WEBVTT - The Rita Panahi Show | 19 March 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:04.519 On scorn Leaves, Austrodia. 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:07.280 This is the Wader Paney Show. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.039 Good evening and welcome to the Rita Paney Show. 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:14.480 Coming up tonight, the Victorian government embroiled in a fresh 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.800 corruption scandal. Adam Crichton will be here to come in 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:21.560 the day's top headlines. The brilliant Douglas Murray will join 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.279 me shortly to discuss everything from the war in Ukraine 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.280 to Disney's work film Disaster, and later in the hour 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.640 we'll have the latest from the US, including the astonishing 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.320 rescue mission by Elon Musky's SpaceX that saw two stranded 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.640 astronauts returned safely to Earth and left He's losing It 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.479 features one of the all time greats from the lunatic 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.600 Asylum known as MSNBC. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:48.639 Stop the hammering out there? 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.240 Who's got a hammer? Where is it? Where's the hammer? 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:53.199 Is it? 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:54.920 On the go up on the other floor. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:01:00.400 Somebody go up there and stop the hammering. Stop the hammer. 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.640 But first Victorian Premier just To Allen and Police Minister 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.679 Anthony Carbines are at the center of serious corruption allegations 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:14.480 brought before Iback and the Statesmutsman by former Deputy Commissioner 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.880 Neil Pattison, who alleges he and dumb Chief Commissioner Shane 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.399 Patton were victims of an unlawful conspiracy. The Herald Sun 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:27.480 reports the central allegation in Patterson's complaint to IBAG is 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.360 that Premier Allen, Minister Carbines, the Department of Premier and 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:37.600 Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Mole, and Commissioner Rick Nugent conspired to 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.760 get rid of him and the Chief Commissioner because the 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.319 pair had given frank and fearless advice to the government 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:46.880 in a bit to protect the community. 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.000 Joining me now for more on this, the Senior Fellow 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:50.640 and Chief. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.559 Economists at the Institute of Public Affairs, Adam Crichton. Adam, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:59.160 we have a respected former deputy commissioner here accusing the Premier, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:04.880 accusing the police minister of corruption and misconduct in public office. 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:06.920 Well, certainly, I think at the very least they're probably 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:07.960 victims of politics. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:08.600 I would say. 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.640 I mean, it strikes me that there's rising crime in Victoria. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.360 There's probably pressure on state labor from federal labor to 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.680 do something about it, and so sacking the commissioners probably 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:19.560 makes sense from a political point of view, But the 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.119 broader point here, and I think this is the one 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.160 that the Victorian public would be picking up on, is 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.560 that there's something dysfunctional with the police office here. 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:28.440 It's not functioning correctly. 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.160 The number of police in this state I just checked 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.840 is the most of any state per capita. Two hundred 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.120 and ninety eight per hundred thousand in Victoria and two 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.040 hundred and twelve per hundred thousand in South Wales for instance. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:41.639 That's a very big difference. And yet crime here is 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.240 out of control. So something is going awfully wrong and 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.000 I think the state government needs to take control somehow. 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:48.200 And fix it. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.680 And morale within the police force is very low. 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:56.040 You speak to officers, they don't have much faith in command. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.640 And there's been accusations for several years now, particularly under Labor, 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.359 that the police force has become politicized. We saw that 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:09.160 throughout COVID, but it's also outside of the COVID era 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:15.840 where police have repeated messaging with Premier Andrews or Premier Allen, 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.560 and yet it hasn't saved the Chief Commissioner. 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.520 It seems if these allegations are accurate. 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.720 Look, certainly it's probably worth pointing out the bail laws 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.600 too that were relaxed here. I mean that would you 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.400 would think disheartened police officers if they're just arresting people 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:33.720 and then they get released again a few weeks later. 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.600 So that could explain some of the crime wave here. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.520 But yeah, certainly things need to be done, things are 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:39.600 to change now. 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.640 Fresh polling from Redbridge has shown that voters believe that 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.040 Peter Dutton and the Coalition are best suited to manage 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.720 our relationship with China, but the figures hren't great for 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.360 either leader here. Twenty seven percent back Peter Dutton compared 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:58.000 to twenty five percent who believe Anthony Albanize in his 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.880 government are best placed to manage this relationship with China, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.560 and fifteen percent say or they have little faith in 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:06.800 either le So I don't know how. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.520 Much we learn from this, but it. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.160 Is certainly an issue that is perhaps not a top 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.839 tier issue, but it's one that Australians still care about 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:17.360 a great deal. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.040 Yeah, well, look it should be a top tier issue. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.280 I mean, in recent weeks we've seen these Chinese military 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.080 exercises just off the Australian coast. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:25.479 That is somewhat concerning. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:27.320 That should suggest that we need to spend more on 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.039 our defense and that's something at least I think that 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.640 the Coalition is at least talking about lifting our GDP 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.839 spending to two and a half percent of GDP. We 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:37.560 at the IPA think it should be three percent of 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.679 GDP because of the growing security threat. 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:42.679 But look the twenty seven. 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.159 Percent and twenty five percent that you just mentioned fairly similar. 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.520 I mean, if if they'd rung me up, I would. 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.680 Have said the Coalition probably because at least during COVID 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.000 they had the backbone to stand up to China and 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.640 ask about the origins of the virus. And I think 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.800 that was a good thing, and certainly it's been proven 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.120 correct in hindsight given what. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:04:59.600 We know now. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.039 Absolutely now, the International Olympic Committee has been forced to 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.479 grant the Queensland government a one year extension beyond its 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.720 usual seven year deadline for the in principal sports program 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.719 to be agreed upon because well, politicians continue to bick 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.640 out over the venue plans for the twenty thirty two 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:22.839 games in Brisbane that I had been blamed on adam 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:29.320 nearly four years of political procrastination by Labor Premiers Steven 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:35.520 Miles and Anastasia Palache, and it's been labeled as embarrassing 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.960 for Brisbane and for Australia. We really do we care 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:40.560 what the IOC think. 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.840 Well, look, you know they've had twelve hundred days up there. 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.280 I understand to work out this plan. That's a long 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:47.880 time and I think it's just a plan they want. 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.200 It's not actually the facilities, it's just a plan. Two 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.280 hundred days that is a lot. I think it is 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.880 embarrassing for Australia that the deadlines had to be tweaked. 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:57.080 I mean they still have a lot of time. What 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.720 if it's six years or something, seven years or something 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:00.000 like that. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.080 But we've just had the embarrassment of the Conwealth Games 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.160 being asked in the city here in Melbourne, so we 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.800 don't want to see that again. So yeah, look they 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:10.719 just have to pull their finger out. That's the bottom line. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.239 And in good news for Victorian taxpayers. Acting those games 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.440 I think still cost us about half a billion and 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.520 we're paying for is it Scotland to hold the game? 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:20.840 So we're paying for them. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.400 Well, we've got one hundred and sixty billion of death 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:23.239 here so that's nothing. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.680 So yeah, I don't know how they can hold it 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:27.440 for a few hundred million, but it was going to 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.680 cost billions to hold it here, so that's never been 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:35.680 adequately explained. Now I do love Housing Minister Clara O'Neill's 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:37.279 Instagram work. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:38.400 She is prolific. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.400 I don't know how she has time to look at 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.360 her portfolio because she is just churning out video after 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.080 video on TikTok on Instagram. It's all over the place. 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:51.159 And this next one is brief, but it's amounts to 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.720 essentially buying the votes of young people or anyone who's 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:59.680 got a hex step. Hey, guys, important message, don't forget 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.000 that flavor winds the election. 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.480 On the first of June, twenty percent of. 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.960 Your hex stet is going to disappear like that. 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:07.000 There you go. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.760 She's doing videos in the car now. The last one 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.760 I showed earlier in the week she was in the laundry. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:13.720 I don't know she had a cameraman in the cupboard 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.080 or she had some sort of tripod set up. 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.720 Very very creative work. But there you go. 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.200 Big discount off your hex stead, which obviously the taxpayer 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.240 is not going to get the money that you were 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.320 supposed to pay. So this is reminiscent of what the 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.400 Democrats we're doing in the US. 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.800 It's straight out of Joe Biden's playbook, and obviously that 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:34.640 did not work. I Mean, the first point from a 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.400 political point of view is these people are going to 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.480 vote labor anyway or green, so I don't even know 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:40.200 why they're trying to bribe them politically. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:41.800 But it's also terrible policy. 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.600 I mean, we know study after study shows that people 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.840 go to university earn way more than everyone else, and 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.080 so why should they be subsidized through the tax system 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.320 by everyone else. I mean, the fees are already subsidized, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.000 they're already low. And frankly, my personal view is we 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.080 have too many people at university. The fees should be higher, 0:07:58.160 --> 0:07:59.120 so we get fewer going. 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.680 Well, we have so many junk degrees. This isded. There 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:04.920 used to be a time where. 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.160 You'd go to university and whatever course you did helped 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.520 you get a better job, and there was some method 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.840 to it all. Now you're getting these junk degrees, a 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.520 lot of the arts degrees, not just arts, and you 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.000 have a student saddled with debt, sold false hope. 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.520 The taxpayer picks up a huge bill. 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.000 And they've been brainwashed a book. 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.600 Yeah, and they come out with green hair and just 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:34.000 very nutty ideas. But the Liberals are also joining in 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.040 on the social media campaigning. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.400 Let's have a look at what they came up with. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.400 This is doctor Katie Allen, the Liberal candidate for Chisholm 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:44.400 in Victoria. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.720 I want to electrify the Ashpn pool. 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.240 That doesn't mean electrify. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.680 The pool, it means electrify the gas pub And that's 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.760 because locals have told me they want action on climate change. 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.920 They want to create energy transition. And if we do electrification. 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.120 Of the gas pubs that heat the poor here at Ashburn, 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.040 that will help bring down about six hundred tons of the. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:05.319 Mission each and every year. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:06.800 What's not to like about that? 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:08.440 It's about a cleanage transition. 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.200 You know, I don't even know what to say. I 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.600 don't even know what to say. I mean, at least 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.200 Claire O'Neill's ad is probably going to get a few votes. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.360 It's going to speak to people who personally care about that. 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.400 This what we're going to change the heating of the 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.959 pool from gas to electricity. People in the community are 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.480 in uproar about it. I don't think anyone in the 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.440 community has brought this up. I think a few activists 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.520 who seem to have the ear of liberal politicians, have 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:37.200 brought this up. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.600 But I know that area well and I. 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.280 Would be shocked if it's even a top thirty issue. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.199 Well, I just hope she reads the comments under the 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.880 Instagram post. As you could say, most people are saying, oh, 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.160 what on earth are you doing? But I mean the 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.920 particular swap she's suggesting is a microcosm of the whole 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.720 economy and just how absurdly expensive it is to be 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.079 swopping out gas for electricity in these large infrastructures. I 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.960 mean it costs an APPS fortune, yes, and that's even 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.640 if it's achievable, and it's not going to make any 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:08.240 difference to the climate whatsoever. And Australia is on track 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.800 to fail in its target since twenty thirty targets, So 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:12.679 it's all just totally pointless virtue signaling. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.640 Pointless virtue signaling. We've got a perfectly. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.240 Well functioning gas system heating the pool and we're going 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.680 to rip it out to a place of electricity when 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.000 this state is sitting on hundreds of years of gas 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:29.120 reserves it's estimated. So yeah, it's nappy stuffed. But that's 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.400 the Liberals for you. Sometimes in this state. Adam Kristen, 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.360 thank you for your time. Thanks joining me now is 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.920 one of the finest thinkers of his generation. Best selling 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.240 author Douglas Murray Douglas. Let's start in the Middle East, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.880 where the fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been chattered Israeli 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.400 Prime Minister Benjamin Nettina, who has said the authorized the 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.960 renewal of military action against her mast after their failure 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.440 to release hostages or abide by the conditions of a 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.400 US proposal to extend the ceasefire. This military action has 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.440 been condemned by the likes of the Saudis, Qatar, Egypt, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.960 a number of countries in the region, all very predictable, 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:11.800 But Douglas, Israel is also facing heavy criticism from France 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.199 and Ireland and a number of other European countries. 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:17.520 What do you make of that? 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.560 What do you make of this refusal to unders from 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.520 so many in the West to understand what Israel is 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:25.520 facing right now? 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.160 Well, it's sort of part of the course. Unfortunately, Hamaz 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.000 has repeatedly broken its side of deals in the stage 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.760 one of the ceasefire agreement. We saw that, not least 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:46.800 in its obscene handover ceremonies of Israeli hostages, including its 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:54.000 obscene parading of the coffin of Israeli babies in front 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:58.240 of jubilant crowds in Gaza the other week. On top 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:03.679 of the war craft that Hamaz Is committed by abducting 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.600 and torturing and killing Israeli citizens, It's of course continued 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.920 to commit war crimes during this phase of the ceasefire deal. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.400 Phase two of the ceasefire deal, by the way, has 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.760 always been a problem because it requires Hamaz to hand 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.680 over all the remaining hostages, as they should have done 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.760 on October the eighth, twenty twenty three, but it requires 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:32.240 them to do so and for Israeli troops to withdraw 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.439 completely from the Gaza. 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:34.679 Now. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:36.920 The problem for that is, of course, is that Hamaz, 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.959 although it's been significantly degraded, is as we've seen from 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:46.400 these obscene handover ceremonies, not completely destroyed in Gaza, and 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:51.160 there is therefore a likelihood inevitability that Hamaz would continue 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:55.360 to rule or misgovern the Gaza, which is intolerable to 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.400 the Israelis because the Israelis had two stated war aims 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.760 from the beginning of this war to get back every 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.080 hostage stolen from their homes by Hamaz and two to 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:10.360 destroy Hamaz, and you just can't allow Hamas to remain 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.280 in power. The Israelis can't the various countries in the 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:19.000 region condemned. That is completely unsurprising. That's sort of what 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.959 they have to say, even as in some cases they're 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:27.840 urging Israel on the fact that France would criticize Israel 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:32.240 among other Western countries is also unsurprising. Sadly, it'll be 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:36.040 interesting to see next time France fights a war, when 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:40.760 it does, whether it holds its army to the kind 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:45.199 of accountability that the Israelis do theirs. My own observation 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.319 of French military action in the Cote Diuvoirs, in the 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.360 Middle East and elsewhere is that they do exactly what 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.280 they want and they don't listen to any international condemnation. So, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.040 you know, sad as it is to say, perhaps the 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.840 Israelis should ignore the French, just as French tend to 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:02.120 ignore the world. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.480 That's good advice there. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.040 I want to ask you about the Russian Ukraine war prisions. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.320 Lensky we know has accepted the USP still and earlier 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:19.400 today the White House released details of President Trump's discussions 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.720 with Vladimir Putin Douglas. Trump is pushing the Russians to 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.440 agree to an unconditional cease fire, but so far Putin 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.440 is only ordered his military to adhere to a thirty 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.440 day cease fire on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.640 Zelenski says he fears the Russians don't want an end 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:39.160 to this war. 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.320 Douglas, what do they have to gain by extending this 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.080 mutually disastrous conflict. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.600 Well, what Russia has to gain is that they will 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:56.600 hope that Western support for Ukraine runs out or runs down, 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.880 and that they can slowly increment, whether or not during 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.400 this presidency of Trump's, or whether during a future presidency 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.760 continue their warrant to take over the whole of Ukraine 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.800 as they tried to do in twenty twenty two. I mean, 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:18.200 it's extremely hard with agreements with people like Putin, not 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.040 that there are that many, but we have quite a 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.840 number of dictators in the world now. As always, it's 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.600 hard to know what that word you can trust, because 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:31.680 the obvious thing is absolutely nothing. Zelenski is answerable not 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:37.640 just to Western political alliances that are supportive of him, 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:42.520 but it also of course has to be having the backing, 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.600 the support in the end of the Ukrainian public and 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:51.680 indeed the Ukrainian army who are fighting on whereas Putin 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.040 doesn't really have to have anyone's support. It's just himself 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.920 in his own view, along with a small number of 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.320 people who around him. And so then you know, you 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.000 have this sort of thing of well, what if Putin's 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.400 word can you trust? And I don't think anyone who's 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.280 ever dealt with him or ever seen the way he 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.360 deals would think that you can trust Putin very much. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:22.720 The promise not to attack energy and other infrastructure is 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.600 not a very useful promise from Vladimir Putin, given it 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:30.480 that it's one he's given only within recent weeks and 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.000 promptably done exactly what he said he wouldn't do. He 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.040 gave another assurance some time ago that the Russians would 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.600 not attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and then the next night 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.640 it actually, whilst I was there, they did exactly that. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:47.680 So it's extremely hard. President Trump is trying to negotiate 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.800 a final piece, and I think should be admired acknowledged 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:57.880 for doing so. But it's an extremely difficult deal to 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.640 pull off, and we'll see. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:03.760 It is extremely difficult to pullow. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:09.720 As you've explained to the UK, You've written about this issue, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.120 the attacks on free speech, free expression. The Starma government 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.240 there wants a working definition of the term islam of phobia. 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.199 I could help them with that, but I don't think 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:23.159 they're going to like my suggestion. You've argued that islamophobia 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:29.960 laws are just censorship, another attempt to invent special rights 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.040 for just one faith group. What do you say to 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.840 those who argue Britain's Muslims need further protection. 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.600 Well, I think it's pretty outrageous for lots of reasons. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.760 I mean, one of them is that British Muslims have 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.000 the same protection as any other citizen in the United Kingdom. 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:55.320 You're not allowed to harass or attack or attack pieces 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.280 of worship or buildings or anything else. And those laws 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.680 exist for everybody of any faith none. And the problem 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.639 about this attempt by the Labor government, with a really 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:12.280 disastrous former Conservative MP leading it to set up this 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.360 commission that's going to tie to identify so called Islamophobia, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.240 is among other things, is simply not going to work. 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.920 Nobody's ever been able to satisfactorily define Islamophobia because it's 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.720 almost impossible. In fact, it is impossible to draw a 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:33.040 line between you know, well, among other things, to allow 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.879 it to remain legal to say anything critical of the 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.240 religion of Islam, or anything that seems to offend any 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.440 large Muslim group or indeed any individual Muslim. I mean, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:48.040 when people in the UK, as in other Western countries 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.439 start talking about his Lamophobia laws, among other things, I 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.480 really want them to answer the question of why it 0:18:55.600 --> 0:19:00.480 is they are so obsessed with this non issue of 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.480 defining an absolute and definable term, and why they don't 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.800 spend more time, for instance, instead of talking about this 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:13.000 fake phobia talking about I don't know, the school teacher 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.760 in Backley in the North of England who remains in 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:23.120 hiding several years after he was accused of blasphemy by 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:27.560 local Muslim leaders in the North of England for talking 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:33.520 about cartoons of Islam's founder Muhammad. I mean, I wouldn't 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:38.520 mind if the government was looking into Backley Grammar School 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:44.040 a phobia for its teachers, or the many other things. 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.360 And how about the I mean, what about looking into 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:53.040 why one of our MP's David Amis, was slaughtered by 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.000 a jihadist. A couple of years ago when he was 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:00.280 meeting constituents. I mean, are there more protections that the 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:05.440 rest of the population can have against people driving cars 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.359 into crowd, shouting alo akba and so on. Are we 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:14.600 allowed to talk about the intimidation of journalists, writers and 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:20.359 others across Europe and citizens, teachers, all sorts of people 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.040 or are we just going to always have this pandering 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:29.080 to a small community that makes itself extremely vocal and unfortunately, 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.000 as I said in that piece in the Telegraph, has 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:37.080 this tendency to say, instead of we are ourselves going 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.560 to separate out the extremists in our faith from everyone else, 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.480 instead of doing that, say how can we better protect 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:48.159 our faith from any external criticism? I think this is 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.680 a disastrous to go down and I'm afraid that the 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:53.520 government will discover that in due course. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.400 Well, it seems to be all about submission here. It's 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.720 pandering and it doesn't end in a good place. I 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.480 can tell you that from someone who escaped in Islamist country. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:13.399 The pandering leads just to more demands and yeah, and 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.680 it's bizarre at a time when we've had this explosion 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.160 in anti semitism in the UK that there's so much 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.320 focus on his homophobia, so perhaps I don't know, look 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:25.960 at where some of that anti semitism comes from. 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.320 Right absolutely, I mean this is this is one of 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.560 the things is if you identify, for instance, the fact 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:37.080 that significant numbers of Islamic hate preachers have a mosques 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.439 up and down the countries since October seventh preached the 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.840 most rancid hatred of Jews and encouraged and here we 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.520 get into the real bit that should be illegal, and 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:52.480 she encouraged the violence of terrorists groups like Hanaz. Where 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:57.560 do you what says? Do you get to when even 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:02.160 highlighting that which isn't highlight enough could, instead of being 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.880 a legitimate complaint about extremists in a minority faith group 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:10.359 be said itself to be a thought crime or a 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:13.919 hate crime. They will never wail to work this out, 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.639 these self appointed phologians, like these idiots and the British 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:21.639 government and the former idiot conservative MP. They'll never be 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.160 able to do it, and they will never be able 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:26.160 to draw as final line as they think they can, 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:28.080 because such a line does not exist. 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:33.639