Latest / Brian Thomas / Daniel Davis Deep Dive

Transcript

Daniel Davis Deep Dive · Brian Thomas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Talk Station. 829-55KRC, The Talk Station. Very happy Tuesday
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to you. Always a special time of the week to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: be tuning in or listening to the 55KRC Morning Show
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: or checking out the podcast later in the day, 55KRC. iHeart. com.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's that time of the week where we get the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: alliterative Daniel Davis deep dive. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: offering up all his knowledge and wisdom and tapping into
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: his resources to give us updates about the various wars
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: going on in the world. Welcome back, my friend, Daniel Davis.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's always good to have you on the program.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And it's always good to be here, Brian. Thanks for
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: having me back.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: And forgive me a little bit for not being as
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: up-to-date on the conflicts, the various conflicts. Really been focusing
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: a lot on the upcoming election. We've got a hell
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of a battle going on here in the state of Ohio,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: so it's been dominating the morning show news. But I
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: know it's still going on over there, and the challenges
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: seem to be getting a little bit bigger. One of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the developments which... I thought was interesting. Uh, Egypt is
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: now decided to, has decided to send troops into Saudi
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Arabia to defend against the Houthi rebel attacks that have
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: been going on for some time now. And I think
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: talking to you, the Houthis are a substantial military presence.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I'm hundreds of thousands of Houthis that are, that are
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: waging this kind of this war against Saudi and, and, and,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and they're doing it primarily because we have a presence
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: in Saudi Arabia is, is that correct?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Uh, Partially. It's not really about us, actually. There are
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: definitely hundreds of thousands, and apparently they're mobilizing more. It
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: could be north of half a million here shortly, if
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: it's not already. This is an issue that goes back
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: for many, many years, and actually decades, between Ansar Allah,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the Houthis, and Saudi Arabia. And it was sparked when
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Saudi Arabia attacked the airport at Sana'a last August, when
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the Supreme Leader's funeral was going on, and they were
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: sending a delegation there. that sparked, re-sparked, because they had
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: been in a ceasefire since 2022, and now it's come
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: back into a hot phase. You mentioned about Egypt. We'll
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: see what actually comes about from that, how many troops
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and what kind of troops. That's kind of important because
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Egypt itself has some bad experience in the past with
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: the Houthis in Yemen. So I doubt that they're going
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: to sign up to be putting a lot of combat power.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: But I don't think that all of Saudi Arabia's allies
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: together have enough ground forces to be able to stop
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Ansar Allah on the ground. And Ansar Allah may take
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: even three Saudi provinces on the southwest corner of Saudi
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Arabia because they're at real risk right now.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Well, which sort of brings to mind Russia going into
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: the Ukraine and taking over a chunk of Ukraine. Are
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: we going to be doing this now? Is this what
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: we should expect in the future? Because that's a real
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: new development, Daniel Davis.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, there was, I mean, I would say
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: just think about last year, last May, when President Trump
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: went to Saudi Arabia and on this whole Middle East tour. And, man,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: it looked like the whole Gulf Arab countries and the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: whole Emirates were all this strength, the bastion of strength
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and economic power and oil and all that. Right. And
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: all these deals that were going to be done. And
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: now then just barely a year, a little over a
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: year later, the whole place is on fire and potentially
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: falling apart in Saudi Arabia itself. is genuinely at risk
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: of a dissolution, both from fracturing inside and then from
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the external pressure of the Houthis. So it's just hard
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to believe how much change is coming. So at least
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: right now, yeah, there are some real problems, and you
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: could add Iraq to that if you wanted to.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Well, go ahead and add Iraq to that now. How
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: do they factor into this equation?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the United States finally completed its final withdrawal,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: so that took a lot of the pressure off. off
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: of the Iraqi government, but it also opened up some space.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I'm definitely for the withdrawal, and
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I applaud President Trump for doing so, because all it
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: did is make it more difficult, not even impossible, for
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the Iran-backed militia, which are part of the official Iraqi
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: security forces. They may actually take action against Saudi Arabia, too.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And you may recall before we left, the U.S. and
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Saudi Arabia together attacked forces inside of Iraq, which just
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: kind of stirred that pot up, in my personal opinion.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: So now there are three separate directions that Saudi Arabia
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: is at risk from, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Where are we relative to our military strategy just with Iran?
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, ignoring the chaos that's unfolding all around the area, I, again,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: keep hearing these– suggestions or veiled or otherwise or out loud,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: overt suggestions that the kinetic activity, the bombing is going
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to start and that really don't know when these threats
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: keep coming from Donald Trump. But we always you and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: I always go back to the practical reality. It sounds
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: great to the rabid mob out there that just wants
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: to roll over Iran as if it would be an
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: easy thing. It's not. It never has become easier. We
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: still have, you know, a country that's two and a
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: half times the size of Texas. We have limited arms
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: that we can use. They have a seemingly unlimited number
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of drones and missiles they can rely on. It's just
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: day after day status quo and week after week, as
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: far as you and I are concerned, or rather year
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: after year we're getting on. Daniel, has anything changed at all?
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, there are really contradictory signals coming not
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: just out of the White House, but out of President
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Trump himself, because on the one hand, he, I think
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: on Sunday, made a pretty strong statement that, you know, hey,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: they're either going to make a deal or we're going
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: to go in and finish the job, etc., But then
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: he also said, I think the day before, he said,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: or maybe we could just do nothing. You just let
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: them wither on the vine and just let this go
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: indefinitely until they eventually just starve out or the economy
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: finally collapses because of our Operation Economic Fury or whatever
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: they're calling it today. So we don't really know. I
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: can tell you, though. For anyone who thinks that, no,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: go finish the job, then you have to explain how,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: if you're going to have the same weapons, the same missiles,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: the same rockets going against the same targets on these
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: mountains and underneath these mountains that didn't work in two
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: kinetic rounds already, and actually three if you go back
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: to 2025, then you have to say, why would you
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: want to go back again and expect a different outcome?
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Because here's the key thing.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Whereas we don't have any new targets to go after
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: of military significance, meaning where the missiles and drones are located,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Iran does have additional targets it has not attacked from
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: our side, which are very much out in the open
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: and vulnerable, like economic targets, energy targets, desalination plants, etc.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: All are indefensible from us. So we don't want to
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: go down this path because we can't knock them out
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: and we can suffer a lot more harm.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Well, and that brought to mind these easy-to-hit military targets
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: or United States-affiliated targets. That could be anywhere in the
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: United States, too. And I saw the Pentagon... released this
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: doomsday scenario, this fortress, unprecedented planned branded fortress, which is
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: hardening our military bases so they can be self-sufficient, have
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: their own energy, their own stockpiles. In other words, be
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: able to live off a grid that they expect is
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: going to be taken out by the Chinese Communist Party
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: or some foreign actor who's hacked into our systems. I mean,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: we are open targets. The oceans of the world don't
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: protect us like they used to anymore, Daniel Davis. Do
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: you have any concerns along those lines? This could expand,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the Iranians would look beyond the region and start targeting
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: American interests literally anywhere they happen to be?
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you why that worries me. Not because of Iran.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Iran doesn't have the capacity to do that. There are
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: only two states on the planet that have the capacity
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: to prompt that kind of protection on American bases throughout
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the continental United States, and that is Russia and China.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And the fact that they're talking about doing this right
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: now makes me worry. Do they know something that we
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: don't know yet? Because to The level of protection and
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: expansion of the infrastructure and to be able to sustain
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: for 90 days on.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Not just get a cyber attack somewhere. We've got a
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: pretty good system against those, obviously. And for Iran itself,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: they wouldn't do that because, number one, they don't have
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: the capacity. And all they're interested in is to get
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: the United States out of the Middle East. And to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: do that at the lowest cost, striking the continental United
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: States they know would almost certainly prompt a nuclear weapon.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: So they're not going to do that. It's not in
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: their interest. You don't have to trust them or anything else.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: But if we're getting ready like that, I'm worried about
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: the two nations that can do something and do have
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the capacity. And I just don't know if they know
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: something we don't know.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Well, the timing was rather suspicious because the British Defense Secretary,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Wes Streeting, said his country needs to be ready within
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: 1,000 days and advised citizens to stock up on essential supplies.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: because of these same kind of veiled threats. Now, he
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: did specifically say Russia, which is one of the reasons
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: why I bring this up. The timing with the warning
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: here in the United States is a concern, and they're
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: warning the British population about this. But I think this
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: has to be concerning them more beyond Russia, because as
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: you and I have talked about, the likelihood of Russia
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: launching a war against a NATO country is pretty slim,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: unless your perception of that has changed. So maybe they're
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: concerned as well.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Well, Streeting actually, and I'm going to be showing this
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: on my show here in a couple of hours, he
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: met with his Polish counterpart, and it was either this
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: morning or yesterday, and he did expressly say, we have
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: to be ready for war against Russia because they're a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: terrorist state. So he specifically named them, at least in
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: this particular iteration here. And Russia is never going to
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: attack Europe and NATO unless Europe and NATO continue to
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: press attacks into Russia via– So we're playing with fire.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: When we continue to support Ukraine, which can never win
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: this war, it's definitely impossible for them to do so.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: But it is.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Possible for us to expand the war if we keep
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: striking long enough and hard enough. And also yesterday, this
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: is critically important and possibly related to this development of
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: the United States. Karaganov, who was a well-known kind of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: far-right figure in Russia, openly advocated the use of nuclear
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: weapons against the West as a means of restoring deterrence.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And he said, we should not be afraid of using them.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: We could win a war in Europe in three days.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: A nuclear war.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: He thinks they can win it. Now, he's been out
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: on the right. The problem is, from some other sources
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I have, his thoughts are more centrist.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: In Russia now.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: And he has a direct line to President Putin. So
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: we can never rule out that they may finally get
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: tired enough and say, you know what, we're just going
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: to have to go. So we should not unnecessarily poke
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: the bear if it's not going to help us out.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Well, and I think most people when they consider attack,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: they think about bombs being dropped, people, you know, forces invading.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: But I would argue, and I think I may be
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: on solid ground here, even though I'm just pulling this
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: out of my sphincter, you could probably do as much
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: damage as a nuclear weapon by just shutting off the
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: electric grid. People will die. Chaos will ensue. You can't
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: get access to your bank accounts. Grocery stores won't be
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: open anymore. I mean, the entire society would come to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: a screeching halt if the energy system were to completely
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: go under. That, to me, is a bigger threat than
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: even a bomb.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: And I'll tell you, that idea is definitely on the
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: minds of many Russian thinkers right now. And they are
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: even saying that. They're saying, listen, We don't need to
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: have an army to go invade NATO. If that's what
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: you guys, if you're forcing one on us, we would
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: go with our ballistic missiles. We would go with our arrestings.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: We would go with our hypersonics. And they have openly
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: said we would hit your economic centers, your banking centers,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: your electric centers, and your factories to produce long-range drones
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: and missiles. I mean, they would go after those specific things.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: And you're right. That would literally just bring our economic
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: to a standstill, aside from all the other problems that
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: are already out there. Now, Russia is vulnerable, too, but
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: that's not helping anybody if we get into a war
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: that we can't win and could cause that much damage
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: for a country that has no interest or ability to
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: invade us. So we need to cool the jets and
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: start talking a lot more about diplomacy.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I concur with you on that. And that's about
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: as far as we're going to get towards solutions today,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Daniel Davis. We keep trying. Someday it'll happen. You and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I'll come up with the answer to everyone's problems and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: We'll just go on.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: We will.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Find something else to do with our days. Daniel Davis,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Deep Dive. Find his podcast wherever you get your podcasts
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and tune in every week to the 55KRC Morning Show
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: at 830 for another thoughtful analysis. Thank you again, Daniel Davis.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time on the program.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: See you then.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Take care. 841-55KRC, the talk station. We're going to ask
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: an expert. Like Steve from USA is going to come in.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Got something to tell you about. Don't go away. More
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to talk about.