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Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is

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Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or

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Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,

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Speaker 2: my name is Noel.

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Speaker 3: They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our

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Speaker 3: super producer Paul Mission controlled Decant. Most importantly, you are you.

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Speaker 3: You are here. That makes this the stuff they don't

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Speaker 3: want you to know. You guys, ever heard the uh?

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Speaker 3: I was thinking, what's a good way to get into this?

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Speaker 3: Have you guys ever heard the phrase the United States

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Speaker 3: as the World's police.

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Speaker 4: Sure? Yeah, in that uh South Park movie for Team

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Speaker 4: America World Police, Right, that was the whole joke about

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Speaker 4: behind that movie.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, simply because we go around setting up military

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Speaker 2: bases in.

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Speaker 3: A lot of places willy and or nilly mm hmm.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And look, obviously Americans in the audience tonight are going

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Speaker 3: to be the first to point out this country has

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Speaker 3: serious problems if we're going to be diplomatic about it.

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Speaker 3: Also diplomacy that comes into play. But the facts on

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Speaker 3: the ground are the following. The United States, despite its shenanigans,

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Speaker 3: and despite some unethical actions, it has also maintained rule

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Speaker 3: of law. It is stabilized global trade. Right now, the

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Speaker 3: United States is helping fight pirates. That's right, folks. Pirates

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Speaker 3: are a thing again. And it turns out if if

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Speaker 3: he digs your vibe, Uncle Sam can and will provide

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Speaker 3: endless benefits to your government and military and military. Well,

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Speaker 3: first your military, and then maybe your military becomes your government,

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Speaker 3: as they say in the musical Hamilton, and it must

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Speaker 3: be nice. It must be nice to have Washington on

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Speaker 3: your side. This is the story of one such program,

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Speaker 3: a traveling show, if you will, called exercise flint Lock.

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Speaker 2: What is it?

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Speaker 3: Why do critics deem it controversial? Here are the facts.

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Speaker 3: Uncle Sam is a he's a busy boy. He's a busy,

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Speaker 3: busy boy. Just get out of the way so I

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Speaker 3: don't say it later. Whenever I see flint lock, I

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Speaker 3: think of flint stones and bedrock.

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Speaker 4: Just putting that out there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think about starting fires, don't you? That

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Speaker 2: is huh a little flint Yeah. So this this episode

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Speaker 2: is kind of like a what a breakoff from our

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Speaker 2: other places you Can't Go episode that we recently did,

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Speaker 2: just because we were looking at what was going on

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Speaker 2: in Africa and why there were so many coups going

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Speaker 2: on there pretty recently. And uh m, I don't want

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Speaker 2: to spoil it too much, but that's we're looking at

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Speaker 2: this specific thing called exercise Flintlock. That reminds me a

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Speaker 2: lot of our previous episodes we've done on large scale

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Speaker 2: military drills and almost like get togethers I guess that

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Speaker 2: have occurred like jade Helm in the.

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Speaker 4: Past, picnics, you know that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a little bit of fellowship, you know, a little

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Speaker 3: bit of common interest shared, some light target practice, perhaps

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Speaker 3: some some ops.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but in like jade Helm that we've covered in

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Speaker 2: the past, Like I said, you can find an episode

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Speaker 2: on it that was it's almost more of private military

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Speaker 2: contractors and companies that produce military gear kind of getting

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Speaker 2: together and showing off what's available right right, and then.

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Speaker 4: Like a trade show almost it is like comic Con

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Speaker 4: with a.

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Speaker 2: With a mixed in like urban battleground exercise kind of

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Speaker 2: thrown in there. You know.

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Speaker 4: What was the one that the conspiracy theory was that

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Speaker 4: they did it at Walmart or something, or they jade home.

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Speaker 4: That was the one, Yeah, that ended up being bunk,

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Speaker 4: but it was. It was believable for a second.

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Speaker 3: It was. I think it was due to concerns about FEMA,

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Speaker 3: because there were many pre made containers that were arriving

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Speaker 3: via rail. There was also a helicopter we talked about

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Speaker 3: that that was in a disused Walmart.

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Speaker 2: They ended up being storage for some official use. They

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Speaker 2: were just using that or they're releasing that property for

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Speaker 2: official storage use.

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Speaker 3: And you know, most people in the United States are

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Speaker 3: i would say, vaguely aware that Uncle Sam gets up

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Speaker 3: to some stuff abroad, except this as a known fact,

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Speaker 3: and don't often dig deeper into the specifics of these activities,

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Speaker 3: much less the economic forces at play unless they are

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Speaker 3: pointed toward exploration of these via you know, your favorite

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Speaker 3: media of choice. And it's true. The US has committed

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Speaker 3: numerous horrifically illegal as on foreign soil and spoiler on

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Speaker 3: its own people on its own soil in the past.

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Speaker 3: These acts continue in some version in the modern day

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Speaker 3: according to critics, and yes, the US economy makes a

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Speaker 3: great deal of profit from these activities year over year.

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Speaker 3: I was hoping, if it's okay with you guys, we

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Speaker 3: could throw to just one little, little juicy nugget from

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Speaker 3: old President Eisenhower, which our pal Rob Reiner also pointed

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Speaker 3: to you earlier.

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Speaker 4: It's not a dinosaur shape because it might be a

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Speaker 4: dangerous nugget if that's the case. The thing you just said,

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Speaker 4: Ben about the horrific acts, illegal acts, it kind of

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Speaker 4: feels like one of those things where the sentiment is, well,

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Speaker 4: if we do it, it's not illegal. M you know,

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Speaker 4: I mean, you know, because we never make it to

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Speaker 4: any kind of criminal you know, like international court to

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Speaker 4: be judged.

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Speaker 2: Well, unless you throw a little party like the Church Committee.

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Speaker 2: Again we just talked about with mister Ryan.

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Speaker 3: And the United States does not respect the jurisdiction of

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Speaker 3: the ICC, the International Criminal Court. So former President Eisenhower

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Speaker 3: on his way out of office, this is something we

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Speaker 3: talked with our pal Rob about. He warned the United

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Speaker 3: States and indeed the world, that he was worried a

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Speaker 3: certain industry might take over what he saws the otherwise

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Speaker 3: noble mission of being the global police. Here's a short

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Speaker 3: clip from his farewell address.

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Speaker 5: And the Councils of Government, we must guard against the

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Speaker 5: acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the

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Speaker 5: military industrial complex.

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Speaker 3: Fun fact about that speech. He did write it himself,

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Speaker 3: and before he went to air with this farewell address,

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Speaker 3: he was calling it the military industrial Congressional complex.

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Speaker 4: That it, Yeah, we wouldn't not have been considered a

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Speaker 4: dig on Congress, and so they thought it was too

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Speaker 4: much or what.

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Speaker 2: Well, somebody has got to authorize the war and the

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Speaker 2: you know the military actions. You know.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I just mean it got cut because it maybe

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Speaker 4: was considered a little too pointed, perhaps, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah hashtag Smedley Butler was right. Uh. There There is

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Speaker 3: another factor in this, which is that, in the process

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Speaker 3: of pursuing hegemonic power and year over year profits for

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Speaker 3: different connected companies, the United States does also ensure a

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Speaker 3: degree of when things work, stability, continuity, and safety. Depends

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Speaker 3: on your perspective, though, because a significant amount of US

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Speaker 3: military activity on foreign soil, it centers on what we

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Speaker 3: would call facilitation. We're not going to wage the war,

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Speaker 3: but we're going to teach you how wars are waged.

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Speaker 4: We'll give you a little nudge, maybe a little help,

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Speaker 4: perhaps some armaments interested shout out.

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Speaker 3: School of the Americas recently rewatched our old video on

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Speaker 3: the School of Americas and it holds up located for

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Speaker 3: a time in Fort Benning, Georgia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, do we say what flintlock is exactly? I know,

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Speaker 2: I've kind of like vaguely talked about stuff that's like it.

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Speaker 2: But do we say exactly what it is yet?

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Speaker 3: Flintlock is, Well, it depends on who you ask, right,

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Speaker 3: That's what we're saying because flintlock is one of those

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Speaker 3: facilitational activities. In its most recent iteration, it's two weeks

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Speaker 3: per year, right, and that started in two thousand and five.

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Speaker 3: But there's a long history to it because started around

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Speaker 3: the end of World War Two, the United States earned

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Speaker 3: a bit of a street rep for overthrowing unfriendly governments,

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Speaker 3: often through unethical means. We're talking propping up student movements,

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Speaker 3: quote unquote, arming secession groups like you pointed out, even

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Speaker 3: assassinating elected leaders couptata as functional policy. And for critics,

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Speaker 3: exercises like flintlock are a direct descendant of ethically questionable behavior.

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Speaker 3: But for supporters this is necessary. This is holding the

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Speaker 3: line from chaos.

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Speaker 4: What makes it an exercise versus an operation?

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Speaker 2: Okay, So I think that's what I want to get to.

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Speaker 2: I actually define it, so it is a special operations

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Speaker 2: counter terrorism exercise where there are all kinds of different

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Speaker 2: drills and training scenarios that the DoD often in the

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Speaker 2: US Army calls them regional forces, but it's really just

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Speaker 2: a bunch of different militaries and paramilitary groups that are

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Speaker 2: from what they call their African partners again, the d

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Speaker 2: D and the US Army, and it's a bunch of

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Speaker 2: partner nations within Africa that work together with the US

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Speaker 2: and with a couple other European countries to basically train

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Speaker 2: their militaries in their troops or you know, small groups

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Speaker 2: of their militaries in these counter terrorism special operations tactics.

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Speaker 3: Police forces as well to militarize those Further, again, this

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Speaker 3: was not happening, is not happening in a vacuum. During

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Speaker 3: the Cold War, the USSR was doing very similar things,

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Speaker 3: we have to remember, and terrorist groups are doing similar

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Speaker 3: things now. Rival states are using proxies like Wagner, like

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Speaker 3: hiss Bolah and so on. We have to remember these things,

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Speaker 3: these tactics, this practice of facilitated learning. They are used

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Speaker 3: because they work. They are effective the way firearms are effective.

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Speaker 3: Their success is a matter of operational rather than moral

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Speaker 3: or ethical efficacy. So it doesn't matter to the gun

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Speaker 3: who get shot. It matters to the gun that the

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Speaker 3: gun works. And in the wake of Iraq and it sequels,

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Speaker 3: and notably the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand

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Speaker 3: and one, the US military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned

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Speaker 3: us about found an opportunity to normalize and mainstream a

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Speaker 3: never ending war. This comes in the wake of when

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Speaker 3: the US figured out, hey, what if we wage wars

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Speaker 3: on ideas? Right, there's the war on drugs drugs won.

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Speaker 3: There's a war on poverty that was very short lived

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Speaker 3: because it didn't do well in the polls. And then

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Speaker 3: of course there are culture wars. So this larger milieu,

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Speaker 3: this context is mission critical for US to understand. There

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Speaker 3: is an active war on terrorism. What is terrorism depends

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Speaker 3: on who you ask. It's definitely non state actors are

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Speaker 3: those are like? That's one of the big differences. What

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Speaker 3: makes a war on terror different from a war on

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Speaker 3: a state power.

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Speaker 4: It's about optics, right, I mean, it's say one we

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Speaker 4: always say one person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorists

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Speaker 4: and all depending on how you label the terrorists, it

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Speaker 4: can be a convenient tool to making them an enemy

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Speaker 4: that you then need to eradicate and it you know,

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Speaker 4: you wage a certain amount of the war in the

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Speaker 4: war of public opinion. You know, nobody wants to think

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Speaker 4: that you're going after good guys who are trying to

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Speaker 4: liberate you know, their people. You have to be fighting

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Speaker 4: a bad guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's really interesting because another aspect of flintlock

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Speaker 2: is to have these the individual countries and militaries not

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Speaker 2: only you know, fighting against terrorism with the within their

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Speaker 2: own territory, but to train them to share that information

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Speaker 2: right and to encourage the sharing of information across borders because,

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Speaker 2: as you said, been like terrorism, if you're fighting that

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Speaker 2: rather than a neighboring country, that thing could exist on

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Speaker 2: your land, right outside your land, deep in you know,

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Speaker 2: a couple of neighbors overs land. So it's interesting to

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Speaker 2: think about there needing to be some kind of united

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Speaker 2: front to really combat a concept like that. That could

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Speaker 2: be it could represent any number of different cells or organizations.

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Speaker 3: Which are often fluid and decentralized. Three key differences between

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Speaker 3: a war on capital t terror versus the war on

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Speaker 3: a conventional state power traditional agreements like the Geneva Convention.

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Speaker 3: Those agreements erode those ideas about you know, the red Cross,

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Speaker 3: about journalism, et cetera. They fall to the wayside quite quickly.

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Speaker 3: And second, the opponent, the whatever represents capital t terror

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Speaker 3: has no limiting factors in terms of legality. The concept

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Speaker 3: of war crime is not a concept practiced by a

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Speaker 3: terrorist group. And they're the third. And it sounds like

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Speaker 3: a small detail, but I think it speaks directly to

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Speaker 3: some of the points we're bringing up. There's no clear

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Speaker 3: representative leadership, meaning there's often no single authoritative source to

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Speaker 3: declare victory or defeat altogether. That means you could be

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Speaker 3: fighting a war that does not end, it simply transforms.

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Speaker 3: This is true. Look at Boko Haram, look at isl Isis,

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Speaker 3: look at al Qaeda. These groups can function at an advantage.

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Speaker 3: A powerful state actor, yes, can become economically addicted to war,

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Speaker 3: and arguably the US and several European countries are in

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Speaker 3: that situation. However, a powerful enough non state actor can

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Speaker 3: leverage existing tensions and conflicts. Right, you know, Saudi Arabia

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Speaker 3: and Iran don't get along, So which one of them

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Speaker 3: is going to fund your newest project? And what do

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Speaker 3: they want? This means that these groups can at times

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Speaker 3: enjoy the advantage of power, state level power with very

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Speaker 3: few constraints that that power typically entails.

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Speaker 2: I think the.

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Speaker 4: Part about a lot of this that really I learned

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Speaker 4: this phrase recently Bakes my Noodle, is that there really

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Speaker 4: is no moral high ground. It's all just deal making.

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Speaker 4: It's like, who is going to benefit us in the

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Speaker 4: long term? How can we you know, whatever, in some

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Speaker 4: way walk away from it with some kind of upside.

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Speaker 4: But it's not about saving the world. It's not about

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Speaker 4: protecting innocence. It's really about my feelings.

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Speaker 3: It's about saving a version of the world there probably is.

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Speaker 3: People don't agree on which version, right. I mean, that's

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Speaker 3: and I love Bake my Noodle. That's a great one.

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Speaker 2: So well. Just something to bring up in here is

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Speaker 2: that you're talking about who's going to fund it and

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Speaker 2: the I get we'll get deep into this, but in

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Speaker 2: the case of this giant excerpt size flintlock that we're

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Speaker 2: going to be talking about, it's not just the US

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Speaker 2: military and the partners, like the European partners coming in

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Speaker 2: with a bunch of money and saying, hey have some

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Speaker 2: free training. Right. This is the US and these contractors

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Speaker 2: and everybody that's working with them for this training, getting

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Speaker 2: these African countries to pay to be a part of it,

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Speaker 2: but then funds the entire thing, right, it's not just

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Speaker 2: some party that they're going to have. It gets funded

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Speaker 2: by the members the partners that are selected from the

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Speaker 2: African countries.

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Speaker 3: And as long as you don't look too deep into

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Speaker 3: the forensic accounting of where the money to fund that

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Speaker 3: stuff comes from, then it's all well and good. There

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Speaker 3: are clear good and bad guys. The United States encountered

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Speaker 3: a renaissance of training and facilitation across South America, Asia,

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Speaker 3: parts of Europe, the continent of Africa. Uncle Sam started growing,

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Speaker 3: training and guiding militaries in a conflict it characterized as

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Speaker 3: a borderless conflict. The idea at first blush. Obviously, it's utopian.

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Speaker 3: Could we stop wars before they began? If we could,

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Speaker 3: then we would necessarily have to. It would be the

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Speaker 3: ethical thing to do. Flintlock grew from this milieu, and

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Speaker 3: that's part of why it continues today.

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Speaker 4: It's like green War, you know, like you know, it's gosh,

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Speaker 4: it's just it's packaging this idea of a war without borders.

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Speaker 4: It's not possible. That's not how wars work. But it's

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Speaker 4: all about this kind of like pr line, It's sorry,

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Speaker 4: it's making me very very depressed.

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Speaker 3: Well, this is this is us giving you some context.

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Speaker 3: This is us giving a little bit of a dance

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Speaker 3: in the shallow pool. Let's pause for a word from

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Speaker 3: our sponsors and dive into the deep water. Here's where

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Speaker 3: it gets crazy. All right, what is Flintlock? What is Flintlock?

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Speaker 4: Well, first, flintlock is kind of an umbrella term that

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Speaker 4: describes a series of different, like you said, mad different

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Speaker 4: training programs. Again, sort of like exporting American tactics and

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Speaker 4: possibly a little bit of ideology, but definitely training and

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Speaker 4: hardware to other countries. So let's go to the United

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Speaker 4: States Africa Command street name AFRICOM, which is that makes sense.

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Speaker 4: It's a nice portmanteau. Here's how they describe this ongoing program. Flintlock,

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Speaker 4: US Africa Command's premier and largest annual special operations exercise,

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Speaker 4: has taken place annually since two thousand and five across

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Speaker 4: the Sahel region of Africa among nations participating in the

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Speaker 4: Trans Sahara counter Terrorism Partnership and are planned by African

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Speaker 4: partner nations Special Operations Forces, Special Operations Command Africa and

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Speaker 4: the US. I'm in a state to develop the capacity

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Speaker 4: of and collaboration among African security forces to protect civilian populations.

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Speaker 3: Great ten ten, No notes, right, there's a lot of

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Speaker 3: somewhat vague language there.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 3: The Trans Sahara counter Terrorism Partnership is something that a

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Speaker 3: lot of people in the West probably haven't heard of,

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Speaker 3: because why would you know about this if you weren't

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Speaker 3: looking this statement the REDNAL. It's from twenty twenty three. However, Flintlock,

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Speaker 3: going to your earlier point about an umbrella term, flintlock

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Speaker 3: is much older as an idea. It dates back to

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Speaker 3: the nineteen sixties when Special Forces Group, it was a

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Speaker 3: tenth Special Forces Group where they were attempting to fight

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Speaker 3: against communism. They were training to they were training forces

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Speaker 3: in Denmark and Germany West Germany of course, and Spain

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Speaker 3: and Greece. Yeah, in an attempt to prevent the spread

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Speaker 3: of fascism. There were bulwarks against the Domino theory, which

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Speaker 3: we talked about a little bit earlier, and it continued

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Speaker 3: after that and.

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Speaker 4: With Rob Reiner, if I'm not mistaken right, the Domino theory,

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Speaker 4: we talked about communism as kind of this ghoul that

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Speaker 4: had to be dealt with and sort of justified a

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Speaker 4: lot of ends.

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Speaker 3: Specifically Vietnam, Southeast Asian theater. And we have to remember

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Speaker 3: that on the other side of the Cold War equation,

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Speaker 3: the USSR was looking at capitalism in much the same

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Speaker 3: way Exercise Flintlock. This is a cool little bit of history.

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Speaker 3: It continued some version of it. And we know that

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Speaker 3: the Road Show moved to the United Kingdom in the

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Speaker 3: nineteen eighties, and we know part of this due to

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Speaker 3: extremely unfortunate death. Sergeant first class, a guy named Clifford

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Speaker 3: Strickland died testing something that is super cool. It's the

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Speaker 3: Skyhook system. Remember that from Christopher Nolan's Batman.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah's immediately what came to mind. Yeah, wait, I

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Speaker 2: don't know that is what is that skyhook.

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Speaker 4: Was Remember of the scene where he gets extracted with

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Speaker 4: like a like a harness and then like basically.

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Speaker 3: He takes the accountant out. Yeah, eval accountant.

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Speaker 4: Uh, he's in Tokyo or something like. He's definitely out

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Speaker 4: of the country and it's meant to be like a

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Speaker 4: military level extraction kind of.

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Speaker 3: I believe he's in Hong Kong because the government of

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Speaker 3: China will not uh extradite one of their own. That's

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Speaker 3: the line there, right, and so so anyway, the flintlock

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Speaker 3: also has this experimental aspect to it, right. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of tried and true training and tactics, and then

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Speaker 3: at least in the nineteen eighties there were a couple

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Speaker 3: of more innovative things that went spectacularly wrong. And when

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Speaker 3: people talk about flint lock now, they're not really talking

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Speaker 3: about that stuff from decades ago. They're referring to the

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Speaker 3: ongoing training program via AFRICAM and It's Partners that began

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Speaker 3: in two thousand and five. The less sexy, less cool

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Speaker 3: name for this kind of stuff is JCEE T joint

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Speaker 3: Combined Exchange training. Stabbing the fingers to wake up anybody

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Speaker 3: who fell asleep hearing that.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, you're a chicken again. Oh sorry about that time.

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Speaker 4: The worst thing you could possibly see. Please don't chase

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Speaker 4: me around a campfire, tiny dinosaur.

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Speaker 2: Sorry, Well, just this exercise is so complicated and weird,

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Speaker 2: and it's got such a history, Ben, thank you for

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Speaker 2: finding all this stuff in the history is it's it's

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Speaker 2: so nuts, but it's it's weird to think that it's

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Speaker 2: not just US military. It's not just United Kingdom military

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Speaker 2: and those two Western forces and their interests and what

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Speaker 2: training that's being provided, right, the tactics that those two

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Speaker 2: countries have, they're bringing in all kinds of other partners.

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Speaker 2: I think Germany has been a part of it for

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Speaker 2: quite a while. They're they're a major part of AFRICAM

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Speaker 2: in general. But and it's not just US military training.

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Speaker 2: It's also like US intelligence from the FBI that gets

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Speaker 2: involved to share tactics for policing. As you said, there

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Speaker 2: these these exercises get involved with the local police forces

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Speaker 2: as well as the Department of Justice to help out

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Speaker 2: with you know, how to actually bring justice to the

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Speaker 2: bad guys once you get a hold of them, or

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Speaker 2: how to pursue those things. And even the State Department

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Speaker 2: of the United States when it comes to those anti

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Speaker 2: terrorism activities and how to track down basically how to investigate,

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Speaker 2: track down and then in a weird way question like

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Speaker 2: local civilians of residence, like just of a residential area

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Speaker 2: where maybe something has gone down, you're tracking leads, how

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Speaker 2: to interrogate people. It's really crazy how just multifaceted this

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Speaker 2: series of exercises.

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Speaker 3: Is another important point there in terms of the intelligence

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Speaker 3: stuff and the State Department stuff. From my understanding, there's

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Speaker 3: a significant amount of instruction put into what we will

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Speaker 3: call hearts and minds projects like not only how do

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Speaker 3: we find the people were calling the bad guys this decade,

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Speaker 3: but how do we also persuade civilians in rural areas

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Speaker 3: that we are, in fact the good guys. How do

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Speaker 3: we frame and guide their perspective?

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, how do we get those people to raise

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Speaker 2: a hand right the whole see something, say something? Kind

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Speaker 2: of mentality? You can see that getting injected into this.

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Speaker 3: Hey I'm a strange or from Langley, snitch on your

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Speaker 3: cousin for me. What's gonna happen? He's probably gonna die,

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Speaker 3: you know. But well you gotta tell you that up front.

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Speaker 3: You guys like blue jeans, you guys like fifty cent.

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Speaker 4: It's the same way the cops do you and they

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Speaker 4: try to get you to flip on somebody. They say, oh,

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Speaker 4: you'll be fine, we'll protect you, don't worry about it,

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Speaker 4: and then you know they don't and you end up dead.

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Speaker 3: And again again we are when we talk about this,

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Speaker 3: when we talk about things like Flintlock, I think it's

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Speaker 3: very important for us to say we are in no

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Speaker 3: way accusing the people who are operating there of being

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Speaker 3: super villains. We're not saying they're out there to do

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Speaker 3: evil stuff. Again, if you look at the official rationale,

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Speaker 3: and if you look at the types of programs, which

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Speaker 3: you know some of it's classified for sure, but if

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Speaker 3: you look at what they're doing, they are attempting to

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Speaker 3: empower people. They are attempting to power local governments that

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Speaker 3: would otherwise potentially be overrun by the consequences of previous

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Speaker 3: similar exercises. Whatever. It's true. Well, yeah, or.

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Speaker 2: Our despots and dictators, I mean, there are you know,

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Speaker 2: there are moneyed interests, right that have strings attached to

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Speaker 2: other powers, Like that's kind of what you mean, like

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Speaker 2: other very powerful countries that have economic interests in various

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Speaker 2: African countries that have various troves of resources, right that

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Speaker 2: can be extracted, and we know that those often the

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Speaker 2: governing bodies can be manipulated, depending on what kind of

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Speaker 2: purse you're thrown around.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, shout out to Wagner right street name Russia,

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Speaker 3: shout out to Shout out to our good friends working

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Speaker 3: for Uncle Gee. You know what I mean, Shout out

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Speaker 3: to shout out to France's public relations to for still

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Speaker 3: trying to make them look like the good guys in Africa.

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Speaker 4: They're pretty charming. Yeah, well the French.

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Speaker 3: Maybe in Paris. You should see them when they're out

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Speaker 3: in the field.

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Speaker 2: So fair enough.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so, US Special Forces in the current iteration of Flintlock,

436
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 3: they kick it twice a year in the African continent

437
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:25,439
Speaker 3: for this training, and the most recent version happened March

438
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 3: first through fifteenth of twenty twenty three. It's a win

439
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,720
Speaker 3: win or that's how it's seen, and there is validity

440
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 3: to the concerns the threat of nebulous terrorists or separatist groups.

441
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:42,879
Speaker 3: It looms large on humanity's first continent, specifically now in

442
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:49,360
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, Flintlock is attempting to provide expertise and

443
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,160
Speaker 3: security for nations being affected by chaos in the sy Hel.

444
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 3: Like you mentioned though the Soy held region of Africa.

445
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 3: There are a lot of chaotic groups there have we'll

446
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,719
Speaker 3: say it ties to larger global entities at times, and

447
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,200
Speaker 3: they themselves again going back to tactics, many of these

448
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 3: groups also have training and in some cases equipment that

449
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 3: is state actor level and as such, it could overwhelm

450
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 3: domestic state forces that historically have struggled with corruption, with

451
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 3: funding and honestly with decent training, because you need experienced

452
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 3: people when you're engaging in this sort of business.

453
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 2: Well, and let's talk about the specific countries that have

454
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 2: been involved in this. Many of them have been involved,

455
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 2: like from early in the process, back in two thousand

456
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 2: and five when this version of let's say, this version

457
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 2: of Flintlock began, right and so have it continued on.

458
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 2: Others have joined up more recently. But you know, the

459
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 2: stuff I was looking at, guys, was from around twenty

460
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 2: twenty when Flintlock was occurring then and then just looking forward.

461
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 2: But I'll just we can list off some countries here.

462
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 2: African nations that have been in partners for Flintlock include Burkina, Fasso, Cameroon, Chad,

463
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 2: Cabo Verde, Guinea, Molly, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana.

464
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 2: There's just there a ton of countries that have been involved,

465
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 2: and we're going to talk about a little bit. There

466
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 2: may be a reason that you've heard some of those

467
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 2: names pretty recently in the news.

468
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh boy, so right right now, earlier this year,

469
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:44,000
Speaker 3: As you said, Matt, the newest iteration of flint lock

470
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 3: was conducted. It is international. It was conducted in Ghana

471
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 3: and Cote de Vore, not French speakers. Ivory Coast. You

472
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 3: might also know it as we are talking this time,

473
00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 3: around thirteen hundred military personnel from all told twenty nine

474
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 3: countries in some capacity. Basically, and I know this might

475
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 3: make some of our fellow conspiracy realists who are veterans,

476
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 3: I know it might make some of us a little

477
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 3: salty to hear it, But basically you could call it

478
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 3: a pop up version of the School of the Americas.

479
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 2: Dude, or what was the training camp where uh the

480
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,280
Speaker 2: oh gosh, we just talked about it with Robert Reiner

481
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 2: Cuban exiles were being trained for sniping and where Lee

482
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 2: Harvey Oswald you know, apparently showed up and was trained.

483
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 3: To use the twenty five six that it was something

484
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 3: like that, but he was, ah, that was the group

485
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 3: of dudes. You were sponsored by the CIA. That wasn't

486
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 3: where they hung out. They came out. I think I

487
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 3: don't know how to Dave imbusters were almost there work close.

488
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 3: It was one of those. It was definitely one of

489
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 3: those or something like it. But the aim of flintlock

490
00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 3: is to again empower local governance, right, empower the local

491
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,720
Speaker 3: armed forces, which does often involve militarizing the police such

492
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 3: that they can continue things that we often take for

493
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 3: granted in the United States. Just to be very clear,

494
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 3: one example would be the peaceful passage of power. Right.

495
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 3: The fact that for quite some time the United States,

496
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 3: a very young country, has successfully and peacefully passed from

497
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 3: one president to another, even when they clearly hate each other.

498
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 3: Like the fact that that has happened for a couple

499
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 3: centuries is kind of cool, and it's not super common

500
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 3: in world history for that kind of thing to occur,

501
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,959
Speaker 3: So there is validity to the statement about this. But

502
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 3: there's also the other side. One of the big factors here,

503
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 3: it's not altruism. One of the big factors is to

504
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 3: ensure the spice flows, whatever the spice may be, to

505
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 3: ensure the stability of global trade and therefore indeed the

506
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 3: global economic system as it is currently understood.

507
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:10,520
Speaker 2: Guys, if you don't mind, I'd love to read a

508
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 2: quick quote from R. Clark Cooper. Though we talked about before,

509
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 2: this guy is a part of the I guess he's

510
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 2: a part of the State Department. Let's say, and he

511
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,479
Speaker 2: is speaking at the closing ceremonies for Flintlock twenty twenty,

512
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 2: and he's talking about I think the same thing, but

513
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: not saying it out loud. Does that make sense? He's

514
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 2: speaking around it in a way.

515
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 3: Let's hear it. Let's hear the dance.

516
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 2: Peez. Okay, Oh, there's a lot of there's a lot

517
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 2: of stuff in here.

518
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 3: But less I'm so excited.

519
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 2: Okay, it's kind of long. Bear with me, here we go.

520
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 2: But more than being an opportunity for us to each

521
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 2: improve individually, Flintlock is an opportunity for all our nations

522
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 2: to grow together in a healthy partnership. But not all

523
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 2: partnerships are healthy. But the one we celebrate here today

524
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:07,000
Speaker 2: is how can I tell simple? Because it's a partnership

525
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:11,840
Speaker 2: based on mutual respect and shared values, not self interest

526
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 2: and exploitation. Because partnership contributes to self sufficiency, not lasting dependency.

527
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 4: Is that not a little condescending?

528
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 2: It does feel that way to me, But I don't know,

529
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 2: I don't know, but it's I just gotta I gotta

530
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 2: say this so you get the feel of the way

531
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 2: he's talking to everybody and you just wonder is he

532
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 2: talking to the leaders right or is he talking to

533
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 2: the you know, each individual person who is participating. I'm

534
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 2: gonna keep going just a little bit furtherer quote and

535
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 2: to sustainable capability, not burdensome debt. Partnership is not just

536
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 2: a means to an end, but a path which we

537
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 2: value for the friendships it creates and the lessons we

538
00:33:54,680 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 2: all learn side by side. Our relationship is one of cooperation,

539
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 2: mutual respect, and transparency. And today no other nation can

540
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:14,879
Speaker 2: match the United States commitment to the continent. Oh well,

541
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 2: we're talking about the US wanting to assert itself in

542
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 2: the entirety of the African continent as Papa safety, Papa money,

543
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 2: you know, like I'm the He's like, yeah, global police, Like,

544
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 2: we're gonna keep you saying we're gonna help you stay safe,

545
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 2: and we're gonna help you be prosperous, and we're here

546
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:37,440
Speaker 2: for you.

547
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 3: We're gonna teach you to fish and hey, if that

548
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 3: means you end up in our navy, tight, that's exactly.

549
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 4: Georgia Public Broadcasting here in Atlanta has this that they

550
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 4: adopted this new slogan a handful of years ago, and

551
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,000
Speaker 4: I despise it because it has the same vibe as

552
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 4: this is Georgia Public Broadcasting. We respect and appreciate your intelligence.

553
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:01,720
Speaker 4: The way they say it, the sound of the voice

554
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 4: is just like really really, that feels like, so we're

555
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 4: really texting you in a relationship after an argument.

556
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 2: Yeah.

557
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's the best opener, but that

558
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 3: quotation from from Big Coops is is in line with

559
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 3: the earlier statements and signals that the US and the

560
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 3: global West have given to the nations of Africa. And

561
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 3: the tough part about that is that while those statements

562
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 3: have been made and broadcast, they occur in step with

563
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 3: some troubling things, not just resource extraction. That's old beans.

564
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 3: But tune in for our previous episodes on that. And

565
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 3: if you just hear that statement right like you're sitting

566
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 3: there and you've never met this guy for some reason,

567
00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 3: you know nothing about colonialism, et cetera, and this and

568
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:05,880
Speaker 3: the various companies controlling it, then you might say, well, who, buddy,

569
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,800
Speaker 3: this sounds fantastic. Thanks Big Coops.

570
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 2: Can't wait. You know what, if you hear that right now,

571
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, if you didn't join in this year,

572
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 2: then man you're gonna want to get in next year.

573
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,359
Speaker 3: We want to teach you talents. Sure, yeah, we want

574
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:24,399
Speaker 3: get on the boat. Get on the boat with us,

575
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 3: is what they're saying. And what do the tank? That's

576
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 3: what they're always saying. Yet, so also, to be fair,

577
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 3: given that millions, millions of millions of innocent people have

578
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 3: been murdered, assaulted, tortured, forced out of their communities by

579
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 3: terrorist or separatist organizations, several of which again seem to

580
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,800
Speaker 3: have their own pretty high end training, then the question

581
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 3: again becomes a moral quandary. Who would not want to help?

582
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 3: How could you look at this situation and not become involved.

583
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 3: We're gonna pause for word from our response, and then

584
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 3: we're going to explore pretty unpleasant badger in this bag.

585
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 3: We're back. As we've seen in the case of the

586
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,400
Speaker 3: School of Americas for the Americas, excuse me, as well

587
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 3: as in the cases of various like student activists and

588
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 3: freedom fighter groups, there isn't a lot of oversight applied

589
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 3: to what happens post training. Teach you all these insurrection techniques,

590
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:36,880
Speaker 3: all these interrogation techniques, will teach you why the third

591
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,200
Speaker 3: story is a great place for your enemies to hang

592
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 3: out and then after that, you know, do you dog?

593
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, And one of the one of the first

594
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 2: things that exercise flint Lock focuses on is getting the

595
00:37:53,360 --> 00:38:00,080
Speaker 2: upper command levels together and doing training with those individuals

596
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 2: in small groups, right, and y'all, I don't want to

597
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 2: get too conspiratorial, but it feels like Concy Well, I

598
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:14,000
Speaker 2: feel like if you're I don't know, I feel like

599
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,400
Speaker 2: if you're on the pulpit right in the way that

600
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,120
Speaker 2: it feels like Cooper kind of is when he's speaking

601
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,320
Speaker 2: about what Flintlock's doing. If you're having a small session

602
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 2: with the upper echelons of these individual partner countries, it

603
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 2: feels like you could almost be preaching to them a

604
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:36,080
Speaker 2: philosophy more so even than tactics, at least at that

605
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:39,040
Speaker 2: upper level, because you've you're trying to make everybody see

606
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:40,720
Speaker 2: the same picture or vision.

607
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,319
Speaker 3: Sure. And also the tough thing about speaking from the

608
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 3: pulpit is you don't hear the whispers in the pews,

609
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 3: and I think that's the ghost that comes to haunt

610
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,879
Speaker 3: programs like Fliplock. I mean, the big concern to your point,

611
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 3: mat the big concern is is kind of ideological and

612
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,600
Speaker 3: it's an ideology that on the surf is any decent

613
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 3: person can agree with. Human beings should have a say

614
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,360
Speaker 3: in their government. You should be able to vote for things.

615
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:14,439
Speaker 3: Human beings should have a reliable, predictable day to day,

616
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 3: year over year sense of safety and security. Right, and

617
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 3: also have the room for luxuries, for aspirations and so on.

618
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,359
Speaker 3: These are all very basic things. It's crazy that they

619
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,720
Speaker 3: become a hot take so often in the history of humans.

620
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 3: But like, the big concern then is that you can

621
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:38,279
Speaker 3: train people to the best of your ability, right, not

622
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:45,239
Speaker 3: just in tactics, which tactics are. Tactics can be perishable, right,

623
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,439
Speaker 3: just like intelligence. The way to conduct a war back

624
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 3: in the day of Napoleon is not the way to

625
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,080
Speaker 3: conduct a war today. If you march a bunch of

626
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 3: people just straight in a series of lines, they're gonna die,

627
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 3: They're gonna get killed. But ideal may not be perishable.

628
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 3: And the idea is going back to the example of

629
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 3: firearms having no moral self evaluation. You're teaching people to

630
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 3: be guns, and you are at the same time asking

631
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 3: them to retain enough humanity to only fire at the

632
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 3: quote unquote bad guys. And you're hoping that they will

633
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 3: agree with you for the rest of their lives on

634
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,200
Speaker 3: who is the bad versus the good guy?

635
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,640
Speaker 4: What's that expression? If you're a hammer, then everything starts

636
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 4: to look like a nail. You know.

637
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's such some of it is such specialized tactics,

638
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 2: for like the like the breach and clear kind of thing,

639
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 2: the close quarters tactics, the it's some of its goria

640
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 2: style stuff that you would be carrying out. I it

641
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 2: feels like the stuff you would need to stage a coup.

642
00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,399
Speaker 3: We let's start a coup. It's not just a show.

643
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 3: It's true. These insurrection tactics. Again, they are instituted and

644
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 3: taught and to a degree institutionalized because they work. And

645
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:16,000
Speaker 3: there's a deeper thing here. If we're getting conspiratorial. Another

646
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:21,879
Speaker 3: cool thing about this is well, not cool, interesting, intellectually fascinating.

647
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,000
Speaker 3: If you are the source of the education, if you

648
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:31,160
Speaker 3: are the source of the insurrection tactics and the coup mechanisms,

649
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,879
Speaker 3: that also means that you can recognize when those are

650
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 3: being applied somewhere else. So if if somebody studies at

651
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 3: your school and then they go out into the streets

652
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,480
Speaker 3: of the world and they say Hey, guys, I learned

653
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:51,480
Speaker 3: something interesting about how you might seize a government facility.

654
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:54,240
Speaker 3: Then you are going to recognize it because you taught

655
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:58,279
Speaker 3: that game first, right, So there is I think an

656
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:03,360
Speaker 3: implicit added benefit to this. I mean that the problem

657
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,200
Speaker 3: is you can't control the gun, you can't give it

658
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 3: a conscience, You cannot dictate people's minds. The Manchurian candidate

659
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:14,720
Speaker 3: has never successfully been created. So the same people trained

660
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 3: by the US, by Canada, France, Italy, Germany, all the

661
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:22,400
Speaker 3: other ones, they can leverage their knowledge to become something

662
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:26,919
Speaker 3: very similar to the monsters they were originally trained to fight.

663
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, what happens when somebody you've trained like that and

664
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:37,520
Speaker 2: given an ideological seed, right, that then grows and you see,

665
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 2: let's say you're in the upper echelons of a country like, oh,

666
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:42,399
Speaker 2: I don't know.

667
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 3: Nepal.

668
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 2: Okay, sure, let's say Nepaul, and you watch the governing

669
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,400
Speaker 2: the people who are governing that country. You can physically

670
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,760
Speaker 2: see and hear about and know the corruption that's happening

671
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:59,959
Speaker 2: at the upper levels. Is that person going to want

672
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 2: to stop that corruption because you've gone through this training

673
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:08,800
Speaker 2: that specifically is anti corruption along with being anti terrorists

674
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 2: and anti terrorism, and no question, because these things are

675
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:19,840
Speaker 2: linked together, right, And I'm not saying corruption at the

676
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 2: highest levels. I'm not saying that that's right. I'm saying

677
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 2: that that is probably pretty common in every country everywhere,

678
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:32,640
Speaker 2: always corruption of the upper levels. But if you've been

679
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,440
Speaker 2: trained specifically to see that, and then you've got ways

680
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 2: to fight that thing and like ways to think about

681
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,760
Speaker 2: fighting that corruption, it just it feels like you're setting

682
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 2: up a bunch of dominoes and then just waiting for

683
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 2: one of them to fall eventually that you don't control.

684
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 2: But you've set the dominoes up in a way that

685
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,839
Speaker 2: when that first one does fall, you know, you kind

686
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:56,320
Speaker 2: of understand the outcome.

687
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 3: They control the chaos. Yeah, and there's also I mean

688
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 3: the other side. First off, we're not taking shots at Nepal.

689
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,560
Speaker 3: They did have a coup in two thousand and five,

690
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 3: but you know that's just because coups are very in

691
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:13,120
Speaker 3: fashion right now. They're like the hottest thing.

692
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:16,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, we could have said Gabon or Nigerer or Guinea

693
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,759
Speaker 2: or Burkina, Fosso or Chad or Molly or Sudan.

694
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 3: Now keep it coming, drop the beatnal Oh.

695
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 2: And that's just me naming a couple of names. According

696
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:29,240
Speaker 2: to Al Jazeera, in an article he run August thirtieth,

697
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 2: there have been forty five coups on the African continent

698
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,520
Speaker 2: out of the fifty four nations since nineteen fifty. So

699
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 2: forty five since nineteen fifty.

700
00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,279
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and there were some. Some of the new

701
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 3: coups that dropped recently are gonna surprise surprise, folks. Let's

702
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:54,040
Speaker 3: build on this historical fact, right, Let's build on the

703
00:44:54,239 --> 00:45:01,319
Speaker 3: historical fact that, yes, people have trained what they thought

704
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 3: of as sheep dogs to protect a herd from wolves.

705
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,399
Speaker 3: And in some cases they would have you believe that

706
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 3: the dogs just joined up with the wolves. In any case,

707
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 3: it's the sheep that suffer. That is an historical fact.

708
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:18,239
Speaker 3: If we branch into the realm of conspiracy, then we

709
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 3: ask a more dangerous question. Our interrogation continues leading us

710
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 3: to wonder, what if the same forces training these folks

711
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 3: are picking and choosing suitable candidates to lead future coups.

712
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 3: To your example, Matt, what if what if you are

713
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 3: in those halls of power? Right, You've studied in Paris,

714
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 3: you attended Fort Benning, you know you've you've got some

715
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 3: bona fides. You hang out at a couple of training sessions,

716
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:49,319
Speaker 3: and one day, as your disillusion about the state of

717
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 3: your nation, you get a phone call, right or you

718
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,879
Speaker 3: have an interesting conversation, maybe best to keep it off

719
00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:00,399
Speaker 3: written record, And the next thing you know, you're getting

720
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 3: a lot of support from a student group you never

721
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:07,759
Speaker 3: heard of. Right, you gotta You've got a suddenly very dedicated,

722
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 3: very talented group of civilians, and they share your concerns

723
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:18,600
Speaker 3: about the nature of barium supplies. Right, excuse me, the spirit,

724
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 3: the hearts and minds, whatever, Like what if? What if

725
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 3: the United States and its allies are purposely creating sources

726
00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:31,440
Speaker 3: of future conflict and instability with the thought being they

727
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 3: can control the resulting chaos.

728
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,880
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what the picture looks like from here.

729
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:41,359
Speaker 3: We can't prove it.

730
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 2: We can't prove any of that. It's there's a there's

731
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 2: an intercept article. I think we're gonna get to where

732
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:52,239
Speaker 2: there's an interview. Nick, Yeah, dude, some of the quotations

733
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 2: in there, and like the takeaway from that, God, I

734
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 2: can't wait to discuss it together. Okay, go ahead.

735
00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:59,560
Speaker 4: When we were talking to Rob, like I kind of

736
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 4: naive on purpose, I guess, asked, but to what end

737
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:04,839
Speaker 4: does it make sense for us to be in the

738
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:07,719
Speaker 4: conflict in Vietnam when everyone knew it was a disaster

739
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:10,359
Speaker 4: and it wasn't going well, Like, why is it such

740
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:13,239
Speaker 4: a big deal to stay in there? And you know,

741
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,359
Speaker 4: he very kindly patted me on the head, young lad,

742
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:20,799
Speaker 4: and said, the military industrial complex, you dunce like that

743
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 4: was created. It was manufactured. It was a realization that like,

744
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,840
Speaker 4: this is big business, and this is you know, if

745
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:31,640
Speaker 4: we can maintain circumstances where we're in control of this

746
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:35,319
Speaker 4: flow of money, largely money that doesn't even have to

747
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 4: be accounted for, then we're going to enrich everybody that

748
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,800
Speaker 4: we know, and that you know, we'll have infinite favors forever.

749
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:49,880
Speaker 4: I know I'm oversimplifying it, but it's it's kind of wild.

750
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it doesn't hurt that you're gonna have a

751
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:56,640
Speaker 2: lot of natural resources to extract in these specific strategic

752
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 2: places as well.

753
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:03,799
Speaker 3: And at first this idea might sound trivial, right or abstract,

754
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,520
Speaker 3: we have to remember this does occur in the historical record.

755
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:10,400
Speaker 3: There was hard provable precedent for the use of proxies.

756
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:14,920
Speaker 3: You know, shut out Afghanistan. The Soviets did with the

757
00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 3: mujah deemed correct in that situation, and the US actively

758
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:26,280
Speaker 3: did the same thing. The trained, funded, otherwise empowered separatist

759
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 3: proxy groups that later became their enemies when the geopolitical

760
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:35,160
Speaker 3: winds shifted. And look, we cannot accuse the United States

761
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:41,399
Speaker 3: of provably creating monsters with active malicious intention, especially when

762
00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:45,839
Speaker 3: the simpler explanation may fall down to plain old negligence

763
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:51,080
Speaker 3: or factions within these agencies. And this alphabet soup I mean.

764
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 3: And yet you know sam Mednik had this point. The

765
00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 3: military junta's ruling Mali and Burkina US are getting military

766
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:05,920
Speaker 3: support from Russia. Molly's also working with the Wagner group.

767
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 3: Let's go to David Pugli's from the Ottawa Citizen. He writes,

768
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:14,439
Speaker 3: African soldiers trained by US and Allied special forces at

769
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 3: Flintlock have track records of launching coups to remove civilian

770
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:22,320
Speaker 3: elected governments from power in their home nations. In July.

771
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 3: He's talking, I believe in twenty twenty two. Oh no,

772
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 3: he's talking in twenty twenty three. In July, military officers

773
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 3: who had trained previous Flintlock exercises ousted Niger's democratically elected

774
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,400
Speaker 3: president at a coup data, there's a pickle. There's a

775
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:40,280
Speaker 3: pickle there.

776
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:43,719
Speaker 2: Well, and often there are there's a set of circumstances

777
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:47,040
Speaker 2: that someone from the outside I'm just as an example,

778
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:50,560
Speaker 2: me reading about the circumstances around a coup like that

779
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:54,319
Speaker 2: feel like, Oh, there's a series corruption there, or there

780
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:57,319
Speaker 2: was a real conflict of interest, or there's something right

781
00:49:57,360 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 2: that's being talked about, and you go, oh, I could

782
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,400
Speaker 2: see maybe there was a coup in that country. I

783
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 2: think maybe from the outside perspective, the way these coups

784
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:11,279
Speaker 2: get reported on, it's almost like it's justified sometimes, but

785
00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,319
Speaker 2: I don't know. Often maybe I'm just personally confused about

786
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,719
Speaker 2: it because it does seem like there's something else at

787
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:20,520
Speaker 2: play behind the scenes that we don't get privy to.

788
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,880
Speaker 3: M m yeah, very black Monday murders, right, the vassals

789
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,480
Speaker 3: of the lattice and so on. Yeah. Like in recent

790
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 3: years to that point, officers trained by the United States

791
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:38,840
Speaker 3: have launched seven successful coups and sometimes even get the

792
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 3: coups on coups. Domestic US news doesn't often break a

793
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,759
Speaker 3: sweat reporting this. There are just too many celebrities to

794
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:47,719
Speaker 3: pay attention.

795
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:52,160
Speaker 4: To cous on Coups domestic US news. I was hoping

796
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,759
Speaker 4: there would be an additional end rhyme, but that was good.

797
00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:56,160
Speaker 2: Enough for me.

798
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 3: Oh thanks, Noel, Yeah, we could totally. Well, let's just

799
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:01,640
Speaker 3: drop a mixtape on it, like Coups on Coups. I

800
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:06,360
Speaker 3: think it will work. We also we owe a great

801
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:10,120
Speaker 3: deal of debt to investigative journalists who are all woefully

802
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:17,160
Speaker 3: underpaid and if they're honest, they're not working for institutional forces.

803
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:20,840
Speaker 3: This is someone we're very grateful to introduce Matt. You

804
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 3: mentioned him earlier. Nick Urce writing for The Intercept in

805
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:28,640
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two, he has this guy put the work in,

806
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,880
Speaker 3: He put the time in, the blood, sweat and the

807
00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:37,359
Speaker 3: boots on the ground. He was deep into the coup

808
00:51:37,520 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 3: in Burkina fass Out and this coup that he spoke about,

809
00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:45,399
Speaker 3: he was intensely studying. It was led by a guy

810
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 3: named Paul Enri Sandalgo Damiba, and this guy studied in Paris,

811
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 3: the Military College in Paris. He also has a degree

812
00:51:55,960 --> 00:52:00,000
Speaker 3: in criminology from France and he spent a few years

813
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 3: in the US for training. He went on to serve

814
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:07,760
Speaker 3: as the interim president of Burkina Fassau from January thirty

815
00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:11,719
Speaker 3: first of twenty twenty two to September thirtieth of the

816
00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:15,720
Speaker 3: same year. Things went sideways for him. He lost power,

817
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:19,799
Speaker 3: he was overthrown in. Can you guess, would anyone care

818
00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 3: to guess? Well, it wasn't an election, that's for sure. Yeah,

819
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:35,040
Speaker 3: like Kuzan kuz on KU's. So the results are obvious.

820
00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:39,440
Speaker 3: There is a significant correlation between individuals trained by Western

821
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:46,920
Speaker 3: forces in things like exercise fliplock and then later cous

822
00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 3: coupdata you know, all day and so the question is

823
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 3: we can't prove a conspiracy exist, but why does this

824
00:52:55,000 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 3: pattern seem so strong? So maybe we end it here. Again,

825
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:05,960
Speaker 3: we cannot emphasize this enough. The personnel training individuals via

826
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:09,640
Speaker 3: flintlock and via other things like flintlock, it is not unique.

827
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:13,600
Speaker 3: They are not weird super villains. They're not hanging out,

828
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:16,080
Speaker 3: you know, like drinking the blood of the young or

829
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 3: whatever and saying I can't wait to ruin lives. They

830
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,919
Speaker 3: are genuinely working to do quite the opposite, to save

831
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:27,280
Speaker 3: the lives of innocent people. But again, all the stuff

832
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:31,799
Speaker 3: they're teaching, it knows no real ethical constraint. You know,

833
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:36,640
Speaker 3: the window that you push someone out of. That window

834
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,239
Speaker 3: never asks you why the person is falling, you know

835
00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 3: what I mean, It's just a window, or it's just

836
00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 3: a gun. And these things are measured in terms of

837
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:50,319
Speaker 3: practical application rather than philosophical coziness and comfort. So is

838
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:53,480
Speaker 3: the United States and its Western allies. Are they creating

839
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:57,160
Speaker 3: the enemies they may fight in the future. If so,

840
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:01,720
Speaker 3: are they doing this on purpose? That's a pretty complicated question,

841
00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:05,319
Speaker 3: And the problem with that as a conspiracy is that

842
00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 3: it describes a lot of long term planning aptitude that

843
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:14,799
Speaker 3: historically doesn't exist. I'm just gonna say it, Yeah, a

844
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:18,160
Speaker 3: lot of the conspiracies are just covering up previous mistakes.

845
00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:24,960
Speaker 2: To me, it feels more alike inception, philosophical inception, and

846
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:26,960
Speaker 2: that's really I think that's really all you have to

847
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:31,680
Speaker 2: do in these train on the ground exactly how to

848
00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 2: the tactics to get it done, and then get the

849
00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:39,160
Speaker 2: top people who control the people who can do those things,

850
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:43,319
Speaker 2: like train them in the philosophy of the way things

851
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:47,080
Speaker 2: should be so that when those individuals observe things like

852
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:49,879
Speaker 2: government corruption, all that stuff occurring, they can actually use

853
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:53,520
Speaker 2: the tools that they have at their disposal to stop

854
00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:54,360
Speaker 2: that from happening.

855
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,239
Speaker 3: I wonder what kind of to the point about ideology,

856
00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:02,879
Speaker 3: I wonder what kind of spirational books are given right

857
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,160
Speaker 3: on the syllabus on the heart time flips? Is it

858
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 3: tracts well? Is it like eyeing rand at the shrugged?

859
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:13,160
Speaker 3: Is it laws of war or laws of power?

860
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:15,080
Speaker 4: Is it sun sou?

861
00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 3: Is it chicken soup for the teenage soul soul?

862
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:25,080
Speaker 2: Perhaps it's I was watching a video. It was titled

863
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:29,239
Speaker 2: Flintlock Exercise. It was posted like in twenty sixteen, and

864
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:33,800
Speaker 2: there's this guy Ltc. William D. Rose Road Special Operations

865
00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:37,640
Speaker 2: Command Africa. He he, guys, I just want to see

866
00:55:37,640 --> 00:55:40,279
Speaker 2: what you think about this. He says. This quote an

867
00:55:40,320 --> 00:55:44,320
Speaker 2: African proverb that they our partners like to quote often

868
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,799
Speaker 2: is when your neighbor's house is on fire, you helped

869
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 2: to put it out in order to safeguard your own,

870
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:54,000
Speaker 2: which sounds very good to me, right. That sounds like, yes,

871
00:55:54,080 --> 00:55:58,359
Speaker 2: this is cooperation across countries for the greater good. If

872
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:02,399
Speaker 2: somebody's house is on fire wanted to burn, mind, so yeah, selfishly,

873
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 2: I'm gonna help you put it out. But also I

874
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:09,879
Speaker 2: care about you enough. I think it sounds really good

875
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:11,799
Speaker 2: to me. Just wonder what you guys think about that

876
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:14,240
Speaker 2: as like a part of the philosophy that's being taught.

877
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:17,560
Speaker 3: I watched the video as well. I saw it via

878
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:21,160
Speaker 3: who is this dev grew five O two two.

879
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:22,840
Speaker 2: That was the accessible one.

880
00:56:23,200 --> 00:56:25,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's the that's the that's the one you

881
00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:31,480
Speaker 3: can find most easily on YouTube. In this in this conversation,

882
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:35,520
Speaker 3: I would say again, these people are acting in good faith,

883
00:56:35,800 --> 00:56:42,400
Speaker 3: these instructors, these veterans who have survived some crazy thing.

884
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 3: This is also an opportunity, a much needed opportunity for

885
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:51,200
Speaker 3: special forces to acquire training and experience. There's a reason

886
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:57,680
Speaker 3: this exists. It's maybe multiple birds one stone situation, right,

887
00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:02,200
Speaker 3: But but are all the birds they're aiming for? The

888
00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:07,120
Speaker 3: birds the Americans and the global civilian population want to hit.

889
00:57:07,440 --> 00:57:09,480
Speaker 4: They're the ones that, as long as they're birds, hit

890
00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:14,040
Speaker 4: them all day long. I'm sorry, guys, I'm out of

891
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:15,920
Speaker 4: the metaphor into literal birds.

892
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:19,280
Speaker 2: Well that's fine. We know you feel about birds and.

893
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:21,520
Speaker 4: All I know, it's my brand. I got to say

894
00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:22,240
Speaker 4: it every now and again.

895
00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:26,680
Speaker 2: Just along with this other training they're also providing, like

896
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,560
Speaker 2: civil aid right, or so you might call a humanitarian aid,

897
00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:37,600
Speaker 2: working with clean water sources in smaller villages, working with

898
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:41,760
Speaker 2: hospitals to get them up to date in like updated

899
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:45,040
Speaker 2: and orphanages. Even this is all according to that same

900
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:49,400
Speaker 2: person that we were quoting here, Lieutenant William D. Rose.

901
00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 2: And they're also working with outreach activities, like numerous outreach

902
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:59,360
Speaker 2: activities in the small areas where they're having the flintlock exercises. Again,

903
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:03,400
Speaker 2: in my it's good, it's they're helping people, right, But

904
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:07,920
Speaker 2: you're also painting a picture of where this help is

905
00:58:07,960 --> 00:58:11,880
Speaker 2: coming from, and you know the type of help that

906
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:15,640
Speaker 2: you're going to provide. It just all it builds on

907
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:20,240
Speaker 2: that Cold war thing to me in some weird way, you.

908
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:23,360
Speaker 3: Know, I agree with you, and i'd like I proposedly

909
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:27,080
Speaker 3: end with a question and something that's bothering me more

910
00:58:27,080 --> 00:58:30,640
Speaker 3: and more often for many years now. Yes, waging war

911
00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:34,720
Speaker 3: on terrorist however, defined waging war on the quote unquote

912
00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 3: bad guys, hostile states. That's all well and good, But

913
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:42,200
Speaker 3: what about the private industries that enable the chaos? What

914
00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:47,120
Speaker 3: about those who profit by the existence of war, regardless

915
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 3: of victory or failure toward a specific side. These are

916
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:54,600
Speaker 3: often global conglomerates. They make money either way. So what

917
00:58:54,760 --> 00:59:00,680
Speaker 3: about waging war on those corporations proven private industries doing hard?

918
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:04,800
Speaker 3: Will the United States or a similar power ever start

919
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:05,680
Speaker 3: a school like that?

920
00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:08,920
Speaker 2: No, No, that's.

921
00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:11,920
Speaker 4: Only called aerarchi. It would be burning down all that

922
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:14,720
Speaker 4: we've built. We've worked so hard to get to where

923
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:16,680
Speaker 4: we are. Why would you want to do that? What

924
00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:18,520
Speaker 4: are you some kind of nihilists?

925
00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:21,200
Speaker 3: I just want like an ltc rows of some sort

926
00:59:21,760 --> 00:59:25,120
Speaker 3: saying you know, like far in the future, saying you know,

927
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:30,400
Speaker 3: little known fact. We actually train the Halliburtons once upon

928
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:36,000
Speaker 3: a time and the Halliburton Haliburtons right right, right, folks.

929
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,720
Speaker 3: There's so much more we did not get to. We

930
00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:43,720
Speaker 3: have endeavored to be even handed about this, to point

931
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,240
Speaker 3: out things we cannot prove, to point out patterns that

932
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:50,160
Speaker 3: do exist. And most importantly, we want to hear from you.

933
00:59:50,520 --> 00:59:52,720
Speaker 3: Let us know your thoughts, not just about things like

934
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:58,520
Speaker 3: exercise flintlock, but about other similar mechanisms throughout the world.

935
00:59:59,040 --> 01:00:02,360
Speaker 3: Shout out to Dulu technology, et cetera, et cetera. We

936
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 3: try to be easy to find online.

937
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:06,680
Speaker 4: Oh boy, do we ever? And I'd like to think

938
01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:08,920
Speaker 4: we succeed You can find us at the handle Conspiracy

939
01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:14,360
Speaker 4: Stuff on XFKA, Twitter, Facebook. We have our Here's where

940
01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:17,360
Speaker 4: it Gets Crazy Facebook group where you can join in

941
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:20,800
Speaker 4: on the conversation around episodes. People still go to Facebook.

942
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:21,320
Speaker 2: I hope you do.

943
01:00:21,400 --> 01:00:24,000
Speaker 4: It's a good group, good people there, and we also

944
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:27,600
Speaker 4: are that on YouTube or Conspiracy Stuff show on Instagram

945
01:00:27,640 --> 01:00:28,160
Speaker 4: and TikTok.

946
01:00:28,800 --> 01:00:31,840
Speaker 2: We have a phone number and a voicemail system. Call

947
01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:36,640
Speaker 2: one eight three three STDWYTK, give yourself a cool nickname,

948
01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:39,200
Speaker 2: and then you've got three minutes. Say whatever you'd like.

949
01:00:39,760 --> 01:00:43,080
Speaker 2: We're excited to hear from you when you do call in.

950
01:00:43,120 --> 01:00:44,800
Speaker 2: Please let us know if we can use your voice

951
01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:48,440
Speaker 2: and message on one of our listener mail episodes. It's

952
01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:50,480
Speaker 2: totally fine. If you don't want to, just say hey,

953
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:53,360
Speaker 2: please don't use this. If you've got more to send,

954
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:56,200
Speaker 2: maybe links, maybe attachments, all that kind of stuff, why

955
01:00:56,200 --> 01:00:57,560
Speaker 2: not instead send us an email.

956
01:00:57,960 --> 01:01:19,720
Speaker 3: We are conspiracy at iHeart dot com.

957
01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:21,920
Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't want you to Know is a production

958
01:01:22,040 --> 01:01:26,560
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

959
01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:29,520
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.