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Daniel Davis Deep Dive · Brian Thomas

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Fifty five KRC Dan Carroll in for Brian Thomas coming
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: down the final half hour of the show today, and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: my great honor to welcome in Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: retired from the United States Army, a analyst of all
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: things that deal with Warren policy and Daniel Davis. Great
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to have you on the show this morning.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: How are you, sir, I'm doing really well. Thanks for
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: having me on.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Thank thank you for being here. I think a lot
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of Americans have been trying over the last several weeks,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: ever since the Maduro Caper. Well actually, I would say
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: starting with blowing the Venezuelan drug boats out of the water,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and then we roll in there and we get Madua
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: out of there, and he's on trial now, and we
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: just saw a lot of I think it was thirteen
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: individuals who were guarding him come in from q A
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: lot of people trying to get their head around, you know,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: why are we taking these actions in Venezuela. And I
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: fought from the very beginning that this is part of
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a larger play on foreign policy with what's happening in Venezuela.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Give me your take on what we've seen as it
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: relates to Venezuela.
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  Speaker 2: It's a bit of a puzzle, we have to admit,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: because a lot of the stated reasons seem to have
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: just vanished over not which was always about national security
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: for the United States. It was about keeping the drugs
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: out of the United States, even though by our own accounting,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: even by the administration itself, that the priority are the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: primary number of fentanyl, for example, and even cocaine comes
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: out of Columbia, comes out of Mexico. Ironically, even China
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and India. People are not aware of that those two
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: especially and a very small amount had even comes out
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: of Venezuela. Most of what is produced there goes to Europe, interestingly,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: So that was the claim. But then we went in,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: we took him out, we knocked out a lot of
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: those drug boats, et cetera. And then after we take
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: took Maduro, you haven't heard any I haven't seen a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: single report of a drug boat being taken out since
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: that time. So I don't know why that would have
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: stopped if it was about drugs into the US. But
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  Speaker 2: then of course we have the focus on Actually it's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: about oil and about taking the oil infrastructure, setting up
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: this long term situation where the United States controls the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: oil coming out, and we left the madurod government in
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the Maduro himself was taken out, but the government was
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: left in place. And other than the fact that we
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: now have access to the Venezuelan oil, not much else
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: has changed.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Well. I think from the very beginning it was all
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: about the oil. And one of ven Azuela's largest customers,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: if not the largest customer, is China, and China gets
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of it's oil from Venezuela. I believe Iran
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: gets a lot of their oil from Venezuela as well,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: or they've got some kind of relationship going on there.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So I look at this as a positioning move on
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the part of Trump and Marco Rubio to I guess,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: facilitate whatever it is they want to get out of
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  Speaker 1: Iran and whatever they want to get out of China.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean, you really can't not acknowledge those
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: facts there. And you can add Cuba into that mix
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  Speaker 2: because they got most of their oil from Venezuela, or
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: at least a large portion of it. So that's that's
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: a big question. What's going to happen to that country internally.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: That's something that apparently Marco Rubio is quite excited about
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the possibility of bringing down that government. But you know,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: we have to look at it from a national security perspective,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: from a diplomatic perspective in the United States, and I'm
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: just not sure how that benefits us and upon what
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: basis and what legality or any other kind of morality
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  Speaker 2: can we just say we're going to take the head
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: of state out of a country, We're going to take
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: their natural resources and drive China and Russia out of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that market. I mean, we always talk about how we
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: want the globe comments to be open to everybody, to
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: include areas in Asia and in Europe and in the
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: South America, et cetera. We want to keep everything open.
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  Speaker 2: But now we're saying it's only open to us, so
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  Speaker 2: we're going to literally drive out other people. And looking
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: at when you take actions like this, very often there's
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a tip for tat there's a reaction. People are not
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: just going to be driven out of a market and
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  Speaker 2: do nothing. We could find ourselves potentially being blocked out
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  Speaker 2: of other markets that we want to be in. So
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  Speaker 2: it's a problem when we say we want the rule
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  Speaker 2: of law and the open global commons in one hand,
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  Speaker 2: but then we take it by force in another it
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  Speaker 2: just doesn't play out well for us.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a good point. Well, let me ask
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  Speaker 1: you about this. How interested were you to read about
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  Speaker 1: the operation that was conducted to get Maduro out of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: there and the information that came out afterwards about these
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: sonic weapons that the United States may have used during
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: that operation that incapacitated these these guardsmen. And I guess
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you bleed from the years, and you bleed from the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: eyes and all that sort of thing. This use of
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: this sonic weapon in order to make this operation take place,
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  Speaker 1: is that something you knew about or is that something
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  Speaker 1: that is relatively new on the scene.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: It's relatively new on the scene in terms of its
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: production and performance in a real operation. It's been something
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: that's been deployed for quite a long time. I remember
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in the mid two thousands, when I was still in
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: active duty, I was assigned to the Future Combat Systems
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  Speaker 2: at Ford Plis, Texas, where we were doing a lot
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  Speaker 2: of futures things, and one of the weapons systems that
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: was publicly being developed at that time was a microwavetop
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  Speaker 2: technology that does those kinds of things. We didn't hear
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  Speaker 2: a lot about it after that, but obviously, at least
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: according to reports. I don't have any insider info, but
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: just according to reports, it just kind of went dark.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: No one was talking much about it. Now this is
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  Speaker 2: the first time I'm aware that something has occurred in
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: an operational environment. So you can be sure that this
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: is like everything else you ever see in war. Once
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: something and it opens on the scene, others are going
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  Speaker 2: to emulate it. So's it was helpful to us in
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: this operation here, but we can probably count on it
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  Speaker 2: at some point where it's going to be used against
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  Speaker 2: us as well. That's just the nature of war.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and my next question was going to be, doesn't
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  Speaker 1: send a message to those who might be our enemies
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  Speaker 1: that look, here's another component that you're going to have
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  Speaker 1: to deal with.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I mean that, of course, we see
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that on routine display in the Russia Ukraine War about
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  Speaker 2: the development of various types of drones counter drone technology,
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  Speaker 2: and then the other side always emulates it, tries to
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: improve upon it, then the other side tries to counter it,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: et cetera. And that is definitely a play here where
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: our adversaries are saying, okay, I see that that works.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Let me develop one, because it's been out in the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: open anyway. I'm sure they didn't do it anyway, but
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: if if they needed any incentive to accelerate their valuement,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: it's now.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: In your opinion, How much trouble is the leadership in
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: iron How much trouble are they in? And the reports
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of this that there are billions, millions or billions of
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: dollars that are leaving the country, and Scott Descent was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: talking about that over the weekend, that they're seeing all
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: this money being deposited in other banks around the world.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: How much trouble is the leadership in in Iran in
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  Speaker 1: the face of these demonstrations that we've seen in the streets.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there is no question that they are in a
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: weakened position from what they were prior to the twenty
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: eighth of December when a lot of this stuff started.
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  Speaker 2: But I think that it's an exaggeration to say they're
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: in a seriously weakened position. So far, we've seen that
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: they the regime has been able to handle this. They've
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: been able to crack down on a lot of this
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: descent that happened. And we also have to acknowledge that
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of the descent, according to Mike Pompeo, was
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: because of we and the Mosade and probably m I
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: six were part of actively trying to foment a lot
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: of this stuff. So it's trying to create more because
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: there's already a fisher there. There's already weakness because of
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: the regime itself. There's also a weakness because of these
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: sanctions we've imposed upon them to try to bring their
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: economy to crashing to the floor. Anyway, So a lot
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  Speaker 2: of these things have existed before, but so far, it
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: appears that the Iranian government is whethered the worst of
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the storm here. And then the real question is, since
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: that appears to be the case, now, what is the
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Trump administration and the Israelis going to do? Because it
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: looks to me like that they're getting ready to do
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: something bigger than what they might have done earlier this month.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: According to Lindsey Graham, anyway, something bigger is coming and
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: a regime change operation is coming. We'll see if that's
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: just hyperbole or if we see another attack.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what do you think the next step
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  Speaker 1: would be? Because I feel pretty confident in saying that
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  Speaker 1: there really is no appetite in this country to see
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  Speaker 1: anything that looks like boots on the ground in in Iran.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: That is the real problem to some of these people
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  Speaker 2: who want regime change. They want regime change on the cheap,
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  Speaker 2: and they want it with that with cost free. Lindsay
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Graham and his pronouncement of this last I think Friday
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  Speaker 2: made this comment that, yeah, once that the regime is dropped,
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  Speaker 2: it's gonna usher in a whole new era. And I
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: just couldn't help but cringe. I'm like, dude, you realize
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly what the United States said in the Bush
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  Speaker 2: administration before Iraq in two thousand and three. And we
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: see how that turned out, and we see it nearly
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: always turns out like that. And if you think you
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: can go on on the cheap and just throw a
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  Speaker 2: few missiles out there and that's going to make the
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  Speaker 2: regime fall and it's going to be great after that, Man,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: you hadn't been paying attention to world history or paying
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: any attention to human nature. It's almost certainly not going
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  Speaker 2: to work out that way. And the regime is aware
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  Speaker 2: of our plans, and they have plans. They have con
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: continuity of government plans. So even if you took out
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the Ayatola, they said, by the way, that would be
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: full on war. And now then they have no reason
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: to withhold and they would attack other Americans in the region.
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  Speaker 2: We don't want a situation to where we bring our
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: own troops else in the region under fire. And by
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the way, their missiles can penetrate our air defense out
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: there they choose to, they can reach a wreak a
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: lot of damage and death on our troops. And I
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: hope we don't find out.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, when you when you look at green have
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: you ever been to Greenland? By the way, a beautiful cloud?
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, been to Austin, had been to Greenland?
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Right, But when it when it comes to Greenland, I
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: think it's easy to make the and and understand the
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: argument for its its position on the on the on
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the globe, why it would be a strategic importance for
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the United States. Uh, I don't know that I can
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: get my head around with. You know what has been
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: coming from the administration as far as wanting to have
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: more influence in Greenland? How do you size up that situation?
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Look, here's the here's the troubling part about all this,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: This claim that we have to have Greenland or our
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: national security will be at risk, and Denmark camp defend it,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: et cetera. Denmark has never defended Greenland. It's always been NATO.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: It's got Article five protections, the same as every other
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: NATO country. So I mean, just like you'd say, well,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: you can't say Lithuania, the little Lithuania can defend itself
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: against Russia. It can't. That's why it's a part of NATO,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: because it wants that protection. The same would be for Greenland.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: But the other issue that I talk about is that look,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: even when you look at Russia, why in the world
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: would Russia ever want Greenland to risk an Article five
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: attack against a nuclear powered alliance when it already has
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: a massive Arctic presence on its own border. China is
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: even worse. China wants access to the Arctic free economic reasons,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: but they don't have the military to project naval and
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: air power to even make an attempt to seize it.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: So there is literally there is no risk from it.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Our Article five already protects it. And by the way,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: if you want it for air defense or this Golden
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Dome situation, you already have that with the treaties that
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: we have in place, we can expand our footprint. We
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: don't need to own it in order to have those
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: things met. So I don't really understand the really at
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the heart of why President Trump seems so emphatic about
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: owning it because it comes a great cost to us,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and I'm talking great cost over an extended period of time.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know that he's thought through a lot of that,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: because I think if he did, he would see we
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: don't want to saddle our country with billions of dollars
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: already going to another country just to keep them afloat.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, Daniel Davis, Lieutenant colonel retired from the Army,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: and thank you so much for your perspective this morning.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Great to have you on for the fifty five KRC
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  Speaker 1: Morning Show, and keep up the great work. I certainly
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: hope we can get a chance to talk on down
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the road or too.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you a lot.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: All right, thank you very much, and with that we
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  Speaker 1: will get to a break eight forty two on fifty
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: five KRC de Talk Station. Now that a new year
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: is here, Start twenty twenty six,