didn't surrender.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he talks about that basically these blockades don't ever go as easy or as
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: quickly as a country would hope.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the high points of the article.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: He goes into far more details into the weeds that, again, I can't really overly recommend this enough.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: This article is just incredible.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: He talks about the cost of failure if China does...
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: mess up by doing this.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: He talks about what Tyrone should do to better improve itself.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's really a great article.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: His book is even better.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've talked about his book on a podcast before.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's called World on the Brink.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you get a second, go take a look at that article.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think that helps explain to me
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: why China hasn't done more of its gray zone tactics,
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: particularly with what it's doing down near the Philippines,
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: which we've covered several times using water cannons and all.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: But, as The Economist points out,
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: The pressure from China is growing.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: The risk is there.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: We now have a new administration,
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: and so we'll have that short-term kind of vulnerable post-Biden,
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: new Trump moment.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to be going through some interesting times with China.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: you guys know I do my absolute best every week not to increase your anxiety,
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: not to cause people to have fear or anything like that.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot stand media that scares people for clickbait.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: You guys know I'm not that way, so I thought I would end.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: With a great comment from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is the United States Marine Corps Commandant, General Smith.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: He was asked about the potential for, you know, some type of combat with China.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to play his answer because I think it's a...
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's an experienced general giving his opinion on the potential for war with China,
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: and I think he brings up a point that all of us need to keep in mind,
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: and certainly China's leadership needs to keep in mind as it continues to
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: aggressively push around its military power in the Indo-Pacific.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let me just share.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Again, these are the comments of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Smith.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: The advantage lies with us, because our last combat was captured on somebody's iPhone 14.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Chinese's last combat was captured on oil and canvas, and they should not forget that.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is easy to bluster, but it's another thing when you actually have to go
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: toe to toe and go in harm's way.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a lengthy history of going in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: We've built a culture of warrior excellence.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: We've built a culture of war fighting.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: We've built a culture of interoperability in the joint force.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: The PRC has not yet had to deal with that.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't had to deal with that in decades.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I would not
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I would not undersell the value that our combat experience brings to this fight.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, their last combat was captured on oil and canvas.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: My word, that was amazing.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I love about Marines?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: You always know where you stand with them.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: They speak with a clarity.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking of comments that General Mattis had made in the past.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: There are just so many famous Marine Corps generals that have
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: They just say the way it is.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the crazy thing about the Marine Corps current commandant,
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: General Smith,
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: is that this guy had cardiac arrest,
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: open heart surgery 11 months ago.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he literally, over Thanksgiving, just ran the grueling Marine Corps combat fitness test.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: And there's even video of him doing it.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: So this guy's having surgery 11 months ago.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: you know getting his chest cut open and 11 months later he's running three miles
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: doing all of the things that young marines are required to do and do well and this
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: guy's well into his 40s probably 50s and he he's out there doing what marines do
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: actually let me make a quick edit on this because i had to pause the recording and
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: look it up
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: The Commandant is actually 59 or 60,
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: according to Wikipedia,
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: which is about all the research I'm going to do in a short amount of time,
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: because I don't think it matters that much.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: But he's not even in his 40s or early 50s.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's 59 or 60 years old, and he had his chest cut open.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he's not backing down from China, and he just had a combat fitness test.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the kind of thing that Marines just makes Marines so proud to have leadership like that.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Alright,
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: let's end the show by sharing some encouragement from my Christian brothers and
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: sisters out there.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I'd just read chapter 1 of the book of Psalms.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Again, this is chapter 1.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: He says,
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: They are like worthless chaff scattered by the wind.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sinners will have no place among the godly.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's chapter 1 of the book of Psalms.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you got something out of that.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: As you know,
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: I believe if you want true peace,
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: you should look to God and the Bible,
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: not to a country,
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: not to a party,
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: certainly not to a person.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you know nothing about the Bible,
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: but you want to test the waters,
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: maybe try it out,
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a resource page link in the episode notes.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can go check it out.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you where you should start in the Bible, etc.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a lot easier to have someone tell you where to start versus trying to
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: figure it out on your own.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: I also do a podcast that focuses solely on faith.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's called The Search for God.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a link to that in the episode notes as well.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Of course,
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: I like to end every episode by saying whether you're a Christian or not,
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: this is a great quote.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Be the reason that someone smiles.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: Be the reason that someone feels loved and believes in the goodness of people.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a great goal to have.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: if you enjoy what I'm doing here,
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: you've been listening for a while,
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: you'd like to find a way to support,
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: there are several ways to do so.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: There are links in the episode notes where you can support the show through Venmo,
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: PayPal,
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Patreon,
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: Substack.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: All the details for that are in the episode notes.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Another great way to support the show is to check out my books.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: They make great gifts.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've written 12 of them.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: I typically tell people that these are Tom Clancy-like books.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: They're
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: Military and police thrillers, they move fast.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: They have lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I do honestly feel like my writing skills are a gift from God.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that,
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: honestly,
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: and since publishing them back in 2012,
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've almost come across no one who doesn't enjoy the books.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: They move fast.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they're just, I do feel it's a gift from God.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got links to that in the episode notes as well.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, I am out of here.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I catch you guys next week at the same time, at the same place.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: Lord willing.