WEBVTT - Sterling -- 1/5/26 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.520 To start right out of the gates. Former head of 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:06.640 political science at Wright State University. She is professor of Merida. 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.600 She's a Cincinnati kid. She published the first textbook on 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.720 terrorism some years ago. And back with Sterling on seven 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.760 hundred WLW Doctor Dona Schleg How are you? How are 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:18.720 how was everything? 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.800 Good evening? Looking forward to an interesting week, big anniversary 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:27.440 tomorrow at jan sixth. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.760 Absolutely, and of course the. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.400 Foreign policy picture just keeps getting more and more interesting. 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.560 That it does. You know, we spoke a few days 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.440 ago and we were talking about the FBI quashing what 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.480 looked to be an ISIS sympathizer or ISIS member looking 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.960 to do harm stateside, which was fantastic news. The local 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.559 state and the federal authorities were able to put the 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.440 hammer down on them. And over the last couple of 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.680 weeks we talked about increasing naval presence in the part 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.720 of the world around, say the Caribbean, and those gunboats 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.240 or or drug boats or fishing boats whatever vessels they 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.240 happened to be being taken out of the water fairly regularly. 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.480 And the talk had been and we had discussed this 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.600 regime change and how it had gone historically for the 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:17.440 US and oil being big part of that, and President 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.040 Trump of course after actually it was Friday night after 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.280 we spoke that all of the stuff that went down, 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.880 which was snatching Maduro, president former of Venezuela, illegitimate as 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.559 he may have been, and his first lady. They've whisked 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.880 them back to New York. They faced criminal charges here domestically. 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.440 How surprised were you and how that went down over 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:40.000 the weekend? 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.160 Surprised? And I think that was clearly you know, the 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.040 element of surprise was one of the objectives in the administration. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.320 It's important to think of what happened though, is just 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:57.000 very first step in regime change. The leadership is to 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.680 capitate him, but all of his people are still running 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:06.960 the operation in Venezuela, the military, the economy, etc. So 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.919 we are in that strange position right now of having 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.880 to sit and watch. They've sworn in an interim president, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:20.560 as you probably know, Maduro's longtime vice president, but technically 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.400 in their own constitution they're required to have an election 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:28.000 here within thirty days. So imagine imagine the options that 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.359 they are sorting through in Venezuela right now. The United 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.440 States is basically standing on their neck in terms of 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:40.680 their economy. You know, oil, the oil picture is clearly 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.000 very much at the heart of this. Will they hold 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:47.919 an election, Will you know, the party who was denied 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.359 taking office back in twenty four be allowed to run, 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.760 you know, Will the people of Venezuela turn out in 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.800 the streets. Well, I've been watching the media, and there 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:02.160 have been a few smaller demonstrations, mostly in south southern Miami. 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:06.160 But I think there's tremendous caution that there seems that 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.360 they're holding their breath about these next steps, and it 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:15.120 is surprisingly turning into a region why at operation. Not 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.160 only is this meant to choke off a lot of 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.640 aid to Cuba and perhaps force a regime change there, 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.040 but you know, the Colombians are sending troops to their border. 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.840 President Trump has been speaking about the president of Colombia 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:34.800 as being also one of the bad guys. And suddenly 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.480 American foreign policy has turned all of its eyes on, 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.960 you know, on Latin America. Latin America and Africa were 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.680 always two of the most neglected parts in our foreign policy. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.200 So for it to you know, this this sudden turn, 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.320 the movement of so many assets to the Caribbean, as 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:57.040 you mentioned it was an operation certainly on the scale 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:01.040 of what happened in twenty eleven to take out to 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.040 truct to arrest or. He was killed in the operation 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:09.120 Osama bin Laden. He died in the operation and buried 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.600 at sea. But the element of surprise was clearly very important. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.200 What ultimately triggered it seems to have been Maduro's rather 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.920 rude rejection of what President Trump considered very friendly terms 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.200 for him to leave office. But right now we all 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.559 have that question, as John Lennon said in his great 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.680 song about you say you want a revolution, show us 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.400 the plan, you know, how will we engage her? President 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.800 Trump seems to have deferred, you know, a lot of 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.720 the responsibility in the oil sector to the oil companies 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.479 once they have access again to try to rebuild the 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.840 infrastructure that has been allowed to deteriorate very badly since 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:55.080 it was nationalized by the Venezuelan government. Chevron is in 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.200 a really great spot because they stayed in Venezuela. Exxon 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.359 got out, I think Kanaco bailed out as well. We 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:07.560 took some real verbal blows at the Security Council today 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.000 by the Chinese and the Russians. The Chinese, of course, 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.720 by most of Venezuela's oil as well. So this is 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:23.479 broad based, but the plan for how Venezuelans, under a 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.160 lot of outside pressure, are going to transform their regime 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.920 to comply with President Trump's demand. We are beginning a 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.880 very interesting couple of weeks here in this transition. Be 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.279 watching to see if they call for an election. I 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.440 think the smart bet would be if the military can 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.120 get on the side of an election and a new government, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:50.520 maybe a national unity government, we may all be spared 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.640 the prospect of American boots on the ground. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.520 Doctor don Ascheles, let me introduce your reintroduce your real 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.320 quick and I want to touch a couple of things 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.000 because I know your rolling and bringing out great info. 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.080 It's doctor Donald schleg former head of political science now 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.839 Professor Meredith from Wright State, was sterling on the big one. 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.160 You mentioned the oil companies and one still being there 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.520 and actively engaged. However, you know, deteriorated a lot of 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.960 their infrastructure, limiting the you know, their ability to get 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:18.760 a lot of that oil out. And of course the 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.400 embargo in US now clamping down on where those oil 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.920 you know, vessels can maybe go to. That Obviously, many 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.039 of our effective enemies are in fact Hungary for and 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.200 have made deals for clamping down on this part of 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.680 the world and tightening up those type of things. Isn't 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.000 that probably in the best interest of this nation and 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.960 our national security down the line, since we've talked about 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.680 this other multi level game of chess between the Chinese 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.200 US here in the United States and you know, looking 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.760 at what Russia has has been doing also, or is 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:54.840 that stretching it a bit? 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:56.159 Oh? 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.880 I don't think it's stretching it. I think the concern 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:05.240 was over the the constant growing Chinese involvement in the Caribbean. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.200 Certainly that you know, you've heard the many stories about 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:12.600 their investments in Africa in infrastructure. So part of this 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.840 was to squeeze out I think put pressure on the 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:22.400 Chinese major naval demonstration in the Caribbean. H where else 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.680 involving the Chinese might we need to be prepared for 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:31.560 a major naval action. The Chinese just finished a series 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:36.480 of very aggressive training missions around Taiwan, basically to demonstrate 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.560 how they could absolutely completely choke it off. So it 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.680 is what is the next step in I think you're right, 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.480 it is clearly it's the great power game. This is 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.840 US and China, I think in a proxy conflict in 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:56.320 the Caribbean where we play to strength, But that Taiwan 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:00.360 issue keeps nagging at me for us not to take 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:01.960 our eye off that one either. 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.600 Are we in a position to really stretch out and 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.560 go much beyond where we are now with our military 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.440 forces if in fact China wanted to get froggy and 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.280 more aggressive than just doing maneuvers in and around Taiwan, 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.880 which is really a stone's throw from mainland China. 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.880 Oh, and there is a great question. A lot of 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.520 the forces that were redirected into the Caribbean came from 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.280 Europe and the Middle East. So no, I don't think 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.280 we've robbed Peter to pay Paul in terms of our 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:39.520 Pacific presence, particularly with an eye toward Taiwan. And you 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.760 know that the Chinese are basically saying, it's our sphere 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.560 of influence, just like we are now claiming Monroe doctrine, 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.240 if you will. This is South America is our sphere 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:54.160 of influence. Do you know what that competition has led 0:08:54.200 --> 0:09:00.560 to historically, just sort of in general Great power war, Yeah, exactly, 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.400 boot lots of boots on the ground. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.760 As we look at this and a lot of the 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.200 questions that come up is, you know, should we be 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:15.120 in the business of snatching other elected leaders, however questionable 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:20.080 or doubtful or frankly obviously illegitimate they are and acting 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.000 in this fashion. I mean, where is the line on that? 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.040 I mean, I just got into an interesting conversation with 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:26.679 a buddy of mine I've known for a long time, 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.640 and he's like, well, it's against the law, and doctor 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.560 schlike I simply said, if you have a bigger hammer, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.080 then it doesn't really matter effectively who says what the 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.800 law is, because we are above and beyond that at 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.920 this point. Is that irritating to a lot of people perhaps, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.440 But isn't that closer too accurate? 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:53.439 I think it's accurate. I think talking the law enforcement 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:58.040 story of arresting him and prosecuting him, as we've recently 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.320 done with the former president of Hondur. In fact, it's 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.880 the same federal prosecutor who drew up the charges in 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:10.319 both cases. Interestingly enough, but in terms of international law, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.880 international law is basically what we call self enforcing. It 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.400 gets enforced if people abide by it, and if you 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.040 break it. The only way to enforce it typically would 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:27.160 be either with economic or with military force. That is 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:32.600 why traditionally great power conflicts over resources end up the 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:38.720 in war. It's quite a demonstration. And I would also 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.360 say we might be thinking about the stories we're not 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.200 talking about right now. Tomorrow's January sixth, that's the five 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:50.120 year anniverse. We have another major budget crisis coming up 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.360 here at the end of the month, which will be here, 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:55.640 you know, basically in the blink of an eye. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:11:00.360 That's been for seemingly years now almost and of. 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:05.520 Course the nagging Epstein questions, So talk about comletely changing 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.920 the story, you know, completely moving our attention. Uh, it's 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.959 a it's a it's a remarkable demonstration of capacity. But 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:18.600 the type of planning that went into this operation Sterling, 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.960 we don't have the means to control what happens from 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:26.680 this point out, particularly in Venezuela. You know, we we 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.520 have talked about taking our oil back, taking our oil 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:35.160 facilities back, and that that that hits probably the biggest 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:39.800 nerve in terms of nationalism, national pride, and national sovereignty 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.320 that you could you know, ask any person in any 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.800 country about how you feel about an outside force intruding 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.760 in your affairs. 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.880 Is the bottom line go ahead of bottom line is what? 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:56.120 Well that that bottom line question? Will the public support this? 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.719 I'm really reminded of Colin Powell who used to say, 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:01.960 you know, you go into pottery barn, you break it, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:07.000 you buy it. We may be if if this thing 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.240 goes very very badly, we have to consider we've bought 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:12.000 the whole picture. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.559 Well, what does that really mean? Because we left Afghanistan. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.000 I mean, we're just going to do what we do 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.280 and the bottom line is if we get the oil flowing, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.040 that's all that really matters, right, I mean, strategically speaking, 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.560 And Colombia is going to be scared in Mexico to 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.840 a certain extent, probably somewhat unnerved. Cuba certainly has been. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.760 I mean you can see it almost from South Florida, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.880 So I mean, how far off are we from really 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.959 just seeing these dominoes fall a little bit more, because 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:42.760 I don't know how it could come back to really 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.160 hurt us anyway. We've tightened up the border, we're kicking 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.440 people out of the country. We could effectively, rightly or wrongly, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.000 We're acting in some ways, some would argue elsewhere, and 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.280 I've had the conversation that we're no different than Russia 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.160 with Ukraine or some of these others, but we put 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.640 our face on it and describe it differently. And the 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.640 only reason we didn't do more and haven't done more 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.280 with Russia is because they've got the nuclear threat, correct. 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.480 Ah, that nuclear threat. And of course we're not talking 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.599 about Ukraine Russia either at this point. Are we the 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.240 idea in Iraq in two thousand and three that Iraqi 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.360 oil would pay for complete reconstruction? Do you remember that one? 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:21.880 I heard it? 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.719 Yeah, I remember, I remember that one. And now we 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.640 talk about the thousands of American servicemen and women who 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.640 were injured or died in that war, and Iraq is 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.200 still one of those barely holding it together states, you know, 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.040 trying to put the pieces back together, and it's not 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.520 going particularly well. Their oil production has not been returning either. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:51.480 Your point about putting the oil industry back together, getting 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.800 the economy up and going, that should be the most 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.720 compelling argument for the people in Venezuela today to make 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.600 a decision to work with the United States, call for 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:08.800 an election, respect their constitution, respect the consequences of that election, 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.920 and then the oil companies will have a chance to 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:16.160 probably renegotiate their terms, get that economy back up on 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:20.200 its feet. Venezuela used to sell a lot of oil. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.920 Its productions has fallen massively, which is why the country 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.680 is such a disaster in terms of hyperinflation, violence, crime. 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.000 A quarter of the people have fled that country, A 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:37.440 quarter of their citizens have left the situation. It has 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.920 deteriorated so badly. So a rebuilding of the industry is 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.680 what clearly has to happen. This may be the point, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.960 but the onus you talked about the multi level chess game. 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.200 What are the powers that be that run the economy 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.600 and the military in Venezuela. They have a choice right now. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.200 They've been talking, you know, a lot of bully conversation, 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.360 but there are no negotiations going on right now. I 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:07.360 guarantee you to step this thing down, particularly for Chevron 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.080 to be right at the front of the line, you know, 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:14.840 to resurrect and to repair its economy, and perhaps perhaps 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.520 maybe one of the inadvertent positive outcomes will be for 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:24.200 the Venezuelans to get a legitimate, dually elected government which 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:27.320 would be in a position to do something about the 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.720 narcotics trafficking, the corruption there in the government with the 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:36.920 cartel's Mexico, you mentioned several other states. It's widespread in 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:41.400 the hemisphere, and those are two enormously petroleum wealthy countries, 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.440 and yet the cartels are so powerful. So we're taking 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.840 a risk trying to force a change right now. 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.520 We only have about a minute left. And I'm curious 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.680 about this as you sort of look at it, because 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.440 there are two, if not three, twenty five I think, 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.240 or close to thirty million dollars bounties on the heads 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.000 of those in the military that were high up, that 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.120 were Maduro's sort of enforcers in some fashion, and they 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.640 were left behind. So do we push for them to 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.160 go away, pay them off to go away? Will they 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.840 be whisked back to the United States, Because as long 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.800 as they're there, a lot of the dirtiness hasn't gone anywhere, 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:23.720 regardless of how true or not true, Maduro's corruption in 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:25.000 fact proves to be. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:32.160 Completely agree. If they're smart, they will be negotiating their 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.760 exit strategies right now to try to get in front 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.520 of what's going to be a series of tremendous changes 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.680 in Venezuela, hopefully not brutal and violent, and a lot 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.720 of chaos. It could be a positive turning point for 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.160 the country, but those are going to be the decisions 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.960 which will drive what will fall to us next. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:53.760 Thank you am. 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.640 Running the country of Venezuela. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.840 Concerns, Yeah, big time concerns SJ six anniversary tomorrow, which 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:03.840 a lot of people don't want to talk about. It's 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.119 so far in the distance memory. And if things had 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.600 gone differently legally before this last election, then of course 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.959 this conversation would be another scenario too. So these are 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.640 strange days. Former had a political science now Professor Emeredith 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.960 from Wright State University, Cincinnati. Kid doctor Donashlake, thank you 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.640 for making time. I appreciate you being here on a Monday, Sterling. 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.480 Thanks Sterling, talk to you. 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.160 Take care of yourself and coming up, we got Gary 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.760 Jeff Walker joining me next seven hundred WW is our 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.879 Gary Jeff Walker? Is he surfing Venezuela? Is he taking 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.119 a trip south trying to fulfill an obligation to step 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.280 in if necessary, to control the Venezuelan nation and to 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.359 get that oil pumping and to get things safe and 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.919 under control. Know who the hell knows? I don't know. 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.400 He text merely said, Sterling, you're on then I said yes. 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:53.920 He says, can I be on with you? I said yes, 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:55.800 He said, I want to talk Venezuela. I many of 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.119 all things to talk about. Sure, Gary, Jeff, are you awake? 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:00.919 Are you alive? Or you half in the bag? What 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:01.920 the hell is going on? 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:03.480 Shirling? 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.040 I am here, and I am clear eyed, and I 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:11.280 am fine. I'm showing in the footsteps of Bill Cunningham, who, 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.720 of course appeared on his own show when I was 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:18.240 hosting on December twenty second, because Willie just can't stay 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.399 off the radio. And apparently I am cut from the 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:23.240 same mold. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.359 Yeah, by the way, you got a nice jib cut. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.120 Thank you. I didn't know you'd noticed. 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:30.320 Well, you know, I'm here to help. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.800 I'm glad I was wearing a low cut T shirt 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:38.720 tonight so you could. First and foremost, I have heard 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.960 a rumor that the Bengals are working with the Cleveland 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.920 Browns to trade Zach Taylor for Kevin Stefanski, a real 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:53.679 coach who won Coach of the Year two times. Secondly, secondly, yes, 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.359 you know. In eighteen twenty three, a US president named 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:03.840 James Monroe established Monroe Doctrine, which basically said, in our 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:09.280 hemisphere that European powers weren't allowed to colonize. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.600 Or interfere in the Western Hemisphere. 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.800 Because this was our backyard and we were going to 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:20.160 protect that at at no cost to us. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.560 Just you better stay out. And two hundred and. 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:30.040 Two years later, President Trump has established the Monroe doctrine, 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:37.080 the Donro doctrine in the case of Venezuela and the 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:42.680 extraction of Maduro is a win win, win, win, win 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:46.560 win win. Not just the United States, but it's a 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.720 win for the Venezuelan people. It's a win for anyone 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:57.240 who appreciates and believes in freedom and fair elections. Maduro, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:01.719 of course, famously did not allow the opposition. 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.919 Candidate, Maria. 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.119 Gosh With Mashadow, did not allow her to be on 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:13.439 the ballot in twenty twenty three to oppose him because 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:18.280 she received ninety two percent of the vote to oust 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:24.280 him as president. In twenty twenty, the Justice Department indicted 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.960 Maduro on narco terrorism charges, of which he was never 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:33.320 brought to justice during the Biden administration, and Joe Biden 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:38.000 famously put a twenty five million dollar bounty on Maduro's head. 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.920 And now the Democrats, who all agreed with Joe Biden 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:46.359 are saying that Trump's action in bringing him to justice 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:53.560 was illegal. It's not about drugs, as so famously has 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.480 been said by the Trump administration too. It's not about 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.760 oil as many people think it's not. 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.439 This is about China. 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.359 Oh yeah, and it's influenced in Latin America first and 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:11.440 foremost and only. This is about keeping communists China out 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:17.119 of Latin America. And that's why Chile and Colombia and 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.480 these other countries, Cuba especially are quaking in their boots 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:28.200 because the cutoff of Venezuelan cheap oil to those countries 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.360 and the butting up to China that has been done 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:38.240 with Brazil and Colombia and most famously Venezuela. 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:39.000 Is now over. 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:44.000 This is about keeping China out of the Western hemisphere. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.080 And that's really what it's all about. And nobody really 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:52.159 has been saying this, sterling, and I will first the 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.760 first thing I thought when this happened, I said, oh, 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:59.880 this is about kicking China out of out of Latin America. 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.600 You noticed one of the first things that President Trump 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.439 did after he got into office was send Secretary of 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:10.280 Saint Marco Rubio to Panama because we built the Canal 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:18.000 and then President Carter receded the control of the Panama Canal, 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:22.800 which we built to Panama back in whatever year it 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:28.960 was that they took an instantly communist China started monopolizing 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.439 the ports in and out of the Panama Canal, and 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:36.879 Marco Rubio and President Trump and his administration moved to 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:44.159 immediately once again in our backyard, kicked China out of 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:49.600 the Panama Canal. And it's no stranger to me though. 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:52.520 I was on the air Saturday morning when this news broke, Sterling, 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:55.640 and I was doing my history notes for the day, 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.720 and I said, January third, nineteen ninety, what did the 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:03.399 US do? They finally got Noriega and brought him to justice. 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.200 They extracted him on the same date, thirty six years 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:09.960 later they're doing with Nicholas Maduro. 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:11.760 It was his term, Nicholas Maduro. 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.680 And this is a win win, win, win win, as 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:19.000 I said, because once again, Venezuela is not the drug 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:24.960 mule for Europe or the United States moving the cocaine 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:28.760 through Colombia through Venezuela into Mexico and to the United 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:29.800 States and to Europe. 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:31.080 That's not happening. 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:36.840 When President Trump closed the border almost instantly once taking office, 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.880 after Joe Biden and the Democrats said, well, it has 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:41.679 to be done with Congress. 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:43.480 This is not an easy thing to do. 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.440 It was easy as an executive order and a pen 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:52.600 with President Trump, we have zero crossings, illegal crossings coming 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:58.560 across our border, all right, and Venezuela and Maduro, as 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.320 President Trump is rightly stated, we're releasing all of the 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:07.320 prisoners out of their prisons and their mental institutions and 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:10.720 sending them northward to the United States because of the 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:15.040 open border policies of the last president Joe Biden. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:22.440 Secondly, the idea. 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:29.160 That communists China, and again this is the big deal here, 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:33.000 is that communists China is now unnoticed. They can talk 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:36.240 about Iran and Cuba and all the other countries that 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:40.160 were benefiting from the cheap oil that Venezuela stole from 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.960 American oil companies who established their wills and built the 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:48.200 infrastructure originally back in the nineteen twenties. This is returning 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:51.680 the money that the communists Hugo Chavez first and then 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:58.440 Nicholas Maduro stole from American oil companies. It's restoring oil 0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:01.560 and it is bringing cheaper oil prices to the United 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:03.120 States and around the world. 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:05.760 Let's hope they can still sell that oil to China. 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:08.760 Well, now, I think the problem you go with that 0:25:08.920 --> 0:25:10.560