1 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: I'm Steve Schmidt with the warning, joined by Ken Harbaugh 2 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: of the Ken Harbaugh Show here at the Save America 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: Movement on the front line of opposing Donald Trump and MAGA. 4 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: You can follow the Save America movement at the Save 5 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: americamovement dot org. Encourage you to get involved. We are 6 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: on day forty four of the war in Iran. The 7 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: peace negotiations led by Vice President JD. Vance and accompanied 8 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: by Jared Kushner and Steve Wikoff, who of Donald Trump's 9 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: corrupt henchmen, have failed in Islamabad and the result has 10 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: been an announced American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz 11 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: to be enforced by the United States Navy. So the 12 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: situation is escalating at this hour as we get into 13 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: the conversation with Ken Harbaugh, Ken, how are you. 14 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 2: I'm doing okay, Steve, And as much as I want 15 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 2: the whole world to see Donald Trump's idiocy, is inability 16 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 2: to manage a situation like this actually take no pleasure 17 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 2: at all and seeing this strategic defeat for America. So 18 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 2: I guess the honest answer is not so great this morning. 19 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: There is a strategic defeat certainly at hand, but the 20 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: situation is dynamic, and it is continuing to escalate and worsen, 21 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: and I think will we talked last week we were 22 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: at the end of a predictable opening stage which we 23 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: largely predicted. We talked about the Iranian ability to control 24 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: the Straight of Horror moves. Donald Trump and Pete Heggsath 25 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: talked about the primacy of air power. They talked about 26 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: regime change, they talked about the nuclear program. All of 27 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: the things that they talked about as a reason for 28 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: the war, all of those things have been forgotten and 29 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: have been moved off to the side. And now forty 30 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: four days in what the war is about, what it 31 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:43,519 Speaker 1: has been distilled to is a competition over a piece 32 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: of territory, which is what wars have been fought over 33 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: since the beginning of time. And that piece of territory 34 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: of the Straight of Horror Moves, which the US Navy 35 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: is going to blockade. And it bears mentioning, of course, 36 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: that the Rate was open and was regarded by all 37 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: parties as an international waterway before the commencement of the war. 38 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: And so now you have twenty percent of the world's 39 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: oil flowing through the Strait. European oil shortages. You have 40 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of the world's fertilizer flows through the 41 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: Strait of Hormuz, which is necessary for planting to avoid 42 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: a food crisis all over the world. And the American 43 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: position has been in response to the failed negotiations to 44 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: say that we are ending the ability of the Iranians 45 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: to charge a toll for the use of the strait 46 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: and we are blockading it completely with which means that 47 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: a Chinese flagged tanker will come into conflict with the 48 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: US Navy. And it could be the case that you 49 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 1: have a Chinese naval escorted Chinese flag tanker that tries 50 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: to run the International Waterway against the wishes of the 51 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: US Navy in the next couple of weeks, which points 52 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: which puts US and Chinese naval vessels in close proximity 53 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:42,799 Speaker 1: with guns pointing at each other inside the Middle East, 54 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: inside the Straight of Horror Moves is one of the 55 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: many scenarios that you can see playing out in the 56 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: next phase of the of the adventure here. So as 57 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:59,119 Speaker 1: we get into the conversation, Kenn, can you just talk 58 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: about what is a blockade? Is a what is a 59 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: blockade and what is it that the US Navy is 60 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:11,119 Speaker 1: going to be asked to do in enforcing a blockade 61 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: at the Strait of Hormuz, and so the Iranians control 62 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: the straight And what the US Navy is saying now 63 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: is we'll control who enters that straight, no one in, 64 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: no one out. 65 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,239 Speaker 2: Well, most people consider a blockade to be an act 66 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 2: of war. It's why we called the blockade of Cuba 67 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 2: a quarantine and not a blockade, because we did not 68 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 2: want to be at war with the Soviet Union. But 69 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 2: let me just reiterate how much worse we are off 70 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 2: today than we were forty four years ago, not forty 71 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 2: four days ago, much less forty four years ago. And 72 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 2: I hope people appreciate the insanity of the Trump regime's 73 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 2: position right now. In response to Iran's closure of the 74 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 2: Strait of Horror Moves, our response is to close the 75 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 2: Straight of Horror Mooves. It just doesn't make logical sense. 76 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 2: But nothing about this war has made sense from the beginning, 77 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 2: from the rationale going into it to the stated objectives 78 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 2: which have all been abandoned. 79 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 3: Two. 80 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 2: And this is most offensive to me, even as a 81 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 2: Navy pilot. The idea that air power could solve all 82 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 2: of these problems. We're abandoning that finally, because I think 83 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 2: we're up against the reality that air power is not 84 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 2: going to open the Straight of Horror moves. But it 85 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: certainly isn't going to secure the nuclear material. It's not 86 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 2: going to provoke regime change. Latest estimates show that the 87 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 2: Iranians probably have half of their missile launchers and stockpiles left. 88 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 2: Airpower took out plenty of infrastructure and roads and bridges, 89 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 2: and it destroyed a fifty five year old navy and 90 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,159 Speaker 2: the Iranian Air Force, which we gifted them half a 91 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 2: century ago. But it is not meeting the objectives, and 92 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 2: it has gotten us into a situation where as you 93 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 2: pointed out, Steve, we might come into direct conflict with 94 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 2: a near peer adversary, which is I mean that is 95 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 2: the trigger for a global conflagration. When you look at 96 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 2: all of the war games about how we end up 97 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 2: going to head to head with China. It's an engagement 98 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: on the high seas. It's usually envisioned as the Strait 99 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 2: of Taiwan, but it could well become the Straight of 100 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 2: Horror moves, given how the Trump administration has set this 101 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 2: thing up. If we have maybe one one thing to 102 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 2: take comfort in. It's Trump's cowardice and his predictable tacoing 103 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 2: every time he faces a situation like this. But again, 104 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 2: it just leads to strategic humiliation. After strategic humiliation, the 105 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 2: word of the United States means nothing anymore. 106 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: We are besieged by morons at all levels of American society, 107 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: and they are running rampant, and they are in control. 108 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: And so therefore you lose the expertise, the nuance that's 109 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: required to get into some of the details of the 110 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: consequences of what's happening. In One of them is this 111 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: potential engagement between the US and Chinese navy, And the 112 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: scenario that was always deemed the more likely of the 113 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: two was that that would occur somewhere in the Western 114 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: Pacific Ocean, in the Yellow Sea, the South China Sea, 115 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: any one of the near to China shorelines. But maybe 116 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: it will be the case that the first engagement, the 117 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: first ship to ship conflict, highly anticipated that the whole 118 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: world has eyes on, doesn't take place in the Pacific. 119 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: It takes place outside the straight of of of Hormuz, 120 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: and and strategically, I'm not I'm not sure whether that 121 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:15,439 Speaker 1: engagement there is to our advantage or to their advantage. 122 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: But it seems to me it's coming because you have 123 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: Chinese tankers with with with Chinese fuel oil that that 124 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: will be transiting an international waterway, and and so under 125 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: international law, the Chinese position that we're gonna move our 126 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: tanker through, or we're going to transit our navy through 127 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: in the US, absent any Security Council, any Security Council resolution, 128 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: just has no international legal standing whatsoever. To answer the 129 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: Iranian declaration of sovereignty over the strait and announced that 130 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: it's going to have a toll road through that the 131 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: US Navy says now is going to close all traffic. 132 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: And of course this puts us on the opposite side 133 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: of the interests of our European allies who don't want 134 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: to see the straight Oh Horn moves closed. 135 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 2: It puts us on the opposite side of the entire world. 136 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 2: We are going this alone. And the contrast between Steve 137 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 2: I cut my teeth twenty five years ago as a 138 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 2: combat recon and ISR pilot patrolling off the coast of 139 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 2: China enforcing this time honored tradition of freedom of navigation. 140 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 2: My job when I wasn't surveilling Chinese and Russian order 141 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 2: battle was to assert the freedom of navigation and the 142 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 2: freedom of overflight over international waterways. I've got a picture 143 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 2: somewhere behind me of an interception with the Chinese F 144 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 2: eight when we were they claim too close to Chinese territory, 145 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 2: but in international airspace. We asserted that right. The idea 146 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 2: that we are on the wrong side of history, now 147 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 2: that we are the bad guys, that we are the 148 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 2: ones shutting an international waterway out of a peak of 149 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 2: frustration and anger on the part of the President for 150 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 2: having humiliated America and lost a war. I just I 151 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 2: can't believe that we have gone from being the guarantor 152 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 2: a freedom of navigation of the high seas to approaching 153 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 2: that kind of piracy that we accuse the Iranians of. 154 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 2: There is talk of, or there was talk of the 155 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 2: Trump administration entering a deal with the Iranians to share 156 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 2: the proceeds from the tollbooth erected over the Strait of Horror. 157 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 2: MOUs I wouldn't be surprised if that conversation is still happening. 158 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 2: We know the Iranians have been requesting those tools and crypto. 159 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 2: How else do you think the Trump family is gonna 160 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 2: get its cut off of a toll booth over the 161 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 2: straight of horror news. I'm laughing, but inside I just 162 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:15,559 Speaker 2: cannot believe the abject humiliation we are facing, having gone 163 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 2: from the nation that secured these rights to the one 164 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 2: that is threatening them. 165 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: Let's get into this a little deeper. When you look 166 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,680 Speaker 1: at the world's blue water navies, of which two of 167 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: the leading are the Chinese and the US Navy. The 168 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,119 Speaker 1: US Navy deemed the more powerful, but increasingly the smaller 169 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:44,839 Speaker 1: of the two navies, particularly as China continues its program 170 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: of developing submarine capacity, developing destroyer, developing aircraft carrier capacity, 171 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: all of it aimed at challenging US dominant. So let's 172 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: imagine a scenario here where it is the Chinese that 173 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: have somehow gotten into a conflict in the Middle East, 174 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: and that conflict is principally against Iran, and it has 175 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: been launched dubiously and illegally with all manner of contradictions, 176 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: and its failing. And now the Chinese Navy declares, in 177 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: response to the Iranian declaration of sovereignty over the Strait 178 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: and the erecting of a toll booth that it is 179 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 1: going to close the strait by blockading it, and the 180 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: US Navy in a freedom of navigation operation says well, no, 181 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: we reject the legality of the Chinese blockade. We reject 182 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: the blockade in its entirety and international waters, and we're 183 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: going to have a freedom of navigation exercise where we 184 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: sail through the blockaded, blockaded straight. Is that not what 185 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: the American position would be. 186 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 2: It's not just the American position officially, Steve. It is 187 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 2: something that everyone charged with enforcing it is drilled on. 188 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 2: There was a card next to my emergency procedures that 189 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 2: had verbatim what I would read to a Russian or 190 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 2: Chinese challenger, much less an arranging challenger if we were 191 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 2: flying in what they considered their airspace but was by 192 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 2: international law free to navigate through. And it happened. 193 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: Frequently that you have radiation affic, you would. 194 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 2: Have radio traffic with the Chinese, and in extremis Chinese. 195 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: So take us inside the cockpit. You're flying, tell us 196 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: where you're flying, tell Us, tell us in approximate detail, 197 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,239 Speaker 1: where you're flying, the speed you're flying at, the altitude 198 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: you're flying at, and are you seeing visually Chinese fighters 199 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: off your wing? Are they are they close? Are they 200 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: passing you? Flying around you? 201 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 4: Is? 202 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: How does this go down? What is it that the 203 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: Chinese guy comes on and says, and how's his English? 204 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 2: I was intercepted multiple times by Chinese fetes, even SU 205 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 2: twenty sevens or they're equivalent of those, And in more 206 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 2: tense moments they would do high speed not flybys, but 207 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 2: they would break in front of the nose of my 208 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 2: aircraft to try to get us to change course. And 209 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 2: our position was, if we're following international law, if we 210 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 2: are in international airspace, we don't change course. It is 211 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 2: your job to follow international law, and if you have 212 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 2: a problem with that, go to the UN change the law. 213 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 2: But you cannot assert unilaterally. And I hope people are 214 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 2: appreciating the parallels to what the President just put out 215 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 2: on truth social You cannot assert unilaterally that this is 216 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 2: a waterway you own an international law, be damned. And 217 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 2: it was the US Navy, more than any navy in 218 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,840 Speaker 2: the world, I would argue, more than any navy in 219 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 2: history that asserted that freedom of navigation of airways and 220 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 2: of the seas, even at the cost of US lives. 221 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 2: We lost a aircraft from my squadron in international airspace 222 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 2: when it was hit on April first, twenty twenty one, 223 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 2: twenty five years and eleven days ago. And PR thirty 224 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 2: two that's the tail number of the EP three that 225 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 2: was struck by a Chinese F eight and crash landed 226 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 2: on Hainan Island. And as a mission right and two 227 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,680 Speaker 2: thousand yeah, yeah, sorry, two thousand and one, April first, 228 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 2: two thousand and one, and the one of the collateral missions. 229 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 2: The primary mission was, of course to keep an eye 230 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 2: on the target nation, and many of my missions were 231 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 2: flown off of China, but also Russia and North Korea. 232 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 2: But attendant to that was this idea that we would 233 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 2: assert freedom of navigation. We were flying in international airspace 234 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:42,400 Speaker 2: and we had a right to be there, and even 235 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 2: if a Chinese fighter is coming up to intercept and 236 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 2: flashing its missiles and breaking in front of our flight path, 237 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 2: we would hold course. That was the ethos of the 238 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,120 Speaker 2: US Navy until today. 239 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: So let's welcome Malcolm Nan, the one and only black 240 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: Man spy. You can follow Malcolm Nance at substack. Malcolm, 241 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: we are talking blockades. Blockades have an important function and 242 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: they're an important element in the history of the United 243 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: States Navy, the freedom of navigations of the sea, and 244 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: the United States Navy right now is busy with blockades. 245 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: We have functionally a blockade around Cuba, apparently an active 246 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: war unannounced. We have a blockade around Venezuela, in active 247 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: war unannounced that we haven't announced. Blockade now of the 248 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: Strait of Horror Mouse, where the US Navy has sealed, 249 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: an international waterway where twenty percent of the world's energy flows. 250 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: This was an uncontested international waterway at the beginning of 251 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: Donald Trump's forty four day War as Adventure. Now it 252 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:10,199 Speaker 1: is an Iranian toll road. Donald Trump has responded to 253 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: the failed negotiations in Islamabad by declaring now a naval 254 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: blockade to be enforced by the US Navy. And I 255 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: want to talk about the concept of running the blockade. 256 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: To bring you into this scenario we're talking about, is 257 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: that for forty four days on this program, each week 258 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: we have gathered, we have talked about what is happening, 259 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 1: what's going to come next. And of course we started 260 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:49,199 Speaker 1: this before the war began, by a week or so, 261 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,679 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks before we anticipated the war. The 262 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: war started. For the record, the thing we were most 263 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: wrong about collective. The war started in seven days after 264 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:06,200 Speaker 1: we predicted it would start. But since then what has 265 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: happened has been very much spot on, including the limitations 266 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: of air power to control space territory and specifically the 267 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: straight of horror moves and so facing a defeat, facing 268 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: having cornered himself, Trump had and we talked about this 269 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: last week, the ability to escalate or the ability to withdraw, 270 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: and Donald Trump has claimed victory while withdrawing and staging 271 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: this peace conference in Islamabad, which has failed. Now he 272 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:53,440 Speaker 1: has escalated into some degree forty four days in, we're 273 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:59,919 Speaker 1: now in that space beyond which we could have predicted 274 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: at the beginning with any type of I think common sense. 275 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: Just like in an NFL game, where it's possible to 276 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: script the first ten plays, you have to let the 277 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: game play out, and now the game is playing out. 278 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: And what we, like kennanav talked about is the the 279 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:27,159 Speaker 1: the the scenario of a Chinese flag tanker being escorted 280 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: by the Chinese Navy, that that that that that adopts 281 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: the American position that this is an international waterway and 282 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: that the Chinese Navy has a right to freedom of 283 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: navigation through it, and they tend to exercise the right 284 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:51,640 Speaker 1: while escorting a Chinese flag tanker through a US Navy blockade. 285 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: And and now I think you're fully caught up into 286 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: this conversation and heard what Ken talked about. Which is 287 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: this the Chinese say, this is the fence line. We've 288 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: seen this for example with Colonel Kaddafi famously his line 289 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: of death in the Gulf of Seed draw two hundred miles. 290 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: The internationally recognized limit territorial for international waterways I think 291 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: is twelve miles. Some countries have a larger exclusion zone 292 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: economic zone. We would not tolerate a Russian submarine twelve 293 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: miles off off the US coast, I don't believe. But 294 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: at any rate, this is a freedom of navigation issue. 295 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: Chinese navy comes in the issue as you're running this blockade, right, 296 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: is the Chinese Navy holds their course with the US 297 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: Navy in the way, and if the Chinese Navy refuses 298 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: to yield, a conflict can occur. And maybe it is 299 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: that the first conflict into twenty first century on the 300 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: sea between the US Navy and China that matters will 301 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: not be in the Western Pacific strangely enough, it will 302 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,159 Speaker 1: be in the Strait of Hormus. 303 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 3: You know you recap this perfectly. 304 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,639 Speaker 4: Three days after the war started, on my sub stack, 305 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 4: I wrote an article called Enter the Dragon, and it 306 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 4: was about how China could exercise freedom of navigation and 307 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 4: literally put a stop to the war by essentially intervening 308 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 4: not only Iran's side, but in Iran's interest simply by 309 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 4: sending frigates up to the soh As straight up Hormus 310 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 4: and allowing them to transit while Iran denies American ships transit, 311 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 4: and so the Chinese, in theory, and this was forty 312 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 4: three days ago, I wrote this article could place themselves 313 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 4: in Iranian waters, on the edge of Iran waters and 314 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 4: act as the guaranteur of the Strait of Hormuz, but 315 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:10,040 Speaker 4: not the United States, because Iran would allow them to 316 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 4: do it, they would allow them to come into Banda Rabaz. 317 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 4: They would essentially China would be going on side and 318 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 4: it would be China playing the adult in the room 319 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 4: between the two sides that would restore. 320 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:25,879 Speaker 3: Transiting the Strait of Hormuz. 321 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 4: Now, China has been getting all of their ships through 322 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty six ships have gone through in 323 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 4: the last forty five days, that's on average three point 324 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 4: six ships per day. 325 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 3: So let's say three ships per day. 326 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 4: Two of them have been Chinese every time or going 327 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 4: to China, and the alternates are one to India, one 328 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 4: to Pakistan. Pakistan gets twenty seven percent of all of 329 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 4: their fuel, oil and natural gas from Iran. Pakistan got 330 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 4: a waiver two weeks into this war that they could 331 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,440 Speaker 4: run all the oil they wanted from. 332 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,680 Speaker 3: Card Island to Karachi. 333 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 4: So Pakistan, I don't know if anybody knows this, for 334 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,479 Speaker 4: the last four weeks have been carrying out a naval 335 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 4: escort of those ships and they are picking them off 336 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 4: off of Jask, the Jazz oil terminal right at the 337 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 4: opening of the Gulf of Oman and escorting them back. 338 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,439 Speaker 3: They didn't need to do that. It was just a 339 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 3: show of national will. 340 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,959 Speaker 4: Now what happens when one of those ships that comes 341 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 4: through the Iranian multi pass toll booth is what we're 342 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 4: calling it, comes out of Iranian waters and then starts 343 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 4: transitting towards Jask. I've done I've done blockades. I've done 344 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 4: them against the Iraqis. We did a one day blockade 345 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 4: against the Iranians in nineteen eighty eight. 346 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 3: Where we used force okay, force force, where we sank 347 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 3: ships and we made it clear any of you come out, 348 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 3: that's going to be. 349 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 4: It the purpose of a see blockade. 350 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 3: It's one thing you can't do this with aircraft. 351 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 4: By the way, you know, Ken was talking about how 352 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 4: they would be out there conducting surface search surveillance in 353 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 4: order to identify ships and aircraft that are carrying out, 354 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 4: you know, activities in an area we would rather them 355 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 4: carry out. But like you said, so long as it's 356 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,640 Speaker 4: in international waters, international airspace, you can go f yourself. 357 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:25,720 Speaker 3: They will hold course. 358 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 4: The issue is what will happen when they don't at 359 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,959 Speaker 4: when they don't obey our commands. I've been in circumstances 360 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 4: where we fired at Iranian ships and vessels. 361 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 3: We firired flares. 362 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 4: We always start with a verbal warning on Channel sixteen 363 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 4: International bridge to bridge right one fifty eight decimal six, 364 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 4: and we go unidentified warship, this United States warship we 365 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 4: are carrying out and you are entering exclusion zone, turned 366 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 4: to a course. 367 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 3: Blah blah blah, or turn back where you're coming from. 368 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 4: And then they just continue. Then we have to escalate. 369 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 4: We have to escalate by shooting flares over them, then 370 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,440 Speaker 4: we have to escalate again. If they don't do that, 371 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 4: depending on the rules of engagement, we would shoot either 372 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 4: if they're close, we would use a fifty caliber machine gun, 373 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,120 Speaker 4: or if they're far, you would have to escalate into 374 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 4: using your surface weapons, your five inch guns, to put 375 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,679 Speaker 4: a couple of rounds across their bow, literally a shot 376 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 4: across their bow, to tell them that you're willing to 377 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 4: escalate force. 378 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 3: But if they don't. 379 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 4: Break track, right, if they don't turn off, the key 380 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 4: question here in this blockade is what do you intend 381 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 4: to do at this point? Okay, a Shinyese flag vessel 382 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 4: is now exiting the SOH has gone through the IRGC 383 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 4: toll booth is now departing Iranian waters. You're gonna sink it? 384 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,199 Speaker 4: Are you gonna visit? Board search in seizure with a 385 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 4: seal platoon or a Coast Core VBSS two team or 386 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 4: some of these other special teams that we have. 387 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 3: All you can do is board it. 388 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,920 Speaker 4: The captain can lock himself inside the bridge and lock 389 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 4: his course, and then you have an international incident between 390 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 4: the United States and China. 391 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 1: Would the Chinese navy boarding a US flagged vessel will 392 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:23,400 Speaker 1: be considered an active war. 393 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 4: I wouldn't say it's an active war, but it's definitely 394 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,439 Speaker 4: an international provocation. And that's what you would have to 395 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,160 Speaker 4: expect afterwards, because if you do this in the SOH, 396 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 4: the Gulf of Oman international warters, you're saying, any US 397 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 4: ship coming to Taiwan which you now consider within your 398 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 4: economic exclusion zone, or any of the islands, the Spratley Islands, 399 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 4: we can do this too. 400 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 3: The Chinese, though, are playing adult in the room. 401 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 4: I don't think they'd do that, but they would definitely 402 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 4: send ships to the SOH to make sure that there 403 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 4: was a balance against the United States I have and 404 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 4: leaving it up to Trump's madness. 405 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: All right, let me you talked about you talked about 406 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: the Indian reliance on energy flowing through this. The Indians 407 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:16,040 Speaker 1: have a blue water navy. Does the Indian Navy deploy 408 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: at least in the vicinity of this of this area 409 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: because of the blockade announced? And then let me let 410 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: me also ask about the French. The French have had 411 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: tankers pass through also. The French have a formidable blue 412 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: water navy. How well France, which is reliant on energy 413 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: passing through the Strait of hor moves react to an 414 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: American blockade on oil that's transiting through the Iranian toll Road. 415 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: I think play that, play that out for me, Kennon Kennon, 416 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: Malcolm ken let me bring you back who it is. 417 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 2: I think it's entirely possible that the Indians will deploy, 418 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 2: that the French will deploy. I think the worst case scenario, though, 419 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 2: is that they delegate that maintenance of freedom of the 420 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 2: sea's role to the Chinese, which they used to delegate 421 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 2: to the US. It used to be the US that 422 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 2: guaranteed that around the world. Imagine if we hand that 423 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 2: torch overnight through our own incompetence to the Chinese, and 424 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 2: the Chinese becomes the nation that other nations look to 425 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 2: guarantee their oil supplies, to guarantee the right of freedom 426 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 2: of navigation. That to me is even worse than all 427 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 2: of these other nations showing up and trying to force 428 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 2: passage of their tankers through the Strait. I think China 429 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 2: is going to emerge from this, As Malcolm said, the 430 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 2: adult in the room, the guaranteur of international law, which 431 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,959 Speaker 2: is mind blowing considering the decades we have spent confronting 432 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 2: the Chinese about their violations of international law. 433 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:04,360 Speaker 4: Worse is that I think that this you know, I can't. 434 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 4: I can't say enough that we are dealing literally with 435 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 4: a ship of fools in the White House. These are 436 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 4: the stupidest people I have ever seen, and I've been 437 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 4: around some dumb folks, even in the military. 438 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 3: But we always defer to caution. No matter what happens here. 439 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 3: This is a guarantee the strait of hormones will stay close. 440 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 4: No one will ensure any vessel that even if you 441 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,239 Speaker 4: are escorted by the United States. And we did this 442 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 4: in eighty five with the USS bridged in the Sea 443 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 4: Isle City, all these ships that were reflagged as American 444 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:46,680 Speaker 4: tankers to protect the Iranian the Kuwaiti oil. As soon 445 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 4: as we got into the soh the Bridgeton struck a 446 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,480 Speaker 4: mind I mean literally first mission. And it got so 447 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 4: bad that our warships had to follow behind the bridged 448 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 4: in or the seas and use them as de facto 449 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 4: mind sweepers. 450 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 3: No one is going. 451 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 4: To ensure a vessel with a quarter of a billion 452 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 4: dollars worth of oil and value on the say so 453 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 4: of Donald Trump, and clearly a US Navy that cannot 454 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 4: do this. Listen, when we fought Iran in nineteen eighty eight, Okay, 455 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 4: we had. 456 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 3: One carrier, but we had nine warships. We have six 457 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 3: that could do this on two sides of the golf. 458 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 4: Granted they have more surface to air capability, Granted they 459 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,960 Speaker 4: have better technologies, but the things you're up against aren't technology. 460 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:45,240 Speaker 4: You're up against sea minds Irgzu boats tonight will come 461 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 4: out and they will mind the shit out of that golf. 462 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 2: And where, Malcolm, where are our mind sweepers? 463 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 4: Oh? Okay, let me give you a mine sweeper update 464 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 4: US santamargat for you. 465 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: Before you give a given update on the mind sweepers. 466 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: Want to I want to see if we unambiguously and 467 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: unanimously agree on on on something that that will use 468 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: as a way point in future conversations coming back to you. Right, So, 469 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: forty forty four days in, I don't discounting at all 470 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: the likeliest outcome, which is that Trump will back down 471 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,000 Speaker 1: from this immediately. But let's just let's just accept in 472 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: this moment the Trump blockade, the Trump blockade has been announced. 473 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 1: What you said, Malcolm is the most relevant, which is 474 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: that the Insurance Committee that's convened in London. There's not 475 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: a ship in the world that's going through this straight 476 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: that's ensurable. So so this is this is all academic 477 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: at this point, and this is the reality that I 478 00:33:58,160 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 1: want to I want to see if we all agree on, 479 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: is the straight of horror moves as a function of 480 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: Donald Trump's war? Is the straight of horror move has 481 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 1: been effectively closed? Is it now entirely shut down? 482 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 4: Well, what he's not, Yeah, if he's not going to 483 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:19,879 Speaker 4: allow Chinese ships out, then yes, the doors for everyone. 484 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 2: The Iranians have been able to get their stuff through. 485 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 2: That's the That's about the. 486 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: Only he's opposed. He's imposed a blockade. And it again, right, 487 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: we're just we're going to take him literally and seriously 488 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: as a as the he said the US Navy is blockading, 489 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,359 Speaker 1: We have the we have the we have the capacity 490 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,640 Speaker 1: to do that. So forty four days on, because he's 491 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: profound economic and political consequence, there's not a country in 492 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,359 Speaker 1: the world then that doesn't have equities in the blockaded 493 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 1: straight of horror moves. 494 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:52,839 Speaker 3: Let me make something very clear here. 495 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 4: We have the ability to say we have a blockade. Okay, 496 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 4: you can say that all den these ships will be 497 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 4: coming out of Iranian waters unless we demonstrate that we 498 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:11,360 Speaker 4: will sink, set fire, and destroy the payloads or seize 499 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 4: them right and bring them as prizes to the United 500 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,120 Speaker 4: States under United States control, which means you're gonna have 501 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 4: to sail that damn ship to Israel or the United States. 502 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 4: No one in the world will recognize that as a prize. 503 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: So that is what Donald Trump is set up here 504 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:37,480 Speaker 1: to happen. Unambiguously, that can't be. That can't that ship happened. 505 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:43,280 Speaker 1: That ship is either gonna sail through or it's gonna 506 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 1: be Sonker captured. Presuming that ship can go through in 507 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: the first place because of the insurance issues you mentioned. 508 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, but where's it gonna go. 509 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,240 Speaker 4: So let's say we do visit board, search and seizure, 510 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,120 Speaker 4: we seize that vessel. Now you've got the captain won't 511 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:05,440 Speaker 4: cooperate with you. He's got instructions on this. You can't 512 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,040 Speaker 4: sail that vessel. You could put a US Navy officer 513 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:12,160 Speaker 4: on there, but unless he's done a one hundred thousand 514 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:18,160 Speaker 4: ton a million barrel very large crew carrier, or we 515 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,600 Speaker 4: get captains flown in from the other side of the world. 516 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 3: No country will allow you to stop. 517 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,239 Speaker 4: In there for chandlering or anything, because it's now you're 518 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:31,520 Speaker 4: violating the Piracy Act. You are doing an illegal seizure 519 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,920 Speaker 4: of these vessels. Where's that ship gonna go? You gotta 520 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,839 Speaker 4: just sit it out in the middle of the Gulf 521 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 4: of Oman. Fujaira's not gonna let you in. Charbahart, I'm 522 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 4: not Charbihart. Karachi's not letting you in. No port in 523 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,880 Speaker 4: India's letting you in. You can't get it to Israel 524 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,399 Speaker 4: because the Huthis could decide to seize it themselves. 525 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 3: All you can do is threaten to sink it. 526 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,280 Speaker 4: If you don't sink it, everyone's gonna sell their asses 527 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 4: right by you. 528 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 3: This is unenforceable. 529 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,879 Speaker 1: We are at a We're at a dire moment. In 530 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,959 Speaker 1: all of this, there was reporting on The New York 531 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: Times by Jonathan Swann and by Maggie Haberman that detailed 532 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:18,799 Speaker 1: the decision making leading to the announcement and execution of 533 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: the war forty four days ago, and the reported takes 534 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:27,279 Speaker 1: us inside the situation room. We find out that net 535 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: and Yahoo is a frequent attendee inside the situation room, 536 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 1: but also the people that are in the room and 537 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: not in the room. Not in the room are TULSEI 538 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,760 Speaker 1: Gabbard and JD. Vans. They're not in the room at all. 539 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: Two astonishing people that are in the room, or two 540 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:53,960 Speaker 1: of Trump's children of the corn Stephen Schun and Carolyn 541 00:37:54,239 --> 00:38:03,240 Speaker 1: Carolyn Levitt. He asked them, and interestingly enough, the Chairman 542 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: of the Joint Chiefs the Staff fundamentally is in alignment 543 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:13,840 Speaker 1: with the position of Stephen Chung and Carolyn Levitt Old 544 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:18,480 Speaker 1: raising Kine there, General Kine. His position is, whatever you 545 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 1: decide is going to be brilliant. That's the advice the 546 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gives to the President. 547 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 1: Heading heading into this, heading into this debacle. Let's let's 548 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: talk about the military and the brass in twenty twenty six, 549 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:51,799 Speaker 1: we have had a few years of peace. In twenty 550 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: five years, I would argue we have had no years 551 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: of peace. But I don't want to get into a 552 00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: to some man antic discussion about about any of this. 553 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:11,919 Speaker 1: The military is an institution that recovered its reputation from 554 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: the end of the Vietnam War through the present day. 555 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:19,720 Speaker 1: Most admired institution for a long time in the eyes 556 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 1: of majority of Americans. Although it's seem real, uh slippage 557 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: in trust and integrity, and that will continue so long 558 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 1: as Pete Hegsath is the is the chairman of the 559 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:39,799 Speaker 1: is the is the Secretary of Defense. Well do we 560 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: have how big is the problem? Or do you dispute 561 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: there's a problem at all, uh with the with the 562 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: top brass in the Pentagon around around Trump. When you 563 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:59,240 Speaker 1: read that account about about General Kine, I am deeply, 564 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: deeply alarmed by his fitness as the principal military advisor 565 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 1: to the to the to the President. And there's gonna 566 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:18,000 Speaker 1: be a lot of consequences down the road for the 567 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 1: US military as a result of this disaster. How should 568 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,319 Speaker 1: we think about the brass in this moment? And I'm 569 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: interested in the perspective of the two men. Obviously, Malcolm 570 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,400 Speaker 1: Nance served at the top rank of the enlisted ranks, 571 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: a senior chief, and Ken served as a junior officer 572 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:44,880 Speaker 1: on the line, a pilot and O three lieutenant in 573 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:46,840 Speaker 1: the United States Navy. 574 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,520 Speaker 5: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go go to you, 575 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 5: Malcolm Am I am I wrong to be to be 576 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:59,440 Speaker 5: looking with a winced expression in the direction of old 577 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:01,280 Speaker 5: General Raisin Kane. 578 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 1: There. 579 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,239 Speaker 4: Well, you have to understand that he's actually surprised me. 580 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,279 Speaker 4: I thought he'd be more of a psychophant than he is. 581 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,359 Speaker 4: Because what he's doing to stay straight, all right, and 582 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 4: to stay within the parameters of the Uniform Code of 583 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:19,239 Speaker 4: Military Justice is is that he is right in the 584 00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:25,239 Speaker 4: sense of doing his job because the military is controlled 585 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,040 Speaker 4: by civilians. That is just the way the system is. 586 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,719 Speaker 4: There is nothing he's doing that is illegal. He is 587 00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:38,920 Speaker 4: following orders that are that well, his orders are legal. 588 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:43,400 Speaker 4: All of them have been legal. Thus his problem is 589 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:44,800 Speaker 4: he's not giving good advice. 590 00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,560 Speaker 1: So right, I mean, he's not. Let's so let's talk 591 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: about this, right. So, he's not in the chain of 592 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:55,879 Speaker 1: command under under Goldwater, under Goldwater Nickels. His entire job 593 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:01,239 Speaker 1: is to give advice. He's the president's principal mill Terarry advisor. So, 594 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: I mean, you go into that New York Times story. 595 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,000 Speaker 1: It's what's remarkable about it is what they all basically 596 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: say to him as well, whatever you decide, it'll be 597 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,880 Speaker 1: the right thing to do and that and that goes 598 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,200 Speaker 1: from Stephen Chong all the way up to General King. 599 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 3: Yeah. 600 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,959 Speaker 4: So again, I think that his problem is is that 601 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 4: his advice was based on the promise that there is 602 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 4: nothing Iran can do to us. 603 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:33,960 Speaker 3: Nothing. 604 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:36,239 Speaker 4: We will go in if you give us the order, 605 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:40,759 Speaker 4: we will execute that order. Now that's following orders. That's 606 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,960 Speaker 4: not advice. Advice would be mister President, we can do this, 607 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:50,880 Speaker 4: but here are the consequences and that we must prepare 608 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,759 Speaker 4: for once we do. I mean, that's his job, right, 609 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:57,640 Speaker 4: but he doesn't seem particularly good at that far. 610 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:02,279 Speaker 2: That's a yeah, Malcolm, hit the nail on the head. 611 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,160 Speaker 2: That's what he's not doing. And Steve, you make this 612 00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:08,200 Speaker 2: observation often that what a president needs more than anything 613 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 2: else is that advisor who can walk into the oval 614 00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 2: office and say you're wrong, or can put can slam 615 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:17,520 Speaker 2: his stars on the table and say if we go 616 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,880 Speaker 2: down this path, I'm out. And I don't think President 617 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,759 Speaker 2: Trump has anyone willing to do that. You got to 618 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 2: have someone who can lay out the worst case scenario. 619 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:30,960 Speaker 2: But the impulse that reflex with the Trump in our 620 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,520 Speaker 2: circle seems to be just the opposite. However bad the 621 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 2: idea is, try to make it a good idea, and 622 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:40,640 Speaker 2: that is just terrible advice. It's not illegal. I don't 623 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 2: know that Secretary not Secretary Chairman Kin has done anything 624 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:50,239 Speaker 2: illegal to this. Certainly he's not serving the president and 625 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:51,800 Speaker 2: he's certainly not serving the country. 626 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:52,040 Speaker 1: Well. 627 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:55,560 Speaker 2: The real question, and this is very opaque, is what 628 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:58,719 Speaker 2: are the combatant commanders doing? And I would love to 629 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,279 Speaker 2: have been a fly on the wall when the war 630 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,520 Speaker 2: crimes tweet came out or when the Civilization ending tweet 631 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:09,319 Speaker 2: came out, because that that had to have been a 632 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 2: real test. That would have been tantamount to an illegal order. 633 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 2: That wasn't an illegal order if it had been transmitted 634 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:22,120 Speaker 2: that way. And I wonder if part of the backtrack 635 00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 2: part of the TACO was a lack of confidence that 636 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:31,360 Speaker 2: your combatant commanders would actually carry something like that out. 637 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:36,280 Speaker 2: Then again, there's been a purge of the highest levels. 638 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,640 Speaker 2: There's certainly been a purge of the jags. And you 639 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,839 Speaker 2: don't get rid of your your best jags unless you're 640 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:43,400 Speaker 2: planning on doing something illegal. 641 00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:48,600 Speaker 1: Where does this go? Where does this go from here? 642 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:57,160 Speaker 1: This week? We as we sit here next week, I 643 00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:02,239 Speaker 1: feel like we're at the end of the beginning, at 644 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,319 Speaker 1: forty four days of this, that we are at the 645 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:13,279 Speaker 1: opening of Act two. We have announced the blockade. The 646 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:17,600 Speaker 1: world will be against the blockade. What happens next? 647 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:21,960 Speaker 4: You know, Professor Robert Pate University of Chicago refers to 648 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,360 Speaker 4: the escalation ladder, you know, in all of his studies 649 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,359 Speaker 4: about attacking Iran. I mean, you guy's been studying this 650 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,840 Speaker 4: for forty years with all the defense colleges and joint staffs, 651 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,960 Speaker 4: the same thing. And he said, Trump is not just 652 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 4: trapped in the escalation ladder. Trump believes only in the 653 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:46,120 Speaker 4: escalation ladder. There's no taco for him, right, and if 654 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,480 Speaker 4: he does taco, it has to appear that he has 655 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 4: a victory. He announced this yesterday. The war is over 656 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,719 Speaker 4: and we won. And only if you give that five 657 00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,840 Speaker 4: year old the belief that he's actually won, will he 658 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:03,280 Speaker 4: actually not de escalate. He will escalate to de escalate, 659 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,120 Speaker 4: is Trump likes to put it. So, I think I'm 660 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:07,319 Speaker 4: gonna tell you where we are. 661 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 3: And this is homework for everyone who's watching Steve. 662 00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:14,520 Speaker 4: You and Ken probably know this historical reference because as 663 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 4: soon as you know, you guys were talking about running 664 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,799 Speaker 4: a blockade. The old movie from nineteen sixty five with 665 00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,600 Speaker 4: Sidney Portier in it, the Bedford Incident. 666 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:25,759 Speaker 3: We watched this movie a lot when I was in 667 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:26,440 Speaker 3: the military. 668 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:31,120 Speaker 4: Right, it's about a freaking ship commander who's knucking futs 669 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:35,240 Speaker 4: all right, who is a hardline anti COMMI a Russian 670 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:40,000 Speaker 4: submarine comes within NATO territory in the Arctic Circle, and 671 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,000 Speaker 4: he moby dicks this submarine. He dogs it and dogs it, 672 00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:48,480 Speaker 4: and he wants to use a nuclear ASRock missile on it. Right, 673 00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:51,600 Speaker 4: And Sidney Potier is a journalist who is trying to 674 00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:55,120 Speaker 4: talk common sense into him. The crew thinks he's nuts too. 675 00:46:55,880 --> 00:47:00,239 Speaker 4: Are we gonna get a ship captain this week who 676 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:03,520 Speaker 4: decides he's gonna fucking sink the first anchor that comes out, 677 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:08,120 Speaker 4: who's gonna just say, Hey, I'm with Trump. This ship 678 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,719 Speaker 4: did not obey my orders. The VBS team was repelled. 679 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:15,759 Speaker 4: It is state maintaining Iranian waters. It is within my 680 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:18,680 Speaker 4: parameter an authority to make this ship stop. 681 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,200 Speaker 3: I will set it afire. 682 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:23,560 Speaker 4: Can you fucking believe where we will be if it's 683 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,680 Speaker 4: Chinese or if it's even if it's Indian or Pakistani? Right, 684 00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:32,279 Speaker 4: and it's unsanctioned oil because Trump raised the sanction, So 685 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:34,520 Speaker 4: on what authority is this? 686 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:41,440 Speaker 2: Well, we've already sunk an unarmed Iranian frigate and failed 687 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:46,160 Speaker 2: to provide a render aid to the survivors by all reports. 688 00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:51,640 Speaker 1: So should that be investigated in twenty twenty nine. 689 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:54,120 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, absolutely. 690 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:59,960 Speaker 4: Hey, I've ridden subs all right, Dolphin qualified on Submurry. 691 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:02,800 Speaker 4: I have been on some very spooky operations. 692 00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:03,799 Speaker 3: You know. 693 00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 4: They are using what's known as the Lanconia rule, which 694 00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:11,040 Speaker 4: was the German submarine in World War Two that would 695 00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:15,160 Speaker 4: not surface the help survivors of a ship and actually killed. 696 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,799 Speaker 3: Them, right, executed them. No, that was the other one. 697 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,919 Speaker 4: But anyway, this they wouldn't do it because it would 698 00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:22,640 Speaker 4: have compromised their mission. 699 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:25,720 Speaker 3: That's not how we do things. Okay. 700 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:29,160 Speaker 4: Even when I sank my ship, sank an Iranian ship 701 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,279 Speaker 4: in nineteen eighty eight at twelve nautical miles, the only 702 00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:35,400 Speaker 4: reason we couldn't render aid was we saw no survivors 703 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:37,239 Speaker 4: and our helicopter searched for an hour. 704 00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:39,960 Speaker 3: This is different. There were lifeboats in the water. 705 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,680 Speaker 4: They could have, you know, come up the periscope depth, 706 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:43,680 Speaker 4: coordinated a. 707 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,120 Speaker 3: Search and rescue mission. No, they just went home. 708 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:48,040 Speaker 4: They think they're going to be flying the fucking jolly 709 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,600 Speaker 4: Rogers in a broom when they get into port, and 710 00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:53,600 Speaker 4: there may be war crimes trials eventually for them if 711 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:54,839 Speaker 4: Trump doesn't pardon them. 712 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:00,920 Speaker 1: Can try to put yourself in the in the shoes 713 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:06,839 Speaker 1: of some of your peers who stated active service and 714 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:11,160 Speaker 1: who are up there in rank right now. What's what's 715 00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:15,200 Speaker 1: going on in there in there in their heads? Guys 716 00:49:15,239 --> 00:49:20,839 Speaker 1: who are six is yeah, right now, I gotta tell 717 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:25,360 Speaker 1: you them are masters of vessels, running running air wings. 718 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:27,759 Speaker 1: It is. 719 00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:32,799 Speaker 2: It's a strange internal conflict because on one hand, you 720 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,920 Speaker 2: are finally getting to do what you train for, and 721 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:39,160 Speaker 2: there is a certain adrenaline and sense of purpose and 722 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:42,160 Speaker 2: mission that goes with that. But there is a lingering 723 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 2: doubt now that that didn't exist, for example, when we 724 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:50,120 Speaker 2: were running those missions off the coast of China. And 725 00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:54,520 Speaker 2: then you look at the op tempo and the lengths 726 00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:59,960 Speaker 2: to which these these deployed sailors are are being asked 727 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:03,480 Speaker 2: to go to and you look at the Ford and 728 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:06,120 Speaker 2: the correct me if I'm wrong, Malcolm, but I think 729 00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:11,080 Speaker 2: the longest post war deployment in Navy history, and morale 730 00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:17,240 Speaker 2: is really really suffering. You have ships that aren't working 731 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:22,320 Speaker 2: in part because of some design flaws, and if anyone 732 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:28,239 Speaker 2: is curious, just google uss Ford poop crews. It's pretty nightmarish. 733 00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:31,640 Speaker 2: But also because ships break after nine months at sea, 734 00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:36,400 Speaker 2: it is really tough going and commanding under those circumstances 735 00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:41,359 Speaker 2: is a huge challenge. Add to that the moral and 736 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:45,000 Speaker 2: legal questions around this. And look, if I had to 737 00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:48,520 Speaker 2: put a fine point on it, I would just put 738 00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:52,000 Speaker 2: myself in the shoes of that F fifteen wizzo who 739 00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:56,120 Speaker 2: ejected over Iran and for all the heroism of his 740 00:50:56,200 --> 00:51:00,840 Speaker 2: evasion and his rescue, the subtemp for me as a 741 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:04,000 Speaker 2: secretary of Defense who was proudly announcing that we will 742 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:05,200 Speaker 2: give no quarter. 743 00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:06,680 Speaker 3: To our enemies. 744 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:09,640 Speaker 2: We will give no quarter to our enemies. We will 745 00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:13,400 Speaker 2: not abide by stupid rules of engagement. Will we have 746 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:17,840 Speaker 2: our troops in contact, evading and hoping not to be 747 00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:20,240 Speaker 2: captured by the enemy. It's insane. 748 00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:21,880 Speaker 3: Hey, how would. 749 00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:25,640 Speaker 4: People feel if you're around announced no quarter, no quarter, 750 00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:28,760 Speaker 4: no mercy for anyone that comes here. We order summary 751 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:33,439 Speaker 4: execution of beheading on video, because that's what that's what 752 00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:37,560 Speaker 4: Pete Haxeth authorized. He authorized our enemy not to do it. 753 00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:38,239 Speaker 3: And when I was. 754 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:43,680 Speaker 4: Teaching survival, evasion, resistance and escape, all right, our human 755 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,920 Speaker 4: adherence to human rights is what kept a lot of 756 00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:51,480 Speaker 4: our pow safe during the Vietnam War, and we would 757 00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:55,239 Speaker 4: humiliate the North Vietnamese every time they violated that. When 758 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,880 Speaker 4: you say no quarter, you get no quarter, or they 759 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:03,279 Speaker 4: come up and they look more merciful than you, disgraceful. 760 00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:08,120 Speaker 1: The war is at its forty fourth day. The war 761 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:13,680 Speaker 1: is not over. The war is escalating. We stand here 762 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:19,120 Speaker 1: this Sunday. A blockade has been announced, and to understand it, 763 00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:21,960 Speaker 1: we've talked about the concept over the last couple of 764 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:25,480 Speaker 1: weeks about the box that Trump has put himself into 765 00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:28,600 Speaker 1: is one where he has two directions and only two. 766 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:31,760 Speaker 1: We can move and go forward or he can go backward. 767 00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,920 Speaker 1: And by announcing the blockade, he's now set up a 768 00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:40,640 Speaker 1: scenario where the first ship out will either pass, thus 769 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,640 Speaker 1: nullifying what it is that he said, or he will 770 00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:50,360 Speaker 1: sink the ship. So it is either Trump is going 771 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:55,480 Speaker 1: to put the throttle down forward or Donald Trump is 772 00:52:55,520 --> 00:53:01,200 Speaker 1: going to retreat. Both outcomes are bad. This war which 773 00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:05,560 Speaker 1: he has started is going very badly for the United States. 774 00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:11,920 Speaker 1: And the announcement made by Trump just this morning about 775 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:16,960 Speaker 1: this blockade while he was out a UFC fight, saying 776 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:22,600 Speaker 1: he doesn't care about what happens in Iran. He's going 777 00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:27,560 Speaker 1: to have devastating impacts for the economy of every country 778 00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:34,279 Speaker 1: in the world, certainly for the United States, and everybody 779 00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:38,200 Speaker 1: should stay tuned. This is going to be a very 780 00:53:38,239 --> 00:53:45,240 Speaker 1: momentous week because all of the consequences of twelve years 781 00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:51,560 Speaker 1: of foolishness are all building to that place. We're inside 782 00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:57,880 Speaker 1: that proverbial pot. There's no place to relieve the pressure. 783 00:53:58,760 --> 00:54:02,759 Speaker 1: So the pressure is built bilding, the steam is seeping, 784 00:54:03,320 --> 00:54:06,520 Speaker 1: and something's in the pop and so we'll be back 785 00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:10,359 Speaker 1: next Sunday to talk about it more. I feel like 786 00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:15,240 Speaker 1: we're in this week of interlude, waiting for the next event. 787 00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:21,560 Speaker 1: Trump's incompetence has set the stage for that next period 788 00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:27,360 Speaker 1: of what could lead to true catastrophe in the strait 789 00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:31,560 Speaker 1: of horror moves in the Persian Gulf and around the world. 790 00:54:31,960 --> 00:54:35,160 Speaker 1: I'm Steve Schmidt with the Warning, Ken Harbaugh with the 791 00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:40,200 Speaker 1: Ken Harbaugh Show, Malcolm Nance, black Man Spy, and of 792 00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:44,680 Speaker 1: course the Save America Movement at the saveamericamovement dot org. 793 00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:49,359 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to us, all follow us, all stay informed, 794 00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:54,560 Speaker 1: stay engaged. There are two hundred and two days left, 795 00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:58,960 Speaker 1: I believe until the midterm elections where the American people 796 00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:01,120 Speaker 1: can vote to put a check back on the madness. 797 00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:05,000 Speaker 1: Until then, thank you very much. Have a great Sunday, 798 00:55:05,640 --> 00:56:36,320 Speaker 1: have a good daysssssssssssssssssssssssssssss