Latest / Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar / 9/3/26: Iran Lights Up Middle East, Holland Pulls Gold From US, German Power Plant Sabotage

Transcript

9/3/26: Iran Lights Up Middle East, Holland Pulls Gold From US, German Power Plant Sabotage · Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Happy Thursday.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Have an amazing show for everybody today. What do we have, Crystal?
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Indeed we do. New Iran attacks overnight. Will the U.S. respond?
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: We are waiting to see.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: The Dutch have decided they cannot trust us any longer
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: with their gold, and they are pulling that gold out
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: of the New York Federal Reserve.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: So that's kind of interesting.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Is Russia conducting a gray war in Europe of sabotage
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: and chaos? This comes as two German electricity generating facilities
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: were compromised. Fame prognosticator Charlie Cook says Republicans are facing
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: a true nightmare scenario. How bad could it get? And also,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Trump has decided to jump into the midterms. He's doing
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: his whole convention. Other Republicans don't want to come. He's
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: also up on the airwaves with an ad just about himself,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: thinking that that is going to be good for Republicans.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, at a time when he has like a 32
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: percent approval rating.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: That ought to do it.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, on the AI front, we've got a lot to
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: cover here. An open AI executive and former Trump admin
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: official is admitting that he has been downplaying some of
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the risks of AI and pledges now to come clean
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: amidst some very concerning warnings.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: And Tucker.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Low-key backs Abdul El-Sayed over Mike Rogers in his new
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: interview with our own Sagar and Jetty, and right-wing Republican
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: world is completely melting down over it.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: We'll play it for you for the clip, and we'll
• 1:49
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• 1:51
  Speaker 3: episode is out on Tucker's show. It'll probably be available
• 1:53
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• 1:56
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  Speaker 3: and taking advantage of their free trial. Now, I'm personally
• 2:02
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  Speaker 3: So breakingpoints.com.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. All right.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Ryan loves to use, like, low-key threats.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: He's like, I'll do a calciad. Yeah, I know. I'll
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  Speaker 1: Maybe that's what we should do. I don't know. Yeah, breakingvoice.com.
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• 2:46
  Speaker 1: as Ryan Grim. Breakingvoice.com, take advantage.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: I guess.
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  Speaker 3: YouTube, by the way, if you're watching this on YouTube,
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  Speaker 3: Borrowing from Ryan, if you're listening to this podcast, share
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: an episode with a friend or don't. As Crystal said,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: we're going to go ahead and start with the situation
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: in Iran. So first we're going to start with some
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: of the major overnight events activity. A9, please, we'll put
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: it up here on the screen. Kuwait reporting that there
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: were some hostile drones and missiles that actually attacked them
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: last night. This is extremely noteworthy because it did not
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: come in direct response to any new round of U.S.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. You also had a
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: new declaration from Iran. Let's put A8 on the screen.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Iran has warned the United States against an Israeli attack
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: on the in the early days of all the discussion
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: around the ceasefire, the number one sticking point was Israeli
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: aggression and continued occupation of Lebanon. And so Iran is
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: returning to many of the red lines that it had
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: set in that original ceasefire and memorandum of understanding, say
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: that there needs to be a complete stop to any
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Israeli occupation and continued moving forward in Lebanon. So Iran's
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: dual threat here of attacking the bases is issuing warnings
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: against Israeli potential aggression here in Lebanon. Put those two
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: together and you actually see a much more, I would say,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: strategically offensive Iran than you would have previously. This definitely
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: also comes on the heels of, what, 30 days of
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: no strikes between the United States, or at least from
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: the United States side. There have been a few attacks
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: in the Strait of Hormuz. Those attacks have skyrocketed now
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: in the last 24 to 48 hours.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: The continued attacks on the bases.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Many of these attacks included much more sophisticated missiles that
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: were used to hit U.S. bases, not just in Kuwait,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: but also in Jordan. We know, at least from some
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: of the satellite imagery, that some damage was made despite U.S.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: claims on the base in Jordan. Not a surprise, considering
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: that U.S. soldiers had been killed there previously. But I
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: think that you could put all this together.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: We're entering.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: not a new phase of the war, but a more
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: heightened return to where things previously had been. And the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: United States finding itself in a vice with Trump, apparently
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: this morning, musing to his advisers saying, hey, maybe we'll
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: just declare victory and move on.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: You're like, well, you could try.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: But as long as you're going to keep that blockade on,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: we're all in this together. And Iran gets a vote
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: in this war, too.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're saying they may declare that the Iran war
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: is over, even as you know, I mean, even just
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: a blockade is an act of war. So it is
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: ridiculous to imagine that this thing is anywhere close to over. Unfortunately,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Iran is claiming they struck not only Kuwait, but UAE yesterday.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: They are saying that they targeted communications, aircraft hangars, troop
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: areas and radar systems. They say they caused damage to
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: communications equipment and hangars.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: You know, the U.S.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Hasn't said anything about these attacks, so we have no
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: official confirmation. It's still too early to have gathered satellite
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: data and have any sort of confirmation just based on visuals.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: So still waiting on that. However, it is noteworthy that
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you had the U.S. engaging in this tit for tat approach.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Iran seems to be going beyond that. Previously, it appeared
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that maybe they would just respond in kind and try
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: to keep things limited as well. That was a strategy
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: that I think is relatively confusing, given their assessment and
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: what it appears to be the case is that the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Trump administration wants to continue to squeeze Iran, but to
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: be able to put this conflict on the back burner
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: going into the midterm elections. And then the expectation is
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: that the US may go back to a more forthright
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: war footing after the midterm elections. If you're Iran, why
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: would you just sit back And allow the U.S. to
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: dictate the pace. Why would you play into their hands
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: and let Trump and his administration move things forward at
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the pace that is convenient for them? So it would
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: not be surprising at all if Iran is taking more
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: initiative here. Like I said, still early indications, but we
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: will see. I was listening to Professor John Mearsheimer this morning,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: and he says, yes, of course, the Iranian economy is hurting. Yes,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: there's gas lines. You see these sorts of things. He
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: was speaking to a friend in Iran who was a
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: relatively moderate individual who said, I'm kind of surprised how
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: much damage they were able in the short term. to
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: do to the civilian economy. However, the Iranians have been
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: able to stockpile because of the early days of the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: war when they were selling oil like gangbusters at our behest.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: They were able to stockpile enough revenue to last them
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: through March. That's a long time from now. So the
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: idea that the Iranian regime is close to collapse, there's
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: really no signs of that.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Is there economic stress? Yes. Can you always predict the future? No,
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: of course not.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: But we've been trying to squeeze Iran economically out of
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: existence and cause this regime to crumble for decades. And
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: in the past several years, of course, we have upped
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: the ante on that front. It hasn't worked yet.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: And yet we're.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Supposed to believe this fiction that, oh, they're just about
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: to crumble.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: This time it will be different. This time the.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: Whole thing is going to And it presumes that Iran
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: stands alone, which it doesn't. We're going to cover in
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: our next block, the SCO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization statement,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: specifically condemning the United States was signed on to by India,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: by China and by Russia. So you have three, at
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: least two global quasi superpowers or large powers in their
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: own rights with very strong economies that would be able
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: to back Iran and Russia, which militarily is already giving
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: significant technology to the Iranians, which they are putting to
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: great effect on the battlefield. Let's start with A1 also,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: just to show you in the clearest sign yet, Trump
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: is almost certain to, quote, declare victory. He said yesterday,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: now that we have it under USA control, should we
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: change the name Hormuz Strait to the Trump Strait? Like
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: America itself, it would be, quote, hotter than ever before.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: It'll certainly be hot because of the bombs that are
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: going off in it. And perhaps we should call it
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: the Trump Strait as a symbol to catastrophic failure. In fact,
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: I don't even know If the Iranians would object, they're like, yeah,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: we should call it the Trump Strait. They're like, this
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: shows if they control the Trump Strait or can disrupt
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: things in the Trump Strait for all time, that's potentially
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: one of the best strategic victories that you.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Could ever have.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Adds another layer of humiliation onto the whole thing. And
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: so it becomes a symbol of his defeat basically at
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: his own hands versus the proud president. symbol of his
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: ego that he would want it to be.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: You also have Secretary Rubio, who has been totally MIA
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: on this conversation. He's too focused on Cuba and on
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Latin America. He waded into the conversation recently, again, threatening
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: secondary sanctions on China, on India, and all of these
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: other countries, which just stood up to the United States
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: on the Iran question. Here's what he had to say
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: about sanctions.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't think there's a trade deal between India
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: and Iran. Obviously, countries all develop their own foreign policy,
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: and many countries around the world talk to the Iranian regime.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: I mean, we've met with elements of the Iranian regime
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: as well in terms of some of these discussions that
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: have occurred, and there's been contact with them. I think
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: what ultimately happens, though, and the President's been very clear,
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: is no country should be helping Iran evade sanctions. No
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: country should be out there helping them create mechanisms by
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: which they can generate revenue that they will then use
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: to sponsor terrorism and try to build a nuclear weapon.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: And if countries decide to do that, then we're going
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: to have to sanction them too.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: We're going to have to sanction them too.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Again, that is a threat directly at China as Xi
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Jinping is currently on a world tour and is making
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: his way to the United States. So this is where
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: they're at. They want to declare victory. They want to
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: call it the Trump Strait. They want to try and
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: sanction and crush their economy at the same time. As
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: you very aptly pointed out, blockade is literally an act
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: of war. It's called, it is under all definitions. It's
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: why during the Cuban Missile Crisis, they were like, it's
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: a quarantine of Cuba. And they refused to call it
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: blockade for this exact reason, famously. You also, if you
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: want to know where Trump's head is at, let's put
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: A4 on the screen. This is from that Atlantic story.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: We talked about this somewhat in our Tuesday show about
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: the Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who's decided to step down.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: He met with Trump, basically telling him not only about
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: How the Iran war was a failure, but how Pete
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Hegseth was trying to personally take over the U.S. Army
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: and was setting back a lot of their forward progress
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: at attempting to move the force towards a more technological
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: drone advanced fighting force like any fighting force would want
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: to be after we just witnessed in Ukraine and also
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: in the Iran war. And Trump apparently, quote, talked exclusively
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: about his ballroom in response, causing Driscoll to resign, believing
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: that the administration was doomed. Not great in terms of
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: and look for the inevitable. Oh, he was a leak.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: This guy was like J.D. Vance's best friend in law school, U.S.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Army veteran.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: He's not some deep state lib. Like, this is a
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: direct Trump-appointed army secretary. Now, who's going to replace him?
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: The current frontrunner is Sean Parnell, who is the boneheaded
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: spokesperson for Pete Hegseth, and who is really, honestly, the
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: only thing that has really, like, come with Sean... All
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Sean has been able to do under Hegseth's tenure is
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: endorse and amplify the dumbest stuff that the Pentagon has done.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Parnell was reportedly one of those people behind the Pentagon crackdown, right,
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: in terms of kicking all the journalists out and inviting
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: all these MAGA morons who are willing to sign away
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: their right to even do journalism to be able to
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: enter the building. He's one of those people who's been
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: defending them hiring all of these MAGA influencers who in
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: some cases were the same journalists that had served in
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: that press corps. He's been one of the most like
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: vociferous tack dogs for Pete Hegseth. So to have him,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, again, like this is somebody who Driscoll, you
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: could make an argument at the, you know, maybe he
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: was unqualified or whatever. This is literally the spokesperson for
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Pete Hegseth who they want to install as a new
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: secretary of the United States armies.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: That's a serious job.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: One of the other alternatives is Representative Brian Mast, who
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: literally served in the IDF.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: So that's where we're at, people, in terms of moving
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: forward with the Army. I mean, they want— look, the military
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: is in— the top brass of the military appears to be
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: in somewhat approaching— active revolt from their perspective, issuing the
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: non-concur in terms of the strategy with regard to Iran,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: the way that they are leaking to the press some
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: of the problems with the munitions stockpiles. You can see
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: all of this. as them attempting to make the case publicly.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: These are the tactics that they use. As Sagar pointed
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: out last time we talked, usually these are the tactics
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: they deploy in the press in order to try to
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: get us into some new conflict. It is really something
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: to see them saying, this is such a disaster and
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: our forces and our stockpiles are so overstretched, we cannot
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: go forward. that they are now using those tactics to
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: try to get us out of what has been a
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: disastrous conflict. That carrier that we had talked so much
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: about where the sailors and the Marines were suffering so
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: greatly and that you had a number who tried to
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: jump overboard. The food, the rash, all that was under
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: incredible stress. They did finally make it to shore, so
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: they are getting some much needed and long overdue rest
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: and relaxation.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: I don't know what genius sent them to Pattaya, Thailand,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: but that's going to be the hangover part times one million.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: Hoping they forget about everything that they've been through.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: So preemptively, I would leave Pattaya if I were you
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: because that is going to be Hurricane Lincoln coming through
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: that place. Let's put A5 on the screen if you're
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: wondering what our Israeli allies are up to. This is
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: an op-ed over at the Jerusalem Post. They say the
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: war with Iran will not be won through airstrikes. So
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: what's left? They list a number of things that they
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: recommend for our country. congressional recognition of minority independence, debt
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: relief for indebted young Americans, a Beijing deal on Iranian
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: oil are three options. But if you look a little
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: bit in there, they also say not draft, but enlistment
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: through a debt forgiveness program. It says the average American
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: age 13 to 34 carries more than.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: $ 40, 000 in debt.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: They say this is a cohort the Pentagon needs, a
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: federally administered debt forgiveness enlistment program that fully discharges all
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: of your loan balances and after 24 to 36 years
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: of service.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And so they basically endorse, again, in the.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Jerusalem Post, trying to turn literal debt slaves in the
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: United States into fodder for the wars that they want
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: us to fight.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, ally moment, as some people like to say.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: And I think this guy who wrote this op-ed is
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: actually Canadian. He's being published in the Jerusalem Post.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: There's a lot going on there. I mean, the truth
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: of the matter is we use the precarious economic situation
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: of Americans today to sort of coerce them, financially coerce them.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: Into the military.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: It's why it's mostly poor and working class Americans who
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: do end up being sent in as fodder. But to
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: state it this explicitly of like, you know, these people
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: are a lot of debt.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: You could use that to be able to. And he
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: doesn't lay out.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: But the reason you would need what effectively are sort
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: of like financially coerced conscripts is if you were going
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: to do some sort of ground invasion. And then he
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: begins his case by saying that, oh, we should recognize
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: these minority break-off republics in Iran, again, to try to
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: collapse the state, which has long been the Israeli goal.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: So it makes perfect sense that this is running in
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: the Jerusalem Post and that this is how they're thinking
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: about things. Put A7 up on the screen. In one
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: of the last rounds of attacks, there was a wedding.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: that we bombed with significant loss of life. There was
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: some sort of military post that was, I think, 150
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: yards or something away that we also struck, but separately
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: we bombed this wedding.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: We had denied it.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: New York Times did the full analysis with several partners
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and Found bomb fragments consistent.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: With the U.S.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: You know, they were able to look at the videos
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: and all of the visual evidence. So this is case closed.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: This was a U.S.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Strike on a wedding.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Of course, this adds to some of the latest civilian casualties.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I also saw that we're using some new type of
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: missile that sprays fragments everywhere, which military experts say should
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: never be used in dense civilian areas. Of course, we
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: did use it in dense civilian areas. This is, I guess,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: part of the administration's new, quote unquote, mowing the lawn strategy.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: So again, Israelification of the U.S. government and the U.S. military,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: every way that you could possibly look.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Well, and even bigger picture, it is a sign of
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: immense weakness because these, many of these missiles, we don't
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: know the exact munition which was used in this case.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: But what we do know is that many of the
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: missiles that were launched on Iran for these Hormuz attacks
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: were Tomahawk missiles. So they were fired from hundreds of
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: miles away.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Well, why?
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Because, remember, the reason why this attack happened in the
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: first place, because an F-35 was clipped by, or potentially
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: almost clipped, by an Iranian munition. So they can't use
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: the most advanced laser guided munitions, which are used with
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: manned aircraft. So they have to use standoff munitions from
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: hundreds of miles away. You can also see exactly how
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: this all happened because unlike the Minob case, where it's
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: pretty clear, like the target hit, it's just that the
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: target hit because of what we hope is outdated targeting data.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: This was only 150 yards away from from a communications tower,
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: which previously had been struck by the United States. 150
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: yards is nothing whenever we're talking about hundreds of miles
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: away missile, which is being launched. So it's actually not
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: that difficult to see how with even a minuscule error
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: in targeting with these missiles from far away, that you
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: are able, and obviously catastrophically, you hit this tiny wedding
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: and turn it into a horrific tragedy. So it's a
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: sign of weakness that we have to use this type
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: of munition in the first place that we have to
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: fire from hundreds of miles away. And it shows how
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: on the back foot we actually remain in terms of
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: our logistics and our ability. And this is exactly why
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: you don't rely on them for sustained bombing campaigns. If
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: you actually want to do real targeted strikes, you either
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: need man or aircraft munition, or you would have a
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: ground troop. that was there who could distinguish between a
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: wedding party and somebody who's manning a communication tower. So
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: it's actually not only an immense disaster, civilian disaster that
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: we've inflicted, but it is evidence further of how on
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: the back foot we are that we still have to
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: use All of these Tomahawk missiles, which we've expended almost 50% already,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: God only knows where we are today.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: So according to the New York Times analysis, they say
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: there were remnants of a U.S. glide bomb, a joint
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: standoff weapon. And I was asking Claude, they said the
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: reason to use this, they're generally cheaper than powered cruise missiles.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: They skip the engine.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: It's attractive for converting existing unguided bomb stockpiles into precision
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: guided standoff weapons.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: So it fits with what you're saying. We have all
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: of these dumb bombs. This is a way to convert
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: this into a longer range munition. The downside of that
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: is that you end up bombing a wedding and murdering children.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: So there you go.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's really we just glaze over these things now,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: you know, during Iraq. again, say what you want.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Iraq, we killed a lot of people responsible for a
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: million deaths over there. Abu Ghraib was a big story.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: And every time we killed civilians in this manner it
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: was story remember wiki leaks the original helicopter that was
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: a real scandal nobody blinks an eye nobody even congress
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: even says how does this happen i mean they didn't
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: even vote for this war they're happy for this war
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: and we just move on from minab from this we
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: bomb these people under the guise of negotiation like What
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: are we doing here?
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Well, and let's keep in mind, too, that under Hegseth's leadership,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: he dismantled the office that was supposed to oversee avoiding
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: civilian strikes because he thought it was like woke and
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: gay over the objections of a lot of senior military
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: brass because, you know, he and so this is the.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying that this is the direct result of that.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: It's hard to say whether this would have happened if
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: that office was still in place. But it speaks to
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: an attitude of we don't really care. We're not really
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: trying to avoid collateral damage. You know, we'll we're going
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: to casually and we now know a lot about the
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: school strike where they triple tapped. By the way, this
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: was not one errant bomb. They triple tapped that school. And,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: you know, it came out of a rush of we
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: don't feel like double checking.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: We don't have time.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Just grab whatever target sets we've got. it had an
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: indication that these targets needed to be rechecked. And there's
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: also a theory that I think is relatively plausible that
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: this was intentional also to try to cause deep pain
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: for the military commanders, many of whom's children were attending
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: that school and were murdered on that day. So in
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: any case, whether it was errant or not, certainly the Iranians,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter to them when they're picking up the
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: pieces of their broken lives and burying their family members.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, imagine if your wedding was bombed. How would that
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: go down? All right, let's move on to the SCO.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Moving now to the SCO and just to the general
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: reaction to the United States in the middle of this war,
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: we're going to start with an extraordinary story coming out
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: of Holland. Let's put this up here on the screen.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: The Dutch Central Bank has decided to move gold bars
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: out of New York over, quote, geopolitical unrest. So what
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: they say, the Dutch Central Bank has shifted 78 tons
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: of gold from New York to London in a politically
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: sensitive move calling increasing geopolitical unrest. The transfer follows calls
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: from European politicians and taxpayer lobbyists to repatriate gold reserves
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: from the United States. warning that an unreliable government under
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump would otherwise seize them amid growing transatlantic tensions.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: The Dutch central bank known as DNB said the goal
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: of the move was, quote, strengthen its crisis preparedness by
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: distributing its gold more evenly across jurisdictions, moving now all
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: of their physical bullion over to London and transacting more
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: than $ 900 billion in gold annually.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Each week.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our reserves.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: This also happens on the heels of France, which also
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: removed all of its gold.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know this, from the New York Federal Reserve.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: How did we miss that?
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Between July 2025 and January 2026, the governor of the
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: French Central Bank said that the move, quote, was not
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: politically motivated. This is all really calling back to some
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: crazy gold situations and things that I've read about in
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: terms of us ditching the gold standard and calls for
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: the real physical gold. But the big picture thing is here,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: you have somebody who is in NATO, who is one
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: of the, they say, the second largest gold reserve globally,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: which they hold, who are obviously worried about political blowback and, quote,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: tension with the US and their own gold being seized.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: It is almost certain, considering the Dutch and the node
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: that they serve in the global banking system, that this
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: is a reaction potentially to the secondary sanctions bill that
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: we're trying to pass with Iran and or with Russia,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: and that they are looking at the... And again, if
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: you watch the show, we warned about this five years
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: ago when we were seizing all of these Russian assets
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: that are held in US courts, is we were like, look,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: if you seize this stuff here, which you have no
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: right to, same with the Iranians, remember, we literally hold
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: their money.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: It's their money, there's no question. at all about it.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: How can you backstop our financial system and say that
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: it is fair in any way if you can just
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: steal it at whatever time that you choose? The response
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: always was, well, we're the world's greatest economy. We can
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: do whatever we want. And as we saw, that was
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: true for.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: A period of decades.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: But now there are alternative options or always have been
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: to the point where We have two NATO allies here
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: at this point who are like, yeah, you know what?
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: We're done with Trump and with geopolitical– I mean I
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: don't have to tell you all what that means for
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: our reserve status if we're not going to be a
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: safe haven for gold or any assets from around the world. Literally,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: you can pick up a book about the end of
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: the gold standard or even World War II and the
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: way that we were– and World War I, the way
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: that we were managing– the gold reserve at that time.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: Anytime something like this happens, it's an actual shock, a
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: genuine shock to the financial system.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: And I think the truth of the matter is Western
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Europe was perfectly comfortable with us doing crazy and illegal
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: things like seizing assets.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: They did the same thing.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Well, as long as it was our official bad guy enemies.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Trump is so unpredictable, though.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's going to war with Canada right now
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: and doing all kinds of crazy stuff with Greenland and
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: constantly yelling at Europe over this thing or that thing.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: So they're like, OK, well, what is going to keep
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: us safe? So now they feel like we could turn
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: into one of those official bad guy nations to be
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: treated the way that Russia is treated. And we can't
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: have that. And so how has Russia been treated? Yes,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: we have frozen their assets. And Congress literally passed a
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: law that said we could confiscate their assets and give
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: them to Ukraine. Okay, that's the situation that we're talking
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: about here. So is it crazy for the Dutch to
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: look at that and go, you know, maybe we don't
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: really want our gold reserves being held by you right now? No,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: that's a perfectly reasonable and logical response to the landscape
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: that Trump himself has created here.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: And let's fit it with the SCO declaration because this
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: was a huge deal. We covered it previously. on Tuesday,
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: but we officially got the joint communique.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Very similar.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Usually these are very anodyne. You know, they're like, we
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: believe in world peace and negotiations between countries.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: This one, not so much. Let's put it up here.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: So if you read the full declaration, I encourage you
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: all to do it, the Bishkek Declaration. It's all written
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: in English. You can go and read any of it
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: for yourself. Let me read you directly what they say
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: about Iran. The SCO condemned military strikes on the territory
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: of the Islamic Republic of Iran. which have resulted in
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: numerous civilian casualties and significant damage to the country's economy.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: They said, U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran violate the principles and
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: norms of international law, the U.N. Charter, and create serious
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: risks to international peace, security, and stability. Member states expressed
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: their sincere condolences to the people and the government of
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: the Islamic Republic of Iran on the tragic death of
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: the Supreme Leader, Saeed Khamenei, and to the families of
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: the victims. SCO members reaffirmed their support for sovereignty and
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and advocate
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: a resolution to the conflict solely through political and diplomatic means.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Member states note that the only possible way to ensure
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: peace and stability in the Middle East is a comprehensive
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: and just settlement of the Palestinian question. These alone are
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: insane statements. Not insane in the way, not insane for
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: China to make, or Russia to make. And of course,
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: I'll point out the hypocrisy of Russia invading Ukraine. That
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: goes without saying. It goes without saying also to say
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: it's not a surprise that the Kyrgyz president is signing this.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: It's not a surprise that the Belarusian or the Uzbek president.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: But the single most important signatory to this document is
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Prime Minister Modi of India. Prime Minister Modi maintains very
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: strong relations with Israel. also maintains moderately strong relations with
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: the United States. So you just had leaders of the
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: two most populous countries on Earth combine or one-third of
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: the global population, just affirm Iranian sovereignty, condemn the death
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: of Ayatollah Khomeini, and come out and say that this
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: is an illegal war which is being waged on them
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: and affirming their right to sovereignty, all while standing next
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: to the president of Iran. Islamic Republic of Iran. So
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: that picture is, I mean, again, zero coverage in the
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Western press. Shout out to Al Jazeera and a few
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: others who picked up on this. This is a global
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: geopolitical shifting event on the Iran question, because most of
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: the time, Iran, you know, China, even China and Russia,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: they'll issue a few statements. They don't really do anything
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: about it. Well, we already know that that's not true.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Russia is giving them advanced military technology. China is giving
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: them their access to their banking system, propping up Juan transactions,
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: crypto pathways for them to fund. India is coming out
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: and being like, we're going to keep buying Iranian oil
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: as long as we're able to on the market and
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: in a joint smiling handshake photos with the president. I mean,
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: what this demonstrates is how much Iran has actually shaken
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: the understanding, especially in Asia and with the world powers
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: of U.S. Not just security commitment, but to their general
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: action abroad. And it makes them question everything, the bedrock
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: of their own alliance structure with the United States and
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: how they're going to pursue the future. We predicted this
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: with South Korea. Trump is like, screw you, South Korea.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to do joint military exercises. Like, OK,
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: maybe we'll get a nuclear weapon.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: You know, or the Japanese are like, I don't know.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: Maybe we'll go in a different direction. Maybe we'll look
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: to the Australians, the Indians. I mean, India's number one
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: foreign policy goal under Modi has been we're in.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: It for us.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Cheap oil is cheap oil. We don't give a shit
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: where it comes from. So Iran and Russia, sure, we'll
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: keep buying it. And he calls Putin his friend. And
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: these are all major signals being sent to us.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: It's worth remembering that in the early days of the
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Russia-Ukraine war, we really didn't want India buying Russian oil.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: And they're like, too bad.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they literally said, we don't care.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: We're going to do it. It's cheap. It's good for us.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: We're doing it.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Sorry.
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: And what did we do in response? Really nothing. So
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: they look at that.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: They look at how inept we've proven to be and
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: how weak we've proven to be vis-a-vis Iran. And they
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: can see they can see the way the world is shifting,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: the way that the world is is understanding the inherent
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: weakness of the U.S. empire at this point. And so
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: this is yet another sign of the times.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: It is noteworthy, though. I mean, they really didn't hold
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: anything back in this statement.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: All the things were including the you know, we need
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: a resolution of the Palestinian question. That's the only way
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: we're going to have peace in the Middle East. They
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: signed on to the whole thing. To saga's point, let's
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: put this next piece up on the screen. This is
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: highly significant. We just learned this from the Financial Times.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Russia has been secretly helping Iran to develop highly advanced
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: supersonic cruise missiles. Now, this is apparently not a brand-new thing.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: This has been a multi-year covert program, codename C-430L. It's
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: enlisted some of Russia's most experienced missile specialists to help
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Iran develop a new class of weapons capable of threatening U.S.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: aircraft carriers and other warships in the Middle East. The
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: main purpose, they say, is to help Iran develop a
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: ramjet propulsion system. That's an engine that allows a cruise
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Missile and military experts said the technology was almost certainly
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: intended for anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles. Quote, this
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: is the transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: A program like this would require political clearance from the
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: very top in Russia. So this isn't just, you know,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: sending over some blueprints. They have actually sent top scientists
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: from Russia to Iran, according to this report. to help
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Iranian scientists be able to achieve this level of technological advancement. Now,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: we don't know whether they have succeeded yet. We haven't
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: seen any indication that these missiles have been deployed during
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: this current war with the U.S.
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: And with Israel.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: But it is extremely noteworthy that this level of high
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: tech knowledge sharing has been occurring from Russia to Iran.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: And Iran has also been very beneficial to Russia in
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: the war in Ukraine by providing Shahid drones. So it's
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: not that Iran hasn't had anything to offer in terms
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: of weapons technology as well. So you could see how
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: this is very mutually beneficial and logical relationship for the
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: two countries.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: And so we've covered the bond market here extensively. I
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: know Ryan and Emily did yesterday as well. You're already
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: seeing the global sell-off continue. And we're going to talk
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: a little bit about data centers and AI and the
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: intersection between those two things as well.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: But overall, you see a broad weakening in the U.S.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Financial system and architecture, which enables it to do these
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: kind of gray zone wars that we have been doing
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: since the end of post-World War II era. And Stephen Walt,
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: I highly recommend. He was a co-author with Mearsheimer in
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: the Israel Lobby book.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: He's a longtime realist and scholar.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: He did a great episode with Tucker, and he talked
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: specifically about how the post-World War II era really evolved
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: into the United States being a nation of assassination and of, like, small, quote,
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: small warfare. Like, because the United States population didn't want
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: to pay the price or actually engage in conventional war,
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: and that the CIA and the U.S. government, as evidenced
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: by Maduro and the decapitation strike on Khomeini, we find
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: it easier to just kill leaders and try to compel
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: their behavior through financial sanctions. All of that of worked
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: during this Cold War. There was a hell of a
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: lot of blowback, obviously, and also even in the lead
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: up to Libya, to Syria, or any of these places.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: Not a ton of Americans died, but we dramatically immiserated
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: and destroyed those states. Well, in this case, we're watching
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: the downfall of that strategy, where we kill Khomeini and
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: the regime tightens up. We try to economically sanction Russia.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Same thing.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: Putin is stronger today than he was before the war launched.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: We've talked extensively about amount of casualties they're willing to suffer.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: We try to sanction and do a trade war on China.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: China learns from the Russia sanctions, the Iran sanctions, and
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: more about how to sanction proof its entire financial system
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: from the United States and to pilot program all of
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: these different ways they can work around us. The Indians,
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: same thing. We try to sanction them. They're obviously still
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: buying Russian oil or finding different pathways. Same with Iran.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: They're definitely not willing to buckle. And then the SEO statement,
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: the Dutch situation. What you're watching is if we don't
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: even have that ability to do that type of stuff anymore,
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: then we're going to have to fall back on either
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: no war or real war. And that's actually a good
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: choice to be part of the reason why I think
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: this inherently is a disastrous situation, which I think will
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: be to our detriment, but will force us ultimately, hopefully
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: to act better in the future. But the downside to
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: what I'm saying is it also means that after the midterms,
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: which Trump is now openly kind of acknowledging behind the scenes,
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: or a lot of advisors, they may escalate to a
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: ground war in Iran just after November because then they
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: no longer have to pay any political price. So it
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: leaves things in a much more binary situation. And the
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: forever war strategy can't work as well whenever you have
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: all that architecture just starts to dissolve.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: Which exposes also that he's lying when he says he
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: doesn't care at all about the midterms. Because if he
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: didn't care at all about the midterms, why would you
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: wait for the midterms to do your next move and escalate? Yeah,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: the thinking at least that has been reported in the
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: press is that they're like, oh, after November, then we've
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: got this window between November and January before the new
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: members get elected. sworn in where we can just go
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: ham and do whatever we want without any really political pushback.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: So if that's the thinking, then it exposes the fact
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: that Trump does in fact care about the midterm results
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: and how bad they're going to be for Republicans, which
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: we'll get to in a later segment.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Let's get to Germany. Speaking of interesting things.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: Turning out of Germany, we got to keep an eye
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: on the situation because something very sketchy is going on.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Let's start with this video. And we'll put it up here.
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: Many of you might have seen it. There were multiple
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: power plants in Germany which have now come under attempted
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: sabotage attacks. So this is one which happened at a substation.
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: There were bright flashes that were filmed by people who
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: were walking nearby. The grid operator said, quote, external interference
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: might have been likely. But this was the second such
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: either potential attack or disruption that happened at a power plant.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: In Germany.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Let's put C2 up here on the screen. The German
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: police have confirmed that there are two incidents which have
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: disrupted power distribution systems in East and West, where being
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: investigated as potential acts of sabotage, with one also being
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: examined for possible links to terrorism. They said multiple explosive
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: devices were found Tuesday morning at a substation near a
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg, Hours later, a short circuit
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: knocked power lines out of service at the one that
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: we just showed you. Neither incident affected the power supply
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: in their areas, but authorities are investigating the incidents, have
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: not yet named any suspects.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: So obviously, all of us are immediately.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: Kind of flashing back to Nord Stream and to what
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: happened with the blowing up of that pipeline, where immediately
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: the Biden administration, the Western government, everybody just blamed Russia.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: it obviously turns out it was Ukraine the entire time
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: trying to force the Europeans' hands, make sure that they
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: could never restore natural gas ties, and to create more
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: of a situation where they do a false flag attack
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: and kind of invite and use that as preemption for
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: why they should get more involved in Ukraine. Now, this
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: also comes, many people in the West did not notice
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: this at all, but in Over in Europe, they're calling
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: for Article 5 declaration over this.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Let's put this one up here on the screen.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Is that last month, the Germans are now saying that
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: Russia had an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: So let me read from a lot of this.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: The German government is blaming Russia for an attempted attack
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: at the Leipzig airport last month using a drone laden
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: with explosives and announced that it would shut down a
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: Russian consulate, among other measures.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Now listen to this. The drone was found.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: Near a Ukrainian plane on August 4th, and the device
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: was diffused. German officials said that the incident had posed
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: a new level of danger. Moscow has widely accused by
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: Western officials here of running a campaign of sabotage and
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: destabilizing European nations. Now, the destabilizing European nations, I will
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: give them that. But undermining support for Ukraine? I mean,
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: if the Russians are going to bomb surreptitiously in airport
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: in Germany, I'm pretty sure that would have the exact
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: opposite effect. So I'm just saying, if you point to
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: all of this, and it's got all of the hallmarks
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: of a Nord Stream operation, I'll use their language. The
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: German interior minister claimed that the drone figuration components and
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: explosives and detonator are known to us from other Russian
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine. and that the
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: device pointed to a high degree of technical expertise, painstaking planning,
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: but carrying out the plan appears to have been left to, quote,
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: low-level agents. They have not currently specified who any of
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: the people who did this or can prove their Russian connection.
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: So it, of course, also invited the shutdown of a
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: Russian consulate, which is not... any small thing, right? To
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: kick a bunch of diplomats out of the country and
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: to stop their ability to have diplomatic services. I'm only
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: pointing to all this because the situation in Ukraine is
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: getting completely out of control.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: The West is not paying any attention.
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: Ukraine is taking off huge diesel plants, refineries, shutting down
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: the ability for the Russians to refine oil and even
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: so much having to export it. It's putting massive pressure
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: on global diesel markets. We are about 10 days off
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: the all-time high. Within about 10 days, if nothing changes
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: in the diesel market, we will hit the all-time diesel
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: price high here in the United States, which is massively
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: detrimental to inflation in the industrial sector.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: But also, this comes on.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: The heels of some crazy warnings from the Ukrainians, Crystal,
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: whenever it comes to their airspace and what they're doing
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: over there. So we need to pay very close attention
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: because this entire thing could erupt into a major situation.
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: And they're alleging, put C3B up on the screen. This
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: is from the Wall Street Journal. I took note of this.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: They're alleging that Russia is waging a full wave of
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: what they call gray zone attacks. So the alleged drone operation,
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: the sabotaging of these power plants, would be part of
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: this broader wave. They say NATO countries see Moscow's appetite
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: for conflict increasing as it flounders against Ukraine. Russia has
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: turned up the heat on Kiev's allies in Europe with
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: a string of so-called gray zone activities aimed at sowing fears.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: It struggles to advance on the ground in Ukraine, faces
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: increasingly damaging Ukrainian drone and missile attacks at home. European
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: authorities have linked Russia to a spate of drone incursion,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: acts of sabotage, cyber attacks, and other hostile actions across
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: the continent over recent months. Worth noting that, look, I'm
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: not saying that this isn't happening.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: It may be happening.
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: It might be Russia. I mean, there is an incentive.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: There's also a lot of chatter in Russia right now
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: about expanding directly into NATO countries and basically daring us.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: to do something about it and exposing the weakness of NATO,
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: because do we actually think that the U.S.
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, NATO is basically fake at this point. Is
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: the U.S.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Really going to go to war with Russia if Russia
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: actively commits some sort of act of war that is
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: undeniable in a NATO country? Very, very hard to see
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: that we would do that. Now, Ukraine would love to
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: have Article 5 invoked, would love and has always been
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: pushing to get us more and more involved in this war,
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: especially at this point, given how diminished our stockpiles are.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: We can't even effectively wage this war against Iran. and
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: we're gonna go and actively go to war with Russia.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just, it's complete and utter preposterous fantasy.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: But in any case, this is the view from Europe.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: They believe that Russia is engaged in this campaign of
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: gray wave kind of like sabotage and chaos stoking within
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: European countries, whether or not that is true. And also
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: even in the article, they say things that may not,
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: even if this is a real thing, things that are
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: not connected to it, then get chalked up to, oh,
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: this must be Russia as well. So it becomes kind
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: of a catch-all for their view of what is going on.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: So it is extremely significant here that this is the perception,
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: at least, of what is happening here. And it might
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: be the reality. I'm not going to put it out
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: of bounds.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: Well, but that's my frustration with the Western media, as
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: we were pointing out when we were trying.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: To do this segment.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: It's not like they're the only ones who do this stuff.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: Zelensky and the Ukrainians blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: They assassinate generals on the streets of Moscow. They have
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: bombed civilians. They have routinely, surreptitiously infiltrated Russian territory. You
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: can defend all of that if you want. They invaded them, right?
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: They have the right to do whatever they want. I
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: don't even disagree, that's fine. But then don't be crying
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: whenever a bunch of cruise missiles are gonna take out
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: a bunch of your power plants if you're gonna play
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: the exact same game.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: By the way, we helped them originally to target long-range
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: missiles at Russian oil refining capacity. And now we're like,
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: oh shit, the oil market. By the way, Brent crude
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: is up to almost $ 100 a barrel again this morning.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: So there's been a significant surge because of everything that's
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: going on.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: But in any case, now we're like, no, no, no, no, no.
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: Maybe we don't want you to do that. Well, too late.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Now we've provided them with the assistance. We gave them
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: the green light. They're going to continue because it's in
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: their interest.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Of course they are.
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: And in fact, we know that we have the power
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: to tell the Ukrainians what to do because ahead of
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: the CIA director's flight to Moscow, we apparently called the Ukrainians,
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: didn't tell them why.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: We're like, hey, no Moscow strikes today.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: Just in case you, oh, I don't know, blow the
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: CIA director out of the sky. Let's put the C-4B
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: up on the screen just to show you all what happened.
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: the Ukrainians are doing. This is a number of the
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: drone raids in the Russian capital of Moscow. Multiple Russian
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: flights were disrupted. This came on the heels of a
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: crazy announcement, actually, from Zelensky himself. Put C4 on the screen.
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: He writes this, in English, by the way, so it's
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: not exactly just for the Russian population. It was from
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: Russia that the first missiles and the first drones came.
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: They crossed our border country from Russian airsprays. This escalation
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory. Today,
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace,
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russian airports. Russian
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: airspace is becoming completely unsafe. Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation,
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: not a single civilian aircraft. This will simply be drones
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: in Russia's skies on a scale that's not been taken
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: into account. Although the Russian authorities are not properly informing
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: people about this, Russian airspace will be effectively closing the
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: war started by Russia is closing its skies. We in
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: Ukraine do not want innocent lives to be lost. That
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: is why we are warning our partners. The safe days
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: in Russia's skies are over. It is important that this
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: be heard by ambassadors of countries represented here in Ukraine,
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: as well as ambassadors working in Moscow. Every one of
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: them knows exactly what Russia's war means for our country
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: and our people. They must convey this information to our capitals.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is basically a blackmail threat, saying we're
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: going to put a bunch of drones in the sky
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: and we may shut down a civilian airliner. And if
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: you happen to be on one of those planes and
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: you're a civilian, it's your fault for flying. Anyways, to
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: be fair, Russia shot two civilian jets out of the sky.
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: Remember the MH, I forget the exact, 170, I think
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: that's what it was. So I'm not sitting here saying
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: that they're the good guys and they haven't shot civilians
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: literally out of the sky or killed a bunch of
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: civilians in Kyiv. But you're watching Ukraine adopt the same territory.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: And what we know from this is that one party
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: in this has a nuclear weapon and one doesn't. And
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: one party increasingly has a bunch of calls in their
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: own security establishment saying that they want to use nuclear
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: weapons against Ukraine or attack a bunch of NATO countries
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: and test the bounds of their response. So all of
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: that just combines for a very, very unstable geopolitical situation
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: and actually unleashes even more because the Ukrainians have to
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: be watching the Iranians, even though they're condemning them, with
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: some awe in the ability that they're able to bring
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: the U.S.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Empire together.
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: To its knees, they're like, why don't we do the
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: exact same thing here? Which is fair up to a
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: point until they actually have a population which is much
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: more willing than ours to destroy your entire country.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: Well, and Russia is this going back to the technological sharing,
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: the tech sharing that they're doing with the Iranians, helping
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: them to develop more sophisticated weapons and missiles. they're looking
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: at that as a strategic opportunity for them.
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: It's great for them if the U.S.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: Is more and more engaged in Iran and more and
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: more distracted and less and less capable and our weaknesses
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: and our strategy and our tactics more and more exposed.
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: That's great for them.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: So they have every interest in aiding Iran and drawing
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: us further in and keeping us occupied there. So it
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: should be no surprise that they are aiding Iran. Same
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: way it should be no surprise that China behind the scenes,
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: even though they don't want to be directly seen as
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: being involved, appears to have been involved as well in
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: aiding Iran. So these are countries that are acting in
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: their self-interest. I still think the trip from the CIA
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: director to Russia is an extraordinary event. And we don't
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: know what exactly was said. We don't know what intelligence
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: they were looking at that caused that trip to be made.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: But that should be seen as an extremely significant event.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: And it comes amidst all of this chatter that I
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: was discussing before, that Russia is considering striking in a
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: NATO country, that there is even some discussion of Russia
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: deploying a, quote unquote, tactical nuclear weapon. in the context
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: of this war with Ukraine, perhaps in Ukraine or perhaps
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: in a NATO country.
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: So is that the intelligence.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: That caused the CIA director to fly to Moscow and
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: have this extraordinary meeting? We don't know, but it is
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: something to pay very, very close attention to.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: And look, we'll continue to see, like you said, we
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: do know at least about the CIA director meeting. Trump
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: dispatched him on such a secret mission that even senior
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: members of the NSC had no idea that the CIA
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: director was in Moscow. and that they found out on
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: social media whenever somebody spotted a C-47 going over the Baltic.
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: They were like, what the hell is going on? Look
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: up in the sky. There's no way in the world.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: What did Trump say? He was, quote, semi-routine.
• 48:23
  Speaker 5: No, it's not.
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: It's the first flight of a CIA director to Moscow
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: before the Russian invasion.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: So there's something.
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: There's certainly something that's going on behind the scenes. And
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: then Putin immediately going to the SCO and condemning the
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: Iran actions, not changing his behavior. using a bunch of
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: ballistic missiles to murder a bunch of civilians in downtown Kiev,
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: not exactly a change in any of his behavior either.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: So with all that, let's get to the midterms.