WEBVTT - Buck Brief - Elbridge Colby 0:00:11.697 --> 0:00:14.977 You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast. Make sure 0:00:15.017 --> 0:00:17.977 you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or 0:00:18.017 --> 0:00:19.737 wherever you get your podcasts. 0:00:20.057 --> 0:00:22.577 All right, let's do it around the world foreign policy. 0:00:22.657 --> 0:00:26.057 Buck brief here with our friend Bridge Colby. He's a 0:00:26.097 --> 0:00:29.897 former Pentagon official. He's got an awesome book on foreign policy, 0:00:29.937 --> 0:00:33.657 Strategy of Denial. Check it out. Bridge. Great to have 0:00:33.697 --> 0:00:36.777 you back on the program. Let's start with this for 0:00:36.817 --> 0:00:39.377 a second, because you know, we're speaking at a time 0:00:39.377 --> 0:00:41.737 when the world is still reeling from the terrorist attack 0:00:41.817 --> 0:00:46.057 in Israel by Hamas. Iran's fingerprints are all over this. 0:00:46.137 --> 0:00:50.217 We know that what does Iran think it can achieve 0:00:50.617 --> 0:00:54.097 with the actions that it engages in. Is it just 0:00:54.337 --> 0:01:00.377 ideologically driven sadism and hatred or is there a long 0:01:00.497 --> 0:01:03.537 game here that they think they're playing by supporting these 0:01:04.057 --> 0:01:07.577 militant groups that is in some way achievable as a 0:01:07.657 --> 0:01:08.257 nation state. 0:01:10.097 --> 0:01:12.217 Well, great to be back with you, Buck, Always a 0:01:12.217 --> 0:01:15.097 pleasure to be with you, and even on this really 0:01:15.097 --> 0:01:18.777 difficult day or time. Look, I think there is plenty 0:01:18.777 --> 0:01:21.977 of rage in ideology in the Islamic Republic of the 0:01:22.057 --> 0:01:24.617 regime there, but I also think they appear to be 0:01:24.737 --> 0:01:27.177 pursuing a strategy, and I think that's my sense of 0:01:27.177 --> 0:01:30.697 the Israeli assessment as well. It's based on you know, 0:01:30.737 --> 0:01:33.897 the exploitation of terrorism and human suffering and so forth. 0:01:33.657 --> 0:01:36.617 But it is it is a strategy. 0:01:36.737 --> 0:01:39.657 I mean, I don't know exactly what they're going I mean, 0:01:39.697 --> 0:01:43.577 it's too clear that Iran benefits from this to say 0:01:43.577 --> 0:01:46.377 that they've had no role. Obviously they've been heavily complicit 0:01:46.417 --> 0:01:49.177 in arming Hamas and Hesbala and so forth, but they 0:01:49.217 --> 0:01:53.297 also benefit from interrupting the Israeli normalization with the Saudis 0:01:53.297 --> 0:01:57.177 and others in the region and the quiet that I mean. 0:01:57.217 --> 0:01:59.977 I was in Israel in June, and you know, there 0:02:00.017 --> 0:02:03.137 was a sense that things were pretty much probably more 0:02:03.137 --> 0:02:05.057 secure in Israel than they ever been, that the kind 0:02:05.057 --> 0:02:07.857 of West Bank and Gaza were under control. And I 0:02:07.897 --> 0:02:10.737 think what I assume Mas is trying to do, and 0:02:10.817 --> 0:02:16.977 backed by Iran, is to reintroduce fear and uncertainty and 0:02:17.017 --> 0:02:20.897 anxiety into an Israeli life. Obviously, they're taking hostages and 0:02:20.937 --> 0:02:24.857 they're trying to probably establish more control over the Arab 0:02:24.857 --> 0:02:27.337 population in both Gaza where they have been ascended, but 0:02:27.377 --> 0:02:30.457 also in the West Bank and use that to just 0:02:30.617 --> 0:02:35.377 over time erode life in the Jewish state and ultimately 0:02:35.417 --> 0:02:37.537 try to you know, I think their ultimate goal is, 0:02:38.217 --> 0:02:40.617 as they say, to recapture that territory. 0:02:41.097 --> 0:02:43.897 Do you think that they just view this as an 0:02:43.897 --> 0:02:47.057 incremental approach to the eventual eradication of Israel? I mean, 0:02:47.057 --> 0:02:50.657 that really is their strategic goal. That's not just bluster 0:02:51.057 --> 0:02:53.337 and chest stumping from a bunch of psychopaths. 0:02:54.777 --> 0:02:57.297 I mean, I think they say it consistently. 0:02:57.537 --> 0:03:00.617 And you know, the people who were prepared to conduct 0:03:00.657 --> 0:03:03.457 acts of terrorism liners in the nineteen seventies, but were 0:03:03.457 --> 0:03:08.297 more secular or maybe had more incremental objectives even then 0:03:08.337 --> 0:03:10.057 they might have been more aggressive or ambitious. 0:03:10.577 --> 0:03:12.417 I think those people seem to have been pushed aside. 0:03:12.577 --> 0:03:15.817 And Hamas and Hezbola were the radical groups and the 0:03:15.857 --> 0:03:18.977 Islamic revolutionaries in Iran, and you don't look, I mean, 0:03:19.017 --> 0:03:22.137 obviously these analogies are always kind of limited, but how 0:03:22.137 --> 0:03:25.137 long did the crusaders stay, or how long did very 0:03:25.177 --> 0:03:27.937 in the British stay? You know, you look how long 0:03:28.777 --> 0:03:32.137 colonial anti colonial rebellions that they're probably modeling themselves. 0:03:32.177 --> 0:03:33.697 Not to suggest that as rules in any way a 0:03:33.697 --> 0:03:34.457 colonial state. 0:03:34.337 --> 0:03:37.057 But but I think that's probably the model they have. 0:03:37.097 --> 0:03:39.177 And you know that, as Hochi Minh said, you know, 0:03:39.217 --> 0:03:41.377 we have time and you can kill ten of ours 0:03:41.417 --> 0:03:41.817 for everyone. 0:03:41.857 --> 0:03:43.417 We kill a view, but in the long run will 0:03:43.497 --> 0:03:44.057 outlast you. 0:03:45.417 --> 0:03:48.777 Yeah, I mean, I know they take this this very 0:03:49.737 --> 0:03:52.737 long view at the expense of the present. That's a 0:03:52.777 --> 0:03:54.657 common theme in a lot of Middle Eastern states and 0:03:54.737 --> 0:03:59.857 unfortunately that you know, the some you know, some amazing 0:03:59.937 --> 0:04:02.817 future will come about if they're willing to engage in 0:04:03.657 --> 0:04:07.657 heinous acts today and justify a lot of tyranny, repression 0:04:07.697 --> 0:04:11.297 and things that generally you would want to avoid. But 0:04:11.737 --> 0:04:15.377 I'm just wondering at this stage, if is it possible 0:04:15.377 --> 0:04:18.537 for Israel to allow a thing called Hamas to continue 0:04:18.537 --> 0:04:19.177 to exist. 0:04:21.177 --> 0:04:23.577 Well, I think they've said I think Prime Minister Natanielle 0:04:23.577 --> 0:04:26.017 who did say that they are going to destroy him Hammad. 0:04:26.457 --> 0:04:29.417 I mean, I think that that makes a ton of sense. 0:04:29.857 --> 0:04:30.537 And I mean I. 0:04:30.577 --> 0:04:35.017 Totally support Israel's uh, you know, basis and desire to 0:04:35.177 --> 0:04:37.897 retaliate and restore that to terrence. There's also an element, 0:04:37.937 --> 0:04:40.177 of course of justice, but from a strategic point of view, 0:04:40.497 --> 0:04:42.257 they have to be able to say that if you 0:04:42.337 --> 0:04:44.817 do these I mean barbarica acts, some of which in 0:04:44.857 --> 0:04:46.777 some sense are unprecedent sense the Holocaust. 0:04:46.857 --> 0:04:48.777 I mean, really horrible. 0:04:48.377 --> 0:04:51.977 Stuff that there will be punishment way out of proportion 0:04:52.737 --> 0:04:56.257 to you know, the benefits for the attacking actor. The problem, 0:04:56.297 --> 0:04:58.177 of course is what does it mean to destroy Hamas? 0:04:58.177 --> 0:05:00.457 And I assume the Israelis are wrestling with that, so 0:05:00.537 --> 0:05:02.337 I think they'll probably need to come up with a 0:05:02.377 --> 0:05:05.777 definition of that that is, you know, significant enough that 0:05:05.817 --> 0:05:09.497 it means something, but also attainable at a reasonable cost, 0:05:09.537 --> 0:05:11.497 because you know, I'm I think they're mobilizing three hundred 0:05:11.497 --> 0:05:15.617 thousand israelis huge impact on the Israeli economy, on Israeli society. 0:05:15.817 --> 0:05:19.017 It is a free society, it's you know, it has 0:05:19.177 --> 0:05:21.337 democratic politics, of course, much to its credit. 0:05:21.697 --> 0:05:23.417 So I think that's going to be a big part 0:05:23.417 --> 0:05:24.017 of the challenge. 0:05:24.017 --> 0:05:27.137 And unfortunately, this is I assume part of what Hamas 0:05:27.217 --> 0:05:29.937 and presumably Iran and Hesbel and the background are trying 0:05:29.977 --> 0:05:30.497 to exploit. 0:05:32.377 --> 0:05:34.937 We'll come into a discussion of Ukraine here in a second. 0:05:35.377 --> 0:05:38.497 And there's actually some people that are already pointing out 0:05:38.497 --> 0:05:42.097 how some of the munition's shortages that we may need 0:05:42.137 --> 0:05:46.137 to help out with. 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Go to 0:06:29.217 --> 0:06:31.537 my Pillow dot com, click on the radio listener special 0:06:31.577 --> 0:06:34.017 square get the Queen Size My Pillow two point zero 0:06:34.017 --> 0:06:36.177 for thirty nine ninety nine and the King Size for 0:06:36.257 --> 0:06:39.177 ten dollars more. Enter promo code buck to get your 0:06:39.217 --> 0:06:46.977 My Pillow two point zero. Now. So Ukraine Russia bridge 0:06:47.537 --> 0:06:51.977 the so far, the analysis this year is a lot 0:06:52.017 --> 0:06:55.417 of fighting and basically no territorial movement, as in the 0:06:55.457 --> 0:06:57.777 whole breakthrough that we were told was going to happen 0:06:58.977 --> 0:07:02.177 was there was no breakthrough. It looks to be a 0:07:02.217 --> 0:07:04.537 straight up stalemate, and we're funding this as well as 0:07:04.577 --> 0:07:08.617 providing a lot of munitions. What's your take on where 0:07:08.657 --> 0:07:11.497 the Ukraine situation is going and how it's affecting US 0:07:11.577 --> 0:07:13.777 foreign policy priorities in general right now? 0:07:15.137 --> 0:07:16.577 Well, look, I think you're right. I mean I think 0:07:16.577 --> 0:07:18.537 it's an attritional conflict. I think the New York Times 0:07:18.577 --> 0:07:21.977 itself reported that very little territory has changed hands this year, 0:07:21.977 --> 0:07:25.777 and in fact, Russia has seized more territory than Ukraine. So, 0:07:26.777 --> 0:07:29.817 you know, the Ukrainian counter offensive there may still be 0:07:29.857 --> 0:07:31.697 stamina left in it, but I don't think it's going 0:07:31.737 --> 0:07:33.457 to radically up end the war. I think what we're 0:07:33.457 --> 0:07:36.857 seeing as a war of attrition, and it's encouraging that 0:07:36.897 --> 0:07:38.857 we and the Europeans have made some moves to tate 0:07:38.897 --> 0:07:41.337 our defense industrial base. But the thing to bear in 0:07:41.377 --> 0:07:43.257 mind is that's all relative buck And this is a 0:07:43.257 --> 0:07:44.857 really important point that a lot of the kind of 0:07:44.857 --> 0:07:48.137 more traditional, if you will, neo conservative voices in the 0:07:48.177 --> 0:07:51.417 Republican Party underestimate is that that's The Russians are also 0:07:52.817 --> 0:07:55.417 mobilizing for a long war, and the Wall Street Journal 0:07:55.497 --> 0:07:58.337 is reporting on Saturday that they're retooling their entire economy 0:07:58.377 --> 0:08:00.537 for war economy. So you know, they're going to buy 0:08:00.577 --> 0:08:03.417 fewer Mercedes and sobs or whatever, and they're going to 0:08:03.617 --> 0:08:05.817 eat it. Frankly, they're going to their lives are not 0:08:05.817 --> 0:08:07.737 going to be as sort of luxurious as they might 0:08:07.737 --> 0:08:11.017 have been in places like Saint Petersburg in Moscow probably, 0:08:11.337 --> 0:08:13.857 but they're going to allocate more of their money and 0:08:13.937 --> 0:08:17.257 resources as a nation to the military, and we'll see 0:08:17.257 --> 0:08:19.737 how that nets out relatively. But I think, you know, 0:08:19.977 --> 0:08:23.657 a long war is a very difficult conflict for US. 0:08:24.177 --> 0:08:26.977 I think this is unfortunately what the Kremlin is anticipating. 0:08:27.017 --> 0:08:28.577 They're also getting help from the North Koreans. 0:08:28.577 --> 0:08:30.897 People laugh about the North Koreans, but one thing they're 0:08:31.137 --> 0:08:33.897 good at is building missiles and rockets and artillery shells. 0:08:33.897 --> 0:08:37.337 They have like a million people working in artillery factories 0:08:37.377 --> 0:08:40.697 and ammunition factories. We can't even produce on hundred fifty 0:08:40.737 --> 0:08:43.217 five millimeters munitions at that. We are in producing more 0:08:43.257 --> 0:08:45.817 of it, but which the Israelis also need, but at 0:08:45.817 --> 0:08:48.857 the level, not the level of the Ukrainians actually want 0:08:48.857 --> 0:08:49.937 to be able to expend it at. 0:08:50.137 --> 0:08:51.577 So this is the real problem. 0:08:51.617 --> 0:08:53.777 What we should be doing is getting the Europeans to 0:08:53.977 --> 0:08:56.457 really step up, which they're particularly the Germans, are not doing. 0:08:56.977 --> 0:08:58.857 I think the fact that there's a war breaking out 0:08:59.017 --> 0:09:01.137 with our very close ally Israel, and I mean their 0:09:01.177 --> 0:09:04.897 actual sovereign territory is being is being invaded and so forth, 0:09:04.977 --> 0:09:07.657 this just shows us that we can't keep bluffing through. 0:09:07.657 --> 0:09:09.697 I see a lot of the voices, you know of 0:09:09.697 --> 0:09:12.137 this sort of George W. Bush approach saying, hey, we 0:09:12.217 --> 0:09:14.377 got to be active everywhere, and they're completely sort of 0:09:14.377 --> 0:09:16.697 blithely ignoring the fact that we're not in a position 0:09:16.777 --> 0:09:19.177 we should have been. We should have spent some of 0:09:19.177 --> 0:09:22.457 that COVID money that we blew on resuscitating our defense 0:09:22.497 --> 0:09:25.017 industrial base, on being able to bring good jobs back 0:09:25.017 --> 0:09:28.857 to the United States that could skilled welders fix submarines, 0:09:29.017 --> 0:09:32.137 build munitions, But we didn't do that, and we barely 0:09:32.377 --> 0:09:34.897 we have barely touched the problem in the last year. 0:09:34.897 --> 0:09:37.337 I mean, I've been calling for a national mobilization for 0:09:37.457 --> 0:09:39.857 the last year because we've been digging ourselves this hole. 0:09:40.297 --> 0:09:41.937 But that's not where we are in the president I 0:09:41.977 --> 0:09:44.817 just saw him. He was talking, you know, in the 0:09:44.857 --> 0:09:47.057 White House, and he was very moralistic and on his 0:09:47.137 --> 0:09:47.857 high horse, and I. 0:09:47.777 --> 0:09:49.617 Was like, what were you yelling at? 0:09:49.737 --> 0:09:52.297 Man, Like, you're the one who could have said, let's 0:09:52.337 --> 0:09:54.817 actually get a defense industrial base that, by the way, 0:09:54.857 --> 0:09:56.577 would meet a lot of the kind of concerns that 0:09:56.817 --> 0:09:58.257 you know, those of us on the new Right want, 0:09:58.257 --> 0:10:00.657 which brings good industrial jobs back to this country. 0:10:00.937 --> 0:10:01.697 But instead it's a. 0:10:01.697 --> 0:10:03.817 Lot of the green stuff from the climate and all 0:10:03.857 --> 0:10:05.977 this kind of stuff, and they don't want to do 0:10:06.057 --> 0:10:08.817 more on the defense side. So I think we're in 0:10:08.897 --> 0:10:11.697 really bad shape. And I actually I wrote a piece 0:10:11.737 --> 0:10:14.297 the other day in The Spectator saying that we're in 0:10:14.337 --> 0:10:17.177 really bad shape. And I actually underestimated the situation because 0:10:17.177 --> 0:10:20.017 I didn't think about this possibility of Hamas and Israel, 0:10:20.297 --> 0:10:22.417 but the Chinese that the threat has not dissipated in 0:10:22.417 --> 0:10:22.897 the slightest. 0:10:22.937 --> 0:10:24.777 It's probably intensifying kind of thing. 0:10:25.777 --> 0:10:28.337 So where do you think all this goes? I mean, Bridge, 0:10:28.377 --> 0:10:33.937 I was on radio when Russia invaded Ukraine initially, and 0:10:33.977 --> 0:10:36.257 there was that moment when they were making that move 0:10:36.337 --> 0:10:38.577 toward Kiev, and then everyone was saying, oh, they've turned 0:10:38.577 --> 0:10:41.617 them around, and I just said, look, guys, this thing's 0:10:41.657 --> 0:10:43.097 not going to end anytime soon, and it's going to 0:10:43.177 --> 0:10:44.817 end up costing the US when all of a sudden done, 0:10:44.817 --> 0:10:47.097 We're gonna spend a trillion dollars on this war, which 0:10:47.137 --> 0:10:49.857 sounded people were just like, come on, that's insane. And 0:10:49.897 --> 0:10:51.977 now I'm sort of well, it's like two hundred billion 0:10:52.057 --> 0:10:54.457 in counting right now. Where do you think it's going? 0:10:56.577 --> 0:10:58.777 I mean, I think you're you're you're certainly more right 0:10:58.857 --> 0:11:00.617 than those who were dismissing it and hoping the war 0:11:00.657 --> 0:11:03.377 would just end quickly and decisively. I mean, I don't 0:11:03.377 --> 0:11:05.897 think Russia's going anywhere as a great power, and who 0:11:05.937 --> 0:11:08.497 you know, they care a lot about Ukraine. Unfortunately, their 0:11:09.097 --> 0:11:11.817 desire their life, Putin's lust to take over Ukraine or 0:11:11.897 --> 0:11:15.297 establish a dominant position is not just. But unfortunately it's enduring, 0:11:15.377 --> 0:11:17.777 just like North Korea's is via South Korea. 0:11:17.897 --> 0:11:18.777 I mean, I was struck. 0:11:19.577 --> 0:11:21.817 The administration has been pointing out that we've given one 0:11:21.897 --> 0:11:24.257 hundred and fifty billion dollars to the Israelis or an 0:11:24.257 --> 0:11:26.737 AID over the last time of fifty fifty plus years. 0:11:26.737 --> 0:11:28.617 I mean, we've given almost as much to Ukraine and 0:11:28.617 --> 0:11:29.817 over in the last year, you know, kind of a 0:11:29.857 --> 0:11:30.537 year and a half. 0:11:30.697 --> 0:11:33.257 So this is a huge amount of money. And that's 0:11:33.337 --> 0:11:35.937 and that's I don't think going anywhere. So I think 0:11:35.977 --> 0:11:37.897 we're in. I mean, where is this all going to go. 0:11:38.897 --> 0:11:43.537 Look, we don't know what they're thinking in Tehran and Moscow. 0:11:43.617 --> 0:11:46.257 We can Beijing, we can glean, we can infer, but 0:11:46.337 --> 0:11:48.697 I think the most compelling way of looking at is 0:11:48.737 --> 0:11:51.617 to kind of fit the dots on the line. Putin 0:11:51.697 --> 0:11:55.457 didn't condemn the Hamas attack and the and the rhetoric 0:11:55.497 --> 0:11:57.737 out of Moscow is to say, well, this is the 0:11:57.777 --> 0:11:59.417 price you pay, this is how the you know, this 0:11:59.457 --> 0:12:01.497 is where we're going to pull the Americans away. And 0:12:01.537 --> 0:12:04.217 of course the Iranians have been helping the Russians with 0:12:04.297 --> 0:12:06.137 the drones that have they been using on the front, 0:12:06.177 --> 0:12:10.177 So the Russians owe the Iranians, and meantime, the Iranian 0:12:10.337 --> 0:12:13.577 benefit from Hamas taking this action. That's let's apart the 0:12:13.577 --> 0:12:16.697 Sautas and the Israelis. And who benefits the most the Chinese, 0:12:16.777 --> 0:12:19.777 because it stretches the Americans out. And there are people 0:12:19.777 --> 0:12:21.737 who are acting as if we have no constraints, that 0:12:21.777 --> 0:12:24.857 there is no scarcity, and that's just not serious. And 0:12:24.897 --> 0:12:27.457 I mean, the American people are already fed up with 0:12:27.537 --> 0:12:29.617 the forever wars and they've spent a lot of money, 0:12:30.017 --> 0:12:31.777 and unfortunately, I think we are going to need to 0:12:31.817 --> 0:12:33.737 have to spend more money on defense industrial base, not 0:12:33.777 --> 0:12:35.577 so we get into other wars, but so we can 0:12:35.617 --> 0:12:38.057 help our allies that like Israel, that want to be 0:12:38.097 --> 0:12:40.537 able to defend themselves, be able to do so. But 0:12:40.577 --> 0:12:42.777 that's not where we are right now, and so you know, 0:12:42.817 --> 0:12:45.057 we're in really grim shape. I wish the President would 0:12:45.057 --> 0:12:48.617 have gotten on national television and say, look, people, this 0:12:48.697 --> 0:12:49.617 is the biggest problem. 0:12:49.657 --> 0:12:52.297 This is an opportunity to regrow our industrial base. That's 0:12:52.337 --> 0:12:52.937 not what he did. 0:12:54.017 --> 0:12:56.617 Interesting, you know, the notion of regrowing the industrial base, 0:12:57.217 --> 0:13:03.577 but also the revulsion that it seems certainly the Republican base. 0:13:03.617 --> 0:13:05.457 And I would assume a lot of Democrats have as 0:13:05.497 --> 0:13:10.817 well for the military industrial complex. Rhee On, you know, Boeing, 0:13:11.217 --> 0:13:13.097 how do you how do you square that? Like, is 0:13:13.097 --> 0:13:17.897 there a way to sell revitalizing an industry, basically the 0:13:17.977 --> 0:13:20.537 munitions industries that we have real war fighting capability and 0:13:20.537 --> 0:13:23.297 also the ability to support our allies without sounding like 0:13:23.337 --> 0:13:24.457 being a show for Raytheon. 0:13:24.537 --> 0:13:27.377 You know what I mean, I know exactly what you mean. 0:13:27.417 --> 0:13:30.697 I'm an acutely sensitive to this, you know, partially just 0:13:30.737 --> 0:13:32.977 instrumentally being a defense guy. I always I think a 0:13:33.017 --> 0:13:35.297 lot of people, like they hear defense and foreign policy 0:13:35.297 --> 0:13:37.417 people talking about increasing the defense budget, they just tune 0:13:37.457 --> 0:13:38.737 it out. I mean, I was at a hell thing 0:13:39.097 --> 0:13:40.977 with a bunch of Republican congressman a few years ago, 0:13:40.977 --> 0:13:42.657 and they had a bunch of more the defense hawks 0:13:42.657 --> 0:13:44.697 came in and I overheard one of the other kind 0:13:44.697 --> 0:13:47.137 of normal Republican congressmens, Oh, the defense hawks are back, 0:13:47.177 --> 0:13:49.417 you know, and they just they just discount it. So 0:13:49.657 --> 0:13:53.297 I'm sensitive that instrumentally, but also substantively. I think there's 0:13:53.337 --> 0:13:55.577 a reason, I mean, we spend almost a trillion dollars 0:13:55.617 --> 0:13:58.777 a year, and what do we have munition scarcity? I 0:13:58.777 --> 0:14:01.737 mean really, so obviously this system is broken. There's five 0:14:01.817 --> 0:14:07.257 defense primes. In the nineteen eighties we had thirty defense primes. 0:14:07.297 --> 0:14:09.297 We had even more earlier. So to me, this is 0:14:09.297 --> 0:14:11.737 an opportunity for the kind of industrial policy, the new 0:14:11.777 --> 0:14:13.737 thinking that you get out of place like American Compass, 0:14:13.777 --> 0:14:16.737 American Affairs, et cetera. On the left, people like Rocana 0:14:16.777 --> 0:14:19.857 and Matt Stoler, that you could get a bipartisan coalition 0:14:20.177 --> 0:14:22.297 that says, look, we're going to re We understand this 0:14:22.337 --> 0:14:24.417 is going to take government invention. We're not just going 0:14:24.457 --> 0:14:26.417 to fill I mean Greg Hayes, the CEO of Raytheon, 0:14:26.497 --> 0:14:28.697 was saying that they couldn't decouple from China. I mean, 0:14:28.697 --> 0:14:31.097 why would we stuff the pockets of people like that, 0:14:31.417 --> 0:14:34.137 who are you know, basically accountable to their shareholders and 0:14:34.217 --> 0:14:36.617 are not going to be thinking about what's necessarily in 0:14:36.617 --> 0:14:39.017 the country's best And I'm not saying he's a bad guy, 0:14:39.257 --> 0:14:42.057 but I'm saying, like, that's not And a lot of 0:14:42.097 --> 0:14:44.217 I think the traditional Republicans say oh, let's just double 0:14:44.217 --> 0:14:48.177 defense beending, and people are thinking themselves, yeah, really, like 0:14:48.217 --> 0:14:51.537 that's not so. But I do think and I think 0:14:51.537 --> 0:14:55.697 it meets a number of different political objectives and interests. 0:14:56.097 --> 0:14:57.537 I mean, one of them is what I'm talking about, 0:14:57.537 --> 0:14:59.857 having more weapons A, so we're ready and so we 0:14:59.897 --> 0:15:00.777 have peace through strength. 0:15:00.777 --> 0:15:02.937 To use the cliche, but it's kind of true. B. 0:15:03.617 --> 0:15:07.337 We can give weapons to countries like Israel, more to Ukraine, 0:15:07.417 --> 0:15:10.257 South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, so they can fight the who 0:15:10.297 --> 0:15:11.777 are ready to fight. We can help them do that. 0:15:12.257 --> 0:15:15.617 But at the same time, bring back good, hard paying job, 0:15:15.977 --> 0:15:18.657 good you know, hard working, good paying jobs back to 0:15:18.697 --> 0:15:20.657 this country. We don't like, we don't have enough welders 0:15:20.697 --> 0:15:23.057 for our submarine force. We're just gonna need to create them. 0:15:23.377 --> 0:15:24.737 And those are good jobs, and then they'll be white 0:15:24.777 --> 0:15:26.657 collar jobs and blue collar jobs and what have you. 0:15:27.217 --> 0:15:29.377 I think that's the way that we talk about it. 0:15:29.377 --> 0:15:31.337 But it's very important. I think you're absolutely right, Buck, 0:15:31.497 --> 0:15:33.417 it's very important that this not be seen and not 0:15:33.577 --> 0:15:38.257 actually be just a gift to the established players who 0:15:38.257 --> 0:15:39.577 are just going to keep doing what they're doing. 0:15:40.617 --> 0:15:46.177 Yes, because it certainly seems like the big defense contractors 0:15:46.297 --> 0:15:49.657 people have had their have had their feel of the 0:15:49.977 --> 0:15:52.417 run up and costs that incur all the time, and 0:15:52.457 --> 0:15:58.417 somehow the lack of sustained large scale war fighting capability 0:15:58.457 --> 0:16:00.177 that we have at the same time, right, like, yeah, 0:16:00.217 --> 0:16:03.097 you know, we're getting really fancy planes, but do we 0:16:03.177 --> 0:16:05.977 have enough artillery shells? I mean, these are important things 0:16:06.017 --> 0:16:07.457 to figure out. 0:16:07.617 --> 0:16:10.457 Fixed ships, like basic things. And and so it's like 0:16:10.497 --> 0:16:12.817 we're spending people say, oh, we're not spending enough on defense. 0:16:12.817 --> 0:16:14.617 We'll like spilling and spending a trillion dollars. 0:16:14.657 --> 0:16:15.977 Shouldn't we get a better output? 0:16:16.457 --> 0:16:19.177 You would think? So, I want to talk China with 0:16:19.337 --> 0:16:21.817 you in a second here, But first up, some people 0:16:21.817 --> 0:16:23.657 in the know are speculating on a coming change to 0:16:23.657 --> 0:16:26.017 our currency system. According to one of them, a former 0:16:26.017 --> 0:16:28.937 Wall Street insider and digital currency expert, our federal government 0:16:28.937 --> 0:16:31.897 could soon announce this change. In this scenario, our paper 0:16:31.897 --> 0:16:34.577 currency could be replaced with something much more trackable, a 0:16:34.657 --> 0:16:38.137 digital currency. 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All right, Bridge, So China's 0:17:08.177 --> 0:17:11.257 watching all this stuff going on, Russia, Ukraine War, Israel 0:17:11.417 --> 0:17:15.777 Hamas war. How are they sitting on the sidelines and 0:17:15.897 --> 0:17:19.097 positioning themselves and benefiting and strategizing. 0:17:20.577 --> 0:17:22.617 Well again, I mean, I don't know what's going through 0:17:22.657 --> 0:17:25.057 Xijinping's head, but I'm looking at them and I'm saying 0:17:25.097 --> 0:17:27.977 they're doing pretty much everything consistent with actually preparing for 0:17:28.057 --> 0:17:30.657 war with the United States. They're training their conventional forces, 0:17:30.697 --> 0:17:32.857 they're building them up. They're building them up in a 0:17:32.857 --> 0:17:35.097 way that assumes they've solved the Taiwan problem. They're building 0:17:35.137 --> 0:17:37.417 up their nuclear forces. They're sanctioned trying to sanction proof 0:17:37.457 --> 0:17:42.457 their economy. They're conditional conditioning the Chinese people for suffering. 0:17:42.457 --> 0:17:44.577 I mean, Chijin Ping is saying, get used to it. 0:17:44.617 --> 0:17:47.497 There's going to be rocky waters. Okay, that's happening. Okay, 0:17:47.497 --> 0:17:49.217 if you're China, then if you think about it kind 0:17:49.217 --> 0:17:52.697 of inferentially or deductively, you say, what would be the 0:17:52.697 --> 0:17:55.097 best situation. If you're going to attack Taiwan, if you're 0:17:55.097 --> 0:17:57.457 going to take on the Americans, that's like a cosmic 0:17:57.497 --> 0:17:58.137 roll of the dice. 0:17:58.337 --> 0:17:59.897 And what's the lesson of Putin? 0:17:59.897 --> 0:18:02.177 Putin has given a masterclass on what not to do 0:18:02.577 --> 0:18:05.057 if you're an aggressor. You know, don't attack in twenty 0:18:05.097 --> 0:18:07.697 fourteen and then wait eight years. Don't assume the other 0:18:07.697 --> 0:18:10.297 guy's going to fall apart. Don't take for granted that 0:18:10.337 --> 0:18:14.417 the Western Allies are going to be disunity, unified, et cetera. Okay, 0:18:14.417 --> 0:18:15.817 if you're cheated in opinion, you take that, I mean, 0:18:15.817 --> 0:18:18.737 it's pretty common sensical, then you basically, I think you 0:18:18.777 --> 0:18:22.257 benefit from trying to stretch the Americans as much as possible. So, actually, 0:18:22.337 --> 0:18:25.217 from China's point of view, I think the current situation 0:18:25.297 --> 0:18:28.497 in Europe is actually optimal. Like they don't even necessarily 0:18:28.537 --> 0:18:32.497 want a total Russian victory because now they Russia is 0:18:32.537 --> 0:18:35.217 totally dependent on them and it's tying down the Americans 0:18:35.257 --> 0:18:36.657 and by the way, the Europeans as well. 0:18:36.697 --> 0:18:39.297 Oh, and then there's a major war that breaks out 0:18:39.337 --> 0:18:40.257 in the Middle East. 0:18:40.257 --> 0:18:41.897 And the United States might get involved in that, and 0:18:42.217 --> 0:18:46.257