WEBVTT - Admiral James Starvridis Talks War

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. She writes for Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Opinion one of our most effective and popular essays out there.

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<v Speaker 1>Just does it every single day is a not an

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<v Speaker 1>acquaintance with Carlisle with a Rockefeller Foundation, but mostly what

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<v Speaker 1>he does is sit at home and write books. Yep,

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred thousand copies have been sold so far. His

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<v Speaker 1>Leader's Bookshelf, which I'll feature on Twitter and LinkedIn here,

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<v Speaker 1>is the must read for your board college brat at

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<v Speaker 1>home this summer. But joining us to celebrate the third

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<v Speaker 1>edition here twenty eighty four is James travenas Admiral. Thank

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<v Speaker 1>you so much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 2>Good to be bored, Tom, you got.

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<v Speaker 1>Three books out, You're like You, John mccaay or Neville

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<v Speaker 1>Shoot You, and Elliot Ackerman two and thirty four is

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<v Speaker 1>truly one of the most frightening books I've ever read,

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<v Speaker 1>where China and the US go to war, and then

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<v Speaker 1>there's two thousand and fifty four, and in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and eighty four it's a whole new world after all?

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<v Speaker 1>Is that where we're heading? Given our military politics of

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty six.

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<v Speaker 2>We ought to be very worried that we are and

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<v Speaker 2>that's exactly the point of all three books, Tom is

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<v Speaker 2>to go to the public and say, look, there are

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<v Speaker 2>big challenges ahead of us great power war with China.

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<v Speaker 2>Twenty fifty four is about artificial intelligence. Twenty eighty four

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<v Speaker 2>is about conflict towards the end of the century. Look,

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<v Speaker 2>we still have time to reverse engineer this and avoid it.

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<v Speaker 2>But the idea is to launch a cautionary tale in

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<v Speaker 2>these three books as we.

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<v Speaker 1>Launch this weekend. Like you pick up your cell phone, Ed,

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<v Speaker 1>I can't imagine what it's like for you with your contexts.

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<v Speaker 1>The USS Tripoli is in harms way. How is our

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<v Speaker 1>navy doing.

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<v Speaker 2>I think we're doing except only well. And here I

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<v Speaker 2>mean not only the amphibious ships with the Marines, but

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<v Speaker 2>more importantly in this conflict, the aircraft carriers, each one

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<v Speaker 2>of them eighty combat aircraft. We don't need anybody's permission

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<v Speaker 2>to operate them. We're knocking down the enemy targets. That's

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<v Speaker 2>the good news. The bad news is we have not

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<v Speaker 2>made a great deal of strategic progress yet. But certainly

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<v Speaker 2>our navy is doing its job and doing it well.

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<v Speaker 3>Admirle, you know a thing or two about securing the

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<v Speaker 3>safe passage of the high seas. Will the straight up

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<v Speaker 3>removes ever be open like it was three months ago?

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<v Speaker 2>I think it will be because it must be. And

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<v Speaker 2>that sounds like a tautology, but it's true. We cannot

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<v Speaker 2>we the world, we the global economy, we the United

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<v Speaker 2>States and our allies. We can't simply turn this thing

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<v Speaker 2>over to the Iranians and have them charge as an

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<v Speaker 2>I toll. No way. We have to fight to open it.

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<v Speaker 2>If we do, and if we can accomplish it diplomatically

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<v Speaker 2>putting economic pressure, fine, but yes, that straight will be open.

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<v Speaker 2>Final thought. I've sailed that straight close to one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>times in command and as a junior officer. It's tough

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<v Speaker 2>navigation when you're before you get into drones attacking you

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<v Speaker 2>in see minds. So there's going to be a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of work to do to get it open, but it

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<v Speaker 2>has to be open.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Admiral, I mean, I think I speak for most

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<v Speaker 3>just lay people. We didn't realize how narrow that straight is.

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<v Speaker 3>And you see some of the footage. I don't know

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<v Speaker 3>how you people put those big ships through there, but

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<v Speaker 3>and much less the big oil tankers. But it seems

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<v Speaker 3>like anybody with a Boston weller or an RPG can

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<v Speaker 3>shut down that.

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<v Speaker 2>Straight indeed, and so it requires real effort militarily to

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<v Speaker 2>maintain it as an open sea way. And I think

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<v Speaker 2>we're going to have to push our European colleagues to

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<v Speaker 2>come throw in with us. We're not asking them to

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<v Speaker 2>drop bombs or kyron, but they can participate with us

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<v Speaker 2>in reopening and keeping the Straight open.

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<v Speaker 1>A most vitus with us. Course. His work at CNN

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<v Speaker 1>is noted writing for Bloomberg Opinion twenty eighty four, as

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<v Speaker 1>the book were celebrating, I'm going to give you a

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<v Speaker 1>pro tip. Folks, read two thousand and thirty four, Read

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand and fifty four, then read twenty and eighty four.

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<v Speaker 1>It reads like JOHNA. Corray. So there's a memo here

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<v Speaker 1>on page one away to Admiral from the Republic of Greenland.

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<v Speaker 1>Juliet had alerted her colleagues at the UN the Chinese

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<v Speaker 1>fleet was descending the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>that's the fear that's out there, and the cacophony of

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<v Speaker 1>the Trump Pentagon is your What is your contact at

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<v Speaker 1>the Pentagon say about a military that can run business

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<v Speaker 1>as usual?

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<v Speaker 2>Highly difficult, very very challenging. But oh, by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>in the book twenty eighty four, the Free Republic of

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<v Speaker 2>Florida broken away from the United States, is involved, and

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<v Speaker 2>you'll be pieced.

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<v Speaker 1>That's with President J. Griffin, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And don't forget there's Camp Is Santis where the

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<v Speaker 2>forces are operating from in twenty eighty four, but in

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<v Speaker 2>the Pentagon today, I'll take you back where we started.

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<v Speaker 2>The conversation. Is our navy ready to fight? Are they

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<v Speaker 2>fighting our air force or marines?

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<v Speaker 1>Yes?

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<v Speaker 2>The question is can we get diplomacy and economics affixed

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<v Speaker 2>to those military capabilities. If we can, we can solve this.

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<v Speaker 3>Ad multit extent. We want to solve this. How do

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<v Speaker 3>you what form do you think that takes here? Because

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<v Speaker 3>I'm not sure some of the major objectives have been achieved.

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<v Speaker 3>I either the regime is still there or the ranium

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<v Speaker 3>still there. There's if you don't have rockets today, you

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<v Speaker 3>can make them in a year or so. I don't

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<v Speaker 3>know where do we go.

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<v Speaker 2>Two point piece plan number one open the stray eight

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<v Speaker 2>Number two provide some level of economic relief to Iran.

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<v Speaker 2>That's something for both sides. Put the nuclear discussion in

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<v Speaker 2>a sidecar to be negotiated in the future. And then

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<v Speaker 2>here's the key point. Over time two to three years,

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<v Speaker 2>we help build a resistance inside Iran like we've built

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<v Speaker 2>the French resistance in World War Two. That's how the

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<v Speaker 2>regime falls, not because of bombing. What is it?

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<v Speaker 1>And I go back edmyl to your service in Brussels

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<v Speaker 1>at NATO. What is the thing about Iran we most

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<v Speaker 1>get wrong? Vali Nasser has that wonderful one volume out

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<v Speaker 1>on the history of Iran through nineteen seventy nine and

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<v Speaker 1>all the war, the horrific Iraq Iranian War. What's the

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<v Speaker 1>thing we get most wrong about our study of Iran, Admiral.

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<v Speaker 2>We don't understand how they see themselves, and we think

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<v Speaker 2>of them as this kind of annoying, mid sized power

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<v Speaker 2>in the Middle East. That's not how they see themselves,

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<v Speaker 2>tom They see themselves as the inheritors of the Persian

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<v Speaker 2>Empire from two thousand, five hundred years ago. They truly

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<v Speaker 2>believe in that kind of destiny. And I say this

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<v Speaker 2>as a proud Greek American. It was only the Greeks

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<v Speaker 2>who finally stopped them at the edge of Europe two

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<v Speaker 2>thousand years ago. That's the mental map they hold and

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<v Speaker 2>until we understand that, we are going to have a

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<v Speaker 2>great deal of difficulty dealing with them.

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<v Speaker 1>In your study of Greece within the Leader's bookshelf is

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<v Speaker 1>absolutely extraordinary. But one final question, if I can this

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<v Speaker 1>Navy needs to heal after President Trump in some way.

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<v Speaker 1>How does that happen the day after whatever the next

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<v Speaker 1>inauguration is? How does a Navy? How does a Pentagon

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<v Speaker 1>move on after President Trump?

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<v Speaker 2>Here's the good news. Our military over centuries early has

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<v Speaker 2>had dissonance with its political leadership. But the qualities of

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<v Speaker 2>our armed forces, honor, courage, commitment, they transcend the day

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<v Speaker 2>to day politics. I'm very confident that our Navy and

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<v Speaker 2>our other services will hue to their professionalism and move

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<v Speaker 2>on to the next administration.

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<v Speaker 1>This reshort wonderful, incredibly difficult fictions by Ackerman and Stravenas

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand and thirty four, fifty four and just out

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<v Speaker 1>this week two thousand and eighty four as well. I

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<v Speaker 1>can't say enough about the Shock. It was my book

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<v Speaker 1>of the summer a number of summers ago, two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and thirty four and Ackerman Instruvitis Do It Again, two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand and eighty four. Whatever your politics, just read it.

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<v Speaker 1>What did you say in the Republic of Florida.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that makes sense.

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<v Speaker 1>That makes sense too, I guess. So we'll have to

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<v Speaker 1>see James Travenas. Thank you so much, abrastravitis er.